Hammerslag Vinterblot 2006 Details Announced

Details for this year's Hammerslagfestival Vinterblot 2006 are solidifying. There are some changes to the location from last year - it will of course still be unleashed in Tønsberg, Norways oldest city, and it is still the old Norwegian heathen tradition that will be celebrated, but due to space problems it will form and take place at "Støperiet" (an old industrial hall used to cast iron), which has been modernised for concerts and theatrical shows. There will now be a bigger bar and lots of space for metalheads from around the world. "Støperiet" is placed across the canal in the heart of Tønsberg, where the majority of the City`s bars and hotels are located.

Hammerslag Fest will be opened in the bar "RIVALS" on Friday, December 15, 2006. There are still bands to be anounced, but so far deadmanshand (thrash-metal from Tønsberg/Oslo) and Pandemi have been confirmed to play the opening night with more bands to be announced.

Saturday, December 16's portion of the festival will be at held at "Støperiet" with the longest lineup ever:

FRAMFERD (local band,symphonic black metal)
DEAD MAN'S HAND (Norwegian thrash metal)
MALSAIN (Black/Dark Metal from Bergen)
SARKOM (Black metal)
CUTTHROAT (local Death/Grind/Doom Metal)
KAMPFAR (Black metal)
ZYKLON (Death metal)

Framferd is a well known band on Hammerslagfestival Vinterblot and the guys have promised to play some new material this year from the coming album in 2007 (this is not from the coming Djevelskap EP thats planed this fall).

You must be 18 or older to attend Hammerslag Vinterblot 2006. Tickets can be bought through www.bilettservice.no or at the door.

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Jesu Plan US Tour w/ Isis In 2007, and Other News

Justin K Broadrick will be performing with Sunn 0))) on their current U.K and Eire tour, here are the dates:

Fri 13th Oct 06 London - Hippodrome[Frieze]
Sun 15th Oct 06 Glasgow - ABC2
Mon 16th Oct 06 Belfast - Black Box
Tue 17th Oct 06 Dublin - Crawdaddy
Thu 19th Oct 06 Galway - Richards Bar
Fri 20th Oct 06 Cork - Cypress Avenue

Justin will also be performing as Final in England ; a one off headline on Nov 3rd 06 at The Cooler in Bristol, and supporting MONO [Japan] at The Corporation in Sheffield on Nov 7th 06.

Jesu WILL be touring the U.S.A with ISIS beginning late Feb ending early April 2007 in support of the 'Conqueror' album release in mid Feb 2007. The routing and dates are currently being finalized, and dates and details can be expected soon.

You can check out the front sleeve of the Jesu Aurora Borealis ltd 12" vinyl release - 'Sun Down' / 'Sun Rise', sleeve by Seldon Hunt. This is going to the manufacturers shortly, hopefully for an end of 2006 release.

The Jesu half of the split 12" with Eluvium on both Hydra Head and Temporary Residence is complete.

Also in the process is another Jesu split with Battle Of Mice to be released on Robotic Empire on limited 12" vinyl and limited CDep.

Justin in the Final guise is currently remixing [utilising guitar and processing only] Fear Falls Burning a project from Vidna Obmana for a vinyl box set remix release.

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Chris Cornell Not Surprised Audioslave Worked

Stuff magazine caught up with Audioslave singer Chris Cornell and asked if he was surprised by the band's lasting success since the writer believed supergroups tend to suck. "I am not necessarily surprised. I thought, from day one, because of the way that it felt when we got together and started writing songs, that it was going to be good," Cornell responded. "I knew we would make great records, so there would probably be an audience. I felt that the negative connotations of so-called supergroups were based on the wrong examples, which are more recent ones that people remember from the late '80s an dearly '90s, like Damn Yankees and Asia and all that other crap. But the fact of the matter is, if you go further back, look at the bands that came out of the Small Faces--some incredible bands came out of those initial bands, so they were all essentially supergroups. You ended up with Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. You wouldn't thinkn of any of those being a bad idea."

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Twisted Sister Celebrates Xmas, But Future Unclear

Billboard.com reports: Twisted Sister will put a cap on its reunion with the Oct. 17 release of "A Twisted Christmas" via Razor & Tie. "I think I made the comment that we should do a Christmas record," guitarist Jay Jay French tells Billboard. "And [frontman] Dee [Snider] said, 'You know, "Come All Ye Faithful" is actually "We're Not Gonna Take It." I think I subliminally stole the melody.'"

"So we recorded 'We're Not Gonna Take It' and put 'Come All Ye Faithful' in, and it worked with some changes," he continues. "We added a Black Sabbath version of 'Hava Nagilah' at the end of the song. Then we came up with 10 songs and decided to connect them with bands that we really love."

The sets features a duet with Lita Ford on "I'll Be Home for Christmas," while "White Christmas" was recorded in multiple languages for its European editions. "It's a great idea," Snider says. "I think the Christmas album might actually get some attention because it's a novelty record, and it might get the attention that a regular Twisted Sister album could not.

Having regrouped in 2001 after a 14-year hiatus, Twisted Sister's ongoing existence is unclear, according to Snider.

"I've told the guys that I'm done [after 2006]," he says. "I've got a lot of things plaguing me. I really resented the older bands that would not know when to get off the f*ckin' stage. I want to get out of the way and let [younger bands] have their chance in the spotlight. Am I saying I'll never do anything ever again? No. But am I serious that I want it to end? Yes. Not because anything's wrong, but because everything's right, so I want it to end while everything's right."

"If the band had never reunited we would never have known or experienced the thrill of the acknowledgment of the hard work that we put in," French adds. "I never take it for granted. It's just unbelievable. So I'm astonished by it, humbled by it and grateful for it."

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"Chinese Democracy" To Be Released November 21?

RollingStone.com is reporting with a fair bit of skepticism that the extremely long-awaited Guns N' Roses album 'Chinese Democracy' has gotten a firm release date of November 21st at one retail source. Whether that turns out to be the actual release date remains to be seen, however, as it's not unheard of for retail chains to publish an estimated (or shot in the dark) release date on an item, especially as holiday shopping season begins.

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SS Nova (ex-Scars of Tomorrow) Enters Studio

Orange county hardcore band SS Nova, featuring former members of Scars of Tomorrow, will enter a Los Angeles studio this week to record their debut EP for the recently established Pinky Ring Records. Slated for a January 2007 release, the self-titled EP will consist of five tracks and is being produced by Shaun Lopez (Deftones). You can check out a few tracks at the band's Myspace page.

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Iscariot To Tour Into February

Iscariot will be heading out on the road for most of the next four months in support of their new album on 567 Records. The tour includes a series of dates with Imperial in October. Here are the tour dates:

10/3 Cedar Falls, IA @ The Reverb
10/4 Saint Cloud, MN @ Java Joint
10/5 Lyons, WI @ Lyons Town Hall
10/6 Decatur, IL @ Wake The Dead
10/7 Lemont, IL @ Stage 83
10/8 Lake Station, IN @ Eagles Club Lake
10/10 Bloomington, IN @ Uncle Fester's House of Blooze
10/11 Vincennes, IN @ TBA
10/12 Murfreesboro, TN @ Bonhoeffers
10/13 Wheeling, WV @ Yesterday's Draught House
10/14 Springboro, OH @ Garage 1919

Dates w/ Imperial and With Blood Comes Cleansing: More...

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Candlemass Mainman Discusses Krux Project

Lords of Metal e-zine recently conducted an interview with CANDLEMASS / KRUX mainman Leif Edling. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Lords of Metal: In the interview on the KRUX DVD you were saying that you were pleased by the amount of sales of the KRUX album. I know that the most popular albums of CANDLEMASS sold more than 100,000 units, but I can't believe that KRUX will sell this many albums.

Edling: Oh no! KRUX do maybe a tenth of what a CANDLEMASS record do. But I'm glad what KRUX do. I think somewhere between the ten and twenty thousand. If it was beneath 10,000, I was probably a little disappointed, but now I'm pleased with these sales. Of course you can hope, but you have to be realistic. Remember: KRUX is NOT CANDLEMASS; CANDLEMASS is a very pretentious project that HAS to sell, it HAS to be successful and has to sound in a certain way. KRUX is very spontaneous and not pretentious. It's probably a bit more laid-back and relaxed than CANDLEMASS.

Lords of Metal: What's the input of your new label GMR in all this? The first album of KRUX was released on Mascot.

Edling: GMR is the label that put out all the double disc remasters of the CANDLEMASS back catalogue. They've done a really good job with that and they've got a really good distribution: you can see those records like everywhere. So I'm sure this new KRUX album will be out everywhere in Europe in every shop.

Read the full article at Lords Of Metal.

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Lilu Dallas, Sender Receiver Booking Tour

Lilu Dallas and Sender Receiver are in the process of booking a tour in January. If you can help with any of the following dates you can contact them here at edd@bengalactivities.com or via the MySpace pages of Lilu Dallas or Bengal Activities Booking.

1/4 Salisbury, MD
1/5 Annapolis, MD
1/6 Fredericksburg, VA
1/7 Somewhere, WV
1/8 Viginia Beach, VA
1/9 Winston-Salen, NC
1/10 Columbia, SC
1/11 Atlanta, GA
1/12 Birmingham, AL
1/13 Memphis, TN
1/14 Little Rock, AR
1/15 Fort Smith, AR
1/16 Oklahoma City, OK
1/17 Tulsa, OK
1/18 Saint Louis, MO
1/19 Indiannapolis, IN
1/20 Cincinatti, OH
1/21 Akron / Toledo, OH

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Headline News

Cerebral Fix Reforms

Acclaimed British death-thrash/HC crossover band CEREBRAL FIX has reformed and rehearsing a set of old songs and preparing to begin work on new material. The group has launched an official MySpace page containing samples of previous releases and information on its reunion plans.

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Just For Fun

Young Band Covering Sepultura, Iron Maiden

A hot new band is tearing up the scene with some awesome covers of classic metal acts. You can check them out on YouTube or below. More...

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Soil Chooses Shinedown Tour Over In Flames Tour

SOIL guitarist Shaun Glass has released a statement to BLABBERMOUTH.NET explaining the band's decision to pull out of the upcoming IN FLAMES/LACUNA COIL trek (where they have since been replaced by Massachusetts' SEEMLESS).

Commented Glass: "SOIL has decided on doing a December run with our longtime friends in SHINEDOWN, which is [slated to take place at] the exact same time as the IN FLAMES/LACUNA COIL tour.

"We hope too see you all out at the 'Kill Your Liver Part 2 Tour'. Dates to be announced!"

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Cattle Decapitation Announce Touring Drummer

San Diego extreme metallers CATTLE DECAPITATION have announced the addition of touring drummer Kevin Talley (ex-DYING FETUS, MISERY INDEX, CHIMAIRA) to the group's ranks.

Commented singer Travis Ryan: "We're very excited to not only finally do our own headlining tour, but also to get back out and deliver the tracks from our new 'Karma.Bloody.Karma' album to the masses. The last thing we want to do right now is to stay home and not be out on the road! We're glad to have a seasoned guy like Kevin filling in. It will be a refreshing change to get someone in there that's as professional in his approach to touring as the rest of the guys in the band. See you soon!"

Not only will Kevin Talley be lending his talents to CATTLE DECAPITATION, he will be pulling double duty each night and also filling in behind the throne for the Atlanta-based DAATH, whose debut album (due out in January 2007 on Roadrunner Records) Talley previously laid the drum tracks for.

Commented DAATH guitarist Eyal Levi: "Playing with Kevin has always been a natural choice for us. He's been involved with the project for years now and not only is he one of the greatest metal drummers out there, but also one of our good friends. We're excited to have him in the band and we also extremely excited to be during our first proper U.S. tour with the mighty CATTLE DECAPITATION!"

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Opeth Cancel Plans For South American Tours

Sweden's OPETH has posted the following message on its official web site:

"Despite trying to come to South America numerous times, it is with regret that OPETH cannot get to South America this year. [Doing] a proper headline show involves OPETH bringing a lot of equipment with them. New airline excess baggage rules mean that this equipment now has to be freighted and the costs of doing this did not make the tour financially viable. We will do our utmost to try and get to South America on the next album tour cycle."

As previously reported, the special-edition deluxe version of OPETH's "Ghost Reveries" CD will be released on October 31 via Roadrunner Records. Bonus material on the set will include the band's cover of DEEP PURPLE's "Soldier of Fortune", a 40-minute documentary about the making of the record complete with the band's own private tour footage, the video for "The Grand Conjuration", liner notes, photos, an enhanced 24-page booklet, deluxe sleeve, and 5.1 surround exclusive mix of the record made by original mixed/engineer Jens Bogren.

OPETH is currently taking part in the North American installment of Gigantour 2006, which kicked off September 6 in Boise, Idaho. The trek features LAMB OF GOD, ARCH ENEMY, OPETH, OVERKILL, THE SMASHUP, INTO ETERNITY and SANCTITY in addition to the headliner MEGADETH.

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Bullet For My Valentine DVD Details

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE will release its new live DVD, entitled "The Poison - Live At Brixton", on October 30. The disc captures the band's sold-out show in front of over 4,000 people at London's legendary Brixton Academy on January 28, 2006 (filmed with over 15 cameras), along with over an hour of bonus material, including the band's videos so far, EPKs and documentaries edited to songs from both "The Poison" and the "Hand Of Blood" EP, plus a behind-the-scenes look at the band performing at the Download Festival and the Metal Hammer Awards in the U.K. this summer. There are also eight mini episodes, which form part of Bullet TV and were edited from footage shot by the band themselves over the last 12 months on the road. As well as all that, there are lyrics to all tracks performed at Brixton Academy, and a photo gallery from the show. The audio was mixed by the legendary Colin Richardson (producer of "The Poison") and mastered in both stereo and 5.1 by Ted Jensen (METALLICA).

Look out for the guys on the road in November and December on their final U.K. headline tour in support of "The Poison", finishing up at the Hammersmith Apollo in London. The band will then enter the studio in January to begin recording its new album for a tentative June 2007 release.

Check out a video teaser for "The Poison - Live At Brixton" at this location.

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Deathstars To Support Cradle of Filth

Swedish industrial goth metal band DEATHSTARS has been confirmed as the support act for CRADLE OF FILTH on their upcoming European tour beginning on November 12 in Tilburg, Holland. A complete list of dates can be found at Deathstars.net.

DEATHSTARS recently announced the addition of guitarist Cat to the group's ranks. Cat, who previously played with the band as a session member, is "an excellent guitar player with heart filled with deathsleaze and a body built for sex," according to a posting on the group's web site. "Cat will visit a girlfriend close to you on the upcoming European tour."

In existence since January 2000 (formerly known as SWORDMASTER), DEATHSTARS features in its ranks former DISSECTION drummer Ole Öhman and guitarist Emil Nödtveidt (brother of late DISSECTION leader Jon).

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Don Dokken Uploads Solo Material

DOKKEN mainman Don Dokken has uploaded audio samples from his upcoming "Solitary" solo album at his official web site. Check out the cuts "Someday", "Sarah", "Never Forget", "Meadows", "Ship of Fools" and "Everything" at this location (scroll down to the bottom of the page).

DOKKEN filmed their recent shows in Mexico and Greece for a bonus DVD to be included with their upcoming album, "Lightning Strikes Again", tentatively due in early 2007.

DOKKEN's latest CD, "Hell to Pay", was released in July 2004 via Sanctuary. The recording lineup on the album was as follows: Don Dokken (vocals), Jon Levin (guitar, ex-WARLOCK), Barry Sparks (bass, TED NUGENT, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, MSG) and Mick Brown (drums).

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Annihilator To Tour "Extensively" In 2007

Canadian thrashers ANNIHILATOR have signed up with mega-tour agents The Agency Group.

Commented ANNIHILATOR mainman Jeff Waters: "ANNIHILATOR will be on the road extensively in 2007. This is a worldwide deal and London rep. Paul Ryan and I are working on starting April 2007 and plan on, at least, a year of touring for the new ANNIHILATOR CD. We will be touring with some pretty killer bands; many of my own personal favorites. We'll let you know who soon... and yes, this includes back to North America. Finally!"

ANNIHILATOR will be headlining Sweden Rock's 34000 Ton Metal cruise, which takes place October 6-7 on board of the third generation car ferry "Silja Festival". Also scheduled to appear are THE HAUNTED, TREAT, MORGANA LEFAY, GRAND MAGUS, PERSUADER, and BLOODBOUND, among others.

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Cliff Burton Gets Memorial Stone

In connection with the 20th anniversary of Cliff's death (i.e. 27th September, 1986) a memorial stone for Cliff Burton was placed on Saturday 30th September, close to the site of the accident which took his life. A picture of the stone can be seen here.

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Masterplan Drummer Leaves

Shortly after the departure of singer Jorn Lande, drummer Uli Kusch (ex-Helloween) has also left Masterplan, the German melodic metal band he formed with guitarist Roland Grapow. An official announcement on the matter is expected shortly...

Masterplan recently began recording its third album — the group's first without singer Jorn Lande, who announced his departure in early May. The band's final show with Lande took place on August 8 at Lokersefeesten in Belgium. More...

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Insect Warfare Get New Drummer

Houston, TX grindcore outfit Insect Warfare have recruited Dobber, drummer of Braced For Nails, Viral Load and a handful of other death metal bands will be playing the drums on their forthcoming LP entitled World Extermination. The album is due out in summer 2007.

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Saints Never Surrender Sign To Blood & Ink Records

Indiana hardcore band Saints Never Surrender has officially signed with Blood & Ink Records. The band formed in 2003 and self-released their debut EP, "Set Our Hearts To Burn," earlier this year.

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Sear Bliss Signs To Candlelight Records

Hungarian black metal act Sear Bliss have officially signed a deal with Candlelight Records. Formed in 1993, the band is best known for combining black metal with a horn section and have previously released material with Mascot Records.

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Classic Atrophy Albums To Be Reissued In November

Displeased Records has set a November 28 release date for the reissues of the two classic '80s thrash albums from ATROPHY - 1988's "Socialized Hate" and 1990's "Violent by Nature". The CDs will be remastered, and will include bonus material, lyrics and biography.

Former members James Gulotta and Tim Kelly have recently been seen in a new band called HEAD CIRCUS, self-described as "still heavy metal and aggressive as always." At one time an album was planned, but their current status is uncertain.

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Cronos Anthology Due Next Month

A two-CD anthology of the CRONOS back-catalog recordings, featuring members of VENOM, is being set for release by Sanctuary Records next month. Entitled "Hell to the Unknown", the CRONOS anthology will feature tracks from the three original CRONOS album releases, ("Dancing in the Fire", "Rock 'n' Roll Disease" and "Venom") plus never-before-heard rehearsal recordings of the band from America in 1989. The band played songs from the VENOM album "Calm before the Storm" as part of their live set.

"I wanted CRONOS to include these recordings on the anthology," said VENOM / ex-CRONOS guitarist Mykvs (a.k.a. Mike Hickey). "Even though this is a rehearsal that was recorded with only a couple of microphones, I think people should hear these songs played with real energy, I felt the album got a raw deal from the press, but I think people will judge the songs differently when they hear them played live and with a proper kick up the ass."

VENOM earlier in the month cancelled its appearance at this year's Thrash Domination Fest 2006 (September 16-17) in Kanagawa, Japan after frontman Conrad "Cronos" Lant was "taken ill" and was ordered by his doctor to rest.

VENOM recently completed a short North American tour, dubbed the "American 10 Commandments Tour", in support of its latest CD, "Metal Black". The album was released in North America on April 4 via Sanctuary. The CD was mixed at the Townhouse Studios in London and contains 14 new songs.

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Slayer's Latest Album Recalled From India

Mumbai-based EMI Virgin India Ltd has announced that it will recall all copies of Slayer's new album "Christ Illusion", after protests by Catholic Secular Forum (CSF), also based in Mumbai. Joseph Dias, general secretary of CSF, issued a statement early this week in which he takes "strong exception" to the album's cover artwork, which depicts "Christ with a missing eye and amputated arms." Dias also added that, "[the CSF] also condemn the track, 'Skeleton Christ' as the lyrics are an insult to Christianity." The CSF took further action, sending a memorandum to the police commissioner of Mumbai to the effect that the album "will affect the sensibilities of the Muslims on the track 'Jihad' and secular Indians who have respect for all faiths."

EMI India's marketing manager, Kaveri Khullar, stated in an interview that "We met with the CSF and were apologetic while assuring them that all copies of the album would be pulled out. We have no plans of re-issuing it in any way." Christ Illusion had only been on the shelves for a week, but Khullar didn't confirm the number of copies released, saying only that "There weren't too many that we launched anyway."

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