Germany-based extreme band ANTRISCH has a demo called Expedition II : Die Passage out since April 7th. The release’s concept revolves around Sir John Franklin’s ill-fated expedition of the Northwest Passage that took place in the Canadian Arctic more than 170 years ago.
Calgary, Canada-based WIDOW’S PEAK has a video to accompany the title track for its forthcoming demo, Claustrophobe. The band plays death metal.
Italy-based VALGRIND released its Millennium Of Night Bliss album through Memento Mori in April.
LOGICAL TERROR has a video for the song The Final Nightmare. It is inspired by the sixth film in the A Nightmare On Elm Street franchise, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare. The song is taken from the upcoming album Sides Of The Unknown out through Darktunes music this month.
GAEREA is touring Europe in support of its Mirage album this June.
Denmark-based thrash metal group DEMOLIZER is releasing its Post Necrotic Human album through Mighty Music in July. The album was self-produced.
Montreal, Canada-based VANTABLACK WARSHIP has a lyric video for Hunting The Recruiter, which is taken from the Last Of The Hardmouthed Poets album. It is out through BAM & Co Heavy. The band has lined up a couple of local concerts and a listening party.
Finland-based thrash metal group RADUX has released its Disaster Imminent MLP of 2018 through Golden Core on CD. It is tagged with live recordings called Crash Landings. The act is working on a new release.
ANTHRAX is in the studio recording a new album. The band, in the meantime, has again cancelled its European concerts and festival appearances. The 2023 dates were again cancelled for “logistical” reasons, which is often a euphemism for costs, low ticket sales and our drummer is in PANTERA. Rosie, the older sister of drummer Charlie Benante and mother of bassist Frank Bello died in April.
SCARLET ANGER is a thrash metal band based in Luxembourg. The band is releasing a demo called Martyr. There is a video for a song called No Time.
MACHINE HEAD has had to cancel its The Electric Happy Hour (Live) US tour of this spring as band and crew members, who are not American, have not obtained work visas.
Former MACHINE HEAD and current VIO-LENCE guitarist Phil Demmel again filled in for Willie Adler of LAMB OF GOD, this time on three South American concerts in April.
MASSACRE and NARCOTIC WASTELAND have announced a Canadian mini-tour called Canadian Madness Tour for this August. The press release reports that the bands will play their “biggest hits.” MASSACRE, which has released a digital live album performing its From Beyond release in its entirety called Submergence: Live Beyond 2019, is touring with MORTA SKULD and DRUID LORD currently.
MORBID ANGEL guitarist Trey Azagthoth collapsed on stage during a concert in Tampa, Florida, USA on April 21st. Singer and bassist Steve Tucker subsequently told the audience that Trey had injured himself before the band ended the show early. The guitarist would report that he had injured himself on the stairs of the tour bus and was also dehydrated.
I AM MORBID, featuring former MORBID ANGEL members David Vincent (vocals and bass) and Pedro “Pete” Sandoval (drums) will conduct a European tour in August. The tour will commemorate the 30th anniversary of MORBID ANGEL’s Covenant album.
Self-cover versions continue unabated: Nuclear Blast has signed CAVALERA, featuring former SEPULTURA members Max Cavalera (vocals and guitar) and Igor Cavalera (drums). The act’s first release is re-recordings of SEPULTURA’s first EP Bestial Devastation and debut album of 1986 Morbid Visions. The band is conducting the Morbid Devastation tour this autumn with INCITE and EXHUMED opening.
THE TROOPS OF DOOM, featuring former SEPULTURA guitarist Jairo Guedz, will release a compilation EP called Prelude To Blasphemy through MOONSPELL’s Alma Mater Records on May 12th.
HELLWITCH has a video for Delegated Disruption from its new album Annihilational Intercention, which will be released through Listenable Records in June.
Inspired by KEEL? FORBIDDEN has again reformed after disbanding 11 years ago. The band is playing the Alcatraz Metal Festival in Belgium in August. The band consists of guitarists Craig Locicero and Steve Smyth, bassist Matt Camacho and drummer Chris Kontos. Singer Russ Anderson is not returning and is replaced by IMAGIKA’s Norman Skinner.
Inspired by KEEL? IMPERIAL CRYSTALLINE ENTOMBMENT or I.C.E. has reformed and signed with Debemur Morti Productions. The band states, “A deep calling from the ONE. The continual chanting of the Astral Frost Invocation has brought us back.” The act has a Facebook account. The band will also re-release its debut.
Former EYEHATEGOD Guitarist Brian Patton re-joined the band for its 30th anniversary Take As Needed For Pain concert at Decibel Metal & Beer Fest on April 15th. The band is a quintet again.
Canada-based CRÈME FLESH released the humour and horror of the Casablumpkin album through Comatose Music on May 5th. The slamming album’s title is inspired by the FX adult animated sitcom, Archer.
PHLEBOTOMIZED has uploaded a song called Destined To Be Killed in advance of the band’s upcoming album Clouds Of Confusion, which will be out through Hammerheart Records on May 26th.
Six Songs With The Devil, the 1994 demo from DESTRÖYER 666, will be re-released on vinyl through Season Of Mist on June 23rd.
Time To Kill Records has signed Italy-based black metallers DEATH DIES. The band will release an album, entitled Stregoneria, in the summer of 2023. The band was founded in 1995.
Horror Pain Gore Death is working with the band INFERION again and has an album called Inequity.
Blood Is Life, the 1996 debut full-length from CRACK UP, has been re-released through MDD with the band’s 1994 demo Forsaken Dreams as a bonus.
The underground shall never remain underground: Dawnbreed Records is releasing the Anticosmic Womb demo of 2022 from DISCORDANT MEDITATION on tape. The group also has a newer demo called Interface.
Japan-based KRUELTY and SAIGAN TERROR are using the Untopia Sea Tour monicker to tour Southeast Asia in June.
Venezuela-based STRATUZ has a new live video for the song Back To The Sun. The track comes off its Osculum Pacis album, which was released in April 2022.
The young crossover group TYRANTHROPE from Krefeld, Germany, has signed with ftwctp Records to release its still untitled debut album exclusively on vinyl. Michiel Van Der Plicht (drums for PESTILENCE) is in the band.
Keyboard-laden ‘deathcore’ act THE CONVALESCENCE is touring with SUMMONER’S CIRCLE and WOR using the One Of The Dead Tour monicker. The band has a claymation video for the song No Survivors featuring CARNIFEX‘s Scott Ian Lewis. The band is stopping by the Toledo Death Fest.
The so-called “space death fusion” act with keyboards and piano WOUNDED NOT DEAD has an album called The Alchemist through LA Riot Survivor Records (UK).
The band has keyboards, piano and “orchestrations”: Canada-based VORTEX has a concept demo called The Future Remains In Oblivion in June. The band compares itself to DIMMU BORGIR.
Istanbul, Turkey-based EXNUN will release the Nutshell Studies Of Unexplained Death album through Time To Kill Records in June. The crossover band’s album title is from The Nutshell Studies Of Unexplained Death, which is a series of 19 dollhouse-style dioramas of actual murder scenes created by Frances Glessner Lee (1878–1962) a pioneer in forensic science. The lyrics of the songs are poems while the actual vocal lines are select words and lines from the poems.
Norway-based BOLVERK will release its second album, Svarte Sekunder, through Wormholedeath on May 26th.
CANTICUM DIABOLI, an Italy-based band with historical and mediaeval themes, is back and will release a demo entitled Ecce Pontifex Bonifatio on May 16th.
Listenable Records has signed The Netherlands-based GRACELESS. The band’s next album will be released in 2024. In the meantime, the GRACELESS back catalogue from Raw Skull Records will be re-released through Listenable Records with bonus tracks in June.
PROFANATICA kicked off its European headliner tour at the SWR Festival in Barroselas, Portugal on April 28th. The tour goes through 15 countries. NECROBODE from Portugal opens.
Crawling Chaos has two new signings. CURSED TO OCCULT is a solo project that was founded in 2019. An album is expected on vinyl this autumn. Founded in 2007, NEBELKRÄHE is expected to release an album this autumn as well.
Avantgarde Music is issuing VAMPYROTEUTHIS INFERNALIS’ Vampyroteuthis Infernalis (atmospheric black metal) and CLAUSTRUM’s also self-titled album (death metal from Italy).
Time To Kill Records has signed France-based death metal band LIQUID FLESH. The band is putting the finishing touches to Dolores, its third album, which will be released in 2023. The concept album was recorded in 2022.
Horror Pain Gore Death Productions is issuing MUSKEG CHARNEL’s Decomposition Part 3: Rigor Mortis album. The death metal act was founded and is staffed by Wretch of PACT in 2015. Decomposition Part 3: Rigor Mortis is the third in a series of seven albums each entitled after a different stage of human decomposition.
Italy-based MEMBRANCE will be releasing its new album Undead Island through Extreme Metal Music, a subsidiary of Rockshots Records, in June. There is a video for the song Riva De Biasio featuring a cannibal butcher.
USA-based MUTUAL HOSTILITY will be releasing its Inhuman Anguish album through Lethal Scissor Records in June, making it the band’s debut to the label. MUTUAL HOSTILITY is a death metal band formed in January of 2020. The act is compared to GORGUTS.
FILTHGRAVE’s Necromantic Rituals EP from 2020 is receiving the vinyl treatment this year.
Germany-based speed metal band MESSERSCHMITT is playing select concerts this spring and summer including an appearance at Ragers Elite Festival.
NOTHINGNESS’ The Hollow Gaze Of Death album from 2019 is being reissued on vinyl by Violence In The Veins.
NOCTEM will perform at 11 festivals, including the likes of Graspop Metal Meeting, Summer Breeze, MetalDays, this spring and summer.
Germany-based “black metal punks” RANĂ will release an album, entitled Richtfeuer, through Breath Sun Bone Blood in June. The album’s title ‘Richtfeuer’ translates into Beacon. The band proclaims itself antifascist.
PERRACIDE, the solo project of drummer Per Karlsson, which released its first song, Horripilation last month has announced its full-length as Underdog. It will be issued by Emanzipation in June.
Indonesia-based DEMENTED HEART has a new album, called Frantic Epidemic, through Brutal Mind. The band is compared to HOUR OF PENANCE.
Guitarist Freddy and singer Ayumu of SERENITY IN MURDER have tied the knot.
A PRETEXT TO HUMAN SUFFERING has an album called Endless Cycle Of Suffering through Reality Fade Records. The multinational band was founded as the solo project of vocalist and guitarist Chris Mathis in 2019. Naturally, stool-for-hire Marco Pitruzzella is also in this band too.
Ottawa, Canada-based SIGNS OF CHAOS, featuring members of FUMIGATION, NORILSK and DAMNUS, has a demo called Blindsided. It is the band’s first release since the 2016 demo, Watch It Burn. The group’s sound is compared to GOJIRA and PANTERA.
ADG Records has issued an ABLAZE MY SORROW demo tape cassette box. It is limited to 100 copies and includes the For Bereavement We Cry demo 1994, the Ablaze My Sorrow demo 1995 and a patch.
Belarus-based PA VESH EN has uploaded a song called Following The Pestilent Maiden. It will be included on the band’s upcoming full-length Martyrs, which will be released through Iron Bonehead Productions in May.
CEMETERY URN has an upcoming full-length called Suffer The Fallen, which will be out through Hells Headbangers this summer. It was produced by Adam Calaitzis at Toyland Studio with the cover artwork created by Mark Riddick. Original singer Damon Bloodstorm (BESTIAL WARLUST and ABOMINATOR) and bassist Squiz are heard on the vinyl-only bonus track, Mass Graves Of Blood.
Nebelung, the new album by MINAS MORGUL will be released through Trollzorn Records in June. The band features guitarist Alboin who was responsible for bass, keyboards, guitars, some vocals and production and vocalist Stef who was a guest singer on the band’s previous album, Heimkehr.
USA-based SORROW has signed a deal with Xtreem Music for the release of its sophomore full-length Death Of Sorrow in August. It follows the band’s debut by more than 30 years.
Blood Blast Distribution is distributing THE BLOOD’s We Couldn’t Kill Less release. The band is based in Sweden and not to be confused by the longstanding British band with the same monicker.
Italy-based FORMALIST is the latest band to join the Brucia Records’ roster. We Inherit A World At The Seams is the new release by the sludge act.
A year after releasing To Hell Or Kingdom Come album, Denmark-based Viking-inspired act HEIDRA is back with a new video for the song Cloaks And Daggers.
Nomad Snakepit Productions is releasing INFERNÄL MÄJESTY‘s None Shall Live (In Rotterdam) album in June. The band performed its entire None Shall Defy album and more in the Dutch city while touring with MALEVOLENT CREATION, VADER and VITAL REMAINS in 1997. This recording is limited to 200 vinyl copies.
NE OBLIVISCARIS has recruited drummer Kevin Paradis (BENIGHTED, MITHRIDATIC, etc.) to drum on its upcoming concerts. Drummer Daniel Presland left the band in 2022.
THE AGONIST has cancelled its European tour for the summer citing rising costs.
TESTAMENT has brought drummer Chris Dovas’s (VITAL REMAINS, SEVEN SPIRES, etc.) back into the fold due to Dave Lombardo’s unavailability. Dovas drummed for the band at six concerts in 2022 when Lombardo was also unavailable. TESTAMENT is heading to South America.
Italy-based thrash metal band MASS CRYSIS has an album called Imposing Truck through The Goatmancer Records.
Reunion 2025? HOLY MOSES’ farewell album Invisible Queen has entered the German charts at position No. 14.
Inspired by KEEL? Germany’s Prophecy Fest has booked AGALLOCH for its reunion show in the original line-up. The line-up remains vocalist and guitarist John Haughm, guitarist Don Anderson and bassist Jason Walton. Drummer Hunter Ginn (CANVAS SOLARIS, SCULPTURED, etc.) is on drums for the event. Also appearing at the concert are NOVEMBERS DOOM, MY DYING BRIDE, GRAB at its only show ever, VEMOD, DORNENREICH and others.
The first international Transcending Obscurity Fest, named after the Indian record label, will take place at the Futurum club in Prague, Czech Republic. It will feature 16 primarily death and black metal bands from 12 European countries on May 5th and 6th. The festival will feature CUTTERRED FLESH (which helped organize the show), GODLESS TRUTH, CRAWL from Sweden, CRYPTS OF DESPAIR and SISYPHEAN.
LELAHELL singer REDOUANE AOUAMEUR has uploaded a track called Fury Flight.
Did he also offer “thoughts and prayers” for shooting victims in the USA? SUICIDAL TENDENCIES has replaced drummer Brandon Pertzborn with jazz and pop musician Greyson Nekrutman. The departed man, of course, stated that it was an “honour” to have been in SUICIDAL TENDENCIES.