Friday May 25th 2001

Side Walk Slam, one of Tooth & Nail's latest addition to its roster,  is looking for a logo. Interestingly, you can join a contest to design a logo and win some goodies. You can turn in your logo design on paper or as an electronic file (like tif, jpg, bmp, et cetera). The designer of the winning logo will receive a new skateboard courtesy of Manna Skateboards, plus stickers featuring the winning logo. Five runners-up will receive their own copy of the upcoming album. Winners will be chosen by the band and the staff of Tooth & Nail Records. You can send entries to: Tooth & Nail/HM Side Walk Slam Logo Contest, PO Box 12698, Seattle, WA  98111, USA. Entry deadline: August 15th   2001. Winners will be notified on or before September 1st 2001.

Wondering what happened with the band Teramaze from Australia? Well, it seems the band has been rehearsing a lot over the last few months. They also did a couple of gigs in their home country. Teramaze also released a new EP entitled Not The Criminal. This record is available through their website. And, the band should be in studio this month to record two new songs that will be made specifically for radio release.

On the Metal Blade Records site you can vote for the band you would like to see on a Summer tour. Jacobs Dream is in the Top Five right now and you can support them by voting here.

There's some good news from Antithesis. The band has officially signed with Massacre Records for a licensing deal for their new release. Dying For Life will be released in Europe at the end of August or early September. The European version of the album will have a completely different mix, song order and artwork (twelve pages, full color). And it will have a bonus track.

Today Soul Of The Savior is entering the studio. The band will spend all weekend to record a three song demo at Audio Lab studio. Soul Of The Savior also has a new logo designed by Ryan Chavers.

The Soterios CD will be out on the 29th of this month through Clenched Fist Records.

Friday May 18th 2001

Kohllapse is no more. After the release of Distant Mind Alternative it seems that the project was turned upside down with the departure of drummer Matt. Now Ro has decided to stop Kohllapse officially and move on to new things. All Kohllapse songs can be downloaded from the internet for free at MP3.com. Ro will now focus on his Dead Sea project which is more electronic than Kohllapse ever was.

The Transfigural Form demo that should be released on tape will be released on CD-R instead. Todd Pope, mastermind behind this death metal project, decided this after figuring out the cost of materials. Title of the demo is Sinborn Conscience and it will contain five songs.

The Boot To Head Sampler Volume 2 is about to come out. Bands on it are: The
Deadlines, S.S.Bountyhunter, The Status, Gunwale Under, The Culprits, as well as the Boot To Head bands like the Witness Protection Program, Never the Less, Side Walk Slam, Shorthanded, Chasm, Crux, Ceasefire, Through And Through, Scum of the Earth, Blaster The Rocket Boy, Veränderung. The compilation contains some exclusive stuff.

Lengsel is currently writing new material. Endtime Productions heard a four track demo and described the new material as what they liked about the debut yet taken to a next level.

News from Spitfire: The recording of The Slideshow Whiplash EP is done.  The EP consists of four new songs produced by the band. The release is still set for June 26th on Goodfellow Records.

Sickened changed its name into Inner Decay. And the band is working to get an album together. Inner Decay consists of Brian Ward and Dave Campbell and they're still looking for a guitarist, bassist and a vocalist.

People living in Holland will get a chance to see Beam on the television this Sunday. The band will play in the Top Of The Pops TV show on TV2. Right now Beam is in the Dutch Mega Top Honderd with their single Know You. Soon they will be on stage with Ilse De Lange.

Friday May 11th 2001

The US band Disciple visited the Baltic states again for a short tour. This was their second trip to Eastern Europe. They returned at the invitation of the Archbishop of the Lutheran church of Latvia and Riga. Although they went with the Archbishop's invitation, they discovered that the trip was sponsored by various churches including Russian,
Reformed, Vineyard, Greater European Mission, radio stations and individuals. Besides doing shows in the Baltic states and other surrounding countries, the band had a meeting with the Archbishop and Diena, the Nation's Newspaper and Latvia's National TV. Band manager Arlene Marais: "Unfortunately, Kevin and Brad have come down with badly infected throats and spent most of the day before and after the interview in bed... I was able to watch the interview with the Archbishop and Disciple on TV last night - it was well presented, with Kevin introducing himself and Disciple in Latvian!"

Crunchy, the solo band of Monty Colvin (Galactic Cowboys), will be playing one of their first 'big' live gigs very soon. On Friday June 8th they will play at The Brat Shop, Pleasant Prairie, WI, USA. Also on the bill is Monkey Cocktail, Empty Pockets and headliners Bar 7 (featuring Jeff Keith and Tommy Skeoch of Tesla). There are almost 600 tickets sold. If the show sells out they will possible carry the bill over to play the next night as well. People in that area, (only one hour from Chicago and one hour from
Milwaukee) should be able to buy tickets at the club or at local music stores in that area. On the same day as the release of the Crunchy record All Day Sucker, June 5th, there is a WIIL radio station CD coming out with live, unreleased music and unplugged performances from: Incubus, Enuff Z' Nuff, Bar 7, The Kings, The Guffs, Randy Jackson from Zebra and ... Crunchy. The CD will contain a live acoustic version of She's A Freak done by the band specifically for WIIL's 95 Live CD. The All Day Sucker album can now be pre-ordered at CD Now and Amazon.com.

Cross Rhythms Music, an online christian music store established in 1995, has changed its name to Blastbeats to coincide with the launching of their new website. The new site incorporates many new features such as shopping carts, secure online ordering, real audio sound samples, an online trading database and stock levels maintained in real time.

The new CD from Deliverance can be pre-ordered now. After an over 6 year hiatus, Jimmy Brown, Manny Morales and crew have rejoined forces to release their comeback album Assimilation. The album will come out on July 4th through Indie Dream Recordings. According to the record company, Deliverance is returning to their heavy roots while bringing many new elements to the table.

You may have been wondering if SinDizzy is still working on a new CD. After the replacement of Tim Gaines the band has found a new bassist in Kevin Walt. With him they are working out new material. Kevin and Oz (Fox) are meeting up during the week as well as during their normal rehearsals on Sunday afternoons.

Grace For The Fallen went into the studio last weekend and this week to record their new album. Title is Field Of Blood and the CD is scheduled for a June release. Through Clenched Fist Records.

An update on the Living Sacrifice Tribute album. This recording will have some exclusive photos and the rarely heard song Desolate, a song that has never appeared on any Living Sacrifice CD but was intended for the album Nonexistent. This material was provided by former Living Sacrifice vocalist DJ. Clenched Fist Records expects a May/June release date.

Friday May 4th 2001

Bad news from Jacks Of All Trades. The band just heard that their US tour this summer is cancelled. There seem to be some problems in the distribution of their label. R U Ready will not come out yet and that's why there's no reason for Jacks Of All Trades to tour in the US anymore at this point. The band neither has European shows scheduled for the summer and it seems to late to get them. "What makes this thing even harder is that
five of us don't have any job for the summer 'cause we told to our bosses that we'll quit for the summer."  Jacks of All Trades is going to studio in a few weeks to record some new songs. One of them is No Secrets.

There's news from Fire Fly. Drummer Adam Gallagher is no longer in the band. Mark Broomhead: "After a lot of thought, discussion and prayer we decided we were no longer heading in the same direction. It looks like we may have found an excellent replacement
already so the future's bright. The album has slowed down a bit due to this." The band has now hooked up with Ben who is a qualified drum teacher. Broomhead: "We look forward to seeing what he will bring to the melting pot! We are also playing at Slot in Poland this summer and we will have to drive through the Netherlands and Germany to get there so it would be great to do a few gigs on the way." If anyone has ideas, let the band know! Fire Fly is thinking of releasing another EP in the next couple of months to keep people going until the album. The EP will probably include two live tracks, a track from the upcoming album and an exlusive track.

Last Saturday, April 28th, Stretch Arm Strong shot a video for For The Record, a song off their new record A Revolution Transmission. The album will be out through Solid State Records on July 3rd.

Sacrificium are almost finished with the recording of a few demo songs. Some of these songs might be put online. The band will also appear on a festival on August 11th with Inhumate (France), Fleshcrawl, End Of Green, Apophis and many others.

For those who can't wait there are some soundbites up right now at the Crunchy website of the upcoming All Day Sucker album. Monty Colvin placed three sound samples from the record: All Day Sucker; If Only; Baby Zit. If Only will be the first single to be released to radio.

News from the Dutch rockband Beam. The band are in the Mega Top 100 in The Netherlands. And they are in high rotation at Radio 3FM, the national popstation. You can also view the clip at TMF (Dutch Music TV-station) at The Box, Clip #287. And MTV Europe will start to schedule the clip too. Last thursday Beam played live in the show Isabelle on Radio 3FM. 

Damonion Anario is still in existence. The metal band is working on the completion of the line-up since Alden left the band. When teh line-up is complete they will begin recording material.

Hearken are doing a pre-release live type of version of their new song It Is Written.  You can sample the first two minutes of the 7 1/2 minute song in realplayer format at: Lionhardtmusic. They are also making a special CD offering for it with the Arise demo.  The Arise demo was never really marketed on CD, so this combines it along with the new single.  It can also be ordered from their Merchandise page. 

Recently you could read in this column that Rey Parra from Sacred Warrior is also pursuing a solo career. This is a project he has put together with John Hyatt, his brother in law. The project is called Pyra and they have recorded a four song EP. If you log on to ReignRadio.com you can listen to a song called Misery. The style of Pyra has been described as metal. Rey Parra: "We've brought back that loving feeling of metal. We've gone back to the basics, it's hard , it's heavy, it's melodic. We hope Sacred Warrior fans all over the world will love it....I am not forsaking Sacred Warrior.   I am simply doing something I have wanted to do for a long time. In a few weeks you can log on to the Rey Parra website for updates on both Sacred Warrior and Pyra." The Sacred Warrior album should be out with the Cornerstone Festival.

The Deliverance reunion album Assimilation will be released on July 4th.

Work has begun on the third Eternal Decision album. You can check out their website for
updates and studio diaries from the band. They will also be documenting bits and pieces for an upcoming video. The new album will be available mid to late June.

From Thursday July 26th through Sunday July 29th the annual Freakstock Festival will be held at the Boxberg, Gotha, Germany. The schedule of bands playing is still tentative but here are the bands that are planned so far for the mainstage: Fall Down Marigold, Jumbo, Gravaton, Umbrella, Break Our Pride, Mamguz, Anton & The Watergirls, Souljunk, Jimini, Seekers, Unwed Sailors, Brandtson, Snubnose, Luti-Kriss. Playing the Marquee stage: Pistis, Logos, Braintaq, Sacrificium, Noiz, The Locals, Skream, Opposition Of One, Unreal HQ, One Truth, Red Light Burning, TNMBP, Christcore, Maybe June, Noisetoys. The Coffeetent will supply you not only with coffee but also some acoustic appearances and mellow styles. The Garage is the working place of various dance artists like DJ Scott Blackwell and MC Insecticide.

Friday April 27th 2001

The first authorized Stryper biography has been completed. If you are interested in this book, you can find all the details on the Michael Sweet site.

The split CD that was recorded by the band Life In Your Way, will be out around May. The split is called The Heart And Flesh Cry Out.

About a year ago Mortal Immunity recorded the follow-up to their Life Machine album. After the recordings, two members left the band and the whole album was put on a shelf for a while. Now the band is almost put back together. Drummer Christian has rejoined Mortal Immunity and the band is in the process of recruiting a new singer.

South Diesel, formerly known as Diesel, hopes to record a new CD this year. The Brazilian band now has three members after guitarist Anuar Mello departed. According to his brother, Arnon Mello, this was a mutual decision based on different opinions about the direction of the band. Currently South Diesel is preparing new songs for the next record. They will record five or six songs in the veins of the Miserya album. One of the songs is an old song from the days when the band was called Via Crucix. Rumors say the band might record a Deliverance cover but this is not confirmed yet.

Plankeye's song, When It Comes, has been chosen by mp3.com to be included on their radio show The Download!  Plankeye beat out 12,000 or so other Alternative bands on mp3.com to get on the show.  More than 190 radio stations representing several music genres participate in the program which reaches music fans across the US, across the airwaves, and online at MP3.com.  To listen to the program online, go to MP3.com

The upcoming No Innocent Victim album will be released by Victory Records and Solid State Records. Tipping The Scales will be out through Solid State Records in the last week of May or the first week of June.

Soul Embraced have finished recording their new record entitled This Is My
Blood, their debut on Solid State Records.  Soul Embraced also released For The Incomplete through Clenched Fist Records.

Some time ago Todd Pope, known for his Eden In Ruins project, mentioned one of his newest projects. The band name is Transfigural Form and Pope is working on a limited numbered release to be send to distros only. The demo has six songs and if need be, Pope will record another two songs and release it as an actual album. According to Pope, this new project is superior to the Eden In Ruins material in every way, sound and production wise. The Transfigural Form recording will also contain an old Eden In Ruins favorite re-recorded: Heavy Against Me.  Music wise the new material has been described as a mixture of death and black metal, or blackened death as Pope likes to call it himself. More information about Transfigural Form can be obtained via the Pope at: atomiccrystal@juno.com.    

From Jumper, vocalist of the Czech band Skream I received this report of the music scene in his country: "There are some Czech bands that play alternative or rock, hardrock and styles like that. Some are good and some less good. Of the harder stuff there is just one grind/death metal band called Redemptorist (who started not long ago), and two hardcore bands: No More Crosses and Skream. The band Skream will also play at the Freakstock Festival in Germany this year. Other Czech bands are Ram Adonai, playing crossover, and 1613, a ska/punk/rock band who played in Germany a couple of times, including Freakstock last year." Jumper gives some vocal assistance to this band at concerts too. As it comes to foreign bands playing in Czechia, Jumper reports that he and his friends have been in touch with the Jesus Freaks in Germany and through them they managed to get some bands in the Czech territory: The Blamed, Noisetoys, Snubnose and Silver.  "It's not easy to organize 'Christian' bands concerts in this country and there are also problems with money. So we can give those barely enough just for the trip to get here. So that's how it looks like here. The work we do was started not long ago and I believe it will grow bigger and we'll be doing more and more with also more people being (and hopefully more bands from other countries) involved."

Friday April 20th 2001

Former Galactic Cowboys bassist Monty Colvin has signed with SAR Records for his solo band Crunchy. After ten years with the Galactic Cowboys, Colvin decided to do his own thing and the group mutually separated in early 2000.   Crunchy is his newest musical birth, combining his trademark harmonies with an infectious pop rock blast.  Crunchy's first release on SAR Records, All Day Sucker, is due to hit record stores on June 5th.  The band will hit the road to promote the album, starting off with a couple of big festivals, the first week of July. Jeff Scheetz co-produced the album with Monty Colvin.

Earlier this week news reached us that Joey Ramone passed away. Joey was one of the members of the legendary band The Ramones. He suffered with bad health over the last few years. Joey was seen on stage with The Huntingtons on December 17th 1999. You may have checked the report written by Cliffy Huntington on Art For The Ears. 

Ken Tamplin is setting up his next recording project to feature Rudy Sarzo on bass (Quiet Riot, Whitesnake), Doug Aldridge on lead guitar (Lion, Hurricane, Burning Rain & Bad Moon Rising), Glen Sobel on drums (Impellitteri), and Edward Harris Roth on keys (Impelliteri). The album will be called Crusade and it will be in the Whitesnake vein. Expected release late 2001 or early 2002.

Kekal has just finished recording their new album entitled The Painful Experience. On this album, they added some new elements while maintaining their own trademark style of 'extreme metal'. According to their Indonesian record label THT Productions, this album marks as their most challenging and finest release yet so far, with much better production and tight musicianship. The Painful Experience is scheduled to be released on CD by Clenchedfist Records (USA) in June 2001 for the North American market. For the Indonesian market, the album (cassette tape version) will be released by Apocalypse Records in the same month. There are at least 10 tracks with more than 50 minutes of playing time.

The mastermind behind Bealiah, Doctor D, will be continuing his various solo projects: Doctor Dark (industrial/electro metal project) and Transcendus (ambient/darkwave/acoustic project). He will also contribute to Dark Thriller's new band Disastrous Age as well as joining forces with the band Worldhate. Busy guy, eh?

The Soul Embraced album For The Incomplete is now available from Clenchedfist Records. This band features Rocky Gray (guitar) and Lance Garvin (drums) of Living Sacrifice. As you will know, Soul Embraced has just signed with Solid State Records. For The Incomplete has seven brand new tracks and four tracks off their indie EP which are all re-mastered for optimum quality. Soul Embraced play death metal with influences from bands such as: Cannibal Corpse, Pantera, Fear Factory, In Flames and Living Sacrifice.

Sally Forth Records and Double T Music just released the first single of This Beautiful Mess: Clean. To promote their forthcoming album Falling On Deaf Ears, This Beautiful Mess will be doing free acoustic performances in Chill Outs (Bijenkorf) in the three main cities of Holland. An official release show will be in Paradiso, Amsterdam, on the 19th of May. You can request the video for Clean via TMF (A Dutch TV music channel): cyberchoice@tmf.nl

Friday April 13th 2001

Two weeks ago you could read in this column about the upcoming Poundhound album. Title for that album is Pineapple Skunk and it will be released by Metal Blade Records Europe on May 28th. The song Rain is available in MP3-format on the Metal Blade Records site. The first and limited edition of 3000 copies of Pineapple Skunk will be available as a double CD for the price of one CD. On the second you will find the homevideo of the band featuring a 30-minute gig of Poundhound.

Last week you could read in this column about the Faultline Dance project by PJ Bussey. This week PJ reported that his solo work debuted on MP3.com. The song My Own Gate Beautiful climbs the charts in the instrumental rock category. PJ hopes to get My Own Gate Beautiful in the top ten for extra exposure so help him out! Download the song and tell others of it.

Selfmindead is following up their last record, At The Barricades We Fall, with a split with Dutch band The Spirit That Guides Us. Their split EP will be coming out on Sally Forth Records.

Society's Finest will be recording in the state of Washington, USA, in august at the Tooth and Nail studios.

The new Hangnail album Facing Changes will be out on May 22nd. It will also be released with an addition Hangnail unplugged CD. The first 5000 copies will be free with the purchase of Facing Changes.

The Deadlines are back in the studio. On their site you can read a studio diary. The band hopes to have the new album out this fall. Singer Shaun Coffin reports that they've decided to drop the horror image. Now they're pursuing straight up rock 'n roll with a 60's feel and a Deadlines spin on it.

One of the bands playing this year's Wacken Open Air Festival in Germany is Tourniquet.

Rumors have it that the Sacred Warrior reunion album will be called Save The Day. Some of the songs on it are songs that were supposed to be on New World Order, the album Sacred Warrior never finished in 1992. Singer Rey Parra is also working on a solo album.

The new Shiloh EP is finished. The band decided to simply call it the Shiloh EP.

The new Steel Prophet album Book Of The Dead comes out in Europe on April 23rd and in the US on May 15th. The album received rave reviews by leading metal mags in Europe. Both Heavy Oder Was!? and Rock Hard voted the album as Album Of The Month release. On the Steel Prophet site you can find an MP3 of the new song When Six Was Nine.

Friday April 6th 2001

Justin Garbinski left Squad Five-O. Playing drums for the band is now Dave Petersen of Blaster The Rocketman. Squad Five-O is also getting ready to record again in August.

No Innocent Victim is back with their second full length for Victory Records, entitled Tipping The Scales. This time around, NIV has recruited the help of new guitarist Tim Mason. With Mason on board, the band has recorded their most focused, driven, and heaviest record to date. In stores May 22nd 2001.

Blindside releases a 7" vinyl with brand new tracks on the underground label Structure Records, a subdivision of Endtime Productions. This is a limited edition of only 500 copies with three new Blindside songs. This is the result of six months of making new material and recording demos. The three songs give a small taste of what is to come in the future. Release will be in May and it will be made available through the Blindside website and at Blindside gigs this summer.

You may have heard of the upcoming Living Sacrifice Tribute album. Bands playing on this compilation are: Kekal, Mordecai, Spite Of Opposition, Gnashing Of Teeth, Soul Embraced, Crimson Thorn, Mindrage, Soterios, Nailed Promise, Clemency, Face Of Humanity, 26 days till freedom, Dirge, Sapientia and Crutch.

On April 16th Sally Forth Records will release the single Clean by This Beautiful Mess. In the Netherlands it will be available through the Free Record Shops, Van Leest, and other record stores. The CD includes the video for the single.

It's officially confirmed: Tourniquet will be playing the annual Flevo Totaal Festival in the Netherlands. If you go to the Flevo site, please vote for three hard music bands for the Flevo Wishlist.

In May, Massacre Records will be releasing a Saviour Machine best-of album.

Society's Finest is heading back to the studio in May to record their next full length entitled Dead And Buried Outside Of Reno. According to the band, it will be their sickest, heaviest and most emotional record yet. There will be a follow up to the song Knife Fight, a track called The Ghost Of 50 Shadows.

The Soul Embraced CD, For The Incomplete has suffered a slight delay. Some of the film had to be redone, but the corrections have been made. The release date is April 17th. Release will be through Clenched Fist Records.

Grace For The Fallen has a new bassist, Tommy Wolfe. He replaced Burrito. There were personal and compelling reasons for the departure of Burrito, reasons the band doesn't feel like discussing. Grace for the Fallen are currently writing for their debut release on Clenched Fist Records entitled Field Of Blood. The engineering will be done by General Grant (Gwar) at Montana studios in Richmond, VA, USA.

Boot To Head Records will be releasing three new CD's. The Witness Protection Program album The Revolution That Never Was And Never Will Be will be out in a few weeks. This band mixes up punk rock, hardcore, noise, indie rock and avant garde art rock. Also coming out is the new Side Walk Slam CD Two Steps Forward, Five Steps Back. And Boot To Head will release a new sampler with a few tracks from most of their releases,
and special exclusive tracks and hard to find tracks from the Deadlines, SS Bountyhunter, The Status and Gunwale Under.

Both Zao and Living Sacrifice will be playing at the New England Metal Fest. The metal fest is the third edition and it will be held from April 13 through April 14th. Zao and Living Sacrifice will be on stage on the 14th. Other bands playing are Meshuggah, Converge and many others. 

Embodyment has finished writing their new record Hold Your Breath, their third on Solid State Records. Kris Mcaddon, former vocalist of the band, will be contributing to the art work as well. 

PJ Bussey had some news to share. First the bad news. PJ Bussey laid to rest the Taker reunion CD. "I   feel really bad that this is the outcome of what was originally a very exciting project for Taker's fans, and I am equally disappointed. I knew going into this, that keeping a level of momentum would be a key factor in seeing this thing through. It got off to a good start, but the guys, what can I say, they're just too busy to make it happen, and with now Dan moving out of the area, the window of opportunity has come and gone. As a form of consolation, I am making available video copies of the reunion show we did with Haven in '91." PJ Bussey recently cut guitar tracks for Magnitude 9/Valediction keyboardist Joe Glean for a song that will appear on a Jason Becker tribute CD. Jason Becker was a gifted guitarist who was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrigs Disease) about 10 years ago. He has since lost all ability to play. There are quite a few heavy weights in the guitar world contributing, such as Marty Friedman and Jeff Scheetz to name a couple. PJ Bussey: "It's an honor to join their ranks in saluting Jason and all proceeds go to him and his family. The song we're covering is called End Of The Beginning." PJ Bussey is also working on a new Faultline Dance project which is going to be an instrumental concept CD, with each song depicting events in the storyline. The name of the CD will be called The Attic Symphony and the story will be sort of a theological mystery adventure. Faultline Dance is a progressive metal project.