Crystal Blaze Puts The Band On Hold

CRYSTAL BLAZE has issued the following update:

"Hello dear friends and fans! As you may have noticed, things have been pretty quiet with the band lately and the reason for this is that, as a band and as individuals, we have been during the last couple of months going through a highly introvertical process of analyzing and discussing what we really want of our band, our music and - even at the risk of sounding metaphysical here - our lives as well. As a result of this process, we have come to the conclusion that, at the moment, there are such discrepancies between our aims that for now, striving towards a mutual goal as a band would probably yeild to conflicts rather than to the good and fair working spirit we have now and therefore we have come to the conclusion that under these circumstances, the right thing to do is to put Crystal Blaze on hold for now and move on pursuing our musical goals in other projects.

"We can assure you that this decision was made in the best of spirit within the whole band and that there is absolutely no bad blood whatsoever involved in the decision. We simply feel that taking a break of non-predetermined length from all this is the best way to go and we want to do it now while we are still having a blast doing all this before any bad blood has a chance to boil up. Maybe we will be back after some while or maybe not, not even we can tell you, but we do not want close any doors behind us and that is the reason why we do not want to split up the band as it is now for good. Just for now, we will go our separate ways and the future shows what it holds for Crystal Blaze.

"We would like to thank each and everyone of you who has listened to our music, showed up in our concerts, shared the stage with us or supported us in any way along this road! Maybe we will catch up with you again one day!

"Mikael, Max, Lari, Lauri, Eerik & Juhana

"As for the fans of our music, we can tell you that there is no need to sink into despair yet! The plans of a band featuring many familiar faces from Crystal Blaze are already well afoot and you can be sure that the project will carry on the Crystal Blaze -legacy with a strong sense of pride of its roots! The name, final line-up and exact genre of the group are still under discussion. More info on this project coming to this same website in the nearest future so stay tuned, folks!"

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Bloodsoaked Signs with Comatose Music

Bloodsoaked - new album
2008-10-26

Kings Mountain, North Carolina-based underground death metal label Comatose Music checks in with the following update:

"The one man killing machine, better known as BLOODSOAKED, will return in 2009 with another vile dose of old school death metal. No frills, straight forward, skull crushing brutality in the most raw and primitive form! Look for Bloodsoaked on the tour in May 2009 supporting 'Sadistic Deeds... Grotesque Memories'!"

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Elvenking To Release New Acoustic Album

"Two Tragedy Poets (...And A Caravan Of Weird Figures)" is the name of Elvenking's new acoustic album. It will be released in digipak and jewel case editions and will be preceded by an online single. The release date is set for November 14th for Europe while the dates for the other countries will be announced soon.

The album's tracklisting is as follows:

The Caravan Of Weird Figures
Another Awful Hobs Tale
From Blood To Stone
Ask A Silly Question
She Lives At Dawn
The Winter Wake (acoustic version)
Heaven Is A Place On Earth
My Own Spider's Web
Not My Final Song
The Blackest Of My Hearts
The Wanderer (acoustic version) - digipack bonus track
Miss Conception
My Little Moon

The online single tracklist (available from November 1st) is as follows:

From Blood To Stone
The Perpetual Knot (acoustic version) - exclusive non-album track
The Winter Wake (acoustic version)

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NIN Edition Of TapTap Revenge Available For iPhone

Tapulous has released the NIN edition of their popular iPhone/iPod Touch rhythm game, TapTap Revenge. The game includes 13 NIN tracks from The Slip and Ghosts I-IV, multi-player mode, and NIN-themed graphics. To get the game on your iPhone or iPod Touch, visit the iTunes store.

Additionally, Tapulous is giving away floor tickets for every NIN show between 11/8 and 12/12 - and one winner will get a Les Paul guitar signed by Trent. To enter, just submit a score of over 150,000 points on any track in the game. Each submission counts as one contest entry, so you can submit as many times as you like. For full contest rules, click here.

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Gama Bomb Issue Post-Tour Update

Irish thrashers GAMA BOMB recently spent over a month storming their way across Europe on the Thrashing Like A Maniac tour along with LA shredders BONDED BY BLOOD and UK openers SWORN AMONGST.

The bands are now home and have had some time to recover and to look back at their recent journey.

GAMA BOMB frontman PHILLY BYRNE comments on the tour:

"We've finally reached the end of our European tour with Bonded By Blood and Sworn Amongst, which took in 34 shows in 11 countries, 40,000 miles on the clock in a tourbus with 18 people aboard, chugging through something like 180 litres of diesel over the course of five weeks and five days. Along the way there were torn ligaments, damaged vocal chords, a suspected broken ass bone, about 12 cases of the common cold, a few outbreaks of alcohol poisoning and more bruises, cuts, scrapes and mysterious injuries than we care to count.

"We played in two haunted clubs, complete with a ghost that didn't want us to use the shower, a former Greek restaurant with murals of the Parthenon, a biker-controlled backstreet bar, a black metal meeting house, a classic car workshop, a converted slaughterhouse, dockside pubs, a couple of youth clubs, drug dens, shit holes and palaces too. We're not clear on how many guitar strings we used, but it pales in comparison to the amount of beers we drank. Also, we have no idea how many people we played to, but it was excellent all the same, as we're starting to meet people who wear our shirts to the show. Nice."

Check out GAMA BOMB stamping out inferior metal and destroying London with their track "Hammer Slammer" below.

GAMA BOMB will be back on tour in Europe in 2009, but you can keep yourself thrashing through the Winter with the band's Earache Records debut album, "Citizen Brain," available now. More...

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Nervecell Finishes Video For "Demean"

Dubai-based death/thrash metal act NERVECELL have posted the following update:

"We have finally finished shooting the music video for the song "Demean" off our latest album 'Preaching Venom.' The video was shot in Dubai and is currently being edited at this stage. The video is scheduled to be released towards the end of 2008. In the meantime you can check out some photos taken from the video shoot below (Thanks to Sam Johnston for the photos)."

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Nervecell's latest effort "Preaching Venom" was released April 1, 2008 and features PSYCROPTIC's David Haley (also of THE AMENTA, RUINS) on drums. The CD was mixed at Hertz Studio (VADER, DECAPITATED, HATE) in Poland by Wieslawscy Bros. and was mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side Music (SEPULTURA, SUFFOCATION, UNEARTH) in New Windsor, New York.

You can watch studio footage from the making of "Preaching Venom" by below: More...

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Criminal Posts New Demo Song Online

Chilean thrash mafia CRIMINAL has uploaded a brand new demo track to their MySpace page.

Comments CRIMINAL mastermind Anton Reisenegger (guitar/vocals): "The song in question is 'The Infidel,' and it's about – you probably guessed it – religious dogmas and intolerance, and the right to stand up for the fact that THERE IS NO GOD. Musically speaking, it's pretty straight-forward thrash/death with some obvious Slayer influences, but I feel it has enough of our own ideas to make it really original and 100% CRIMINAL!

"Anyways, this is just one little appetizer, as the material for the record is incredibly varied, ranging from really technical stuff with odd time signatures, to crushing groove monsters, to all-out death metal and everything in between, so be prepared for one hell of a rollercoaster ride! We might post another demo track within the coming weeks or months just to give you a broader idea of what the new album is going to sound like, but we don't want to give too much away either."

After doing some pre-production during the last couple of months, the band will begin tracking their sixth studio album this weekend for an early 2009 release through Massacre Records. The follow-up to 2005's acclaimed "Sicario" album will be released in a limited edition package including a bonus DVD.

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Cipher Recording New Album

Long Beach, New York's Cipher is currently in the studio recording a new album. Here's an update from drummer, Danny:

"It's been a long time coming. It's been four years since we've been to a recording studio. I wish I could say that it's been hard to believe it's been this long since the 'Children Of God's Fire' album, but it's pretty easy to believe actually. We are not the type of band that puts out negative news or who airs their dirty laundry out on the internet. We stay positive through the trying times and come up with solutions to situations that would have destroyed weaker minded bands. But with that being said, I think you guys deserve at least a summary of what's been going on with us since we released the COF album in June 2005.

"By the time the album was released, according to the 'industry standard,' we were yet to establish ourselves as a national touring act (despite having numerous DIY national tours under our belt). So despite having a supportive record label (Uprising Records) with a major label national distribution push, as well as a national promotion/marketing/advertising push, we could not secure a booking agent that could have secured us a supporting slot on a national tour with a larger sized band. That being said, we went out on a DIY Summer tour to promote COF shortly after it's release date, into a market flooded with summer package tours, and in the midst of the mid decade corporatization/exploitation of our once beloved hardcore scene.

"We've always been a band plagued with dysfunction at all times no matter what. The opportunity to transform into a full time band finally presented itself, but did so at an inopportune time for certain members who felt like the necessary sacrifices were impossible to make when weighed against current personal life situations/responsibilities, the wavering passion for the ideology or sound of band, other career pursuits, and the dislike of the touring lifestyle. That being said, during the third trying week of our 8 week Summer mission, founding member and guitarist Chris Fry left the fold. Guitarist Mark Dollar, who joined the band as our bass player shortly after recording COF stepped into the guitarist role for the second leg of the tour and our friend Mike Signa filled in on bass. During the second leg of the tour, our other guitarist Chris Maniecki decided it would be his last run with us, shifting his goals towards the pursuit of a different passion. More...

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Infected Disarray Signs with Unique Leader Records

Unique Leader Records have announced the signing of UK extreme metallers INFECTED DISARRAY:

"Infected Disarray have been a cult band in the underground since 2000 but left behind their side-project status in recent years to move to the forefront of the UK scene. Moving schizophrenically between savage blasting and moments of crushing heaviness, extremity is the ultimate goal. The band are now ready to release their debut album, 'Disseminating Obscenity' on Unique Leader Records. The group's ranks also include members of DETRIMENTUM, ex-GOREROTTED, BEEF CONSPIRACY, BRAINCHOKE and TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE along with the owners of Grindethic Records."

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