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HIRAX are currently writing songs for their new album, tentatively titled "The New Age Of Terror" and have just been confirmed to appear at this year’s ‘Bang Your Head’ festival in Germany. www.bang-your-head.de/home.htm More European tour dates will be announced soon. www.HIRAX.org
Swedish Thrashers THE CROWN, recently rejoined by original vocalist Johan Lindstrand, have booked studio time at Gotheburg’s Studio Fredman for the recording and mixing of their forthcoming album, tentatively due in early September through Metal Blade Records. The band will enter the studio on May 5 and should be "all done" by June 15. Among the tracks set to appear on the group’s as-yet-untitled CD are the following: ‘No Tomorrow’, ‘Face Of Destruction / Deep Hit Of Death’, ‘Are You Morbid?’, ‘Cold Is The Grave’, ‘Kill ‘Em All’, ‘Natashead Overdrive’, ‘Dawn Of Emptiness’ and ‘Crown Of Thorns’. According to bassist Magnus Olsfelt, "This time we are heading for the ultimate and so far it sounds very promising. The new material is pretty diverse but in general the songs have more power. Hard-hitting and straight forward, with more natural flow. So that the energy and force comes straight back to you."
OPETH have confirmed a string of Australian dates in April: 10 – The Arena – Brisbane, 11 – Corner Hotel – Melbourne, 12 – Uni Bar – Adelaide and 13 – Metro – Sydney
KREATOR and DESTRUCTION will both perform for the first time in Russia at a co-headlining gig on March 29th at Moscow’s Dynamo Sport Hall.
DEEDS OF FLESH‘s new album will be called "Reduced To Ashes" and will feature eight new tracks clocking in at over 40 minutes. Recording begins at the end of February. The band have confirmed they’ll take part in a European tour with DYING FETUS and HATE ETERNAL, scheduled for late Summer.
THE HAUNTED have confirmed gigs on April 2nd (The Boroeg – Rotterdam, NETH) and May 3rd (Southern Discomfort Festival – Kristiansand, NOR).
SINISTER are currently recording their new album, "Savage Or Grace?", in Excess Studios in Rotterdam, Holland. The album is out through Nuclear Blast on May 12th. Tracks on the release will include: ‘Dominion’, ‘Collapse Rewind’, ‘Righteous Indignations’ and ‘The Age Of Murder’. In other news, the band will play Mexico City’s Circo Volador on March 22nd.
DARKANE have been added to the list of performers appearing at the Sweden Rock Festival in Solvesborg, Sweden. The festival takes place June 6 – 8, with Darkane set to perform on June 7th.
VOMITORY will play at the Motala Metal Festival in Motala / Sweden on April 19th. Other acts performing include VADER, TANKARD, STORMWARRIOR, FINNTROLL, EVERYGREY, PARAGON and AUTOPSY TORMENT. Check out the festival’s website at: www.tpl.se/misc/metalfest.htm
To hold fans over until the next new KRISIUN album, the band’s live DVD, "Live Armageddon", will be released later this year.
SATYRICON‘s upcoming European tour will now include a stop in Russia on March 29th at DKG in Moscow.
DEICIDE, AMON AMARTH and BEHEMOTH are said to be hooking up for a North American tour that will be begin in early March.
SAMAEL guitarist / vocalist Vorph had to be operated on recently for a broken fibula. Although eleven screws are keeping it together, the accident never affected his participation in the already running tour with CATHEDRAL and WITHOUT FACE.
OLD MAN’S CHILD‘s "In Defiance Of Existence" has entered Norway’s National Chart at #34.
Swedish Death / Black Metallers STORMRIDER are recording their first album at Abyss Studios. A May release through Destructive Records is expected.
AMON AMARTH will kick off their US tour on March 7th at the New Jersey Metalfest. Other acts on the tour include DEICIDE, BEHEMOTH and a support act. A full list of tour dates will be announced shortly at amonamarth.com/.
LEUKORRHEA are currently writing material for their new album, "Breeding Salvation", due out in June. The band have written 14 songs for the disc, which will clock in at about 45 minutes. It will likely feature a re-recorded track from their "Hatefucked And Tortured" release (which will be reissued in early March) and possibly some video footage and CDROM material.
Avantgarde Music have reissued a remastered version of ULVER‘s "Nattens Madrigal" album.
ANCIENT has started working on their fifth album for Metal Blade. It will be recorded in the studio of producer Jacob Hansen (who also did "Proxima Centauri") in the very south of Denmark this summer. The line-up is the same as on the last album, though Deadly Kristin is moving to the USA this spring. An album-title hasn’t been set yet. The band will be taking some small breaks in the writing process and do some concerts around Europe in March and April, as well as a trip to South America where possibly some live-recordings will take place. For further info check the bands official website: www.ancientband.com
Diamond Productions signed with GOLEM to release their latest demo "Death Never Dies" on CD, remastered by Dario Mollo. It will be out in May 2003. GOLEM is a melodic Death Metal band from Italy in the vein of CHILDREN OF BODOM.
Diamond Productions also signed Germany’s brutal Death Metal act DISINFECT. The band will record their second album for the label soon. The release is scheduled for September 2003. For more info check out: www.diamond-prod.com
The first bands for this year’s FUCK THE COMMERCE festival are confirmed. Check out our tourdates section for further details.
The long awaited INGURGITATING OBLIVION / SENESCENCE concept split CD "Harvest" is finally released. It contains the INGURGITATING MCD "Cadence And Perspective In Desolation" which already received rave reviews as well as previously unreleased material by the sick Death Doomsters SENESCENCE (R.I.P.). Contact: thought-cathedral@gmx.de and www.ingurgitating-oblivion.de
VADER will only play 4 shows on the band’s forthcoming tour through France. The other (earlier announced) shows have been postponed until VADER’s next tour through Europe with ARKHON INFAUSTUS and ARISE in April and May. The promoter of the tour apologizes for these changes and invites all French maniacs to Calais, Grenoble, Avignon & Bordeaux.
The new Swedish music award show "Manifest" have revealed the nominees for 2002. In the Hardrock / Punk category, VOMITORY are nominated with their "Blood Rapture" album. Other nominees in this category are In Flames – "Reroute To Remain", Thåström – "Mannen Som Blev En Gris", Spiritual Beggars – "On Fire" and Totalt Jävla Mörker – "Det Ofrivilliga Lidandets Maskineri". The award show, which will be hosted by Miss Universe, will take place at Kulturhuset in Stockholm, Sweden on the 31st of January. On April 19th, VOMITORY will play at the Motala Metal Festival in Motala / Sweden. The other bands are Vader, Tankard, Stormwarrior, Finntroll, Evergrey, Paragon and Autopsy Torment. Website: www.tpl.se/misc/metalfest.htm, www.vomitory.net
The new IN AETERNUM album is entitled "Nuclear Armageddon" and will be out this spring on Regain Records. The band is going on a two week tour in Europe between the 9th and 25th of May together with GOSPEL OF THE HORNS and RAZOR OF OCCAM. IN AETERNUM also have a new web address at the end of this week, so update your links: www.inaeternum.net
"Caught On Tape", the first DVD from THE HAUNTED, is out now. It contains two complete live shows from the "Made Me Do It" World Tour, including incendiary shows from Tokyo where they performed in front of 2000 fans, and the more intense setting of the 200 capacity Malmo. Bonus features include a 25 minute documentary of the behind the scenes action during the recording session for the new album, "One Kill Wonder", with exclusive interviews with the band members and producer. Two advance audio tracks from the upcoming album are also featured. A PAL version is available now for $20 post paid from the Earache webstore.
Florida’s HATE ETERNAL, will embark on their historic, first-ever headlining tour, kicking off in New Orleans on Valentine’s Day. This coast-to-coast tour features support acts DYING FETUS, KATAKLYSM and INTO ETERNITY.
Cleveland, Ohio’s DESTRUCTOR will be making their European debut at this year’s Bang Your Head 2003 festival. The band will be performing twice at the festival – the ‘Warm-up Show’ on Thursday, June 26th and opening up the main stage on Friday, June 27th. Destructor’s newest addition to the band is bass player Jamie Walters from Cleveland band Boulder. Jamie joins the original three members – Dave Overkill (guitar / vocals), Pat Rabid (guitar) and Matt Flammable (drums). Since bass player Dave Iannicca’s murder in 1988, Destructor have struggled through a revolving door of bass players. The band had been working on their second album "Decibel Casualties" at the time of Dave’s death, which was to help launch a joint major label venture between Auburn and Island Records. Unfortunately, the album never saw the light of day and the incident forced the band into hiatus in the early 90s. With Jamie, who had been a long time fan of the band since his younger years, the band now feels they have the right chemistry in place to properly move forward once again. Destructor will be entering Breaker guitarist Don Depew’s 609 Recording Studios in Cleveland to record brand new material in March. An EP, "Sonic Bullet", will be released by Auburn in May. It will include new studio tracks along with ‘live’ tracks Auburn recorded this past August when Destructor opened for Slayer in Cleveland. A full-length will follow in the summer. Auburn also plans to reissue "Maximum Destruction" later this year with the original vinyl mix, cover art and previously unreleased bonus tracks (a reissue was released in 1999 on the Listenable label out of France). Plans are in the works to put out some unreleased recordings from a 1999 session as well. In addition, Destructor will contribute a track to the forthcoming Auburn compilation "Heavy Artillery-Volume 2". www.auburnrecords.com
DISMEMBER is currently working in the Stockholm-based Sami studio on their new album. The album will be titled "Where Ironcrosses Grow" and the release is scheduled for September through Dutch recordlabel Hammerheart Records. The recordings will be produced by drummer Fred Estby, assisted by studio-engineer Olle Sandqvist. Some of the songtitles on the new album are ‘Tragedy Of The Faithful’, ‘Sword Of Light’ and the title-track ‘Where Ironcrosses Grow’. According to Fred Estby the new material will be darker, a little less melodic and more aggressive than ever. Lyrically vocalist Matti Karkki headed even more in the direction of describing war at its ugliest, stories about sick minds creating sick situations and loads of religious criticism.
Japan’s DEFILED will release their new album "Divination" on Season Of Mist on May 12 (May 20 in the US).
Italy’s EPHEL DUATH have finally recorded, mixed and mastered their second album "The Painter’s Palette". Davide Tiso has assembled a whole new line-up, with each new member bringing their own individual style and influence into the melting pot.
Finland’s Death Metal prodigies FARMAKON are set for the studio on February 1st to record their debut album. You can follow the band’s progress with the online diary here: http://farmakon.suddenlaunch.com/index.cgi?board=studio
Norway’s progressive Death / Black Metal act LUNARIS have stated that the work on their forthcoming album is now to take priority over the band’s possible live work in the immediate future. This means the planned UK tour and the appearance at the Inferno Festival will now no longer take place. A few big-named producers are in the frame for the band’s next recording session, likely to be around May / June. There’s no title yet, but keyboard player Ray is very satisfied with the rehearsals, proclaiming the new material to be far more aggressive than before, without losing that technical edge.
The new KRIEG album is recorded and will again be issued by Red Stream in early 2003.
Blood, Fire, Death Records will release the following albums within the next months: LUGRUBRUM ("De Totem"), PEST ("Hail The Black Metal Wolves Of Belial") and DEBAUCHERY ("Dead Silent Scream").
BETHLEHEM will issue their "Suicide Radio" interactive CD-rom shortly which includes video clips, remixed songs, photo gallery, flash animation, discography and more. The band is also writing an entirely new album that will be released on Red Stream. It is said to be a combination of all known Bethlehem styles.
DARK FORTRESS will have a release party for their next album "Profane Genocidal Creations" with Sear Bliss and Cirith Gorgor on February 15th, in Landshut, Germany.
Baphomet Records are about to release CDs by ETERNAL SILENCE, SVARTPEST (feat. two NECROPHAGIA members) and SOUL FORSAKEN‘s "Tales of the Macabre".
Red Stream will release the debut CD of MIRRORTHRONE from Switzerland.