Label Seeking Unsigned Christian Rock/Metal Bands

Nationally-distributed rock label Versailles Records is seeking up and coming, unsigned, and established Christian/religious rock and metal bands of all types for forthcoming compilation focused on and marketed to the Christian Rock/Metal Community. Each participating band will recieve a pic and bio in the cd booklet, as well as 20 promos of the CD. Please include a myspace or related web link with any inquiry. Please email religiousrock@yahoo.com for further information and consideration for inclusion.

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Watch Video Footage From Guitar Institute Event

Some post-show video coverage of the Metal Hammer-sponsored Guitar Institute (part of London, England's Institute of Contemporary Music Performance) event that took place August 18-19 is now online here, including SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser's exclusive clinic and footage of Pin & Dan of Sikth. You can view the footage online here.

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Ozzy Osbourne And Rob Zombie Tour Dates Announced

OZZY OSBOURNE returns to the road October 18 in Seattle, WA for a massive 40-show North American fall tour in support of "Black Rain" — his critically acclaimed first album of new studio material in six years — with special guest ROB ZOMBIE. General ticket on-sales start Friday, September 14. Confirmed dates are as follows:

Oct. 18 - Seattle, WA - KeyArena
Oct. 20 - Vancouver, BC - GM Place
Oct. 22 - Edmonton, AB - Rexall Place
Oct. 24 - Saskatoon, SK - Credit Union Centre
Oct. 27 - Winnipeg, MB - MTS Centre
Oct. 29 - Fargo, ND - Fargodome
Oct. 31 - Minneapolis, MN - Target Center
Nov. 02 - Des Moines, IA - Veterans Memorial Auditorium
Nov. 04 - Sioux City, IA - Gateway Arena
Nov. 06 - Rapid City, SD - Rushmore Plaza Civic Center
Nov. 09 - Billings, MT - MetraPark Arena
Nov. 11 - Salt Lake City, UT - The E-Center
Nov. 14 - Portland, OR - Rose Garden
Nov. 16 - Stockton, CA - Stockton Arena
Nov. 18 - Oakland, CA - ORACLE Arena
Nov. 20 - San Diego, CA - San Diego Sports Arena
Nov. 24 - Las Vegas, NV - The Joint
Nov. 26 - Bakersfield, CA - Rabobank Arena
Nov. 28 - Glendale, AZ - Jobing.com Arena
Nov. 30 - Los Angeles, CA - STAPLES Center
Dec. 04 - Denver, CO - Pepsi Center
Dec. 06 - Oklahoma City, OK - Ford Center
Dec. 08 - Wichita, KS - Kansas Coliseum
Dec. 11 - Kansas City, MO - Sprint Center
Dec. 13 - Milwaukee, WI - Bradley Center
Dec. 16 - Chicago, IL - Allstate Arena
Dec. 18 - Detroit, MI - Joe Louis Arena
Dec. 20 - Pittsburgh, PA - Mellon Arena
Dec. 22 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden
Jan. 03 - Portland, ME - Cumberland County Civic Center
Jan. 05 - Washington, DC - Verizon Center
Jan. 08 - Worcester, MA - DCU Center
Jan. 10 - Philadelphia, PA - Wachovia Spectrum
Jan. 14 - Quebec City, QC - Colisée Pepsi Arena
Jan. 16 - Montreal, QC - Bell Centre
Jan. 19 - London, ON - John Labatt Centre
Jan. 21 - Toronto, ON - Air Canada Centre
Jan. 24 - Cleveland, OH - Quicken Loans Arena

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Rob Zombie Rethinks Halloween Plans

World Entertainment News Network reports: Rob Zombie is hoping to scale down his family's Halloween festivities next month after more than 1,000 kids trick or treated his home in 2006.

Zombie was shooting the "Halloween" remake last year when the spookiest night of the year came around — and kids from all over his neighborhood decided his home was a must-call.

He recalls, "We live in a neighborhood that is so trick-or-treat-heavy it's mind-boggling. Last year we had over 1,000 trick-or-treaters. We always run out of candy, so last year we had a garbage pail full of candy — that went! Now we keep count because, after 1,000 kids, we were done. It just turned into a job. Kids were coming from all these other neighborhoods, so I gave up. It was just too stressful."

Zombie is convinced his hit new horror film will make masked villain Michael Myers all the rage this year.

He adds, "I dressed up as Michael Myers for Halloween last year and every single person was like, 'Oh shit, Michael Myers.' He's like Ronald McDonald or something. Kids just love Michael Myers."

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Iced Earth Mainman Inks Endorsement Deal

ICED EARTH mainman on Schaffer has issued the following update:

"Well, recently a dream of mine came true. I’m now officially a Gibson Guitars endorsed artist.

This is the only guitar that I’ve used on every Iced Earth studio album and I’ve been an absolute Gibson addict for years. As many of you know, I’ve played 99% of every guitar part ever played on an Iced Earth recording. With the exception of a few guitar solos, I’ve recorded every rhythm, lead, clean and acoustic guitar part that you’ve ever heard from the band. All of those parts, with a very few exceptions, have been with a varying axe from the arsenal of my prized Gibson Guitars. It's because for my style there isn't a guitar out there that comes close in terms of tone, tightness and shear power. If you're a serious player, I highly recommend that you experience the power and focus of a Gibson Les Paul, Explorer, SG, etc. They all rule and they all can handle the speed and precision of brutal metal riffing, where most others fail to handle it. I've been saying it for years, even when I wasn't endorsed, there is no better, not even close.

So, for me to be an artist with the company that endorses JIMMY PAGE, ACE FREHLEY, ZAKK WYLDE, BB KING, JOHNNY A, PETE TOWNSEND, WARREN HAINES, etc., is truly a highlight of my career.

I have one of my very best friends to thank for this. A lot of you are familiar with my friendship with Blind Guardian for nearly 20 years now. I received an email from Marcus Siepen, guitarist for Blind Guardian, a few weeks before we did the Wacken Open Air festival. In that mail he stated that the guys at Gibson wanted to get in touch with me to talk about a deal. Marcus is a Gibson addict as well and we’ve often dreamt of being with them through the years. He told me that he had recently hooked up with them and that they were interested in me as well and wanted to meet at the festival. I was completely blown away and really excited about meeting them.

I met with Alex Becker from Gibson and we hit it off instantly, as he shares the same passion I do for these amazing instruments. From that point on I’ve entered into a deal that I expect will last a lifetime. I’ve been playing their guitars for over 20 years and Gibson is the only company that I would ever consider being exclusive with, I love their guitars that much.

We have some pretty exciting things planned for the future and we will keep you posted at www.icedearth.com for info on upcoming news. I want to thank Alex and Ulf from Gibson and I look forward to years of working together. This is truly a dream come true for me.

Take care all, and remember, Armageddon is coming......... real soon!"

Framing Armageddon is due for release in Germany on September 7th, all of Europe on September 10th, and on September 11th in North America via SPV.

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Children Of Bodom Finished Seven Songs For New CD

CHILDREN OF BODOM fan-site Scythes Of Bodom has received the following update from bassist Henkka T. Blacksmith:

"Up to now, the band has seven finished songs and they will enter a studio in the second week in October to record the album. The plan is to record nine songs for the album and maybe even a tenth if the guys are satisfied with another song that is currently in the works. Most likely 'Tie My Rope' will be re-recorded and the band is planning to record three or four cover songs which are already confirmed. This doesn't mean that all of them will be featured on one album, but these songs will be used as bonus tracks for different areas and markets such as Japan for example.

Henkka also revealed a few working titles of the songs. The band uses simple working titles like 'Eka', 'Bläkkis', 'Trioli', 'Trabant', 'Uusin' (in English: 1. 'First', 2. 'Blacky', 3. 'Triplet', 4. 'Trabant', 5. 'Newest') during the songwriting process. Of course they shouldn't be taken seriously. It wasn't easy for Henkka to say how the songs sound like but he kept saying that he is very excited about the new material.

In addition he said that nobody should expect the second part of COB TV anytime soon because footage of the recording sessions in October will also be featured in it (of course only the lesser serious part of it). In reply to my question if the four recorded demo tracks, that the band recorded in May at Sonic Pump Studios, could be used as bonus tracks, Henkka answered that there are no plans for that. However, after thinking about it, he said that it wouldn't be a bad idea to use them for that if they sound much different than the final album versions.

Again Alexi (Laiho) made a guest appearance on the album of a Finnish band. He played a solo in the song 'Don't Come Back' on the album H8 of the metal band GODSPLAGUE. He's also featured with a few backing vocals on the album. The release date of it is September 5th.

After the official release date of the long awaited Unholy Alliance DVD has been set to October 30th, the tracklist has been revealed in the meantime. Children Of Bodom are only featured with two live songs: 'In Your Face' and 'Angels Don't Kill', so there's gonna be something fast and something slow. The DVD was filmed on last year's Unholy Alliance tour in Vancouver, Canada on July 13th."

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Meshuggah Cancels Tour With Dillinger Escape Plan

Trouble has been brewing with Meshuggah since the contract renewal with Nuclear Blast. In recent months their website fell into serious disrepair, and is now offline, and their MySpace stopped being maintained as well. Rumors flew that there were issues with the band until they announced an upcoming album and tour with Dillinger Escape Plan this fall.

Much to severe disappointment and now fear for many fans, the following statement was posted by Dillinger Escape Plan:

"Due to circumstances not in our control, and I'll leave it up to the other band on the tour to explain this one, The Dillinger Escape Plan/Meshuggah European tour in November WILL NOT be happening. If you bought tickets, contact whoever you bought them from for a refund. Again, if I started to comment on this right now it would probably not be good, so I'll leave it up to them to do the explaining. We were looking forward to this more than any of you can imagine and we are just as disappointed as anyone. HOWEVER, we ARE in the process of confirming a new great tour during the same time period, most likely in the same cities, and will announce it shortly. Stay tuned."

A breakup or other serious conditions cannot be confirmed for Meshuggah at this time, and there has been no further word on the album release. More to come as we get it.

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From Autumn To Ashes Rejoined By Ex-Bassist

From Autumn To Ashes has parted ways with bass player, Josh Newton. Rejoining the group is original bassist, Mike Pilato. Here's a statement from the band:

"Original FATA bass player, Mike Pilato, has rejoined the band. You older fans may remember him from his performances on Too Bad You're Beautiful and The Fiction We Live. He toured with FATA from 2000-2004, he has sweet sideburns and he's been my good friend since I was in 8th grade.

We will miss Josh Newton very much and have enjoyed the last 3 years of making music together. We could have never survived the hardships of the last year and could have never rebuilt the band without his efforts and humor. I'm sure whatever he does next will be amazing so keep your eyes and ears open for that."

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Seventh Dagger Signs Distro Deal w/ Warner Bros.

Seventh Dagger Records has officially inked a new distribution deal with East West via Warner Brothers Distribution. This new deal will span both physical and digital distribution. Seventh Dagger comments:

"This new partnership ushers in a new era for Seventh Dagger, allowing for extensive label growth and a much wider level of distribution spanning the entirety of the Uninted States and Canada."

As of October 16th, the entire Seventh Dagger back catalog will be available in both physical and digital formats. Expect new releases from xBarcadiax, Eyes To The Sky, xThe Warx, and a xAFBx/Winds of Plague split in 2008.

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Thornafire To Tour Argentina and Uruguay

Preceding the release of their debut full-length album "Exacerbated Gnostic Manifestation", Chile's death metalers, THORNAFIRE, have been playing various ravaging live shows and writing a new album. Yet after some down time THORNAFIRE and are now preparing to embark on an anticpated tour through Argentina and Uruguay.

"We will be sure to demonstrate our black venomous presence and we hope Argentina is as crazy as they were when we played there in 2003. We can't wait to check out Uruguay's extreme metal scene and devestate there as well! Check our myspace page and our webpage for more news and information and we'll be sure to update them with photos and info from the tour."

Confirmed Thornafire tour dates are as follows:

11 de Octubre - (ARGENTINA) Buenos Aires-Speed king
12 de Octubre - (ARGENTINA) Buenos Aires-Brutal Festival XI
13 de Octubre - (ARGENTINA) Buenos Aires-Under Fest
14 de Octubre - (URUGUAY) Montevideo-Bj bar

Chile’s THORNAFIRE began in 1998 and have become one of the third worlds premiere death metal acts. Sinister death vocals and a bass sound designed to move the very bowels of hell are sure to bring attention to this band's unique brand of blackened death. For fans of Dissection, Immortal, The Chasm and Immolation.

THORNAFIRE’s "Exacerbated Gnostic Manifestation" CD was released on April 17, 2007 by Ibex Moon Records.

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Disney Force Machine Head Show Cancellation

The following message has been posted via the official Machine Head myspace:

"In a stunning last-minute move, Walt Disney Properties have pressured promoter Live Nation into canceling Machine Head's performance tomorrow night at the House of Blues venue in Anaheim (on their Disneyland property). Citing violent imagery, undesirable fans and inflammatory lyrics as the reason, the diversity-impaired corporation began pressuring the promoter on Saturday to cancel all upcoming heavy metal concerts, placing Machine Head under an internal "review process" that took 5 days before bothering to convey their alarming decision to the band late yesterday - less than 48 hours before their Black Tyranny Tour was to kick off at House of Blues Anaheim on Friday night.

While the enactment of this new blanket rule applies to all upcoming heavy metal shows at the House Of Blues Anaheim (with some metal bands having been banned from performing on name alone), Machine Head is the first band to actually have tickets go on sale, and remain on sale for 2 months, before intense pressure and vague threats of liability from the Corporation left the promoter with no choice but to remove the show from the venue.

As a result, Live Nation's Paul McGuigan did the honorable thing and incredibly, on one days notice, managed to salvage the tour's opening night by moving the first date of The Black Tyranny tour (featuring Machine Head, Arch Enemy, Throwdown, and Sanctity) to The Glass House in Pomona, CA (located at 200 W. Second Street). All existing tickets will be redeemable for entry at The Glass House, and all Will Call pickups will now be available for pickup at the new venue. Any fans unable to make the 70-mile trip to The Glass House as a result of this ridiculous turn of events will be able to have their money refunded in full. Strangely, all other Black Tyranny dates at House Of Blues venues on Disney property will remain unaffected.

On behalf of all four bands on the bill, Machine Head wish to extend their gratitude to promoter Paul McGuigan and Live Nation for finding an alternate venue for tomorrow night's show on such short notice."

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More On Maiden's "Somewhere Back In Time" Tour

IRON MAIDEN have announced their most ambitious and extraordinary touring plans ever -- and are very pleased to announce that this will include Australia for the first time in 15 years.

The 'SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME' World Tour 2008 will be in three sections, starting in February and March 2008 with the first leg encompassing major concerts in 20 selected cities on five continents in seven weeks including India, Japan, North America, Central and South America, and, of course, Australia, opening in Perth on Feb 4 and continuing through Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane:

SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME, AUSTRALIA 2008

February :-
Monday 4th, Burswood Dome, Perth
Wednesday 6th, Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne
Saturday 9th, Acer Arena, Sydney
Tuesday 12th, Entertainment Centre, Brisbane

The tour then continues with more concerts in North America in late May and June before finishing with a third leg in July and August encompassing major stadiums and festivals all over Europe. During the tour the band is expected to play to well over one and a half million fans and travel close to 100,000 miles.

In an historic first, Iron Maiden, their 60-strong crew and support staff and over 12 tons of equipment will be travelling around the world en masse for the first leg of the tour in a specially commissioned and converted Astraeus Boeing 757 decorated with Maiden and Eddie designs! Vocalist Bruce Dickinson, who is a qualified Airline Captain flying for Astraeus Airlines, will pilot the plane on its epic mission, flying over 50,000 miles.

Comments Bruce Dickinson, "We had the idea last year of converting a jumbo jet into effectively what would be a flying 113 ton 'splitter bus' for touring and we have been working seriously on it ever since. It's pretty complex but in the end we were able, with a lot of help from Astraeus Airlines, to overcome all the technicalities of customising the plane for our purposes. We are taking out the back 10 rows of seats to fit in a customised cargo hold that we can use again in the future if this jaunt works. This is in addition to all the standard storage holds. By taking band, personnel and equipment in one form of transport it makes all the touring so much easier and overcomes the logistical difficulty of people and equipment going in different planes. We can even work out exactly how big our carbon footprint is and take care of that responsibility! We will be packing as much of the show into the plane as we possibly can for this first leg and intend to give the fans something very special to remember. And it allows me to combine 2 of my greatest passions, music and flying!!" More...

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Ghost Brigade Post Studio Footage Online

While their acclaimed debut album is awaited with impatience, GHOST BRIGADE recently created their channel on the ever-growing YouTube community. GHOST BRIGADE broadcast themselves while in studio for the recording of "Guided by Fire". The recordings, accompanied by the first track taken from their upcoming debut, "Rails at the River", can be seen here or below.

You can also download an MP3 of the song "Rails At The River" here. More...

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Thursday, Circle Takes The Square Tour Dates

Circle Takes The Square will team up with Thursday for a handful of November tour dates. Here are the latest tour dates:

11/1 Worcester, MA @ The Palladium
11/2 Baltimore, MD @ The Ottobar
11/3 Troy, NY @ Revolution Hall
11/4 Philadelphia, PA @ TLA
11/5 TBA
11/6 Detroit, MI @ The Magic Stick
11/7 Chicago, IL @ The Metro
11/10 Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theatre
11/12 TBA
11/13 Pomona, CA @ The Glasshouse
11/14 TBA
11/15 Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre

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For The Fallen Dreams Seeks New Bassist

Michigan hardcore/metal band For The Fallen Dreams (Rise Records) are currently searching for a new bassist. Interested parties (willing to relocate to Michigan) should contact the band here.

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Massacre Announce Exclusive U.S. Concert

Reactivated death metal band MASSACRE — consisting of DENIAL FIEND members Sam Williams (guitar), Curt Beeson (drums; NASTY SAVAGE), along with ex-MASSACRE/current DENIAL FIEND members Terry Butler (bass), Steve Swanson (guitars) and Kam Lee (vocals) — will make its only U.S. appearance on October 6 at The Crowbar in Ybor City/Tampa, Florida. This show is DENIAL FIEND's CD-release party and will see DENIAL FIEND closing the night with a one-time-only MASSACRE pre-tour set. (Both MASSACRE and DENIAL FIEND will be touring Europe between late October and middle of November as part of the "Massacre Re-Animated Tour".)

Former MASSACRE/DEATH frontman Kam Lee recently issued the following statement in response to requests from fans for MASSACRE to do some U.S. dates:

"MASSACRE will NOT be touring the U.S. and that is FINAL!

"This has nothing to do against our U.S. fans, as we do appreciate all the fans (what very few we have) here in the U.S., but you have to understand from a business stand point this is not even possible. MASSACRE can not get the correct kind of SUPPORT in the U.S. to even attempt a tour with out taking substantial financial losses. NO PROMOTER in the U.S. will even look at us at this moment. Shit, as a matter of fact — no promoters in the U.S. ever gave a fuck about MASSACRE in the past... and the only reason they would even look at us now would be to EXPLOIT us in an opportunisic way.

"MASSACRE is NOT back together as a working band, but only agreed to tour Europe in order to push DENIAL FIEND!!"

MASSACRE's lineup for the upcoming "Re-Animated" European tour — which is scheduled to kick off October 26 and last through November 18 — will consist of DENIAL FIEND members Sam Williams (guitar), Curt Beeson (drums; NASTY SAVAGE), along with ex-MASSACRE members Terry Butler (bass), Steve Swanson (guitars) and Kam Lee (vocals). The material covered on the tour will consist only of songs from 1991's "From Beyond" and "Inhuman Condition" EP.

In addition to MASSACRE, the "Re-Animated" tour will feature appearances by DENIAL FIEND, JUNGLE ROT, ASHURA (France), EXTERMINATOR (Belgium), SUICIDAL ANGELS (Greece) and EXTREME NOISE TERROR (U.K.; last three shows only).

Kam Lee previousy stated about the upcoming tour: "This will be a joint tour with DENIAL FIEND and should not be considered a 'reunion' tour but rather an extension of what 'true' MASSACRE is, and should be considered a 'fan appreciation' tour! It's my way of saying thanks to all the MASSACRE fans for the support all these years... for keeping the 'Ancient Cult Death' sound and style alive all this time!"

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Cannibal Corpse Bassist Records For Hate Eternal

Bassist Alex Webster of the legendary death metallers CANNIBAL CORPSE has issued the following update:

"I just finished recording the bass for the new HATE ETERNAL album on Monday night. I'm really happy with the results, and the band seems to be too. As you might expect, the album is being recorded at Mana Studios in St. Petersburg Florida, since that studio is run by Erik Rutan (HATE ETERNAL vocalist/songwriter/guitarist). Brian at Mana was the engineer who recorded my tracks, and I want to thank him for doing a fantastic job.

"For this recording I used my Ibanez SR 1500 (the same bass I used on CANNIBAL's 'The Bleeding' back in 1993), DR Strings, my Ampeg SVT 4 head and Erik's Ampeg 8x10 cabinet. We also recorded a track using a direct box, but it's not likely that we'll use it as the Ampeg sounded excellent.

"It was a real honor to work with Erik, Shaune, and Jade on this album, those guys are absolutely incredible musicians and great people too. They have put together some completely crushing and very original material for this upcoming album, and I am proud to be a part of it and thankful they gave me this opportunity.

"A lot of people have been asking me if I'll be touring with HATE ETERNAL in support of the new album, and at this point I don't have an answer for you all. It's really going to come down to seeing what my schedule is like in the coming months.

"In other news (it's been a busy time for me lately) CANNIBAL is starting a North American tour tomorrow night in New Orleans. The tour is a celebration of Metal Blade Records 25th anniversary, and it features THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, THE RED CHORD, GOATWHORE, and THE ABSENCE. Check www.cannibalcorpse.net for full dates and details. Also, there's a very good chance we'll have BLOTTED SCIENCE CDs [featuring Webster, guitarist Ron Jarzombek (WATCHTOWER, SPASTIC INK, MARTY FRIEDMAN), and drummer Charlie Zeleny (BEHOLD...THE ARCTOPUS, JORDAN RUDESS)] available at the shows (perhaps even prior to the Sept. 18th release date), so check the merch booth if you're interested in that."

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Demiricous Reveal New Album Details

Indianapolis-based death/thrash metal band DEMIRICOUS will release its second album, "Two (Poverty)", on October 8 in Europe via Metal Blade Records and October 16 in North America. According to a press release, "Two (Poverty)" is "pure American metal with a hardcore punk attitude and a massive amount of thrash riffs. Nothing could label DEMIRICOUS' music better than the genre they invented themselves: street metal!" The CD was produced by Erik Rutan (HATE ETERNAL) at the Mana Recording Studios in Florida.

"Two (Poverty)" track listing:

01. Never Enough Road
02. Express Of Immunity To God
03. Knuckle Eye
04. Leprosaic Belief
05. Language Of Oblivion
06. Tusk And Claw
07. Appreciation For Misery
08. Engineer
09. Celebration Of Damage
10. Adic Lung
11. Stress Fetish
12. Blackish Silver

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Rage Frontman Checks In From The Studio

RAGE frontman Peter "Peavy" Wagner has issued the following update from the recording studio where the band is currently working on its new album, "Craved in Stone":

"Let me report from our studio, where we're intensively working at our new album 'Carved in Stone' since considerable time. We've again barricaded ourself in the VPS studio together with our longtime sound engineer Charly Czajkowski, who will record our efforts for eternity. Later, our well tried sound mixer Charlie Bauerfeind will screw the whole stuff together. I can promise you that this time, we'll come to the point directly, no experiments, only cool melodies and riffs, straight on the kisser. The recordings have started already, and the material for the most parts is ripe for decision, so I will tell you some words to the first five songs:

"'Carved in Stone': The title song starts with an hymnic intro that will open our shows surely in the next time with this chorus melody that refuses to leave your ears. The song itself explodes after this to an uptempo triolic-groove, where Andre can heat up his fast feet on the double bass drum. The lyrics talk about all these politicians in their ivory towers that waste all these young soldiers in their wars for money and power.

"'Drop Dead': Then 'Drop Dead' goes fast in the second lap. What a skullcrusher riff, that Victor has extracted from his braincells here, like in the first song. Memories to old 'Missing Link' times come up in me, this one goes right to the point, but never sounds dusty indeed. In the words I sing about some (frustrated) thoughts of mine, about the momentary condition of mankind, please don't nail me on every single word.

"'Gentle Murders': Starts with a furious guitar intro before we join in full speed. This song from Victor has lots of amazing grooves, riffs and harmonies. In the middle part its time to mosh intensivly. The words talk about the circumstance that you can do whatever you want if your only rich and powerful enough, like practised in most of the 'legal-systems' in the world.

"'One Step Ahead': A fully fat mid-tempo groover with fantastic melodies, also composed by Victor. A neckbreaking riff leads into a dynamic verse, just to stomp everything down in the bridge and chorus. The lyrics invite you to get rid of the crooks from religion to get free in mind.

"'Without You': Starts like a ballad with fantastic harmonies, but then turns into a wall of guitars and riffs. That's a song from me, that Victor joined in with some fine ideas, so we breeded a song with absolute ear-catching melodies. The words talk about someone who lived lifelong under a mask and always denied his real self."

RAGE's new DVD, entitled "Full Moon in St. Petersburg", was released on February 23 via Nuclear Blast. The double DVD set was filmed in St. Petersburg, Russia last year in front of 15,000 fans. "Full Moon in St. Petersburg" contains the complete concert in St. Petersburg, Russia, plus a lot of behind-the-scenes footage and material from personal archives.

RAGE's upcoming CD will be the band's first since the addition of drummer André Hilgers (AXXIS, SILENT FORCE) to the group's ranks. "During [the recording sessions for] the Nuclear Blast anniversary album, we were very surprised how perfectly André's style matched our new song, 'Terrified'," the group wrote on its web site. "So it was obvious that we jammed through the RAGE classics and the sparks flew immediately. André had a lot of new ideas that fitted perfectly our style and the understanding among us was harmonically. He brings a lot of fresh blood and power to the band and we have loads of fun again playing our music."

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Agnostic Front To Release "For My Family" Single

New York hardcore legends AGNOSTIC FRONT will release a new seven-inch single, "For My Family", on Septmber 25 via Bridge Nine. The effort will feature the following track listing:

01. For My Family
02. Dead to Me
03. Break the Chains

The first two songs will appear on the group's upcoming album "Warriors" (to be released through Nuclear Blast Records), while "Break the Chains" is a track exclusive to this single, produced by Zeuss (HATEBREED, SHADOWS FALL) and Freddie Cricien of MADBALL.

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Rob Zombie Talks About Dimension Movie Deal

MTV.com reports: Apparently $31 million isn't good enough for Rob Zombie. While the director's "Halloween" scared up a whopping figure at the box office over the weekend, he's "not going to do any more 'Halloween' movies, or any more remakes of any kind," he told EW.com. In fact, Zombie isn't even so sure he'll be sticking to horror when it comes to his recent deal with Dimension Films. "I signed up for two more pictures, but not two more 'Halloween' pictures. They're going to be original stuff — and I don't necessarily know that they're going to be related to the horror genre either."

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Blitzkrieg To Perform At Music Live

NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) legends BLITZKRIEG have been confirmed to perform at the the Music Live event, which is being held November 2-4, 2007 at the NEC in Birmingham, England.

BLITZKRIEG's new album, "Theatre of the Damned", was released on August 10 via Germany's Armageddon Music. The CD was recorded at Absurd Studio in Hamburg with producer Schrödey and co-producer Biff Byford (SAXON). According to a posting on the Armageddon web site, "Theatre of the Damned" "offers the same authentic heavy metal of the '80s along with a super freshness and total attitude." Check out audio samples on the band's MySpace page.

"Theatre of the Damned" is the follow-up to "Sins and Greed", which was released in July 2005 via Metal Nation Records.

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Skinlab To Re-Issue First Album

SKINLAB has issued the following bulletin:

"We just got the word from the folks at Century Media that our first album - Bound, Gagged And Blindfolded will be reissued on October 2nd. The repackaged disc will also feature never before seen video footage and pictures with liner notes from founding members Steev Esquivel and Mike Roberts along with new artwork and layout. We're looking forward to this reissue, as we think the music stands tall to today's standards. It was an exciting time for us, we couldn't be more pleased to see this happen! More details later."

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Clutch Update Tour Schedule

Maryland-based metallers CLUTCH have updated their tour itinerary through the end of the year with new North American dates confirmed. Upcoming Clutch dates currently include:

October
20 - Downtown Live Music & Arts Festival (Center Square - Downtown) - Hagerstown, MD
29 - Kool Haus - Toronto, ON
30 - House Of Blues - Cleveland, OH
31 - House Of Blues - Cleveland, OH

November
1 - Fillmore of Detroit - Detroit, MI
2 - Riveria Theatre - Chicago, IL
3 - The Canopy Club - Urbana, IL
4 - The Copper Dragon - Carbondale, IL
6 - Fillmore Auditorium - Denver, CO
7 - Great Salt Air - Magna, UT
9 - Warfield Theatre - San Francisco, CA
10 - Soma - San Diego, CA
11 - Wiltern Theatre - Los Angeles, CA
13 - Marquee Theatre - Tempe, AZ
15 - House Of Blues - Dallas, TX
16 - Warehouse Live - Houston, TX
17 - Waterloo Park - Austin, TX
19 - House Of Blues - Lake Buena Vista, FL
20 - Tabernacle - Atlanta, GA
21 - House Of Blues - North Myrtle Beach, SC
23 - Millenium Center - Winston-Salem, SC
24 - Norva - Norfolk, VA
25 - 9:30 Club - Washington, DC
27 - Palladium - Worcester, MA
28 - Electric Factory - Philadelphia, PA
29 - TBA - TBA

December
27 - Toad's Place - New Haven, CT
31 - TBA - TBA

As previously reported, the online debut of Clutch's exclusive track, 'King Of Arizona', written for BAM MARGERA Presents Viva La Bands, Vol 2, is available by going to www.pro-rock.com and www.vivalabands.com.

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Slayer Guitarist To Do California Meet And Greet

SLAYER guitarist Kerry King will be holding a meet and greet on September 15th in Murrieta, California at Guitar Center from 5pm to 8pm. For further information, call 951-698-9200.

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Bann Recording Debut Full-Length Album

The German Black Ambient Metal duo BANN besieges SAD studios since Sept 1st, to record the songs for there debut full lenghth ÆSCHATOLOGIA.

The band, whose demo/Mcd ANTIOCHIA already stirred things up, consequently advanced its unique style to take listeners on an emotionally bewildering, poetic-musical trip through time.

ÆSCHATOLOGIA will see the light of day under the banner of the British label Grief Foundation.

You can check out some of the band's material on their MySpace site.

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