Friday January 25th 2008

On March 28th Versallis Records is releasing 4-All: The Best Of LNJ a best-of record from the band Liberty N' Justice. This disc will also contain four new songs. One of the new songs is We Have A God featuring lead vocals by Derrick Lefevre (Lillian Ax) & Larry Worley (FearNot) can be listened to on myspace.

Norma Jean is working on a new album. They couldn't be happier with how it's coming along.

Another band working on new material is Aletheian. In fact, next week they'll be mastering their new CD in the West Westside Studios.

You can win goodies from Stairway in a contest held by metallinks.nl. The band will also play the Rock of Ages festival in September. This festival also features performances from bands like Tygers Of Pan Tang, Spiral Dive, Rockstar and many others. The Rock Of Ages festival takes place in Birmingham, United Kingdom.

Nine Mortification albums will be re-issued by Metal Mind Productions under license from Nuclear Blast Records. They will be released in a deluxe digipak format. Included are the albums Scrolls Of The Megilloth, Post Momentary Affliction, Blood World, Primitive Rhythm Machine, Envision Evangelene, Triumph Of Mercy, Hammer Of God and The Silver Cord Is Severed plus a DVD entitled Conquer The World. All albums will have several bonus tracks (mostly live songs).

New and extremely heavy material from The Spirit That Guides Us is on the way. During their spring tour in March the band will play the first song Bail Us Out from the new album Don't Shoot, Let Us Burn. The new songs are heavier and more powerful than ever. Expect a bizarre combination of their album 24 Winters and The Sand, The Barrier, but add loads of heavy riffs and dark grunts.

Friday January 18th 2008

Stryper is still working on their new album. The plan is to start mixing the record in the first week of February. The band hopes to have the album out in July or August. Also a tour to promote the CD belongs to the possibilities. According to singer Michael Sweet the record sounds amazing and will have what they also wanted a Stryper record to have: melodies, guitar solos, stacked vocal harmonies and screams.

The Weakening is a new band from Scandinavia featuring Jani Stefanovic (Divinefire, Miseration). The line-up also features Barry Halldan (formerly of Renascent). Musically the goal of the band is to create groovy metalcore. Right now The Weakening is recording an album.

The Dutch rock band Zenith Of Abolition will have a CD-release party on February 22nd. The album is called The Villain, The Victim, The Tragedy.

A new band on Tooth & Nail Records is Ivoryline with good melodic rock music. Their album There Came A Lion comes out on February 5th. You can download the song Be Still And Breathe from absolutepunk.net (or a bit more directly from megaupload.com).

Another new band on Tooth & Nail is Once Nothing. Their album First Came The Law came out on January 15th. The band describes their music as "blue-collar metal".

Rock band Anberlin will be working on their new album in February. They will be working along with Neal Avron.

The new video from As I Lay Dying is The Sound Of Truth, one of the songs on their latest album An Ocean Between Us. The video for The Sound Of Truth should debut on MTV2's Headbanger's Ball on January 19th. You can also preview it at youtube.com.

Alleviat, the new Benea Reach album will be released in Scandinavia on February 4th.

The Polish record company Metal Mind Productions signed a multi licensing deal with Nuclear Blast Records for their back catalogue. In the first half of 2008 Metal Mind Productions will re-issue nearly 70 albums from their archives. Included are releases from Horde and Mortification. The re-issues will be digipak editions, each title limited to 2000 copies, digitally remastered using 24-Bit process and extras.

Friday January 11th 2008

You can now download the new Torman Maxt album for free. Yes, the entire album, including the artwork! Go here for all the details. The album is the first part of The Problem Of Pain. This is a rock opera inspired by the albums 2112 from Rush and Operation Mindcrime from Queensryche. The Problem Of Pain retells the story of Job from the Old Testament and deals with the question of why God allows evil and human suffering on earth. The title The Problem Of Pain is taken from a book authored by C.S. Lewis, which explores the topics of evil and human suffering.

CJ Grimmark is busy as ever. At the moment he's working on new songs for the next Narnia album. He's also involved with the mixing of the Farewell album from Divinefire. On this record he'll also do some lead guitars.

Facedown Records have signed For Today. This is a metalcore album from Sioux City, Iowa. For Today is a real touring band. They did over 200 shows in 2007 alone. Their debut album Ekklesia will appear on April 1st. You can listen to For Today on myspace.

Kekal is working on their next album. You can stream one new song already on myspace. The track is called The Vampire Song. Kekal also offers a three track single for only $1.99. The single is called The Gathering Of Ants.

Friday January 4th 2008

First of all, best wishes for 2008!

The Finnish band Deuteronomium is working on new material. In fact, they are in the pre-production of their new album. Fourteen songs are being arranged to be ready to record. The recordings are scheduled to start on March 10th. Mikko Härkin (Mehida, Essence Of Sorrow, and formerly of Sonata Arctica and Kotipelto) will be producing the album. Expect a return to their brutal death metal roots.

Essence Of Sorrow have completed two new tracks. You can listen to them on myspace.com.

Believer has worked hard on their next record. A release date isn't set yet, but the band is shooting for a May/June time frame.

The Swedish rock band Blindside plans to write and record new material this year. They are trying to figure out the best way to release a record these days.

The Art For The Ears page on myspace.com is renewed. It has better looks and contains several videos taken from youtube. It's well worth your visit. While you do so, you can find a new file of the radio show mentioned in the blog. This is the show of December 28th and is about the Art For The Ears airplay Top 20 of 2007!

Friday December 28th 2007

Benea Reach will release a new album in February 2008. The record is called Alleviat. Christian Wibe from Animal Alpha produced the album along with the band.

The German band Descend To Rise posted the song A Soliloquy on their myspace.com page. This song is a track from the debut full length Behind The Infinite Scenes and it comes out in February 2008.

Thy Majesty, the Italian power metal maestros, have signed with Dark Balance. This label will release the fourth album from the band in June 2008.

X-Sinner is back from the Fire It Tour 2007. In January they'll be mixing the new album World Covered In Blood.

The Finnish rock band Deep Insight is also working on a new album.

Kutless is currently in the studio to record new music. You can keep up to date on the recording process at a special website.

As you may have read on myspace, you can download the Art For The Ears radio show that was aired on Friday December 14th. Go here and download the file. You can find the play list on myspace.

Friday December 21st 2007

Hawk Nelson will release a new album on April 1st 2008. The record is called Hawk Nelson Is My Friend. The first single is Friend Like That. The album comes out through Tooth & Nail Records.

Venia has decided to mix their new album in early January. Therefore the release of the disc is delayed a bit.

The German/Finnish initiative Thy Bleeding Skies finished recording their debut CD Chapters Of Downfall. Guitars, vocals and bass were recorded at the Breakstuff Studio (Germany) by Oliver Tesch (guitar player of Sacrificium). The drums were recorded by Mikko Herranen at the C.C.P.C. Studio in Finland.

Demon Hunter shot a video for Carry Me Down.

The Dutch ska/rock/punk band Make Up Your Mind is working on a new album.

Slechtvalk has parted ways with keyboardist Hydrith. He decided to leave the band to spend more time with his wife and son. Currently Slechtvalk works with a session-keyboardist who might join as a full member in the future.

Friday December 14th 2007

As I Lay Dying are nominated for a Grammy award! Nothing Left, their first single from the album An Ocean Between Us is nominated  for Best Metal Performance. Congrats!

Do you remember the Norwegian black metal one-man-band Stronghold? This guy is back with a full formation and a new album called Cult Of Remorse.

The Ressurection Band re-released their album Rainbow's End (1979). Expect late seventies rock music.

War Of Ages will record a new album. The CD will be produced by none other than Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying.

The Dutch band Project Liberate will record an EP this month.

Want to listen to the Art For The Ears radio show that was broadcasted on December 7th? Go here and download the file. Yeah, the deejay talks in the Dutch language... Check the myspace.com page for the play list!

Friday December 7th 2007

The new Soul Embraced album will come out in April 2008. The record is called Dead Alive and was produced by Barry Poynter and mixed by Erik Rutan. The comeback album will be released by Solid State Records.

Metal Heaven signed the melodic metal band Driver, featuring vocalist Rob Rock and guitarist Roy Z (Halford, Bruce Dickinson). Driver existed in 1989 and 1990 and recorded a demo. Now they'll finally get a chance to release the album they intended to release back then. The new CD will contain re-recorded versions of the songs that were written all those years ago, plus some new songs as well. Original drummer Reynold "Butch"  Carlson will perform on the album, besides other special guests like Mat Sinner on bass. The album is expected Spring 2008.

The Dutch rock band Zenith Of Abolition have finished recording their twelve song album. It will be called The Villain, The Victim, The Tragedy. You can listen to a few songs on their myspace.com page.

Another Dutch band is Borgazur. This black metal initiative have almost finished their new CD called 2P3: Alchemists Earth Of Eaon A.C. . The disc will come out through Nokternal Hemizpear.

Black metal band Crimson Moonlight is writing songs for an upcoming album.

You can download the November 30th Art For The Ears radio show. Download it here. There are still a several other shows available for download, all for a selected period of time: July 27th, August 3rd, September 21st, November 2nd, November 9th, November 16th, November 23rd.