March 14, 2004

DESTRUCTION‘s "Eternal Devastation" (1986) and "Infernal Overkill" (1985) albums have been reissued in Europe through Steamhammer on limited edition picture disc vinyl (1,000 copies).

CREST OF DARKNESS have revealed through their official website (www.crestofdarkness.com) that they are rehearsing with an extra guitarist, Kjell Arne Hubred, for their upcoming live dates. The first date that the band will perform with two guitarists will be the upcoming show at Betong in Oslo, Norway on April 2nd. Aslo on the bill for the Betong date are Norway’s WYRUZ.

ABRUPTUM will release their new album on March 15th through Regain Records. Entitled "Casus Luciferi", the release will be available on standard CD, vinyl LP and picture disc vinyl.

SAMAEL (www.samael.info) have nearly completed writing for their forthcoming new album. The band expect to enter the studio in April to begin recording. In live news, Samael will soon be announcing their festival appearance schedule for this summer. More news as it becomes available.

According to a posting on their website by leader Johnny Hedlund, UNLEASHED have completed recording their forthcoming album. The post added: "We are currently analyzing the final details before the mixing and mastering. We are naturally very excited about it all. We are also looking forward to playing the festivals this summer. You better believe we ain’t holding back for nothing! Keep looking in to our website from time to time for more info as we proceed." Expect the followup to 2003’s "Hell’s Unleashed" later this year through Century Media.

According to SLAYER‘s official website (www.americanrecordings.com/slayer/), the band are currently recording their first studio album with the original members since 1992’s "Seasons In The Abyss". A new album is expected through American Recordings sometime this year. In other Slayer news, the group were named "Best Band" in Revolver magazine’s 2004 Readers Poll. They will appear on the cover of the magazine on March 30th with Bam Margera. Slayer will perform on the Discovery Channel’s Monster Garage show on April 19th. Also, the group will appear on MTV’s Viva La Bam in an upcoming episode. More details as they become available.

HIDDEN IN THE FOG‘s "Abstract Maelstrom Paragon" MCD has been declared "demo of the month" in Germany’s Metal Hammer (issue March 2004). Congratulation, guys, maybe this finally makes the record companies wake the fuck up!