Friday May 26th 2000

The new Galactic Cowboys album Let It Go will be out on June 20th.

News from the Peacedog Festival: As you may know this is a new festival held in Ede, Holland. One of the new bands they booked is Zao. This they did in cooperation with the DP    Festival in Norway and the Freakstock Festival in Germany. Other bands that will play are: Soapbox, Glorybox, One Truth, The Lionheart Brothers, Kryptonite Garden, Swirl and others. Peacedog will be on July 26th.

Glorybox will be touring intensively this summer. In June they will play on the one and only Roskilde Festival in Denmark! Other bands performing on Roskilde are: The Cure, Pearl Jam, Iron Maiden and more. Glorybox will play on the 28th of June.

The guys from Ghoti Hook will release their new record Two Years To Never on July 18th. It's been three years since their last studio-record. According to the band you should be ready for some different yet very rocking sounds. To get a small taste of it you can download a sample of one of the tracks on their website.

On June 17th you can check out the Nocturnal Metal Fest which will be held in
Kouvola, Finland. Bands that will appear there will be: Sanctifica, Immortal Souls, Oratorio, Anchor, God Mode & Catrabbits.

What I gather from the responses, the first Stryper Expo has been a success. There were shows of Irene Kelly, Jamie Rowe, SinDizzy and of course Stryper in the old line-up. Stryper played songs like: Makes Me Wanna Sing, Rock The People, Sing-along-Song, More Than A Man, Honestly and To Hell With The Devil. If you want to read some stories of people who were there, go to the SinDizzy Discussion Zone. For photos you can check out the site of the Stryper Expo and the official Michael Sweet site.

Friday May 19th 2000

Latest news from the Tourniquet camp: The new Tourniquet release Microscopic View Of A Telescopic Realm is currently #1 on the Loud chart. Drummer Ted Kirkpatrick will also be featured in the August issue of Modern Drummer.     The band also released an updated Video, called Video Biopsy 2000 which has 30 minutes of new footage. A Tourniquet comic book is made available too and a watch with the band's logo.

After being the #1 most added at College and Metal Radio, Project 86 has unseated metalband Pantera for the second week in a row for the #1 slot in the US on Metal Radio. Their single One Armed Man goes to radio stations across the US so you might request it.

Soon there will be a    Stryper DVD available. Michael Sweet and others are putting it together. The artwork/layout it finished and the mastering is planned over the next two to six weeks. This DVD will be presented on the Michael Sweet website. Last week you could read he re-released To Hell With The Devil by Stryper too. What I forgot to mention is that it's not only with the Angel cover, but it has an all new interior artwork layout, all songs have been digitally remastered and it includes a digitally remastered version of Stryper's version of Winter Wonderland as a bonustrack.

If you wonder about Michael Sweet's solo career: You can spot the cover of the official release of Truth on the Michael Sweet site. The release by Restless Records will be this fall, probably.

The line-up for the Solid State West showcase is here: Zao, Stretch Arm Strong, Third Root, Society's Finest, Born Blind. It will take place in the weekend of June 3rd in Anaheim, California, USA at the Chain Reaction.

If you live in California, don't miss the
co-album release party going on at The Ventura Theater in Ventura with not only Extol but King Diamond too! This will be on June 17th.

Friday May 12th 2000

Sad news for the fans of the Galactic Cowboys. Their next album Let It Go will be their last in their contract with Metal Blade Records but it will also be their last as they have decided to disband. Though they remain friends and haven't closed the door on working together in the future, they will pursue their individual goals.

Unevil Hopes and Bealiah have brought out a split-cassette. The Unevil Hopes part was mixed by Jeff from Kekal. This tape is available through Turbulence Records.

News from the Stryper camp: Their successful To Hell With The Devil album is re-released. This re-release has the angel artwork. On Sunday May 21st the band will be at the Stryper Expo in New Jersey.

Stretch Arm Strong will be on tour through Europe this Summer: June 23rd, Belgium; June 24th,  in Rennes, France; June 25th, in Zürich, Switzerland; June 26th, in Italy; June 27th, in Italy; June 28th, in Vienna, Austria; June 29th, in Hungary; June 30th, in Czech; July 1st, in Kassel/Immenhausen, Germany; July 2nd, in Goudvishal, Holland. These dates you can find at:  http://www.stretcharmstrong.net/dates.html

Guardian has decided to put out one final album. This will be a live record

Rob Rock has finished his new solo album entitled, Rage of Creation. Currently he's shopping for a deal.

Solid State Records is now offering MP3's too. Currently, you can find MP3's of Embodyment and Society's Finest. Find them here.

Friday May 5th 2000

Eternal Decision's Blindsided (which is one of the songs on the Ghost In The Machine album) finally made it to the #1 on MP3.com in the Metal section. This song also reached #1 in the power metal section. Congratulations!

The title of the new Dogwood is Building A Better Me. It was recorded at the Blasting Room.

I guess a lot of you will already now: POD is confirmed to be playing this year's Dynamo Festival in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. This will be alongside bands such as Korn, Iron Maiden, Slipknot, Testament and Sevendust. This year's Dynamo Open Air Festival will take place on June 3rd. Location: Goffertpark in Nijmegen. The band is scheduled to play Stage 2 in between Engine and Sentenced. Time: 13:15-13:55

If you read the interview with the British melodic metal band Stairway and wondered why they don't have a website, here's what you're looking for: Stairway. This is also the place where you can hear some of their music.

The song Nostalgia of the British progressive rockband Fire Fly will be on the New Musiq Volume 2. This will be a Plastiq Musiq release which will be available through Tooth & Nail Mail-order. Release-date is not yet known to me. Fire Fly is now featured on the American music site Beatmart too. This site has a weekly chart based on visitors votes so if you want to help support Fire
Fly follow the link below and put in your vote! Beatmart.

The Atlanta guys in Luti-Kriss just finished playing some shows around the south and are gearing up for a summer tour with a few other bands that will be announced soon.  The band should start recording their debut record on Solid State in September.

Bride is excited to announce that a recording date of June the 1st has been confirmed. The style is modern metal with an urban street mix. Check out live versions of the new songs at Bride. Bride performed live April 19th at GMA at the Absolute Showcase. The set list included two past favorites, Would You Die For Me & If I Live For You, as well as five new songs.

Friday April 28th 2000

Here's some news from Indonesia's black metal band Kekal: "We will enter the studio again to record & remix some songs. Those material
will be used for the re-release version of our classic out-of-print '95/'96
demo Contra Spiritualia Nequitiae. Our label in Indonesia THT Productions
will release it on both CD & cassette format later this year. It will have
at least 7 bonus tracks (brand-new tracks + remixed versions) alongside the
original demo version." The release of the whole new album Embrace The Dead is delayed however. If you want to hear MP3's of Kekal's music you can go here.

Zao will be going back in the studio in August to record
their fourth full length album for Solid State Records. 

If you'd like to hearing some MP3 tracks of current & upcoming Tooth & Nail releases go to:  Tooth & Nail MP3

Craig's Brother is currently recording their second T&N release at Greenhouse Studios in Vancouver, BC with Darren Grahn (Metallica, Motley Crue).  Their release is scheduled to be out sometime this fall.

Blenderhead will be recording a demo version of a brand new song called The Twinkie Insanity Verdict for Songs From The Penalty Box Volume Four which is due out in June. This song will also be on their album, but this will be a different version and recording of the song. Their tentative release date is November 21, 2000. J. Robbins is still doing the record and they will be recording in Seattle.

Bombs Over Broadway, Squad Five-O's new album features eleven brand new songs produced by Duane Baron, who has worked on albums by Ozzy Osbourne, Motley Crue, and even Alice Cooper himself. It was tracked in Atlanta, GA, and mixed in Buellton, CA at the Ranch.  According to the record-company no one will be disappointed by what these Glam-slamming young guns of garage rock have come up with. "The only thing it has in common with our previous work is the name Squad Five-0," guitarist Adam explains.  Their new album is tentatively slated for release this August.

Further Seems Forever is scheduled to head into the studio this August with none other than J Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines, Braid, Roadside Monument, Jets To Brazil).  Needless to say, they are very excited!

News from the Paramęcium camp: "Well, we have begun recording, you'll all be pleased to hear. The guitar sound is enormous and I think many of you will be really happy with that. We're looking at a release in the next few months. I'll know more about a release date later." Thus reports Andrew Tompkins on the Paramęcium website. "I expect that the new album will be longer than the last one, and may feature some different instruments. Piano may make a come back and I'm thinking about exploring some percussive options such as tympani and xylophone. Flute and strings will definitely feature as usual. On the recording front, the guitars are going well and we're still recording and arranging the songs madly. It's an exciting experience."

Friday April 21st 2000

It has been confirmed that P.O.D. will be co-headlining this years MTV Tour with Staind. The tour dates have not been announced. POD also climbed to a #51 position in the Billboard Top 200 chart this week!

Fanmail has started mixing the follow-up of their Here Comes Fanmail album. Believe it or not, it will contain a cover of the Backstreet Boys hit: I Want It That Way!

Punkpop band Element 101 will return to the studio to record a new release in May. This album is tentatively titled Stereo Girl.

Some have started wondering about the current state of Training For Utopia. The fact is, they are taking a bit of a break and exploring their musical options right now. Don and Ryan are real busy with other musical projects, and there are plans to release something this year, whether it be with Training With Utopia or not. So, the band has not officially broken up (yet), they've only retired from touring

Friday April 14th 2000

Here's some news from our friends in Finland: Little Rose Productions. As reported earlier, they will bring out a full-length of the Finnish band Immortal Souls. The CD is recorded and mixed with eleven songs but the release is delayed. It probably comes out in June. The first 500 copies will come out as a limited edition release, packed in a special carton box. Little Rose Productions also reports the release of the Sanctifica CD Spirit Of Purity with eight black metal songs. The cover-picture was shot by Jaakko Lehtinen, a younger brother of label-owner Manu, who died in January. For people living in Scandinavia it's interesting to know that Little Rose Productions will have their releases distributed into the secular market by the Swedish House Of Kicks Distribution. This means you can ask for the releases at the normal self-respecting record-stores.

The Little Rose Productions related label Bullroser Records informs us that the Dust Eater Dogs single King Kong Fist will be out in late April. This single contains two new songs plus a video!

Spitfire is returning to the studio in August to record their second album for Solid State Records. They also will be doing a split 7" with Burn It Down to be released on Ferret Records.

If you are old enough you might remember a melodic hard rock/metal band called Taker. This band rocked about a decade ago. Taker is now reformed with the original line-up. There's also a new CD in the works called Yesterday, Today And Forever which will be revised versions of old songs plus one or two new ones. The recording is being engineered and mixed by Rusty Timberlake, who also engineered and mixed the upcoming release by .rod laver. Taker guitarist PJ Bussey also reports that he's working on the follow-up of his instrumental album Wind And Steel. The title will be My Own Gate Beautiful.

You might wonder whether Lightmare will come with a new album as they were planning a new release for last year. The truth is that they changed the line-up. There's a new bass-player, Stefan Fleischer, and they are currently working hard on the new album. Release-date yet unknown.

Thrash Metal band Mortal Immunity is currently in the studio working on the follow-up of Life Machine. The title of the new disc will be Tribe Of Ignorance and the release will be in July.

Tooth & Nail Records finalized the schedule for Tooth & Nail Day at the Cornerstone Festival. There might be some changes still but right now they have over 30 bands scheduled to play. The sets will run back to back staggered 15 minutes so that if two bands you like are playing at the same time you can at least see half of each set.   There will be some cool free stuff that will be given away like Extol combs.

Living Sacrifice is still in the process of working on a new release they expect to go into the studio with Barry Poynter on June 8th.   Solid State Records reports they are blown away after hearing rough mixes for two songs. Expect a much heavier Living Sacrifice.  Heavier than Reborn?  Wait and see....

Friday April 7th 2000

It's going very well with the new Project 86, Drawing Black Lines. This week Project 86 jumped a remarkable 50 spaces to #64 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart. Here is their radio success in the US so far: FMQB: This week from #13 to #4. CMJ: This week from  #24 to #9.

Narcissus will release a full-length release through Takehold Records in June. The title will be New***Wave***Techno***Homicide. This will be the follow-up of the EP And Forthwith Came Out Blood And
Water.

The first vinyl pressing have come in at Endtime Productions of Antestor's Martyrium. As you may now, Martyrium is their 1994 recording that wasn't released so far (only bootlegs). This LP edition is a limited edition of only 300 clear green vinyl. It has some art of the Necrolord, AKA Kristian Wåhlin who also worked for Extol, At The Gates, King Diamond and others. Expect a CD digipak version of Martyrium later this year. More info Endtime Productions

Keith Bannister, long-time drummer for the band Mortification has left the band. According to Rowe Productions, their label, Keith has accepted a job that would not allow him to continue as the band's drummer. Mortification has a new drummer already: Adam Zaffarese. Adam is only 15 and is the son of Johno Zaffarese, drummer with 80's Hard Rock band Rosanna's Raiders. The new line-up is currently rehearsing and will be touring soon.

Norway's Black Metal band Drottnar have released their new CD entitled Spiritual Battle. For info check out: Drottnar

BEC Recordings has set up a permanent memorial for Gene Eugene who died on Monday March 20th. You can visit this memorial site at Gene Eugene Memorial

Other BEC news: Ace Troubleshooter finished it's pop-punk debut for the label. The band recorded it with Bill Stevenson, Stephen Egerton and Jason Livermore at the Blasting Room, in Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.

The release of Embodyment's The Narrow Scope Of Things and the Solid State release of Extol's Undeceived are both delayed. Expect both albums out on June 18th 2000 (tentative :-) ). Tooth & Nail band Shorthanded will have their album out on the same day (they say).

Tooth & Nail is finally embracing MP3's. In coming weeks they will post full songs from upcoming releases. Expect to see some changes on the MP3-links page of the Art For The Ears site too!