Update Issued On Wayne Static's Death

After it was announced yesterday that Wayne Static had passed away, rumors began circulating the cause of death was drug related. Today the following press release was issued by Wayne Static's publicist regarding the situation:

"Today is a sad day in the music industry – Front-man and founding member Wayne Static of Static-X passed away quietly in his sleep at his home last night.

"The couple was getting ready to leave for a Fall/Winter tour this morning. They were to have left the night before on Halloween, but decided they would head out early in the morning November 1st.

"The couple, known for partying heavy, had left hard drugs in 2009 and had not touched them since. Static’s first solo album – Pighammer - was a tribute to his new non-drug life and hoped it would help others to get clean from hard chemical drugs.

"More official information about his passing will be released in the following days. This is not a drug related incident or an O. D. Please be courteous to his family and wife and leave positive messages."

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Fornicus Posts Video

Kentucky USBM band Fornicus is streaming a video for its recent track "We Are Sin," which you can check out below. The track comes from the band's album "Storming Heaven," whose nine tracks you may stream here. The album was self-released on August 26th. Fornicus has also unveiled a new website for its fans to stream music and purchase merchandise.

Birthed in the heart of America's Bible belt in early 2013, Fornicus was conceived to cast darkness over the ignorant masses and their foolish dogmas. Blending qualities of black, thrash, and even a taste of death the band creates a vicious aural assault that will quench the listener's thirst for all things metal.

Throughout the first year of the group's existence the songs that would become their debut album were meticulously crafted by members Scott (guitar/vocals), Chris (bass), and David (drums) and eventually were completed with the addition of Kelly (lead guitar) at the beginning of 2014.

The tracking began shortly thereafter in Scott's own Velocity Studios for the album that is now known as "Storming Heaven," a bold statement chastising Christ and his blind sheep for their "righteous" ways with the ultimate goal of destroying God's Kingdom. With live rituals now beginning, the force that is Fornicus will strengthen to take its place as one of Kentucky's premier practitioners of metal.

Fornicus' logo and album artwork are courtesy of Gragoth at Luciferium War Graphics.

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Anguish Releasing New Album

Aptly titled "Mountain," the highly anticipated sophomore release from Sweden's Anguish will be unleashed November 12th on Dark Descent Records. The follow-up to 2012's mammoth debut "Through the Archdemon's Head" sees the band expanding upon their oppressive brand of doom metal. Compared to its predecessor, "Mountain" is stripped down, clocking in at 48 minutes across eight tracks of suffocating dread, yet the compositions are the band's most varied to date.

You can hear the new track "SnowHammer" on the third episode of the Hand Of Glory episode of the Withered Hands Podcast right here. Guitarist Christoffer is also featured and comments on the upcoming album.

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Methedras Posts Album Trailer

The Italian thrash/death band Methedras has signed with American label Pavement Music for the November 11th worldwide release of new album "System Subversion." A trailer video featuring songs from the album and performance clips can be viewed down below.

Finally, guitarist Eros Mozzi decided to part ways with the band due to other priorities in his personal life. He has been replaced with current live-session guitarist for the past year Daniele Colombo who is now an official/permanent member.

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Decimation Streaming Two Songs

Turkish brutalists Decimation will release "Reign of Ungodly Creation "on December 9th through Comatose Music. Decibel has posted a stream of track "Devilish Domain Vortex in the Gloom of Wicked Ziggurat" for your listening pleasure right here. You can also check out the beastly track "Aberrant Ablution by Filthy Excrements of a Grotesque Crassamentum," another new track from the upcoming album, below.

"Reign of Ungodly Creation" follows the band's 2010 Comatose Music release "Anthems of an Empyreal Dominion." This CD release includes a 16 page booklet featuring the brilliant artwork of the legendary Dan Seagrave. The album will me mixed and mastered by Sasha Borovykh at TsunTsun.

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Shiran Gearing Up To Release Debut EP

Female-fronted Israeli metal project Shiran will self-release the debut EP "Warm Winter Day" on November 15th.

Created by siren songstress Shiran Avayou and Ferium guitarist Elram Boxer in 2012, Shiran delivers a mixture of hard edged riffs and clean melodic vocals in a djent metal style that also culls from jazz and blues.

The track listing is:

1. Remain
2. Warm Winter Day
3. The Child
4. Glint of Light
5. Burden’s Off More...

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Ad Nauseam Streaming Song

Czech label Lavadome Productions has inked a deal with Italian death metal quartet Ad Nauseam and will release the band's as-of-yet-untitled debut album this winter on CD and digital formats. Lavadome Productions had the following to say about the forthcoming release:

"Ad Nauseam have put an enormous effort into creating a record without compromises. The album has been in the making for at least five years and mirrors all the hardship for complex artistic growth and perfection in an impressive, lively collage of 8 songs. The outcome can be easily labeled as extreme art of highest calibre possible, unchallenged.

With that being said, Lavadome is more than proud to become the medium which will submit, unearth and physically channel the artistic elegance and extremity of this record into the chaos of our fleshly plane."

The label has posted album track "Terror Haze" online, which you may listen to below in the player.

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Into Infernus Releasing New Album

Into Infernus, which was previously covered in our look at underground black metal bands, has checked in with the following announcement about releasing a new album:

"Our brand new album 'The End of Eden' will be out only TWO weeks from today on November 16th, 2014! All indiegogo backers will be getting the digital version ONE week from today! The album runs over an hour in length and is our greatest creation to date! With that being said, thank you so much for all of the incredible support so far! Here is the track listing:

1. Prologue: Domain of the Beast
2. A Death Stalking Addiction
3. Falling from the Heavens
4. Eve: Arch Angel
5. The Vermin Race
6. Albastor: The Serpent
7. Tainted
8. Adam: The Addict
9. I Am Nothing
10. Eden I: The Temptation of Sin
11. Eden II: Demon's Dance
12. Eden III: Domain of the Angel

"To celebrate our release date, we decided to cover a song from one of our childhood favorites, Slipknot! Enjoy it!" More...

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The Lumberjack Feedback Releases Video

The Lumberjack Feedback recently premiered its first-ever music video, "A Whisper to the Thunder", with Metal Injection.Check out the video now at this location, or below in the player.

The song is taken from the 2013 debut EP "Hand of Glory," which was recorded and mixed by one of the band's drummers Olive T'Servrancx at his own studio, the Electrik Box Studio and mastered by Billy Anderson (EyeHateGod, Cathedral, Neurosis).

The band will start recording its debut full-length this month with a series of special guests, including Alexandre Colin-Tocquaine (Agressor, ex-Bloodthron, ex-Loudblast) for a 2015 release. The album will still be produced at the Electrik Box by Olive T'Servrancx, while mastering will be taken care of by none other than Colin Marston (Krallice, Gorguts, Behold the Arctopus.

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Astrakhan Announces Vinyl Release

War On Music Records will release "A Tapestry Of Scabs And Skin" from Vancouver sludge/doom dynamos Astrakhan on 45-rpm vinyl 12” LP format.

The album includes two songs from the band’s digitally released EP "The Pillarist" and two brand new tracks recorded at Rain City Studios with Jesse Gander.

The lavishly colored cover was created by Nick Patterson with inner sleeve design by Dena Lazarenko, and the track listing is as follows:

1. Cupid’s Fist
2. Blinded by the Diamond Planet
3. Rest in Depths
4. The Pillarist More...

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Dead Earth Politics Posts Video

Austin-based metallers Dead Earth Politics have released the official music video for "Redneck Dragonslayer," the lead single off their newest EP, "The Queen of Steel." The Tyler Russell directed video is now playing below.

"The Queen of Steel," which was released as a digital-only EP earlier this year, is now available on CD. The first 300 copies of the disc will be made available as a limited-edition, dual-cover EP that features artwork from the digital version along with a brand new, exclusive design (pictured below). The disc was made available a couple of weekends ago at the Housecore Horror Film Festival.

Dead Earth Politics is currently hard at work on the second of a three EP series that started with "The Queen of Steel." The as-of-yet-untitled EP is set for a 2015 release.

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Exxiles Posts "La llorona" Video

Nightmare Records is proud to herald the release today of a very special video from Exxiles paying tribute to Mexico's "Day of the Dead."

"La llorona" is an traditional Mexican song inspired from a legend, integrating common themes such as loneliness, despair, and the dead. The track contains performances from:

Marcela Bovio (vocals)
Sergio Aguilar (guitar)
Noel Martinez (keyboard)
Miguel ángel abrego (trumpets)

The new Exxiles album "Oblivion" is coming early 2015 on Nightmare records, with a release date to be announced shortly. More...

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Hateful Desolation Announces Album Release

Almost a year after releasing first song "Your Memory Will Never Fade," the atmospheric / depressive black metal band Hateful Desolation announces today the release of a debut album via Adimere Records.

"Withering In Dust" will be released on November 7th, 2014 and pre-orders are now available over at this location. The track listing is as follows:

1. Your Memory Will Never Fade
2. Withering in Solitude
3. Your Memory Will Never Fade (Instrumental) More...

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Dire Omen Streaming New Song

Edmonton, Alberta blackened death metallers Dire Omen have teamed with BraveWords.com for an exclusive stream of new song "Onward with Wounds of Disillusion." Listen to the track by going here and scrolling down to the second track in the widget.

The track comes from the Dark Descent Records release "Wresting the Revelation of Futility," which will be available for mass consumption on November 12th. The album will come housed in an upgraded stock digi-jacket with a poster fold out that includes lyrics.

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"And Justice For Art" Crowdfunding Campaign Ending

The upcoming book "...And Justice For Art" tells the stories behind the making of album covers like Slayer's "Reign In Blood, "Death's "Symbolic," Carcass' "Heartwork," At The Gates' "Slaughter Of The Soul," Opeth's "Heritage," and many others.

It features more than 400 color images including the works of H.R. Giger, Eliran Kantor, Travis Smith, Ken Kelly, Dan Seagrave and interviews with bands like Carcass, Testament, Enslaved, Iced Earth, Cattle Decapitation, Morbid Angel, While Heaven Wept, Cormorant, Mayhem and much more.

There are only two days left in the book's crowd funding campaign and there's still time to claim one of the limited run of 400 print copies. Head over to this location to see the perks for pledging and take part in the campaign. More...

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Arroganz Streaming New Track

Zero Tolerance has debuted the brand new video from German Death Metallers Arroganz. The song "Arisen from Failure, Perished as King" is taken from upcoming FDA Rekotz release "Tod & Teufel." Check out the video at this location, and below in the player.

"Tod & Teufel," Arroganz's third album, will be released on November 11th. "Tod & Teufel" was recorded at The Dark Depths of Cottbus Studio, mixed by Timo Rotten (Spitfire Productions), and mastered by Lasse Lammert (LSD Studio). The artwork was created by Misanthropic Art.

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Eye Of Solitude Posts EP Trailer

Kaotoxin Records has announced worldwide release dates for the Eye Of Solitude limited collector EP "Dear Insanity." Featuring one mammoth 50-minute title track, the EP will be available in France on November 24th, the rest of Europe on December 2nd, and in North America on December 3rd.

The album is available as a limited-edition (500 copies at first press), hand-numbered double digi-CD, featuring six bonus tracks taken from the band's 2012 & 2013 digital EPs - "Awoken by Crows" and "The Deceit" - and as a digital download. A video trailer for the EP can be viewed below.

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Corsair Posts Video Trailer

US-based prog rock/metal outfit Corsair has released a trailer video for its upcoming Shadow Kingdom Records release "One Eyed Horse." Check it out below. "One Eyed Horse" is scheduled for a January 2015 release. The video documents the brief but diligent sessions at the White Star Sound studio, located on a beautiful rural farm in central Virginia.

It serves as a window into the making of the album with in-studio footage coupled at times with raw audio of the basic tracks straight from the board. Artfully done by Corsair's friend and colleague Matthew Gatto, it's a short glimpse designed to drum up interest and promote the album preceding its release.

Corsair is a heavy, dual guitar driven band based out of Charlottesville, VA. They have been active since 2008 with two EPs, one full length and the upcoming full-length "One Eyed Horse." This past year has been particularly busy with studio time in December '13 and January '14, a European tour February through March, and the late spring/summer spent mixing and mastering the new one.

CORSAIR "One Eyed Horse" Album Trailer from Matthew Gatto on Vimeo.

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Column

Sunday Old School: M.O.D.

Heavy metal contains some worldwide rock stars, from Ozzy Osbourne to Metallica. But in addition to the famous names, metal also has a large number of underground icons and cult favourites. One of these beloved people in this category is a man named Billy Milano, who’s known for his large presence and sometimes hilarious lyrics, two things he brought with him when he formed Method Of Destruction in 1986. Method Of Destruction, (or M.O.D. as they are often referred to,) was started by Milano after Stormtroopers Of Death (S.O.D.,) a thrash metal supergroup for which he was the vocalist, placed themselves on hiatus.

In 1987, the band recorded and released their debut album, "U.S.A. For M.O.D.," the title of which was a play on the planned Stormtroopers of Death album, "U.S.A. For S.O.D." It was co-produced by Anthrax guitarist (and Milano's S.O.D. bandmate,) Scott Ian and continued on from where the previous group left off, spouting tongue in cheek diatribes mostly written from the point of view of their mascot, Corporal Punishment. More...

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