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Headbangers Ball Tour Report & Pics: Worcester, MA

The queue was winding around the corner when I arrived at The Palladium. It was around 7 and the venue was already packed. I was amazed to find out that the crowd was predominantly made up of hardcore kids. I saw only a few painted faces here and there. I remember thinking during the day that it's a very brave decision on behalf of the organizers to mix black metal and hardcore fans and I was convinced ( judging from my overseas experience) that a bunch of fights would ensue. Fortunately, this didn't happen. The American fans seemed tolerant of other people's musical tastes. More...

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37 StabwoundZ To Tour Spain And Portugal

Dutch hardcore/metal band 37 StabwoundZ will tour across Spain and Portugal amongst various (inter)national bands during the beginning of 2005. The "Roaming The Iberian Fields tour" will take place from January 4th till January 12th 2005.

These are the tour dates so far:

04th: Girona (Spain)
05th: Valencia (Spain)
06th: Madrid (Spain)
07th: Bilbao (Spain), BASH international winter festival 2005
08th: Porto (Portugal)
09th: Lisbon (Portugal)
10th Vigo (Spain)
11th Gijon (Spain
12th: Zaragoza (Spain)

In other news: 37 StabwoundZ will be supporting MADBALL during one of their two Dutch shows in December. The show takes place at Doornroosje, Nijmegen on December 12th.

Last but not least, 37 StabwoundZ are currently working on a videoclip for their song 'Indisposed' taken from their debut full length 'Embrace Solitude' on Garden of Exile.

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Old School Records To Release NWOBHM Compilations

Bart Gabriel Dragonight Agency and Old School Metal Show presents an Old School Records release: Total Metal Attack, A New Wave of British Heavy Metal Compilation - CD OSR-04-01.

Feat. Bronz, Pagan Altar, Ground Attack, Agony Bag, Soldier, Atomkraft, Ironheart, JJ'S Powerhouse, Blood Money, Black Rose, Distrainers, E.F.Band, Burner and Deep Switch!

One of the very best NWOBHM compilation ever, the glorious tradition started by "Metal For Muthas", "Heavy Metal Heroes" and "Brute Force" is brought back! Almost all tracks previously unreleased! Sleeve notes about each band, fat booklet with rare pictures! Fantastic cover artwork and layout design! This is not another boring CD compilation, with bands that you actually don't want to listen to. This is not another money taker, and this is not another release which will be covered by dust on your shelf... This is lesson of Heavy Metal history. Simply a must have for every serious Heavy Metal fan around the globe!

Retail price: $13 + postage.
Distributors & mailorders: ask for wholesale prices & possible trades.

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Losa Picked Up By The Agency Group

Losa has officially been picked up by The Agency Group. The band is very excited to be working with such an established company. National touring dates will be coming soon.

Losa had a slight setback regarding their merch, but they are hard at work on fixing the problem and hope to have AT LEAST shirts for the Bishop Manor Rent Tour.

In an effort to raise money for our rent, we take to the road in hopes of financial success!

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Unearth Tour Update

Here's a tour update from Unearth:

So far, so good here in Europe. The shows are huge; seeing the different lands is a rad experience and touring with Sick of It All is unreal. We want to thank everyone who has come out to support Unearth on the first week of the tour.

If you live in Europe make sure you check out the tour dates to see when the East Pak Resistance Tour is coming to your town.

Big tour announcement for us for January... We are doing a week in Canada with Slipknot and Killswitch Engage. The dates will be January 7 through 15 with Slipknot and we will be doing a handful of headlining dates on the way home. All exact dates will be posted soon on our shows page.

Another big tour announcement will be coming soon.... a full US tour in February/March. Details soon!

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Gorgoroth To Have First Three Albums Re-Issued

Gorgoroth have inked a deal with the French label Season of Mist for the reissues of their first three albums: "Pentagram" (1994), "Antichrist" (1996) and "Under the Sign of Hell" (1997). All three will be re-released in January/February in a remastered, digipack version. It is not presently clear if Season of Mist will issue the band's upcoming CD, "Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam", the songwriting for which was completed earlier in the year.

Gorgoroth were most recently signed to Nuclear Blast Records, who released the band's last three efforts: "Twilight of the Idols" (2003), "Incipit Satan" (2000) and "Destroyer" (1998).

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Behemoth, Exmortem UK Tour Dates

Poland's Behemoth are to headline a UK/Ireland tour early next year. The dates are: Brighton Pressure Point January 13, Bristol Bierkeller 14, Dublin Whelans 15, Derry Nerve Centre 16, Cork Nancy Spain 17, Leeds Joseph's Well 19, Bradford Rio's 20, Birmingham Royal George 21, London Camden Underworld 22. Support comes from Dutch maniacs Exmortem.

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Former Einherjer Members Create Battered

Former Einherjer members Grimar (vocals/guitar), Askel Herloe (guitar) and Vivar (drums) have started a new band called Battered. Completing the line-up is bassist Ole Moldesaether. Enherjer, of course, were one of the crucial Viking Metal pioneers.

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Hetfield says Mustaine Is A Good Guy

In a recent interview with Detroit's WRIF 101.1 FM, Metallica frontman James Hetfield spoke about some of the pointed comments made about him and the rest of Metallica by the group's former guitarist, Dave Mustaine (now the leader of Megadeth). Asked if he was surprised by the fact that Mustaine named him one of the most solid rhythm guitar players around during a recent radio appearance, Hetfield said, "No, it doesn't surprise me. Dave's a great guy. Sometimes he gets to get lost in it and he overthinks things. I think he's easily guided by press sometimes. And when you see some of the stuff that's out now [in the press], Dave [going] 'Oh, I hate this, and this' and 'The mean Dave is back and I'm out to kick ass,' I think a lot of it has to do with press people egging him on, egging him on. 'Cause he's pretty good at doing that.

"I'm not gonna roll over for him, but you know, I understand what struggles he's going through. He and I have a lot in common. And there are times when I can read that he's a little bit off. But I know at the core Dave's a good guy.

"My theory is that people that are somewhat creative are screwed up, man — they just are. They get great ideas, but they can't stop them. They make up things and scenarios in their head. And I think I — I can only speak for myself — but when I start talking to people when they're not in the room, I know I'm going too far with it."

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Spend A Day With Metallica

Metallica have contributed a significant prize to be auctioned off at the T.J. Martell Foundation's first "World Tour of Wine" fund-raising dinner and auction on Thursday, November 11, 2004, in New York City.

The sold-out event will take place at The Grand Havana Room (formerly Top of the Sixes), located in midtown Manhattan at 666 Fifth Avenue. A five-course dinner will be prepared by renowned chef Alberto Gomez and select bottles of unique and rare wines from around the world will be served.

According to a press release, Metallica's contribution to the auction consists of a "Full Metallica Jacket" — a private one-on-one day with one of the members of Metallica. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the inner world of Metallica, including private tour of their recording studio and "HQ," dinner, and loads of Metallica goodies. Also included is round-trip airfare to San Francisco, transportation and two nights at a deluxe San Fransisco hotel.

For more information, click here.

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New Anathema DVD Arrives Next Week

Britain's Anathema will release their long-awaited new DVD, "Were You There?", on November 15. "Sorry about the wait," the band write on their web site. "It was out of our control. We finished it ages ago but now it's finally coming out."

"Were You There?" (view cover here) contains a full live show recorded on Anathema's recent "A Natural Disaster" tour (believed to have been filmed at the Krzemionki TV studio in Kracow, Poland on January 31, 2004), an acoustic concert performed with a string quartet from the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, plus videos, live clips and other extra features. The artwork and menu designs have again been designed by Travis Smith. The complete track listing can be found at this location.

In other news, Anathema's Daniel and Vincent Cavanagh will be in Portugal for two acoustic shows at the following venues:

Dec. 03 – Lisbon, POR - Auditório do Instituto Português da Juventude (capacity: 175)
Dec. 04 – Leiria, POR - Auditório do Instituto Português da Juventude (capacity: 210)

As previously reported, Danny and Vinnie will also play an exclusive acoustic gig in Paris on November 13. The concert will take place at Espace Curial and will feature support act The Spherical Minds.

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Headline News

Notre Dame Splits

Drummer Snowy Shaw (King Diamond, Mercyful Fate, Memento MoriI, Dream Evil) has announced that Notre Dame's Halloween show in Gothenburg, Sweden on November 6, 2004 was the band's final gig. The show, which coincided with the group's six-year anniversary, was recorded and filmed, and parts of it will be included on the band's posthumous DVD and live CD release, "Creepshow Freakshow Peepshow".

Notre Dame's latest CD, "Demi Monde Bizarros", was released earlier in the year through Osmose Productions.

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Extreme Metal Blooms In The Underground

An article on underground death metal bands from Las Vegas has been posted on Las Vegas City Life:

Drainage X. Guttural Secrete. Sutured Esophagus. Soiled Carnage. Angryhead. From the Grave. Avenger of Blood. Draconium. Hemlock. The Weirding Way.

These are the names of the most recent crop of Las Vegas death-metal bands itching to carve their own desolate paths to glory across the international underground. And when I say "death metal," I'm not talking about the hyper-emotional bloodletting that passes for aggressive music these days, particularly in the form of nü-metal acts like Godsmack, or emotional hardcore like the Used, or even the artier metal-flavored punk doled out by more sensitive acts like Vegas' own Curl Up and Die. I'm talkin' 'bout death metal, which is all about killing your mother and raping your father ... before getting into some really sick and twisted shit.

Vegas' community of deranged metalheads seems poised to join the ranks of cities like New York, L.A. and San Francisco. Why? Because our underground is starting to enjoy "success." In addition to the House of Blues bringing extreme-metal shows to the Strip, a new venue has sprouted up on Boulder Highway, the Roadhouse Casino, which booked shows every weekend throughout the fall and plans to offer even more sonic carnage in the spring. Add to that the increased exposure of a local metal radio show/Website MetalReigns.com and the recent indie-label signings of European-style thrash-metal quartet Avenger of Blood and gore-grind duo Guttural Secrete, and suddenly you've got the momentum necessary for the creation of a "scene."

Read the full article at Las Vegas City Life.

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