Metallian Heavy

Battle Kommand Records will issue the debut album from Canada’s GLORIA DIABOLI, entitled Gate To Sheol, on April 15th……OBTEST’s Gyvybės Medis album will be released in early April in three different formats – digipak, compact disc and picture vinyl, by Osmose Productions. A collectors’ A5 sized CD book is being issued by Ledo Takas Records……BRUTALITY has reformed again and is working on a new album. The band line-up is Scott Reigel (vocals), Demian Heftel and Jay Fernandez (guitars), Jeff Acres (bass) and a future drummer……LIVING SACRIFICE has reformed with Bruce Fitzhugh (vocals and guitar) and Lance Garvin (drums). The two have guitarist Rocky Gray (a former EVANESCENCE drummer) and bassist Arthur Green in tow……Bobby Undertaker has left DEATHCHAIN for personal and career reasons. The band will enter the studio in May to record its new album, possibly called Death Eternal. Expect it in December……BEHEMOTH is the latest band to get into trouble with the All-Polish Committee For Defence Against Sects, the body in charge of defending organized religion in Poland. The band’s frontman Nergal had apparently torn a Bible and attacked Catholicism in a September, 2007 show in Gdynia……Singer Brian Langley has left INFERNAL MAJESTY for TYRANTS BLOOD……NAPALM DEATH, SUFFOCATION and WARBRINGER will tour Europe together in May and June……Florida’s EULOGY has reformed and is joined by Tony Laureano (DIMMU BORGIR, etc.) as a drummer……Kam Lee of MASSACRE and DENIAL FIEND has decided to rerecord early DEATH and MANTAS (pre-DEATH band) songs he had originally co-written……ASSASSIN is touring Chile, Brazil, Peru and Argentina in June……AMON AMARTH has re-signed with Metal Blade Records for three albums and will enter the studio in May in order to record a new full-length……Century Media Records has signed the punk band VENOMOUS CONCEPT, which features Shane Embury (here on guitars) and Danny Herrera (drums) of NAPALM DEATH, as well as singer Kevin Sharp (BRUTAL TRUTH) and bassist Danny Lilker (BRUTAL TRUTH, NUCLEAR ASSAULT). The band’s second album Poisoned Apple is out in May……The reunited RESURRECTION will issue an album called Mistaken For Dead through Massacre Records in May……Drummer Martin Cavanagh has been replaced by Jeremy Sucking (of SCORIA) in DAWN OF AZAZEL……BLOODBATH will release a mini-CD, called Unblessing The Purity, on March 10th through Peaceville Records……France’s TREPONEM PAL has reformed and will release a new album, called Weird Machine, on March 24th through Listenable Records. The band was previously on Roadrunner Records……IMPIOUS has picked Numbers as the title for its next album for Metal Blade Records……VENOM has picked Hell as the title for the new album, which is due in May through Universal Music in Europe. Song titles include Hell, Armageddon and USA For Satan. A new guitarist called Rage is part of the band now replacing Mykvs……MELECHESH has departed Osmose Productions following the completion of a three-album contract and instead signed with Nuclear Blast. The band will tour Europe with IMMOLATION this summer without second guitarist Moloch who will temporarily be replaced by the ever-popular Malak Al’Maut……VADER will commemorate its 25th anniversary with the release of the XXV album in May through Regain Records. XXV was recorded at Hertz Studio……GRAVE’s Dominion VIII is out in late April through Regain Records. Song titles include A World In Darkness, Deathstorm and Bloodpath……CRYPTOPSY has cancelled its previously advertised South American tour, which was slated for March. Drummer Florent Mounier has broken his kneecap. The band has, nevertheless, kept working on its forthcoming album The Unspoken King and expects to see it released in August……After last issuing a split-EP with DRILLER KILLER on the label in 2006 EXTREME NOISE TERROR has now signed with the label……HOLLENTHON is back with a new album, Opus Magnum which will be issued this summer through Napalm Records……HATESPHERE’s downward spiral continues. HATESPHERE bassist Mikael Ehlert Hansen has also joined KOLDBORN. The band is touring Europe with DISMEMBER and FALL OF SERENITY……GORELORD’s new album, entitled Chapter IV – Hellbound, is due in September through new label Sworn Records……Singer Noa Brady has left LUPARA……AS I LAY DYING guitarist Nick Hipa was hit in the head last month while on stage at Sydney’s Soundwave festival. He did not require stitches……The reformed PESTILENCE (featuring singer and guitarist Patrick Mameli and bassist Tony Choy) have announced the name of the band’s forthcoming album. Massacre Records will issue Resurrection Macabre next January……DEADLOCK has just renewed its contract with Lifeforce Records. The band’s next album is due in November. In the meantime, the band is participating in the peta2-campaign The Canadians with a new Song called Kill Kill Kill in order to increase attention to the shameless annual seal hunt in Canada……SUBTERFUGE CARVER Deathcore album is now out through SCR (Supreme Chaos Records)……AS I LAY DYING has announced Canadian tour dates with MISERY SIGNALS, AUGUST BURNS RED and label- mates EVERGREEN TERRACE……THE GATES OF SLUMBER has complete work on Conqueror which will be issued through Profound Lore Records. The label has also signed New York’s KRALLICE……EXTREMA has been confirmed as the support act for the European tour of Bay Area’s DEATH ANGEL. The tour will coincide with the reissue, on Scarlet Records, of the band’s back-catalogue next month……ABYSMAL DAWN (Jamie Boulanger: guitars, Charles Elliott: guitars, vocals, Terry Barajas: drums and Mike Cosio: bass) is currently working on its Relapse debut and follow-up to 2005’s From Ashes……THANATOSCHIZO (Portugal), TICKET TO HELL (Mexico) and SARATAN (Poland) have all signed to My Kingdom Music. TICKET TO HELL’s album is entitled Man Made Paradise, while SARATAN’s is called The Cult Of Vermin and is out in April……AEON has welcomed back drummer Nils Fjellström and is claiming the man’s activities in other bands did not constitute his forced departure earlier.


Metallian Hard

SUSPYRE’s When Time Fades...... album is due in late summer......FURBOWL, which featured ARCH ENEMY’s vocalist Johan Liiva, is going into the studio with its 1994 line-up in order to rerecord older songs......LEE AARON will repeat her success of Rock The Fort Festival of 2006 where she mixed her newer songs with the older metal songs in Thunder Bay, Canada by doing a number of similarly themed shows this summer in Canada......Tokuma Communications will issue the new LOUDNESS album Metal Mad in Japan this month......POWER QUEST has finished its new album, Master Of Illusion, and will see it released next month. The CD, will feature a guest appearance by keyboardist Richard West of THRESHOLD......OPETH has picked Watershed as the title for its next album, due out on June 3rd through Roadrunner Records......Former EMPEROR singer and guitarist Ihsahn has picked angL as the title for his second solo album, which is due in May through Mnemosyne Productions/Candlelight Records......BONFIRE will release a new album, called The Räuber, on February 15th through LZ Records. The album is a rock opera based on Die Räuber (the robbers), a play by Friedrich Schiller......Former WHITESNAKE, PHENOMENA and TRAPEZE guitarist Mel Galley has revealed that his suffering from final stages of terminal cancer. He is spending his last days at home in the United Kingdom......Portuguese goth band HEAVENWOOD has picked Redemption as the title for its third album, which is due in September through Recital Records. The band features former SECRECY drummer Luiz Ferreira......Edel has just issued Live In Anaheim, a two-CD package from DEEP PURPLE’s IAN GILLAN which was recorded live at House Of Blues in Anaheim, California at the end of 2006......CLOVEN HOOF has re-recorded twenty four of its songs for a two-part best-of compilation, The Definitive Part One and The Definitive Part Two. The former is out now......Napalm Records’ DRACONIAN has just issued a new album called Turning Season Within......Guitarist Ola Frenning has been left out of SOILWORK after being accused of not being into road work and touring......Pray, the latest by CREMATORY, entered the German Media Control charts at position number 64......KISS is performing in Australia followed by Europe this year. Kiss 35 tour will feature the band dressing in their Destroyer era customs. In the meantime, season 3 of Gene Simmons’ reality show Gene Simmons Family Jewels will begin airing on March 11 in parallel to the unfolding of the revelation of a Gene Simmons sex video some deem a publicity stunt......F5 guitarist Steve Conley is offering private guitar lessons in Arizona at Atomic Guitar Works. F5 now features MEGADETH drummer Jimmy DeGrasso......BRITNY FOX has pulled out of England’s Z Rock 08 due to personal issues with singer Tommy Paris. The band, however, attributed much of the abounding rumours to its former manager. Immediately thereafter, the group announced the addition of singer and guitarist Jamie Fletcher as well as a deal with Chavis Records......Guitarist Jay Reynolds has left METAL CHURCH......STRATOVARIUS founder Timo Tolkki and Italy’s Frontier Records have been entangled in an ongoing dispute concerning their contract for the release of Tolkki’s Saana - Warrior Of Light Part 1: Journey To Crystal Island rock opera. The label had initially rejected the master tape as in breach of the parties’ contract an account rejected by the musician......TIAMAT’s next album Amanethes will be out on April 18th through Nuclear Blast Records. The band recorded the album in Greece and mixed and mastered it in Germany......When we broke the news last month that AGENT STEEL guitarist Juan Garcia and HELLION singer Ann Boleyn have joined DÉTENTE we had no idea things would change so quickly. Michael Carlino of FEAR OF GOD fame has replaced Garcia because "due to scheduling conflicts, Juan was unable to play. The bands continue to be mutual friends and supporters with possible AGENT STEEL/DÉTENTE shows in the future."......Former JUDAS PRIEST and ICED EARTH singer Tim Ripper Owens has joined YNGWIE MALMSTEEN. They are writing a new album due out this summer. Owens is also working with QUEENSRŸCHE guitarist Michael Wilton for his band, SOULDBENDER. Yngwie has obviously fired singer Doogie White who will now work on a solo album......Norway’s EMANCER will issue an album called through Naga Productions......MOURNING BELOVETH’s A Disease for The Ages album will be released through Lugga Music......Virus IV’s Dark Sun will be out soon through Thundering Records......A solo album from NEVERMORE vocalist WARREL DANE will see a North American release on May 13th. Praises To The War Machine features Peter Wichers (ex-SOILWORK) on guitars and bass, Dirk Verbeuren (SOILWORK) on drums and Matt Wicklund (ex-HIMSA) on guitars......Geoff Nicholls the keyboardist for BLACK SABBATH will tour parts of Europe next month with TNT and former SHY singer Tony Mills......Former SOILWORK drummer Henry Ranta has joined Swedish pop band 5TH SONIC BRIGADE.


Metallian Demos

BLASPHEMOUS CREATION - BLACK WINTER
It is like it is 1985 all over again! Right from the start Black Winter’s opener, Lake Of Fire, is like Tormentor, Sodom and Destruction all in one but in the 21st century and from Reno, USA. Everything from their names, Fleshgrinder on vocals and guitars, Gatekeeper on guitars, Disinter on bass and Bonekrusher on drums, to the vocals, riffs, solos and drumming scream mid-‘80s Germany. No disappointment in the band photos or song titles either, the aforementioned opener is followed by Ripped In Half, the title track, Realm Of Pain, Your Death Is My Command and Necromancer for a total of 21 minutes of black and death metal nostalgia. Throw in the occasional blasting drums and everybody should head to www.myspace.com/blasphemouscreation. - Anna Tergel

THE GRIEF - THE REALM OF THE GRIEF
Formed by members of Kybalion The Realm Of The Grief is a three-track teaser from the self-described “doom black symphonic metal” band from Ecuador. This quartet offers a 15-minute keyboard laden taste of a melancholic, doomy and less pretentious version of Cradle Of Filth, Burzum, Emperor and the myriad of the so-called black metal bands out there. The screaming vocals of Galeas dominate the poor production along with the aforementioned keyboards and are very difficult to get into. Here the singer really seems to be suffering. Titles like The First Stumble, Regret and the title track itself truly sum up the mood of this release. Head over to their realm at www.myspace.com/thegriefec to listen to the three tracks. – Anna Tergel

BURNED IN EFFIGY – Same
A large envelope complete with stickers and photos always beg a couple of questions... ‘Where do they get the budget?’ and ‘Is the music and production as good or as professional?’. In the case of Burned In Effigy the answer to the latter question is more no than yes. The Connecticut based quartet has put a lot of effort into releasing a semi-aggressive 16-track debut that is sometimes heavy and sometimes mallcore-ish. Comparisons can be made to Pantera, Down and Black Label Society. Mostly composed of mid-paced ’80s and ‘90s thrashy riffs accompanied by Phil Anselmo sound-alike Jared Meekhoff occasionally screaming the songs do not offer too much new or too much to get excited about and running at an hour offer plenty of opportunity to bore the listener but nevertheless the above comparisons may be their key to success. Check them out at www.burnedineffigy.com. – Anna Tergel