Metallian Heavy

AMON AMARTH will release an album, called The Great Heathen Army, through Metal Blade on August 5th. A song called Get In The Ring, which was written for wrestler Erick Redbeard, is available in advance.

Bulgaria-based EUFOBIA, which had already announced a single called Madness, has announced its new full-length will also be called Madness.

VOLUNTARY MORTIFICATION will release its Suffer To Rise album through Rottweiler Records on July 22nd.

SEVERED HEADSHOP’s EP The Fuckening is available through Everlasting Spew on August 5th.

MASSACRE has a new EP, entitled Mythos, through Nuclear Blast on July 1.

Italy and Estonia-based death/doom group FERUM has completed the works on its debut album Asunder/Erode, which will be released through Unorthodox Emanations on August 19th. A single called Halfhead is available now.

Slovenia-based black metal quintet KAMRA will release its debut studio album through Avantgarde Music in late 2022. The label is also issuing Italy and USA-based death metal band INVERETD MATTER’s new studio album in October 2022.

SACRED REICH has canceled its appearances at this summer’s European festivals in order for guitarist Wiley Arnett to undergo an unnamed surgery.

LAMB OF GOD has a new album, entitled Omens, through Epic Records in October. A single, called Nevermore, is available now. The band and KILLSWITCH ENGAGE are touring. Bassist Josh Gilbert left the act last month following guitarist Nick Hipa who left last year.

DE PROFUNDIS has announced a new album, called The Corruption Of Virtue, through Transcending Obscurity for 2022. An exact date is not yet known.

SUICIDE SILENCE has announced Remember… You Must Die as the title for its next album, which is due through Century Media next winter. It was produced and mixed by Taylor Young.

AS I LAY DYING’s drummer Jordan Mancino has opted to sit out the group’s concerts due to “a number of ongoing internal issues with AS I LAY DYING that need to be worked out” since “they have not yet been resolved.” Former UNEARTH Drummer Nick Pierce is in. The band subsequently fired the drummer.

BLOODBATH will release a full-length album, entitled Survival Of The Sickest, through Napalm Records on September 9th.

EXODUS guitarist Lee Altus will sit out the band’s European tour this summer. “Family concerns” is the reason. Brandon Ellis of THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER will fill in.

FALLUJAH, THE DIVINE ASCENSION, PSYCROPTIC, INTERLOPER and COGNITIVE are touring Canada and the USA this autumn.

Poland-based groovy band CHAOS ENGINE RESEARCH’s Faces album is being issued by Metal Scrap Records on July 1st. The release is also a conceptual album, but unlike the debut the compositions do not form a chronological story, but are ‘novellas’ connected by a common thread.

EINHERJER has a live album called Norse And Dangerous (Live… From The Land Of Legends) through Napalm Records in August. It is available as LP (limited to 300 copies) and digital. It was recorded in Norway in 2021.

Never let the underground remain the underground: Awakening Records is re-releasing Chile-based death metal band REGNANT’s Eyes Of Suffering demo and Transvisceral album of 1997 as one release and Canada-based PUTRICID’s Putrefacted Cadaver and Suppuration demos of 1990 and 1992. The former and the latter have several additional tracks as bonus. PUTICID’S bonus track was taped in 2021.

VOID ROT’s Telluric Dismemberment is an EP through Everlasting Spew in advance of a September European tour with label-mates BURIAL.

VOID WITCH’s debut EP through Everlasting Spew Records is the physical version of songs from the USA-based death/doom band’s Bandcamp music.

FORSAKEN ETERNITY releases a “symphonic blackened metal” release called A Kingdom Of Ice through Rottweiler Records on July 8th. The band hails from Oregon, USA and was founded in 2015.

Dark Mysteries Of Time & Eternity is the title for the debut full-length from Arizona, USA-based black metal act MORIBUND DAWN. It is out through Carbonized Records. The band is compared to DAWN.

Hamilton, Canada-based brutal avant-garde quartet 30 IMMOLATED; 16 RETURNED has a new music video inspired by Paulo Passolini’s film Saló or 120 Days Of Sodom, which is based on The Marquis De Sade’s novel of the same name. The track is called The Antechamber Of Hell.

Awakening Records has three new releases. The Mexico-based death metal Band CATHARTIC has an album called Through The Abysmal Gates Of Subconscious. The Slovakia-based death metal act BLOODY REDEMPTION has an upcoming album called Hit To The Gore. Poland-based thrash metallers SPECIES return with To Find Deliverance.

Japan-based SITHTER has an album called The Master Of Suspense through Unforgiven Blood/Disk Union.

Poland-based grindcore group ANTIGAMA has a first album in seven years through Selfmadegod Records in July. It is called Whiteout and preceded by a single called Holy Land. The album was recorded in the spring and autumn of 2021.

INVICTUS, the solo project of Maurizio Iacono the singer of KATAKLYSM, has a record called Unstoppable through MNRK in September. JF Dagenais of KATAKLYSM contributes. Invictus was a track from EX DEO Iacono’s other side-project.

KING PARROT is having its 2011 EP The Stench Of Hardcore Pub Trash re-issued on vinyl. Housecore Records in North America and Dead Set Records in Australia are the labels.

The famed “health issues” concern returns. Guitarist Misaki is taking a break from BRIDEAR and Eita formerly of SEVEN SEAS will fill in as always. BRIDEAR is due to do Europe this year.

Japan-based KRUELTY, which toured Europe and USA this year, and TERMINAL NATION have a split release through 20 Buck Spin.

Japan-based speed metal band CHAOS CONTROL has reformed and has an album called Call Of The Abyss through Repentless Records. The band is comprised of a duo and several guests, like VIGILANTE’s Niwa Hideaki and Unno Makoto and drummer Shiraishi Hibiki, appear on the CD.

Spain-based funeral doom metal act ORNAMENTOS DEL MIEDO has an album called Yo, No Soy Yo through Negre planY, Vertebrae and Nekromantra Records.

Niagara, Canada-based deathcore act EATEN BY SHARKS has a demo called Eradication, which was produced by CRYPTOPSY’s Chris Donaldson. The demo was meant for 2020, but was postponed due to the pandemic.

Canada-based ITUS has uploaded a song called Sturgeon, which it claims to be its heaviest. The music video for Sturgeon, which was partially directed by APOGEAN guitarist Dexter Forbes, is for a song to which the man contributed a guest guitar solo as well.

DAILY INSANITY and drummer Gustl have parted ways. Guitarist Gene’s son and band manager Felix Pirk has taken over the stool. The band is touring Europe this summer and autumn.

TRAGOS claims to mix death metal with Classical music and has a demo called Radix Mendosus. Founders Antoine and Cedric founded the band a year ago and are still looking for a drummer.

Slowly We Rot fanzine number 19 is out now. Interviews include GHA’AGSHEBLAH, AD OMEGA, COUNT RAVEN, VACIØ, SIDUS ATRUM and many more. There is a free compilation CD included. Order it here: https://slowlywerot.limitedrun.com/products/725459-slowly-we-rot-19-2022.

Hokkaido, Japan-based solo act ZEMETH has a demo called Loneliness.

Inhuman Assault Productions will issue the debut album by Singapore and Thailand-based death metal act REINCARNATED. Of Boötes Void Death Spell will be out in September. The band was formed in 2017.

THOUSAND EYES has an album called Betrayer through Walküre Records this month.

SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser has been forced to leave the band’s European tour due to a “family emergency.” He is temporarily replaced by Jean Patton of Brazil-based PROJECT46.

Italy-based INNO – featuring current and former members of FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, HOUR OF PENANCE, THE FORESHADOWING and NOVEMBRE – is premiering a single called The Seed, which is an AURORA cover version through Time To Kill Records.

Canada-based SEDIMENTUM is streaming a song called Un Grotesque Panorama from its debut full- length Suppuration Morphogénésiaque, which will be released through Me Saco Un Ojo Records (vinyl and cassette) and Memento Mori (CD) on 25.07.2022.

Japan-based IN NOTHINGNESS has a full-length called Black Sun Funeral through Personal Records.

The Netherlands-based death metal group CARCERI has a new album called From Source To End. It is the band’s first release in over a decade.

Spread Evil Productions will release an album by Finland-based black metal group MIMORIUM in August. It is called The Route Of Haeresis.

SIGH has an album called Shiki through Peaceville Records in September.

Another band with ‘Japanese’ motif or influence: The Belgium-based SOUL DISSOLUTION has a video for the song The Absolving Tide. It is from the band’s Sora album, which will be released through Viridian Flame Records on 30.09.2022. Sora is Japanese for ‘sky’ and the band addresses the facets of sky in its work.

Germany-based band NOCTURNIS has signed with Black Sunset/MDD and will release an album in the autumn.

FULCI has a USA tour. The band will be touring the East Coast of USA starting in late August.

Portugal-based BLACK CILICE has a full-length called Esoteric Atavism through Iron Bonehead Productions. The label is also releasing ORGREL’s The Oath Of The Black Wolf EP.

Canada-based GREBER has an album called Fright Without through Ancient Temple and Nofuneral in September.


Metallian Hard

Toronto, Canada-based MY HOLLOW is hitting the road in Canada using the Great North Resurgence Tour with London, Canada-based TORTURED SAINT. The tour will kick off in Guelph on July 22nd and see both bands go west towards Alberta for performances at this year's Loud As Hell Festival on July 31st.

NACARBIDE and ELIZA have three concerts in the cities of Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo in Japan in September. SEVENTH HEAVEN, ROSARIO ARK, BENZY and VALKYRIE open locally.

Chile-based metal band SOBERNOT has a demo called Destroy.

LORDI has replaced the departed guitarist Amen with Kone. The band appeared at the Rock In The City festival in Kuopio, Finland on June 10th.

Progressive metal band AVELION has uploaded a song called Bound To Blackness. It is the first song recorded with new vocalist Riccardo Rizzardelli. The band parted ways with the singer William Verderi in late 2019.

Germany-based MYSTERY’s sole record from 1988 has been re-issued by ZYX Music. This edition of Mystery features new liner notes from the sole surviving band member.

MANOWAR played two secret shows as THE LORDS OF STEEL in Europe as a precursor to its Crushing The Enemies Of Metal Anniversary Tour '22/'23. Drummer Anders Johannson has opted out due to family commitments and the band debuted former RAVEN drummer Dave Chedrick. The band has released a digital EP, entitled The Revenge Of Odysseus (Highlights), through its own Magic Circle Entertainment. Father and son Greek actors Kostas and Konstantinos Kazakos narrated and Sakis Tolis of Rotting Christ translated from English to old Greek for the narration.

Anthrax XL is a video from ANTHRAX of the band’s 40th anniversary livestream which took place in 2021. It is being issued by Nuclear Blast. The band’s bassist Frank Bello has issued his debut solo EP, entitled Then I’m Gone, through Rare Bird.

FLOTSAM AND JETSAM drummer Ken Murray was forced to sit out the Metal Frenzy Festival on June 10th and other shows in Europe reportedly for having a passport that was about to expire. He has been temporarily replaced by Marco Prij from DISTILLATOR.

IRON MAIDEN and BRITISH LION both featuring bassist Steve Harris performed in Finland at Rockfest on June 3rd.

KISS’ show in Vienna, the capital of Austria was marred by a display where the band thanks the fans in the city with the Australian flag mistaken for the Austrian flag.

France-based heavy metal group EVIL-MINDED is signed with Music-Records for the release of its debut album Lucy's Fate now. It is scheduled for October 14.

Following thirty years of not meeting one another and Steve Harris of IRON MAIDEN and former IRON MAIDEN singer Paul Di’Anno reuniting in Croatia before an IRON MAIDEN concert last month, the band has agreed to fund the remaining expenses for its former singer who is undergoing knee surgeries.

KING'S X first album in 15 years is called Three Sides Of One and out on September 2nd. A song called Let It Rain is available now. The album was mainly recorded in 2019.

MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer Tommy Lee played five songs on the opening show of the Stadium Tour in Atlanta, Georgia on June 16th before he was replaced by BLACK SABBATH drummer Tommy Clufetos. Lee announced he had broken four ribs a fortnight earlier and would only play as long as is body allowed. Lee had fallen down several stairs.

WHITESNAKE guitarist Reb Beach sat out multiple shows in Europe due to an undisclosed illness last month.

Original BON JOVI bassist Alec John Such has died at age 70. It was rumoured that his weight gain lead to his dismissal at the time of his departure in 1994.

JACKYL has a new upload called Get All Up In It (Another Round Of Mother Funker) and is touring the USA all summer.

PRIMAL FEAR commemorates its twenty-fifth anniversary with a “deluxe edition” of its self-titled 1998 debut album through Atomic Fire this month.

JORN has an album called Over The Horizon Radar on June 17. There is also a video for the title track.

Sweden-based SCREAMER has signed with SPV. The band’s album, Kingmaker, is due in January 2023. A single, also called Kingmaker, will be out on September 16th.

SPLIT IMAGE is releasing its debut album Torrent Of Illusion and supporting it through a USA tour with their friends in PSYCHO MANTIS in August.

Four years after the release of its debut album, ANTILLES from Münster, Germany is back with a new EP called Entheos through Crawling Chaos Records.

SABER TIGER of Japan has booked two concerts in its hometown in Sapporo, Japan for this September assembling the original members of the respective albums, Invasion of 1992 and Brain Drain of 1998, which will be performed in their entirety.

SIMPLE LIES has broken up. The band’s Millennial Zombie album was issued in February.

Ecuador-based BLACK SUN’s latest EP Silent Enemy is a concept release of seven tracks, three of them being special music scores (intro, interlude and outro). It features multiple guest appearances.

CELESTIAL WIZARD has a demo called Winds Of The Cosmos out this year. The band cites ARCH ENEMY and FIREWIND as influences, but also contains pop and “synthwave” sounds. A song called Ice Realm is available now.

UGLY KID JOE will release a new demo, called Rad Wings Of Destiny, through its own UKJ Records on 21.10.2022. A music video for That Ain't Livin' is available now. The band is playing European festivals including Hellfest and Graspop Metal Meeting.

The current line-up and incarnation of KINGDOM COME has been criticized by attendees of Sweden Rock Festival as being subpar and sloppy with drummer James Kottak especially being cited for a lack of playing ability.

JUDAS PRIEST set aside its traditional leather and studs look for the start of its European tour in Berlin, Germany on May 31st and performed in its civilian clothes. The band later pulled out of the Aftershock Festival in California among other bands.

HAMMER’S RULE 1984 album Show No Mercy is re-issued with the After The Bomb EP as a bonus through Golden Core/ZYX Music.

A New Reign is the title for India-based ILLUCIA’s new demo. The band played Freedom Jam in India in 2015 was part of a tribute to DIO in 2016. The band’s 111 demo was digitally distributed by Heart Of Steel Records.

New York, USA-based UDI LEVY has a new demo and it is entitled Aleksandria.

Ozzy Osbourne has undergone surgery to his back and neck in what his management has described as make or break for him. The surgery went well and he was discharged. An album called Patient Number 9 will be released through Epic this September. Andrew Watt produced again.

ACE FREHLEY has cancelled all his 2022 shows including a European tour due to “unforeseen circumstances.”

Another week another George Lynch project. George Lynch has recruited singer Ray West (SPREAD EAGLE), bassist Rob DeLuca (SEBASTIAN BACH and SPREAD EAGLE) and drummer Jimmy D'Anda (BULLETBOYS) for his GEORGE LYNCH AND THE ELECTRIC FREEDOM project.

earMUSIC will release STRATOVARIUS' next album, which is entitled Survive, on September 23rd. The band performed at ProgPower XXI in Atlanta, Georgia, USA last month.

BLACK SUN teamed up with director and screenwriter Gustavo Arguello to produce a short film following its last EP featuring music from the record as its soundtrack. After two years of circulating at film festivals around the world and winning multiple awards, BLACK SUN is streaming the film for fans in full on Rockshots Records' YouTube channel.

Paris, France-based SPHERES has a full-length called Helios through M&O Music on September 23rd. The album follows 2019’s Ionos, which the band supported across Belgium, the Netherlands and France including a performance at Hellfest. A video for Spiritual Journey is available now.

Animal and Rocket are names for two DEF LEPPARD songs from its Hysteria album and also name of two new gins by merchandising company Brands For Fans. Genesis Publications will publish an authorized biography entitled Definitely: The Official Story Of Def Leppard on November 25th.

Philippines-based HORKOS has uploaded the songs Fearus (Behind The Mask) and The Year That Changed Us all. The latter song is about the pandemic. The band’s bassist Jonathan Valencia Ang died of COVID in 2019. The band’s drummer is eleven and is the son of the singer.

DARIAN AND FRIENDS, a charity musical project created by Dario Beretta of DRAKKAR and CRIMSON DAWN, has a demo called Lost Horizons. All proceeds are slated for the Italian Association For Research Against Leukemia And Related Diseases. The recording features a number of guests.

Former ALDIOUS singer RE:NO has a solo concert in Tokyo on August 10th. The show is dubbed Dreamer.

Italy-based pomp rock band KALEDON has its latest release, Legend Of The Forgotten Reign - Chapter VII: Evil Awakens, out through Beyond The Storm Productions.

The 2022 Western Canadian Music Award for Metal & Hard Music Artist Of The Year has been announced. The Metal & Hard Music Artist Of The Year nominees are ARCHSPIRE — B.C., BEFORE & APACE — SK, FLASH BACK — SK, OSYRON — AB and TRENCH also from Alberta. OSYRON has issued a Deluxe Edition of its Kingsbane demo featuring several bonus tracks.

"I love guns. I hate people. Then again I am a conservative so you already knew that."