Igor Cavalera To Be In New Questions Video

Former SEPULTURA drummer Igor "Iggor" Cavalera makes an appearance on the new album and in the new video from the São Paulo, Brazil-based hardcore band QUESTIONS.

QUESTIONS recently released its second CD on Liberation Records, entitled "Fight for What You Believe". Cavalera can be heard in the track "Conscience", for which the band recently shot a video. Watch the clip online at this location. A short documentary-style clip featuring footage of QUESTIONS recording "Conscience" with Igor can be found at YouTube.

As previously reported, MIXHELL — the DJ/hip hop/electro project featuring former SEPULTURA drummer Igor "Iggor" Cavalera and his wife Laima Leyton — is featured in a new Brazilian commercial for Nokia in which five DJs come together to perform live using only mobile phones. Watch the three-minute commercial at YouTube.

Igor Cavalera left SEPULTURA in June 2006 due to "artistic differences." He has since been replaced by Jean Dolabella (ex-UDORA).

Igor's departure from SEPULTURA came five months after he announced that he was taking a break from the group's touring activities to spend time with his second wife and their new son (who was born in January 2006). Filling in on drums during the band's spring 2006 European tour with IN FLAMES was Roy Mayorga, who played with Igor's brother Max in SOULFLY for several years in the late '90s and again in 2001-2003.

Igor is the second Cavalera to leave SEPULTURA. In 1996, Max Cavalera exited the group after the rest of the band fired Max's wife Gloria as SEPULTURA's manager.

Igor and Max are currently working on a brand new project which will feature collaborations with various guest musicians. "This project is going to be very much like a volcano exploding," Max said in a recent interview. "We've had so much anger and aggression building up, and I know that Igor is going to fucking destroy the drum kit in the studio. I really doubt the drum kit will even survive the recording, and I hope doesn't. So far it's sounding very aggressive, but again, at this point there are no rules or limitations with it. It's going to be mainly just me and Igor, but I want to have some other guys involved with it. It's going to be similar to NAILBOMB in that it's only two guys, some friends, and one album — but it's definitely going to have its own style. It's metal Cavalera style, and it's the closest thing that anyone's going to get to seeing any type of reunion. I don't know what the fuck is going to happen with it, but I'm very excited to see where it goes and what we can do." More...

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Ted Nugent Blames Hippies For Societies Ills

RollingStone.com reports: It was only a matter of time before Ted Nugent decided to rain on the Summer of Love's anniversary parade. In an article from today's Wall Street Journal titled "The Summer of Drugs," the notoriously opinionated guitar god took some time off his busy hunting schedule to blame "stoned, dirty, stinky hippies" for "rising rates of divorce, high school drop-outs, drug use, abortion, sexual diseases and crime, not to mention the exponential expansion of government and taxes."

Read the entire article at RollingStone.com.

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Great White Announce More Tour Dates

Southern California hard rockers GREAT WHITE have lined up the following tour dates:

Jul. 06 - Lucky Monkey at Altman - Trinidad, CO
Jul. 08 - Village at Copper Mountain, The Copper Mountain, CO
Jul. 13 - Bricktown Event Center - Oklahoma City, OK
Jul. 14 - Rock Yard - Ft. Worth, TX
Jul. 15 - Rocklahoma – Pryor, OK
Jul. 20 - Comstock Music Festival – Comstock, NE
Jul. 27 - Badger Music Theater – Reedsburg, WI
Jul. 28 - Ham N Jam – Peoria, IL
Aug. 04 - Boneyard Saloon Ampitheater – Sturgis, ND
Aug. 11 - Chevrolet Centre – Yongstown, OH
Aug. 13 – Seacrets - Ocean City, MD
Aug. 16 - DTE Music Theatre – Clarkston, MI
Aug. 24 - Clay Peak Motorcycle Park – Payette, ID
Aug. 25 - West Gate Plaza – Glendale, AZ
Sep. 08 - Gaslight Tavern – Ellsworth, WI
Oct. 04 - Feather Falls Casino – Oroville, CA

Frontiers Records has set an August 31 European release date for the new album from the reunited original lineup of GREAT WHITE, entitled "Back to the Rhythm". The CD will be issued in a lavish digipack edition on with the following track listing:

01. Back to the Rhythm
02. Here Goes My Head Again
03. Take Me Down
04. Play On
05. Was It the Night
06. I'm Alive
07. Still Hungry
08. Standin' on the Edge
09. How Far is Heaven
10. Neighborhood
11. 30 Days in the Hole (European bonus track)
12. Just Yesterday

Shrapnel will release the album in the U.S. More...

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Def Leppard Guitarist Describes New Songs

The Riverfront Times recently conducted an interview with DEF LEPPARD guitarist Phil Collen. A couple of excerpts follow:

The Riverfront Times: What are the new songs sounding like?

Collen: We started when we were on the last tour. We've never written songs or recorded [that way before]. We were backstage at some of these gigs, in a trailer. We'd start getting these songs together. It was really good, 'cause you're still in tour mode. There's an energy — and verve, if you like. There's something happening while you're on tour that's very different [from] when you get off tour and sit around for three months and all of a sudden go, "Oh, what do we do again?" You haven't got direction. To put it in a nutshell, it sounds like "Hysteria" songs done in the style of "High 'N' Dry", with no ballads. If that makes any sense.

The Riverfront Times: That makes total sense.

Collen: We've got one slow song, but it's definitely not a ballad. It's really kind of weird. When I listen back to the stuff, that's what hit me. We've gone minimalist on the production — it's not all glossy big vocals and like, humongous [makes roaring sound] drums. It's more like a real band. But the songs are more in the vein of "Hysteria".

The Riverfront Times: Are there any songs that you never want to play — ever again?

Collen: "Pour Some Sugar On Me", "Photograph" or "Rock Of Ages", we always try to not play these at rehearsals. 'Cause it's like pulling teeth. But the minute you play them in front of people, it's a totally different vibe, there's a different reaction. All of a sudden, it's fine, it's great. But rehearsing them it's a different story. You go, "Oh my God, it's like watching paint dry."

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Arsis Drop Off The Summer Slaughter Tour

Guitarist & vocalist James Malone regretfully explains why ARSIS had to drop off the Revolver Magazine-sponsored Summer Slaughter Tour while supporting their latest release, United In Regret:

"Due to circumstances beyond our control, we've been forced to drop off the Summer Slaughter Tour. I do apologize to ALL the fans that missed seeing us. To make a long story short, everything was going great for us until we reached Sacramento, California. After that show, our van began to give us trouble - which surprised us since the van had just been in for repairs twice before the tour even started and we were sure the problem had been fixed. So we took the van in to the nearest dealership, were told the problem could be resolved in 3 days, and decided to wait in Sacramento until the van was fixed. It's now over 2 WEEKS LATER and the van STILL hasn't been repaired. Unfortunately, it's already too late for us to rent a vehicle. We've gone broke paying for hotels. Van rental fees + the cost of gas would have cost us a fortune to catch up to the tour. Please understand that we made the best decision we could with the information we were given. Unfortunately, it turns out we made the wrong decision."

Offers to assist with lodging, gas card gift donation pledges, and general well-wishes for the band can be left at www.myspace.com/ARSIS

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Tool Develop New Songs While Playing Live

Launch Radio Networks reports: TOOL probably won't get around to recording or releasing a new album for a couple of years at least, but you might very well hear future songs from the band on its current tour. Bassist Justin Chancellor explained how the band has developed a habit of writing new material during its live show: "We do a lot of kind of segues, you know," he said. "When the shows start to really flow, you know, you start to come up with little segues that take one song into another, whether it's like an old song into a new one or whatever, you know. It starts to help the entire set really flow. And those pieces, those little links, if you like, they tend to become song ideas for the future, definitely."

Chancellor added that some of the material on TOOL's latest album, "10,000 Days", was first developed while the band was touring behind its previous effort, "Lateralus".

TOOL's latest North American tour brings the band to Clarkston, Michigan on Tuesday (July 3). The trek ends on July 18, after which the group will head to Europe in August and September.

TOOL frontman Maynard James Keenan recently posted an update online about his latest side project, PUSCIFER. Keenan wrote that the album tracks were almost completed, with mixing scheduled for August and a possible release date in October.

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New Supergroup Formed From A Variety of Metal

Acclaimed producer Kevin Shirley (IRON MAIDEN, DREAM THEATER, H.I.M.) has posted the following message in his "Caveman Diary":

"Started a new album yesterday — a heavy metal chick — and a great band! Paul Crook (MEAT LOAF, ex-ANTHRAX, SEBASTIAN BACH) on guitar, Scott Metaxas (ex-NUCLEAR ASSAULT) on bass, Derek Sherinian (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, ex-DREAM THEATER) on keys and Brian Tichy (ex-OZZY OSBOURNE, SLASH'S SNAKEPIT, GILBY CLARKE, PRIDE & GLORY) on drums — and a fab singer fom Eastern Europe!"

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TTEOTD Comment On New Record, Video Available

South Carolina death metallers THROUGH THE EYES OF THE DEAD were recently reviewed by both Way Too Loud and Sick Drummer.com, and have commented on the band's forthcoming record, Malice, while recently completing a North American tour offering direct support to The Red Chord. Recently sitting down with Way Too Loud.com while in Canada, THROUGH THE EYES OF THE DEAD guitarist Justin Longshore talked about the band's new record, due out August 21 through Prosthetic Records. Excerpts include:

WTL: Since Erik Rutan is producing your new album Malice, what’s he like in the studio?
Justin: He’s a pretty hard-working dude. He tries to get the best performance out of all of us, and he worked us really hard. He’s a different guy outside of the studio. He’s a cool guy, and we’re really good friends now. It’s definitely cool to meet him, because I grew up with Morbid Angel. 'Domination' is my favorite death metal record of all time. We actually recorded "Dominate" for the European release, which I’m sure you can find on the internet sooner or later! We ended up covering that song because it was a last-minute thing, because the label wanted a cover for the European release. Who better than Morbid Angel if we’re in one of the guy's studio, who actually recorded the song, right? We got it pretty close to how they actually recorded it, like the same setup guitar-wise and all that. We didn’t use the same guitar, but we did use the same amp, and cab, and they have a “rat” pedal they use just on that specific song. It’s pretty cool!

WTL: What can we expect from Malice?
Justin: We’re doing a lot more guitar work now, and the drums have been stepped up. Most people think that we were kind of going in a more commercial direction, but it’s definitely the opposite of that. It’s a lot heavier and faster. I’m not a fan of just changing for certain people. We’ve got to stand behind our music 110 percent before anyone else can. We’re the people writing it, so we should write what we like to do! We’re very happy with what we’ve done. I know everyone says that when they come out with a new record, but seriously we’re all really satisfied with it. We focused a lot on song structure, and putting all of our old influences in, and it came out great!

WTL: Will the lyrics on Malice be similar to the themes you were doing in Bloodlust?
Justin: Actually, not on this record. We changed it up a little bit. We’ve got a new singer now, and he entered the studio with a few songs written. Me and him wrote a lot of the lyrics in the studio. Me and him pretty much did it 50/50, and I’ve never written lyrics, ever. It came out pretty good because we double-teamed the lyrics, because we had the whole concept of Malice, and all the atrocities in the world.

WTL: In the past, you’ve been a very hard touring band. Has a lot of your audience come from so many live shows?
Justin: Yeah, I think so. We put a lot of effort into out live show to create the intensity that’s on the record. I think we’ve been touring for so long that I think we’ve got that connection. Our live show is what we love to do!

The entire interview can be read here.

Meanwhile, THROUGH THE EYES OF THE DEAD drummer Josh Kulick also met up with SickDrummer.com to speak about his technique utilized on 'Malice.' You can view the entire 10-minute interview here. More...

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Dark Empire Post New Song Online

DARK EMPIRE, the American/Swedish band featuring vocalist Jens Carlsson of PERSUADER/SAVAGE CIRCUS and bassist Noah Martin of ARSIS, has posted the single edit for its new track "Possessed (We are One)" on the group's MySpace page. The song comes off the band's upcoming second album, "Humanity Dethroned", due later in the year. The cover artwork can be found at this location.

Conceived in the winter of early 2004, DARK EMPIRE is the vision of Long Island, NY based guitarist Matt Moliti to create what in his eyes would be the epitome of the perfect metal band: thrashy riffs, blazing solos and aggressive yet melodic vocals, full of energy and emotion.

Influenced by bands such as RAGE and SYMPHONY X, Matt began writing the music for the band in that very same year, working alongside friend and producer Jeremy Krull. More...

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Adema Post New Single Online

ADEMA's new single, "Cold and Jaded", has been posted on the group's MySpace page. The song comes off the Southern California-based band's new album, "Kill the Headlights" due on August 21 via Immortal Records. The CD was recorded in Los Angeles with producer Marshall Altman (MARC BROUSSARD, ZEBRAHEAD). Mastering duties were handled by Eddie Schreyer at Oasis Mastering in Burbank. Check out the cover artwork at this location.

ADEMA was recently picked up by Union Entertainment Group, which also manages such well-known bands as NICKELBACK, DEFAULT and CANDLEBOX. More...

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Monster Magnet Guitarist To Appear On Rush Tribute

MONSTER MAGNET guitarist Ed Mundell will contribute a cover of the RUSH song "What You're Doing" to an upcoming RUSH tribute album, due in September on MainMan Records.

Mundell recently finished laying down tracks for MONSTER MAGNET's new studio album with producer Matt Hyde.

MONSTER MAGNET mainman Dave Wyndorf was forced to halt work on the CD in February 2006 after overdosing on prescription drugs.

Hyde, who worked with MONSTER MAGNET on their "Powertrip" and "God Says No" releases, stated about the band's new CD back in March 2006, "I believe it has the potential to be their best record since 'Powertrip'."

MONSTER MAGNET's last studio album, "Monolithic Baby", was released in 2004 via SPV.

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Scorpions Announce California Show

Veteran German hard rockers SCORPIONS have announced a new live show in Indio, CA on September 16. Here is the band's complete upcoming tour itinerary:

* w/ Uli Jon Roth and MSG
** w/ THE ROOM

July 7 - Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic - Fotbalovy Stadion AC Start
July 14 - Tuuri, Finland - Miljoona Rock
July 21 - Augsburg Germany - Messe Augsburg
July 28 - Pentrich, UK - Rock & Blues Festival *
July 29 - Manchester, UK - Manchester Apollo *
July 30 - London, UK - Hammersmith Apollo *
Aug. 3 - Klaksvik, Faroe Islands - Summarfestivalur
Aug. 9 - Manaus, Brazil - TBA
Aug. 17 - Monterrey, Mexico - Arena
Aug. 18 - Puebla, Mexico - Siglo XXI
Aug. 19 - Leon, Mexico - Poliforum
Aug. 22 - Mexico City - Mexico - Auditorio Nacional
Aug. 25 - Shawinigan, QC - TBA **
Aug. 26 - Toronto, ON - Molson Amphitheater
Aug. 28 - Ottawa, ON - LeBreton Festival Park **
Aug. 30 - Montreal, QC - Vieux-Port (Quai Jacques-Cartier) **
Sept. 1 - Chicoutimi, QC - TBA **
Sept. 4 - Sault Ste Marie, MI - Kewadin Casino Hotel
Sept. 6 - Clarkston, MI - DTE Energy Music Theatre
Sept. 9 - Edmonton, AB - Shaw Conference Centre
Sept. 10 - Calgary, AB - Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
Sept. 12 - Vancouver, BC - Orpheum Theatre
Sept. 14 - Kelseyville, CA - Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa
Sept. 16 - Indio, CA - Fantasy Springs Casino

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New Iced Earth Release Dates Announced

SPV has announced the release dates for ICED EARTH's forthcoming new album, "Framing Armageddon - Something Wicked Part I" [view cover]:

Germany: September 7
Rest of Europe: September 10
North America: September 11

"Framing Armageddon - Something Wicked Part 1" continues on with the storyline that was first introduced on the band's 1998 release, "Something Wicked This Way Comes". Here is the tentative track listing:

01. Overture
02. Something Wicked (Part 1)
03. Invasion
04. Man's Motivation
05. The Setian Massacre
06. A Charge To Keep
07. Reflections
08. Ten Thousand Strong
09. Execution
10. Order Of The Rose
11. The Clouding
12. Infiltrate And Assimilate
13. Retribution Through The Ages
14. Something Wicked (Part 2)
15. The Domino Decree
16. Framing Armageddon
17. When Stars Collide (Born Is He)
18. The Awakening

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Edenbridge Announce New Guitarist and Drummer

Austrian symphonic metal band EDENBRIDGE has issued the following update:

"EDENBRIDGE like to welcome Robert Schoenleitner and Sebastian Lanser as their two new members! Robert Schoenleitner already played guitar on EDENBRIDGE's last tour through England and Asia. Robert studied guitar at VGI institute Munich. Sebastian Lanser, who studied drums at the Bruckner University in Linz, will replace Roland Navratil on drums. Sebastian is a longtime friend of Robert. EDENBRIDGE therefore is officially a five-piece again after more than five years."

EDENBRIDGE's rarities/"best of" compilation, entitled "The Chronicles of Eden", was released on June 1. The set was released as a double-CD and limited double-digipack. Disc One contains three new, previously unreleased songs, all Japanese and European bonus tracks and songs that were included on all out-of-print singles. Disc Two includes a "best of" selection out of the five released studio albums.

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Manitou Post New Music Online

Finnish traditional heavy metal band MANITOU, which features in its ranks members of OMNIUM GATHERUM, MALPRACTICE and KAIHORO, has uploaded the full "Dread of the Freaks" song and a clip of "No Signs of Wisdom" from the group's upcoming third album, "No Signs of Wisdom", to the MANITOU MySpace page.

Due on July 20 via Metal Heaven, "No Signs of Wisdom" was recorded at SouthEastSounds Studio in Karhula, Finland with producer Teemu Aalto (OMNIUM GATHERUM, SINAMORE) and was mastered at Chartmakers. According to a press release, the new material will appeal to fans of "IRON MAIDEN, QUEENSRŸCHE, ANNIHILATOR, DIO, TAROT, WHITESNAKE... Traditional heavy metal, that is!"

"No Signs of Wisdom" track listing:

01. In This Indolence
02. Dread of the Freaks
03. No Signs of Wisdom
04. The End Within
05. Harbinger
06. Polluted World
07. Some of the Sins Revealed
08. The Loon
09. August Sky

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Ozzy Receives Platinum Record In Prague

Ozzy Osbourne received a platinum sales award for his latest album, "Black Rain" and took part in a fan meet-and-greet before his concert at Saska Arena in Prague, Czech Republic on June 26, 2007. Check out pictures from WENN.

Fan-filmed video footage of Ozzy Osbourne performing his song "Here for You" on Saturday, June 30 at the Gods of Metal festival in Milan, Italy has been posted at YouTube.

Ozzy Osbourne's first studio album of all-new material in six years, "Black Rain", came out on May 22.

Osbourne will be the first person inducted into the new Birmingham Walk of Stars, which will honor the British city's most famous sons and daughters. Osbourne's induction ceremony will be held on July 6. More...

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Earache Artists Featured In Spanish Exhibition

A group of young Spanish artists is featuring music from Earache's extreme back catalog in an award-winning exhibition on show at the La Casa Encendida art gallery in Madrid, Spain. The exhibition, entitled "Ruidos, Silencios y la Trasgresion Mordaz. De Fluxus al Techno-Noise" ("Noises, Silences and the Biting Transgression. From Fluxus to Techno-Noise"), portrays a creative link between artists belonging to the Fluxus group and their fascination with out-there music. The music featuring in this exhibition includes soundbites from NAPALM DEATH's "Scum", A.C.'s "Everyone Should Be Killed", BRUTAL TRUTH's "Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses", SORE THROAT's "Disgrace to the Corpse of Sid" and O.L.D.'s "Old Lady Drivers".

The exhibition is beind held at the La Casa Encendia Arts Centre until September 9. More information is available at http://www.lacasaencendida.com/LCE/lceCruce/0,0,73537_0_73537_7466%24P1%3D16,00.html (note the article is in Spanish).

The artists involved claim to express rejection of traditional values and pursue an interest in noise within their work, particularly forming a connection between noise and transgression. With this in mind, soundbites from some of Earache's most grinding releases prove fitting to express the artists' ideas and visions.

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Every Time I Die Post New Song On Myspace Page

A new EVERY TIME I DIE track, entitled "Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Battery", has been posted online at the band's MySpace page. The song comes off the group's new album, "The Big Dirty", due on September 4 via Ferret Music.

Though slotted as the final song on EVERY TIME I DIE's new CD, there is no track as indicative of the entire record as "Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Battery", according to a press release. Lyrically based on Federico Fellini's "8 1/2", this song "has everything that the band has become notorious for wrapped into one two-minute-and-thirty-second keg stand of ass-kicking fuck-all. From the scathing self-indictment of the lyrics, through the involuntary tweak-out inducing riffs, all the way to the no permanent bass playerness of the band itself, 'Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Battery' is what EVERY TIME I DIE does best — not give a shit about what you expect from them. If there was a middle finger that had a sharp point at the end and was about six feet in height, this song would take that finger like a flagpole, tie a flag to the end of it that had another middle finger on it (but smaller, obviously and not necessarily the same middle finger) and stick it in the uncharted terrain of brazen self-awareness — a paradise which countless other bands have tried to recreate on stage, but failed at miserably."

Produced by Steve Evetts, "The Big Dirty" is "the CD you would compile if asked to make a mix of the best EVERY TIME I DIE songs you haven't heard yet," the band writes in the press release. "Ten-plus tracks that tore from our filthy hands like the creature that jumped out of that dudes stomach in 'Alien'. If this ain't your favorite heavy release of the year, I'll eat my damn hat."

EVERY TIME I DIE has been confirmed for the third edition of the Sounds of the Underground tour, which will also feature performances by GWAR, CHIMAIRA, NECRO and JOB FOR A COWBOY, among others.

The 25-city North American trek starts July 6 at the Palladium Ballroom in Dallas and wraps Aug. 8 at the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver. Other confirmed acts include DARKEST HOUR, AMON AMARTH, THE ACACIA STRAIN, HEAVY HEAVY LOW LOW, THE NUMBER TWELVE LOOKS LIKE YOU, DEVIL WEARS PRADA and GOATWHORE.

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Swindon Town Demonstrates Some Of Its Metal Talent

Swindon town, located about an hours drive away from the capital of Great Britain, London, isn't the first place one would think of when it comes to British metal. People would normally associate places like London, Birmingham, Newcastle and maybe Swindon rivals Bristol for that. Swindon itself is known more for having... roundabouts and trains. Cool eh?

However, within this growing town lies a movement, one that half of the towns youth follows like a rabid cult. That movement is the Swindon metal scene, and few people would doubt that Kilians Red rule that scene with an iron fist!

On June 30th at Swindon's most well known rock club, The Furnace, Kilians Red headlined a bill which would show any visitors to the region that the scene in Swindon is not be ignored. The show opened with a band named Death Of A Warlord. A band which wore their influences on their sleeve (quite literally as a member was wearing a long sleeved Burzum shirt!). Any fan of black metal was in for a treat as DOAW tore into their set with full power. Black metal may be joke to some but these boys were more serious about their music than any black metal band yours truely has ever seen. Indeed from first glance and from their proffessionalism, you would never believe the members are only thirteen and fourteen years old! One to watch for the future of British black metal!

After Death Of A Warlord's set, the crowd was clearly excited to see the next band, Blessed By Death. Although this band have only played a handful of shows, they are anything but inexperienced seeing as how they include members of a band which did alot for Swindon metal named Buried Beneath. I had witnessed Buried Beneath only once before and that was at their farewell show so I wasn't sure what to expect from Blessed By Death. However, as soon as the first note was struck, they proved that they weren't just Buried Beneath part two, they were Blessed By Death and they were here to conquer! And conquer they did as they tore into their set with blistering precision and tunes which are destined to become staples of the scene before long such as Watching You Die. Blessed By Death have an attitude that only they can carry in the Swindon area, one of "If you like us great, if not we don't care", other bands should take note of how they pull this attitude off without being too cocky. They also recruited one Lee Brennan of local metal heroes Ventflow to perform with them much to the delight of everyone. All in all Blessed By Death certainly won over some new fans on this night, myself included!

Next to take the stage were Black Skies Burn, although they often play in Swindon, they are actually from Oxford (as British football fans will be able to tell you, Swindon and Oxford despise each other), however there was no negativity directed towards them from the Swindon boys tonight and with good reason, they know their stuff! They were there to make a statement which they clearly did with their t- shirts alone (a picture of The Pope with bleeding eyes and hands with the slogan "God is dead, he gave up on mankind") but their music overshadowed the image strongly. Ripping into their set with standout songs like Born Of Hate and Cast Darkness Aside, they got the floor into a frenzy of pure hatred and aggression like no other. Expect Black Skies Burn to be headlining their own gigs soon, they deserve to!

Finally we come to the band everyone had come to see, Kilians Red. Although it was revealed after the set that this would be their final show with bassist Joe, no-one would have ever have been able to tell as they took to the stage with nothing but admiration being given to them by the crowd. They surprised everyone by charging full speed into a cover of Soil's "Halo" with everyone, including people who don't even like Soil shouting the title back at them. From the get go it was mosh pits galore as bodies flew everywhere in the name of Kilians Red. Indeed some people could hardly stand up when they left the carnage being caused on the floor! Kilians then launched into their own material, performing their new self titled EP in it's entirity. Standout songs of the night had to be "The Bleeding" and "Retribution". As any Kilians fan should be able to tell you, "The Bleeding" is a song written by Kilians Red for their fans and they showed how much they truely do appreciate the fans by playing this song with ferocity turned up to the max! "Retribution" is perhaps their most well known song and carries the message of standing your ground much better than any speech made by a character from the movie Green Street ever could. As if they didn't already have the audience eating out of the palm of their hand, they received their respect fuly aswell as they launched into Machine Head's latest single Aesthetics Of Hate with pure heart and soul. Then came something I had never seen before from a local band as the crowd demanded an encore and Kilians Red were more than happy to comply with this request as they brought Paul Elston from another local band who are recognized with nothing but respect, Prometheus, to perform a second Machine Head cover. This time they delivered a cover of Imperium with no prisoners being taken. A scorching end to a blistering night! More...

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Threat Signal, Bloodjin, Year of Desolation Tour

Threat Signal will be touring with Bloodjinn and Year of Desolation this summer, dates are as follows:

7/6/2007 The Foundry Music Venue- Joplin, Missouri
7/7/2007 The Dart Room- Fayetteville, Arkansas
7/8/2007 Fat Daddy's Sound Shack- Lewisville, Texas
7/9/2007 The Compound- Corpus Christi, Texas
7/11/2007 Walter's On Washington- Houston, Texas
7/12/2007 Red 7- Austin, Texas
7/13/2007 White Rabbit- San Antonio, Texas
7/14/2007 Absolute Zero- Clovis, New Mexico
7/17/2007 Brick By Brick- San Diego, California
7/18/2007 Knitting Factory- Hollywood, California
7/19/2007 Showcase Theatre- Corona, California
7/20/2007 Box Underground- Downtown Tijuana, Mexico
7/21/2007 Uptown Nightclub- Oakland, California
7/22/2007 Susanville Elks Lodge- Susanville, California
7/23/2007 The Gadfly- La Grande, Oregon
7/24/2007 Hawthorne Theatre- Portland, Oregon
7/25/2007 Studio Seven- Seattle, Washington
7/26/2007 Hells Kitchen- Tacoma, Washington
8/1/2007 Club Vegas- Salt Lake City, Utah
8/2/2007 Hubba's House Of Rock- Aurora, Colorado
8/3/2007 Static Bar- Topeka, Kansas
8/5/2007 Station-4- St. Paul, Minnesota
8/7/2007 Arlington Heights Knights Of Columbus Hall- Arlington Heights, Illinois
8/18/2007 Sirens- Milford, New Hampshire
8/19/2007 Monatage Music Hall- Rochester, New York
8/20/2007 Knitting Factory- New York City, New York
8/21/2007 Dingbatz- Clifton, New Jersey
8/22/2007 Jaxx- Springfield, Virginia
8/24/2007 The SoundVent- Thomasvill, North Carolina
9/3/2007 Lake Eagles Station- Lake Station, Illinois More...

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Polish Organization Attempts To Ban Behemoth

Behemoth is in the cross hairs of the Polish anti-sect organization for supposedly promoting Satanic acts, including animal sacrifice. The anti-sect organization dubbed "The All-Polish Committee for Defense Against Sects" released a list of artists it claims "promote Satanism" or "encourage murder and animal sacrifice" with their music. The group plans to distribute the list to a number of Polish politicians next month, in hopes that the officials will ban said artists from performing in the Central European nation. The list also includes Slayer and Marilyn Manson among others.

Adam "Nergal" Darski, Behemoth's frontman, said he questions the motives of the APCFDAS and thinks the attempt to ban his band from performing in his native land is ridiculous.

"You have these politicians who, for some reason — probably just for self-promotion — want to fight this kind of stuff," he explained. "This is music. This is art. This is some kind of expression, and this is our expression. For some reason, they think it has a negative influence on kids, so they want to stop it. So they made this list that's going to come out next month, and Behemoth is #1. ... I'm not sure if they'll [be able to enforce it], because it's a violation of the most basic democratic rules. It's very extreme and very dangerous."

"Extreme" and "dangerous" — two words Nergal often uses to describe Behemoth, but obviously with different connotations. Regardless, the threat of a potential Polish ban hasn't put the fear of God in Behemoth. In fact, the band has booked a handful of Poland dates, which it intends on playing immediately following Ozzfest's August 30 finish in West Palm Beach, Florida. It's all part of Behemoth's campaign to spread the word about The Apostasy, their seventh full-length album and follow-up to 2004's Demigod that lands in stores July 17 — less than a week after Ozzfest's Seattle launch.

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Sonata Arctica Announce Full US Tour Dates

Sonata Arctica will return to North America touring in support of their latest album, "Unia". Tour dates feature The Agonist in support dates are as follows:

09-16-2007 The Key Club Hollywood CA
09-17-2007 The Galaxy Theatre Santa Ana CA
09-21-2007 Metro/ Smart Bar Chicago IL
09-22-2007 Harpo’s Concert Theatre Detroit MI
09-23-2007 Peabody’s Down Under Cleveland OH
09-24-2007 The Opera House Toronto ON Canada
09-26-2007 Albert Rousseau Quebec City QC Canada
09-27-2007 Medley Montreal QC Canada
09-28-2007 Chance Theater Poughkeepsie NY
09-29-2007 The Palladium Worcester MA
09-30-2007 B.B. Kings Blues Club New York City NY
10-2-2007 The Trocadero Philadelphia PA
10-3-2007 Jaxx West Springfield VA
10-5-2007 Center Stage Atlanta GA
10-6-2007 Culture Room Ft. Lauderdale FL
10-9-2007 Sonata Arctica Meridian Houston TX
09-12-2007 Palladium Dallas TX
09-15-2007 The Clubhouse Tempe AZ
09-16-2007 The Key Club Hollywood CA
09-17-2007 The Galaxy Theatre Santa Ana CA
09-19-2007 Bluebird Theatre Denver CO
09-21-2007 Metro/ Smart Bar Chicago IL
09-22-2007 Harpo’s Concert Theatre Detroit MI
09-23-2007 Peabody’s Down Under Cleveland OH
09-24-2007 The Opera House Toronto ON Canada
09-26-2007 Salle Albert Rousseau Quebec City QC Canada
09-27-2007 Medley Montreal QC Canada
09-28-2007 Chance Theater Poughkeepsie NY
09-29-2007 The Palladium Worcester MA
09-30-2007 B.B. Kings Blues Club New York NY
10-2-2007 The Trocadero Philadelphia PA
10-3-2007 Jaxx W. Springfield VA
10-5-2007 Center Stage Atlanta GA
10-6-2007 Culture Room Ft. Lauderdale FL
10-7-2007 The Haven Winter Park FL

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Evile To Headline Full Thrash Assault

The line up for Full Thrash Assault 2007 is now complete! Headlining the event will be EVILE. These rising stars of UK thrash have just finished recording their debut album, Enter The Grave with legendary producer Flemming Rasmussen which is due for UK release on 27th August.

The provisional running order and set times will be as follows:

10.00 – 11.00 - EVILE
8.30 – 9.30 - Gama Bomb
7.30 – 8.15 - Seregon
6.15 – 7.30 – BREAK
5.45 – 6.15 - Sekhmet
5.00 – 5.30 - Amok
4.15 – 4.45 - Let Em Burn
3.30 – 4.00 – Agankast
2.30 – DOORS OPEN

Full Thrash Assault will be held at the Snooty Fox, Wakefield on Saturday 08th December 2007. Tickets will be available from October 01st and will cost £6 (subject to booking fee/p&p) from selected outlets.

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Sepultura Spreading Positivity Through Music

SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser has checked in with the following update:

"Lleida, Catalunya (Spain): We started the [European] tour yesterday [june 29] in Alba, Italy, near Torino and for the first show it was very great! The crowd in Italy is always special with a great support and we couldn't choose a better place to start this European leg. Awesome. Grazie Italia! Today we arrived in Barcelona in the morning and we heard the news about a car that drove in flames at a terminal at the Glasgow airport. Fucking terrorism. In London the police found two cars full of bombs ready to destroy. Shit! Cowards, stupid idiots that create fear and violence. Enough of this crap. For the love of God, PEACE! We are going soon to Glasgow and hopefully this events will not get in the way of our concerts. Make music, not war! Stop this culture of fear!"

"Dundee, Scotland: What a long day! Finally, we have arrived in Scotland, unfortunately we had to cancel the Dundee gig [on July 1]. We only got here late a night. We just passed by where the attack happened at the Glasgow airport. The burning smell was evident everywhere, but everybody were calm and confident, all the policemen and airline personnel, keeping all the passengers in order and safe. We had patience and everything was resolved with no bigger problems. Tomorrow we are going to Iverness to continue the tour and spread positive vibes trough music."

IPC TV, which produces and broadcasts a variety of community programs in Portuguese to an increasing Brazilian community in Japan, has posted a lengthy video report on SEPULTURA, featuring interviews with the band and footage of the group performing in Brazil and France. Watch the "Agenda" report at this location (in Portuguese).

This past winter SEPULTURA finished filming the second video from their "Dante XXI" album, for the song "Ostia". The clip was shot on March 3 at a studio in São Paulo prior to the band's departure for their European tour. During the following week, the video crew and the main actor shot the outdoor scenes in downtown São Paulo. The script, which adapts the story from the book "The Divine Comedy" to the modern days, was directed by Geraldo Moraes.

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The Gathering Drummer Discusses Band's Future

THE GATHERING drummer Hans Rutten has answered several fan questions regarding the future of the band in the wake of vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen's decision to leave the band:

Q: Why no farewell tour or even one gig at Paradiso in Amsterdam?

Hans: "The original idea was to tour until the Ankkarock festival [the last gig with Anneke], and fill up the gap between now and August doing some more festivals, maybe even some club gigs. While we toured North America, Anneke informed us she only wanted to play the last three gigs. She felt it was the right thing to do. We understand why people ask, even beg us, to give the fans one last chance to see the band live. Of course, we thought about doing a special last show. The fact is that Anneke explained to us she doesn't want to play with us anymore. It would be a emotionally tense show instead of something to look forward to."

Q: Is touring the main reason Anneke quits with the band?

Hans: "It's hard for us to answer this question. But no, I don't think so. Of course, being away from home while having a family is hard. Besides that there's also a 'health' issue. Going in and out of aeroplanes and air-conditioned buses is not healthy, especially when you are a singer. Being on the road can be pretty heavy sometimes. Jet lags, stinky backstages, sleeping in buses or not sleeping at all.. You name it, we saw it. We know Anneke had difficulties with touring, but I don't think we toured like crazy the last 2-3 years. When Anneke decided to quit and talked with us about her decision, we tried to convince her there would be a possible way out, even without touring, just making records. I think it was time for her to do something else, to have a fresh new start. An urge to do something else was so strong that she felt like she had to leave the band."

Q: Was Anneke's decision a big surprise?

Hans: "Yes and no. I personally had a very good conversation with her two weeks before she told us she decided to quit the band. She said she was still thrilled about recording a new GATHERING album and all the ideas we had going around. So yes, it was a big surprise. We just had a year off, as she was pregnant and we didn't tour that much at that time. She said she didn't have the time and energy to do things she would like to do. She wanted to have more time for her family, her own music and hobbies. We decided Anneke would only have to be involved in the musical part of the GATHERING and take some load of her shoulders. Eventually I think the idea of a solo album triggered the whole split."

Q: Why do you continue with the name THE GATHERING? Many people associate Anneke to THE GATHERING and THE GATHERING to Anneke. It would be difficult to get rid of this "female singer heritage" just like that.

Hans: "The departure of Anneke doesn't mean we will also just stop making music. It is her decision and we regret it very much. Not everybody knows THE GATHERING was founded by me, Hans, Rene and our former vocalist Bart Smits. Frank joined THE GATHERING 6 or 7 months later. We also had already made 2 albums before Anneke came to the band. Simply put; there was a GATHERING before Anneke, and there's a GATHERING after Anneke. We like to see this as a third era. People tend to forget we asked her to join THE GATHERING back in 1994. We gave her all the musical space, so she could grow, as she has a unique voice and is very talented. We are aware of the fact that Anneke's voice has been very important for the music of THE GATHERING. She became, at least for some people, more important then the other band members. As I said, she has a terrific voice, but she simply isn't THE GATHERING. We want to continue making music and like THE GATHERING always evolved we will again. Rene and Frank always came up with 90% of all the musical ideas. Four members of THE GATHERING continue, so why change the name? Even if we would change our name, we would be labelled as 'the ex-GATHERING members' anyway. It won't be an easy task, but in all the sadness we feel about Anneke's decision, there's also a lot of excitement going on right now. We can do whatever we want. All of a sudden there's a lot of fresh space surrounding us. We are aware that our new album might be the most important one we'll probably ever make. So we will take all the time we have, will not rush into things. Chemistry between the vocalist and the music is the most important thing in music, at least for me. I don't care about hotshot producers, fabulous guitar players, drummers who care more about what kind of endorsement deals they have. I care about chemistry, and with Anneke we had a terrific kind of symbiosis. We think this is possible with other vocalists. It will be different, it will take some time for people to get used to it."

Q: Is THE GATHERING planning on "hiring" a male singer only?

Hans: "It all depends. It depends on what will happen musically and what will be on our path. Sure is that we are open to work with both male and female vocals. We think it's exciting to work with new vocalists. First we'll work on the music and from there we'll decide what kind of voice would fit best. It's also possible that a song is strong enough without vocals. There are so many options right now. We really want to keep them open, at least for a while. In all these years we've made a lot of friends and met some great vocalists. I think a lot of them would like to work with us. In the past we already worked with Trickster G on our 'Souvenirs' album. There are more roads leading to Rome.

Q: Do you have any musical ideas for the new album?

Hans: "Like every GATHERING album, it will be different again. Especially this time; it will be a new era of the band. Especially Rene has some very strong new ideas. We think this time our music will be more guitar driven and more up tempo. We will not continue with what we did on 'Home', despite of the fact that we all love the record. Again; we will take our time.

Q: Will you, when you will play live again, do the "Anneke-era" songs?

Hans: "It's hard too say anything about this right now. As I see it now, we will focus on the new songs and maybe we'll also play some older material in a new way. Time will tell."

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Candlemass Announce U.K. Tour Dates

Legendary Swedish doomsters CANDLEMASS have scheduled two exclusive gigs in the U.K. in September:

Sep. 11 – Leeds, UK @ Rio's
Sep. 12 – London, UK @ Dingwalls

As previously reported, fan-filmed video footage of CANDLEMASS performing the song "Black Dwarf" at the Metaltown festival on Saturday, June 30 in Gothenburg, Sweden has been posted at YouTube.

CANDLEMASS' new album, "King of the Grey Islands", was released on June 22 via Nuclear Blast Records.

Former CANDLEMASS frontman Messiah Marcolin told BLABBERMOUTH.NET on May 12, 2007 that "It has come to my attention that someone pretending to be me has written a fake statement on the official CANDLEMASS forum. I have not written the fake statement and I do not agree with the lies in it. The only official statement I have made was on Blabbermouth April 28, 2006. [See Messiah's previous statement at this location.] I then told you I have quit CANDLEMASS and that it's 100 percent definite that I will not return. 'We could not agree on how to do the new album.' That statement was as true then as it is now. I will tell you one more thing though. I have never had a 'severe pre-recording psychosis.' [See previous BLABBERMOUTH.NET story.] That was a lie told by Leif Edling [CANDLEMASS bassist/songwriter]."

"King of the Grey Islands" features Marcolin's replacement, Robert Lowe of SOLITUDE AETURNUS.

CANDLEMASS celebrated its 20th anniversary at a special concert held at Stockholm's Kolingsborg on March 31, 2007. The band performed with no less than seven (!) different vocalists at the show — including the band's former singers Johan Langquist and Tomas Vikström, plus Lowe. Check out video footage from the gig at YouTube.

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Celtic Frost To Do Two Mexican Headlining Dates

Celtic Frost will conclude their epic journey in support of the band's "Monotheist" album with two co-headline concerts in Mexico. The "Monotheist" tour began in Switzerland on May 29, 2006, and Celtic Frost will play the final two concerts of the tour at Circo Volador in Mexico City on August 10, 2007, and Cafe Iguana in Monterrey on August 11, 2007. The co-headliner for both shows will be Amon Amarth. These concerts will be Celtic Frost's first ever in Mexico, signifying the fulfillment of a long-held ambition. Celtic Frost are very proud to finally play for the band's Mexican fans, many of whom have already come to Celtic Frost shows all over the world.

Celtic Frost have just returned to Europe from playing their first concerts in Australia, and the band has now begun appearing at a number of Europe's summer festivals. As is the case with Mexico, playing live for Australian audiences has been an ambition ever since Celtic Frost released their first few albums, and Celtic Frost feel grateful and proud about the extremely favorable reactions by both fans and media down under.

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New Australian Metal Scene Documentary In Making

Brutal Australia is a documentary into the contemporary Australian metal scene. The projects' myspace page discusses Brutal Australia:

"The heavy music scene has undergone a massive transformation in recent years with an influx of amazing bands, new styles, a new image and an incredible level of acceptance. Now is Australia’s time! The revolution has begun! What were once just a bunch of underground bands rocking out to an empty room at their local pub are now outselling some of Australia's biggest pop stars in both ticket and album sales. Brutal Australia is an in depth documentary showing the scene from the bands perspective, with interviews from the most influential Metal, Hardcore, Metalcore, Hard Rock, Death Metal and Tech bands in the country. This film is a must see for not only all heavy music fans, but also those that may not understand the music, the people or the lifestyle."

Directed by Will Gaffney and produced by Raw Sound Industries, Brutal Australia will see release sometime in November of this year, and will feature Parkway Drive, I Killed The Prom Queen, Sunk Loto, Karnivool, Daysend, Psycroptic, and Five Star Prison Cell. You can visit the projects' Myspace page or Brutal Australia's offical website for more information.

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Watch The Sword Perform "Freya" Online

Another live video of Austin-based THE SWORD has been posted online at the Underground Video Television (UVTV) Website. This clip is for their track “Freya,” which was filmed at The Palladium in Worcester, MA when they were on tour with IN FLAMES and LACUNA COIL.

THE SWORD's debut album "Age of Winters", was released in February 2006 via New York City's Kemado Records.

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