Metallian Heavy

Paragon Records will release the latest product of the reformed death metal band CRUCIFIER. The release will be a 7″ EP entitled Trampled Under Cloven Hooves and will feature two new tracks in addition to a VIKING cover, and a re-recorded version of an older CRUCIFIER track……Norway’s KEEP OF KALESSIN have announced June 10th as the North American release date for the band’s Kolossus release. This will come on the heals of the tour with DIMMU BORGIR and BEHEMOTH (dubbed the Invaluable Darkness Tour Part 2) happening this April into early May. CANDLEMASS is currently recording an EP called Lucifer Rising……DETONATION has welcomed Danny Tunker (also of FUELBLOODED and THE SATURNINE) to the ranks in order to handle the guitar. This automatically means that cofounder Koen Romeijn (guitar and vocals) will lay down his guitar and focus on the vocals……DESENSITISED has changed its name to MURDER SYNDICATE……Former POSSESSED guitarist Mike Torrao has joined San Francisco’s INACAGE. The possessed man has also asked that his former band-mate and singer Jeff Becerra not continue as POSSESSED due to copyright reasons……Season Of Mist has the following upcoming releases: ATROX’s fifth album Binocular, KARELIA’s Restless, PEST’s Rest In Morbid Darkness, NAER MATARON’s Praetorians, HEGEMON’s Contemptus Mundi and SEPTIC FLESH’s Communion……Switzerland’s SLUDGE has a new album called Lava through Mighty Music……PANZERCHRIST’s Himmerlsfart Kommando album will be out in May through Mighty Music……Bassist Gea Mulder, formerly of MIRDYN and PHARMACORE, has joined GRINDMINDED……Crash Music has signed a three-album deal with the death Metal band PATH, which features Jerry Sturino (ex-JUNGLE ROT)……Thrash metal band EXUMER has reformed and intends to record a new album and tour in 2009. The band’s original albums will also be re-released. Frontman Mem V. Stein will continue with his band, SUN DESCENDS whose album The Entropy Formula is due in October……Bassist Robin ‘Graves’ Eaglestone, formerly of CRADLE OF FILTH, has joined ABGOTT. The band is working on a new album……guitarist Mike Kimball has quit DYING FETUS. The band is auditioning replacements…… LENG TCH’E is recording four new songs for a split 7″ and mini-CD with Canada’s FUCK THE FACTS. The split album will be released by Power It Up Records in August……Former DRI and current BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA drummer Felix Griffin will tour Europe with MDC this spring……MITHRAS, which was dropped by Candlelight Records, will release new music on its own Galactic Records. A new double-CD album is expected in the autumn……DARK FUNERAL will release a second DVD recorded during the band’s tour in support of the Attera Totus Sanctus” album. Attera Orbis Terrarum – Part 2, was recorded in South America and is expected in May……Cleveland-based BLACK DEATH’s drummer Phil Bullard died of colon cancer on February 6th at age 59……The reunited GUILLOTINE has signed with Pulverised Records and will issue a new album this autumn……David Gold of WOODS OF YPRES has joined GATES OF WINTER as a drummer. The band is planning on touring Canada……GRAVE is touring Russia in support of its Dominion VIII album. The band is teaming up with MONSTROSITY, ABYSMAL DAWN and STRONG INTENTION to tour America in May. MONSTROSITY which has a new bassist called MONSTROSITY have tapped bassist Ben Kuzay will tour the US alongside VITAL REMAINS as well……Inevitably, DEVASTATION has reformed and will begin touring again. The band features singer Rodney Dunsmore, guitarists Walter Trachsler and Henry Elizondo, bassist Alex Dominguez and is seeking a drummer……Guitarist Vastator has left ABSU and been replaced by a Zawicizuz. The band will soon record its Candlelight Records debut which is expected in October……Poland’s Metal Mind Productions will issue GORGOROTH’s Krakow show in 2004 which lead to much controversy and the eventual dropping of the band by Nuclear Blast Records on DVD. The Polish label will also issue a DECAPITATED DVD entitled Human’s Dust in June. The footage stems from the years 2002 and 2004……DEMISE’s third album Torture Garden will be issued by Metal Mind in April. It is mixed and mastered by James Murphy……According to Osmose Productions, SHINING will enter the studio on the 28th of April in order to record a new album, Tillbaka På Ruta Ett. The album will feature six vocalists……Allan Scott and guitarist Ciaran Wright of AGANKAST have formed a new band called INSANITA. Also in the band are guitarist Steve Gray and drummer Dean Cook. A demo called Thrill Of The Kill is on its way……Vocalist Kvohst, who left DØDHEIMSGARD last month has a new band called GANGRENATOR. The new group is reportedly playing grindcore……Sweden’s SABATON will release a new album, The Art Of War, on May 30th through Black Lodge Records. The album was recorded at Abyss Studio with producer Peter Tägtgren……BWARE is the name of a new side-project featuring Noel and Pablo from GRUESOME STUFF RELISH, Stevo from the defunct IMPETIGO, and Kam Lee from DENIAL FIEND and MASSACRE. The band is on Razorback Records and plays death metal. The debut album will be called Not For The Squeamish……Following seven years of silence OLD FOREST will issue a demo called Tales Of The Sussex Weald Part 1……Drummer David Kinkade (formerly of MALEVOLENT CREATION, COUNCIL OF THE FALLEN, INSATANITY and DIVINE EMPIRE) has joined a Chicago metal band called KASTASYDE……Spikefarm Records will issue KALMAH’s For The Revolution album next month. It was recorded at Tico Tico Studio.


Metallian Hard

CANDLEMASS guitarist Mats "Mappe" Björkman has been sentenced to two years in a Swedish prison for the theft of CDs worth approximately $520,000 Canadian over a two-year period. The musician worked at Swedish music distributor Entertainment Network Scandinavia and was allegedly stealing CDs over a three year period......Former BONHAM singer Daniel MacMaster died on March 16th ostensibly due to a blood infection......MSG’s In The Midst Of Beauty will be released on May 13th through Inakustic GMBH in May. MSG now features singer Gary Barden again......URIAH HEEP will release its first album in ten years in June. The album is called Wake The Sleeper......PHARAOH will release its third album, entitled Be Gone, on April 24th through Cruz del Sur Music......FATAL SMILE will release its third album, World Domination, next month through Locomotive Records......Guitarist Stefan Leibing has quit PRIMAL FEAR in order to spend time with his family. His replacement is Sweden’s Magnus Karlsson who had worked with the band before......COMMUNIC will release a new album, Payment Of Existence, on May 30th through Nuclear Blast Records. Jacob Hansen produced it......Somewhere Back In Time is the title for a new IRON MAIDEN compilation. The CD features music from the band’s first decade......More changes are afoot in the BIOMECHANICAL camp as guitarist Chris Van Hayden has left to concentrate on his own band, CHAOSGENESIS......MOONSPELL’s Night Eternal will be issued in May through SPV......Metal God Entertainment has announced the following releases: FIGHT’s Into The Pit 4-Disc Box Set (May 26), HALFORD’s Live At Rock In Rio III 5.1 DVD which includes the Resurrection CD remastered (September 23rd) and HALFORD’s Live Insurrection both remixed And remastered available in CD and 5.1 Hi-Definition Audio on Blu-Ray Disc (also September 23rd)......AMORPHIS, SAMAEL, LEAVES EYES and VIRGIN BLACK are touring Canada and the USA in October......LAS CRUCES is working on a new album called Dusk. The album is due this summer. Brainticket Records is issuing the band’s Ringmaster record this March......The Swedish glam band DANGER is performing five shows in the UK this month and next. Visit www.danger.se for more information......LITA FORD has returned and will play this year’s Rocklahoma festival in July......KALMAH’s fifth full-length album, For The Revolution, is out this month. The band is also touring Canada......RAGING SPEEDHORN has announced its own demise. The band that recently had its UK tour postponed to the autumn will make up for the dates in October and perform shows in America for the rest of the year as well...... BORKNAGAR has reached into its past and brought back guitarist Jens Ryland and bassist Erik Tiwaz......JOE SATRIANI will release his thirteenth album, entitled Professor Satchafunkilus And The Musterion Of Rock both as a regular CD and CD + DVD edition. The album is released by Epic Records......KING'S X XV album is due next month through Inside Out. It was produced by Michael Wagener......Former DOKKEN guitarist George Lynch has recently speculated that the original DOKKEN line-up will reform and tour together. The band apparently was about to do so last year, but was faced with the unavailability of bassist Jeff Pilson. DOKKEN’s Lightning Strikes Again is due this month through Frontiers Records.


Metallian Demos

ANTAGONISM – XXI CENTURY
Italian death metal quartet has neither an original name nor an innovative form of death metal, but what it does do is put together a solid foundation for slow to mid-paced death metal with heaps of crushing riffs and death-growls. The best song here is the opener G-Hate, while the weakest is the closer Poisoned Rats which is a bit too slow and monotonous. The guitar and bass sounds are fine, but the drumming could be spruced up in tightness, technique and sound. The drumming often follows the pattern of the rest of the music without any other regard. Antagonism’s CD forgets to include the lyrics, yet the group is clearly socially conscious and politically interested. Write the band c/o antagonism@email.it or sgpromotion@sgmetal.it if you are a fan of Suffocation or the American Baphomet. You could also ask what the hell “urban death metal” is; I don’t personally care. – Anna Tergel

KAOS ENGINE – HYMN TO DEATH
The demo CD of this Italian group is called Hymn To Death, although ironically the music is a mixture of death and thrash metal where the latter takes precedence. In fact, the pure thrashing riffs are the band’s best moments. When the guitarist takes to his guitar and lets out some thrashing chords the group takes flight. The leads are also respectable. Unfortunately, the growled vocals and the drumming leave some to be desired. In particular, the drummer’s habit to just pound away is not exactly rhythmic one way or the other.
Kaos Engine is not a young band and so it is incumbent upon the Italians to turn their Benediction/Sepultura sound into something more individual and cohesive. Visit the band’s website at www.thekaosengine.com. - Anna Tergel

STIFF DONUT - I DID IT ALL FOR THE COOKIE
With a name, album title and song titles like We Love Fat Chicks, I Egged Arnold Schwarzenegger and Emo Guys Love To Fuck among others it is clear what to expect. Except that musically this is perhaps as odd or unusual and nowhere nearly as funny as the lyrics. The others song titles are worth a mention just by themselves. Kill Everyone Who Has A Cell Phone, Drugs Are Bad, You’re Really Hot But You’re A Nut, Who The Hell Are The Hilton Sisters, Fuck Iron Maiden, I’m With Stupid and Urethral Earthquake complete this 30-minute release. Song after song new wave and techno sounds, effect filled instruments and vocals manage to annoy the ears. The lyric sheet is very much the highlight here with such notable verses as “In my version of a perfect world… Cell phone usage leads to violence” (Kill Everyone Who Has A Cell Phone), “I know the sex is off the hook... But isn’t that your wallet she took” (Emo Guys Love To Fuck) and “I admit I used to like them... Back in 1982... I have since gotten over them” (Fuck Iron Maiden). Contact the band at 36 Central Park Road, Plainview, NY, USA 11803 or at mrhymson@aol.com. – Anna Tergel