Friday November 30th 2001

POD will come to Europe for a promotional tour again. In January the band will be playing in London, Stockholm, Hamburg, Köln, München, Milan and Paris.

Talking about touring, Zao cancelled their European tour. This is not the first time they're dropping this opportunity to meet their European fans. The band will be touring with Kittie in the USA instead. The Blamed who were supposed to tour with Zao through Europe next week, will probably pick up Norma Jean to join them on their trip through England, Germany, Belgium and Holland.

The Juliana Theory have written 17 new songs for the upcoming album. The band will be heading into the studio in late January. Expect the release in Summer 2002 through Epic Records.

Friday November 23rd 2001

Tourniquet, Bride and Disciple will be playing two sets on the Christmas Rock Night in Germany. Originally it was planned that Tourniquet (seventy minutes set) and Bride would be playing the main stage on Friday night. Now the bands will also play the Alterna Stage on Saturday. Disciple was scheduled to play only the main stage (seventy minutes set) on Saturday night. But now they will play the Alterna Stage too, on Friday.

News from Kekal. Their album is out now in Europe (through Fear Dark), USA (through Clenched Fist Records) and Indonesia and South East Asia (through THT Productions). However, guitarist Leo has moved from Indonesia to Australia to pursue his future life and thus he cannot join the band for a while. He doesn't quit the band officially for now. And Jeff from Kekal got married on November 3rd. Congratulations!

The Bob Fest team announced the final list of bands for their festival in Sweden in March 2002. New to the list are Selfmindead, Sanctifica and Oblivion. The other bands scheduled to play are: Veni Domine, Extol, Seventh Avenue, Immortal Souls, Soniferus, Umbrella.

Here's a Slick Shoes update from drummer Joe Nixon: "First I would like to say sorry
about how long it's been since the last update. I was away recording AGAIN...Well Jeremiah is no longer with Slick Shoes. We wish him the best of luck. About  the new album...sorry we had to re-record it, but it was too slow and the sound quality was not so hot, so we had to. None of us were happy with it. But, now we have re-done it our
way with the help of our producer Neill King. I'm happy to say it sounds a lot better. We will be shooting a video for the song Alone. Darren Doane will be producing it so it should rock. That's about it for now..."

Stavesacre has signed a deal with Nitro Records. Ever since the completion of their contract with Tooth & Nail Records the band had been shopping around for a new label home. Nitro Records is the home to AFI, The Vandals and T.S.O.L. They also have the back catalogue of the Offspring. Stavesacre hopes to be in the studio recording a full album in the early part of 2002.

News reached us that Larry Norman, the veteran of Christian rock 'n roll, suffered a heart attack in hospital. Last Sunday he underwent an emergency bypass surgery. According to the doctors the operation turned out great and that there were no complications. For those of you who would like to send Larry a card or a letter, please send it to the
Solid Rock business address (3760 Market Street NE, PMB #306, Salem, OR
97301, USA) marked to Larry's attention and they'll get it to him.

Michael Sweet has been writing a lot lately, doing something he wanted to do for a long time. He's working on classic hymns, taking their lyrics and adding new music to them. He doesn't want to call the next project a praise and worship album or a traditional hymn record because it won't be either. It will not be a follow up to the Truth record yet it will be similar in certain aspects, mainly melodies/vocals.

Sometime ago Michael Sweet announced the recording of a Christmas single. However, he will not be releasing one this year. He wants to release a new single next year and maybe even do a full Christmas record.

A few weeks ago you could read in this column about the petition for the Stryper Life Time Achievement Award at the 2002 Dove Awards. Stryper Gallery who's organizing this petition got more than 130 signers in the first 24 hours. Due to the amount of signers the database crashed twice. Therefore they reverted to a simple E-mail submission system. So, help this initiative and sign the petition today!

Grace For The Fallen are finally wrapping up their long awaited CD. The recording and layout are done. Release date not yet known.

The Dutch doom metal band Morphia is back in the studio. They are recording their new album in the Harrow Studios from 19 through 23rd of November. Title for this record is Frozen Dust and it will contain ten or eleven songs.

Demon Hunter finished two songs in the studio. One of the songs will be on a new Solid State Records compilation that will be out in the Spring.

Friday November 16th 2001

Some weeks ago Art For The Ears announced the artists for Brainwave 2002. There are some changes to the line-up. Here's the current list: NIV (US hardcore), Dust (British rock), Frühstück (Polish emo rock, with former member of NLM), Ox (Polish industrial), Sacred Life (Dutch pop punk), Sunday One (Dutch alternative rock), Rollercoaster 23 (Dutch triphop), Fall Down Marigold (German emo pop). It will take place in Evertshuis, Spoorstraat 15, Bodegraven, Holland on Saturday January 26th 2002. The festival starts 15:00. Entrance € 12,50 (pre-sale), € 15,00 (at the door).

Disciple will be in studio in March 2002 to record their fifth album.

Shiloh have just recently been signed to Accidental Sirens Records. The band will be joining their roster with other artists such as Spy Glass Bluë and Massivivid. The Shiloh record is now in the process of having new tracks recorded and being re-mixed and mastered by Joe Sidote. Sidote has worked with such bands as P.O.D. and Alien Ant Farm.

The album of Gretchen is out now. The special edition of Mouth Full Of Nails contains a real nail in the box. The album is released through the Swiss company Ugly Records, the same label of Space In Your Face and Bad Little Duck.

Bushbaby will release their new album in the United Kingdom on November 26th. Title for this CD is Space Corps.

The new Torman Maxt album is ready. The band also has a new website.

Norma Jean, formerly known as Luti Kriss, will be entering the studio in March next year.

The Dutch pop punk band Sacred Life releases its first EP this month. Sacred Life is a three piece band from Hattem. Their self titled debut will be presented to the public on Saturday November 24th in Rafidim, in Hattem, Holland. Check concerts page for details.

Record company Dureco has again postponed the release of the new Beam album. Band members were shocked and very disappointed when they heard of the delay. According to the band's management, Full Dimensional Stereo is now scheduled to be released in January. Beam's latest single S.T.E. will appear on the CD Oorgasm 7. Besides S.T.E. the sampler contains songs of Starsailor, The White Stripes and many other artists.

Urim has published four demo songs. The rock band from Colombia is preparing for their first CD.

On December 27th, POD will make their first ever appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman. P.O.D. will also perform in New York City for MTV’s New Years Party.

Todd Pope released four new songs on his MP3 page. Titles: From Beyond Time II, Jealousy's Reign, The Death Of A Son, The Incident At Golgotha.

Friday November 9th 2001

On the 26th of November the album The Sand, The Barrier of The Spirit That Guides Us and The Oslo Compact EP featuring Selfmindead and The Spirit That Guides Us will be released in the Netherlands. The Spirit That Guides Us will do the Oslo Compact Tour in December. However, they won't be touring with Selfmindead. This Swedish/Norwegian band had to cancel due to financial setbacks. So, The Spirit That Guides Us will be on tour alone (through Denmark, Germany and Holland). If you go to one of their shows, you'll see a new guitarist (whose name is not made known), a guy who also plays in the US band Unwed Sailor.

Bride released their Live At Cornerstone 2001 CD. This is a limited edition CD with songs only from the band's first three records. You can hear classics like Until The End We Rock, Under The Influence and Fool Me Once among others. The album contains fourteen tracks. Bride also released a picture disc featuring over 1,000 photos of Bride from the last 17 years.

The Norwegian rockband The Crest have recorded successfully its debut for Season Of Mist. The album was recorded at the Soundsuite Studio in August. The album will be called Letters From Fire and will be out in February 2002 worldwide.

Tooth & Nail Records signed a new punk band: Too Bad Eugene. This band consists of two former members from Craig's Brother: Andy Snyder (guitar) and Adam Nigh (vocals, bass). They are assisted by drummer Sammy Nigh. The band's new album will be out in 2002.

"Our long-time drummer and original member Jeremy Abbott (AKA Jerry Attrick) had
a beautiful baby girl last month," reports The Deadlines. "In the wake of this life changing event he has decided to quit the Deadlines in order to better support and care for his
family. We wish him the best in this next chapter of his life. We are proud to announce that Travis Waldie is going to be the new drummer. You may have seen him during our California Dreamin' tour in September. He fit in nicely with the band and earned his spot behind the kit."

Klayton is continuing work on the Celldweller debut album.  He recently finished mixing two songs with Ben Grosse in Los Angeles. Grosse is known for his production and mixing of a long list of artists including Filter, Sevendust and Fuel.   Klayton is currently returning to Los Angeles to mix five more songs.  The album will soon be completed.

The Juliana Theory's new Music From Another Room EP sold in its first week almost twice as many copies than Emotion Is Dead did. The EP debuted on #23 on Billboard's Heatseekers Chart.

Now you can vote which ten bands you want to see on the Cornerstone Festival in 2002.

Friday November 2nd 2001

Bad news comes from Purgation. The metal band from Ronnie Griffin has called it quits. You can still visit their homepage and MP3 site.

You can help to get Stryper recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2002 Dove Awards. If you want to help, sign the petition at the Stryper Gallery.

Beam announced the official release date of Beam's new album Full Dimensional Stereo. The new CD will be out on Friday, November 16th. Beam's latest single S.T.E. has hit the Megatop 100 (Dutch pop chart) on number 98 last week. After the single Know You it is their second entry in this chart.

Threshold is busy writing material for their next studio album. Mac is currently finishing off his first song for the band entitled Do Unto Them, Karl and Jon are busy co-writing a new epic with the working title of Stay Lucky, and Richard is working on a new track called Falling Away. The band plans to record the album at Thin Ice Studios in the new year for a summer release. As for how it will sound, you'll just have to wait and see!

Transfigural Form is working on new material for an as yet untitled album that ought to be recorded next year.

Luti Kriss changed their name into Norma Jean.

New line-up change for Jacobs Dream: Vocalist David Taylor has left the band. Furthermore, the band is working on new material.

Friday October 26th 2001

Mortification will record a new album in February next year. This will be released along with a new full length video entitled Mortification Conquers The World. This video will feature new video clips & a full world tour documentation. It will be available on DVD and video. Expect release in May 2002.

The new issue of the Brazilian Metal Mission magazine is about to come out. This ninth issue will contain interviews with: Mortification (cover), Belica (formerly known as Völlig Heilig), Rob Rock, Theosophy, Deliver, No Longer Mortal, Vaakevandring, Destra and Kekal. The magazine is in the Portuguese language and it has 64 pages of hard hitting metal!

The organization of the annual Brainwave Festival announced eight names of their next festival: Rollercoaster 23, NIV, Dust, Sacred Life, Marigold Downfall, Ox, Frühstück, Silence The Foe. The festival will take place in the Evertshuis, Bodegraven, Holland, on Saturday January 26th 2002.

The organization of the Christmas Rock Night announced the name of the band that will replace Living Sacrifice on this year's festival. Living Sacrifice cancelled their tour and instead of them Project 86 will be playing on the Saturday evening.

From March 8th through March 10th 2002, the Bob Fest will take place in Sweden. Bands booked already are: Veni Domine, Extol, Seventh Avenue, Immortal Souls, Soniferus and Umbrella.

There's news from the Dutch rockband Swirl. Soon they will enter the studio to record their first single. The band can be booked nowadays through Liberty Productions.

The third Eternal Decision album is about to be finished. The band hopes to release it by Christmas. Tentative title: The Time Has Come.

Abel Gomez from the Mexican metal band Lament announced the expected release of their new album. Title is Breathless. The CD can be pre-ordered for $12 U.S. per copy.
If you want to pre-order the CD, please contact Kevin Reynolds at kjsounds@compserv.net

Society's Finest has a split CD out with Rise Over The Ruin. Record company that released this split is Goodfellow Records.

The Dutch band Dr. Bigfoot is getting ready to do some shows again. The line-up has changed with the arrival of new drummer Wouter Muller (Beyond Infiniteeh) and a second vocalist Jan Anco. The band's also heading in a new musical direction. Expect hard rapcore. Furthermore, Dr. Bigfoot works on a new demo CD. It will probably contain four songs. Expect release later this year.

Rockband Beam reached the 12th position in the Cybertop 50 in The Netherlands last week. If you want to support them, vote for their new single S.T.E. via Cybertop 50.

Friday October 19th 2001

From today through Wednesday October 24th 2001 Art For The Ears will be hosting a message-board interview with Vaakevandring, the Norwegian black metal band. Feel free to ask the band questions and make them feel at home at Art For The Ears! You can meet them here

After just one month, POD's new album Satellite has gone platinum! This means that more than a million copies have been sold so far. To put this in perspective, it took The Fundamental Elements Of Southtown almost two years to become certified platinum.

You can help get POD on the cover of Alternative Press. This magazine has issued a challenge. Whatever bands gets the most votes will be on the cover of the next Alternative Press. Go here to vote!

Here's news from fellow San Diego residents Dogwood. Dogwood can be congratulated. Some weeks ago you could read in this column that the band participated in the San Diego Music Awards for the Best San Diego Punk Band contest and you could vote for them. Well, Dogwood has won the Best Punk Band category! Thanks for voting!

Sad news is that longtime guitarist Sean O'Donell announced he was leaving the band. Sean is being replaced by Daniel Montoya of the band Logos. There have been a number of rumors about the band breaking up. Josh, Jason and Russell would like everybody to know that this is not true.

.rod Laver's debut release on BEC Recordings, In A Perfect World..., will be on the shelves of the music stores in less than a month! In conjunction with the new release, .rod
Laver is also developing a new website which will go online on November 6th (album release date). The band will also be live in their chatroom on that day.

The Brazilian metalcore band South Diesel has called it quits. After many changes of personnel they decided it was time to stop. Arnon Mello, the band's drummer is thinking of future projects.

The thrash band Eternal Decision is still working on its third effort. They hope to get the music done this weekend.

Minus SF from Finland is hoping to release either a 7" or a split with another band. Longtime Records, a small punk rock label from Finland is supposed to bring it out.

The Dutch pop punk band Sacred Life will release its debut EP soon. The record contains five tracks: My Job, Man's Purpose, Sidewhiskers, Loser and 8051 Skatepark.

Bad news comes from the German death metal band Sacrificium. Their singer and second guitar player Claudio got involved in a motorcycle accident. He broke his thump and hurt his butt hard. Sacrificium will be on tour with Extol and Revenge Of Insanity in late November and early December. Christian Urff from Acoustic Torment will fill in the guitar spot Claudio will leave open on this tour. Check current tour dates on concerts page.

Burning Records has recently added a new band to their roster: Crutch. This band plays brutal, technical metal. You can download a track on the Burning Records MP3 page.

Burning Records will release the new Tantrum Of The Muse CD on November 27th.

Friday October 12th 2001

Shiloh has completed their new album King. The band expects to have it available to the public in a few months. King contains thirteen tracks, recorded at their own Forbidden Planet Studio.

Antithesis are working on material for their third album. They hope to get into the studio in February next year.

The Cornerstone Festival will be releasing their first Cornerstone Festival DVD. This Cornerstone 2001 Video Scrapbook DVD will feature clips of performances, interviews with artists and fans, and more. The first thousand who order their tickets for Cornerstone 2002 after November 15th will get a copy of the DVD for free.

Some weeks ago you could read in this column the news that Cliffy Huntington left The Huntingtons. Here are some words from Mikey Huntington: "We've always been a hard band to keep up with.  Since deciding to add a second guitar to our line-up over 4 years ago, we've had a countless number of member changes. But we never anticipated losing one of the two founding members that stuck with the band through it all. Early in September, founding member announced that he would no longer be playing with the band. It was shocking, sudden, and really made the rest of the band think about the future. Cliff's decision was made so that he could fulfil what he feels his life's work is to be playing in a full time touring band.   At first, it seemed as though that decision might hinder what the rest of the band considers their life's work. But after the dust settled and thought was given, the remaining members came to realize that that wasn't necessarily the case. Cliff's start is a fresh one.  A new band, a new sound, and plenty of old hills to climb.  And while the Huntingtons aren't exactly jumping back to step 1, we feel like this is a fresh start for us too.   With a new album ready to be released in just a few weeks, a tour to support it, a new guitarist, and even a new drummer, the feeling is one of excitement and new possibilities. The old songs are sounding fresh again.  They're fun to play, even though we've played them hundreds of times.  There's just an overall good feeling with the new line-up, one that makes the members of this band anxious to see what the future holds.  So who's in the band?   Well, I will continue to play bass and do the lead vocals. Jonny is excited to step up into the lead guitar. Playing drums for the upcoming tour, and possibly full time in 2002, is Rick Wise.   Rick also plays drums for the Tantrum Of The Muse. Filling Cliff's large hat will be Andy DiBiaso. Andy has been in a few bands in the
Delaware area and a fan of the Huntingtons since the early years. The future is anybody's
guess, but we're determined to be the Huntingtons. We got caught up in sort of a     Ramones wannabe phase for a while and it really hurt us creatively.   We still love the music of the Ramones but we're not looking to be a clone anymore.    It's our goal with this new album and line-up that people will see that we've got a lot more to offer than a bunch of Blitzkrieg Bop re-writes.  The guys who now make up the Huntingtons are eager to start playing songs from the new album live and creating new music as a band.  The new voice of the Huntingtons has yet to be heard, but with the positive vibe we're all feeling right now, it's likely to be louder than it's ever been before."

Steel Prophet is hard at work on the pre-production of their follow up to Book Of The Dead. The new album is tentatively titled Prophecy Upon Us. Some of the songs are: Mirror Mirror, Life After Life, Rainwalker, Blackest Of Hate, Magenta and Martyred. There is a huge variety of material to choose from so far and the album might be the first ever melodic power metal disc to be recorded on guitars tuned down a minor third to C#!

Calibretto 13 are in the studio. They're recording their second full-length album. Tentative title: Tales From The Dorkside. Expect a possible release-date in March 2002.

The Spirit That Guides Us is planning a tour in November/December with Selfmindead. It's called the Oslo Compact Tour. They will start off in Denmark, slide down to Germany, Holland and Belgium. If you want one of these bands near you, please contact info@thespiritthatguidesus.com for bookings!

During the second half of August Crimson Moonlight have been in the studio recording new material. Four songs, including an instrumental piece, have been recorded. Yet to be finished are the mixing and mastering processes. The CD will be for promotion only. The new songs are promised to take Crimson Moonlight to new yet undiscovered heights.

There's some unofficial news from Jacobs Dream. As you may know Billy Queen left the band a few months ago. His replacement is Steve Vaughan. He worked with some of the band members when the band was called Iron Angel. And there are more line-up changes. Derek Eddleblute has left the band. He is replaced by former Jacobs Dream guitarists Jon Noble and Gary Holtzman. All differences have been worked through and everyone is looking forward to writing and playing together again.

Friday October 5th 2001

There are rumors that Sanctifica is no more. However, this is not true. In fact, there are quite some plans. First of all, a new album is on it's way! The recording sessions are scheduled to begin October 12th. Producer will be Carljohan Grimmark of Narnia and Saviour Machine). The album will bear nine new songs. Furthermore, the old demotape from 1998 will be re-released this month, as a split CD together with the band Pantokrator. The Sanctifica tracks were remastered. The Pantokrator songs were produced by Hubertus Liljegren (of Sanctifica) and the band. Their debut is called Songs Of Solomon. This album should be out through C.L. Music & Publishing.

C.L. Music & Publishing will also release an album and video in October or November. The album and video will be called Power From The Sky - A New Wave Of Swedish Metal Strikes Again. This album & video will feature Wisdom Call, Sanctifica, Laudamus, Sons Of Thunder, Mercenary, Pantokrator & Heaven.

Fire Fly has now agreed distribution for Beauty For Ashes for the following countries: Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Poland, Spain, Portugal, Greece. The band will announce release dates and details as they are confirmed. And they are still working on deals for the rest of the world. Fire Fly is currently looking for a sound engineer and a creative visual technician. If you are interested in applying for either post, get in touch with the band. For blind people the band are now offering Braille versions of their cover booklets and lyric sheets. Interested persons can contact the band for this too.

Stairway is still working on their new album. The British metal band is exploring new ideas while working differently than they have done on previous albums. They haven't given themselves a deadline to work with as they did with Bleeding Heart though they anticipate a release for early next year. When a track is ready, they will put in on their Vitaminic site as an MP3 download.

Tourniquet will be donating 25% of all merchandise sales from now through the end of October to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.

The new single S.T.E. of the Dutch rock band Beam is in the Cybertop 50 of Radio 3FM, the national pop station in The Netherlands. You can vote for them.

Last week you could read about the Salvation Army benefit show that Joshua will be playing. The band will be performing with special guests including Dokken, Jeff Fenholt, Paul Shortino (Rough Cutt), Neil Grusky (Takara) and a few other surprise guests.

You can vote for punk band Dogwood as best punk band in San Diego, California. The band appreciates it!

This month Tooth & Nail Records will release Music From Another Room. This is a CD with new music from The Juliana Theory.

Tooth & Nail Records has many new things coming up for the year 2002: The Blamed, Calibretto 13, Fine China, The Juliana Theory (live album), Poor Old Lu, Slick Shoes, Squad Five-O, Songs From The Penalty Box Volume 5, Tooth & Nail Box Set 2002, Tooth & Nail Video Volume 7.

Due to circumstances the Slick Shoes record (originally slated for a November release) is being postponed to March/April of 2002. The band is heading up to Canada in October to track the album and mixing will follow.

The new issue of Metal Action Magazine, 'The Unofficial Stryper Fanzine' will be out on October 31st. This issue will contain Scott Dunbars diary of the 2nd Annual Stryper Expo, Cornerstone Reviews, Michael Sweet live in concert at the Inside Out Soul Festival, Interviews, Fan spotlights (featuring Rich Gardner), & much more. Copies are $3 each including shipping. The first 25 orders receive a collectible Stryper pin! For more info email Scott at Sdunbar3@aol.com.

Clenchedfist Records has signed two new bands: Thy Pain and Perpetual Flame. Thy Pain is made up of Rocky Gray of Soul Embraced (guitars/vocals) and David Sroczynski of Inner War (drums). David and Rocky formed Soul Embraced together in 1997 and separated soon after recording and releasing one song entitled, Crucified that appeared only on the Frozen Dawn Records compilation CD. Thy Pain begins recording October 5th so look for an mp3 shortly after.

Perpetual Flame hails from Portugal. Perpetual Flame started out by recording a self-released demo-CD entitled Transparent. The band now plays melodic death metal with industrial/futuristic elements.

Threshold are already planning to return to Europe in Summer 2002 to promote their next studio album at some of the summer festivals. Most of the band members have already started writing new material. As for how the next album will sound, you'll just have to
wait and see.

Deliverance is planning on going back into the studio very soon. Plans for the next effort are being tossed around, but we have word that Jimmy is working hard on a 'new' concept record. His tentative title is From Kether to Malkuth.

Platypus is no more. Now Platypus has divided into two bands, The Jelly Jam and Jughead.  Ty Tabor (of King's X) is the only Platypus member in both bands. Members of The Jelly Jam are Ty Tabor (guitar/vocals), John Myung (Dream Theater, bass), Rod Morgenstein (Dixie Dregs, Winger, drums). Look for their upcoming new CD in stores November 2001. The Jelly Jam is a continuation of Platypus.

Ty Tabor and Derek Sherinian (formerly of Platypus) decided to work together in another new band called Jughead. Members include Ty and Derek (keyboards), Matt Bissonette (The Mustard Seeds, bass) and Gregg Bissonette (drums). This new band is best described as a mix between Foo Fighters and The Beatles. Jughead recorded it's first CD in early 2001.  Look for it in stores around March,2002.

Doug Pinnick of King's X has confirmed he plans to record a piano oriented'' album with Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam. Doug will also most likely participate on another Supershine album, the date for this project is also not known at this time.

After touring internationally with Korn last year, POD will leave the U.S. again with a
series of headline dates. This will happen from January 5th through February 24th 2002.

Last week you could read that Timon Schreiber is leaving the German powermetal band Lightmare. Here's his personal explanation for this move: "it is no pleasure to tell you, that I have decided to leave the band soon. At last I noticed, that it became too hard for me to make my job and the band at one time. The decision was not easy for me and of course there'll be some kind of hole in my life. But I had to put another order to my life, and I had to cut of some things." Schreiber also points out that Lightmare will go on with another singer they are still looking for. Interested persons can contact them via: lightmare@powermetal.de

The fans of Bride can read the never told story of the band in the online book.    Never
before seen photos of the band will be added and new chapters and photos from the past as well.

Here's news from the Brazilian scene, gathered by Metal Mission Mag editor Flávio de Souza and Rosemari de Melo Souza:

Shining Star have released their debut CD Fatal Mistake. The band is a project of guitarist Fábio Rocha and follow the Hard/Heavy vein, having influences from Yngwie Malmsteen and vocals a la Ronnie James Dio.

Völlig Heilig changed their name to Belica and re-released their Looking For The Light album with this new name. The re-release also includes a bonus track and new cover art.

Amos re-released the album Gothic Soul with three bonus tracks and new cover art.

Drummer and founder of War Blade (stoner metal), Eduardo Vaz, has left the band. There are talks of replacement by Rafael Sales (formerly of Dynasty). The group will be releasing their first full-length album in November in which there will be a homage to reformer Martin Luther.

Soon the Dynasty EP Following The Sign will be released in Argentina, having two bonus tracks, still unedited in Brazil. Now there is a keyboard man in the band. His name is Saulo, formerly of Overtake.

Vexed (heavy metal/power metal) are preparing themselves to record an EP. The group have been playing since 1998. They have a female vocalist, Katebe. The band used to play covers of Recon.

Trino are almost finishing the recording of their first full-length album that will be called More Than New Life.

Arcanjo and Soul Factor will be releasing a split CD in November.

Lighthammer's CD will come out in November. The album contains nine tracks.

Destra re-released their album Sea Of Doubt with two bonus tracks.

Metal Mission Mag from Brazil is now a distributor for Brazilian CD's. If you a looking for bands like Shining Star, The Joke, Amos, Belica (formerly Völlig Heilig), Clemency, Skymetal, Soul Hunter, Antidemon, Full Effect, Destra, you can contact them via E-mail: metalmission@uol.com.br. Metal Mission Mag will also distribute the Seventh Avenue albums, Treasure Seeker and Lightmare's The Fool. Those albums were re-released in Brazil.

Drummer Alê of Stauros burned himself while he was working. He received an eletric discharge of 380 Volts. It caused burnings of third degree in his right hand. The band had to cancel the beginning of the recordings of the new CD until Alê will be completely recovered. He has been under treatment and out of danger.

Carkemis have released their first demo CD Morte E Nada Mais (which means: death and nothing else) with 19 Grindnoise tracks. They may release a split with Vomitorial Corpulence in the next months.

The White Velvet (gothic rock/metal), is the name of the project of Rodrigo SH, bassist and vocalist for Amos. He has recorded his cassette demo in Japan.

Expect the ninth edition of the Metal Mission Mag soon!