Stick To Your Guns Shift Line-up

Stick To Your Guns recently shifted their line-up a bit. Drummer Casey Lagos has now moved to guitar, while Elliott Sellers (ex-Job For A Cowboy) will now be playing drums. Sellers will make his live debut with the group on the upcoming Terror, All Shall Perish, Warriors, and War Of Ages tour.

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The Banner Working On New Album

The Banner broke up in August. Then in November they announced that they weren't done just yet, with plans to play additional shows. Now they've revealed that they are currently writing material for a new full-length. Here's what the band has to say about the upcoming release:

"Writing has begun on the new Banner record to be released through Ferret as well as the new Wolvez [group side-project] record to be released through... probably Ferret? I think it's a contract thing, who knows. Ferret rules. No time frame yet for actually recording, but we'll be posting demos as soon as they're available and let me just say... hard. The new Banner record is looking up to be our darkest, hardest, fastest record yet."

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Massive Assault Loses Drummer

Old school death metal band Massive Assault have posted the following on their site about the departure of Gideon, their drummer:

"We regret to announce that Gideon will depart the ranks of MASSIVE ASSAULT. Conflicting priorities sadly leave only this decision. He will be dearly missed. Cheers bro, and thanks for the good times!"

"Although Gideon will help out the band with some future shows, we are of course looking for a worthy replacement. Anyone who thinks he/she is capable of replacing him, contact us at hashkoning at hotmail dot com and we'll fill you in on the details."

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Prejudice Talk About Endorsements, New Album

Belgian technical death metal unit PREJUDICE have issued the following update:

"In 2007 guitarist Def will be endorsed by LaBoga Amps, Speakers and Cables (www.labogaamps.com) exclusively. Artists using LaBoga gear include ANNIHILATOR, BEHEMOTH, ILLDISPOSED, LOST SOUL and SPOIL ENGINE.

“I’m really proud to be part of the Laboga artist roster,” commented Def, “to be honest, this is something that I always wanted to achieve when I started to play music. Playing on instruments that I fully dig and get support from. Yet with another endorsement deal in my pocket, it means that I can fully enjoy making music even more because of the support I got from major instrument companies like Laboga amps & previous endorsee Mayones guitars! Thx to Roel from Heartmusic Benelux for helping me out!!”

The group will enter Excess Studio in Rotterdam, Holland next February to begin recording their fourth, yet-to-be-titled album, tentatively due in the spring of 2007 via Greek label Sleaszy Rider Records.

Mixing duties will be handled by Tue Madsen at Antfarm in Aarhus, Denmark. Artwork will be created by Pär Olofsson (PSYCROPTIC, DEEDS OF FLESH, SPAWN OF POSSESSION).

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John5 Solo Album Video Teaser Online

A video teaser for John5's (former guitarist of Marilyn Manson, current Rob Zombie guitarist) new solo album 'The Devil Knows My Name' is now up on his MySpace page. The disc is scheduled for an April 3rd release.

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Bury Your Dead Frontman Quits

Bury Your Dead singer Mat Bruso has reportedly left the band. Consequently, the group has apparently dropped off their January UK dates with Killswitch Engage and The Haunted. No further information is available.

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Sons Of Azrael Signs With Ironclad Recordings

Buffalo, NY metal band Sons Of Azrael has signed with Ironclad Recordings. An official announcement has yet to be made. The group will enter the studio in January to record their debut full-length, which remains untitled. Here's the tentative track listing:

1. Trail of Flesh
2. Angel Dust
3. 5-5-97
4. Mortal Human Form
5. Sweet Blasphemy
6. End of the Rope
7. Scent of a Dead Whore
8. Turn that Crown Upside Down

Ironclad is expected to release the effort in mid-2007.

Meanwhile, the band will be touring prior to the album's release (from February onward). Anyone interested should contact the band at sonsofazrael@yahoo.com.

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Rage Announce New Drummer

German power metallers RAGE have enlisted new drummer André Hilgers (AXXIS, SILENT FORCE) to replace Mike Terrana who left the band in early December. A statement from Rage reads as follows:

"We proudly present our new man on the drums, André Hilgers. During works on the Nuclear Blast Anniversary album we were very surprised, how perfectly André's style matched to our new song 'Terrified'. So it was obvious, that we jammed through the Rage classics, and the sparks flew immediately. Andre had a lot of new ideas that fitted perfectly to our style and the understanding among us was harmonically. He brings a lot of fresh blood and power to the band and we have loads of fun again playing our music. Andre's 32 and he's from our area, what makes work a lot easier. With him he brings meanwhile 16 years of experience in studio and live work. He, as a metalfan from the beginning, followed the career of RAGE from its start, so he's perfectly into our material ( even the old stuff). Though he's got extraordinary musical abilities, he never lost touch and stayed based, in all his musical projects he focused more on playing for the songs and bands, than to boost his ego." More...

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Report

Children Of Bodom, Amon Amarth Live Report

Nights like this one only confirm that Euro-metal is steadily on the rise in New England. Judging by the number of excited fans attending the Palladium on Dec 16th, you would think that we were graced with not one but two headliners. It was a year ago, almost to the day that the two cohorts of Scandinavian merry men strolled through town and now they brought along France's beloved Gojira. Keeping chronological order, Sanctity took the stage first. They were greeted surprisingly well for an opening act. I haven't seen these guys before but kudos for their fervor on stage. Some of the fans were familiar with their stuff and even managed to form the beginnings of a mosh pit.

Highly acclaimed but alas, largely unknown in US, Gojira were up next. The quality of their music and the level of passion they played with were enchanting. This is a band that effortlessly fuses serene imagery with formidable riffs in an exceedingly refined manner. Grimacing vocalist Joe Deplaned was remarkably dynamic in his performance, interacting on stage and proving that Death metal bands can actually be eye-pleasing to watch. Mario's drum solo was an unexpected but gratifying treat. The set list revolved around their latest album: Ocean Planet, Heaviest Matter, Flying Whales and Backbone. The crowd looked a bit perplexed but displayed support with spontaneous cheers. More...

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Estradasphere Release More Tour Dates

Santa Cruz based experimental/avant garde act ESTRADASPHERE have announced the following upcoming shows with STOLEN BABIES:

February 3 - Hollywood, CA @ The Knitting Factory
February 5 - San Francisco, CA @ The Elbo Room
February 9 - Portland, OR @ Someday Lounge
February 10 - Sacramento, CA @ The Speakeasy
February 12 - Santa Cruz, CA @ The Attic

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Echoes of Eternity Post Track off New Album

Los Angeles-based Melodic Progressive Metal band ECHOES OF ETERNITY has uploaded a new song, entitled "Voices In a Dream," onto its MySpace page. The track comes off the group's forthcoming Nuclear Blast Records debut album, "The Forgotten Goddess," due in Europe on February 2nd, 2007.

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Interview

Interview with Kari Kane of Fall To Grace

Los Angeles, California's FALL TO GRACE are on a roll. They have recently switched management companies and are in the process of finshing thier debut album, which is exactly where this lineup wanted to be at this point when I conducted my first set of interviews with the band earlier this year. More to the point, what I think is great about these guys is that although one of its members is a well known veteran rocker that's already toured the world and back in another well known outfit, Fall To Grace are realistic and not one to expect more or less than just simply getting themselves into a credible position right now to get their music heard by the mass music audience and potentially land that coveted major label record deal. Fall To Grace is in the perfect spot right now and I fully believe that with some further gigging on the legendary Los Angeles Sunset Strip scene in the first quarter of 2007, that this band could soon find itself staring big time directly in the face. I am thrilled to have nailed down this year end Q&A session with the band's ever so witty and sly like a fox drummer, Kari Kane. More...

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