Metallian Heavy

Ottawa, Canada-based MISSHAPEN has a debut demo called Transcendence out February 8th. The band is compared to AT THE GATES and CHILDREN OF BODOM.

Florida, USA-based CRYPTERIA issued its self-titled demo in October 2018. It is mixed and mastered by Jacob Hansen.

Anthony of KAOTEON has a new project called DEATH TRIBE. The Beyond Pain And Pleasure: A Desert Experiment demo is out this month and features drummer Mattias Landes (DARK FORTRESS) and bassist Linus Klausenitzer (OBSCURA).

COFFIN BIRTH’s The Serpent Insignia full-length by the “Mediterranean death metallers” is out through Time To Kill Records.

Black metal band UNENDLICH’s Thanatophobia album is out through Horror Pain Gore Death this month. The band is compared to ULVER.

DE PROFUNDIS, TERRORIZER and SKELETAL REMAINS just completed a tour across Europe.

The Netherlands-based PUTREFIED CORPSE has signed a deal with Xtreem Music for the release of its debut album Left To Rot, which is scheduled for March.

ZOHAMAH’s Spreading My Ashes is out through Redefining Darkness Records this month.

CONTINUUM will release an album, called Designed Obsolescence, through Unique Leader Records this month. The death metal band recorded with Zack Ohren.

ENTHRONED has signed a deal with Season Of Mist. A new album is expected this year.

Mighty Music has signed Norway-based BLOOD RED THRONE. The band’s next full-length album, entitled Fit To Kill, is due this summer.

SWALLOW THE SUN has a new song called Upon The Water, which was inspired by the death of South African goth singer Aleah Liane Stanbridge. She was a member of TREES OF ETERNITY and had collaborated with SWALLOW THE SUN. She was also in a relationship with Juha of SWALLOW THE SUN. It is taken from the band’s When A Shadow Is Forced Into The Light album, which was released by Century Media on January 25th.

Redefining Darkness Records is issuing MĘKA’s Ending My Life To Destroy Yours and CAUSTIC VOMIT’s Festering Odes To Deformity this month.

DARK OATH was and is part of this year’s line-up of Hardmetalcamp (Portugal) and Rockmetalcamp (in Saint-Hilaire-les-Places, near Limoges, France) respectively taking place on January 12th and May 31st.

Argentina-based band PRION’s Aberrant Calamity album is out through Comatose this month. Flavio Coscarella is on drums.

UK-based doom metal band DEAD WITCHES, featuring ELECTRIC WIZARD’s Mark Greening, will issue The Final Exorcism album through Heavy Psych Sounds Records this month.

USA-based doom/death band NIGHT HAG has an EP called Insemination Rites Of The Succubus through Horror Pain Gore Death this month.

Black Tears has reached a deal with FROSTMOON ECLIPSE (Italy) to release an album entitled Legacy II sometime this year.

Inspired by KEEL? A new line-up of AGENT STEEL featuring original singer Jon Cyriss will perform at the Keep It True festival in at the end of April and at the Metalheadz Open Air on June 1st in Germany. The new line-up is promising a mix of older songs and a collection of tracks from an upcoming 2019 album entitled 8 Lights Protocol.

Inspired by KEEL? DISMEMBER and its original line-up is back together for a show at the Scandinavia Deathfest 2019, which will take place in October in Stockholm. Other bands playing include BENEDICTION, BIRDFLESH, CENTINEX and GENERAL SURGERY.

DEVILISH IMPRESSIONS headlined Dark Winter Meeting Festival in Malta on the 26th of Jan with more shows to be announced in due course.

USA-based black metal band OCULUM DEI has a demo called Dreams Of Desire And Torment. The trio uses a drum machine.

REVULSED has signed to Everlasting Spew Records. The Australia-based band will release an album in late 2019.

Art Gates Records has opened an office in Mexico to work the Latin American market.

DUNKELNACHT has an album called Empires Of Mediocracy through Non Serviam Records on 28.02.2019. DUNKELNACHT will embark on the Empires UK Tour 2019 in the mid-February.

SIX FEET UNDER’s bassist Jeff Hughell released a new solo demo, entitled Sleep Deprivation, on January 25th. SIX FEET UNDER drummer Marco Pitruzzella is also on the recording.

PIERCED, which features former members of New Jersey-based bands DIVISION 1.1, LION-HEARTED and FREAK OF THE DAY, has a self-titled demo. The band is looking to perform live in 2019.

Canada-based “melodic death/folk metal” band BLACKGUARD has announced its first show in over four years as well as their plans to independently release a demo called Storm in 2019 to follow its 2011 full-length Firefight on Victory Records and 2009’s Profugus Mortis released through Sumerian. The band is opening for CRIMSON SHADOWS in Toronto at the Coalition on March 22nd.

PISSING RAZORS has signed a deal with Art Is War Records. The band’s next album will be released in late 2019. A single, called Crushing Grip, is out now.

Agoge Records has opened a new office in Yokohama, Japan.

ARCHITECTS, THY ART IS MURDER and WHILE SHE SLEEPS have a North American tour this spring.

THE DROWNING has an album called The Radiant Dark through Transcending Obscurity Records. Using The Death Of A Dead Age monicker the band is playing several shows in the UK.

San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal act VIO-LENCE will reunite for a one-off show at the Oakland Metro in Oakland, California on Saturday, April 13th. The band will perform its debut album Eternal Nightmare in its entirety.

CRADLE OF FILTH will perform 1998’s Cruelty And The Beast in its entirety at several shows this spring and summer.

No more conservatism? Spain-based CHILDRAIN has a demo called The Silver Ghost. The metalcore act claims it contains “a spiritual and awakening” message.

Gabriel Pignata from DESTRAGE will join EMBRYO on stage for the next Italian gigs and future shows.

MEGADETH will release a compilation album, entitled Warheads On Foreheads, on March 22nd. The album comes with 35 tracks that are remastered.

CHILDREN OF BODOM will embark on the Hexed 2019 Canada and USA tour this spring. SWALLOW THE SUN and WOLFHEART will open.

RIGOR MORTIS and WARBEAST singer Bruce Corbitt was suffering from oesophageal cancer and is dead. He was fifty-six years old.

Available now from Brute! Productions is Territory Of Warfare by Indonesia-based act OSMED.

Austria-based thrash metal band INSANITY ALERT has an album called 666-pack through Invisible Oranges. The band issued it on January 25th.

Cluj-Napoca, Romania-based band LEFT HAND PATH will issue its self-titled debut this spring through Loud Rage. The band was founded in 2014.

Indonesia-based FETAL BLEEDING has an album called The Quest Of Immortality through Brute! Productions.

SORCERY is completing a new album for release through Xtreem Music in either April or May. Song titles include Death is Near, King Of Nothing and Of Blood And Ash.

GOJIRA and DEAFHEAVEN will conduct a U.S.A. tour leading up to the bands’ appearance at the 2019 Bonnaroo Music And Arts Festival in June.

The new album of Sweden-based HARMDAUD will be released through Art Gates Records on February 22nd. The solo project was founded by Andreas Stenlund (Vocalist in TME and GRAVISPHERE) in 2016.

Sweden-based MARTYRDÖD is at Studio Fredman recording an album called Hexhammaren for Century Media.

France-based KAUSE 4 KONFLIKT has signed to Deadlight. An album is expected in late May. The band is at Vamacara Studio.

Less than one year after the release of the Shadow Syndicate album and the subsequent headlining tour of Eastern Europe last Summer, SKINNED will be back in Europe, supporting INCANTATION alongside DEFEATED SANITY this March. The bands are marketing the tour as Siege Of The Profane Europe Tour.

CANNIBAL CORPSE has asked Erik Rutan to fill in for guitarist Pat O’Brien on the band’s upcoming tours. The band has scheduled the Decibel Magazine Tour and the upcoming U.S.A. opening slot for SLAYER alongside LAMB OF GOD and AMON AMARTH as booked activities. NRA (American gun lobby freaks) member O’Brien, who himself had once played with SLAYER, had a bout of overt crazed behaviour recently and is undergoing treatment.

IZEGRIM has released a video for the song Retraumatized, which is taken from the band’s Beheaded By Trust demo.

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions has signed IN THE FIRE and will issue the Volatile Beings album this month. IN THE FIRE features members from RUMPELSTILTSKIN GRINDER, TOTAL FUCKING DESTRUCTION and AZURE EMOTE.

FERAL LIGHT’s Fear Rides A Shadow is out now. The vinyl version is out through Pulverised Records.

SUFFOCATION, BELPHEGOR, GOD DETHRONED, NORDJEVEL and DARKRISE will tour Europe in April.

DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT has an album called Live In Berlin through Season Of Mist. The album was recorded at Lido, Berlin on the 14th of October 2017.

USA-based death metal band HATH has an album called Of Rot And Ruin through Willowtip Records in April. The band just completed several shows in the USA.

OVERKILL, DEATH ANGEL and ACT OF DEFIANCE are using Wings Over The USA monicker for a USA tour this May.

Canada-based DEVIANT PROCESS has signed with Season Of Mist. An album is expected this year.


Metallian Hard

Canada-based power metal band THE ORDER OF CHAOS is in India touring. The band is supporting the Night Terror demo.

A TNT live CD and video, entitled Encore - Live In Milano, will be released through Frontiers on March 22nd. The recording stems from the Frontiers Rock Festival in Milan of April 2017.

CANDLEMASS’ next album, The Door To Doom, is out through Napalm Records on February 22nd. The song Astorolus - The Great Octopus features a guest guitar solo by BLACK SABBATH's Tony Iommi.

Canada-based band GYPSY CHIEF GOLIATH has a single called Low Cost Of Living High from its new album Masters Of Space And Time, which is issued through Kozmik Artifactz.

Spain-based doom band HELEVORN has a new Album called Aamamata through Solitude Productions/BadMoodMan Music. The band is touring Canada with MAJESTIC DOWNFALL this May.

WALLS OF BLOOD, a new project of Canada-based guitarist Glen Drover, will release its debut album Imperium through Metalville on February 22nd. His brother Shawn Drover is involved. It goes without saying that Tim Owens is also a session singer.

GUNFIRE’s self-titled and CRYING STEEL’s Steel Alive albums are out through Jolly Roger Records. GUNFIRE’s debut EP was originally released only on vinyl in 1985. The reissue, completely remastered, includes as six tracks from the 1984 demo, the song Firecult from the Heavy Metal Made In Italy compilation (1985) and a live track from 1984 for the CD version. CRYING STEEL’s album is a reprint of the first two albums and unreleased live tracks on a double CD. The first disc features the first two releases Crying Steel (1985) and On the Prowl (1987) completely remastered. The second disc contains all the songs from Crying Steel and On the Prowl performed live. These were recorded to celebrate band’s 30th anniversary in 2016.

UK-based heavy metal act FORGED IN BLACK has signed a deal with Fighter Records for the worldwide release of its album Descent Of The Serpent, which is scheduled for the 5th of March.

Denver, USA-based glam rock band LOVE STALLION has released a music video for its upcoming single, Valentine.

France-based THE LUMBERJACK FEEDBACK is an instrumental sludge act from France, which will release its Mere Mortals album through Deadlight in April. The cover is the work of Samantha Muljat (EARTH, GOATSNAKE).

MAGIC CIRCLE has a new album called Departed Souls through 20 Buck Spin.

Folk rock band TÝR will release its next full-length, entitled Hel, through Metal Blade Records in March.

CYGNUS ATRATUS, a Belgium-based progressive metal band founded by Erik Callaerts and Benny Vercammen, has a demo called The Empyrean Heaven.

Italy-based ZENIT's Black Paper full-length album is out through Time To Kill Records.

RATT singer Stephen Pearcy has undergone knee surgery and is in the process of getting better. He was derided for, what seemed like, drunken performances last autumn, which he attributed to taking pain medication for the issue and combining the same with alcohol.

In a move straight out of the film Rock Star MANOWAR has hired guitarist E. V. Martel who is in an official cover band of MANOWAR. He replaces Karl Logan who was arrested for child pornography in the summer. MANOWAR hired Marcus Castellani of MANOWAR tribute band KINGS OF STEEL to drum for them in 2017.

DEMONS & WIZARDS, the side-project of BLIND GUARDIAN singer Hansi Kürsch and ICED EARTH guitarist Jon Schaffer, is planning to release a third album in January 2020. This will be the follow-up to 2005's Touched By The Crimson King album.

METAL CHURCH and DORO will tour the USofA this April and May.

UK-based THE TREATMENT will release a new album Power Crazy through Frontiers in March.

Brazil-based newcomers BURN INCORPORATED has a demo called Supernova.

Inspired by KEEL? LAST CRACK has signed to EMP Label and will issue a full-length album, called The Up Rising, on May 31st.

HIGH ON FIRE has canceled its U.S. tour with TOKE and YEAR OF THE COBRA due to a new medical emergency by singer Matt Pike.

Inspired by KEEL? After a string of concerts in 2018 former ANGEL members Punky Meadows and Frank DiMino have brought the band back in a manner and formed ANGEL FEATURING PUNKY MEADOWS AND FRANK DIMINO. The band will lay ANGEL songs and intends to record a new album this year.

HATEVIRUS has announced the 1st of March as the release date for its demo, Hateful Mind.

The Ronnie Montrose Remembered concert took place at the M3 Live Anaheim Event Center in California, USA on Friday, January 25th. Members of WHITESNAKE and DOKKEN were in attendance.

Calgary, Canada-based RED CAIN is back with a demo called Kindred: Act I. The band is compared to GHOST.

ZZ TOP is commemorating its fiftieth anniversary with the 50th Anniversary Texas Bash three-city tour of Texas, USA this May. CHEAPTRICK and BAD COMPANY are opening.

BLACK SABBATH’s Iommi will attend a commemorative event organized by Westside Business Improvement District in Birmingham on February 9th where a dedicated bench to the band will be unveiled.

OZZY OSBOURNE has released a toy to mark the anniversary of his biting a dead bat on stage. Ozzy bit the head of a bat during a concert at Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, Iowa, USA on 20.01.1982. He later explained he had believed it to be a toy. In the meantime, the man has respiratory infections and has cancelled his European tour.

BLACK LABEL SOCIETY has announced a 20 Years Of Sonic Brewtality Tour for North America in April. The band also has a new version of its 1999 debut LP Sonic Brew due on May 17th. It is called Sonic Brew - 20th Anniversary Blend 5.99 - 5.19.

PENTAGRAM and BROTHER DEGE are touring the USA in March. PENTAGRAM still features Bobby Liebling who was in jail for reporting beating his mother. The man has been a junkie for many years.

After first postponing, Vinnie Vincent has definitively cancelled his comeback shows slated for this month. The promoter is refunding all ticket purchases.

Singer Janet Gardner has left VIXEN. While no reason was given she did undergo cerebral surgery a year ago. The band was quick to assure the press they will find someone else and recruited FEMME FATALE's Lorraine Lewis who had filled in for Gardner in 2018.

GIRLSCHOOL has again lost bassist Enid Williams. Former member Tracey Lamb has again replaced her, but apparently for concerts only pending a full-time recruitment.

DEF LEPPARD and TESLA will tour Canada this July. TESLA will release an album called Shock through UMC in March. The album was co-written and produced by DEF LEPPARD guitarist Phil Collen.

UDO has opted to continue touring despite medical advice for the frontman Udo Dirkschneider to rest given the pain in his knees.

Current SCORPIONS’ guitarist Rudolf Schenker will be former SCORPIONS’ guitarist Uli Jon Roth's guest at two Japanese shows during Uli's 50th-anniversary tour this month.

Drummer Edward "Ted" McKenna, who had played with THE SENSATIONAL ALEX HARVEY BAND, MSG and IAN GILLAN, died due to excessive bleeding during a hernia surgery. He was sixty-eight years old.

SAXON has announced a 40th-Anniversary Castles & Eagles U.K. tour and a live album called The Eagle Has Landed 40. The band first burst onto the scene in 1979. Singer BIFF BYFORD, in the meantime, is working on a solo album. Drummer Nicholas Barker is on the stool.

DEVIN TOWNSEND will release a new album, entitled Empath, through InsideOut in March.

There is no such thing as “instrumental death metal.”


Metallian Demos

DEVON LOCH – FOR WHAT WE FORGET WE NEVER COME BACK
This 10-song release arrived in a business card shaped memory stick format. The Italian quintet is certainly ahead of the times. Shit Elite is the opener. It is an angry screaming mash of a song running under two minutes. Punkish or thereabouts. Torakiki - an animated cat character - is the same, Alessandro Annini screaming his guts out and Amilcare Tonnarelli banging on his drums are the main features. The guitars and bass play along for two and a half minutes. LifeHack (How To Loose(sic) Everything) speaks for itself, perhaps? Function Unsubscribe() reveals the nerdy and more punkish side of the eastern Italians. You@graveyard.com is one of the better song titles and musically just carries on without letting up, true to hardcore or punk tradition. The Chance You Had Means Nothing If We Didnt Approve It Before gets into the Voivod realm for a few seconds. Helpless Branch is a more recognizable punk/hardcore song with higher tempo and even some heaviness. Plankton Vs Moby Dic* includes the asterisk in its title, it is straight up speedy punk. The King offers a normal song title to shock the listener more than anything, it is also slower than the rest. Annini could possibly damage his vocal cords if he sings too often like he does on this album. Me Here closes For What We Forget We Never Come Back with anger. The band is named after a horse that famously fell at the last just as it was winning UK's 1956 Grand National. Head over to www.devonloch.band and run the subscribe function. – Anna Tergel

RAVENSKUL - Same
RavenSkul is a 'heathencore' one-man band based in Spain. This self-titled album is 13 songs and 76 minutes long. The Sea Wolves Come'th opens things up sounding very raw. The man seems to be reading a story very quickly over what is essentially background music. Heavy or speed metal type riffing just carry on in the background. I laugh as I die...I laugh as you die...The sea wolves cometh. Ominous words. As I Drink From Your Skül is next and comes off as very raw again, and again the man narrates a (horror) story as drums, guitars move along at relative high pace. This is like Sabbat's Dreamweaver-lite, at least somewhat. In the Air Tonight sounds like an extended intro, it has an eerie feel. Fenris sees the vocals and storytelling drown out the music even more. Death Sonnet takes things a bit further with the vocals seemingly added to the mix later and the music almost an afterthought. The music style remains the same raw speed or heavy metal type that is horror movie theme inspired. Nemesis features heavy guitar riffs and the now expected distinct vocal lines. The title song follow in the same manner. Darkness, The City In The Sea, The Colour Out Of Space, Ivar The Boneless, At The Gates Of The Gods and My Holiday For The Apocolypse(sic) offer various forms of the same, sometimes clearer instruments, sometimes not. Sometimes speedy or even thrashy, sometimes not. The songs run as long as nine minutes. www.ravenskul.uk for an unusual one. – Anna Tergel