Metallian Heavy


Sweden's SCENTERIA has signed to New Aeon Media (A sub-division of Karmageddon Media). An album is expected this summer...EXECUTIONER is re-releasing the In The Name Of Metal and the Break The Silence albums on one CD. This edition will be limited to 500 copies...Alexander Savander has replaced Captain Carcass as the bassist for VICIOUS...The split-CD of KLUDDE/WANHOOP is out. The title of the CD is De Verdoken Waarheid (KLUDDE) and Elegy Of Despair (WANHOOP). Head over to http://www.nepherex.com...THORK's second album Wę-Ila is now out...The new DISARMONIA MUNDI album is called Fragments Of D-Generation and features SOILWORK/TERROR 2000 singer Bjorn Strid on vocals. The album will be released by Scarlet Records in May. The band is shooting a video for War Of Angels...CARPATHIAN FOREST's singer Nattefrost had an accident recently that left him with a broken collarbone. CARPATHIAN FOREST was slated to begin its trek as part of the No Mercy Festival, but Nattefrost was not allowed to fly and therefore only three members were present on the first dates of the tour...WATCH THEM DIE will embark on a U.S. tour alongside GWAR this month. The group kicked off its touring with a short West Coast run with Darkest Hour in April and will wrap things up in early June...Canada's WOODS OF YPRES is recording a second demo. It is entitled Pursuit Of The Sun & Allure Of The Earth and is being recorded at Spectre Sound in Tecumseh, Canada. Tracks will include The Looming Of Dust In The Dark (And The Illumination), The Will To Give and The Sun Was In My Eyes...HIDDEN IN THE FOG has signed a contract with the German label Twilight-Vertrieb. The CD Abstract Maelstrom Paragon will be released worldwide on the third of May...METALHEAD is finishing its debut demo. A sample song can be heard at http://www.metalhead-uk.com/BloodAndSand.mp3...DEICIDE is no longer part of the SUPERJOINT RITUAL tour. Schedule and money problems caused the parting...MORBID ANGEL is confirmed to play the main stage at this year's Roskilde Festival in Denmark. The American death metallers will appear on the main stage on Saturday July 3rd, at 5:00 pm...Earache Records, in cooperation with CARCASS, will issue the long-delayed CARCASS compilation Choice Cuts. Originally slated for release in 1999, the compilation was shelved by the label following the news of drummer Ken Owen's critical illness. The disc is now due in July...Former DEVOID (which featured future CARCASS guitarist Carlos Regadas) singer Louie Fellows has formed a new band called GOAT THROTTLER which is supposedly in the vein of DR. SHRINKER...Greece's ASTARTE has a new album called Sirens. This is the band's first record through new label Avantgarde and features appearances by DIMMU BORGIR's Shagrath and ROTTING CHRIST's Sakis...FACE THE FACT's song The Night from the band's last work Romeo And Juliet Are Not Dead, is featured in the Italian film Il Siero Delle Vanita...BEYOND THE EMBRACE has announced that a local bassist, Chris Parlon formerly of MARAZINE, will permanently replace Adam Gonsalves...VEHEMENCE has shot a video for the track By Your Bedside. The song comes off the group's third studio album Helping The World To See...Eugene, Oregon's YOB is getting ready to hit the road in support of its current album, Catharsis. The band will be touring the USA during May and then begin work on a new album called The Illusion Of Motion...MAYHEM's new release, Chimera, has entered the Norwegian charts in position 28 during its first week of release...CANCER's Corporation album will be out this month...The German act DISBELIEF has signed a new contract with Nuclear Blast...SOILWORK has extended its contract with Nuclear Blast. The band is shooting a video for the song Departure Plan...SINISTER has called it a day. According to drummer Aad, the economic pressures of being in a band for so long and still not being able to concentrate on it full-time made going on impossible...HOUWITSER has canceled all activity and is looking for a drummer following Aad Kloosterwaard's (formerly also of SINISTER) sole focus on new act INFINITED HATE (also featuring SINISTER's Rachel Kloosterwaard and guitarist Ron v/d Polder. Aad will remain in HOUWITSER as second vocalist. In the meanwhile, drummers can e-mail bassist Theo Van Eekelen at houwitser@hotmail.com...Galy Records has signed black metal band ANHKREHG...Norway's From Beyond zine has thrown in the towel...Dutch thrashers Mortuary I.O.D. will be performing at Wâldrock Festival on June19th. The band's MCD Damnation is ready for release pending the search for a label...BANE OF EXISTENCE's debut Humanity's Splintered Salvation has just been issued...Venge Records has signed IDEA OF BEAUTY...The new EXCITER re-recorded 'classics' album New Testament will be licensed in North America to The End Records by Osmose Productions...Skyscraper Music will release the new SHIVERDOWN album, EndThemes. A release date for the album has not been set. The label is also issuing SOUL OF DARKNESS' Torments In Withered Existence...GORGOROTH has parted ways with Nuclear Blast Records following the controversial incidents in Poland earlier. The band ran afoul of Christian Polish laws while shooting footage of crucified and naked actors, as well as depicting sheep' heads on stage. The band's drummer, Kvitrafn, has quit the band, with Frost (SATYRICON, 1349, KEEP OF KALLESIN) replacing him. Bands like HYPOCRISY have also found themselves in conflict with a Christian-oriented Nuclear Blast Records in the past...Karmageddon Media has issued RIBSPREADER's Bolted To The Cross debut album. The death metal band features Dan Swano and Rogga from EDGE OF SANITY...The members of DEATHKIDS are back with a new band called INRED...HATE SQUAD has reformed. The band has finished recording ten songs with Hermann Frank (of ACCEPT fame) at Horus Studio in Hanover, Germany, The new album, due out this summer, is called H8 For The Masses...Mario Klausner has left PUNGENT STENCH due to time constraints in order to fully concentrate on his own band COLLAPSE 7...Drummer Alex Hernández (IMMOLATION) has also joined REQUIEM AETERNAM...DRILLER KILLER recently had to cancel its European tour due to miscommunication and ineptitude on the part of the tour's promoter...CADAVER has just completed filming for a new video to support its upcoming Candlelight debut, Necrosis...MAD DRAGZTER has announced that Eric Claros is the new drummer of the band. Evandro Jr. has quit the band due to musical differences...THE FORSAKEN's singer Anders Sjöholm, DERANGED's bassist Calle Fäldt (here on guitar) and MISTELTEIN bassist Magnus Gillberg have joined forced in a new thrash band called FEARED CREATION...INCANTATION has signed with France's Listenable Records. The band has entered the Mars Studio in Cleveland, Ohio on March 5th in order to begin work on its eighth full-length album, Decimate Christendom, for an early July release. The band has signed to Olympic Recordings in the USA...LORD BELIAL has chosen June 20th as the release date for its fifth album, The Seal Of Belial through Regain Records...WITHERING SURFACE has set a June 7th release date through Italy's Scarlet Records for its fourth album, Force The Pace...FATAL SMILE will shortly enter the studio to begin recording its new album Neo Natural Freaks which is tentatively due late summer through GMR Music...ENEMY IS US, the Swedish death/thrash metal band featuring former DARKANE/current SEETHINGS singer Lawrence Mackrory on bass and vocals has announced We Have Seen The Enemy... And The Enemy Is Us as the title of its debut album, due this autumn through Finland's Rising Realm Records...Bassist Derek Boyer has left DECREPIT BIRTH to join SUFFOCATION as its new full-time bassist...New York's CEREMONIUM has officially called it quits. "I initially put CEREMONIUM on indefinite hiatus because of Brandon Diaz's (vocals/ guitar) physical condition (i.e. cancer)," stated guitarist Thomas Pioli (ex-INCANTATION)...TSJUDER has signed a deal with France's Season Of Mist. The group will enter a studio in July to record its third CD, entitled Desert Northern Hell. ...SKITSOY is a Belgian band fronted by former CHANNEL ZERO vocalist Franky De Smet-Van Damme...Pete Beck, singer for the Norway's GRIFFIN, has suffered a heart attack, and is currently recovering at a local hospital...In BAL-SAGOTH news, drummer Dave Mackintosh has decided to leave the band...Sweden's SARGATANAS REIGN has parted ways with singer Magnus "Devo" Andersson (ex-MARDUK, CARDINAL SIN, DEAR MUTANT). Replacing Andersson in SARGATANAS REIGN's line-up is one Jonas Mattsson...French band YYRKOON has signed a deal with Osmose Productions. The group's third album, titled Occult Medicine", was recorded and mixed at Hansen studios in Ribe, Denmark and features twelve "madness songs" with a "horror/fantastic" theme...


Metallian Hard



BALANCE OF POWER has shot its appearance at Building A Force festival in Germany and will release a DVD through Massacre Records at the end of the year...80's Los Angeles hard rockers EDEN are back and auditioning singers...Finnish band SEARING MEADOW has signed to Rising Realm Records. The band's debut album Corroding From Inside will appear next month...Warhymn Records has issued an album by LORD VADER called Goliath. It features 16 heavy metal tracks. Eight tracks are from 1986, five tracks are from 1983 and 3 tracks are from 1987, but recorded in 2001 by the reformed LORD VADER...Underground Symphony Records will release INTENSE's Second Sight album next month...Former QUIET RIOT vocalist Kevin DuBrow will hit the road this month to begin his first ever solo tour. He will be performing all the QUIET RIOT classics and songs from his soon-to-be-released CD. He will be on tour all through the summer in support of his upcoming solo album entitled In For The Kill which will be out on Shrapnel Records this month...New releases on LMP are GOTHIC KNIGHTS' Up From The Ashes, CRYONIC TEMPLE's Blood Guts & Glory, REVOLTON's Nightvisions and a video release called Louder Than The Dragon which is a 28-song/three video sampler...Laser's Edge has released TIME MACHINE's Reviviscence album. Reviviscence is the second part of the Eymerich Trilogy...JUDAS PRIEST has officially signed with Columbia/Sony...HELLOWEEN has left Sanctuary Management and has joined with Bottom Row Promotion which also manages AXXIS, DC COOPER and DRAGONLORD...STRATOVARIUS guitarist Timo Tolkki has been hospitalized due to suicidal feelings and chronic depression. He is currently being treated in Helsinki. If anyone wants to send him recovery wishes the following e-mail has been set up timorecovery@Stratovarius.com...England's FOREFATHER recently finished the recording for its upcoming album Ours Is The Kingdom. The album will be released by Karmageddon Media in the summer...Zakk Wylde's BLACK LABEL SOCIETY has issued a new album called Hangover Music, Vol. VI. The album has already entered the US charts...DREAM EVIL's third album, The Book Of Heavy Metal, will be released on July 13th in North America through Century Media Records...Karmageddon Media has three new bands on its roster. The bands are Sweden's SILENT SCYTHE (featuring Tommi formerly of BRIMSTONE) whose coming album is called Suffer In Silence, Sweden's STORMRIDER whose album is called First Battle Won and Poland's VOX INTERIUM whose album is entitled Yearning. The label has just released FINAL DAWN's Under The Bleeding Sky CD...LEASH LAW's Dogface album and Stealing Grace album are now out through Black Lotus Records...In a statement to the media the Dutch label Cold Blood Industries has announced that it is immediately shutting its doors. The sub-label Ebony Tears will continue however. THE WOUNDED has already moved over from the mother label to the new Ebony Tears...DIRTY TRICK's three albums from the 70's have been rereleased...ELECTRIC WIZARD's We Live album has just been released...SKYCLAD's Semblance Of Normality is now out...Music For Nations is releasing ANATHEMA's Were You There? DVD on June 28th. The DVD was recorded in Krakow, Poland...RAGE guitarist VICTOR SMOLSKI's is working on a new solo album, tentatively entitled Majesty & Passion...NEVERMORE has announced that guitarist Steve Smyth (ex-TESTAMENT and DRAGONLORD) has officially been added to the band's line-up. The band used Smyth's services during the 2003 European and American tours in support of DIMMU BORGIR...TESTAMENT has announced that former HALFORD/current PAINMUSEUM guitarist Mike Chlasciak will be in charge of lead guitars for the group during its upcoming European tour...Sweden's UNCHAINED has finished recording its self-titled album for Sound Riot Records. A release is expected this month. Upcoming releases on the Spanish label are, GAIA EPICUS' Symphony Of Glory and and an album by EXCALION...SKYFIRE's Spectral album will be released this month by Arise Records. The album was recorded at Los Angered and Underground Studios in Sweden...Daniel Fernández is the name of the new bass player for DARK MOOR. The band will be on stage at Maximum Rock Festival in Romania on June 11th...An ARTCH DVD is now available via www.artch.net. Another Return Live... and Beyond is a 2x DVD box featuring two full live concerts - the 2002 "farewell" gig in Sarpsborg and a classic 1989 performance at the Bootleg venue in Oslo...KHANATE is touring Europe this month....Arjen Anthony Lucassen (aka AYREON) is releasing a new album on May 25th through Inside Out Music America. It is a 2-CD rock opera entitled The Human Equation...FATES WARNING drummer Mark Zonder, SHADOW GALLERY guitarist Gary Wehrkamp and SILENT FORCE singer D.C. Cooper have joined forces to form a new project called ALFA-DOG. Zonder has left FATES WARNING...Former TO/DIE/FOR singer Jape Peratalo is looking to secure the rights to that band's name for his current band TIAGA. The original TO/DIE/FOR members have no intention of giving up the moniker. The dispute is expected to end up in court...ELVENKING will release a second album, Wyrd, on April 19th through AFM Records...DREAM OR NIGHTMARE has almost completed the recording and mixing of its album Light Burning Bright Till The Dawn...DIVINE RUINS, featuring singer Ronnie Stixx (SHADOWKEEP), has signed to Lone Wolf Records. The label will release the group's self-titled debut this month...KICK AXE has signed a new deal with MTM. The label will release a new album called IV this summer...SHADOWS FALL will embark on a U.S. headlining tour this summer in preparation for its fourth full-length release. The trek, dubbed the Strhess Tour, will also feature AS I LAY DYING, HIMSA and REMEMBERING NEVER. The group's first ever DVD, The Art Of Touring: Drunk And Shitty In Every City is due in September...A new Portuguese label called Magic Rope Music is issuing FORGOTTEN SUNS' Snooze album...Vocalist Damond Jiniya (SAVATAGE, DIET OF WORMS) and producer Juan "Punchy" Gonzalez (LOVER OF SIN, DIET OF WORMS) have formed a band called THE NEGLECTED. The group's debut CD The Neglected was recorded in February at D.O.W. studios in Mango, Florida...Due to "personal and musical differences," ex-DEMON DRIVE and BOYSVOICE bassist Jochen Mayer will not be a part of the reformed CASANOVA and has instead joined DOMAIN. Mayer is currently in the studio working on DOMAIN's new CD, The Last Days Of Utopia...Ex-MALEVOLENT CREATION drummer Alex Marquez has reunited with his former SOLSTICE guitarist Dennis Munoz in a power metal band called APOCALYPSE RISING. The quartet is completed by second guitarist Willy Medina and bassist Mike Marabell sees Marquez on vocals...ENTOMBED's Uffe Cederlund has joined DISFEAR as a full-time member. Cederlund was previously involved with the group as its second touring guitarist...Former MORGION/EYES OF FIRE guitarist Bobby Thomas is seeking members for his new California-based project, ANESIS...Former ICED EARTH singer Gene Adam, bassist Dave Abell and drummer Mark Prator have recruited guitarist Bill Owen of the pre-ICED EARTH act PURGATORY to form a new band called UNEARTHED...JAG PANZER has picked Casting The Stones as the title for its next album...German metal singer DORO has signed to AFM Records. DORO's first release for the label will be a collection of her hits and other heavy metal classics performed with the Metal Classic Night Orchestra...Former VAN HALEN/EXTREME singer Gary Cherone is recording his first solo album...CHARON has selected FOR MY PAINŠ guitarist Lauri Tuohimaa as a replacement for Jasse Von Hast who left the group last November...MOTÖRHEAD has reportedly set Inferno as the title of its new album, due in North America on June 22nd through the Sanctuary Records...ISENGARD has announced the addition of bassist Ted Lundin to the group's ranks. He replaces Janne Tillman, who left the band in January for "family reasons."...Former BLACK SABBATH frontman Tony Martin has been fired from M3...WHITESNAKE frontman David Coverdale is currently compiling material for a two-disc live album recorded during the group's recent tours...Rudy Sarzo has joined DIO as the group's new bassist...PRIMORDIAL has signed a deal with Metal Blade Records for the release of its fifth studio album, tentatively entitled Harvest....VENGEANCE (formerly. VENGEANCE RISING) has reunited after a 13-year hiatus. The group is comprised of Larry Farkas (guitar), Doug Thieme (guitar), Glen Mancaruso (drums), Roger Dale Martin (bass) and does not feature singer Roger Martinez who adopted Satanism following the band's demise. VENGEANCE will perform at Summer Madness 2004 on August 29th in Anaheim, California. A surprise guest vocalist will fill in for Martinez. ...France's TRACY GANG PUSSY has a new five-song demo called We've Come For Your Daughters...HEAVENLY has parted ways with guitarist Frédéric Leclercq, bassist Pierre-Emmanuel Pelisson and drummer Maxence Pilo!...In an e-mail to Metallian, Michael Schenker's personal manager Nancy Lewis observes that the guitarist is not pursuing any further projects with Amy Schugar and is not seeking a recording deal for SCHUGAR/SCHENKER. "The recording has been written off as a bad debt," according to Ms. Lewis. Schenker is concentrating on his label Goott Records. Amy Schugar counters that the duo were initially looking for a deal for SCHUGAR/SCHENKER and were unsuccessful. She and Nancy Lewis have also had a very tense relationship. Nancy Lewis has apparently been actively discouraging the publicity of the SCHUGAR/SCHENKER demo reviewed here last month. In latest news, Michael Schenker is apparently relocating to Spain.



Metallian Demos


IGNITOR - TAKE TO THE SKY
Remember Agony Column? Stuart Laurence of the band has returned to the heavy metal scene with a new band and a new demo. Along for the ride is a former T.A.N.G. colleague. The band heralds its true metal intentions and sounds and it means business too. It is just too bad that two of the members have short hair. Otherwise, the band's leather and studs image would have been perfect.
The band's music is reminiscent of old Riot. Crunchy heavy metal music and the melodic, yet gritty vocals of Erika Swinnich, hits the mark with songs like Demonslayer and Execution. Ignitor even has a song about capital punishment and George W. Bush! The band is from Texas and smack in the middle of the lunacy of that mad man after all. No matter, check the band out at www.ignitor.org or e-mail ignitor_band@hotmail.com for some true blue metal crunch with cool guitar rhythms and lead work. The band's music is still a little rough around the edges, but listen to the cool axe work of The Gray Ghost and the potential becomes clear. - Sheila Wes Det

SAINTSBLEED - TWISTED TRUTH
It would be easy to be turned off by the cheap cover artwork of Saintsbleed's disc, but that probably would be a mistake. This German newcomer is a professional act with great hard rock/heavy metal to its name and a professional sound. The quintet's singer, Sasch Menschl who also plays guitar, occasionally sounds like Alice Cooper and the music can be like Iron Maiden, Gamma Ray or even Mindfield on the song Inhabitants From Earth. Saintsbleed is a highly enjoyable band with very good ideas. My recommendation to the band is to get rid of the backing keyboards, change the lyrics from criticizing politicians to blasting the real culprits (fat corporations and capitalists) and release more great music. Send 6 Euros for this disc to Sasch Menschl, Panoramastrasse 24, 74541 Vellberg Germany. For more information e-mail sasch@saintsbleed.de. - Ali "The Metallian"

SYPER FORCE - HEAVY POWER METAL ERA 1993-1999
Syper Force is the band of one Andy Syper. He is a Polish/German metal freak who resembles Bobby Blitz and has been delivering metal for years. This disc is an anthology of sorts of his band and features original tunes as well as cover versions of bands like Metal Church and Laaz Rockit. The music is intriguing. It is occasionally very impressive, oddly inadequate at others and always heavy/power metal. In fact, the same varying qualities can be assigned to the vocals. They go from something proficient and Halford-esque to gruff and inadequate within the song. The juicy artwork and the dedication can't be faulted though. Please e-mail Andy at andysyper@mail.com for more information. - Ali "The Metallian"

SYPER FORCE - HEAVY SUMMER 2003
The newer Syper Force demo compilation is neither the product of one summer's work nor is a live disc from a particular time. The disc is a sampler of the band's work which, in this case, is the living dream of Andy Syper and friends to play heavy/power metal including originals and covers like Fight's into The Pit and Metal Church's Start The Fire. The vocals are both gruff and high (think Halford) and the guitars both off and on. It depends on the particular track. Whichever the case, Heavy Summer 2003 is the unfiltered recordings of a pure metal band having fun and playing it loudly. - Ali "The Metallian"

INTENSE MUTILATION - SGT. LEPPERS FALLING PARTS CLUB BAND
Intense Mutilation, the underground phenomenon, is back and has issued a full-length CD chock full of noisy and pounding 'music.' The musical output of the band is irrelevant next to the imagery, lyrics and the sense of rotten humour. In the course of twelve track with names like E-3 The Extra Testicle, In The Navy and Altar Of Sodomy, Jack Sh*t, Fetus F*cker and Pungent Vomit go after The Beatles, Michael Jackson, ET, Slayer and everybody else. The lyrics are the stuff of legends and exhibit A in many a future lawsuit. The back cover says something about how this demo is 'not intended for sale,' but fact is that the masses can get this by visiting www.intensemutilation.com! - Ali "The Metallian"





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