Fordirelifesake Writing For EP

Detroit's Fordirelifesake is currently in the process of writing material for a CDEP/DVD to be released by Volatile Recordings. The effort will feature the group's first new unreleased material since 2004 in addition to a DVD "compilation of old shows and fun stuff the band has done on tour." Meanwhile, the band is also preparing to record a new song for a split 7" with Frank White.

Finally, Fordirelifesake will hit the road later this month for a tour with Emarosa and Cry Of The Afflicted. Here are the tour dates:

8/26 Minneapolis, MN @ TBA
8/27 Milwaukee, WI @ Shorewood Legion Hall
8/28 Chicago, IL @ The Beat Kitchen
8/29 Flint, MI @ East of Averill
8/30 Roseville, MI @ Myspace Cafe
8/31 London, ON @ The Embassy
9/1 Brampton, ON @ Mocha Cafe
9/2 St. Catherines, ON @ I 3 Night Club
9/3 Hamilton, ON @ The Underground
9/4 Glenville, NY @ Good Shepard Lutheran Church
9/7 Pompton Lakes, NJ @ Main Stage
9/8 Pittsburgh, PA @ The School
9/9 Indiana, PA @ Chevy Chase Community Center

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Acacia Strain Guitarist Sidelined By Spider Bite

The Acacia Strain recently canceled several shows after guitarist was bitten by a brown recluse spider. Here's statement from singer, Vincent Bennett:

"I'm sure a lot of you have heard that we had to cancel the last day of Sounds of the Underground and our last couple of shows because DL got bit by a poisonous spider. DL is not dead, so you can squash that rumor. He got bit by a brown recluse, you can read all about it here. Basically, it's a spider whose venom rots skin. If it isn't treated in enough time the bite victim can rot completely from the inside. The doctors said if we had waited two more days DL would have been legless, or dead. But he's, ok. Ok?"

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With Passion to Play Last Show

With Passion have issued the following update on their myspace page:

"Yes, it's true. Sept. 22 is planned to be the last show we ever play as With Passion. Many of you seem very upset by this, but it is for the best and I will explain why...

We have been struggling to keep afloat in the music for at least 2 yrs now. We had high hopes that our new album would pull us out of that struggle, but instead it happened that our album was released with less than expected promo and distro and we ended up unable to even get on the road to support it. We have decided to cut our losses. Many of you are fans of our other/previous band Conducting From The Grave. John, Greg, and I have decided that we should continue again as CFTG and Steven will be joining us on bass. Former vocalist of CFTG, Drew, will be completing the line-up for the band. Fidel will also be returning to his previous band, Cyanide Era. We are now writing new material for Conducting From The Grave that should be posted online within the next couple months. We all believe that this decision is in our best interest as musicians and in our fans' best interest as well. We appreciate all of your support and we hope that all of you will continue to support us in these other musical projects."

"In summation, it seemed that two years ago when us CFTG dudes joined with Shaun and Mike that it was the best idea to solve both CFTG and With Passion's line up changes, but now since they have both quit and nothing is working out for us as far as tours and album promotion, it seems that this is the right time to let the name With Passion die. We will still continue to write metal together as Conducting From the Grave and play locally, but we don't plan on touring anytime soon. It's been good times and we appreciate all the support anyone has given to us and any previous line up of this band, and we hope to see as many of you at our last show as possible."

"-Jeff"

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Insidious Decrepancy Sign To Brutal Bands

Brutal Bands has finalized a multi-album contract with Texas death metal act INSIDIOUS DECREPANCY. Past releases include “Decadent Orgy of Atrocious Suffering” through TXDM Underground, along with it’s re-release and “The Inerrancy of Profanation” through Unmatched Brutality Records. The first release through Brutal Bands will be a DVD entitled “Texas Tormenting Tokyo 2005” scheduled for a late September 2007 release date, and then a full length CD entitled “Extirpating Omniscient Certitude” in early 2008.

Scott Ellingboe of Brutal Bands had this to say: “I remember my first time seeing INSIDIOUS DECREPANCY at the Ohio Deathfest 2002. Since then Shawn has taken this band to new heights through extensive fest performances, touring, along with a couple of releases under his belt. I’m really excited to add INSIDIOUS DECREPANCY to our roster, and I look forward to hearing what Shawn says will be the most technical and brutal INSIDIOUS DECREPANCY CD yet.” More...

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Dysrythmia In Writing Mode

Philadelphia's progressive instrumental trio DYSRHYTHMIA has issued the following update:

"Our new split CD with [U.K.'s] ROTHKO titled 'Fractures' comes out August 28 on Acerbic Noise Developement Records. You can pre-order it here (along with the new shirt design as well) as well as listen to a clip of our track.

"We've been spending the summer writing for the next record. So far three songs are completed and two others are started. We'll begin playing out again this fall. A brief tour is in the works for the New York / Ohio / Michigan area October 5-13. A more extensive tour probably won't happen until the winter." More...

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Celtic Frost Confirm Mexican Make Up Dates

Celtic Frost have announced that they will make up the previously cancelled Mexican shows on the following dates

Date: October 12, 2007
Location: Mexico City, Mexico
Venue: Circo Volador

Date: October 13, 2007
Location: Monterrey, Mexico
Venue: Cafe Iguana

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Stone Sour Guitarist Talks Touring And Success

Dustin Schoof of The Express-Times recently conducted an interview with STONE SOUR guitarist Josh Rand. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

On touring:

"I went through all of Europe seven times, got to go to Japan twice. For the next tour, we'll probably go to South America. It's pretty amazing to have it be your job and get paid to do it. I think a lot of people in the industry take it for granted."

On the success of the band's latest effort, "Come What(ever) May":

"It's surpassed the (first album). We've grown as a band that it has made our fan base bigger is even cooler. We've worked our butts off and it's kind of like being rewarded for staying true to what we do."

On STONE SOUR's breakthrough in 2002 when frontman Corey Taylor's acoustic ballad "Bother" appeared on the "Spider-Man" soundtrack and became an overnight hit:

"The band at the time was still putting (the first album) together and Corey got approached by (RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist) Tom Morello's wife, who was putting the soundtrack together. Corey's a huge Spider-Man fan, and she called him up to see if he wanted to submit a track. He only had three days to do it, so he ran and did it by himself. We loved it and carried it over for our first album."

On whether the band was worried about alienating SLIPKNOT fans when it came to crafting STONE SOUR's more melodic hard-rock sound:

"Honestly, going into it, Corey thought there was going to be super backlash listen, whether it's hard rock, country, rap — at the end of the day, everybody likes certain things. Something about certain songs pulls them in. For us, that's what it was about. For him, it was a different way of expressing himself, something he couldn't do in SLIPKNOT. The three of us (Rand, Taylor and guitarist Jim Root) were friends before we could play anything. We've always written stuff and that's how it all came together. The band became an outlet for him and became way more than anybody thought it would."

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Overkill Cancel Festival Performance

According to Metalhead.ro, OVERKILL's appearance at the Maximum Rock Festival, which is taking place August 10-12 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, has been cancelled due to bad weather. A heavy rain hit the open air festival and technical problems occured. The mixing board was wet and the band's technicians said they were not touching it. Although the members of the group got to Cluj-Napoca, they didn't play but signed autographs for the fans.

A limited-edition version of OVERKILL's new album, "Immortalis", will include a bonus DVD containing footage from the band's August 2, 2007 performance at the Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany. More information will be made available soon.

As previously reported, Bodog Music has set an October 9 release date for "Immortalis". The group's collaboration with Bodog reunites OVERKILL with Jonny and Marsha Zazula, previous owners of Megaforce Records, the label responsible for putting metal on the map and bringing OVERKILL's New Jersey thrash metal to the world. The Zazulas are now a part of the Bodog Music team in the United States.

Since forming in 1980, OVERKILL has put out over 20 albums. Despite various lineup changes, the band has never gone on hiatus and has continued to stay true to the metal genre it helped create. With Megaforce Records and their management company, CraZed Management, the Zazulas were responsible for the early careers of such bands as METALLICA, ANTHRAX and MINISTRY, among many others.

The upcoming album and corresponding East Coast tour will feature OVERKILL's latest lineup, which along with Ellsworth, includes original bassist D.D. Verni, guitarists Derek "The Skull" Tailer and Dave Linsk, as well as the newest member to join the band, drummer Ron Lipnicki.

OVERKILL released three albums on Megaforce Records before making the jump to Atlantic Records where a string of critically lauded albums, including 1991's quintessential "Horroscope", solidified OVERKILL as one of the best metal bands of all time. In the past few years, the band has released such gems as "Killbox 13" (2003) and "ReliXIV" (2005).

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Guns N' Roses Guitarist To Do Meet And Greet

According to HereTodayGoneToHell.com, GUNS N' ROSES guitarist Bumblefoot will appear at this year's Locobazooka, which takes place on September 9th at the Tweeter Center in Mansfield, MA. The following press release has been issued:

"Bald Freak Music invades Locobazooka! 2007, an all-day all ages rock music festival featuring over 50 national and local artists, Sunday, September 9th, including our own SWASHBUCKLE, plus a special guitar clinic and meet-and-greet with Bumblefoot.

General Admission tickets get you access to all the performances, including headliners HEAVEN AND HELL, ALICE COOPER, QUEENSRYCHE, and SHADOWS FALL. Purchase a ticket from us for only $49.99, and come visit us at the Bald Freak booth to meet Bumblefoot and Swashbuckle.

Plus, we'll include in a copy of Bumblefoot's Normal or Swashbuckle's Crewed By The Damned (your choice) with every ticket purchased!

Tickets available at www.baldfreak.com/store-usa.htm."

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Immortal Prepare For Final 2007 Shows

Reunited Norwegian black metal legends IMMORTAL have issued the following update:

"After the 7 Dates Of Blashyrkh have come to an end with a triumphant performance at Wacken Open Air, IMMORTAL announces three final shows exclusively for Norway in 2007, before the band starts concentrating on the long-awaited next studio album.

"IMMORTAL will headline the Hole In The Sky festival in Bergen on August 25. This will be the first show in their hometown in seven years! October 6, the band will headline the Motstøy festival in Notodden, which is open even for those under 18, and October 20, the band will play their first ever show in Trondheim, during UKA-07.

"The battles rages on — see you at these final shows of 2007!"

They will finish their touring with these shows:

Aug. 25 - Bergen, Norway - Hole In The Sky
Oct. 06 - Notodden, Norway - Motstøy Festivalen
Oct. 20 - Trondheim, Norway – UKA-07 Studentersamfundet

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SOAD Frontman Discusses New Album

SYSTEM OF A DOWN frontman Serj Tankian recently spoke to Kerrang! magazine about his forthcoming solo album, "Elect the Dead", due out October 23 via Serjical Strike/Reprise Records.

Serj: "It's definitely a rock record," explained Tankian. "It's a moving album with lots of up's and down, starts and stops and tempo changes. It's depressing but it's uplifting, it's jazzy but it rocks. Making it felt similar to making the first SYSTEM record — I felt the exact same energy, that sense of open experimentation, the idea that 'Wow, I'm actually doing this…' I was living, eating and shitting this music every day. I'd wake up in the morning and the thought of working on a song was so powerful I couldn't focus on anything else."

Kerrang!: What can listeners expect from the album?

Serj: "Well, it doesn't sound like anything I've heard before, even SYSTEM. Maybe there are the odd similarities on the heavier moments, which are inevitable because of my voice, or maybe within the politics of the lyrics of a song such as 'The Unthinking Majority'. But even then, the music is more trippy. I originally wanted to call the album 'The Flying Cunts of Chaos' but strangely everyone discouraged me…"

Kerrang!: Have you always wanted to do a solo record?

Serj: "Yes. But it's funny though because I came to music late, so I never expected to have a career in music. My parents tried to convince to take up an instrument as a kid and my Dad is a beautiful, beautiful singer — my voice is shit compared to his. They bought me a guitar that I never played because I was always more into my studies. Then in college something switched inside of me, I took up the keyboard and I went at it like someone who has never eaten before who has suddenly been presented with unlimited food. I went nuts for music. And now here I am making a solo record…"

Kerrang!: Have you found working alone to be a liberating experience?

Serj: "Absolutely. With SYSTEM you're working towards a common shared goal and you're utilizing four different energies that you wouldn't by yourself. For example, Daron (Malakian, guitarist) would want to bring in his own songs and have a certain amount of control and all of that stuff. So there are always varying opinions, tastes and decision-making capabilities to consider and we have done that with five albums over ten years, but now I'm able to do something that I don't have to compromise on at all. Not that SYSTEM OF A DOWN have ever been a compromising band of course, it's just that there are four opinions to consider, whereas I feel now that the sky is the limit. I feel this album has no barriers between the listener and me. It's more direct."

Kerrang!: Is it also true you have recently legally become a citizen of new zealand?

Serj: "Yes, after recording the album I withdrew and took off there for three months, which I had to do to gain citizenship. I'm such a crazy workaholic that it was hard stepping away from my work in L.A., but it was great because it allowed me to reflect. It made me think 'Wow man, I have this amazing life'. To be able to have made a lot of my dreams come true is amazing and from here on in it's all gravy. I get to do what I want to do my way without compromise or negotiation. It's a greater position of strength than I've ever had and listening to the record now it feels like a fun trip!"

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Within Temptation Vocalist Talks About New Album

Chad Bowar from About Heavy Metal recently conducted an interview with WITHIN TEMPTATION vocalist Sharon den Adel. Here are some extracts from the conversation:

Chad Bowar: What has the response been in the United States to "The Heart Of Everything"?

Sharon den Adel: "We toured in the U.S. a few months ago and we didn't know what to expect when we went over there. We were a support act for LACUNA COIL. A lot of people came to see us even though we only played for 45 minutes. People came from Atlanta to Louisville, which is a really long drive. I was really amazed that so many people came to see us and already knew the music. It was really cool. A lot of them got to know us through MySpace. I think in Europe we underestimate MySpace. It's a lot bigger in the U.S. than here. That's how a lot of people got in contact with us. We were very surprised."

Chad Bowar: Every WITHIN TEMPTATION album has a different vibe and theme. How would you describe "The Heart Of Everything"?

Sharon den Adel: "We have been inspired by movies and books and, of course, our personal lives. It's about what an individual finds important in life. You have to make choices. It's about the journey toward those choices. If you were to ask me what's important in my life, I would say family, my health, that type of thing. But this is not to tell people what is good in my life, but to ask questions and search for what is good in life. That's why Lady Justice is on the album cover, weighing choices and hopefully making the right choices."

Chad Bowar: You signed with Roadrunner Records. Was the fact that your albums will now be released in the United States part of that decision?

Sharon den Adel: "We have been around for some time and have been doing quite well in Europe. That is why America started noticing us, and that's why we got the deal with Roadrunner. They noticed us and thought we might be a good band for them to release in America. That's the way it happened. It was nice coming to America. It's such a different culture. It's another exciting journey."

Chad Bowar: You're coming back to the U.S. for a tour later this fall.

Sharon den Adel: "We wanted to come back to America to play a headline show. We had so many good reactions after we played there and were approached by the promoter to come back."

Chad Bowar: Have you had any formal vocal training?

Sharon den Adel: "No. But I think I did it the way people do when they are trained. I practiced every day. I was singing three or four hours every day. I grew up with parents who loved music and there was always music in our house. When I heard a song I liked I would rehearse until I could sing it the same way it was supposed to be. It was a challenge for me to be able to sing the songs I really liked. I trained myself that way."

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Sepultura Guitarist Checks In From Spain

SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser has posted this message on his MySpace page:

"Ola. After the gig in Belgium we went to Holland. The two shows were really good; they were the only gigs we did on those countries, all sold out! We left Holland to a long trip till Spain, more precisely in Huesca, Aragon. We arrived a day before the show, had the day off and I went for a walk. I found a little church, Santa Maria de Salas, away from the city. It's a church many pilgrims visit when they follow the Santigo's Way, which is very close. The little road was very calm and I walked and observed all the beautiful nature around, in peace with myself, meditating and reflecting on life. It was a awesome meditation away from the urban chaos.

The next day we had the Sepularmy party with the soccer game. They had nice uniforms for both teams and a field with artificial grass, very nice! It was a great game where SEPULTURA won 6 to 5 against the Sepularmies. Later on the day we had the concert where everybody singed and screamed with us, great show.

Thank you very much Javier, Pedro, Portuga, Gorka and family, KSK and all at the Sepularmy who made this day very special for us. RISE, RISE, SEPULNATION!

Later,

A.Kisser"

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