Metallian Heavy

Chile-based solo act WINDS OF TRAGEDY has an album called Hating Life through Meuse Music Records. Session drummer Emidio Alexandre is a guest.

FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY, MEGADETH and a number of mallcore bands are playing Blue Ridge Rock Festival in Virginia, USA in September. It goes without saying that PANTERA will also play. PANTERA will also tour with LAMB OF GOD in the summer.

Pest Records has released Guerra Eterna, the fourth studio album by Peru-based death metal act DISINTER.

Mighty Music is issuing Denmark-based CHRONICLE‘s new album Where Chaos Thrives in May. The label has also released VANIR’s Steel Meets Steel digital single on the 27 of January.

DEPRAVED MURDER releases an album, called Unethical Terrestrial Collapse, through Comatose Music on March 10th. The band is a duo now. Track titles include The Pinnacle Of Vile Conceit, ‘Relentless Brutality and False Adoration.

TAAKE and AKHLYS’ Southern Funeral tour of Australia has been cancelled by its promoter due to TAAKE singer Hoest being a Nazi. The man has displayed the swastika in the past. The cancellation comes only after two venues preempted the performance at their sites. The act was booked for Metal Mine Festival at Wałbrzych, Poland for 2023. AKHLYS, in the meanwhile is booked for Black Night Sorceries Festival MMXXIII in Israel despite a reputation for antu-semitism and Mystic Festival 2023 in Gdansk, Poland.

Following its debut album Unohdan Sinut of 2021, Finland-based QWÄLEN will be releasing a second album, Syvä Hiljaisuus, through Time To Kill Records in March.

All the remaining early members of ALL THAT REMAINS are suing the widow of dead guitarist Oli Herbert for disparaging remarks and threats involving the band’s owed royalties. The two sides each assert that the other is withholding monies owed to the other side.

Slovakia-based doom/death act DOOMAS has a record called R´lyeh through Gothoom Productions. There is a video for the song, Consumed By The Ocean: Father.

Using the Imperial Darkness Japan Tour 2023, EMPEROR is playing concerts in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan in March.

DARK ANGEL will play its Darkness Descends album of 1986 in its entirety in Los Angeles, California, USA on 14.04.2023. EVILDEAD will open the concert.

ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante missed several concerts on the North American tour with BLACK LABEL SOCIETY and EXODUS in order to undergo an unnamed operation. He was replaced by drum stool-for-hire Derek Roddy.

CATTLE DECAPITATION will release a new album, entitled Terrasite, through Metal Blade Records in May. It is the follow-up to Death Atlas from 2019 and is produced by Dave Otero (ARCHSPIRE, etc.) with cover artwork by Wes Benscoter.

BRUJERIA and ART OF SHOCK are conducting the Matando Güeros – 30 Aniversário Tour in the USA this month.

Canada-based deathcore duo APOLLO has a demo called A Divine Comedy. It is a concept based on A Divine Comedy, which follows the story of Dante as he descends into hell. APOLLO is founded by Kyle Prusky (guitar and bass) and Adrian Parcioaga (vocals) who worked together in OUR LAST CRUSADE. The former man had planned the act as a solo project.

DYING FETUS and SUICIDE SILENCE will co-headline the Chaos & Carnage tour in the USA in April. ABORTED, BORN OF OSIRIS, SANGUISUGABOGG, CROWN MAGNETAR and SLAY SQUAD will open.

The Netherlands-based death metal group DEAD WILL WALK has a new EP called A New Day Of Dawning through Dawnbreed Records. Cavernous Records will release the compilation As the Bowel Withers, which will include the A New Day of Dawning EP.

Brutal death metal band DEVANGELIC returns with a new album. Xul is available through Willowtip Records in May. According to the band, Xul is a Sumerian word used to denote ‘Evil,’ which is the main topic of the new album.

Osmose Productions will release Horde Of Disgust, the new full-length from Italy-based thrash black metal act SATANIKA this month.

UK-based OLD FOREST will release a new full-length, called Sutwyke, through Soulseller Records on March 31st. It was written and recorded between 2020 to 2022.

Melbourne, Australia-based “Crustmetal/Deathpunk band” KÜNTSQUÄD has a record deal with Wormholedeath for its debut album’s release. The self-titled album will be released on February 24th 2023. The band claims influence from SEPULTURA and CARCASS and contains members from VELVET HAMMER, DAMNZAL, TRIPHAMMER, SOLEMN CEREMONY, ELDRITCH RITES, OPEN DOOR OF DOOM and more.

KREATOR, SEPULTURA, DEATH ANGEL and SPIRITWORLD will tour North America using the Klash Of The Titans monicker in May and June. Moreover, KREATOR announced a special setlist comprised of songs from 1985 to 1990 for its 70,000 Tons Of Metal cruise performance.

HEXER’s Abyssal album is out through Crawling Chaos on 17.02.2023. The album was recorded between late 2021 and April of 2022.

SQUIDHAMMER has uploaded a song called Drowning In Flames from its Hail The Squid demo. The act has an open-ended and ongoing effort of 12 planned tracks featuring 20+ vocalists from Wisconsin’s metal bands. The band is compared to LAMB OF GOD.

OBITUARY, IMMOLATION, BLOOD INCANTATION and INGROWN will tour the USA in April. OBITUARY is supporting its Dying Of Everything album.

THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, TERROR, FROZEN SOUL, FUMING MOUTH and PHOBOPHILIC will tour the USA and Canada this April.

MASTODON, GOJIRA and LORNA SHORE will tour the USA and Canada this April and follow up with a second leg in August.

Hailing from Las Vegas, Nevada, USA and featuring band members with experience in GUTTURAL SECRETE and CEREBRAL INCUBATION, NEMESISM is a young death metal group with a self-titled demo.

Mexico-based CRS has a single called The Failure featuring guest vocals by Kath Danzig. The band reports that the song about the human species was not meant for CRS originally.

The band is from Spain, but ICESTORM has a concept demo called The Northern Crusades.

Young Denmark-based norse folk band TROLD releases its debut album Der Var Engang… through Mighty Music in May. Singer Astor Palsson is also in DAWN OF DEMISE.

MAZE OF SOTHOTH’s Extirpated Light album is available through Everlasting Spew Records on 24.03.2023. The band was introduced to the label by Angelo from eventual label-mates VOIDS OF VOMIT.

Rise Of The Apocalypse is the title for the CHAOS PATH album, which will be released through ZYX Music this month. The band is booked for the Hell Over Halen Festival.

Italy-based sludge metal VITA STERCORIS has a demo called Crepitus available on digital platforms. A physical release is in the works. Shortly before the release the line-up changed and in place of guitarists Brian and Marco, Marcello Santin (guitarist of DARGOLAD) and Andrea Paccagnin (guitarist of DON GASTRO) stepped in.

Described as post black metal, MORGENRÖTHE has signed to Talheim Records and will release a full-length this year.

Scrapes From The Past is the name of PSYCHONAUT 4’s compilation of its entire past releases, which never found a way to the digital platforms. They are available together now.

Solo act PALACE OF WORMS will be releasing a new album, called Cabal, through Acephale Winter Productions.this month.The man warns metal fans that the album includes electronica. Half a dozen musicians are listed as contributors.

Hating Life, the new album from WINDS OF TRAGEDY, will be out this month. It is a joint release from Meuse Music Records and Tragedy Productions.

“Historical Venetian themed black metal band” STRJA follows up the upload of the song Ossi, with a self-titled debut EP through NoReentry Records on February 7th. The cover of the EP depicts the Venetian legend of Stria Della Via Delle Spazaore, which was a witch hunter who made his way through the darkness with his small lantern.

Lethal Scissor Records has a new EP by Germany-based death metallers BLOODJOB. It will be coming out on March 10th. The band cites hardcore influences since conception in 2007 and has opened for ENTOMBED, LIVIDITY, INGESTED and INHUMATE. The band is working on a full-length despite a revolving door of members.

Reformed in 2021 after four years, Spain-based SCARS OF OBLIVION has a demo called Misanthropy.

Deathcore band JOB FOR A COWBOY returns to the stage at Blue Ridge Rock Festival in Virginia, USA for the first time in seven years in September. The band is also working on a new album.

SADIST has re-recorded the song Breathin’ Cancer for the 30th anniversary of the band’s debut album Above The Light.

WHORE OF BETHLEHEM releases Ritual Of Homicide through Comatose Music on March 24th. It follows Extinguish The Light, which was out almost six years ago.

Horror Pain Gore Death is releasing HORRIBLE EARTH’s Weakened By Civilization on February 17th. The band is compared to NAPALM DEATH and NASUM.

VISCERAL EXPLOSION has a new EP, called Malevolent Dismemberment Of Entire Putrefacted Gastrointestine, through Brutal Mind. The South Korea-based band has had its singer and guitarist Ryu Gun mix and master. The group is compared to BEHEADED.

OMEGA INFINITY, the project of Xenoyr (NE OBLIVISCARIS) and Tentakel P. (TODTGELICHTER), has uploaded a song called Iron Age. The track is taken from the upcoming album, The Anticurrent.

France-based death metal group CATACOMB will release its debut full-length When The Stars Are Right through Xtreem Music in March. The band was founded in 1990.

Denmark’s Næstved Metalfest, which will take place in August featuring ARTILLERY, GRAVE, ILLDISPOSED and CABAL among acts, has announced that PARADISE LOST will headline.


Metallian Hard

Nordic Noise 2023 takes place in Copenhagen, Denmark in May. A partial list of groups appearing includes TYGERS OF PAN TANG, EVERGREY, PYRAMAZE, STEEL INFERNO and ECLIPSE.

In advance of a new album in May, TYGERS OF PAN TANG has a digital single called Edge Of The World through Mighty Music. The lyrics refer to the ongoing pandemic.

Slovakia-based EUFORY has one of those lyric videos for Day For Night, which is taken from the upcoming album Fifth Dimension. The record will be released through Smile Music Records at the end of March.

ELIZA’s early guitarist Kaneda Michiru died in January.

VICIOUS RUMORS is conducting a tour of the USA dubbed Over The Atlantic this March and April. The band will play music from its Atlantic Records’ album from the early 1990s. The band will also play 2 Minutes To Tulsa show alongside EXCITER, SATAN and NIGHT DEMON.

Black Tears has released DAMNATION GALLERY’s album of the Genoa, Italy-based horror hounds. The album is called Enter the Fog and contains ten tracks.

1980s’ Florida and California, USA-based CRUELLA D’VILLE’s The Power And The Passion 1986-1991 compilation is out on FnA Records.

POWERWOLF has extended its first two North American shows, slated for Montreal, Canada and New York City, USA in late February to more concerts in the USA for March. The band is conducting a mini-tour effectively now.

Original TIGERTAILZ frontman Steevi Jaimz suffered a stroke pre-Christmas. He is recuperating now.

AVALAND returns in 2023 with its sophomore full-length The Legend Of The Storyteller, which is out through Rockshots Records on 31.03.2023. The album’s storyline takes place in the universe of Avaland again, but prior to the act’s debut album Theater Of Sorcery. Guests include Zak Stevens (ex-SAVATAGE/TSO), Madie (ex-NIGHTMARE/FAITH IN AGONY). The band is opening for RHAPSODY OF FIRE and SORTILÈGE on a tour of Europe this spring.

Heavy rock act SOLDOUT has signed with Music-Records for the release of its debut album, Pull Down, which is scheduled for September 22nd.

Calgary, Canada-based progressive/electronica band RED CAIN has a next The Wheel of Time-inspired upload entitled Blight, which continues the storyline from its previous song The Fisher King released in November.

DRAGON’S EYE featuring former HURRY SCUARY and current MUTHAS PRIDE vocalist Yasuhide Minami, as well as members of EBONY EYES EXCELLENT, will release its debut album GARYOTENSEI/画竜点睛 through B.T.H. Records in March. The album’s name refers to artists’ rendering of dragon’s eyes.

KAMELOT will release a new album called, The Awakening, through Napalm Records in March. There is a song called One More Flag In The Ground available in advance.

The Last Raft is a lyric video by the keyboard-laden doom band STARSPAWN OF CTHULHU and its forthcoming album The Cursed Vision by Talheim Records.

PAUL DI'ANNO is on a tour of South America. The Beast Resurrection Tour has NOTURNALL and ELECTRIC GYPSY opening. The former IRON MAIDEN singer has been undergoing physiotherapy following a leg surgery recently.

Former OVERKILL and ANVIL guitarist Sebastian Marino died at the age of 57 on January 1st. ANVIL and MIDNITE HELLION are touring the USA this spring.

PANTERA has been booted from the previously announced appearances at Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park festivals in Germany in June as a result of singer Phil Anselmo’s “white power” salutes and gestures. THE FOO FIGHTERS has replaced it. PANTERA was also cancelled out of its concert in Vienna, Austria.

ELEGANT WEAPONS, the side-project of guitarist Richie Faulkner (JUDAS PRIEST), PANTERA bassist Rex Brown and singer Ronnie Romero (RAINBOW), has recruited Dave Rimmer (URIAH HEEP) on bass and Christopher Williams (ACCEPT) on drums and plays at Hellfest among other shows this year. ELEGANT WEAPONS' debut album, Horns For A Halo, is out through Nuclear Blast Records in the spring time frame.

VOIVOD will commemorate its 40th anniversary with a tour of the UK in April. TESTAMENT, EXODUS and VOIVOD will use the Titans Of Creation monicker for a European tour this spring.

FEAR FACTORY has re-signed with Nuclear Blast Records. The label’s A&R originally signed the band at Roadrunner Records in 1992.

Canada-based MEDEVIL has a demo called Mirror In The Darkness in April. The demo is dedicated to drummer Chris Malcolmson who died following the recording. The demo features a Metallian Towers’ serf on its cover.

Described as gothic doom, ELDERSEER has a debut full-length album, Drown In The Shallowness, through Meuse Music Records. The band features former SACRILEGE and PAGAN ALTAR guitarist Vinny Konrad now.

Germany-based stoner band MOJO BLIZZARD has a debut album called The Evil Crown through 7Hard.

On The Altar Of Rock, the 1985 sole album of Switzerland-based SACRIFICE is being re-released by ZYX Music. The band’s Little Killer Man song appeared on The Best Of And The Rare Of GAMA Records compilation in 2020.

UGLY KID JOE, FOZZY and PISTOLS AT DAWN are touring the USA this May and June.

Canada-based power metal band ODINFIST has a demo called Remade In Steel next month.

Drum nomad Mike Portnoy will play with TWISTED SISTER for its performance at Metal Hall Of Fame in California, USA on January 26th. The band’s main drummer A.J. Pero died in 2015.

HANOI ROCKS has a 40th-Anniversary ‘Redux’ edition of its 1982 record Oriental Beat. The record was re-mixed by Petri Majuri. The original mix was done by Peter Wooliscroft who had worked with OMD, YES and others.

Saskatoon, Canada-based DESPITE THE REVERENCE has a new demo called Stress Of Evolution. The band has uploaded a song called Primate Centurion. The band is compared to BLACK SABBATH and TOOL.

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