Chthonic Ready Fourth Album, "Seediqbale"

Taiwan’s biggest metal export, the symphonic black metal band Chthonic, will release its fourth album, “Seediqbale,” on October 3 through Down Port Music/RED.

The weepy sounds of the er-hu, a two-string violin that dates back to Tang dynasty (618-907), gives Chthonic’s music an ethnic flare while adding another eerie layer to the band’s sounds of strife and tragedy.

“The Oriental two-string Violin is a common traditional instrument in many Eastern Asian countries like Taiwan, Korea, China, Hong-Kong, and Singapore,” said vocalist Freddy. “What is special about it is its plaintive, sad tone. I decided to learn from a traditional musician and started to play it in Chthonic’s music.”

Chthonic has stirred up controversy in the past with its strong Taiwanese pro-independence stance, which has been the focus of much of the band’s past material. In keeping with its culturally-inspired concepts, “Seediqbale” reaches further back into Taiwanese history to the legend of the Seediq and its struggle with Japan over land and religion.

Like two of the band’s previous albums, “Seediqbale” was recorded at Borsing Recordings in Denmark. “When Chthonic was formed in 1996, there was no extreme metal scene in Taiwan, not to mention the studios capable of producing this kind of music,” said Freddy. “So when we were prepared for our first album, we compared some of the black metal albums we had and chose Illdisposed’s album, because we liked its recording quality. Then we hooked up with the studio that recorded that album and became good friends with the boss, Jan Borsing. He has been working with us since then, including in some big live concerts in Taipei as our sound engineer.”

Hailing from a country with a little-known metal scene, Chthonic has gained national attention in its native land where it was awarded “Best Rock Group” at the 14th Annual Golden Melody Awards, the Eastern Asian equivalent of a Grammy. The award was presented to the band by none other than the country’s President Chen Shui-bian. “Music is more powerful, more moving than politicians,” the President said before the band joined him on stage.

The group capped off that momentous year by playing the annual New Year’s Eve live, nationally broadcasted concert in front of President’s Hall and the release of the band’s Mandarin theme for the 21st Century Fox Taiwan release of “Freddy vs. Jason.”

Chthnonic’s previous albums. “Where the Ancestors’ Souls Gathered,” “9th Empyrean,” and “Relentless Recurrence,” have been recorded in both Mandarin and English.

The group made its United States debut at the 2002 Metal Meltdown festival and returned that year for a performance at the Milwaukee Metalfest.

1 Comment - Discuss

Mnemic Take On Sartre and Nietzsche With New Album

Denmark's self-professed "fusion future metal" band MNEMIC have named their upcoming third studio album Passenger, which is scheduled for release in Europe on February 2nd and in North America on February 6th.

In regards to the potent lyrical content, MNEMIC guitarist Mircea states:

"It's thematically built around the meaning of existence, or in other words, the philosophy of Existentialism. There are several philosophical positions - one of them being the value and meaning of the world around the individual, and the other is that Existentialism is often associated with anxiety, dread, awareness of death, and freedom. We chose this subject and theme mainly because it's so vast, and second, because we have always been big fans of Stanly Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" movie. We wanted to do something like that, just with music and lyrics."

Produced by MNEMIC, Fear Factory's Christian Olde Wolbers, and Warren Riker (Down, Crowbar, The Fugees) at Track Record Studios (Kiss, Megadeth, Aerosmith) in Los Angeles and mixed by fellow countryman Tue Madsen (Halford, The Haunted) at Antfarm Studios in Denmark, 2007's Passenger will feature guest vocal appearances by Jeff Walker (Carcass, Brujeria) and Shane Embury (Napalm Death, Brujeria) and artwork by Asterik Studios (Anthrax, Unearth).

The tracklisting for Passenger is as follows:

01. Humanaut
02. In The Nothingness Black
03. Meaningless
04. Psykorgasm
05. Pigfuck
06. In Control
07. Electric I'd Hypocrisy
08. Stuck Here
09. What's Left
10. Shape Of The Formless
11. The Eye On Your Back
Japanese Bonus Track: Zero Synchronized

MNEMIC are currently preparing to shoot a video for "Meaningless" at Revolver Studios in Gothenberg, Sweden with Revolver Film director Patric Ullaeus. The band's new lead vocalist, Guillaume, will make his live North American debut on the upcoming tour with labelmates Soilwork and Threat Signal plus Darkest Hour. The band will also debut "Shape Of The Formless" off the new album.

Photos from Passenger's recording session can be viewed here. You can hear some of MNEMIC's material on their MySpace page.

Tour dates for "The Last Stab" tour, which launches in Virginia on October 5th are as follows: More...

Read more...  |  0 Comments - Discuss

Crematorium To Tour With Misery Index

Los Angeles murdercore innovators CREMATORIUM will embark on a two-week touring schedule supporting Misery Index. The two bands will be joined up by Blessing The Hogs and Fuck The Facts along the way. CREMATORIUM is continuing to support the band's most recent release, 2005's The Process Endtime, but is continuing to play a handful of new songs from what will be the band's next album.

CREMATORIUM tour dates follow: More...

Read more...  |  1 Comment - Discuss

Too Pure To Die, Stick To Your Guns Tour Dates

Too Pure To Die, The Burning Season, and Stick To Your Guns will tour the U.S. starting in late-October. Here are the tour dates:

10/27 Philadelphia, PA @ The Boiler Room
10/28 Fredericksburg, VA @ KC's w/ Remembering Never, Despised Icon, more
10/29 Chicopee, MA @ Cabot St Pub
10/30 Long Island, NY @ Village Pub South
10/31 Hamden, CT @ Italian American Club
11/1 Rochester, NY @ Montage
11/2 Annapolis, MD @ Knights of Columbus
11/3 Virginia Beach, VA @ Peppermint Beach Club
11/4 Augusta, GA @ Sector 7G
11/5 Cartersville, GA @ House of Rock
11/6 Orlando, FL @ Backbooth w/ Nervous Breakdown
11/7 Clearwater, FL @ 688 Skatepark w/ Nervous Breakdown
11/8 Pensacola, FL @ Sluggo's w/ Nervous Breakdown
11/9 Baton Rouge, LA @ The Darkroom

dates w/ As Blood Runs Black
11/10 San Antonio, TX @ The White Rabbit
11/11 Corpus Christi, TX @ The Underground
11/12 Houston, TX @ Java Jazz
11/13 Lubbock, TX @ Winchester Pavilion
11/14 El Paso, TX @ Chic's Bar
11/15 Phoenix, AZ @ Big Fish Pub
11/16 Las Vegas, NV @ Leatherneck's
11/17 Rialto, CA @ The Rialto Theatre
11/18 Ventura, CA @ Alpine
11/19 Anaheim, CA @ Chain Reaction
11/20 Los Angeles, CA @ The Whisky a GoGo
11/21 Bakersfield, CA @ Jerry's Pizza
11/22 Victorville, CA @ Trilogy Theatre
11/24 Salinas, CA @ End Zone Pizza
11/25 Roseville, CA @ The Underground
11/26 Boise, ID @ The Point

dates w/ Solidarity
11/27 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Ritz Club
11/28 Aurora, CO @ Hubba's Pub
11/29 Omaha, NE @ The Rock
12/1 Des Moines, IA @ House of Bricks
12/2 Minneapolis, MN @ The Toybox
12/3 Menomonee Falls, WI @ Orchard Inn
12/4 Lake Station, IN @ TBA
12/5 Detroit, MI @ The Modern Exchange

0 Comments - Discuss

Puscifer Set Date For Launch Of Official Website

Maynard James Keenan, of Tool and A Perfect Circle notoriety, has another project in the works; in an outfit known simply as Puscifer, Keenan lets his creative juices flow unhindered. Maynard, and special guests he works with on any particular song, are just getting the project off the ground, with only a few songs yet done, one of which, Rev 22:20, was featured on the Underworld soundtrack. Now Puscifer is announcing the launch of its official corner of the web, www.puscifer.com, which will open its gates to the world on October 13th. Head along to check out the latest in Puscifer news, hear the project's musical offerings, and even purchase some brand new Puscifer merchandise.

11 Comments - Discuss

DevilDriver's Special Edition Of FotMH Details

As previously reported, DevilDriver is planning a special edition of "The Fury Of Our Maker's Hand." It hits stores on October 31. The full tracklisting is as follows:

The Fury Of Our Maker's Hand (Special Edition)

Disc 1: CD
End Of The Line
Driving Down The Darkness
Grinfucked
Hold Back The Day
Sin & Sacrifice
Ripped Apart
Pale Horse Apocalypse
Just Run
Impending Disaster
Bear Witness Unto
Before The Hangman's Noose
The Fury Of Our Maker's Hand
Unlucky 13
Guilty As Sin
Digging Up Corpses
I Could Care Less (Live)
Hold Back The Day (Live)
Ripped Apart (Live)

Unlucky 13 and Guilty As Sin are extra tracks recorded during the sessions for The Fury Of Our Maker's Hand.

Digging Up The Corpses is an outake from the first, self-titled DevilDriver album.

The 3 live tracks (mixed by Andy Sneap) were recorded on tour in support of The Fury Of Our Maker's Hand.

Disc 2: DVD Featuring The Music Videos For
End Of The Line
Hold Back The Day
I Could Care Less
Nothings Wrong?

DevilDriver's The Fury Of Our Maker's Hand (Special Edition) hits stores on October 31. You can view the cover art for it here.

3 Comments - Discuss

Interview

Interview With Dawn Of Correction's Giulio Kitao

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's DAWN OF CORRECTION have been simply tearing it up this year on their local club scene, mainly on the stage of a well known venue like The Trocadero. This group is clearly one of those throwback-type metal bands that pays homage to the bands from the past that inspired the music they now make, namely bands such as, Savatage, Mercyful Fate, Overkill, Venom and Armored Saint. They have recently recruited a second guitar player, Giulio Kitao, who kindly enough took some time out with me to conduct this interview. More...

Read more...  |  0 Comments - Discuss

Download Gojira's Cover of Metallica's "Escape"

French Metallica fan site Metal Monster has uploaded GOJIRA's cover version of the classic Metallica song "Escape" here.

GOJIRA are currently on tour with Children of Bodom, Amon Amarth, Sanctity: More...

Read more...  |  9 Comments - Discuss

Coalesce Guitarist Forms New Project

Jes Steineger, former guitarist of Coalesce, has reportedly started a new project titled ~. Officially speaking, the project aims "to marry much of the coalesce sound to a late eighties-early nineties industrial sound, all under the pretext of a philosophical investigation into the role of negation in autobiography, the event of estrangement, and the lack of being of both evil and transcendence" (whatever that means). Steineger hopes to release a new full-length by late-Summer 2007.

0 Comments - Discuss