With the release of their upcoming new 7" "Humade Me Flesh" on April 8, Germany’s PROFANITY will include a CD-R version of the same material. This CD-R will only be available along with the 7" (strictly limited to 200 hand numbered copies) for 5Euro (instead of 4Euro for the 7" alone). The band decided to do that because of the fact that many fans obviously don’t own a record player (anymore). For all further details contact: tom@profanity.de
If you’re following the extreme underground movement a little bit longer already, you will most certainly be aware of DOOM and ELECTRO HIPPIES, two bands from the UK, that started out around the same time as NAPALM DEATH, CARCASS, BOLT THROWER and the likes. With their Punk / Crust / (old) Hardcore attitude they not necessarily fit into our musical concept (apart from their extremity), but have been influential enough to still get a mention here. DOOM were in fact the first band to get signed by Peaceville Records, while ELECTRO HIPPIES’ original line-up still featured Jeff Walker on vocals, who went on to CARCASS after the band had recorded / released a demo and a 12" single. Most recently Peaceville Records have released digi-pack CD’s of both bands that feature a lot of their classic recordings. "Total Doom" by DOOM comes up with 37 tracks, taken from their "War Crimes – Inhuman Beings" album from 1988, the 1989 "Bury The Debt – Not The Dead" split-album with Swedish NO SECURITY and the "Police Bastard" EP. The ELECTRO HIPPIES disk is entitled "The Only Good Punk" and features 40 songs in total. In particular that is their 1987 debut "The Only Good Punk… Is A Dead One", the "Electro Hippies – Live" album from 1989 and their contributions to the Peaceville compilations "A Vile Peace" and "Hiatus". So, if you’re also into the early Crust / Hardcore / Punk kinda stuff you definitely should give these two releases your attention. Further info: www.peaceville.com
HORRID, Italy’s most Swedish sounding Death Metal act, will release an anthology CD entitled "Evil’s Birth 1989-2002" in May. It contains the band’s "Blasphemic Creatures" MCD, their second demo "You Are Mine", three unreleased live songs (‘Obscurity’, ‘Mephistophelian Chaos’ and ‘The Period Of Deep Thought’) and ‘Winds Of Procreation’ (Live) from their 7".
On March 28 AMON AMARTH will make an appearance on TV3 in Sweden. The TV-show is called "Baren" (The Bar) and is a so called "Docu-Soap". This show is broadcasted nationwide, and has been one of the more popular "Docu-soaps" in Sweden the last couple of years. Sins of Omission, who are joining Amon Amarth on their European tour, will play this show as well.
"Diabolical Desolation", the new album by Sweden’s CENTINEX is out now in Europe, except in Sweden due to distribution problems. But things have been cleared up in the meantime so the album should be available over there as well within the near future. The U.S release-date has been postponed to April 30th. In ralted news, the band has ended their collaboration with First Contact Agency, so if you’re interested in booking Centinex you should get in touch with them directly. www.centinex.org
After months of delays, SATYRICON will begin mixing their new album this week in Denmark with Jeff "Critter" Newell (MINISTRY, GUNS N¹ ROSES) and Satyr at the helm.
IMPIOUS have replaced drummer Ulf Johansson with Mikael Norén.
Displeased Records will release MENTAL HORROR‘s "Proclaiming Vengeance" album on March 25th.
The Art Of Sickness European tour featuring CRYPTOPSY, HAEMORRHAGE, PROFANITY and SPAWN kicks off on April 12th at Die Scheune in Lachheim / Markt Taschendorf, Germany. The dates wrap up on May 5th at K17 in Berlin, Germany
AMON AMARTH are in the middle of writing new material for their upcoming album, set to be recorded in August at Berno Studios in Malmoe, Sweden. The album is yet to be named but tracks to appear on the release include ‘Bloodshed’, ‘.. And Soon The World Will Cease To Be’ and ‘Vs. The World’. The band are currently planning a European tour…
CANNIBAL CORPSE came in at #11 on the Billboard Independent Music Chart, for the first week of release of "Gore Obsessed". The band will embark on their first US tour in support of the album headlining the Spring Neck Break 2K2, which kicks off on March 29th. Cannibal Corpse will also be doing an in-store signing in San Diego CA at Blue Meanie Records. The in-store will take place between 3 – 4pm on April 23rd. "Gore Obsessed" entered the German Top 100 at #71.
GOREAPHOBIA‘s original members from the first demo Alex Bouks, Henny Piotrowski and Craig Smilowski are together again for the first time since 1990. Their rather Black Metal-ish sounding frontman "No One" went on to other projects. Ever since they have been working on new material, which will be in the vein of the first demo – "… short, fast, to the point and catchy" . The band even decided to scrap all of the songs from their "Return To The Shadowlands" 2001 promo to restart with brandnew material. We’ll keep you posted.
Dark Realm Records has obtained North and South American rights to re-release "Violence And Blasphemy" from Polish Death / Black Metallers WITCHMASTER. The album is scheduled for an April 2002 release. During the same month Dark Realm Records will reissue PENTACLE’s "Ancient Death" CD with an added bonus track for this exclusive North American release. sadisticintent.net/realmreleases.html They also have copies of the "Reaching The Veil Of Death" MCD from America’s Death Metal artist THE CHASM available for trade now.
Here’s another update on the happenings in the SADISTIC INTENT camp: "For the past few months Bernie Versailles (studio / engineer) has been occupied recording not just one, but two full-length records with his own groups (Agent Steel / Engine). Therefore, SADISTIC INTENT has not been in the studio since October, 2001. Regardless, it is imperative for the band that Dark Realm Records must continue and it certainly has been busy in that aspect… Nevertheless, the fact is Bernie also has other projects so unfortunately we expect more delays (hopefully not as long as this last one!), but he has agreed to get back on task with SADISTIC INTENT by late March and make it a priority. The session has already been through so many set backs that we anticipate things can only get better! Relatively speaking, there is not a lot of re-tracking left so if all goes as planned, the recording should be done by the summer. After that, it will be up to Necropolis Records to schedule a release date. On the subject of recordings, SADISTIC INTENT has decided to release the cover of ‘The Exorcist’ by the legendary Death Metal gods Possessed, featuring Jeff Becerra on vocals!!! It is a complete honor for SADISTIC INTENT to have collaborated with such an important and pioneering artist of the Death / Black Metal scene! To simply put it (for those who know Metal history!), the voice behind albums such as "Seven Churches" and "Beyond The Gates"!!! The song has been recorded for a couple years now and finally it shall be released by the cult German label, Iron Pegasus Records! It will be a limited edition picture disc 7" EP, also featuring the re-recorded classic (originally written in 1988!) SADISTIC INTENT song entitled ‘Morbid Faith’! This is an exclusive version and not the same one featured on the "Thrashing Holocaust" compilation by Necropolis Records. Further information on "The Exorcist / Morbid Faith" as it comes along… As far as the Web Lair updates, some new photo’s have been added to the Off Stage Photo Galleries. Some of them include members of Possessed, Slayer, Destruction, Morbid Angel, Immortal, Dissection, Enslaved, In Aeternum and several others! More photo’s will be added in the near future. In other news, SADISTIC INTENT just recently returned from a couple of shows in New Jersey and New York with Destroyer666, Nun Slaughter, Bloodstorm & others! We would like to thank all of those who helped make these events possible and last but not least, to the diehards who were present at The Destruction Festivals! The next appearance will be in Los Angeles at The Hell Fest 2002. This is the first L.A. show in well over a year for SADISTIC INTENT! It also marks the end of an era for the band with it’s current line-up. After being a member of the group for over a decade, Vince Cervera has decided to "move on". It was a mutual understanding and now we would like to take this moment to wish him luck. As far as the future of SADISTIC INTENT, we already have a promising guitar player in mind and will begin rehearsing shortly after The Hell Fest. Once again, another obstacle but it will not stop us! Embracing the unholy spirit, it shall only make us stronger…"
After they parted ways with Hammerheart Records, Danish extreme Death Metal lunatics EXMORTEM have just been signed by Osmose Productions. The band is looking forward to record their new album during the summer.
The PENTACLE gig that was planned on March the 23rd in Flensburg got canceled. Somehow the place was double booked and the gig cannot take place anymore. But there’s also some good, PENTACLE related news. The band’s releases "The Fifth Moon", "Rides The Moonstorm" and "Ancient Death" will all be released on tape by Witchhammer Prod. from Thailand. It will be on sale this summer. The vinyl version of "Ancient Death" will also be available very soon. The official PENTACLE homepage address has been changed : www.metalprovider.com/pentacle
THRONEAEON are very sad to announce that the shows in Gothenburg and Stockholm this weekend have been cancelled. Their drummer is unfortunately sick with pneumonia.
VADER have just finished the recordings to their newest album "Revelations". During the session the band got help from LUX OCCULTA’s Ureck, who contributed the intro and several keyboard backdrops. During the 200-hour session the band laid to tape 14 tracks and a cover of MORBID ANGEL’s ‘Immortal Rites’. The tracklisting reads like this: ‘Son Of Fire’, ‘As The Fallen Raise’, ‘Lukewarm Race’, ‘Nomad’, ‘The Code’, ‘Revelation Of Black Moses’, ‘Torch Of War’, ‘Grand Traveller’, ‘Epitaph’, ‘Wolftribe’, ‘Whisper’, ‘When Darkness Calls’, ‘Devotion’ and ‘Angel Of Death’. The album was recorded at Red Studio, where "Litany" and "Reign Forever World" were created as well. The entire graphic side of the project – the cover artwork for all formats, posters, ads – was handled, as usual, by Jacek Wisniewski. "Revelations" will have several release dates. The earliest has been reserved for Japan, where fans will b able to listen to the album released by Avalon / Marquee Inc. on May 22nd. Five days later, on May 27th, Metal Mind will release the album in Poland. June 2nd will mark the world-wide release for Europe and the USA. To make each of these editions unique, the band decided to supplement each edition with a bonus track. The basic Polish, European and American versions of "Revelations" will feature 9 tracks: ‘Epitaph’, ‘Torch Of War’, ‘Nomad’, ‘Grand Traveller’, ‘The Code’, ‘Wolftribe’, ‘Devotion’, ‘Whisper’ and ‘Revelation Of Black Moses’. The Japanese version will have two bonuses: ‘Angel Of Death’ and ‘As The Fallen Rise’. Metal Blade are also planning to release a digi-pack edition with the ‘Lukewarm Race’ bonus while Metal Mind will supplement theirs with ‘Son Of Fire’. Metal Mind are also set to release the limited box containing the CD, a T-shirt, a sticker or a badge, and a poster. It is also possible that the American edition will feature, as extra bonus material, the "Reign Forever World" material, which has not been released in the States yet.