Dies Irae Announce New DVD and CD Release Dates

The official release date of the long awaited DVD+CD by Dies Irae was moved to 12th January 2009 in Europe / 20th January 2009 in USA. DVD+CD entitled "The Art of an Endless Creation".

"The Art of an Endless Creation" is comprised of a DVD featuring a gig the band played in 2005 at the Metalmania Festival in Katowice, Poland as also of the band's last and, at the same time, most successful album "Sculpture of Stone" (2004). The DVD also includes bonus video clips, a bootleg from a gig the band played as part of Empire Invasion Tour 2004 (at which they joined forces with Vitek (RIP): the drummer of another death metal act Decapitated), bonus audio (featuring, among others, Dies Irae's complete demo "Fear of God" from 1996) and more. "The Art of an Endless Creation" will be treated as a tribute release to Krzysztof "DOC" Raczkowski – former member of Vader.

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Neaera Close To Completing Fourth Album

German Death Metal unit Neaera is still busy writing songs for their new album. Here's an update from guitarist Tobias Buck: "We are about to finish the songwriting for our upcoming album. By now we have finished nine songs and we wanna write one or two more and then we're finally done! The whole process reminds me of our debut album although the songs seem to be coming together as a mixture of all our three albums. Brutal yet melodic stuff, a little bit of everything. I can't wait to hear what our fans have to say about these tunes!

"We will enter the Rape Of Harmonies studios on the 12th of January and record all the tracks with the help of Alexander Dietz. We are stunned that we could win over the infamous American producer Zeuss for mixing and mastering duties. We are all fans of his previous work with The Acacia Strain, Emmure and Hatebreed, just to mention a few, and we are confident that he will lift our sound to the next level. Gotta leave you guys now for rehearsal, see all of you soon!"

The fourth yet untitled album of Neaera will be released in May 2009!

In other news, Neaera have confirmed their first Greek show ever, taking place on the 8th of February in the Texas Necropolis club in Athens.

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Torche Parts ways with Guitarist Juan Montoya

TORCHE has parted ways with guitarist Juan Montoya. In a statement prepared by Juan, he had this to say:

"The ATP/Nightmare Before Christmas show on December 5, 2008, will be my final show with TORCHE. I’m very proud of the music we have created together over the past 4 years. I have been blessed to?tour the world and meet amazing?people and will be seeing you all soon enough. I am very inspired and will be collaberating with many of the talented friends I have met in my travels. Look out for new material early next year and a tour to follow. I wish TORCHE all the best and I thank all the fans for listening and being a part of this amazing experience." More...

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Just For Fun

Oceano Singer Discusses Backyard Wrestling Past

Chicago Deathcore heavyweights Oceano's reputation proceeds them, even before the release of their first album "Depths" (out on Earache records in March next year) the band are known as "The heaviest band on the planet" and have a reputation to "Bring the beef". Although both of these references are musical, it seems that in terms of Oceano front man Adam Warren these epithets could also refer to Adam's wrestling experiences.

"I got into backyard wrestling basically from watching wrestling on TV, and I was hanging out in the neighborhood and ran into other people into wrestling - and started trying out the moves - goofing off, messing around - then we kind of got serious about it, putting on shows and stuff, we were called the Chicago wrestling alliance - and it was violence, with a lot of weapons and pretty dangerous."

Backyard wrestling has always been controversial as its usually performed by untrained fans in an unsanctioned, non-professional environment. Described in the news as a "dangerous trend sweeping suburbia" Backyard wrestling has developed into an underground scene where films of antics and crazy stunts appear on youtube.

There are times however, when things can go wrong:
"Well we were having a match called a "death match" in someone's backyard in Chicago, and we had all these weapons like thumb tacks, scissors, fluorescent light bulb, mouse traps - over sized ones for rats - we had all this stuff on a tarp in the yard...We were just going on with the match and my opponent picked up the scissors and then cut me in the head, it meant to be choreographed, but it got a little out of hand and I ended up with the scissors stuck in my head - I was a good sport about it - I was told to get stitches but I didn't, I still have the scar - It was a crazy match hahaha"

In another incident: "I jumped off of a light tower once - like the ones they have for Baseball - I climbed up one of them in mid winter and jumped and twisted and landed on a pile of compacted ice - that was part of another match - it was like a dare - we planned it into the match - I was gonna flip off it but changed my mind and landed on my back - which messed my back up for a good while."

Adam started wrestling at school: "I basically wrestled at school doing the real thing through high school and a little bit of college, I was quite good I guess, I guess I'm quite an aggressive person in nature"

Adam no longer does Backyard wrestling and says that "A lot of wrestling is pretty predictable these days, I really like UFC now especially Brock Lesnar" When asked if he uses his wrestling moves in the pit at Oceano shows (which are known for being violent) he says "I don't use any of my moves in the pit, only if I get in a fight...although you never know"

Oceano's new album "Depths" is on on Earache records on 10th March 2009 in USA and 20th April 2009 UK and Europe. 2 songs from Oceano's upcoming CD "Depths" are available for streaming at the bands Myspace.

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Philly Byrne: "I'm A Filthy, Swindling Downloader"

No stranger to speaking his mind on issues he believes in (like his band's campaign to "stamp out inferior metal"), GAMMA BOMB frontman Philly Byrne spoke out recently in favor of downloading on MTV Headbangers Blog. Byrne's comments mark the first time that an artist has written Headbangers Blog to support downloading in the face of a vocal majority of artists who do not condone it.

The outspoken GAMA BOMB frontman goes onto explaining why downloading is such a vital part of the experience of "the music fan of the 21st century" and why artists shouldn't be completely against it, either:

"Reading MUDVAYNE's Chad Gray's blog on illegal downloading on this site, I couldn't help feeling like I'd heard his spiel about musicians getting shafted before. Chad's analogy of a man (read: band) making a fine wooden chair (read: record), only to have the chair stolen (read: downloaded) out from under him, was a striking one, but it's an oversimplification.

If a musician's job was as simple as "make disc, sell disc, win," record companies wouldn't have latched onto the "360 degree record contract" (that's the one where they get a cut of t-shirt sales, licensing and live fees, kids) more than 10 years ago. Nor would they have released CDs, which allowed people to get their hands on their masters in movable file form back in the mid-'80s. That was an admission that music business models now mean more than just money from wax.

Chad made a good point when he mentioned Radiohead's "honesty box" experiment. When one of the world's most popular bands' fans will only pay £3 ($5) on average for their album, what's the use in fighting people who want your niche, indie label, corner-genre product for free? As long as they hit the shows and buy the coasters, who cares? Let them have it!"

You can read the entire entry on downloading written by GAMA BOMB's Philly Byrne on Headbangers Blog here. More...

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Immortal Pain Releases New Single Online

Death metal band from Saudi Arabia IMMORTAL PAIN has released a new single, titled "Over The Pain's Madness." You can listen to the song on the band's MySpace page.

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Torture Killer Signs to Dynamic Arts Records

Finnish death metal band Torture Killer has been signed by Dynamic Arts Records. The band's previous album, "Swarm!," was released by Metal Blade Records. "Swarm!" introduced legendary death metal vocalist Chris Barnes from Cannibal Corpse and Six Feet Under on the front row of Torture Killer.

Torture Killer havs been in the studio mixing their upcoming third album. The forthcoming album, "Sewers," will be released at the end of February 2009. The previous vocalist Juri Sallinen is back on the line-up once again.

Expect to see Torture Killer touring the Europe in Spring of 2009. Additionally, their first summer festival have been already booked: Legacy Open Air in Germany in May.

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Protest The Hero Announces Full European Tour

Protest The Hero has announced a full European tour for next year. They will be playing with As I Lay Dying on some dates and with The Chariot and The Human Abstract on others. Here are the latest Protest The Hero tour dates:

12.18.08 Toronto, Canada, The Sound Academy
01.17.09 Chico, CA, Senator Theatre

Protest The Hero with As I Lay Dying:

01.18.09 Boise, ID, The Venue
01.20.09 Missoula, MT, Wilma Theatre
01.21.09 Billings, MT, Shrine Auitorium Dungeon
01.22.09 Pocatello, ID, Icon
01.23.09 Casper, WY, Casper Event Center Ballroom
01.24.09 Grand Junction, CO, Mesa Theatre
01.26.09 Sioux Falls, SD, Ramkota Exhibit Hall
01.27.09 Poplar Grove, IL, Chubby Rain - House of Tunes
01.28.09 Pittsburgh, PA, Mr.Smalls
01.29.09 Buffalo, NY, The Town Ballroom
01.30.09 Harrisonburg, VA, Rockingham County Fair
02.02.09 Asheville, NC, The Orange Peel
02.04.09 Jacksonville, FL, Freebird Live
02.06.09 Jackson, MS, Club Fire
02.07.09 Little Rock, AR, The Village
02.08.09 Tulsa , OK, Cain's Ballroom
02.09.09 Amarillo, TX, Midnight Rodeo More...

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Headline News

Dark Disciple Vocalist Commits Suicide

Dark Disciple vocalist Mat "Sicko" Sargent has taken his own life at the age of 30. The Baltimore, Maryland based metal band has posted an extensive blog on their MySpace page in regards to this news. Here are some excerpts:

"Today is not a good day for me or anyone in the Dark Disciple family, Mat Sargent known to many as "SICKO" or Villain5150 took his life on November 26th 2008, Mat was only 30 years old. For those of us who had the chance to know him and see what kind of person Mat was, it was an honor to say the least, he will be never forgotten for there are way to many good times to remember. Mat join the band late in 2003 after replacing founding member Bones. When we all heard Mat audition the first night the rest of the guys in the band were like where's the hidden tape recorder or the sound effect box. Mat had this gift; he could make his vocals sound like three different people singing almost simultaneously at once. The band was blown away by this and said you're in and we have studio time in a month for our first album. He said really, we said yeah, he said I guess I better start working on it. In one month Mat not only came up with the Albums title ("Unholy Hate Gore") he also change the song titles and wrote the lyrics to 9 songs to help create this raw underground master piece."

Read the full article at Dark Disciple's MySpace blog.

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Amberian Dawn Posts Update

Finnish female-fronted symphonic metallers AMBERIAN DAWN have issued the following update:

"This year has been amazing for us and big thanks goes to all of you fans around the world! We had really successful European tour with EPICA and all the shows, especially last show in Paris, will stay in our memories forever! What makes it even greater was that one-third of the shows were sold out! We have had a lot of fun playing to great audiences and spending some time with many fans after the shows. Four weeks together in a tour bus went very quickly and there was a great sense of humour among bands and our excellent tour crew. Great memories. But biggest thanks goes to our great fans, as said we had chance to meet many of you and we will make sure we will be back soon!!" More...

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Aeturnus Dominion Announces Return of Vocalist

Austrailian metallers, AETURNUS DOMINION, have issued the following update regarding the return of vocalist Darren Goulding:

"Yes thats right, Darren Goulding has returned to front AD with his devastating vocals. Also would like to announce young Jarrod (Jaz) Wells on drums. He is able to handle Paulie's and Ozi drumming styles as well as bringing his own chaotic drumming to any new material. "

"Manie's return means we are not waiting on a vocalist to learn our songs as he already knows most of it and seeing the rest of us (Spud, Adam, Jaz and me) have been working on a set list the last month or so means we have taken a huge leap forward in a positive direction."

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Metallica Cancels Australian Tour

Metallica has been forced to cancel their tour of Australia due to the country's financial crisis which has seen the Australian dollar drop from 98.49 U.S. cents (a 25 year high) in mid-July to about 65 cents. Metallica aren't the only act to cancel their tour of Australia as Green Day, Madonna, Paul McCartney and Neil Diamond have also been forced to pull out.

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Living Sacrifice Still Working On New Album

Living Sacrifice has issued an update about the progress on their new album:

"Hey all. Sorry no updates lately. No excuses, so here we go. We are writing a new record STILL and working out the final phases on the release with Solidstate. The new material is going to be what you would expect from Living Sacrifice. Fast, brutal, heavy, slow and driving. We want each song to have its own identity. And we will be posting some video updates pretty soon as well. So check back often. I hope 'Death Machine' and 'The Battle' are tiding you over. Thanks so much for supporting Living Sacrifice."

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Chimaira Finishes Recording Vocals For New Album

Chimaira vocalist Mark Hunter has posted the following update:

"Last night I finished vocals and we moved out of the studio. My voice and mind are fried but i feel really accomplished.

"I’ll write more once I can spend a few days not thinking about anything that has to do with music."

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Avith Signs To Emotion Art Music Ltd.

Emotion Art Music Ltd. has announced the signing of AVITH. AVITH formed at 2002 with Tony on the guitars, Ira on the vocals and keys, Jim on the bass and Manos on the drums.

The label describes Avith's sound: "Their music has an intense metal background, combined with atmospheric fills and breaks. It is not gothic oriented though and the band has really focused on creating a personal unique sound. Their music can only be described as metal but it combines elements from the blues and jazz till modern core and nu metal. All these elements will be reflected on the forthcoming album through Emotion Art Music Ltd."

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