February 02, 2002

PAUL BALOFF, vocalist of Bay Area Thrash vets Exodus, reportedly suffered a massive stroke and is said to be on life support and barely clinging to life at a local hospital. Baloff was rushed to an Oakland hospital suffering from what was initially believed to be a brain aneurysm, but doctors have since determined that what he actually experienced was in fact a stroke. According to Blabbermouth.net, hospital officials say Baloff is "not expected to survive and it is just a matter of time before he passes." We’ll keep you posted on any more information as it comes in.

I know that a lot of you reading this are still waiting for the SADISTIC INTENT debut full length to see the light of day, that’s why we got in touch with guitarist Rick Cortez, who gave us a few updates on the band’s latest happenings… "Unfortunately we have not been in the studio since October, 2001. Bernie (Versailles – producer of the album – Ed.) has been busy with both his bands (AGENT STEEL / ENGINE) recording their full lengths. However, I think we’ll be back in really soon. As a matter of fact I’ll give him a call tomorrow to check the status. I wish we were finished already!!! I want to go out and tour, especially Europe because I’ve heard great things about the Metal scene out there! At least I can say I am very pleased with what we’ve done so far!! It’s gonna be our tightest recording yet! We have not wimped out either, as a matter of fact, some of it is our fastest and darkest material to this point! We re-recorded all the songs from "Ancient Black Earth" MCD and we have a couple older songs but mostly newer stuff…" Before the release of the album Iron Pegasus Records is gonna release a SADISTIC INTENT 7" which features two exclusive tracks… "’The Exorcist’ is the POSSESSED song Jeff Becerra did vocals for us!! That was a great honor for us and ‘Morbid Faith’ is actually a song we wrote back in 1988 but this is the new version which is a lot faster than the original, not to be confused with the ‘Morbid Faith’ we used on the "Thrashing Holocaust" compilation (Necropolis Records). We recorded this song twice at the time in two different studios and decided to use this other version for this 7" EP." After more than a year of inactivity SADISTIC INTENT will finally start playing out live again. They will be on the bill in New York and New Jersey at "The Destruction Festivals" with DESTROYER 666 and several more. There’s also a couple more gigs in the works for Los Angeles – one of them is supposed to be with EXODUS, AGENT STEEL, DREAMS OF DAMNATION (ex-DARK ANGEL), ABATTOIR and more. Also not confirmed yet is a support slot for CANNIBAL CORPSE, DARK FUNERAL etc.

MANES have recently signed a four-album deal with the Italian label Code666 (Ephel Duath, Aborym, Rakoth, Aghora etc.) After the release of the "Under Ein Blodraud Maane"-album on Hammerheart Recs., Manes had a pause for introspection and configuration and are now back in pre-production with a full line-up for the new album "Vilosophe". The album will be recorded around spring 2002 at Skansen Studios (Wurdulak, Gorelord, Atrox etc.) in Manes’ hometown Trondheim, Norway. Some of the tracks have been given names like ‘So Damn Cold’, ‘Worsen’ and ‘Son Of Night, Brother Of Sleep’. Some related news are that Code666 have signed a deal with Necropolis Recs. for American distibution and that ATROX have signed a multi-album deal with Code666 as well. For Manes history and discography check out www.go.to/manes For more updated info check out www.code666.net For direct contact, interview, booking use ulcero@hotmail.com