Friday March 27th 2009

Grave Declaration has uploaded a demo track to myspace. It's a preview of the full length album that is in progress. There are no details yet on recording, nor on the release date.

Exhale has also uploaded a new song from their upcoming album Blind to myspace.com. The song is called Turning Blind. The CD will be released by Feto Records on June 1st.

Rock band X-Sinner will shoot a video for the title track of their new album World Covered In Blood.

Eternal Emperor, the black metal one man band  from Germany, is working on the first full length release. Three songs have been written and preproduction recordings were made. There's a three minute sample available on their myspace.com page.

The line-up for the Fear Dark Festival is now complete. On Friday May 15th 2009 the following bands will appear: Slechtvalk (viking/black metal), My Silent Wake (doom metal), Miseration (death metal) and Willow's Whisper (gothic metal). Tickets are 12,00 euro at the door. Doors open 19:30. First band goes on stage at 20:00. The festival will take place in De Kelder, Amersfoort, Holland.

Here a Slechtvalk video:

Here's a video from Willow's Whisper:

Friday March 20th 2009

Azhar Levi left the Indonesian avantgarde rock/metal band Kekal. Though Kekal will never be the same without him, the band will continue!

Doom/thrash metal band Seventh Angel has started the recordings of their new album.

Tim Lambesis from As I Lay Dying has been in the process of adopting a child from Ehtiopia for a year. The official adoption and travel dates are the first week of April. As a result As I Lay Dying will have to miss the first five shows of the upcoming tour with Lamb Of God.

Wondering how an album is recorded. View this studio diary from Gemany's own Sacrificium:

InExordium has a new guitarist to replace Jason De Ron. The newcomer is called Chris Balassone. Jason will concentrate to his two other bands: Altera Enigma and Soundscape.

Here's a live video of Buried Alive, recorded at the Arthouse in February 2009 (when Jason was still in the band):

Friday March 13th 2009

This spring Zao will release a new record entitled Awake? (question mark included). The songs on the album are: 1,000,000 Outstretched Arms Of Nothing; Entropica; The Eyes Behind The Throne; Human Cattle Masses Marching Forward; Romance Of The Southern Spirit; What Will You Find?; Awake?; Quiet Passenger Pt. 1; Reveal; Quiet Passenger Pt. 2/The World Caved In.

The making of the farewell DVD from Morphia is going well.  The recording took place at the Brainstorm Festival in Apeldoorn, Holland, on November 22nd 2008. The final show featured guest appearances from former members Erik van Tulder and Roger Koedoot in the song Emptiness. Also violinplayer Esther Wertwijn performed with Moprhia in the song Memories Never Die. The release of the DVD will be in the autumn.

Rob Rock is currently working on a live DVD/CD for his solo work. The concert taped is the show at Progpower USA 9 in Atlanta. The DVD/CD will be titled Rob Rock - The Voice Of Melodic Metal - Live In Atlanta. It will released on AFM Records in May.

Check out the new Impellitteri (with Rob Rock on vocals) video for the title track of their new album Wicked Maiden:

Or what about a video of Last Of The Dying Breed, also from the Wicked Maiden album:

Rock band Day Of Fire is mixing a new album. This record should come out in the summer.

Heavy metal band Saint is writing material for their next album. The pre-production will be done by the end of the summer.

Believer added another new song to their myspace.com profile. The song is called Stoned. It's a song from their upcoming album Gabriel.

Pillar is working on a new album. The band is working with producer Rob Graves. The line-up of Pillar is now completed with the addition of bassist Rich Gilliland and drummer Taylor Carroll.

Congratulations to Virgin Black. Their album Requiem - Fortissimo was voted best doom metal album of 2008 by the readers of Metal Storm.

Evanescence was awarded platinum for their digital single Call Me When You're Sober (more than a million sold). Their digital single My Immortal was certified gold (more than half a million sold).

Lightmare put two live videos online taken from their show in October 2008. First of all, here's the song Autumn Of Life:

And here's River Of Life:

Friday March 6th 2009

In Memoriam - Kyle Rae Sweet

Yesterday evening Kyle Rae Sweet passed away. Kyle was the wife of Michael Sweet, singer and guitarist of Stryper. Kyle battled cancer for two years. Michael Sweet in his last letter to and about his wife: "Throughout I have seen Kyle's heart, strength and determination in ways that I've never seen before. She's never complained and always brought joy to those caring for her and those around her. Surgery after surgery, treatment after treatment and feeling so sick for the past two years, she's been an encouragement and an example of faith to everyone. I love you my dear and there is no way for me to repay you for what you have given to me. I hold you within my heart for now and forevermore."

Read the entire letter on myspace.

News also came this week about the release of the next Stryper album, Murder By Pride. This album should appear in late July through Big3 Records.

This week A Plea For Purging released their new album Depravity through Facedown Records. They also published a video for Malevolence through AP Magazine. If you want to see a hilarious video, watch this:

As I Lay Dying will release This Is Who We Are, their first ever DVD, consisting of a 3 DVD set produced and directed by Denise Korycki (who also did the Centuries Of Torment DVD from Cannibal Corpse). This first disc contains a documentary, including interviews with the artists, friends and family as well as observations and road stories from colleagues and bands that have worked with As I Lay Dying. The second disc contains live performances. And the third disc has music videos and bonus features. This Is Who We Are comes out on April 9th (USA) and April 14th (Europe).

Ulterium Records will release a limited 12" picture disc edition of the Theocracy album Mirror Of Souls. The LP will be limited to 250 copies and it will be released on April 3rd. The songs included are Mirror Of Souls, Laying The Demon To Rest, Absolution Day and Wages Of Sin.

The Chariot will release their new album Wars And Rumors Of Wars on May 5th.

Here's a funny video from August Burns Red, featuring the brothers Timo and Gustavo doing a cover version of American Dream:

Bombworks Records have signed the reformed Seventh Angel. This band will enter the studio in late March to record their first studio album since Lament Of The Weary. Expect a doom-infused thrash metal sound. The title for this disc will be The Dust Of Years. Expect it out in summer 2009. Artwork will be handled by Matt Vickerstaff of Darkwave Art who has also done artwork for the last releases from My Dying Bride and My Silent Wake. Seventh Angel will be recording with Greg Chandler at Priory Recording Studios  in the UK.

Bombworks Records also signed Divulgence. This band plays thrashy black metal with an occasional death metal leaning. Divulgence is writing material and has plans to record a full length later this year. Check out the band and a couple of songs from their demo at myspace.com.

Kekal experiences problems with their label NePlusUltra Music. Their new album is still on the pre-order status, even though fans paid for the album as early as December last year. The band has totally no idea about what's happening. The label hasn't answered e-mail inquiries from Kekal. The band insists however that NePlusUltra Music will finish their legal obligations to the band  by releasing Audible Minority.

On the Believer website you can see a video clip while Howard Jones of Cesspool Recordings and the band Killswitch Engage is laying down guest vocals for the track The Brave.

Rock band Bride has a new CD and DVD available. It's called In Your Face Live Material Unplugged. This project contains 17 live acoustic tracks, taken from albums such as Kinetic Faith, Snakes In The Playground and The Jesus Experience.

Mortification is finishing their new album The Evil Addiction Destroying Machine. It will be out in late May. The songs on the album are: The Evil Addiction Destroying Machine; A Sense Of Eternity; Elasticised Outrage; Pushing The Envelope Of The Red Sonrise; I'm Not Confused; The Master Of Reinvention; Pilots Hanging From Shoulder Dust; One Man With Courage Makes A Majority; Alexander The Metalworker; Resurrection Band (A Tribute To Rez). If you pre-order the album before April 10th, your name will appear in the "Mortification Im-Mort-Alized Supporters" list within the Album booklet!

Soundmass signed the band Roots Of Tragedy from Norway. Expect symphonic black metal with doom, death and progressive metal elements.

Zenith Of Abolition put a live video of their song My Love, My Foe on Youtube.

On April 4th the annual Legends Of Rock Festival will take place in Haus Ennepetal, in Ennepetal, Germany. The two headliners are Bloodgood and Tourniquet. Coincidentally each band has been joined by a (former) Stryper member. Oz Fox plays in Bloodgood, and Tim Gaines comes along with Tourniquet. Other bands at the festival include: Grammatrain, Audiovision, HB and Verra Cruz.

Friday February 27th 2009

My Silent Wake is working on some new songs. This is for a split album they're doing with The Drowning. The band hopes to record in the summer. My Silent Wake is also contributing a song to an Attrition tribute album. They recorded the song In My House. And My Silent Wake also has plans to record a DVD. This will happen in Wakefield.

Ian Arkley, singer and guitarist for My Silent Wake, is currently writing songs for his other band Seventh Angel. This is for the third album for this group.

Narnia revealed the title and the release date for their sixth studio album. The record is called Course Of A Generation and will come out on July 24th through Massacre Records. The band promises this will be their most intense CD so far. Only the bass parts will have to be recorded.

MxPx put the first song from On The Cover II on their myspace.com page. It's their cover of Punk Rock Girl from the Dead Milkmen. MxPx has the intention to post a song each week until the album comes out.

Haste The Day published their newest video. It's for the song Mad Man from the Dreamer album:

For Today have announced that their next album will be called Portraits. It comes out on June 9th.

Here are all the release dates for the Believer comeback album Gabriel. The album comes out in the USA and Canada on March 17th. April 9th is the day for Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Italy and Spain. April 14th is the day for the UK, France, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Portugal and Greece. The people in Finland and Sweden will have to wait until April 15th! Japan, Australia and South America are still in the can.

On April 18th the Retaliatory Strike vinyl EP comes out. This Deuteronomium disc will have the following songs: Retaliatory Strike, Care For The Wounded, On A Day Of Discouragement, Of Life And... Death. With the purchase of this vinyl comes download information for the songs in digital format. Who doesn't have a vinyl record player shouldn't feel abandoned as the digital downloads will also be available directly.

Good news for Callisto. Their new record Providence has entered the Finnish album Top 40 at #23. This is the first official chart position for the band ever.

Friday February 20th 2009

The Art For The Ears radio show is history! Last week the final show was aired at Radio 90FM. At the same time there was a studio party and a benefit sale. With guests from places as far away as Zutphen, Dordrecht and Haarlem, this was a huge success. You can download the last show from yousendit.com. This file will remain active for a few days. You can also download it from Badongo.com.

Several guests participated in the show:

You can find more photos on the Art For The Ears myspace.com profile.

The benefit sale helped raising 225.50 euros for Stichting Brainstorm, the organisation behind the Brainstorm Festival.

Stairway hopes to have their new album finished by the end of March. The CD will be called Interregnum and it will have eleven tracks. The cover art work was done by none other than Rodney Matthews (Magnum, Seventh Angel), who also did the band's debut album No Rest: No Mercy.

August Burns Red entered the studio to record their next disc. This album will be out in the summer. You can chat with the band while they are in the studio. Check out stickam.com.

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

On March 24th MxPx will release their On The Cover II album. This album will have the following songs: Dead Milkmen - Punk Rock Girl
(featuring Matt Hensley of Flogging Molly on accordion); The Ramones - My Brain is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg); U2 - I Will Follow; Descendents - Suburban Home; The Proclaimers - (I'm Gonna Be) 500 Miles; The Go-Gos - Vacation; Belinda Carlisle - Heaven Is a Place on Earth (duet with Agent M of Tsunami Bomb/The Action Design); Kim Wilde - Kids In America; Poison - Fallen Angel (with additional vocals from Craig Owen of Chiodos and guitar solo by Stephen Egerton of Descendents); The Clash - Should I Stay or Should I Go; The Blue Hearts - Linda Linda; Queen - Somebody to Love (with additional vocals, piano, and keyboard by Bryce Avary of The Rocket Summer and guitar solo from Ethan Luck of Relient K).

The only Fear Dark Festival will happen on May 15th. The location is De Kelder, in Amersfoort, Holland. The first band announced is Miseration. This band will start their upcoming European tour at the festival.

Believer published the first track of the upcoming album Gabriel. The track is called Focused Lethality. Gabriel will be out on March 17th through Cesspool Recordings/Metal Blade Records.

Becoming The Archetype is having a contest to design a new shirt or hoodie. You can find all information and tips for this contest on myspace.

Friday February 13th 2009

Mortification is busy recording their new album. All bass and vocal parts are done. The rest will follow next month. The new album will be called The Evil Addiction Destroying Machine. It will be out in June through Rowe Productions. Mortification also has a new drummer. As Dave Kilgallon is too busy recording with Scourged Flesh and Grave Forsaken, he is replaced by Adam Zaffarese. He was with Mortification on The Silver Cord Is Severed album and did the world tour in 2001.

Steve Rowe, singer and bassplayer for Mortification is asking your attention to the following: "Way too many people are stealing our music from the internet, so I am very grateful for the supporters out there who do buy my CDs and help us keep releasing quality productions. Someone mailed me the other day and asked for the lyrics to a Mort song that they stole from the internet! In general, people see music as "free" and don't realise just how much it costs to make great sounding recordings, especially when a band is an independent artist or even on an independent label. Please support the bands that support you."

Callisto fans should check out myspace. The band is now streaming their entire new album Providence!

Dagon will have their release show for Terraphobic in April. Right now you can listen to the new track Demons In The Dark on myspace.com.

Chapter II: Aftermath from Harmony, will come out in Japan on February 25th. The Japanese version will have two bonus tracks: Alone and End Of My Road (acoustic version).

The Dutch rock band Zenith Of Abolition will record an acoustic EP in May. The band also finished their DVD.

The Dutch band Docile is working hard on their next effort. Check out their video blog:

Melodic metal band Pacto De Sangre from Puerto Rico is also working on a new CD, called Ultimate Sacrifice. If you want to get an idea of how the band is like in the rehearsal room, check out this video:

Death metal band Krig released the song Fast Food on their myspace.com page. The group will release a new album in March, called Target Human, Mission Destroy.

You can download the file containing the Art For The Ears show aired on February 6th 2009. The show contains music from Galactic Cowboys, Dogwood, Haste The Day, Mena Brinno, Theocracy, Stryper, Underoath, HB, Fire Fly, Kutless & Mirador. You can download the file from Badongo.

Friday February 6th 2009

The Art For The Ears radio show will cease to exist. Next week, on Friday February 13th, the last show will air. To celebrate this farewell show, there will be a small party in the studio as well as a benefit CD sale. If you live in the Netherlands and would like to attend, check out the Dutch Forum about the party and the sale. The CD's will be sold for only one euro per CD! The proceeds go to Stichting Brainstorm (Brainstorm Foundation), the organiser of the Brainstorm Festivals. You can be part of this party by mailing to Art For The Ears e-mail address.

Michael Sweet revealed the winning cover art for their next Stryper CD Murder By Pride. The cover was designed by Gilvan Rangel from Brazil. Stryper received hundreds of designs. The winning cover may be subject to change.

Michael Sweet also announced that he postponed his concert that would have taken place on Friday February 13th. Kyle Sweet, his wife, is still battling cancer and after recent developments it has been decided that Michael will spend time with and caring for his wife.

Tempest is re-mastering their Eye Of The Storm album for a Twentieth Anniversary issue.

On March 24th MxPx will release their cover album called On The Cover II. This is a eighties themed cover album. MxPx did the same sort of thing in the early days of their career, releasing an EP called On The Cover (1995). MxPx recently played the benefit show for their late comrade John Spalding, guitarist for 90 Pound Wuss who died of lung cancer. The show helped rasing $7,000 to benefit the John D. Spalding Medical Fund. You can view a video of the MxPx performance on youtube.

The Norwegian doom/death metal formation Dalit released their first CD through Endtime Productions. The titleless record is brought out as a digipak in the traditional Endtime fashion.

You can download the file containing the Art For The Ears show aired on January 30th 2009. The show contains music from Harmony, The Spirit That Guides Us, Sympathy, Becoming The Archetype, War Of Ages, Callisto, The Chariot, P.O.D., Narnia, Morphia, Virgin Black & Fireflight. You can download the file from Badongo.