Friday July 30th 2004

Rob Rock's Rage Of Creation continues writing songs for the next two albums. The production for the third has started. Roy Z is producing this album again. The band hopes to complete the recordings this year and release the album in early 2005.

Royal Anguish have completed the recording of their new CD, called Tales Of Sullen Eyes. The disc was recorded at Mana Studios in Tampa, Florida by Erik Rutan (Hate Eternal, Morbid Angel). Tales Of Sullen Eyes will contain six tracks and a bonus techno/trance remix of the song My Own Despair (originally on the Mysterion album). The promo track Twisted Angel should be available shortly.

Arvinger have just recorded a new song called Siste Dagers Stridsmenn. It will be featured on a compilation CD.

From October 21st through 24th the third annual Nordic Fest will be held in Oslo, Norway. The first half of the lineup has been announced: Narnia, Mental Destruction, Renascent, Harmony, Megiddon, Equilibrium (formerly known as Stronghold) and Inevitable End.

From February 25th through 27th the Elements Of Rock festival will be held in Uster, Switzerland. The second edition will have a promising line-up, including Balance Of Power, Slechtvalk, Crimson Moonlight, Pantokrator, Morphia, Opposition Of One, Trust, LoPhat, Thy Majestie and Barren Cross. The show of Barren Cross will be an exclusive reunion show! Barren Cross was a metalband started back in the early eighties. They celebrated their successes with albums such as Rock For The King and Atomic Arena.

Friday July 23rd 2004

Threshold's brand new album Subsurface will be released on August 3rd. Several magazines have decided to make Subsurface album of the month, including Metal Hammer Germany, Rock Hard, Aardschok. On the new Threshold website you can find a complete MP3 of the album. The song is called Mission Profile.

Virgin Black is completing the writing process for the next album. They are keen to start the process of recording. Presently you can view a video-clip of Our Wings Are Burning. Download it from The End Records.

The Awakening is preparing themselves to embark on the Darker Than Silence World Tour. That is, they are heading over to the USA for a tour in October.

My Heartstrings Come Undone of Demon Hunter will appear on the Resident Evil 2 movie soundtrack. This album will be out on August 31st through Roadrunner Records. Other bands on the soundtrack are Slipknot, A Perfect Circle, Killswitch Engage and more.

If you buy the debut album from Haste The Day, Burning Bridges, from Tower.com, you'll receive a free seven song EP with the purchase. However, this is a limited offer!

Neshamah finished their new album Communicating In Heartbeats. Some of the tracks are: Temporary Satisfaction of Desires, Dying Thoughts of a Martyr, You Got a Death Wish Baby? and Sweet Goodnight. There are ten songs on this album. The band will have an MP3 up on their website as soon as they get the mastered and mixed copy. Communicating In Heartbeats was recorded with Hanu and Emile from The Narrow and Matt from Rooftop Studios in Pretoria. The CD will have a multimedia section as well, containing music videos.

There's a new Further Seems Forever song on Purevolume.com. The song is called Someone You Know and it's giving you an idea of the upcoming album Hide Nothing.

Friday July 16th 2004

Rivel Records has signed two new bands. First of all Veni Domine. This band will release their long awaited fourth album called IIII - The Album Of Labour. Expect this record in early August. IIII - The Album Of Labour was produced by guitarist Torbjörn Weinesjö.

The other band that got signed by Rivel Records is Mirador. Their debut album is The Azrael Tales. This disc will be out in autumn/winter 2004. Musically you can expect melodic doom metal.

Metal band Oil is calling it quits. Their farewell show will be on August 14th at The Lighthouse, 3445 Studebaker Road, Long Beach, California, USA. Other bands joining Oil are East West, Recon (featuring all original members), Trauma and Terrestrial Harvest!

Christian Rivel, singer for Narnia, has been working on three different album during 2002-2004: Audiovision, Divinefire and Flagship. These will be out through Rivel Records (of course...). All three albums are in the final stages. Both Audiovision as Divinefire will be released through King Records in Japan.

Flagship is a new symphonic rock band featuring members from Narnia and Brighteye Brison. Their debut album is The Maiden Voyage and the release is expected late 2004 or early 2005.

There's a new black metal band called Dark Endless. This band plays old school black metal in the vein of Horde. Dark End Times is the first CD, an EP with five songs. Bombworks Records will release this EP. Also, Dark Endless will be featured on the compilation Seal The Abyss which is being put out by Digital Extremist Studios. On DyingSorrow.com you can hear a 30 second sample of the music.

Strike First Records have signed Inked In Blood. Next month the EP Awakening Vesuvius will be released. This EP was previously released independently. If you want to get an idea of how the music is like, you can download the song Where The Enemy Sleeps.

Another band from Strike First Records is Jesus Wept. They are finishing up their Sick City EP. This disc will come out on July 27th. If you haven't downloaded the song Sick City, you can still give it a go!

There's also a new MP3 available from xHit The Deckx. It's Heads You Lose from their new album Look Alive. Musically it's going back to Washington DC anno domine 1982...

For a limited time you can buy Comeback Kid's Turn It Around in the Facedown Records online-store with a free Comeback Kid DVD. This DVD features Die Tonight as well as a few other live videos and tour footage.

The Brazilian band Sabbatariam has recorded a cover of To Hell With The Devil from Stryper.

The new album from Hawk Nelson is out! The album is called Letters To The President. From PureVolume.com you can download a song.

I Am God, the new album from Rivera/Bomma is currently begin mixed by Neil Rambaldi. The release of this album is set for late summer or early fall.

Fear Dark and Peacedog are organizing a German Metal Festival on October 16th in De Kei, Ede, Holland. Artists expected are: Sacrificium, Brain:FAQ, Exaudi, Anticipation. This festival starts at 19:00 and the entrance is 10 euro.

Friday July 9th 2004

If you're dying to hear some new material from Stavesacre you can listen to some sample of four new songs on their website. When these songs will be made available is still unsure. The Stavesacred DVD is still in the works. The editing is almost done. A release date will follow soon.

POD have written an original song inspired by the film The Passion Of The Christ. This will be for a unique soundtrack album. Singer Sonny Sandoval: "This film made me check my own heart and my own faith. It's not the fairy tale story of Christ we're all used to." The multi-artist soundtrack comes out the same day as the DVD, August 31st.

The first music video Celldweller have made, is now complete. This video is for the song Switchback. It will debut on the Celldweller website on July 19th. In the near future a DVD will be made available, containing two versions of the video and a bonus live promo clip.

Celldweller will also release a double disc containing a collection of unreleased and rare tracks. Expect this late summer or early fall. The double CD will be called The Beta Cessions and it will feature demo mixes and instrumental versions from the debut record, as well as some alternate versions of songs. Klayton from Celldweller has also decided to release a completely re-recorded version of the last song he wrote as Circle Of Dust: Goodbye.

Next year there will be another Elements Of Rock festival in Switzerland. This will be held from February 25th through 27th. Already seven bands are booked. The names will be announced in the next few weeks. Rumors say Slechtvalk will be at Elements Of Rock 2005 as well!

Friday July 2nd 2004

The new album from Paramęcium is completed. Title for this record is Echoes From The Ground, and it's supposed to be their most aggressive album so far. On their website you can find the lyrics and mp3 samples.

The Dutch band Nomen has entered the studio to record a full length album. There's no title yet, but the disc will contain eleven songs. The album should be out in September, when the band will be on tour to support it.

Hubertus Liljegren will leave Crimson Moonlight. He has decided to do so after the recording of the new CD. His replacement is Jani Stefanovic, who is contributing material to the new project as well. 

Kekal has recorded some songs for the next album. Song titles are: Envy And Its Manifesto, Strength In My Weakness, A Dream For A Moment and
Characteristicon. The band will try to get some guest musicians on the album. Expect the album released in early 2005!

Kekal has also been invited to join a tribute-album for the band Death. This is a non-profit album from the Indonesian exetreme metal label Amon-Ra Records. All the profit will be given to Mrs. Jane Schuldiner, the mother of the late Chuck Schuldiner of Death.

Alterna Enigma, a new project featuring Jeff from Kekal and Jason DeRon (formerly from Paramęcium) has opened their website. You can also download an mp3 sample. Jeff and Jason are currently working on songs for a debut album.

And Jeff is also working on a solo album called Alternative Reasoning. This album contains previously unreleased material Jeff recorded for Excision and Area 58. The solo album will be released next month by BW Records. Expect 12 songs, musically varying from metal to gothic to folk, post-rock to trip-hop to ambient
to even jazz.

Friday June 25th 2004

No news this week

Friday June 18th 2004

Solid State Records have signed a new band: The Chariot, from Atlanta, Georgia. A debut record should be out this fall. There's also word of another band being signed with Solid State Records. The truth of it all will be revealed soon...

The German bluescore band Cottonbomb have released their album. The record is called Mississippi Coma.

Friday June 11th 2004

On August 3rd the new album from Threshold will see the light. The record is called Subsurface. The cover was designed by Thomas Ewerhard. Some of the songs on the album are: Mission Profile; The Art Of Reason, The Destruction Of Words and Pressure. There will also be a multimedia section including video footage and photos.

The Dutch rockband Collide finished their first demo CD. This disc contains three songs. You can hear samples on their website.

On Purevolume.com you can download another song from Dead Poetic. The song is called The Dream Club Murders. This is one of the tracks of the new album New Medicines.

Strike First Records signed Jesus Wept (formerly known as xDisciplex AD). Jesus Wept will be releasing a 7 song EP on Strike First titled Sick City on July 27th. You can download a free MP3 from the release here.

In case you wanted to know, rockband Creed has decided to break up.

Payable On Death, the latest album from POD has sold one million copies worldwide!

Friday June 4th 2004

The new album from Morphia will be presented on the Flevo Festival this summer. The record is called Fading Beauty.

Calibretto is splitting up. They're doing their final tour now, called The Last Laugh Tour. Their final show will be on Saturday October 30th, in Kokomo, Indianapolis, USA.

The new EP from The Spirit That Guides Us is out. This disc is called Defence Mechanism and it contains four songs. These songs are to be considered a preview of the upcoming album North & South, due out in August.

Fear Dark signed Eluveitie from Switzerland. This band plays Celtic pagan metal. Their debut EP will be re-released by Fear Dark this summer. The EP is called Vźn.

On June 25th the new album from Underoath will see the light. You can download another track from this They're Only Chasing Safety album at PureVolume.com. The song is called It's Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door.

MeWithoutYou is recording a new album. This is the follow-up to A --> B Life. The album will be produced by Brad Wood (Smashing Pumpkins, Sunny Day Real Estate, etc).