Friday September 30th 2005

The first official CD from Illuminandi is finally released by Bombwork Records. The album The Beginning contains the first two demo's from the Polish gothic metal band.

The German band Brain:FAQ will release their new album in November through Whirlwind Records. A release show will take place in the same month. Also a name change of the band is expected...

The release date for the new Sacrificium album Escaping The Stupor is set for the 28th of November. A release party will be on December 10th in the Farbstrasse, Bietigheim, Germany.

And Underoath will release a special edition CD & DVD of their successful album They're Only Chasing Safety. Expect this one on October 4th.

Friday September 23rd 2005

The German death metal band Sacrificium has inked a record deal with Black Lotus Records. This Greek label will release the band's second album Escaping The Stupor in November. Escaping The Stupor was recorded in the Panic Room Studio (Crimson Moonlight, Pantokrator) in Sweden. The album is the follow-up to Cold Black Piece Of Flesh.

Kekal has recorded a cover of Juices Like Wine from Celtic Frost. You can download this song from Audiostreet.

Inpop Records will release the Petra Farewell CD/DVD. This CD/DVD will be filmed on October 4th before a live audience. You can already find a video from the Farewell Tour from John Schlitt's website. After 33 years Petra is disbanding.

On the 28th of September Random Eyes will start to record a new single. This will be done with their new line-up since Mikko Tuliniemi, Timo Peltokangas and jorma Rantalainen left. They are replaced by Markus Niemispelto (drums) and Voitto Rintala (bass). The single will be recorded at the Music Bros-studio in Imatra, Finland.

Divinefire has released their second album Hero in Japan yesterday. The band will be doing three live dates in Japan next month. The European and USA release of Hero will be on November 21st.

Also Narnia has a new album that will be out in February/March 2006. The title for this fifth studio album is Enter The Gate.

Neon Cross released a new song that you may want to download. The track is called You're The One and it's one of the tracks on the band's upcoming new CD.

Corrosive is the title for the new Blissed album.

Saint and Random Eyes will be playing the Night Of Power in Germany alongside bands as Falconer, Godess Of Desire, Majesty and Fleshcrawl. The Night Of Power will be organised by Powermetal.de to celebrate their sixth anniversary. The event will take place on October 15th in the Sporthalle at the Innovationspark Klingholz in Giebelstadt (bei Würzburg), Germany.

Dead Poetic is working on a new album. The band will spend the rest of the year writing material.

I Am God, the new album from Rivera/Bomma, will be out on Mausoleum Records on November 7th.

On December 2nd and 3rd the Christmas Rock Night will be held in Haus Ennepetal, Gasstrasse 10. Ennepetal (near Wuppertal), Germany. The bands that will be on stage are: Petra, Disciple, Kutless, Blindside, Spoken, Life In Your Way, Seekers Planet, Make Up Your Mind, Crushead, Arson, Today Forever, and more.

Friday September 16th 2005

My Silent Wake released their first EP. This disc contains only two songs, comprising over 16 minutes of music. The tracks were recorded at the Kewsound Studio in England. Both songs were originally written for Ashen Mortality. My Silent Wake is the new doom metal band of Ian Arkley (formerly of Seventh Angel and Ashen Mortality).

Antithesis is completing their new album Dreaming Reality. They hope to have it released at the end of this year.

Demon Hunter's third album, The Triptych, will be out on October 25th. Some of the tracks on the record are: The Light That Guides Us Home, Relentless Intolerance and Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck, a Prong cover.

7th Angel from the Ukrain has finished recording the new album The Silver Sky.

There are plans to re-release Step On It, the 1989 debut album from Jet Circus. The album is now re-mastered. The CD may contain one or two unreleased songs recorded during the Step On It sessions. Also the video for Victory Dance will be on it. Expect this album in December.

The previously cancelled Beyond The Mountain Festival is re-scheduled for November. The location is the Arcada Theater, in St. Charles, Illinois, USA. Bands that will be playing this festival, are: Becoming The Archetype, Holy Soldier, Barren Cross,Jacobs Dream, Deliverance, Whitecross, Once Dead, Saint, Sacred Warrior and Neon Cross.

Friday September 9th 2005

...And The Rest Will Follow, the new Project 86, will be out on September 27th. You can now listen to three songs on the band's Purevolume website, including the track Sincerely, Ichabod.

The Juliana Theory have some new songs available on their Purevolume page. They also shot a video for This Is A Lovesong...For The Loveless, as well as an unreleased home demo for Leave Like A Ghost (Drive Away).

Headnoise have a new album out called For Now We Know: In Part 1.

Virgin Black's new album will probably be out in early next year.

Friday September 2nd 2005

On the 30th of August 2005, Virgin Black recorded with The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. The band is still working on their new album. Singer Rowan London describes the process as a mammoth, slowing being tamed...

The Juliana Theory will release a limited edition CD/DVD package of Deadbeat Sweetheartbeat. The DVD contains four previously unreleased tracks plus fifty minutes of video footage. The album will be out on September 13th.

Blindside's latest album The Great Depression is their 3rd record to debut inside Billboards Top 100 Chart. They sold over 12,000 units in the first week of release.

Friday August 26th 2005

This fall Zao will release their first full-length DVD called The Lesser Lights Of Heaven. The band will also be working on the follow-up to the Funeral Of God album. Expect this CD in 2006.

Ultimatum is mixing their new CD. They also have the intention to release a DVD.

Narnia has parted ways with keyboardplayer Linus Kåse. In the meanwhile the band has almost finished recording their new album. A release date is not set yet. Narnia members Christian Rivel, Andreas Olsson & Andreas Johansson will tour in Japan with Divinefire.

No Innocent Victim is recording their new album To Burn Again in the Trax East Studio. The disc will have fourteen tracks. Three of them are songs from the No Compromise album that will be re-recorded.

Pantokrator is spending time to write material for their next album.

You can listen to a new song from Project 86 on Purevolume.com.

On September 13th the new album from Nodes Of Ranvier will see the light of day. The record is called The Years To Come. You can listen to the song Glass Half Nothing on Purevolume.

And on November 8th the new Inked In Blood album Lay Waste The Poets will be released. You can listen to the song These Sonnets Of Our Lives on Purevolume.

The progressive rock band Trinity FSG plans to record the follow-up to their debut The Valley Of The Dry Bones. The CD will be called A New Day.

Friday August 19th 2005

Stryper has signed with MTM Music/SPV in Germany for the release of Reborn. MTM Music will release the comeback album from Stryper on August 29th. The first pressing will be a limited edition to celebrate MTM's tenth anniversary. Reborn has eleven tracks. The song titles are: Open Your Eyes, Reborn, When Did I See You Cry, Make You Mine, Passion, Live Again, If I Die, Wait For You, Rain, 10,000 Years, I.G.W.T.. The final song I.G.W.T. is a remake of the classic In God We Trust.

The Juliana Theory made a video for This Is A Lovesong...For The Loveless.  The band has just posted a message about the video and several pics on their blog.

Here's news from Altera Enigma: The recording and post production of the Alteration album has progressed well. Jason DeRon is busy finalizing the track listing, and mixing the remaining songs and getting them prepared for mastering at Vision Studio in Jakarta. Alteration is expected to come out late 2005 or ealry 2006.

Staveacre has signed a multi-album deal with Abacus Recordings. This is an imprint of the Century Media Group. The band is busy recording their first album for Abacus, called How To Live With A Curse. This disc should be out in early 2006.

The Dutch band Fort Knox Amsterdam have three songs online of their first full length album. You can listen to the material at Myspace.com. The band recently parted ways with drummer Karsten (formerly of Crestfall & My Evil Twin). Karsten is replaced by former FKA drummer Paul Versteeg (also formerly of No Longer Music).

Silence The Foe's EP Sweet Sweet Suicide will be released in the US on September 6th by Lujo Records.

Last weekend the sad news reached the Art For The Ears forums that our member Peter Kompanje (nickname Peter1979) passed away. Peter died on Thursday August 11th, shortly after visiting Eric Clayton (Saviour Machine) in the USA. He suffered from cancer. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Andrea and his family and friends.

Friday August 12th 2005

Recently Kurt Bachman and Joey Daub of Believer fame, got together to finish their first new Believer song in years. They are also working on two other tunes. As Joey Daub is also involved in Fountain Of Tears and his solo project Years Of Plenty, it's difficult for him to get together a lot. Daub is also looking for bootlegged Believer concerts or footage. He's collecting material for a possible DVD.

Monty Colvin is working on material for the next Crunchy CD. The new songs will have a harder edge and will be a going back to some of his Galactic Cowboys roots.

Demon Hunter will release their third album this fall. The record is called The Triptych and it is produced by Aaron Sprinkle. It is believed that The Triptych will be the band's heaviest, most technical and traditionally metal oriented album so far. One of the tracks will be a cover of Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck, originally from Prong.

Balance Of Power are in the process of working on their next album with the new singer Corey Brown. Corey Brown is known for his vocals in bands as Magnitude 9 and Psycho Drama. The first live date Corey will play with the band is November 26th at the Firefest 2, Notthingham Rock City, UK.

The bluescore band Cottonbomb from Germany will release their new album on August 19th. The disc is called Don't Worry Little Baby and it will have twelve songs.

Recordings has started for the new Stavesacre album How To Live With A Curse at Studio 606. Matt Hyde will produce the album. The album should be released in February 2006.

The new King's X CD is titled Ogre Tones. The new King's X CD will be released on September 27th 2005 through InsideOut Records.

The first official Illuminandi CD The Beginning will be released this month through Bombwork Records. This album features remastered versions of their two demo's and a live recording.

The long awaited new album Once Upon A Time In The North from Immortal Souls, will be released at Flevo Festival this weekend. This limited 2CD digipak includes two new songs, the sold-out EP's Divine Wintertime and The Cleansing plus four old demo songs. Including on dics 2 is the debut album Under The Northern Sky!

Immortal Souls is also working on new material. They'll start recording in winter 2005. The album will be entitled Wintereich. Eleven tracks were written.

MxPx is touring Europe in support of their new album Panic.

Friday August 5th 2005

Silence The Foe have started recording their first full-length album. They entered the GrandSport Studio on Monday. The band had only released EP's and vinyl singles so far. Their latest EP Sweet Sweet Suicide will also be released in the USA in September. The US version has two bonus tracks and two music videos in addition to the five original tracks from the Norwegian release.

Late fall the new P.O.D. album will be released by Atlantic Records. The record is called Testify and it's the sixth studio album from the band. Testify was produced by Glen Ballard.

The Beyond The Mountain Music Festival has been cancelled! This is due to financial struggles and lack of ticket sales. However, an alternate show will be organised by different promoters. This smaller festival will take place on August 27th and will be called Up From The Ashes. Tickets for the Beyond The Mountain Music Festival are not valid for the alternate festival though. The Up From The Ashes event takes place in the New Life Christian Church in Anaheim, California. Tentative line-up: Sacred Warrior, Holy Soldier, Neon Cross, Once Dead, Ultimatum, Rivera Bomma, Tower of Hundred, Laudamus and Tykkus.

You can listen to a new Spoken song. The band's new album Last Chance To Breathe will be out on August 30th but you can already check out the song Wind In My Sails on Purevolume.com.

Todd Pope of Transfigural Form has decided to release his new material on the internet for free. You can download the songs from Soundclick.com.