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CANNIBAL CORPSE have announced "Evisceration Plague" as the title to the group’s brand new studio album due out on January 30th (GER / A / SWI / I), February 2nd (rest of Europe) through Metal Blade Records. "Evisceration Plague" marks the follow up to the bands extremely successful 2006 release "Kill" (debuted at #170 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart), which has become the fastest selling CANNIBAL album in the band’s storied career as well as highest selling album since 1996’s "Vile" (debuted at #151 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart). Bassist Alex Webster comments, "In CANNIBAL CORPSE our goal has always been to try and make each new album we record our heaviest. That goal was a bit more challenging this time since we were extremely satisfied with our last album "Kill", but we knew that by working with producer Erik Rutan at Mana Recording Studios again, we would be able to start at that same level of heaviness and take it even further. Now that we can hear the finished product, I would say we’ve been able to achieve this goal, and I think our fans will agree. "Evisceration Plague" has the best guitar sound we’ve ever recorded, and the entire band has never played with more precision and power. We can’t wait until you all get a chance to hear the album in early 2009, because we think you’ll be as happy with it as we are." The "Evisceration Plague" tracklist reads like this: ‘Priests Of Sodom’, ‘Scalding Hail’, ‘To Decompose’, ‘A Cauldron Of Hate’, ‘Beheading And Burning’, ‘Evidence In The Furnace’, ‘Carnivorous Swarm’, ‘Evisceration Plague’, ‘Shatter Their Bones’, ‘Carrion Sculpted Entity’, ‘Unnatural’ and ‘Skewered From Ear to Eye’. Keep an eye on the CANNIBAL CORPSE MySpace page for more updates on the upcoming album, a new track and upcoming tour dates. www.myspace.com/cannibalcorpse
Here’s the tracklist for the upcoming new CATTLE DECAPITATION album "The Harvest Floor": ‘The Gardeners Of Eden’, ‘A Body Farm’, ‘We Are Horrible People’, ‘Tooth Enamel & Concrete’, ‘The Ripe Beneath The Rind’, ‘The Product Alive’, ‘In Axetasy’, ‘Into The Public Bath’, ‘The Harvest Floor’ and ‘Regret & The Grave’. The album will feature guest appearances by Ross Sewage (Impaled / Ludicra), Jackie Perez Gratz (Grayceon / Amber Asylum), Dino Sommese (Dystopia / Asunder) and Los Angeles noisician John Wiese, as well as Jarboe (Swans), lending her beautifully haunting voice to the album’s titletrack. "The Harvest Floor" will be released on the 30th of January 2009 in GER / A / SWI / I and the 2nd of February 2009 in the rest of Europe. For more info check out www.myspace.com/cattledecapitation or www.cattledecapitation.com
American Death Metalheads SIX FEET UNDER have uploaded ‘Involuntary Movement Of Dead Flesh’, the third song of their upcoming new album "Death Rituals" at www.myspace.com/metalbladeeurope. The album will be released on the 14th of November in GER / A / SWI / I and the 17th of November in the rest of Europe. The limited first edition for Europe will be exclusively released as a digipak and features three live songs recorded at the band’s appearances at With Full Force and Summer Breeze this year. sfu420.com
German Thrashers EXUMER have established their first official MySpace site. The band has posted a video clip for the song ‘Winds Of Death’, taken from their 2nd album "Rising From The Sea", edited with rare footage from the 1980s. The band is currently working on the re-release of their first two albums: "Possessed By Fire" and "Rising From The Sea". The re-releases will be available in North America via the band’s MySpace site and their official website which will go live in the very near future. Vocalist Mem V. Stein: "The MySpace site will hopefully connect us with all the fans on a regular basis, since we are working on new material for the third EXUMER album. We would really love have their input on the new songs and move forward together in the right direction." For video clips, pictures and correspondence, please visit: www.myspace.com/exumerwakingthefire
HANDFUL OF HATE returns with a new line-up: Deimos (guitar), Damiano (bass), Andrea B. (drums) and Nicola (vocals, guitar). The band also presents two new songs from their forthcoming CD, out in 2009 and will sell every item from their merchandise with a special discount price at every gig. www.myspace.com/handfulofhate, www.handfulofhate.com
Italy’s SweDeathers HORRID have a new drummer named Dez. The band has already posted a brand new song with him at their official myspace site www.myspace.com/horridofficialspace
Italian melodic Death Metallers DISARMONIA MUNDI have finished the pre-production of their forthcoming fourth album entitled "The Isolation Game" scheduled for an early spring release. Some new song titles are: ‘Perdition Haze’, ‘Stepchild Of Laceration’, ‘Digging The Grave Of Silence’ and ‘Cypher Drone’. The recordings will take place at Ettore Rigotti’s "The Metal House" studios in Italy. During the following weeks the band will upload pics and videos of the recording sessions of the new album on the official myspace page www.myspace.com/disarmoniamundi.
Xtreem Music have signed German Thrashers NECRONOMICON for the release of their 6th full-length album "Revenge Of The Beast". The band has always been active (they released three classic albums from ’86 to ’88 and later two more in ’94 and ’04) and nowadays they even still have three out of the four former members from ’83/’84 in their line-up: Freddy, Jogi and Axel plus Andi who joined in ’02. "Revenge Of The Beast" is due for imminent release on December 15th in a first limited edition of 1.000 copies on double CD to celebrate their 25th anniversary. There will also be exclusive and very limited NECRONOMICON shirts to be sold together with the double CD on a special-priced pack (CD+shirt) which will be sold only through the Xtreem Music mailorder. The band has just returned from a 3-show mini-tour in Russia and a presentation show in Madrid (Spain) is being organized around January. This will be the very first time NECRONOMICON will play in Spain and it will be a very special show for all old school Thrashers. A song from "Revenge Of The Beast" is available on NECRONOMICON’s official MySpace site www.myspace.com/possessedbythrash.
EMBRIOMA from Sao Paulo, Brazil are currently in the studio, finishing the production of about 20 songs, of which 10 – 13 will be chosen to be released on their new album, "Post-Industrial Metastasis". The band got together in September 2004, in the ABC Paulista area of Sao Paulo and plays a mix of Thrash, Death and Industrial. They previously released a 6 track EP through the Midiacaos label and already got the opportunity to open for bands like BIOHAZARD, SEPULTURA, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, THE MISFITS, TRISTANIA and CALIBAN, among others. They are currently promoting their promo-single "29". For more info check out www.embrioma.com, www.myspace.com/embrioma
Swedish Black Metallers REV 16:8 have been signed by Temple Of Darkness Records for their debut album in 2009. The band consists of Themgoroth (DARK FUNERAL, INFERNAL, SETHERIAL), Talon (IXXI, BLOODSHED, FINNTROLL), Nefastus (NEFASTUS, BLOODSHED) and Pata (BLOODSHED, DECADENCE). For all further info make sure to check out www.templeofdarknessrecords.com or myspace.com/rev168
Dallas, Texas based DIVINE EVE have reformed and are working on new material as well as preparing some live shows. Guitarist / vocalist Michael A. Sleavin kindly supplied us with the following, exclusive news: "We have been playing all the old tunes together since April 2008. Just been sharpening the blades and shaking the rust off these old sounds. At least as a trio, Tyson our original bass player is unable to commit but with his pagan blessings we are rehearsing with suitable replacements. So far we have had Jeremy Peto (Morgion) and Scott Cooksey (Azathtoth / Roller) playing some bass for us. Once we commence live performance the live line-up will be chosen. So far the songs sound bloody tight and more furious than ever! We are currently in Klearlight (Dallas, Texas) recording studios, recording 2 new tracks and 2 trax recorded on the "Divine Eve Cover album" by Crimson Relic. All the material sounds very promising and we are very pleased with the outcome. The recording will be available through us on Wolf Code Pagan Records / Sick Serenades mail order. All that is left to do on the recording is Xan’s and my vocals, effects, mix, and master which for now is TBA but within a couple of weeks time. This recording although available initially through us, we are looking for labels interested in releasing it and of course a good solid record label willing to support the underground music of DIVINE EVE." For more info on the band, check out www.myspace.com/divineeve2008
According to Blabbermouth.net former GRIP INC. vocalist Gus Chambers took his own life on October 13, 2008 at the age of 52. Chambers, who resided in Coventry, England made a name for himself in the UK punk scene as the frontman for SQUAD in the late ’70s. He later took his skills as a top notch front-man to the new band 21 GUNS. They released the single "Ambition Rock" on Neville Staples’s Shack Records. Gus later moved to America and formed SONS OF DAMNATION before hooking up with SLAYER drummer Dave Lombardo and German guitarist Waldemar Sorychta in GRIP INC. They released three acclaimed albums in the mid-to-late ’90s – "Power Of Inner Strength" (1995), "Nemesis" (1997) and "Solidify" (1999) – and finally came back with a fourth entitled "Incorporated" in 2004, which was greeted as a true return to form by the critics. Gus was most recently a member of the Coventry, UK punk band MANTRA SECT which was scheduled to play its next concert tonight (Friday, October 17). In an October 15, 2008 online posting, MANTRA SECT bassist Wendy X stated about Gus’ decision to take his own life, "My emotions are swimming round and round in my head, trying to comprehend it all, so I will not say too much on here except to say to everyone that has asked why, as I do myself, that we were always, as normal, constantly in contact with him (myself virtually daily) yet none of us saw this coming. Nor many other friends that also constantly kept in touch with him either. We are at a loss about why. My usual daily phone calls with Gus all the days leading up to this didn’t give any clue whatsoever that anything was THIS wrong." "I’ve been very lucky in my career," Gus once said, according to the Coventry Telegraph. "I have had the privilege of playing in front of thousands of people at festivals like Rock in Rio and the Dynamo festival in Holland. Nothing though brings back fonder memories than playing in front of maybe 20 or 30 people in The Hand and Heart or the back room of The Swanswell." Rest in peace, Gus!
Spain’s DEATH OVER THREAT have signed with Xtreem Music for the release of their debut album "Sangre" (Blood). "Sangre" is an album that is supposed to showcase a really aggressive and intense brand of Thrash Metal in the vein of SLAYER and SEPULTURA (in their "Arise" days), spiced with some Bay Area touches. The release date for this album is not settled yet, as it’s still in the design and post-production process, but it’s expected sometime in late ’08 and early ’09. In the meantime you can listen to 4 songs on their official MySpace site www.myspace.com/death6over6threat6
The upcoming 2nd album "Final Step To Future Madness" by Ukrainian brutal Death Metallers MENTAL DEMISE will also be released through Xtreem Music. This new effort not only features new vocalist Andrey "Sadist" Burovenko, it is also said to be faster, more intense and technical, yet still in the ultra-brutal blasting Death Metal vein that characterized their previous recordings with influences from bands like CRYPTOPSY, KRONOS, early ABORTED, DEICIDE and DECAPITATED, spiced with some old styled Florida’s Death Metal. The new album was recorded at famous Polish Hertz Studios (VADER, DECAPITATED, KRONOS, EMETH) and includes 11 new songs plus 3 old tunes featuring the new vocalist. "Final Step To Future Madness" will be released by the end of summer ’08. Advance songs can be checked out at the band’s official website www.myspace.com/psychopenetration
The newest addition to Xtreem Music’s Thrash roster are Barcelona Thrashers KÖRGULL THE EXTERMINATOR. The band, which is formed by two girls and two guys, have just released their debut recording in form of a split CD with MORBID YELL where they perform a really primitive, rotting and infernal old school Thrash / Black with influences from early SODOM, MORBID, early BATHORY, HELLHAMMER, early VOIVOD, DARKTHRONE and BULLDOZER. KÖRGULL THE EXTERMINATOR is currently working on a new and exclusive song and video-clip for Xtreem Music’s upcoming mega compilation as well as writing new songs for their debut full-length album to be recorded by the end of the year for a 2009 release. The four songs from their split CD can be heard on their official website at www.myspace.com/korgulltheexterminator
The recent 6 song debut mini CD "Thrashing Your Brain", by Spanish old school Thrash Metal newcomers AGGRESSION, which was recorded at AXtudios, secured the band a 2 album deal with Xtreem Music. AGGRESSION are now writing new songs for what will be their debut full-length album, scheduled for a late 2008 release. For those who aren’t familiar with AGGRESSION, they play a high quality aggressive Thrash influenced by bands like EXODUS, TESTAMENT, ONSLAUGHT, SLAYER, HIRAX and even ANTHRAX from their best works. "Thrashing Your Brain" is available both directly from the band or through Xtreem Music’s mailorder. Three of the songs are available for listening at the band’s own website www.myspace.com/aggressionband
MYSTICAL MUSIC ZINE # 13 is out, for the very first time totally written in English, yet still in the classic MYSTICAL MUSIC early 90s underground layout. On 86 A4 pages you’re about to get 19 in-depth interviews with RESURRECTION, DEICIDE, HAIL OF BULLETS, TREBLINKA Special (6 pages), BLOODBATH, DISFEAR, UNANIMATED, FATALIST, GROTESQUE special (8 pages), DEMIURG, THE ROTTED, MOURNING BELOVETH, DANIEL EKEROTH (Swedish Death Metal book), FACEBREAKER, 21 LUCIFERS, GRAVEYARD and SPEARHEAD as well as a shitload of reviews. The coverartwork was done by Riddickart (ARSIS, KATAKLYSM, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER) and each copy comes with a free CDR sampler, featuring CASKET, FACEBREAKER, PUTERAEON, 21 LUCIFERS, GODLESS, GORCHAROT, HAVOK, SPEARHEAD, NECROID, MR. DEATH, KATAPLEXIA, December FLOWER, DENIAL, MATHYR and many more (21 tracks in total), plus further reviews as an enhanced PDF file. It sells for 5,- Euro / 8 US$ (postage & package included) at hauber@mystical-music.de. Distributors & mailorders are welcome.
"History 1" is the title of a recently released DÉTENTE compilation CD. It features the original 4 song demo that was recorded in 1985, mastered and available for the first time, coupled with the post DÉTENTE band CATALEPSY. CATALEPSY featured the DÉTENTE songwriting duo of Steve Hochheiser and Ross Robinson as well as MACHINE HEAD’s Dave McClain on drums. The track list reads like this: ‘Holy War’, ‘Widow’s Walk’, ‘Shattered Illusions’, ‘Vultures In The Sky’, ‘An Offering’, ‘Obituary Fear’, ‘Evil Within’, ‘Under The Influence’, ‘Who Can You Trust?’ and ‘Law And Disorder’. For all further info go to www.myspace.com/detenterna
Reunited Virginia Thrash Metal legends AT WAR have signed with New York’s Heavy Artillery Records for the release of "Infidel", their first studio album in 20 years. Tentatively set for a March 2009 release, the CD will feature nine tracks of pure War Metal the likes of which can only be delivered by AT WAR. AT WAR frontman Paul Arnold had this to say about the band’s return and the forthcoming album: "AT WAR is back!!! Harder, heavier, and meaner than ever. "Infidel" will solidify what people expect from AT WAR… War Metal in its most ballistic form!"
German Death Metallers OBSCURA have set "Cosmogenesis" as the title of their upcoming album. The group recently signed with Relapse Records and has completed the recordings for their second full-length album, to be released in early 2009. "Cosmogenesis" features guest appearances from Ron Jarzombek (WATCHTOWER, SPASTIC INK, BLOTTED SCIENCE) and Tymon Kruidenier (CYNIC, EXIVIOUS). "The new album sounds very intense and brutal", the band says in a statement. OBSCURA will headline the Munich Deathfest on November 8 and is preparing for more touring in the New Year. OBSCURA was founded in 2002 by guitarist / vocalist Steffen Kummerer. After several line-up changes mastermind Kummerer got backed up by a new team of virtuoso musicians. Late 2007 OBSCURA announced drummer Hannes Grossmann (ex-NECROPHAGIST) and fretless bassist Jeroen Paul Thesseling (ex-PESTILENCE) as new permanent members. Early 2008 the new line-up was completed by Christian Muenzner (ex-NECROPHAGIST) as permanent guitarist. All further information you can find at www.myspace.com/realmofobscura or www.jeroenthesseling.com
Sweden’s THE COLD EXISTENCE have been signed by Kolony Records. The band’s new album "Somber Gates", set for an early 2009 release, will feature a sound reminiscent of such extreme Metal heavyweights as Behemoth, Nile, Dissection, At the Gates and Hypocrisy. For further details check out www.kolonyrecords.com or www.myspace.com/thecoldexistenceonline