Metallian Heavy

The duo of WITHIN NOSTALGIA has announced a demo called Void And Decay.

Gore House Productions is giving a worldwide release to CESSPOOL OF CORRUPTION’s demo, Eradication Of The Subservient, which was originally issued in 2016. The band is based in Dallas, Texas.

CONSECRATION has a new guitarist called Andy Matthews. The band is issuing a demo soon.

BODOM AFTER MIDNIGHT, the band of former CHILDREN OF BODOM singer and guitarist Alexi Laiho, has signed a deal with Napalm Records. An album is due late 2021.

KREATOR‘s Under The Guillotine: The Noise Records Anthology is a box set which will be released on February 26th.

BEHEMOTH, ARCH ENEMY and CARCASS have announced the European Siege 2021 Tour.

Railgun Combat is BLACK HOLE DEITY’s first single off the debut EP Lair Of Xenolich. It is out through Everlasting Spew.

WITHOUT MERCY has a demo called Seismic. Special guests are Jeff Loomis (ARCH ENEMY) on opening track Thunderbird and Chris Broderick (ACT OF DEFIANCE) on Disinfect The Soul.

Black metal outfit GAEREA has a new live performance video for the tracks Null and Glare, which are taken from the band’s recently released album Limbo. Season Of Mist is the label.

The Netherlands’-based group AUTARKH has its debut album Form In Motion out through Season Of Mist on March 12th.

UK-based grinders EVISORAX have the vinyl issue of the 2020 album Ascension Catalyst on 7 Degrees Records. The record was made available on white/black splattered vinyl on December 11th.

AS I LAY DYING singer Tim Lambesis is recovering at a hospital after sustaining burns to approximately 25% percent of his body. He was pouring gas to light a fire.

Following a limited run of CDs and cassettes, three of Europe’s grindcore bands, PSYCHONEUROSIS, HERIDA PROFUNDA and SUFFERING QUOTA, released a split entitled In Fear We Trust, on vinyl through a coalition of labels last month.

COLOSSUS has a brutal death metal demo called Degenesis.

BASEMENT TORTURE KILLING has a video for Public Displays Of Aggression, which is taken from Lessons In Murder through Bizarre Leprous Production.

Montreal, Canada-based CELL PRESS has a self-titled EP out now.

VIO-LENCE is recording a new EP. It will be out through Metal Blade in the summer.

MORGOTH has officially thrown in the towel. The band has been inactive.

Russia-based death metallers INFILTRATION have a video for the new single Missing In Bodycount. The song is taken from the band’s debut album Point Blank Termination, which is available through Time To Kill Records.

Avantgarde Music has issued AD NAUSEAM’s Imperative Imperceptible Impulse, which is described a death/black metal from Italy.

Gore House Productions has signed Russia-based INSECT INSIDE. The First Shining Of New Genus will be released on February 19th.

BENIGHTED will support ABORTED on the Hell Over Europe 4 tour in September and October 2021.

WOLVES ATTACK!! has an EP called Rest In Piss on Horror Pain Gore Death. The pissaholics’ previous record was called Piss On Everything.

Slated for release in 2021, Inverted Illusions is the first full-length demo from Colorado, USA natives SCEPTER OF ELIGOS. The band is described as sludge/doom/death metal.

Two years after the release of the debut full-length album, Cern Sol, Romania-based black metal band GENUNE announce the follow-up material, a second full-length album entitled Inert & Unerring, which is scheduled to be released in the Spring through Loud Rage Music.

Odium Records shall release the debut album from the VINCENT CROWLEY BAND on May 28th. The man previously fronted ACHERON.

COFFINS’ Defilement is a 2-CD compilation of the band’s material and will be issued by Horror Pain Gore Death this month.

Napalm Records of Austria has purchased Steamhammer/SPV of Germany. SPV had gone bankrupt in 2009 and subsequently rebounded.

AND NOW THE OWLS ARESMILING has a new record called Clobber Records this month. It is called Dirges.


Metallian Hard

LOVEBITES will release an EP, entitled Glory, Glory, To The World, through JPU Records in March.

ACCEPT’s Too Mean To Die album be released through Nuclear Blast on 15.01.2021. The band features bassist Martin Motnik and third guitarist Philip Shouse.

EVOLUTIONARY SLEEPER, which is a solo instrumental act, has a demo called Where Wolves Once Roamed released in November 2020.

Inspired by KEEL? The USA-based heavy/doom metal outfit was put to rest in 2014 by its creator, Howie Bentley. The act is back with the first single off the upcoming record: The Masque Of Satan. BRITON RITES’ full-length is called Occulte Fantastique.

Inspired by Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic, VIS MYSTICA’s planned 2021 demo Celestial Wisdom is preceded by a single called The Plains Of Silence.

Who will pick it up? USA-based SENNIGHT is “dropping” a single called Arise off its upcoming 2021 demo New Takes The Old. The band is compared to KATATONIA and OPETH.

EVERGREY will release its new album, entitled Escape Of The Phoenix, through AFM in February. The album’s first single is called Forever Outsider.

KISS played a New Year’s eve show in Dubai.

QUEENSRŸCHE singer Todd La Torre has a debut solo album, entitled Rejoice In The Suffering, which is out through Rat Pak Records on 05.02.2021.

IMMORTAL GUARDIAN’s concept Album Psychosomatic will be out through M-Theory Audio on February 12th. The band has a video for the track Lockdown.

Musician and teacher Kevin M Buck has a CD and book – a full transcription volume - of Classical Music for electric rock guitarists. It is called Classical Music For The Electric Guitar. Steve Vai did some engineering work on it. Visit http://kevinmbuck.com.

Italy-based progressive metallers OCEANA, featuring NOVEMBRE'S guitarist Massimiliano Pagliuso, will release a new album The Pattern on CD, 2LP and digital formats through Time To Kill Records on January 29th.

Norway-based DREAMSLAIN will issue Tales Of Knights And Distant Worlds demo this month.

WITHERFALL’s Curse Of Autumn album is due this spring through Century Media. Jon Schaffer of ICED EARTH produced the album and Tom Morris mixed it at Morrisound.

FORGED IN BLACK has an official live bootleg demo EP, capturing its special acoustic set, at Hammerfest X. It is simply called Hammerfest X Unplugged (Official Live Bootleg).

UK-based metal band AVERTED has signed a deal with Wormholedeath for its debut EP Silenced, which is a re-release.

ALCATRAZZ members Jimmy Waldo, Joe Stump, Gary Shea and Mark Benquechea have quit on singer Graham Bonnet and look to stick with their collective management. Bonnet is recruiting members. The departing musicians have recruited Doogie White and seemingly want to continue using the name as well.

Leslie West, the guitarist and vocalist for MOUNTAIN, has died at the age of 75. Cause of death is a heart attack.

KROKUS will release a new CD/DVD, Adios Amigos Live @ Wacken, through Sony on February 19th.

UFO guitarist Vinnie Moore has tested positive for COVID-19.

The reunited line-up of HELLOWEEN will release an album in the summer of 2021. The band will issue a single called Skyfall on April 2nd in the meantime.

Yet another project by George Lynch: the former DOKKEN and LYNCH MOB guitarist has a new project. This one is industrial and called THE BANISHMENT.

Another project with nomadic musicians: OF GODS & MONSTERS’s singer Kevin Goocher (OMEN) has recruited guitarist Ira Black (LIZZY BORDEN, METAL CHURCH, etc.) bassist Bjorn Englen (DIO DISCIPLES, etc.) and drummer Simon Wright (AC/DC, DIO, etc.).

The power metal newcomers THERAGON are bringing The Eternal War. It is the third single from their debut album Where the Stories Begin, which was released through Art Gates Records December 18th.

KRYUHM, a metal band from Verona, has recruited Luca Lucchini, drummer of CRIMSON DAWN and former drummer of the bands ALL SOULS 'DAY and DARK AGES. The band intends to record in 2021.

Rockshots Records shall release BLUE HOUR GHOSTS’ new album Due" on February 12th. The album is the follow-up to the 2016 self-titled debut album. The band is compared to AMORPHIS.

CYNIC bassist Sean Malone has died. He was 50.

The metal4africa Summerfest '21 event kicks off at 16h00 (UCT +2) on January 30th in Cape Town South Africa.

Metallian Magazine of France is commemorating its thirtieth anniversary with a festival in November 2021. The event shall take place in Grenoble, France.

What will the USA do without the wisdom and input of Special Advisor To The President (Ivanka Trump)?


Metallian Demos

THE ERKONAUTS – I WANT IT TO END
I Want It To End is the third full-length by this Swiss quartet. It features nine songs and various guest musicians. War Flamingoes is the opener and is a bass driven song that gives off a System Of A Down vibe. Ales Campanelli and co are surely drawing inspiration from the American band. The Future Ends With You begins with a more sludgy start but then features a fast, even punkish rhythm. The end product is a kind of progressive rock song. Five Orange Seeds, a take on a Sherlock Holmes short story, delves deeper into progressive realms with Campanelli changing tone from screams to more restrained singing. The music continues to take the SOAD influence with other more standard rock and aggressive passages. The Cult Of The Burning Star delves perhaps even deeper into alternative rock or metal showcasing variation between low key elements, cleaning singing and angry screams. It Could Be Over Soon matches its title in its ballad like dismay and pessimism. Losing Is The First Step features a funky Faith No More bass line and mostly retains this feel as a kind of homage to the US west coast band. The Sun is a more straightforward song with probably the clearest hints of punk rock on I Want It To End. Caravaggio is the second ballad like song and the vocals and lyrics convey gloom. The band surprise the listener in the song's fourth minute with the injection of speed. The Curse Of Scotland, a phrase with various historical interpretations, closes these 38 minutes with fast punkish minutes. Go to www.erkonauts.com before it all ends. – Anna Tergel