Friday March 30th 2001

Royal Anguish is currently in the process of recording their new CD, entitled Mysterion. The recording process, which started in February of 2000, is beginning to finally take shape. Royal Anguish, in name, has been around since the early 90's. At that time they were a death metal band out of South-Eastern Florida, USA. They were one of the bands that worked with A.R.T. Records. Through them they released an EP entitled Shocking The Priest which garnered moderate success in the underground. They also recorded a single entitled Retrospect, and started production on a full length CD. Royal Anguish split from A.R.T. in early 1995, while in early production of their album The Chronicles Of Autumn Sorrow. They completed this album independently but because of personal and financial circumstances Royal Anguish was unable to release these recordings to the public. The band ceased to exist as a live band just after the completion of the album. In the winter of 1999 the band experienced a rebirth. Through founding member Matt Knowles and a selection of musicians from around the state of Florida. February of 2000 saw the beginning of production of Royal Anguish's latest full length offering, entitled Mysterion. The band hopes to conclude the recording of this project by the summer of 2001. The most recent addition to the Royal Anguish line-up came in late 2000 when Corey Steger (ex-Underoath) joined on. He will be doing additional lead and rhythm guitars and some heavy vocals.

Faithbomb hit the studio to record songs for their next CD. The band is currently in the studio working on a summer release. The music is heavier than The American Jesus album. Watch for demo sneak previews coming soon at MP3.com. The band also has a new guitarist. New guitarist M.T. has been working hard with Faithbomb in the studio. The band mentioned in the past that they would be releasing an EP called The 8th Sphere Sessions. Due to some possible legal entanglements, that project has been canceled completely.

Rufio has finally finished recording their new album Perhaps, I Suppose..., which will come out on June 12th, through the Militia Group, and will be in stores such as Best Buy, Virgin, Wherehouse, and other chain and local music stores in the US.

Jacks Of All Trades signed their deal with Rustproof Records for releasing their R U Ready album in the USA and Canada this summer. The band plans touring for two months in USA this summer. Lowroof Records is also releasing their album in Central-Europe this summer. Jacks Of All Trades will sign that deal in a few weeks.

Shiloh, the band with former Society's Finest member Joel Bailey, will be heading into the studio for a couple of days soon.

Andy Husted, MxPx's original guitarist, joined Mike, Tom and Yuri in the studio. Andy joined them for the recording of the Renaissance EP to play and sing. The EP is scheduled for release on May 22nd. It will contain nine songs.

Carl Johan Grimmark, guitarist for Narnia, headed for the USA to work with the gothic band Saviour Machine. He did some guitar parts on their long awaited Legend III album. Last week you could read in this column that the Wisdom Call album will be out in July. Wisdom Call is the solo project of Christian Liljegren, Narnia singer.

For the fans of Neon Cross there's much to look for. The band announced the limited re-release of their 1988 debut CD. This is a re-mastered version of this self-titled disc. It also contains six bonus-tracks. Two of them are the songs that were on the Californian Metal Compilation Volume I. The other four are taken from a demo that Neon Cross made just before signing their record-deal in 1987. The re-release is released by Magdalene Records. Besides this re-release, look for these new releases from Magdalene Records:

Sanctuary Reunion 2000 CD & Video: Select cuts from all the bands that performed at the Sanctuary Reunion, including Neon Cross.

Neon Cross Live: A complete CD of Neon Cross from that   Sanctuary Reunion day covering a wide range of material from metal to alternative and featuring previously unreleased songs.

Neon Cross II: Finally the release of the Neon Cross follow up to their self-titled LP from their metal days.

There's news from the UK metalband Stairway: The band are all in the studio working on material for the new CD. There's no release date as yet. Rumors say the new tracks sound excellent.

The Swedish black metal band Crimson Moonlight has been rehearsing frequently again. They are in the process of writing new material. The new stuff is a discovery of a new, more progressive side of Crimson Moonlight. Bassist Jonathan left the band in late 2000 to focus on his other band, Sanctifica. The replacement for Jonathan is Samuel.

There's no news from the former members of the Galactic Cowboys. Guitarist Wally Farkas has been busy mastering Protools but there's nothing sure about future releases.

Gnashing Of Teeth is spending time on writing material for their next album. They've completed about half of an album so far. The band will be recording at a new studio with a new engineer. Expect the new album to have a heavy sound. Release date is not known yet.

The long-awaited album Under The Northern Sky of Immortal Souls is out. 

For the fans of King's X there's much to look forward to this year. There will be a new album of the band. And there will be a Poundhound (Doug Pinnick) and Ty Tabor solo albums, both expected in June. And there will be a Jelly Jam (Ex-Platypus) with Ty.

The Norwegian band Lodestar is looking for a new guitar player. The band will be recording a new full-length album in April/May.

In April the Rob Rock website will be making available the Rob Rock Promotional Video featuring some live home video footage of the Christmas Rock Night performance last year. This will be available for only a limited time.  This 23 minute video will be available on VHS and CD-ROM, and sold exclusively at the Rob Rock homepage. Rob Rock also did vocals on the new Warrior album The Code Of Life that was released on March 5th. Various European magazines gave the album great reviews.

Due to unsettling news posted on the Robert Sweet site recently World Gone Mad decided to close the website. The website will be blown to bits after tomorrow.

For people who plan to attend this year's Cornerstone Festival: Sacred Warrior will be playing on the Encore II stage July 5th, 2001. And Saviour Machine announced they will be performing for the first time in over 2 1/2 years. This will be on the Saturday, July 7th, from 11 PM to 2 AM on the Encore I stage.

Saviour Machine is also involved in the short film Seraglio which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Short Film (Live Action). Seraglio features a few seconds of music from The Bride Of Christ as well as some Saviour Machine memorabilia that is displayed throughout the film. For more information: Seraglio Productions. Here's the release schedule of the new Saviour Machine albums: Legend Part III Disc 1 is planned for release in July 2001. Legend Part III Disc 2 is planned for release in December 2001.

Less than fifty days to go for the second annual Stryper Expo. This year's expo will be bigger with many new features that have been recently added. One big difference with this year's expo is that there will be assigned seating for the concerts and other scheduled events throughout the two day event. The seating is first come, first serve. Also, after March 31st the ticket price will move up from $30 to $35. Order 10 or more tickets to save the most. Check out the official site to get your tickets today. The latest in expo news is that of the Stryper expo Extreme Village! This extra event will add another five bands to the line-up, making a total of ten bands playing throughout the weekend. There also will be skateboard demonstrations, even more vendors, giveaways, and special guest appearances. The Stryper Expo will be on May 18th and 19th, 2001 at the Felix Event Center at the Azusa University, California USA. Tentative start times: Friday 12:00 Noon and Saturday 10 AM. Featuring a full 90-minute set by Stryper, autograph and Q & A sessions, merchandise and memorabilia dealers. And there will be musical appearances of: Robert Sweet, Michael Sweet plus Irene Kelly performing with Tim Gaines, SinDizzy, Oil, Disciple, Laudamus, Ultimatum, East West, Solid Mind, Joshua. Also expect appearances of Wesley Hein, one of the people responsible for signing Stryper to Enigma Records; Janice Sweet, the Stryper mom, mother of Michael & Robert Sweet and former Stryper manager; And Michael Guido.

Ace Troubleshooter has found replacement for former guitarist Isaac Deaton. His name is Jimmy Taylor (formerly of Twotimer). He will be filling for the band during the Spring leg of the The Penalty Box Tour with Slick Shoes, Calibretto 13 and Rod Laver.

Friday March 23rd 2001

Art For The Ears added a new message-board to its board community. For all people who understand the Dutch language this is a place you must visit: AFTE's Nederlandstalige Message-Board. You can also find this board and the other two boards listed on the Overview Page. Add this Overview Page to the favorites on your browser by clicking on this button:

You're about to meet some new friends!

There's news from POD. For the past two months POD have been secluded in a rehearsal studio in San Diego writing material for their new record for Atlantic Records. Randy Staub who did Metallica's Black album will be engineering and mixing the record and the band started the three week pre-production with Howard Benson who will also be co-producing the album. Tracking will start in Los Angeles on April 9th. It's been said that it will be the most powerful POD record yet. In between rehearsals P.O.D. managed to fly out for their first ever concert in Canada where they played to a sold out crowd of 5,000 in Regina, Saskatchewan. On April 6th will appear in the Winnipeg Arena where 10,000 fans are expected to attend.

The latest addition to the Solid Rock Festival in Sweden is Tinnitus from Finland.

The organization of the Swedish Bob Fest made known that Extol won't be playing this weekend. Guitarist Tor Magne has caught some sort of infection
in his hand and will not be able to play the guitar for several months. A few weeks ago the Bob Fest also made known that Veni Domine won't appear on the festival. Reason was an infection in the throat of singer Fredrik.  However, there's one band added to the line-up: Diamond Dog from Norway. This band features Morten Husvik, brother of Extol drummer David Husvik. Diamond Dog plays high energy rock in the vein of the Galactic Cowboys.

Screams Of Abaddon Part II is still in the works. According to Laceration Productions, this compilation album is going to be bigger and better, and they are still looking for Christian bands who play any extreme music style. Screams Of Abaddon will have a better all around production, full color insert and multimedia enhancements. If you play in a band and are interested, you can get in touch with Corey Lasley of Laceration Productions at: cclas@hotmail.com

As you may know, Mortification will be playing in The Netherlands on the 30th of June. The Dutch promoters of this event are doing a contest. If you order your tickets before April 20th, you will have a chance to win the prices. They will be giving away two copies of the new Mortification CD and one copy of that CD plus a free ticket to the show. There will be a drawing at the end of this period and the winners will be notified. More info can be obtained at: live_planetarium@hotmail.com

The Dutch symphonic rock band After All have recorded most parts of their debut album at the Harrow Studio in Losser.  In April they hope to do the last recordings (like backing vocals and some acoustic guitar parts). Mixing will follow immediately and they hope to have the record done by June.

Here's a short list of upcoming releases: March 27th 2001: Further Seems Forever - The Moon Is Down (Tooth & Nail Records); April 3rd 2001: Bride - Fist Full Of Bees (Absolute Records); April 10th 2001: Plankeye - Strange Exchange (Tooth & Nail Records); April 23rd 2001: Steel Prophet - Book Of The Dead (Nuclear Blast Records); April 24th 2001: Cadet - Cadet (BEC Recordings); April 24th 2001: All Wound Up - Here (Tooth & Nail Records); May 8th 2001: Soapbox - A Divided Man (Solid State Records); May 8th 2001 - Various Artists - New Musiq Volume II (Tooth & Nail Records); May 28th 2001: Jacob's Dream - Theater Of War (Metal Blade Records); June 25th 2001: Virgin Black - Sombre Romantic (Massacre Records); July 3rd 2001: Stretch Arm Strong - A Revolution Transmission (Solid State Records); July 9th 2001: Wisdom Call - Selftitled (Massacre Records)

Other expected releases: Saviour Machine (Massacre Records), Veni Domine (Massacre Records), Ultimatum (Gutter Records), Betrayal (Independent/Black & White Records), Balance Of Power (Massacre Records), POD (Atlantic Records), Sacred Warrior (label yet unknown), Deliverance (Indie Dream Records), Biogenesis (Rowe Productions), Psychoma (Rowe Productions), Immortal Souls (Little Rose Productions), Mordecai (Little Rose Productions), The Spirit That Guides Us (Sally Forth Records), Eternal Decision (Godfather Records), Southern Extremities Brazilian Compilation (Rowe Productions).

Friday March 16th 2001

Finally! Here's the long-awaited news from Fire Fly. The band has 18 songs ready and the keyboards and the midi instruments are mostly recorded for the full-length album. Distribution for the continent of Europe is almost set while they are working on the rest of the world. Fire Fly had a great time in The Netherlands in January, meeting old friends and making some new. And they are coming back in the Summer. The plans for the band are to do the festival circuit and tour most of Europe in support of the new album. The song Nostalgia from the Swings & Roundabouts EP is due to appear on the New Musiq compilation that Plastiq Musiq will be releasing soon. Fire Fly also has new website at a new location.

The band Disciple is looking forward to their trip to Sweden coming Wednesday for the Bobfest and the Solid Rock Fest. The band will later return to Europe for a tour through Eastern Europe. They are going there at the invitation of the Archbishop of the Lutheran Church of Riga and Latvia whom Disciple met in 1999.

You might wonder if The Deadlines still exists. Well, the band of Shaun Coffin has a new bass-player, Shorty Valentine, and a new guitarist, Tim Eucker. Both were in the band The Killaways. Right now the band is working hard on the new songs and new sounds, practicing two or three times every week. There are 12 or 13 songs finished. In April they will be recording at the Jackpot Studios in Portland, USA. Details about album-title and release-date are not known at this moment.

The organization of the Peacedog Festival has announced that the fest will not be held in Cultura. Just like last year, it will be in De Kei, Ede, The Netherlands. They added two bands to their line-up: Brandtson & Morphia.

Joel Bailey, formerly of Society's Finest, recently presented his new band's website. The band is called Shiloh and they're from Dallas in Texas, USA. You can now join their newsletter.

The new Calibretto 13 EP will be released in June. It has no name yet. On it will be six previously unreleased tracks and it will be made available through Tooth & Nail Mail-order and at the band's shows.

The band Purge changed its name to Purgation. They also have a new CD. Two songs of it can be listened to at MP3.com .

It's a boy! Arthur Green, bassist for Living Sacrifice, celebrated the birth of his first born child. Name of the boy is James Cade Green. Congratulations!

You can also congratulate Zao as their new titleless album reached the #51 position in the Heatseeker Chart of Billboard Magazine last week.

Friday March 9th 2001

It was already expected: The Swedish hardcore punkband Soapbox will release their album A Divided Man in the USA. Solid State Records will take care of it. The release will be on May 8th. The band will also play at the Tooth & Nail Day at the Cornerstone Festival. Further news from the band: Their Dutch company Sally Forth Records will release a limited edition LP version of A Divided Man including a bonus track. Soapbox also plans returning to Holland in the last week of May.

Time for an update on Veni Domine. The band has been working hard on the recording of their fourth album. The release date has not yet been settled but the band hopes to get it out as soon as possible. According to the band the new record will be really interesting and heavy. However, due to an infection in the throat of singer Fredrik Sjöholm  the band will not perform at the Bob Fest this year.

You might wonder what band will replace Veni Domine at the Bob Fest. Well, it's none less than Wisdom Call! Wisdom Call plays classic melodic metal and the line-up features Christian Liljegren and Andreas Johansson from Narnia. The BobFest show will also be the release show for the self-titled Wisdom Call album. Here's the schedule for the Bobfest: Friday March 23rd: 21:30-00:30 Concert at Skylten with (in order) Pantokrator, Tekla Knös, Disciple. Saturday March 24th: 19:00-00:45 Concert at Skylten with (in order) Jacks of All Trades, Hallowed, Vaakevandring, Extol, Wisdom Call.

Soul Embraced, Solid State Records new signed band, will be entering the studio in April to record This Is My Blood.

East West has been in the studio for the past three months recording their new album. The record is almost done. East West signed a deal with Cinematix Studios. They are releasing Song X to be used in a game coming out later this year called Renegade Zero. There are talks that East West will be playing the biggest electronic entertainment expo this year, E3 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Eternal Decision will begin working on their next album in the last week of April to record through the end of May. The band also added the song Hunger to their MP3.com site. Their song Overflow has been in the top 20 for over a year in the Spiritual Rock category at Mp3.com.

Classic hardrock band Shout will perform at the 2001 Cornerstone Festival on July 5th.

As Darkness Whispers, the Face Of Humanity CD, is finally available. Face Of Humanity was the first band on Clenched Fist Records but due to a pre-mature break up their EP was never released. The label has re-mastered the EP and released it through MP3.com. This CD is made on CD-R's, guaranteed to play on any CD player, according to Clenched Fist Records. The EP is an exclusive MP3 only release.

The next release Clenched Fist Records plans to release through MP3.com is the Soterios material which never saw the light of day. This is stuff from the time when Soterios was more of a death metal band. The label will re-master the CD and add exclusive artwork.

Friday March 2nd 2001

News from Slechtvalk. According to Fear Dark, Slechtvalk's record company, the album Falconry got some very good reviews. Falconry is also selling good. The album will be reprinted. Furthermore, the Dutch hard music magazine Aardschok has done an interview with Shamgar, mastermind behind Slechtvalk. The story will be published in the April issue. The Dutch magazine Nieuwe Revu will also feature Shamgar. And, Slechtvalk will appear on a compilation of Nascent Frost Productions. This black metal compilation will be called Legends - Divine Fury. Other bands on the compilation include Exorcism, Infernal Holocaust, Subiaco Foothills and Zestigma. Slechtvalk is also still looking for another guitarist and a keyboardist.

MxPx began working on their EP, tentatively titled The Renaissance EP. This EP will feature eight new songs and will be released through their own Rock City Recording Company. They are new songs written in the "Old MxPx Style".

Singer Remco from Crestfall made this known on the Art For The Ears boards: "The Dutch metalband Crestfall will play at the BinnenBand Festival on the 17th of March near Amsterdam. But moreover Crestfall has been selected as one of the ten most interesting bands and they may be playing live in the Radio 3 FM studio (national pop station in Holland, mpo) if they win this contest. This contest is set up by X-Noizzz Radio. So if you wanna support this, support Crestfall and surf to XNR, click Binnenband and add your opinion of Crestfall. Hopefully it may help and metal will be heard on Radio 3 FM. Thanks in advance!"

THT Productions has now released the second full-length CD from Kekal. This is the follow up of the successful underground debut Beyond The Glimpses Of Dreams. Title is Embrace The Dead and it features ten tracks with a total of 60 minutes of playing time. Embrace The Dead has been described as a mixture of black metal, gothic and classic power metal.

The Dutch symphonic rock band After All just started the recording of their debut album. The band is in the Harrow Studio (Flesh Made Sin; Staal; Cirith Gorgor) in Losser, Holland. The keyboard, drum and bass tracks have all been recorded. Guitar and vocals still have to follow. The album will probably have six tracks and expect it out in May or June. The band is also considering changing their name as there's another band called After All. If you know a good name, tell the band by mailing them: afterall@hetnet.nl

The band Ace Troubleshooter has gone through some line-up changes.  Ben Dewey is their new bassist. With the departure of guitarist Isaac, Ace Troubleshooter will now work as a three-piece band.

Tooth & Nail Records announced the signing of a new band to its roster: The reunited band Poor Old Lu.  The band features all original members and will be playing their first show in Seattle on March 31st in Seattle at The Paradox with Wes Dando. 

The Peacedog Festival announced the nucleus of their festival line-up for this year. Here are the names: Soul-Junk, Screen, Day-flower, Big Muff, This Beautiful Mess, Crestfall, Luti-Kriss, One Truth, The Spirit That Guides Us, Kingpin, The Prednisons. Peacedog will be held at Cultura, Ede, The Netherlands on July 25th 2001.

Coming soon: The Solid Rock Festival in Sweden. The latest bands added to the line-up of Hallowed, Narnia, Disciple and Laudamus are: Icon Clan and Preach Boys. The festival will be held in  Piteå, Sweden from March 30-April 1st 2001.

Friday February 23rd 2001

As you may know, Tourniquet will be re-releasing some of their out-of-print CD's. Now you can get an early look at the covers of the re-releases at the Tourniquet site plus a brief description of each one. They should be ready for shipping by the end of March. The re-releases also contain live stuff that sounds amazing, so drummer Ted Kirkpatrick says. The CD's will have 12 page booklets, full color. This has been a major undertaking in terms of details: gathering, photos, tapes, drawings, liner notes plus mixing, mastering and artwork.

Here's a brief update regarding the Martyr/Betrayal project The Passing Of Time. Due to their commitment to present a product of the highest quality, the release date will be slightly pushed back. They should have it available by March 16th. Some features to remind you of are: The CD-ROM version of Frantic that will have quality video highlights from several shows spanning this Martyr/Betrayal era; The limited autographed edition from former members Dave Prado, Brian Meuse, Matt Maners, Jeff Lain & Marcus N. Colon; On February 10th 2001 the above mentioned members got together in the same room (some not seeing each other for almost ten years, while some met for the first time) to fellowship and stroll through some old live videos, reminiscing of past fun, accomplishments & blunders! Though clarity was hard achieved by the mistake of taking steps towards what a band normally tries to establish, the band  now will move forwards with a donation based system in the distribution of the new Betrayal album In Remembrance Of Me.

Tooth & Nail Records & Solid State Records put a whole lot of MP3's on MP3.com. This resulted in Zao reaching #4 on the Metal Charts. Other chart-news, Living Sacrifice's The Hammering Process became #1 on the CMJ Loud Rock Chart, beating out Annihilator, Earth Crisis, Children of Bodom and others. On the CMJ Loud Rock Crucial Spins Charts the band reached #2 with 249 spins! The MP3-links section on the Art For The Ears site now has the links to all relevant Tooth & Nail, BEC Recordings & Solid State Records bands on MP3.com. Take a look!

Many requests reached renown hard rock singer Ken Tamplin about the out of print albums. One album in particular has gained more requests than any other. Therefore, the Ken Tamplin site on MP3.com will have a special offer from March 2nd through March 7th 2001. However, this is a one-time offer. So, mark you calendar and join Ken at: MP3.com.

Todd Pope has decided to quit his Eden In Ruins project altogether.

This coming May Tooth & Nail Records and Solid State Records will be sponsoring two US tours featuring bands from both labels. The first tour is The Tooth & Nail Tour which tentatively features Living Sacrifice, Ace Troubleshooter, Calibretto 13, Luti-Kriss and guests Rod Laver. The second tour is The Penalty Box Tour which tentatively features FurtherMore (hiphop), All Wound Up and Shorthanded.  Final lineups are not confirmed at
this time though.

Shorthanded has finally found a new bass player.  His name is Chris Camp. And back on drums is their original drummer from their Boot To Head Records days, Chad Davis.

Tooth & Nail Records are co-releasing with BEC Recordings the new Hangnail album Facing Changes which hits stores on May 22, 2001.  The CD was produced by Bill Stevenson & Stephen Egerton at the Blasting Room in Colorado.

Embodyment will be entering the studio in the coming months to record their follow-up to The Narrow Scope Of Things.

Friday February 16th 2001

Balance Of Power have started the recordings to their new album in December at House of Audio, Karlsdorf, Germany. The new album's release is scheduled for March 2002.

Finally, the line-up for Bob Fest 2001 is complete. The last addition to the line-up is Jacks Of All Trades from Finland.

Dredge will be hitting the studio very soon to record an all new
album. This one will likely feature six metalcore tracks including several never before recorded songs. This album will actually be pressed and they will be sending these off to record companies as well as selling them to the public personally and through distributors.

The new Element 101 record Stereo Girl is in stores now. To celebrate the release of the new record Tooth & Nail Records are having a stereo girl contest. Take a picture of yourself standing barefoot on top of a TV just like on the album cover, and mail it to: StereoGirl Contest c/o Tooth & Nail Records, PO Box 12698, Seattle, WA 98111, USA.Winners will receive a copy of both Element 101 CD's, posters, stickers and other fun stuff signed by the band. Hint: They're looking for unusual locations in the photos. Be creative.

The Undecided are mixing their new album, tentatively titled The Sands Of
Time, at Vancouver's Hipposonic Studios this week. Producing the CD
is Neill King who has worked on albums by Green Day, Jawbreaker, Dance Hall Crashers and others.

Friday February 9th 2001

The new Steel Prophet CD comes out on April 23rd in Europe. Nuclear Blast Records will be releasing this album. Cover art and lyrics of this album, Book Of The Dead, can be found on Steel Prophet's site. On MP3.com there are MP3 clips of three songs from the Into The Void CD.

Last week you could read Todd Pope's statement about his Eden In Ruins project. Shortly after publishing it, I got a message from him again. "I must issue this letter of apology. I realized after reading the mailing (over 30 times) I sent out that I was very wrong in sending it out, and that there will in fact be no 'ending' of Eden In Ruins. What prompted this was I got to thinking how many different ways what I had said, could be misunderstood, and later realized that what I had said was not in fact a good reason at all, but mere blaming. An I apologize to all of you for this....There more than likely will not be any news for the next few months, this is because I will be concentrating on another project with former EIR bassist Michael David. This will be nothing like my work in Eden In Ruins. I'm not sure what this material is going to end up sounding like because it is in the writing stage."

The Dutch metalband Crestfall will be playing at the Binnenband Festival on March 16th and 17th. Tickets for this festival are Fl 27,50. However, for the fans the band is offering some tickets for only Fl 20,00. If you want to enjoy this special offer, be quick! You can get in touch with Karsten Flierman via: karsten_flierman@hotmail.com

Clenched Fist Records announced the release of the first full-length CD from Soul Embraced. This death metal band has just signed with Solid State Records. Soul Embraced consists of two members from Living Sacrifice. The full-length CD that Clenched Fist Records will be releasing contains seven new songs and 4 tracks from Soul Embraced's independent EP (though re-mastered). The CD will be released mid February.

The Living Sacrifice tribute album that Clenched Fist Records is working on, is coming together well. They expect a release in March. This tribute will feature versions of your favorite Living Sacrifice songs. The CD will also feature past and present members of Living Sacrifice playing on several tracks.

The Soterios CD is coming along nicely. According to their label, Clenched Fist Records, the quality of this metalcore release makes it a must for metal/hardcore/metalcore fans. Expect a late February/early March release date.

Grace For The Fallen has pushed their recording back due to member changes. The band is still going strong, they just need time to get their material together.

Spite Of Opposition is going full-speed and writing new material. Jon and Larry (guitars) will now be sharing vocal duties. This change has resulted in the most brutal and best sounding Spite Of Opposition ever. The band plans to record a new CD this summer.

BEC Recordings and Tooth & Nail Records are working on a Tribute Album for Keith Green. Artists covering songs of Keith Green include Hangnail, Cadet, MxPx, Starflyer 59, Element 101 and more.

Stretch Arm Strong entered the studio this week to start recording their second album for Solid State Records.  The tentative title for the record is A Revolution Transmission. The album will be mixed by Ryan Green in March and you can expect the record on the streets early summer. On the 24th of February the band will play at the Wetlands (matinee show) with Sick of it All, Kill Your Idols and Fast Times.

Society's Finest has been working on writing material for their new record. On their MP3 site you can check out a new song.

The finishing touches are being made to the much anticipated release of
the video 72 Hours With Disciple, and the single Not Rock Stars. Due to circumstances beyond the Promoter's control, the trip to Australia the first week in March has been postponed until 2002.

SinDizzy will be working on some new recordings soon. Their schedules are tight so it is difficult for them to hook up. The band also has a new bassist who replaces Tim Gaines. His name is Kevin Walt.

From Flávio of the Brazilian magazine Metal Mission, I received some news on the Brazilian scene again:

The Brazilian Metal Compilation that Steve Rowe has been working on, will see the light this year. Bands that will be on it are for example Light Hammer, Völlig Heilig and Stauros.

Modern thrash band Anointing has released a new CD called Isaiah 1:9 with six tracks.

Stauros is preparing to head back into studio this month to record their new album. Some songs that will appear on the new CD are: Running Again, A New Chance, Storm Life and Bull Fighter. In the mean time, the Stauros debut CD, Vento Forte (Strong wind) from 1995, is being re-released by RV Gospel Records, with remastered songs and a colored cover.

Punk rock band Ruptura has released a four track single called Cala A Boca, Ja Morreu.

Vox Dei is the name of a hard rock band from Brazil. They have just released a CD called Resposta Ao Criador (Answer to the Creator) with 11 songs.

If you like bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Alice In Chains, you might like the new demo CD from Imperfection. The record is called Strife.

The band Quir Heres has released their demo Pisa Na Cabeça Do Diabo on which they mix metal, punk and hardcore.

Deathcore band Spirit's Breeze from Rio de Janeiro has a new line-up: Daniel (guitar/vocals), Marquinhos (drums) and Vânia (bass). The trio is recording a CD Demo with seven tracks, five of them are old stuff and two are new songs.

Calvario, an old-school heavy metal band has returned among the living. This band was the first Christian heavy metal band to release an LP in Brazil. This happened in the early eighties. The band is planning to re-release their work on CD. 

Necromanicider from Rio de Janeiro has broken up. The former members Jesus, Robinho and Juninho are now with a new band called Blasterror.

Carla Cristina has left hardcore band But You Said. This band has a line-up of only women. Their first demo-tape is expected soon.

Kennereth has changed their line-up too. Vocalist Stony left the band to sing in another band. The band is in search for a new vocalist while preparing themselves to record their first full length album. The current line-up is:Alex Oliva (guitar), Isaac Morry (bass) and Caio (drums). They are searching for a new vocalist and preparing themselves to record their full length debut album.

Thrash band Soul Factor plans to put a home-video on the market. The band is also planning to record their ten track album Soul Factory.

A new up coming band in São Paulo City with atmospheric doom: Eternal Saviour. The band has six members including instruments like keyboards, acoustic guitars and violin.

Friday February 2nd 2001

Congratulations for The Juliana Theory who won the People's Music Choice Award this year with their album Emotion Is Dead. A couple of weeks ago it was mentioned in this column that you could vote for this plug award. All bands that were participating in this competition are indie bands. Thanks for voting! The Juliana Theory is currently working hard on a new EP tentatively entitled Music From Another Room. This EP are a few songs previously unreleased and songs from the Emotion Is Dead writing sessions that were not included on the full-length. The EP will come out in the spring through Initial Records. Furthermore, the band will be doing the West Coast dates of the Warped Tour this summer.

The band L.E.D. is working on their debut EP. They've been in the World Wind studio since October, working on their first full-length CD. They also decided to release the first four songs on an EP titled Spiritual Warfare. A tentative release date for the Spiritual Warfare EP has been set for February 9th. Songs included are Tears, Spiritual Warfare and L.E.D. The band also added someone to their line-up: It's DJ Daddy Cy. 

Tooth & Nail Records is finally posting MP3's on their site again. Go to Tooth & Nail to find tracks of Ninety Pound Wuss, Puller and The OC Supertones.

Some bad news comes from Todd Pope of Eden In Ruins: "Over the period of the last few months (Sept 2000 to present) I have asked countless times for listeners to send in response and tell me personally what they like or dislike about the material. Well, the response has been nil, and because of that I have made the decision to not follow through with recording another album seeing as how it would more than likely be a waste of my time and money, and would probably not generate any sales. I'll also need to withdraw Eden In Ruins spot on the Screams Of Abaddon compilation as well due to the fact that I will be focusing all of my time and energy on another (yet to be mentioned) metal project."

For those who have been wondering what Andrew Tompkins of Paramæcium has been up to, there's site informing you about his writing career. Visit Andrew Tompkins.

The Spirit That Guides Us is currently finishing their new songs. They will hit the studio late February. Expect their debut this summer containing ten emo songs. They will probably do a promotion tour through the Netherlands from the 7th till the 10th of June. The band is also planning to do some short (European) touring starting at the end of July.  

Soapbox has a renewed site with more pictures and info on these Umeå (Sweden) punkcore rockers.

The band Subatlantic Starfish changed its name into This Beautiful Mess. In March they'll release the first single called INRI. The debut album will be called Falling On Deaf Ears.

The Antithesis album Dying For Life will be released on March 13th through Nightmare Records. You can already download one song that will be their first single. It's called Consequence and you can find it here.

A rumor says that Michael Sweet's album Truth will be released to the Japanese market containing two extra songs. An unofficial report says that the songs will be Water and It's All About Your Face. Those two songs were recorded by Michael during the Truth recording sessions but didn't appear on the US release.

The band Kekal decided not to release the Introduce Us To Immortality project by now, because they are preparing to write new material for their next full-length album. They want to focus on that rather than taking time to release the 'old scary stuff' they released in the past. Introduce Us To Immortality was supposed to contain Kekal's non-album tracks made between 1995 and 2000. Kekal hopes to start recording the new album in March/April 2001. Tentative title is The Painful Experience. Their Indonesian label THT Productions will release the CD version of their album Embrace The Dead this month.  Kekal also recorded the song Mind Distant for the Living Sacrifice tribute album that will be released through Clenchedfist Records