» News
US Black / Deathers CRUCIFIER would like to spread the following message throughout the blackened veins of the Underground Metal scene: "BEHOLD! JESUS CHRIST, NAIL HIM TO THE CROSS!! CRUCIFIER’s "Stronger Than Passing Time" debut full-length, due to release in Summer 2003. This release of utter Hell comes to you from Death To Mankind Records (Spain, www.deathtomankind.com) and The Crucifier Brotherhood, International will rip your soul to shreds. Write now and reserve your copy today!!! Burn In Hell!!!!!"
900 Metal fanatics showed up for SALEM and ARALLU at the Barbie Club in Tel Aviv on July 9th and were received an almost 3 hours long ‘Full Force IDF Metal Attack’. Arallu’s new promo CD is recorded and will be sent to selected labels / magazines soon. For updates check www.geocities.com/arallu666/.
Yishay Swearts of Raven Music label / distro has left NAIL WITHIN for personal reasons and will now focus on his new band Moonskin. Some songs are already written and a label search is on. The band will make its debut appearance on a future At The Gates tribute with a cover of ‘Raped By The Light Of Christ’. NAIL WITHIN are soon to announce their new vocalist and future plans, check www.nailwithin.com for upcoming news.
Norwegian band BORKNAGAR had to cancel their Summer-Breeze-appearance as they did not finish the recording of their new album in time. Latest additions to the SUMMER BREEZE-billing are AMORPHIS, THE CROWN, RAGE and NAGLFAR.
GOD DETHRONED have lined up the following summer dates: August 8 – Party-San Open Air Festival – Bad Berka, Germany, 23 – Summer Breeze Open Air – Abtsgmünd, Germany, 24 – Vienna Metal Fest – Vienna, Austria, 25 – E-Klub – Budapest, Hungary (with FINNTROLL) and September 9 – The Temple – Dublin, Ireland.
DARKANE have confirmed that they will perform in Tel-Aviv, Israel on September 25th. The show is in celebration of the 5th Anniversary of the Israeli label-distribution-booking agency Raven Music. In other Darkane news, drummer Peter Wildoer and guitarist Christofer Malmström have been busy writing new material for the band’s next album. Nearly half of the new disc has been written.
MÖRK GRYNING‘s new album, "Pieces Of Primal Expressionism", has reached #19 on Sweden’s charts. The album is out in the US on July 14th via The End.
DIABOLIC have reported on their website that they have finished tracking and are in the midst of mixing their forthcoming album, "Infinity Through Purification", due out through Olympic / Century Media this fall. The band have been working with Neil Kernon at Sonic Ranch studios in Tornillo, TX. The band will head to Tampa, FL this week to master the album at Morrisound Studios. The band say that "There are already great things in the works as far as supporting the new album, so check back soon and often for updates on tours, shows and appearances. Prepare to be devastated by blasting satanic majesty!" It was reported earlier that Diabolic are describing "Infinity Through Purification" as "The most evolved and interesting record yet, with incredible dynamics, complex song structures, and tempos among the most brutal in the world."
MORBID ANGEL have revealed the title of their forthcoming record – their eighth album will be titled "Heretic" and will be released on September 23rd (September 22 in Europe). Dubbed with the working title of H2K3 from the start of the recording process, the album’s true title has remained shrouded in mystery but has been rumored to begin with the letter H, in keeping with the band’s tradition of titling their albums in alphabetical order beginning with 1989’s "Altars Of Madness", and continuing through 2000’s "Gateways To Annihilation".
Bay Area Thrashers VIO-LENCE‘s "Oppressing The Masses" album and "Torture Tactics" EP will be reissued together on October 7th through Megaforce Records. "Oppressing The Masses" was the band’s follow-up to the legendary 1988 debut "Eternal Nightmare". It was originally released in 1990. "Torture Tactics" followed a year later.
We received these news from Germany’s most interesting underground Classic Metal festival, namely the KEEP IT TRUE FESTIVAL: "Hi friends, many of you are waiting for the replacement of DAMIEN THORNE. Two weeks before the festival it is almost impossible to get a replacement of the standard of a cult act. So we made the decision, that we will extend the playing time of OMEN and BROCAS HELM by ten minutes each!! Also we want to give an underground newcomer band a great chance to play at KEEP IT TRUE. At the Bang Your Head festival we got the demo of the Greek band BLOODSTAINED and after many times of listening we were really blown away. BLOODSTAINED really sound like old school JAG PANZER with a singer that is very similar to the Tyrant. We are sure, that BLOODSTAINED will fill your heads with US Metal made in Greece. We hope, that you will also be happy about the longer playing time of OMEN and BROCAS HELM. Also we want to say sorry again for the cancellations of DAMIEN THORNE and IRON CROSS, but we could not avoid that." The KEEP IT TRUE FESTIVAL takes place on July 19, 2003 in Lauda-Koenigshofen, Germany at the Tauberfranken Halle. The festival line-up reads as follows: OMEN, BROCAS HELM, MAJESTY, SOLEMNITY, KILLERS (FR), DOOMSWORD, KILLER (BEL), MALEDICTION, ETERNAL REIGN, SOLITAIRE, GUNFIRE, BLOODSTAINED. All further info you may find here: www.keep-it-true.de
OCCULT just left Stage-One-Studios in Germany where they recorded their 5th album "Elegy For The Weak" produced and engineered by Andy Classen. The album will be out in September on Painkiller Records, featuring the following tracks: ‘Disturbing The Dead’, ‘Nuclear Torment’, ‘Nocturnal Predator’, ‘Feel The Blade’, ‘Expire’, ‘Warbeast’, ‘Obsessed By The Grave’, ‘Slaughtering The Pigs’, ‘Reapers Call’, ‘Slut Of Sodom’ and ‘Until The Battle’ (extra bonus track on lim. 2000 digipak). Two of the songs can be found on the following website: www.xs4all.nl/~lowlife/. An OCCULT DVD will be released in October through Lowlifemedia Productions, covering the complete band story from 1990 until 2003. For further info go to: www.occult.nu
Here’s an official press statement from MALEVOLENT CREATION concerning the cancellation of their tour in Brazil: "Greetings to our fans in Brazil, it is unfortunate but necessary that I have to write this letter. We, meaning the whole band, are very disappointed that the tour of Brazil was cancelled. However, I wanted to write this letter to clear up some rumors that have circulated there that are untrue. It is true that Tony Laureno was thought to play this tour until last month when he found out he had to do shows with Nile. We went on a search all over the US to find a drummer who could do the tour and have the skills to play the songs with intensity and speed…. the way they should be heard. We then asked Gus Rios who had toured with Malevolent in Europe in 2002 but he had prior commitments. We told him how sick these shows were going to be and 2 1/2 weeks ago he was able to change his work schedule and said he could do the tour. As soon as we were home and situated from the Hate Plow tour in Europe, we rehearsed over 20 songs with him the first night of practice. So the rumors of not having a drummer for this tour were and are untrue. The problem is that we were told that our visas would be taken care of by the promoter of the tour while we were on tour in Europe with Hate Plow and they were not. Now I do not have all the details so I cannot blame the problem on the promoter or the embassy either here or in Brazil, but I know we were packed with our luggage and equipment waiting to leave from July 1st – July 3rd but with each morning being told we were denied our visas for different reasons so we were not the cause of the tour being cancelled. Now… we are in discussions to get every show rescheduled as soon as possible. I do not want to say a date yet as nothing is solid but we are hoping that after we return from Europe to do some festivals July 30 thru August 9 we will have the visa situation taken care of can come down there and see how many of you have THE WILL TO KILL!!!!!!!! Once again I want to say how disappointed we are not being able to play Brazil and to meet all of our great fans this time but this situation was not our fault and we accept no blame… Kyle Symons, Malevolent Creation."
THE CHASM has exclusively been signed to Earache Records / Wicked World for the release of their upcoming seventh album. The plan at the moment is to record the new album in early 2004, but as a lot of things can happen in the rest of the year, any update or change will be posted here as soon as it becomes available. The band already started to audition a few possible bass players to complete the line-up again. As soon as the right person has been found THE CHASM will start to hit the stage once again.
VADER are going to release a new mini-CD entitled "Blood" through Metal Blade Records on the 20th of October (European release date). It will include a few cuts from the "Revelations" recordings: ‘As The Fallen Rise’ (taken from Japanese version of "Revelations"), ‘Angel Of Death’ (Japanese version of the album and EP – released in Poland exclusively), ‘When Darkness Calls’ (Polish EP version), ‘Son Of Fire’ (European digipak version) and ‘Traveler’ (Polish digipak version). The mini-CD will also contain the two new songs ‘We Wait’ and ‘Shape-shifting’ – VADER are going to record these songs mid-July at Red Studio with Piotr Lukaszewski as engineer ("Reign Forever World", "Revelations").
After their latest gig in Israel VADER parted ways with Simon (bass) due to some personal differences. Novy (well known for his participation in bands like BEHEMOTH and DEVILYN) has joined the band as his replacement. VADER will play their first show with the new line up on 19th of July in the Czech Republic.
INGURGITATING OBLIVION perform technical, dark, malicious tunes in the vein of acts such as Immolation, Incantation, Morbid Angel and, partially, Gorguts. This lunatic outfit mediates evilness that can best be described by referring to South American bands like Mortem, Imprecation, Shub-Niggurath etc. (although I.O.’s style sounds more modern, technical…). The band plans to enter a killer / high-end studio some time around October 2003 in order to record a 3-4 track promo CD generally blaspheming aesthetic norms. Having accomplished that, the band intends to apply for label co-operations… in fact, several labels have signaled interest already. Nevertheless, the band is still searching for more offers… so get in touch! www.ingurgitating-oblivion.de
LORD BELIAL aren’t able to play Party.San 2003. The band kicked their drummer out of the band and the possible replacement isn’t able to play their set in a proper way. LORD BELIAL are really sorry about this development. Thomas (gt / voc): "We were really looking forward to play but without a good drummer we can’t show what LORD BELIAL is all about". The replacement for LORD BELIAL will be the Dutch Death / Thrash machine GOD DETHRONED.
The new DEW-SCENTED album "Impact" is done. The band managed to nail down all of the previously written 15 tracks together with Andy Classen at Stage One studio during the last weeks (May – June). The recording line-up consisted of Florian Müller – lead guitars, Hendrik Bache – lead guitars & bass, Leif Jensen – vocals and Uwe Werning – drums. Nuclear Blast Records will be releasing "Impact" in Germany / Austria / Switzerland on August 25th, 2003. The rest of Europe will follow on by September 1st and North America (USA and Canada) should street on October 7th. The regular version of the album will have the following track-list: ‘Acts Of Rage’, ‘New Found Pain’, ‘Destination Hell’, ‘Soul Poison’, ‘Cities Of The Dead’, ‘Down My Neck’, ‘One By One’, ‘Agony Designed’, ‘Slaughtervain’, ‘Flesh Reborn’ and ’18 Hours’. There will be a strictly limited digipak release of the album as well which will feature the following bonus tracks: ‘Force-Fed [The Bleeding Scheme]’ (another brand new song) and a cover version of Turbonegro’s ‘Hobbit Motherfuckers’. Additionally, DEW-SCENTED did a cover version of Metallica’s classic ‘Metal Militia’ and also re-recorded their own song ‘Skybound’, which originally appeared on the 1999 album "Ill-Natured". Both of these songs will be used as bonus tracks at some later point. You can already check out the album’s package at the band’s official website: www.dew-scented.de. Nuclear Blast Records will also be doing a special 2-LP version for "Impact" which will include the new album as well as the complete version of "Inwards". DEW-SCENTED are currently working on re-releasing their older albums "Innoscent" (1998) and "Ill-Natured" (1999), as the original printings of both records have sold out by now. The idea is that both albums will be released later in 2003 together on one CD (also for the price of one CD) in remastered versions (courtesy of Andy Classen) with new artwork, etc.