Shuvel Back Together, New CD And Tour In The Works

Ozzfest 2000 alumni SHUVEL have made an unprecedented return to the stage, complete with the announcement that they will be releasing a new album in March, which will be followed up by a nationwide tour soon after. Support for the band is currently unknown, as is information on how the album will be released, but the new music is expected to appear shortly on shuvelmusic.com.

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Disturbed Drummer Talks About New Album & Bassist

DISTURBED drummer Mike Wengren recently spoke to Ferrante's Power Equipment about the songwriting process for the group's third album, tentatively due next year. A couple of excerpts from the interview follow:

Ferrante's Power Equipment: Have you completed your recording sessions for the new CD (do you have a CD title)?

Mike Wengren: "No, not yet. We're really taking our time to put out the best record we can. There is no title yet. We're shooting for a spring 2005 release."

Ferrante's Power Equipment: What can DISTURBED fans expect from your latest recordings? Did the band take any unexpected chances with this recording?

Mike Wengren: "We've taken the best elements that everyone loved from the first two records and combined them. Then we expanded beyond that with more riffs and more double kick/ tom patterns. It's in your face......signature DISTURBED on steroids. This is the best material we've ever written and we can't wait to unleash it on the world."

Ferrante's Power Equipment: On the replacement of bassist Fuzz with John Moyer (ex-THE UNION UNDERGROUND), have you had to adjust your playing style in any way?

Mike Wengren: "No, we didn't have to change at all. John fit right in. The DISTURBED rhythm section is noticeably stronger than ever before. John makes me sound better too."

Ferrante's Power Equipment: Why did Fuzz leave the band?

Mike Wengren: "Personal differences."

Read Mike Wengren's entire interview with Ferrante's Power Equipment at this location.

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Opeth Singer Talks About New Album, Label Search

OPETH frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt recently spoke to Australia's HailMetal.com about the group's current search for a new label home and the band's songwriting process, among other topics. A couple of excerpts from the interview follow:

HailMetal.com: Recently your label Music for Nations closed down, leaving OPETH stranded. How has the search for a new label been, and any ideas who are the most likely contenders to sign with?

Mikael Åkerfeldt: "We've gotten a wide array of offers, everything from big labels to labels who want us to pay $200 to appear on some obscure compilation tape.

"To be honest, I don't care who we sign to as long as they can do the job right. I concentrate on the music while our management is taking care of the business.

"Right now I think we've gotten 12 serious offers that we're looking through."

HailMetal.com: Last year "Damnation" was released, an obvious change of style from more aggressive metal to pure melodious rock. I'm aware that this is something of a one-off, and that is wasn't an overall change of style for the band. With this in mind, what did you expect to achieve from this album, and how has the response been?

Mikael Åkerfeldt: "It's been good overall. I think most metal dudes accepted this album as they knew we're into '60s and '70s psychedelia and so on. I love the album. I think it's one of our best however different it might be. 'Damnation' has outsold the previous record and I think the reason being that we've reached out to people who are into rock and psychedelia, like PINK FLOYD or whatever. Many people say to me that they've never been into metal, but they love 'Damnation' and got into OPETH through that album. We're bringing some new people into the metal scene!"

HailMetal.com: The DVD also includes a lengthy documentary on the recordings of your last two albums, "Deliverance" and "Damnation". It seems that your producer Steven Wilson played a strong part in those recording sessions, in both creation and production. Will he be contributing as strongly in the next album, or will his role be downplayed?

Mikael Åkerfeldt: "I don't know. I've asked him to help us out again and he said yes. He's going to produce the next album but we're not sure how it's gonna work. His contribution is very 'heat of the moment' as is the entire recording process for us. If he comes up with an idea, we'll try it. That's basically as far as it goes."

Read Mikael Åkerfeldt's entire interview with HailMetal.com at this location.

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Dimebag Darrell And Dave Williams Memorial Murals

Texas-based living-legend artist Frank Campagna was commissioned on December 13 to paint a mural of "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott of PANTERA/DAMAGEPLAN and Dave Williams of DROWNING POOL on the wall of the place where they used to each practice, Universal Rehearsal on upper Greenville in Dallas on Markville.

Frank is said to be an amazing artist, and his work is reportedly VERY prominent in the Deep Ellum/downtown area of Dallas. His style is unmatched and quite distinguished.

Check out photos of the Dimebag and Dave Williams paintings: Dimebag, Dave Williams

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Gloria Morti Update

Finnish black metallers GLORIA MORTI have posted the following update on their website:

"The writing process for Gloria Morti's second album is nearing completion. Even as we speak the members of the band, along with the producer Eikind, are at Räihä's homestudio, working on pre-production and promotional material. Judging by the 5 allready finished songs, the material is by far the strongest and most extreme the band has ever created, taking the songwriting to a whole new level of maturity and brutality, yet remaining true to the sound and style that the band has established during it's existence. Some of the songtitles for the new songs are "Synthetic Eden", "Evermorose", "Phoenix Caged in Flesh" and "Phlegethon". If things progress according to our plans, the new Gloria Morti album will be out in the late 2005. Prepare yourselves...

Stay tuned for more info in the future. We wish you all the best for 2005. C'ya in the pit!

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Soulgrind Announce Release Date For New Album

Finnish Black/ Gothick metallers SOULGRIND have announced that their new album, "The Origins Of The Paganblood", will be released on January 21, 2005 through Holy Records. To get a taste of the new material, listen to "The Valley".

The new album will also include a bonus DVD, featuring 2 old video clips, "Tearflower" and "Song Of Mantsi", old demos, dropped unreleased songs, 7"s, pictures and some live material. "We try to fix a video from the new album as well", says the band.

On related news, SOULGRIND will be performing live alongside CARPATHIAN FOREST, BEHEXEN and HORNA at Sirkkelirock , Tavastia on January 7.

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Ozzfest 2005 To Tour The World

OZZY OSBOURNE fan site Ozzyhead.com is reporting that Sharon Osbourne recently announced on MTV's Battle For Ozzfest that the Ozzfest 2005, 10th Anniversary Tour would "tour the world".

This is a very good indication that fans in Europe will finally get to see the Ozzman next year. Ozzy's last scheduled European tour in 2003 was initially postponed due to foot surgery, and then postponed again due to excessive tremors caused from over medication, and then finally canceled due to his quad bike accident.

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Nasum Singer Still Missing

The members of NASUM have posted the following update regarding the whereabouts of singer Mieszko Talarczyk, who is now likely to be one of the victims of the tsunami that swept away Southern Asia this past Sunday:

"Update: Nothing new to report

As of midnight Wednesday/Thursday [Dec 29/30] we have nothing to report about the whereabouts of Mieszko. There are still lots of 'good' possible scenarios that we prefer to think about instead of drawing negative conclusions. We suggest that you do the same.

We have some information about the condition of Mieszko's girlfriend. Her injuries are not lethal. She has broken one or both legs and gotten some lacerations. She is in a deep shock and we really hope that she will be on one of the airplanes returning to Sweden with injured people.

We would also like to say thanks to all the kind words and thoughts posted by people in the guestbook. This kind of support really helps us in the band to cope with this unreal situation. Thanks again!

Finally, to the people who have sent orders for merchandise: please respect that we can't really deal with your orders right now, at least not at once.

Sincerely,
Anders, Jon and Urban of Nasum, along with ex-members Rickard Alriksson and Jesper Liveröd, as well as all of Mieszko's friends in Örebro and elsewhere.

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