Metallian Heavy

Season Of Mist has signed NIGHT SHALL DRAPE US. Featuring members of BEHEXEN and HORNA, the debut album is called Lunatic Choir and out in the spring of 2024. The label has also signed MARTYR LOGARIUS, which calls its style “Formless Black Metal.” The label will re-issue the band’s demos as the act works on a full-length.

Serbia-based thrash metal group QUASARBORN has an album called Novo Oružje Protiv Bola through Doc Gator Records. There is a video for the song Urobor.

PUTRASCENSION’s Forever Below album is out through Horror Pain Gore Death in October. The band features members from WINDFAERER, REPLICANT, WOLFCLOAK, TOMBS, ABACINATE, KALOPSIA and HAMMER FIGHT.

PUTRID TORSO has an album called Trails Of Hypnotized Human Veins through Pathologically Explicit Recordings on 19.10.2023. The band was founded in 2000, released a couple of songs before disappearing and returning in 2022. Krzysztof Klingbein (BELPHEGOR and ex-VADER) is the session drummer.

Former OVERKILL and VIO-LENCE guitarist Bobby Gustafson has a new thrash metal project called PAINWARD. Also in are MASSACRE bassist Mike Borders and Gustafson’s SATAN’S TAINT band-mate Jim McCourt on drums.

Inspired by KEEL? 3 INCHES OF BLOOD is reuniting for a first concert in a decade in Vancouver, Canada on January 13th. The act disbanded in 2015.

MEGADETH has hired guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari (WINTERSUN) to complete its current tour. The band’s main guitarist Kiko Loureiro opted to fly back to Finland to spend time with his children.

MESHUGGAH, THE HALO EFFECT and MANTAR will tour Europe in March.

The first edition of The Rome Carnage Extreme Fest will take place in Rome, Italy on October 14th. Bands appearing will be FLESHCRAWL, DEVANGELIC, OTUS and others.

THE CONVALESCENCE will be hitting the road in the USA this autumn in support of its new album Harvesters Of Flesh And Bone, which will be released through Cleopatra Records in November.

SOLIPNOSIS, a solo endeavour by Valdivia-based multi-instrumentalist El Centauro, has an EP called Síntesis Silenciosa. This Chile-based act’s release is out through විරෑපී (Virūpi) with a sophomore full-length album planned to follow.

විරෑපී (Virūpi) issues Santiago black metal group BLACK GRAIL’s debut album, Misticismo Regresivo, on cassette format for the first time. It was taped between early 2013 to early 2014 and issued through Uncreation Records in 2015. The band is working on a new album.

Avantgarde is issuing AMALEKIM’s Avodah Zarah and AEON WINDS’ Night Sky Illuminations in November.

Italy-based TWEEDLEDEAD’s debut album Infernotes, will be released through Lethal Scissor Records on November 22nd. The solo act features a member with experience in SEPOLCRAL and MISOS.

CATAFALQUE’s Dybbuk is out through code666 as is FELONIE’s De Sève Et De Sang on the 13th of October. The latter band is based in the village of Nendaz, nestled in the Swiss Alps, and is the side-project of Marc Bourban, a member of WIZARDS OF WIZNAN and TYRMFAR.

AETERNUS has announced Philosopher as the title for its next record, which follows 2018’s Heathen. The album will be released through Agonia Records in November. A European tour with GORGOROTH will commence the same month.

Sixth Circle Fest in Troisdorf, Germany in November will feature bands like HEMELBESTORMER, FYRNASK, BELTEZ and CATAYA. Crawling Chaos Records is a sponsor.

SUFFOCATION will release a full-length album, entitled Hymns From The Apocrypha, through Nuclear Blast in early November.

Colombia-based death metal group FUNERAL VOMIT will hurl a debut full-length called Monumental Putrescence through Xtreem Music in December.

FOETAL JUICE new album Grotesque is out through Gore House on November 17th.

NECROTICGOREBEAST shall release a new album, entitled Repugnant, through Comatose on November 3rd.

Dave Burk, the founding guitarist of thrash metal band DEVASTATION died last month. Dave was in the band between 1986 and 1991.

Being illdisposed, death metal band ILLDISPOSED has parted ways with guitarist Rasmus “Hække” Henriksen. The band welcomed back Ken Holst.

An album called The Cancer Pledge, is available from OCTOBER TIDE through Agonia Records.

CONDEMNED will release a record called Daemonium through Unique Leader Records in November.

OBITUARY will embark on a two-week tour of Australia and New Zealand in January. It will be supported by PSYCROPTIC and BLACK LAVA depending on the location.

DEN SAAKALDTE has a new album called Pesten Som Tar Over through Agonia Records.

FALL OF SERENITY is back on Lifeforce Records for the release of a new album, called Open Wide, O Hell, which is due in early 2024.

THY ART IS MURDER have booted singer Chris “CJ” McMahon and erased his vocals from the newly released Godlike album that was issued on September 22nd! McMahon deleted his social media following a backlash after posting a transphobic comment on Instagram. The rest of the members disagreed, but also called this the latest transgression. THY ART IS MURDER has recruited Tyler Miller of AVERSIONS CROWN and is touring Europe.

SERPENTS OATH will release a new album called Revelation. It will be issued by Odium Records on November 24th.

WAR CURSE has an album called Confession through Metal Blade/Blacklight Media Records.

CRADLE OF FILTH will tour the Middle East and Europe in 2024 using the Necromantic Fantasies monicker. The February and March tour features openers WEDNESDAY 13 and SICK N’ BEAUTIFUL.

Jon Matthew Kennedy, former singer of HECATE ENTHRONED and former CRADLE OF FILTH bass player died in a car accident. He was 46 years old.

MORTUARY DRAPE has a new studio record. Entitled Black Mirror, it will be available through Peaceville Records on November 3rd.

Horror Pain Gore Death is issuing SADISTIC FORCE’ Midnight Assassin album. The band is compared to HELLSWORD, BEWITCHED and VENOM.

HYPERIA’s new record, The Serpent’s Cycle, will be issued through Sliptrick Records.

MANGLED CARPENTER’s Salvation Syndrome album is out through October 27th. The issuing labels are Rottweiler Records and Broken Curfew Records.

BURDEN OF GRIEF has a full-length called Dubbed Destination Dystopia through Massacre Records on November 24th.

WATAIN will release a live album entitled Die In Fire – Live In Hell (Agony And Ecstasy Over Stockholm) through Nuclear Blast Records on November 3rd. The date commemorates the band’s 25th anniversary. It was recorded in Stockholm in October 2022.

Italy-based KAIVS has a demo called Horrend.

Australia-based DEADSPACE has a record called Unveiling The Palest Truth through Immortal Frost Productions since the 22nd of September. The band mixes occult, metal and goth.

More self-cover versions: ENEMYNSIDE’s Medusa – XX Legacy Edition EP features music from the band’s 2003 release Let The Madness Begin.. re-recorded.

ASKESIS will release its new album, Beyond The Fate Of Death, through Time To Kill Records in late October.

A BEWITCHER compilation album, called Deep Cuts & Shallow Graves, is available through Century Media Records in November. A single called Manifesting Darkness is out now from the release, which comes with 17 tracks of demo recordings and two new songs.

BARBARIAN SWORDS’ Anti-Dogma Megaforce is out through Eternal Juggernaut Records in October. The band recorded two albums with Javi Félez at Moontower Studio In the summer of 2022. These were a pair of independent records. Not without controversy with another label that was to release the LP version, the first of these works, Anti-Dogma Megaforce, is available now.

Guitarist Mike Hickey (VENOM, CARCASS and CRONOS) is touring the USA with VENOM INC.. The tour, with opening acts SATAN, RINGWORM and 72 LEGIONS, is missing guitarist Jeff “Mantas” Dunn whose wife has been diagnosed with cancer.


Metallian Hard

Slovakia-based heavy metal group MALOKARPATAN has uploaded Maharal A Golem, from the next studio record Vertumnus Caesar. It is available through Invictus Productions this month.

Former SAXON guitarist Graham Oliver revealed that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

Based on X-ray results, AEROSMITH singer Steven Tyler's vocal cords are "mangled." The singer flew to Boston to consult with an ENT specialist after experiencing vocal cord bleeding during a concert in Long Island, NY, USA. He had opted to continue that particular concert. The band is in the midst of its farewell tour and dates are postponed now. Doctors have now advised him not to sing for at least 30 days, putting further strain on Aerosmith's already rescheduled tour.

BraveWords Records has signed LILLIAN AXE. The band will release its first title for the company in 2024.

KAMELOT recruited Swedish drummer Adde Larsson (HOW WE END, CYHRA, etc.) for several concerts on the band's current U.S. tour. Larsson is filling in for drummer Alex Landenburg who just became a father.

SOL NEGATE, the solo act of Seattle-based Edoardo Curatolo, has a demo called On the Verge Of Dreaming Again. Drummer Sebastian Lanser (ex-OBSCURA, JUVALIANT and OBSIDIOUS) and singer Riley McShane (CONTINUUM and ex-ALLEGAEON) are guests on the recording.

SATAN'S FALL has an album called Destination Destruction through SPV on November 3rd.

It is the famous farewell tour again: MR BIG The Big Finish tour of Europe is taking place in March and April. The band visited China and toured Japan over the summer.

The Australian Football League has announced KISS will perform during the pre-game show at the 2023 Toyota AFL Grand Final on September 30th.

STRIKER has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for an album called Ultrapower through its own imprint, Record Breaking Records. Guitarist John Simon Fallon (THE ORDER OF CHAOS) is now part of the ensemble.

ProgPower USA XXIII will take place between September 4 and 7, 2024. Bands announced include WINGER (performing Pull), AMORPHIS, LOVEBITES, PAGAN’S MIND, SOEN, DAMIAN WILSON, ELEINE, DISILLUSION, FIFTH ANGEL, STRIKER and FROZEN CROWN.

Spain-based dark metal act TODOMAL will release a full-length album, entitled A Greater Good, through Ardua Music in November. The band is compared to CANDLEMASS, KRUX, PINK FLOYD, AVATARIUM.

SKID ROW has postponed the North American leg of The Gang's All Here tour with BUCKCHERRY from October to March 2024. SKID ROW's vocalist, Erik Grönwall, is ill and cannot tour.

VINCE NEIL's concert at the Oklahoma State Fair on September 23 was cut short after a shooting broke out mid-concert. At least one person was shot.

GUNS N' ROSES postponed its concert in St. Louis, Missouri, USA on Saturday September 9th after a member became ill.

FnA Records has released From Demos To Atlantic, an 18-track album of demo songs that eventually got the LOST BOYS signed to Atlantic Records in the last century. The band features Randy O., formerly of ODIN, Jeff Duncan the lead guitarist of ODIN and his brother Pat Gainor.

Finland-based pop rock act FROZEN LAND has recruited Matias Rokio replacing Aki Kuokkanen behind the drum kit.

AC/DC has recruited drummer Matt Laug to play with the band at the Power Trip festival in October replacing Phil Rudd. No explanation was offered. Laug was a member of SLASH’s SNAKEPIT when his band opened for AC/DC.

JOE LYNN TURNER used Bulgarian act AXAT for a six-date tour of the country using the Rock & Roll Forever monicker. The man performed songs by DEEP PURPLE and RAINBOW.

JOE SATRIANI, ERIC JOHNSON And STEVE VAI reunite for the 2024 Edition Of G3 Tour, which takes place in the USA in January and February.

HORTUS ANIMAE will reissue its Waltzing Mephisto album, which was originally released through Black Lotus Records in 2003. The Symbol Of Domination label version is a 2-CD affair with bonus tracks like cover versions.

DISSONA has a three-track demo called Dreadfully Distinct. The progressive band’s latest focuses on three characters from Blade Runner.

Colombia-based ESHTADUR has uploaded a song called Umbra and toured the USA with SUMMONER’S CIRCLE and THE CONVALESCENCE. The band has folk sounds, violin, viola, cello and horns and calls itself death metal.

WATCHTOWER played a concert with singer Jason McMaster at Fitzgerald's Bar & Live Music Venue in San Antonio, Texas, USA on September 8th. The musicians last played together at Headway Festival in The Netherlands in 2004.

The Norway-based solo act BLOOD PYTHON has a demo called Thunder City. The act is compared to ANGEL WITCH.

IRON MAIDEN singer BRUCE DICKINSON will release a solo album through BMG in early 2024. Entitled The Mandrake Project, the record features producer Roy Z who had worked with Dickinson on his earlier records.

M-Theory Audio will release IMMORTAL GUARDIAN’s Unite And Conquer album on October 27th.

TANK will play at Hell's Heroes VI Festival in Houston, Texas, USA on March 21-23. It is the band’s first concert in the USA in four decades.Gav Gray, formerly a member of THE ALMIGHTY and TYGERS OF PAN TANG, takes the place of main man Algy Ward on bass. Ward died this summer.

Work on a new SAVATAGE album has been delayed as main man Jon Oliva has split and cracked vertebrae.

MASTERPLAN and FIREWIND will join forces for a co-headlining European tour in March.

Inspired by KEEL? METALIUM has reformed and is working on a new record. The ensemble has three new members, guitarist Bruno Nunes, bassist Fabio Carito and drummer Marcus Dotta.

The third part of THERION’s trilogy, Leviathan III, will be issued by Napalm Records in December. A song called Twilight Of The Gods is available now.

RIOT V has signed with Atomic Fire Records. RIOT V's follow-up to 2018's Armor Of Light album will be released in early 2024.

Another Frontiers Music side-project: SOLEDRIVER is a rock collaboration between Michael Sweet (STRYPER, BOSTON, etc.) and Alessandro Del Vecchio (EDGE OF FOREVER, HARDLINE and JORN). A video for the song Rise Again is available from the Return Me To Light album now.

Italy and Malaysia-based melodic rock and metal band SILENT ANGEL has uploaded a song called Against The Tides, which is taken from its first full-length Unyielding, Unrelenting. It will be out in November. The label is Rockshots and therefore the band has a piano player. The band also claims influences from Japan. Claudia Beltrame sings for keyboard-laden prog band DEGREES OF TRUTH and Gracie Shona is active on the Malaysian club scene.

Germany-based heavy metal band OLYMP has a self-titled demo. The band came together in 2018.

ACCEPT guitarist Wolf Hoffmann is collaborating in a new musical project with his girlfriend of three years, violinist Ava-Rebekah Rahman, and composer Stephen Bentley-Klein. The violinist was on stage with ACCEPT recently.

Hard rock band FRONT ROW WARRIORS issued its Wheel Of Fortune album through ROAR in June. Chasing Shadows is a lyric video released now.

Australia-based TALIESIN has a demo called Disciple.

Germany-based power metal band IGNITION has a demo called Vengeance. The band believes its sound is akin to BLIND GUARDIAN and ORDEN OGAN.

DÉCEMBRE NOIR's Your Sunset | My Sunrise album is available through Lifeforce Records this month.

Canada-based TRISKELYON has an album called Artificial Insanity through Moribund Records. Guitarist Geoff Waye is also in CATEGORY VI and Keith Jackman and Amanda Jackman of that band are a guest bassist and singer respectively. There are a dozen other guests on the record.