Friday November 24th 2006

Lament is working on a new CD. The Mexican death metal band will enter the studio in February 2007. In the meanwhile the band will record a cover song for their best of album. You can also download three Lament songs from their website.

The Finnish metal band Venia will start recording their upcoming full-length album early next year. The record is scheduled for a 2007 release.

This winter the 10 year anniversary Pantokrator compilation A Decade Of Thoughts will be released on Momentum Scandinavia.

The Awakening will put a previously unavailable track for download on their website. From December 1st you can get this song for a limited period only!

The Punk rockers of MxPx have their Deluxe Edition of Let It Happen out. To support this, they've launched Pokinatcha.com. You can listen to three new studio recordings that are on the album as well. The band will also add videos from the DVD portion of the Deluxe Edition and an previously unreleased original demo of one of the earliest recordings of the band.

The guys from the British hard rock/metal band Stairway want to thank everyone who voted for them in the NMW Awards! Although the band didn't win an award, the band is happy for the fact they were nominated twice.

The Brazilian metal band Sabbatariam have a new vocalist called Big Head. With him they'll start recording their new album Left Behind in January 2007.

Friday November 17th 2006

Two weeks ago, Horde played their one and only concert (ever!) at the Nordic Festival in Oslo, Sweden. The show was filmed for a live DVD. Photos of the show can be found on the internet. And you can find concert reviews by fans at Undark.net.

Zao has been working on a new album. They've got enough material put together for two albums.

Teramaze is back. Four years ago the Australian metal band called it quits. Now they are back and writing and recording a new album. You can download a few songs from two of their albums at Purevolume.com.

Due to the process of songwriting Opposition Of One has decided to postpone the recording of the new album to January.

Spring 2007 the new Torman Maxt album will appear. The CD is called The Problem Of Pain, Act 1. It's a full concept album dealing with the life of Job. To support the release, the band has some festival concerts in the works...

Friday November 10th 2006

My Silent Wake have recorded demos for the follow up to Shadow Of Sorrow. The new songs will be recorded this month and added to the acoustic tracks previously completed. My Silent Wake also recorded a cover of Man In Black for the forthcoming Johnny Cash tribute album in 2007.

There is a new live CD available from Stryper. The album is called Extended Versions. It features live performances from the 2003 reunion tour. Included is the first live version of You Won't Be Lonely. The other tracks on the disc are: Makes Me Wanna Sing, Calling On You, Free, More Than A Man, Reach Out, The Way, Soldiers Under Command, To Hell With The Devil, Honestly.

Due to irreconcilable differences, Lance King will no longer be singing with Pyramaze. Lance King: "I would like to thank the Pyramaze guys for many wonderful memories, I'm very proud of the music we created together!  I wish each and every member of the band success in their careers and personal lives, as well as their search for a new vocalist. I look forward to hearing their new music."

Lance King has several projects that he is working on at present. He's working on a new Avian album. And he is also doing guest vocals on the debut release from Salinoch. Furthermore, Lance King has agreed to lend his voice and writing talents to Secret Society Of Starfish. This project also features two members of Dimension X. 

Becoming The Archetype will be recording again this month with producer Rob Caggiano (Bleeding Through, The Agony Scene, Cradle of Filth). They have also revealed that the forthcoming album will be titled The Physics Of Fire.

The new album from Fountain Of Tears disc is currently being mastered at FineTune in The Netherlands.

Jacobs Dream is really busy with their new CD. They've titled it Dominion Of Darkness. According to the band, the overall feel of the album is very dark. It also includes the heaviest track they've written to date, called Demon World. Jacobs Dream have decided to release the album independently.

P.O.D. put their new single Going In Blind on Myspace. The band is signing a new record deal in a few weeks.

You can help the German band Saphena by voting for them. It will help them get on the Sonic Assault Festival. Thanks in advance!

Friday November 3rd 2006

Whirlwind Records is about to release The Kiss The Hope, the new album from Lengsel. This is the follow-up to Solace (released in 2000 by Endtime Productions). You can listen to a  song from this CD on Myspace, as well as on Purevolume. The song is called A Little Less To Heal.

Tooth & Nail Records released the new Dead Poetic's album Vices.

Soundmass have two new albums out. The first is from the Western Australian band Grave Forsaken. The other CD is Released From Damnation from the band Scourged Flesh. Both groups play thrash/death metal in the vein of early Mortification.

Solid State Records released a special edition of The Triptych, the latest Demon Hunter album. This limited edition includes four bonus tracks plus a full-length DVD, featuring a live concert and two documentaries and more. You can listen to one of the bonus tracks on Purevolume. The song is called Undying (Wild Boar Mix).

The British metal band Stairway has been nominated for two awards at the New Music Weekly. They are nominated for best College Song of the Year with The Other Side Of Midnight and best College Group of the Year. You can help Stairway now! Click on Vote Now on this link, scroll down to the College Category and vote for this band in the Single & Group categories.

And while you are visiting this page, you can also vote for a good ally of ours, called Mark Blair of Silent Planet Radio, who is nominated for College Music Director of the Year. Votes for him are appreciated!

The Award Ceremony Show is on November18th  2006.

Friday October 27th 2006

The Dutch progressive metalband Picture Of The Moon will start recording their new CD Ageless Day end of November 2006. The CD will be produced by Joost van den Broek (After Forever) and will contain four songs: Black Roses, No Break Space, Depth and Ageless Day.

As I Lay Dying is writing songs for their next album. They have four songs done and a couple other songs are still very rough. The band will take a break from songwriting to tour Europe.

Threshold are currently recording the follow-up to Subsurface. Recording is taking place at Thin Ice Studios and Bray Studios in the south of England. Karl Groom and Richard West are producing it. Title of the album will be Pilot In The Sky Of Dreams. A release is planned for early 2007.

Speaking of Karl Groom and Richard West... both Threshold members were in Mercy Train. This alternative rock outfit was formed in the early nineties, based around Richard Burge. The band also featured bassist Peter Gee (Pendragon) and drummer Nick Harradence (Shadowland). The four released one album, called Presence, in 1993. This album is now available to buy from iTunes.

Mercy Train briefly reformed in 1996 to write and demo a number of songs for a second album, but the final project was never completed. Vocalist Richard Burge is understood to be currently working on new material.

Earlier this year The Spirit That Guides Us released We Are Under Construction, Part I, an overview of their first five years. Now they are finalizing their DVD called We Are Under Construction, Part II. Expect this one to be out in early 2007. Currently The Spirit That Guides Us is working on new songs. Some of those will be played during their upcoming tour.

The Hot Stewards have released an EP called The Very Best Of in the summer of 2005. Now this disc is sold out. You can only get it by downloading it. The Hot Stewards will release a full album with eleven songs soon.

Immortal Souls will start recording their next album Wintereich in December. The basic lyrical idea is to form a concept album, where the song texts together form a complete story line.

Jacobs Dream is looking for a new label.

Opposition Of One will enter the studio in November to record their second full length. The band also appears on the DVD compilation Joining Forces 4 Your Eyes, together with bands such as Caliban, Born From Pain, Fear My Thoughts, Deadsoil, Black Friday 29 and more. This compilation DVD is limited to 500 copies.

Speaking of DVD compilations....  Guideline Records will release their Guideline DVD by the end of the year. To support this release, the four bands on their roster will do a tour in Germany and Austria, just after Christmas.

Some time ago it was reported in this column that Force 3 had reformed. This UK hard rock band was started in the eighties and released their only album Warrior Of The Light in 1989. Although there were plans for a new album, Force 3 split up again after playing together on the Greenbelt Festival in 2005. Band members Andy and Steve are currently playing in Ad-hoc, while Rob does a solo endeavour called The Northern Coast.

Crimson Moonlight is discussing the release of a new EP with their label Endtime Productions. Title for this disc is In Depths Of Dreams Unconscious. Crimson Moonlight also has a new guitarist called Jocke Malmborg who replaced Erik Tordsson. Malmborg also plays in Inevitable End.

Extol is writing new songs. They hope to record a new album this year.

The new Divinefire album Into A New Dimension is out now in Japan. The rest of the world will have to wait until November 21st.

On November 17th, Guideline Records will reissue the successful CD from Descent To Rise called Standing At This Safe Place... We Watch The World Fall. The reissue comes with a music video clip.

He Is Legend's new album Suck Out The Poison is out now!

On December 1st and 2nd the annual Christmas Rock Night will take place in Haus Ennepetal in Ennepetal (near Wuppertal), Germany. Among the bands appearing on stage are: Becoming The Archetype, Kids In The Way, Thousand Foot Krutch, Disciple, Opposition Of One, Red, Arson, Seventh Avenue, Toelz, Tree63, and more.

Interestingly, the people from the Christmas Rock Night will be organising a second event next year. This festival called Legends Of Rock will reintroduce bands that played the Christmas Rock Night in the eighties and nineties. Booked so far: Tourniquet, Bride, Guardian, Why?, The Electrics, Split Level and Trust.