New In Flames Album in March/April 2004

In Flames vocalist Anders Friden, has confirmed to BW&BK that the band's new record will surface in 2004.

"The new album will be out in March or April of 2004," explains the frontman. "We're recording drums in August, and we'll do the rest in September and October. Then there's the mix in November, and after that's done we'll send it to the record company. They'll need a couple of months to do what they do."

As the band's contract with Nuclear Blast is up, rumour has already surfaced in regards to the next label In Flames will record for. Friden is hesitant to speak on the matter, however. "We'll see what happens (with a new label). I don't want to talk about it."

0 Comments - Discuss

The 69 Eyes Confirmed for Sziget Festival

Finland's The 69 Eyes have been confirmed for this year's Sziget Festival, which takes place between July 30 and August 6 in Budapest, Hungary. Also set to appear at the event are Slayer, The Hellacopters, Sonata Arctica, My Dying Bride, Clawfinger, Apocalyptica, Annihilator, Circle II Circle, Testament and Napalm Death, among many others.

Upcoming The 69 Eyes tour dates: More...

Read more...  |  0 Comments - Discuss

King Diamond and Entombed to tour North America

King Diamond and Entombed are strongly rumored to be in talks about teaming up for a North American tour in the fall. The trek, which is tentatively set to kick off on October 20, will be sponsored by Metal Maniacs magazine. Additional support for the tour will be announced soon.

King Diamond are currently mixing their new album, "The Puppet Master", for a fall release through Metal Blade Records. Entombed's newest CD, "Inferno", has just been released domestically through Koch Records.

0 Comments - Discuss

Skolnick Slams 'St. Anger'

Former Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick, whose previous group was once considered to be among the natural successors to the San Francisco Bay Area metal throne held by Metallica, has slammed his one-time heroes, calling their latest opus, "St. Anger" a "sloppy mess" and insisting that Hetfield and Co. "represent everything wrong with the music business."

Asked by a fan on his official message board at www.alexskolnick.com if he's heard Metallica's newest effort, Skolnick writes, "I must point out that when . . . I [and the rest of my band, The Alex Skolnick Trio] heard ['St. Anger'] on the radio [in early June], we were all in disbelief. It sounds like the whole thing was pasted together using Pro Tools and the band didn't even play together in the studio. The once-powerful guitar and drum sounds have been replaced with nu-metal-like samples and thin tones. There is no unity or cohesiveness to the songs. Some of them are downright funny, as if 'Saturday Night Live' was doing a skit making fun of them. More...

Read more...  |  0 Comments - Discuss

Meshuggah Cancel 2 European Festival Dates

Swedish experimental extreme metal band Meshuggah have cancelled their previously announced appearances at Quartfestivalen in Kristiansand, Norway (July 5) and Arvikafestivalen in Arvika, Sweden (July 12) in order to allow guitarist Mårten Hagström and drummer Tomas Haake sufficient time to recover from an unspecified illness and a carpal tunnel syndrome flare-up, respectively. The group's participation in the Summer Breeze festival on August 21 in Abtsgmünd, Germany is not expected to be affected by the cancellations.

0 Comments - Discuss

Burden of Grief Name New Album

German death/thrash metal act Burden of Grief have set "Fields Of Salvation" as the title for their third full-length album, tentatively due later in the year through Massacre Records. The follow-up to 2001's "On Darker Trails" will contain nine tracks and will be mixed at Jailhouse studios in Denmark with producer Tommy Hansen (Helloween, Pretty Maids).

Upcoming Burden of Grief tour dates: More...

Read more...  |  0 Comments - Discuss

Construcdead Complete Sophomore CD

Sweden's Construcdead, the band featuring Terror 2000 drummer Erik Thyselius, have finished mixing their as-yet-untitled sophomore album at Helsingborg's Queenstreet Recording with producer Richard Larsson. The follow-up to 2002's "Repent" is due in the fall through Sound Pollution Records.

The group, who were recently joined by Godsic frontman Peter Tuthill, were previously signed to Cold Records.

0 Comments - Discuss

Mannhai Writing New Material

Finnish "stoner rockers" Mannhai, who feature in their ranks former Amorphis bassist Oppu Laine and ex-XYSMA frontman Joanitor Muurinen, are currently composing and demoing new songs for the follow-up to last year's "Evil Under The Sun" CD, tentatively due in early 2004. Joining the group during the recording sessions for the upcoming album will be former Amorphis keyboardist Kasper Mårtenson.

Upcoming Mannhai tour dates: More...

Read more...  |  0 Comments - Discuss

Headline News

'Headbanger' Added To Merriam-Webster Dictionary

The word "headbanger" — defined as both a hard rock musician and a fan — is one of the latest additions to the Collegiate Dictionary from the folks at Merriam-Webster, according to CNN.com.

The 11th edition, available in bookstores Tuesday, includes 10,000 new words and more than 100,000 new meanings and revisions among its 225,000 definitions.

Each new word and usage — along with a snippet from the publication showing how it was used — goes into an electronic database as well as the Springfield-based industry leader's massive card files. The files, started by Webster himself, now contain more than 75 million words and their usage dating to 1790.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate is the best-selling hard-cover dictionary on the market with more than 55 million copies sold since 1898, according to Arthur Bicknell, a spokesman for Merriam-Webster.

Read the full article at CNN.com.

0 Comments - Discuss