Opeth Frontman Responds to Criticism

OPETH mainman Mikael Åkerfeldt has defended himself over criticism that he "talks too much" during the band's live performances, explaining that "I say what I wanna say in the same sense as I play what I wanna play."

In a posting on OPETH's official forum, a fan who calls himself "Detric" told Mikael, "Stop talking so much and play your music, I don't know if you're on drugs or trying to be funny talking about cocks and giving the middle finger all the time. Maybe you guys would have time for another song when playing live if you stopped talking so much. Jesus Christ... What the fuck happened to you? I remember seeing you back in 2003, you didn't say a word...Only what the next song was..."

Writing in response to Detric's posting, Åkerfeldt said, "Yes, I do talk a lot of bollocks on stage, but only if I feel like it and it's spontaneous. I especially like when I say something that I think is funny, but nobody else gets it. So it's dead silent. One of my fave lines was 'Did you know that psychopaths are most likely to drive a blue BMW?' Dead silence!

"I HATE the whole shallow shit like 'Come on,' 'Hey, hey, hey,' 'Let me see your hands'...etc. I either talk like a prick or I don't talk at all. I was never a gentleman in the past, I just wasn't interested in saying anything. But after 100s of shows, something happened, I guess I got bored with... 'Thanks, next song is...'

"If you're offended by my talk or you think I fucking suck... get in line! I say what I wanna say in the same sense as I play what I wanna play. As for the most part I've seen a positive reaction to the inbetween song talk. And even though I say things like 'cock,' there are also some profound moments...I guess..."

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Seether Announce More Tour Dates, Ecard

Seether has released a new ecard online previewing their recently released live/acoustic album "One Cold Night".

Seether will be performing tonight (July 17) on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The show airs on NBC at 11:35pm ET - check local listings. The band is also scheduled to appear on Last Call with Carson Daly on Friday, August 4th on NBC which airs at 1:35am ET.

In touring news, Seether has just announced additional tour dates with Staind throughout August. Here is the complete listing: More...

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Megadeth Confirm New Album Title

It has been confirmed that the new Megadeth album, due to be released this year on October 31st, Halloween, will be titled "United Abominations". The following report was posted by MTV News:

"When Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine named his band's 2004 album The System Has Failed, he seemed to be commenting on the state of U.S. politics. But in retrospect, the title was dead-on for an entirely different reason: The system Mustaine depended on for his livelihood was falling apart.

There were problems with the band's lineup, an ugly lawsuit had developed with ex-bassist David Ellefson, and the label that released the album suffered a staff shakeup that resulted in what Mustaine called "a complete lack of support for the project." In February 2005, Mustaine announced plans to disband Megadeth and go solo. As the year progressed, however, he re-evaluated his decision, and on October 9 at a concert in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he declared that Megadeth would continue.
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Guitarist Georg Laakso Leaves Turisas

Georg Laakso, the guitarist of Turisas, who was badly injured in a severe car-accident in October 2005 has left the band.

Georg comments:

"Nearly nine months has passed since the accident took place, and after six years in the band, I have now come to the point where I am forced to leave Turisas.

"I have been diagnosed with spinal cord injury which has an effect on all the functions in my body. In practice it means that nothing from my chest and below is working properly or at all, and I am now tied to a wheelchair - most likely for the rest of my life. Unfortunately my fingers are not working either and it is very unlikely that I will be able to play the guitar - or any instrument for that matter - ever again. To avoid sounding too gloomy I would like to point out that considering the circumstances I should have been dead many times already. Thanks to hard rehabilitation, zest for life and persistency I have already made some progress and I am slowly re-learning the basics of life. I have a hard battle of my own ahead of myself, but battles are meant to be won.

"I would like to thank all of you for the support you have given me during these hard months. All the letters, cards and greetings have gladden my heart enourmously. A big thank you to everyone of you! I would have wanted to inform you much sooner, but my constitution and the unclarity in things have made it impossible for me to give any kind of a reasonable statement earlier than now. I know that also this is still pretty vague, but I am hoping to be able to give you more information when things first come clear to myself. There is no such thing as giving up!"

Turisas is not looking for a replacing guitarist at the moment, but will continue doing all upcoming shows with only one guitarist as the band has already done since the accident took place. The band is currently concentrating on the work for a new album with a release tentatively scheduled for first early 2007. Witness Turisas in battle this summer:

Aug. 11 Bad Berka, D - Party San Open Air
Aug. 18 Dinkelsbühl, D - Summerbreeze Festival
Aug. 19 Brande-Hörnerkirchen, D - Hörnerfest 2006

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Grave To Perform At BW&BK 6-Pack Weekend IV

Swedish death metal legends Grave and German rockers Kingdom Come are the latest additions to the BW&BK 6-Pack Weekend IV - Back For More, which is being held in Montreal, Canada on October 13th and 14th, 2006 at Le Medley.

Grave, who will perform on October 14th (the Night Of Extreme Metal), will release their new album, "As Rapture Comes," in Europe on July 24th, and July 25 in North America via Century Media Records. Recorded in Studio Soulless in Stockholm, Sweden and mixed by Peter Tägtgren (Hypocrisy, Pain) in The Abyss Studio, the band says As Rapture Comes contains "the most brutal songs and sound that we have ever created." Head to Brave Tunes on the right hand side of BWBK.com to listen to the song 'By Demons Bred' from the band’s forthcoming release As Rapture Comes.

Confirmed acts for the BW&BK 6-Pack Weekend IV - Back For More are as follows:

Friday, October 13th: Night Of Power - Helloween, Kingdom Come
Saturday, October 14th: Night Of Extreme Metal - Testament, Grave

More acts will be confirmed soon. Tickets are on sale now at TicketPro.ca for $34.99 CDN (plus applicable taxes). For more information visit the official website for the BW&BK 6-Pack Weekend IV - Back For More at BWBK6pack.com.

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Insomnium To Tour With Enslaved, Zyklon And 1349

Insomnium have announced that they will be opening up for Enslaved, Zyklon and 1349 in September. Tour dates are as follows:

Sep. 05 - The Village - Dublin, IRE
Sep. 07 - Colchester Arts Centre - Colchester, UK
Sep. 08 - Corporation - Sheffield, UK
Sep. 09 - Garage - Glasgow, UK
Sep. 10 - Manchester Academy 2 - Manchester, UK
Sep. 11 - Carling Academy - Birmingham, UK
Sep. 12 - Mean Fiddler - London, UK

In other news, Insomnium will be releasing their upcoming album, "Above the Weeping World," on September 18 in Europe and October 17 in North America.

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Cannibal Corpse Bassist Checks In From SOTU

Cannibal Corpse bassist, Alex Webster, has checked in from the Sounds of the Underground Tour with the following update:

"Greetings everyone, Alex from Cannibal here. We are currently on tour with the Sounds of the Underground tour, and everything is going very well. We've had great responses from the audiences at the shows we've done so far, and the tour crew and the other bands have been totally cool.

"If you're planning on checking us out at Sounds of the Underground, be sure to get there early, because we've been playing as early as 5:30 in the afternoon (the schedule is slightly different everyday). Also remember to check our merch booth and the Jagermeister booth, as we will be doing meet and greets at one or the other (sometimes both) on many of the tour dates.

"OK, we want to say a big thank you to everybody who's come out to the Sounds of the Underground tour so far, and we hope to see the rest of you soon!"

Upcoming Sounds of the Underground tour dates: More...

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Evildoer Parts Ways With Scarlet Records

Swedish death/thrash metallers Evildoer have posted the following update on their official website:

"First off: Evildoer has ended all business with Scarlet records, but they will still handle the sales and distrubution of 'Terror Audio'.
Our decision was based on that scarlet where unable to forfill their contracted duties.
We are at the moment available for contract discussions with interested labels.

"But there is more news to come very soon...
stay tuned!"

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