The release date of The new SALEM album "Collective Demise" has been set for September the 15th. All the magazines, redio stations etc. that wish to receive the promo CD, can contact KMG / System Shock at: andy@impact-records.de, promo@kmg-music.de
John O’ Fathaigh, the flute, tin-whistle player and brother of band main-man Keith, is no longer a part of CRUACHAN. The move came after a meeting between John and Keith about the bands future, the prospect of more and more shows abroad was something that John could not commit to for personal reasons so both brothers agreed that leaving the band was the best thing to do. John was not "kicked out" of the band, leaving Cruachan was a hard decision for him to make after the years that he has been a member. Although nothing has been clarified, Keith is confident that John will still be involved with the band in the future, maybe as a guest on recordings etc. As of now, Cruachan are looking for a replacement member who can play either flute, violin or keyboard, anyone interested should contact: cruachan@ireland.com
BLOOD RED THRONE recently finished the recordings for their new album titled "Affiliated With The Suffering". Some of the songtitles are ‘Unleashing Hell’, ‘A Dream Of Death’, ‘Razor Jack’ and ‘Gather The Dead’. www.get.to/bloodredthrone
CRUACHAN is looking out for a new full-time bandmember who can play keyboard, violin or flute. Anyone interested get in touch with Keith Fay cruachan@ireland.com. Furthermore the band started working on material for the follow-up to the very successful "Folk-Lore" album. Some new titles are ‘Michael Collins’, ‘A Thousand Years’, ‘Some Say The Devil Is Dead’. An exclusive boxset with the title "A Celtic Trilogy", including picture disc vinyl of all Cruachan albums, will be released later this year. Last but not least very good news for Cruachan fans in the Benelux. There are plans in the make to do a Benelux mini-tour with Swedish labelmates Thyrfing early December. www.cruachan.cjb.net
HEARSE recorded a 7" single titled "Torch" and the release is set for the 12th of August. Furthermore the band almost completed the recordings for their debut-album titled "Dominion Reptillian".
IMPIOUS is currently working in the studio on their upcoming "The Deathquad" MCD. Their new full-length album "The Killer" will be released on the 9th of September. www.impious.net
MACABRE have been busy writing recipes for the new "Murder Metal" album. Some of the songtitles are ‘Hillside Stranglers’, ‘Dying To Be With You’, ‘Brudos & Acid Bath Murderer’. According to the band the new album is going to be diverse and very sick. www.mindmelt.com/macabre
PRIMORDIAL will do a mini-tour with Callenish Circle and Danish labelmates Mercenary at the end of September. www.primordial.tk
SATARIEL is working on new material for their upcoming album titled "Hydra". www.come.to/satariel
SEPTIC FLESH has just completed the recordings for their upcoming album "Summerian Daemons". Some of the songtitles are ‘Red Code Cult’, ‘Infernal Sun’, ‘Dark River’ and ‘Mechanical Babylon’. The photosession is done with the professional assistance of the notorious Greek special FX duo (The Alahouzos Brothers). According to the band it will be the most intense, twisted and evil images you have ever witnessed… www.go.to/septicflesh
SEVERE TORTURE will have their official CD-release party for "Misanthropic Carnage" on the 30th of August in the 013 club in Tilburg. Pyaemia will play as support-act that night. www.severetorture.com
SKYFIRE will play their first gig ever on the Kult-festival in Västeras (Sweden) on August the 24th. Other bands on the festival are Entombed, Big Elf and Skinfected. Aside from that the band has been working on new material. The band is in contact with Mattias Noren (Star One, Evergrey) for the artwork of the new album. www.listen.to/skyfire
THYRFING finally decided to do some live-shows to promote their new album. A package with Thyrfing and Cruachan to do a mini-tour in the Benelux early December is in the planning stage right now. www.thyrfing.com
MALEVOLENT CREATION have finished recording their 8th full-length album titled "The Will To Kill" at Mana Studios in Tampa, Florida. Recorded and engineered by Shawn Ohtani, 11 tracks have been recorded. Canadian Producer Jean Francois Dagenais was denied access into the United States twice due to visa complications and delayed the recording a bit which resulted in 6 additional tracks not being recorded during these sessions. The additional tracks will be recorded at a later time. Producer Jean Francois Dagenais and the band will enter the recording studio August 25th to mix and master the album. The track listing is as follows: ‘The Will To Kill’, ‘Divide And Conquer’, ‘The Cardinals Law’, ‘Superior Firepower’, ‘Lifeblood’, ‘Rebirth Of Terror’, ‘With Murderous Precision’, ‘All That Remains’, ‘Pillage And Burn’, ‘Burnt Beyond Recognition’ and ‘Assasin Squad’. Look for "The Will To Kill" for a October / November release date, with a world tour to soon follow.
Germany’s Death Metal lunatics THORNESBREED are looking for possibilities to play. If you can help them out in that department, feel free to contact them for all further details at www.thornesbreed.de
Here’s the latest news from the DEW-SCENTED guys for you… "The last months have been pretty exciting for Dew-Scented, as we have played some great festivals such as Summer Rocks in Budapest, With Full Force (probably the biggest show in our band history so far!) as well as our first American show at Milwaukee Metalfest 2002. We actually just returned from the USA and we had an awesome time there! Thanks to everybody who hooked us up and helped us for the show – we had blast on stage and it was great to be able to make so many new friends over there! We would especially like to thank Rob Grohl & Milwaukee Metalfest, the whole great staff of Nuclear Blast America & Century Media Records as well as the people we met, hung out and partied with: Misery Index, Arch Enemy, Silencer, Angel Dust, Jag Panzer, Macabre, Kataklysm, Tad Morose, Susperia, Onward and many others we got to know over there. We are definitely looking forward to coming back to North America sometime later in 2003 for a more extensive tour… so keep your eyes open for that!!!"
HELL-BORN finished recording their 3rd CD called "The Call Of Megiddo" which will be available in mid September 2002. The album was recorded at Hertz Studio in Poland (Dies Irae, Decapitated). www.hellborndirect.com
April ETHEREAL are about to complete their second album "Al Azif". The album was recorded at Green Studio in Krakow (one of the best studio for Metal bands) and will be available in October / November 2002. www.apriletheral.com
Conquer Records have signed Grind / Deathers EPITOME to release their album "SupeROTic Performance". The CD will be available as a limited digi-pack format soon. www.conquerec.com
QUO VADIS‘ next album "Krol" will be available mid September 2002. http://quovadis.meta.pl
Dark Realm Records have come to agreement with Damnation Records in Holland to reissue PENTACLE‘s "Ancient Death" CD. The disc includes two Mantas (pre-Death) cover songs taken from the Mantas / Death demo days. The reissue will also have a song taken from their out of print 10" EP. Additionally, the recording features K.K. Warslut of Destroyer 666 fame lending his vocals on one of the tracks. Right now PENTACLE are writing new songs for a full-length album. They are also looking for a new label because Damnation Records (R.I.P.) has pulled the plug on all their releases. This means that at this time it’s still uncertain when the new album will be out for sale. 4 songs are almost ready and some songs are half done. The band is gonna look for a suitable studio first to record a demo to get the interest of record labels. After that they hope they can get into the studio again to record all the new stuff they have. At this time no gigs are planned for at least the end of this year to get more time to work on the new songs.
PESSIMIST hits the road for a full-scale assault across the U.S., joined by DIVINE RAPTURE for several East Coast dates, and KAOS RISING in the midwest. The tour is set for Oct. 04 thru Nov. 03, starting in NY and featuring stops in Tampa FL, Atlanta GA, Chicago and several shows in TX and CA. Some dates are TBA, stay tuned to the Pessimist web site (www.pessimist.com) for updates.
PANDEMIA from the Czech Republic will release their new album "Personal Demon" through Lost Disciple Records shortly.
Denmark’s melodic Death Metal act COMPOS MENTIS will have their debut unleashed in Sept. / Oct. entitled "Fragments Of A Withered Dream". The album features artwork by Travis Smith (November’s Doom / Nevermore) and was produced by Jacob Hanson (Withering Surface / Thronium).
NOCTUARY have been invited back to Mexico. They had a killer turnout there back in May, so expect new appearances later in Sept. / Oct. as well as a possible jaunt in the US up the West Coast, East Coast or both.
East Frisian FUNERAL PROCESSION have finally finished the recording of their 2nd demo "Solar Eclipse". The demo was recorded with an analog 4-tracker, includes four songs and has a playing-time of more than 28 minutes. The line-Up for the recording was: Iwein – guitars, Ole – drums, Count Gothmog – bass & vocals and Satyrus Sancti – synths, guitars & add. vocals. The release is scheduled for September via the Polish label Devil Worship Rec. that already released the SAURON debut-CD at the end of 2001. Feel free to contact Devil Worship Rec. at ritual666@poczta.onet.pl Furtheron, FUNERAL PROCESSION are preparing the launch of their official homepage at www.funeralprocession.net. This may nevertheless still take some time.
The Rage Of Achilles label will launch Rage Of Achilles USA at the end of the summer, with a US based office, domestic US promotion, marketing and distribution. The US operation will be run on a daily basis by Killjoy (NECROPHAGIA, THE RAVENOUS, EIBON, Baphomet Records) in conjunction with Rage Of Achilles in the UK. The first three official US releases through this new set-up will be MISTRESS’ self titled album, UNDERLORD’s "Rise Of The Ancient Kings" and TEEN CTHULHU’s "Ride The Blade".
HATE ETERNAL‘s "King Of All Kings" album will be released on September 16th through Earache. The tracklisting: ‘Our Beckoning’, ‘King Of All Kings’, ‘The Obscure Terror’, ‘Servants Of The Gods’, ‘Beyond Redemption’, ‘Born By Fire’, ‘Chants In Declaration’, ‘Rising Legions Of Black’, ‘In Spirit (The Power Of Mana)’ and ‘Powers That Be’.
Peaceville have signed ABSCESS, who previously worked with the label under the name AUTOPSY. On signing to Peaceville Chris Reifert said, "At last the band finally feels at home on a record label. This record is clearly Abscess’ tightest, heaviest, weirdest and most thought out effort to date." Their new album, "Through The Cracks Of Death", is due out on September 23rd.
Spain’s ASGAROTH have signed a deal with Peaceville. The band came to the attention of the label on a visit to Barcelona last year when they heard their Spanish only album "Red Shift", released through Abstract Emotions. The band’s debut for Peaceville will be out on October 14th.
KATATONIA are in Sweden writing material for their next album, due out early next year through Peaceville.
NAUSEA L.A. will perform at The Iron Room in Downey, CA on July 28th. Other acts on the bill include CATTLE DECAPITATION, INFAMY, CREMATORIUM, EPICEDIUM and others. NAUSEA L.A.’s new album, "The Suffering Continues" is out now on Collapsed Unity Records.
DYING FETUS are currently writing material for their forthcoming full-length, "Stop At Nothing", due out in January. Some advance song titles include: ‘Schematics’, ‘One Shot, One Kill’, ‘Stop At Nothing’ and ‘Forced Elimination’.
The official EXHUMED discography, "Platters Of Splatter" is coming soon. This 2CD documentation of the past decade will also be available as a limited edition 3CD set (containing the most underground of all the band’s recordings) – available only through Relapse mailorder.
MORTICIAN are currently writing / recording material for their forthcoming album due out in 2003.
According to their website, the forthcoming NAPALM DEATH album (being recorded at Chapel Studios) "is going well – a few vocal tracks to do and some more guitars before we get in to the mixing stage but so far it’s sounding super heavy and fast. We have recorded a couple of songs by a band called SEPTIC DEATH (‘Terror Rain’ and ‘Thaw’) which have turned out cool so they should surface sometime soon…"
MY DYING BRIDE have been out on the road for the past few months. At the band’s website, www.mydyingbride.org, you will find a tour diary that gives you a glimpse on how the band themselves experience a live gig. There are new updates on gigs in Athens, Dublin and a festival in Milan.
DECAPITATED are gearing up for their first-ever US tour, with INCANTATION, IMPALED, VEHEMENCE and DEAD TO FALL. The Summer Blasphemy Tour kicks off July 25th in Columbus, OH, and includes stops at the Milwaukee Metalfest, The World Series Of Metal in Cleveland, and the Summer Blasphemy Festival in San Francisco. According to frontman Sauron, "We are psyched to finally bring our music to America and meet the American fans."
NUCLEAR ASSAULT frontman John Connelly recently spent time at Screaming Ferret Studios finishing up work on the band’s forthcoming live reunion album, due out later this year. While in the studio Connelly also recorded vocals for ‘Smoke Stack’, a track for the next CANDY STRIPER DEATH ORGY album, and recorded guitar for the track ‘Holicostic’, to appear on the same album. Nuclear Assault will perform on August 3rd at the Wacken Open Air festival.
SHINING‘s new album, "Shining III: Angst", is out through Avantgarde on September 5th.
Poland’s STROMMOUSSHELD will release their new album in December through Avantgarde.
CARPATHIAN FOREST‘s "We Are Going To Hell For This" is out through Avantgarde in September.
Avantgarde have licensed ULVER‘s "Madrigal Of Night" from Century Media for Europe. A September release is expected.
The upcoming BEHEMOTH / DESTROYER 666 / DIABOLIC tour kicks off on November 2nd at Baroeg in Rotterdam, NL. The dates wrap up on November 18th at Le Son in Coimbra, PR. Select dates will also include DEICIDE, MYSTIC CIRCLE, ANATAEUS and CENTINEX.
BLACK WITCHERY have signed a two-album deal with Osmose Records.
DARK FUNERAL will tour Asia for the first time in October. Japanese dates are currently booked and the band also plan to play Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand.
VENOM‘s "Welcome To Hell Live" is out through Burning Airlines Records on August 12th. It features previously unreleased live material recorded during the bands Prime Evil tour of Europe. The set comes in deluxe packaging.
Earache have released limited edition vinyl reissues of several titles including TERRORIZER‘s "World Downfall", NAPALM DEATH‘s "Scum", CARCASS‘ "Reek Of Putrification" and MORBID ANGEL‘s "Altars Of Madness". The albums are limited to 1000 copies, are pressed from the original vinyl plates and come on 220g vinyl in a hard card sleeve and quality inner bag.
Candlelight Records have bought the rights for CENTINEX‘s "Hellbrigade", "Bloodhunt", "Reborn Through Flames" and "Malleus Maleficarum" albums. The titles will be reissued with new artwork, layout and bonus tracks early next year. Also, a vinyl version of the "Diabolical Desolation" album will be released in August via Finland’s Northern Sound Records. The release will be limited to 1000 copies and features new artwork and layout.