To celebrate the ten year jubileum of REPUGNANT, there will be a re-release of the band’s old demotapes "Spawn Of Pure Malevolence" and "Draped In Cerecloth". The album will be entitled "Ex Cathedra In Natura" and also include the Obscurity cover ‘Mortal Remains’ (which originally appeared on their split 7" with Pentacle). It is going to be released on CD by Soulseller Records and on LP / PicLP it will be co-released by Soulseller, Nuclear Winter and To The Death Records.
OBSCURA will headline this year’s edition of the Munich Deathfest which will take place November 8, 2008 in Munich, Germany. The band recently finished the recordings of their second album, which will be released at the beginning of 2009. OBSCURA announced that they will perform all songs of the upcoming album during the show in Munich. For more information visit www.myspace.com/munichdeathfest
GODDEFIED‘s "Abysmal Grief" (originally released as a MCD by Wild Rags Records in 1993) will be re-released as a 7" EP by Blood Harvest from Sweden. A release date is not yet set, but you may keep yourselves updated through one of the following websites: www.bloodharvest.se or www.goddefied.com
Tony Schepkens, bassplayer for Belgium’s Grinders AGATHOCLES, passed away on August 1, 2008 at the age of 35. Rest in peace, Tony.
Spanish old school Death Metallers GRAVEYARD are about to release 3 different split-EPs in 2008 and 2009. One through Nuclear War Now! featuring the song ‘What Dwells Beneath’ (together with DEATHEVOKATION), one on Iron Bonehead Productions featuring the song ‘Howl Of The Black Death’ (and the American Black / Thrash band TERRORIST on the other side) and last but not least one EP with Spanish Thrashers REDIMONI through Antichristian Front, which is going to release "Into The Mausoleum" soon, too. Besides that GRAVEYARD are preparing stuff for their first full-length which should be available at end of 2008, latest early 2009. Next to live gigs in Spain together with DEMIGOD, NECROS CHRISTOS, HAIL OF BULLETS and LIE IN RUINS it seems to be busy times for GRAVEYARD.
Paragon Records have signed Germany’s ANAEL for the release of their new album "From Arcane Fires" in early Autumn. Guitarist / vocalist Seraphackh commented the new full-length like this: "While its predecessor "On Wings Of Mercury" was a journey deep into the realm of the occult, "From Arcane Fires" is a little more direct, more rooted in history and personal experiences of a gloomy reality. This means not only the lyrics but also the music of our third album, and it was the main reason to choose a harsh, dark and epic approach for this monument. "From Arcane Fires" is aimed to show the darkness and the fire forming the foundation of our spirit and so of our music, and to set a sign that some flames will never be extinct." The tracklisting is as follows: ‘Devils Tongues’, ‘She Is Ever A Moon’, ‘Down Winding Stairs’, ‘Blood And Honey’, ‘Song Of The Moth’, ‘All Souls Night’ and ‘Muspilli’. www.anael.de
Klaus Kessemeier (ex – ASSORTED HEAP, BK 49) has joined Germany’s WEAKASIDE on second guitar. New songs have already been written and if everything works out as planned the band will enter the studio again at the end of the year to record their second album. For more info check out www.weakaside.de
Blabbermouth have posted the following news recently: Reformed Dutch Death Metal outfit ASPHYX – Martin van Drunen (vocals), Wannes Gubbels (bass / vocals), Paul Baayens (guitar) and Bob Bagchus (drums) – has issued the following update: "Good news. Within a year after the first reunion show at the Party.San festival (in Germany), ASPHYX already has written eight new songs, (with) maybe one song more to go. The tracks include all typical ASPHYX elements. Next week we’ll record some kind of instrumental pre-production / demo for ourselves. We expect the unexpected release of a new album in 2009 at Century Media Records! According to drummer and founding member Bob, this new album could be one of the best ASPHYX ever has released. So prepare for the new upcoming brutality!!!!" ASPHYX has just released a new seven-inch EP, "Death The Brutal Way", via Iron Pegasus Records. The single includes the brand new title track plus a cover of CELTIC FROST’s ‘Os Abysmi Vel Daath’ from the Swiss legends’ "Monotheist" album. Both cuts were recorded in January 2008 at the Harrow studios.
"Morphed From Deadbreath", the debut album of the Spanish / Swedish band PUTREVORE is scheduled for a September release through Xtreem Music. PUTREVORE is a project band formed back in 2004 by Dave Rotten (AVULSED / CHRIST DENIED) on vocals and Rogga Johansson (PAGANIZER / RIBSPREADER) on guitars / bass with the intention of bringing back the most heavy, purtid and dark sounds of the old school Death Metal directly influenced by bands like INCANTATION, ROTTREVORE, GRAVE, FUNEBRE, DETERIOROT… The original band’s name was DEATHBREATH, but it was changed in summer ’07 after seeing that another Swedish band emerged later with a similar monicker, so to avoid possible mistakes, a more brutal namd was chosen which suits the band’s style much better. Composition of the songs were made between ’04-’07 and it was during ’07 when recordings took place both in Sweden and Spain with the help of session drummer David Ekevarn, for a later mix and mastering at Swedish studios EAP Productions by Ronnie Bjornstrom who did a perfect job capturing the exact sound and feeling that PUTREVORE needed. "Morphed From Deadbreath" includes the following 8 songs: ‘Aeon Leviathan’, ‘Torn From The Abzu’, ‘The Skies Vomit Sulphur’, ‘As They Return’, ‘Obscene Devourment’, ‘Dark Surgery Of The Ancients’, ‘From Depths Monstrous’ and ‘Pale Bare Skull’. The album cover was made by Spanish artist Juanjo Castellano (www.juanjocastellano.com) who already did works for bands like Vomitory, Demoncy, Incantation, Evil Incarnate, etc. amongst many others. PUTREVORE’s album cover and three songs from the album can be checked through the band’s official website www.putrevore.com / www.myspace.com/putrevore.
Bassist Randy Butman of PATHS OF POSSESSION, the Florida-based band fronted by CANNIBAL CORPSE vocalist George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher – has issued the following update: "We are gearing up for the new disc. We enter Mana studios in September to record the first half, and we will do the second half in November. The reason for the split is because CANNIBAL CORPSE will be recording at the same time as us, and there is not enough of old George to go around. We are looking at a March release probably." www.pathsofpossession.com
CANNIBAL CORPSE have hit the Billboard Charts with the release of their first-ever career retrospective DVD, "Centuries Of Torment – The First 20 Years" which landed at #8 on the Billboard Music Video Charts. "We are very excited by the incredible response to our new DVD "Centuries Of Torment". The 1st week sales figures are far beyond what we expected, and we want to give massive thanks to our fans for making this possible. We also want to thank all of our fans and friends who submitted material and allowed themselves to be interviewed; your contributions are really what make this DVD so special. And of course we need to say a huge thank you to Denise Korycki of Wild Wind Productions for doing such an incredible job directing, producing, and editing this DVD", comments Alex Webster of CANNIBAL CORPSE. Additionally "Centuries Of Torment" has officially been certified Gold in Canada. The DVD charted #10 on the Canadian top selling Music DVD charts. Alex Webster (bassist) had this to comment: "We are very excited to hear the news that our new DVD has already been certified Gold in Canada. We have always received incredible support from our fans in Canada, but to have the DVD go Gold immediately upon its release is even more than we could have hoped for. We want to say a huge thank you to our Canadian fans for making this possible, you guys rule!" The band is currently at work on the follow up 2006’s "Kill" due out in 2009. www.cannibalcorpse.net
The Swedish melodic, Death’n’Roll band HEARSE (www.myspace.com/hearse) has been signed by Vic Records. The band released four albums so far, three on Dutch Karmageddon Media, one on Dental Records and is currently also working on their first ever video clip, together with Nocturnal Rites drummer Owe Lingvall (of Village Road Film), who is responsible for videos of Memory Garden, Steel Attack, Wolf and Nocturnal Rites. The new HEARSE album will be recorded this summer and mixed / mastered by Dan Swano. A release date is set for early 2009. HEARSE was formed in 2001 by Max Thornell (ex – Furbowl) and Johan Liiva (ex – Furbowl, CARNAGE and ARCH ENEMY) and completed by Mattias Ljung on guitar. Drummer Max commented the new record deal like this: "It feels just great! Vic’s a cool label and there’s a lot of cool bands on the label. Getting mails from the label boss saying things like "I am having a total Hearse trip these days! Really! Only listening to your albums… These bonus tracks on the Cambodia album are sooooooooo damn good!!!!!" doesn’t really make it feel like a bad decision either!"