Confession Posts Demos From Upcoming Debut EP

After their final tour together in March, ex-members of I Killed The Prom Queen have joined forces with current members of 50 Lions to form Melbourne's latest sensation, Confession. The new band have just completed recording their debut EP, 'Can't Live, Can't Breathe,' and are going out on tour next month with Deez Nuts. 'Can't Live, Can't Breathe' is set to hit store shelves on October 11th. For now, you can hear the demo tracks, which have been posted on the bands Myspace page.

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Primordial Vocalist Checks In

Alan A. Nemtheanga, vocalist of progressive Irish metallers Primordial has recently checked in via the bands Myspace account, giving his own thoughts on the recent outbreak of conflict between Russia and Georgia.

"I've been watching this morning this escalating and impending conflict in South Ossetia in Georgia between Russia and the Georgians with a heavy heart.

"It bears all the hallmarks of another proxy war and battle of wills between a military resurgent Putin versus the UN and America. Despite the somewhat ficticious and almost legendary Russian military might Georgia is a country of 4 million people who have claimed independence from the Soviet Union many years ago. The odds seem stacked against them.
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Arch Enemy Guitarist Speaks On Current Metal Scene

Arch Enemy guitarist Michael Ammot recently spoke with Metal-Rules.com. During the interview he gave his own opinions on the current metal scene and acts such as Bullet For My Valentine and Nightwish:

Metal-Rules.com: How much have you been following the Metal scene yourself what's 'hot' or 'in' these days, what kinds of things the media and people in general talk about?

Michael Amott: "Hype is hype, isn't it? I like what I like. I don't really follow it that closely. But now everything's 'Metal.' you know, that band's Metal, this band's Metal, but it doesn't really sound like Metal at all, it doesn't have the atmosphere of extreme Metal. I think people are just calling everything Metal now, they think NIGHTWISH is Metal (laughs). I mean, they're a great band, but they're not a Metal band. They have influences from Metal, but they have a lot of other things going on as well. Everybody is different, but now everything is Metal. NIGHTWISH is a bad example. A band like BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE, I wouldn't say is an out-and-out Metal band. I would say they have some influences from Metal, but I wouldn't say they're a Metal band. They have some stuff that's quite commercial, like pop orientated. I haven't heard their new album but I've seen stuff previously on MTV. I know here in Finland you have some bands that are kind of commercial but you could call them Metal. I don't think it's called Metal here, but when it's exported it is. I don't really know what Metal is anymore. To me, Metal is the stuff I grew up on. There's a certain kind of feeling I look for when I listen to Metal."

Read the full article at Metal-Rules.com.

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Ne Obliviscaris Announce Comeback Show

Ne Obliviscaris recently announced plans for a comeback show after a 15-month hiatus. The band's new lead guitarist, Benjamin Baret, will be playing his first gig with the band on the night. Baret recently moved to Australia from France to be part of Ne Obliviscaris. The show is set for the 4th of October, at the East Brunswick Club in Melbourne, and will feature special guests Be'lakor (in their only performance for the rest of 2008), and Sydney's incredible instrumental post/rock/metallers sleepmakeswaves.

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Metallica Posts More Studio Footage Online

Metallica have posted another two videos from the recording process of their new album, "Death Magnetic" online. You can watch the videos below.
The album was recently confirmed for a friday, September 12th release. More...

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Pod People Guitarist Speaks On New Album

Spiritech of PyroMusic recently interviewed Josh Nixon, guitarist for Australian doom metal/stoner rock act Pod People. The band has recently released their new album 'Mons Animae Mortuorum,' the follow-up to 2001's 'Doom Saloon'. Josh talked about the new record, its incredible artwork, and the band's place in the current metal scene. Some excerpts from the interview follow:

Spiritech: Why did you decide to go with this particular title?

Josh: We wanted the title to not be obvious for a couple of reasons. When you see the artwork, you will know why we called it what we did. It fits with the theme of the record, which is set on Mt Purgatory, in the second chapter of Dante's Divine Comedy, Purgatorio. Now while we went with Inferno for the theme on Doom Saloon, and we continue to use the imagery of the Divine Comedy on the cover of the second album, it is not a concept album trying to tell a literal version of the story. We are using it as a backdrop for songs that tie in with the themes the story is exploring, in this case, purging the seven deadly sins. So in trying to keep the theme consistent but not mislead people into thinking this is like a 70's concept album, we wanted a strong title that worked with the overall picture of the album. A Latin name was suggested and so I got in touch with a Latin educated colleague at my old job and I gave her a brief. She came up with some amazing titles, but they were usually far too long. Finally she gave us "Mons Animae Mortuorum" which is more accurately translated "the mountain, where the souls of the dead reside" and we were sold.

Spiritech: Awesome stuff. I caught you guys live back in May and you played a bunch of new songs, the majority of which were more doom-like and less stoner rock-esque than Doom Saloon. Was this the aim when you set out to write the album or just something that occurred naturally during the writing process?

Josh: The goal for me has always been to be heavier and over time we have evolved a denser sound. I think with Doom Saloon there were pretty distinct stoner sounding tunes and the doom ones stood out as a dynamic device on the record to break up the more mid-paced stuff and give the album some ebbs and flows. Aside from gravitating to heavier sounds on this record, the evolution of our songwriting is now more holistic in approach. On the last album you had a stoner song or a doom song, whereas now we combine the two influences in our own way so that we create the bastardised "stoom" or metallised stoner doom sound we make. There was definite intent on my part in riff writing to try and get an atmosphere of the songs to fit the story. Aside from the visceral punishment/purging aspect, the overarching message of Purgatory is contemplating the seven deadly sins on the terraces of purgation. Having that in the back of my mind has lead to a pretty heavy musical landscape.

Spiritech: Can you tell us more about the artist and the meaning behind the album art?

Josh: The artwork is like a map that shows the main narrative elements of the story and a layout of Mt Purgatory and the seven terraces of purgation. You have Dante and Virgil arriving on an angel powered boat, you have the seven P's which every soul or shade has placed on their foreheads to represent how many sins they have left to purge, with each advance up the mountain a P is removed. You have the Seven Deadly Sins and the tasks each shade must endure to remove the "p" for that sin. You have the proud carrying rocks to make them to bow to god and learn humility. Envy is purged when the shades have their eyes sewn shut, like a falconer does to an eagle with its hood to teach loyalty. The wrathful walk around in acrid smoke, Pod People's favourite terrace. Slothful are all like a congregation of lazy souls being forced to run around being super excited about god to the point of insanity. Avaricious shades are made to lay on their faces in submission to leave behind their wants for possessions. Gluttons are tempted being surrounded by food and water, but if they eat or drink it makes them starve and the water makes them parched. Lust is excess passion for the flesh being spiritually burnt away in flames. After the last "P" is removed from the forehead atop the mountain is the Garden of Eden. This represents a place that mankind was before sins- Adam and Eve prior to the Apple. Glenn is amazing. Utterly amazing and his overall album cover when you see it is just awesome.

Spiritech: You're well renowned for your variety of rock moves on stage. Do you have any exciting new ones that you've been practicing that you hope to unleash when touring for the new album?

Josh: Ha, um, they're all pretty improvised at the time. I kinda can't help what I do but there's certainly nothing planned out. For example, I don't intend on dislocating my kneecap and putting it back in before forging on with an hour set like I had to do in Melbourne once. I'm a dickhead and don't mind letting loose when we play- most people that have seen us are aware of that now, but there's no Fear Factory type rehearsed stage moves of markers to stand in the lights at certain times or anything like that!

Spiritech: You've been a part of the heavy music scene in this country for well over a decade and have seen its various rises and falls. How strong do you feel it is now and where do you think Pod People "fit" in a metal scene that can be more focused on chasing trends than the let's be honest- unfashionable- music that you guys make?

Josh: I am perfectly content with our place in the scheme of things. I have no expectations to buy fast cars, Lear jets, fingering the Veronicas at the ARIA after party and I don't like cocaine, I think it's a waste. So we're not really looking for the rock and roll band fantasy. The reason I am content is because I never expected when I joined Pod People to have Tom G Warrior tell you he was "honoured' to play with us- this is what I was supposed to say to him! I also never expected to be in a tour bus smoking cones with Jus Oborn or Danny Lilker. I didn't think that Cathedral would have us play with them on two tours and then put our album out. Really everything is gravy cause I would make these riffs and play anyway. The fact that so much cool stuff has happened for us without beating down doors and busting our ass is extremely satisfying for me musically and we all still enjoy playing. Now for example, yeah we played with Celtic Frost in Sydney. It cost us 140 bucks to hire the van and 80 bucks petrol. We were supposed to be paid 200 bucks and we never even got that. Now I know some bands that would still be chasing the 200 bucks. For me, I will remember turning around mid-set and seeing Tom getting into us on the side of the stage and a good 500 people out the front doing the same and I feel genuinely lucky. We'll get overseas, we'll do some bigger tours and the next album will be even better than this one. I'm confident in my writing and our direction, I don't expect it will make me rich, and as a result I feel richer for it.

Read the full article at PyroMusic.

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Onslaught Confirmed For Caosemergente Festival

Reunited British thrashers Onslaught have posted the following message online:

"Onslaught are proud to announce their appearance at Caosemergente Festival on Sunday, September 15th in Porto, Portugal. It's great news and very important for us to land a slot on this cool festival as we were so disappointed when the Lagoa Burning Live Festival' in Portugal was cancelled recently. Everyone had such an awesome time on our last visit and we just had to come back to and play once again. See you all real soon for a slaughter in the sun."

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Slipknot Posts Song Samples Online

Slipknot have posted ausio samples of every track from their forthcoming album "All Hope Is Gone" online. You can listen to them at this location.

The tracklisting for "All Hope Is Gone" is as follows:

"Execute"
"Gematria (The Killling Name)"
"Sulfur"
"Psychosocial"
"Dead Memories"
"Vendetta"
"Butcher's Hook"
"Gehenna"
"This Cold Black"
"Wherein Lies Continue"
"Snuff"
"All Hope Is Gone"

Special Edition bonus tracks: "Child Of Burning Times," "Vermilion Pt. 2 (Bloodstone Mix)" and "Til We Die".

The special edition of the album will also come with a bonus DVD featuring a 35 minute documentary on the making of the album in addition to the three bonus tracks.

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Metal Church Reveals Tracklisting For New Album

Metal Church is readying their new album, "This Present Wasteland" for a September 23 release via SPV/Steamhammer.

Here is track listing for "This Present Wasteland":

1. In the Company of Sorrow
2. Perfect Crime
3. Deeds of a Dead Soul
4. Meet Your Maker
5. Monster
6. Crawling to Extinction
7. War Never Won
8. Mass Hysteria
9. Breathe Again
10. Congregation

The current Metal Church lineup for this release is:

Ronny Munroe – Vocals
Kurdt Vanderhoof – Guitars
Rick Van Zandt – Guitars
Steve Unger – Bass
Jeff Plate – Drums

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Skinless Announces European Tour Dates

SKINLESS has announced a number of European tour dates in support of their latest release, "Trample The Weak, Hurdle The Dead."

The quartet will kick-off this week-long European trek on September 19th in Germany with an appearance at the NRW Deathfest. SKINLESS will also be appearing at the ZXZW Festival in the Netherlands during this run. A listing of confirmed SKINLESS tour dates can be found below.

SKINLESS will also be taking part in the New England Death Fest being held this weekend in Providence, RI. SKINLESS will headline the first day of the fest, Saturday August 9th, and label-mates DYING FETUS will headline the second day.

Here are the SKINLESS tour dates: More...

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Iron Maiden Speaks Out About Czech Train Crash

Iron Maiden issued the following statement on their website about a recent train crash in the Czech Republic:

"We have been contacted by Polish News TV about a tragic train crash earlier today on the line from Krakow, Poland to Prague involving a number of fatalities and many casualties. This apparently occurred near Ostrava in the Czech Republic.

"We are shocked and horrified at this news and wish to pass on our heartfelt condolences to the families of those who died and our best hopes and prayers for the rapid recovery of the many injured. Apparently there were many Polish and Czech Maiden fans on board on the way to tonight's concert at the Slavia Football Stadium in Prague, which is why we were contacted and informed of this by the Polish media. I will be discussing with the band how best to pay our respects at the concert tonight, a concert we are dedicating to all of those involved in this horrific incident. We hope that you fans will join us in praying for all those involved."

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Chaosweaver Splits With Guitarist

Finnish seven piece death metal band Chaosweaver has parted ways with guitarist and founding member Kole. The band issued the following statement on their MySpace page:

The founding member and guitarist Kole is no longer a member of Chaosweaver due to musical and personal differences. The band will continue as a six-piece - stronger than ever!

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Wulfgar Signs to Trollzorn

Swedish metallers, Wulfgar, have issued the following update regarding their signing to Trollzorn:

"Wulfgar are proud to anounce that we have inked a record deal with TROLLZORN. This includes 2 forthcoming albums with Wulfgar for you Vikings out there!"

"Trollzorn, Wulfgar and Nidavallen music will very, very soon present a new tune for you to listen too. Just stay tuned and you will hear the whole tune as we have a feast and celebrate, for this upcoming future with epic legends and sagas." More...

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