Friday January 27th 2006

Callisto has almost completed the recording of their new album. They hope to bring out the new material in the spring time. Andrew Schneider will be mixing the album in February, while Samuel Durling has been put in charge of the art direction.

After two years of work, Altera Enigma has made their debut album Alteration available now. The nine tracks on Alteration range from the epic, nearly 10 minute long heavy progressive metal of the song Enigmatic Alteration to the Jeff Arwadi written moody, memorable and darkly melodic Pasivitas Sudut Pandang. Songs like Relating The Transformation and Through Glass, Darkly showcase the bands roots in heavy metal while Fading is a flowing, soulful instrumental full of conviction and emotion.

Bride is releasing four DVD's. The first is a metal DVD, featuring 24 songs from two different concerts. The second DVD is filled with 17 acoustic versions from three different shows. The third DVD features their rock oriented work from two 1994 shows (including one concert in Germany). And on the fourth DVD you will see the band live in Brazil.

Stairway is trying to get their new album released in the Spring time. Prior to this release, they are planning to bring out an MP3-single.

Friday January 20th 2006

The American hard rock band Bride is working on a new album. The band is also working on a possible Brazilian record deal. Interestingly, they've found a new drummer called Lilian Miller. Yes, a "she", and she is a Brazilian as well.

The German label Guideline Records will release the debut of Descend To Rise on January 26th. You can listen to an mp3 track from this upcoming mini CD. The song is called The Enemy Inside Me.

Another Guideline band is Opposition Of One. They are looking for a new  bass player to replace David. Opposition Of One will be touring with Seventh Star in Europe in April 2006.

Bandsonfire.com reports that Metal Blade Records will re-release the first album from As I Lay Dying, as well as the 2002 EP. The debut album is called Beneath The Encasing Of Ashes and was originally brought out by Pluto Records in 2001.

Here some news from 2005: The British hard rock band Force 3 has reformed. Force 3 was started back in the eighties. They released one album, Warrior Of Light, back in 1988. There are plans to re-release this disc.

Some other news: Last week you could read in this column about the Art For The Ears radio show on Radio 90FM in The Netherlands. From now on you can listen to the livestream of this excellent hard music show every Friday from 20.00-21.00 CET, and every Tuesday from 23.00-24.00 CET for the reiteration.

Check the current playlist here.

Listen to Art For The Ears at the Radio 90FM website: scroll to the right to choose between four different media players.

Do you live in a different time zone, check how much hours you are from Central European Time (CET)!

Friday January 13th 2006

On March 23rd the new Narnia album Enter The Gate will be released in Japan. When the record comes out in Europe and the USA, is yet unsure. Narnia singer Christian Rivel will also work on an acoustic and symphonic album where he will make new versions of Narnia songs. This disc will be called Living Water From The Throne and is planned to be released in August/September, probably followed by an acoustic tour in Sweden.

With his band Narnia Christian Rivel will do a tour, starting on January 28th in Finland. Five days earlier their first live album will see the light of day.

Jani Stefanovic from Divinefire & Renascent, will release two albums with other bands. First of all Eternium. This is an extreme metal band in the vein of Crimson Moonlight and Antestor, featuring former Renascent member Barry Haldan on vocals.

The other band that Jani Stefanovic joined, is Essence Of Sorrow from Finland. This formation features members from Random Eyes, among others. Essence Of Sorrows plays metal with lots of power, melody and hooks. Besides Jani Stefanovic the line-up consists of: Christian Palin (vocals), Mikko Härkin (keyboards), Timo Kuusjärvi (guitars), Markus Niemispelto (drums) and Sidi (bass). Expect the album from Essence Of Sorrow to be released through Rivel Records.

Another new band is 7 Days, formed by Markus Sigfridsson. The line-up also consistis of Thomas Vikström (vocals), Daniel Flores (drums) and Andreas Olsson (bass). You can also expect the album from 7 Days from Rivel Records.

Rivel Records will this year also release a new album from Heartcry!

The Indonesian avantgarde metal band Kekal will start recording their new album in January. It will take at least half a year to complete the recordings.

Mortification has found replacement for Mike Forsberg. The new drummer for the band is Damien Percy. Mortification will release the next album Erasing The Goblin in late February. Expect death metal.

Dead Poetic will have a few songs on their next album produced by none less then Chino Moreno, frontman of the Deftones. This will happen in a studio in Sacramento. The rest of the album will be produced by Aaron Sprinkle in Seattle.

There's a song from the next Far-Less album that you can listen to on Purevolume. The track is called Jumping The Shark. This is one of the songs on the record Everyone Is Out To Get Us. This album will be out on February 7th.

Some other news: Have you always wanted to listen to the Art For The Ears radioshow on Radio 90FM in The Netherlands? Perhaps now is your chance! Radio 90FM is offering a livestream of their broadcast on the internet. What do you need to do to listen to Art For The Ears? Well, go to the Radio 90FM website, scroll to the right and then pick your player (you can choose between Windows Mediaplayer, Winamp Mediaplayer, I-tunes and Real Player). At least Winamp was reported to be working so far.

Art For The Ears is on air (and on stream) every Friday, starting a few minutes past 20:00 CET (8.00 PM CET). Check the current playlist here. The reiteration is every Tuesday, starting a few minutes past eleven o'clock in the evening (CET). Do you live in a different time zone, check how much hours you are from Central European Time!

Friday January 6th 2006

P.O.D. performed at Times Square in New York on New Years Eve. The band was booked for the Jimmy Kimmel Show. Nearly one million people experienced P.O.D. live on top of a building in Times Square. They played songs like Goodbye For Now, Boom and Alive. The Performance was shown on video screens throughout Times Square, including the huge screen in the middle of the square.

Right now P.O.D. is eager to release their new album Testify, that will be released worldwide on January 24th.

Fear Dark announced the bands and dates for this year's festivals. The bands are: Morphia, Eluveitie, Royal Anguish and Taketh. The festivals will take place in The Netherlands (three dates), Germany (two dates) and Switzerland from May 12th through May 28th.

If you want to see how good old Saint looks like live today, check out the video samples from the band's website. You can see the band perform the songs In The Night and 2 Vicars.

Friday December 30th 2005

Pillar will be entering the Lakeside Studios in Knoxville, Tennessee, on January 2nd. They will be recording their new album with producer Travis Wyrick. Pillar hopes to release the record summer 2006.

Management company Thoughts On Vinyl reports that Dead Poetic will be releasing teaser clips from their demo sessions for the new album in early January. The clips are a tiny taste of what's to come from the band. Dead Poetic will be entering the studio on January 30th with producer Aaron Sprinkle.

Altera Enigma have completed their debut album Alteration. The album will contain nine songs. Some of the song titles are: Enigmatic Alteration, Pasivitas Sudut Pandang, Relating The Transformation and Through Glass, Darkly. The band hopes to have this record out in January 2006.

From the Altera Enigma website you can now download the first of three free songs. The first is Demand A Broader View. This is not one of the album tracks. You can consider the song as a tribute to the extreme metal roots of band member Jason DeRon (formerly of Paramæcium) and Jeff (Kekal). However, Demand A Broader View cannot be reckoned as a representative track for Alteration. It's rather a track that will appeal to fans of old Kekal.

You can help Extol in the second and final voting round for the best metal album of the year contest by major Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet. Vote here by indicating the empty bubble next to Extol/The Blueprint Dives and entering your name (navn?), e-mail address (Epost?) and the code that's shown in the grey square on your right. Then press "stem". Thanks!

Friday December 23rd 2005

Fans of Divinefire have something to look out for. The band will be working on a new album they hope to release in September 2006. Their latest album Hero was only released four weeks ago... The working title for the new record is Into A New Dimension.

Silence The Foe will release a full-length album next year. More information will follow.

Jacob's Dream will be taking a break from touring until April of 2006 while they work on their next recording. 

Do you remember the alternative rock band Passafist that had industrial influences? You can download four songs from the 1994 Passafist EP from Myspace.

The tentative release date for the fifth Stavesacre album is March 21st. The disc is entitled How To Live With A Curse. The band shot a video for the song It's Beautiful (Once You're Out Here) last weekend.

Ken Tamplin is offering a nice Christmas gift this year. The hard rock singer put the songs from his Christmas album online, for you to download! The songs on The Colors Os Christmas are not the usual hard rock style Ken Tamplin (formerly of Joshua, Shout & Magdalan), but nice altogether. Download the ten songs here for free!

Friday December 16th 2005

Veni Domine has signed a record deal with MCM Music (Germany). Their new album will be released in February 2006. Title for the disc is 23:59. Some of the song titles are: Like I'm Crucified, Electrical Heaven, Valley Of The Visions, and Die Another Day.

Bombworks Records added the Brazilian band Seven Angels to their roster. Seven Angel is known for their power metal and their female singer. The new album Faceless Man will be released in January.

Global Warning has secured a deal with ACM Records for their latest release Enemy Within. ACM works with artists like Earth Wind And Fire, Chaca Khan and others.

The new Rivera/Bomma album I Am God is delayed. The band's label Mausoleum Records says the CD will be released in Japan & Europe in February. US fans may look forward to the album in March.

The first bands are announced for the Elements Of Rock that will take place in Switzerland, in April 2006: Bands: Rob Rock, Narnia, Immortal Souls, Frosthardr, Dividing Line, Saphena, Inevitable End, Brutal Martyrium.

Friday December 9th 2005

The South African gothic rock band The Awakening joined MCM Music. This management is also working for established names as Saviour Machine, Eva O and Virgin Black. The Awakening intends to tour globally with the release of their next album Razor Burn. This record will be out in June 2006.

And Tourniquet is still working on a new album. They say you can expect a late 2006 release...

Facedown Records signed a new band called Flee The Seen. This band from Kansas City will release their debut album Doubt Becomes The New Addiction on March 14th 2006. You can listen to some of their music on their Myspace.com site.

Friday December 2nd 2005

Once Dead is working on their debut album. Once Dead is the band featuring the members from Vengeance Rising, a band that released four albums from 1988-1994. The line-up consists of Glenn Rogers, Larry Farkas, Doug Thieme, Scott Waters, Roger Dale Martin and Jim Chaffin. The band is working on new material that will be true to their old school speed metal roots.

Antithesis is still working on their new album Dreaming Reality. They still are hopeful for a 2005 release...

On December 6th the Unsung EP from The Chariot will see the light of day.