Doomriders Join Deathwish Lineup

Doomriders have officially joined the Deathwish Inc. roster. The group features Nate Newton (Converge), Jebb Riley (There Were Wires), Chris Pupecki (Cast Iron Hike), and Chris Bevalaqua (Hallraker) and the label describes them this way: "[This] wall of sound is the bastard child of Classic Rock, Death N' Roll and raging Skate Rock. With a majority of their songs Skate-inspired, they push forth with a heaviness that brings to mind later era Entombed and Integrity, while their raw punk bursts conjure memories of the legendary JFA." You can listen to one of their MP3s here. The band will enter Godcity Studios with Kurt Ballou this winter to record their Deathwish debut, which should hit stores in early-2005.

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Strapping Young Lad To Premiere New Material

Vancouver, Canada’s Strapping Young Lad will premiere material from their forthcoming album Alien at the Century Family’s inaugural Christmas BallS, taking place next Monday, Dec. 20 at Los Angeles’ Key Club. The band will perform alongside Century Family artists Death Angel, Nebula, Impaled, and Eyes Of Fire. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster for the low price of $15. For more information check the Century Media website by clicking here.

Alien, Strapping Young Lad’s fourth Century Media album, has been slated for release on March 22, 2005. The follow-up to the group's critically acclaimed 2002 release, SYL, was recorded at the Armoury and Greenhouse Studios (both in Vancouver) as well as in mainman Devin Townsend's studio in Maple Ridge (suburb of Vancouver).

Alien final track listing: More...

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Solace Benefit Show, "The Kennefit," Details

Solace, one of the premier doom bands, were dealt a near-fatal blow when their drummer, Kenny Lund, was diagnosed with cancer this past spring. The band had every intention of following up on the success of last year’s "13" (MeteorCity), having played to unanimous raves at 2004’s Emissions from the Monolith and Stoner Hands of Doom festivals and releasing a split CD with Albany’s Greatdayforup. But with Kenny going in for treatment, the band’s plans were put on hold.

While it’s fortunate that Kenny’s recovering quicker than expected, there are still a considerable amount of medical bills involved. As such, friends of Solace are getting together to help raise money. The StonerRock.com sponsored “Kennefit” is an all day show in New York City, taking place at both the Pyramid and at the legendary CBGBs on Saturday, December 18, 2004.

The line-up is as follows: More...

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Anselmo Devastated, Plans To Disappear

Phil Anselmo planned to attend Dimebag Darrell's public memorial service Tuesday night in Arlington, Texas, but was told that Darrell's family didn't want him to attend. "I never got a chance to say goodbye in the right way and it kills me," he said. "I wish to God I could've gone to his funeral, but I have to respect his family's wishes, and they do not want me there. I believe I belong there, but I understand completely, I'm so sorry."

Not only did Darrell's death dash the hopes of a Pantera reunion, Anselmo said the incident has made him question his own career as a musician. "This has changed the entire world, and this is the last you'll be seeing of me for a long time," he said. "I hope you're happy, heavy metal music magazines, media, I hope you're happy. I'm done."

Read the full article at MTV.com.

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Beecher Sign To Earache Records

UK metalcore band Beecher have signed a deal with Earache. The band are to have their album 'Breaking The Fourth Wall' re-issued early next year with previously unavailable material. You can catch them live at The Phoenix in Manchester on December 20.

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Anselmo Barred From Dimebag Darrell's Funeral

Former PANTERA singer Philip Anselmo did NOT attend the the funeral of DAMAGEPLAN/ex-PANTERA guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott ? apparently because he was told that he was "not welcome" at any of the events honoring the late musician who was slain last week at a nightclub in Columbus, Ohio. Anselmo's former PANTERA/DOWN bandmate Rex Brown (bass) DID attend, as did a number of other high-profile musicians, such as Zakk Wylde (OZZY OSBOURNE, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY), Eddie Van Halen, Jerry Cantrell (ALICE IN CHAINS), Mike Inez (ALICE IN CHAINS, OZZY OSBOURNE), Jim Root (SLIPKNOT), Corey Taylor (SLIPKNOT), Paul Gray (SLIPKNOT), and Dino Cazares (ex-FEAR FACTORY).

Cantrell, Inez and DAMAGEPLAN singer Patrick Lachman reportedly performed acoustic versions of two ALICE IN CHAINS songs ("Brother" and "Got Me Wrong") at the funeral, while Eddie Van Halen gave a speech that included an impromptu playback of a phone message he had received from Abbott at some point before his death.

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Quiet Riot UK Dates, Live Album MP3s Posted Online

QUIET RIOT will commence their 2005 world tour in England, where the group has not performed in twenty years, with the following dates:

2/11/05 BRADFORD, UK - RIO
2/12/05 LONDON, UK - THE UNDERWORLD
2/13/05 NOTTINGHAM, UK - ROCK CITY
2/14/05 DUDLEY, UK - JB'S

Additional tour dates for Europe will be announced shortly.

Three MP3 music files have been made available from the "QUIET RIOT Live & Rare - Vol. 1" CD which will be released on Cleopatra/Deadline Records. MP3 downloads are now available at this location. They include "Metal Health (Bang Your Head)" and "Condition Critical" both recorded live in 1984, as well as the studio demo of "Thunderbird" which was recorded by Kevin DuBrow and Frankie Banali along with Chuck Wright (Bass) and Bob Steffan (Guitar) in 1981.

"QUIET RIOT LIVE AND RARE VOLUME 1" is expected to hit the streets on January 4, 2005.

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Epica Singer Recovers And Resumes Touring

Epica frontwoman Simone Simons is back singing for the group on their current tour of Mexico following an emergency appendectomy which nerly sidelined the vocalist late last week. Marivi, lead singer of the opening band The Legion Of Hetheria, had stepped in to complete the dates with Epica in Simons' absence.

Commented Simone: "This week I was diagnosed with an appendix infection and had to go to the hospital for surgery. We all did not expect that I would recover this fast. And hereby I would like to announce that I will continue the tour from now on!

"I would like to thank all the fans for their support and understanding, the Loera family for taking care of me and of course for Marivi who did a great job!"

Epica's remaining Mexican tour dates:

Dec. 15 - El Area Chica - Toluca, MEX
Dec. 16 - El Foro - Cuernavaca, MEX
Dec. 17 - Iguana Rock line - Durango, MEX
Dec. 18 - Huerta del S.T.I.C. - San Luis Potosí, MEX
Dec. 19 - Salón Mónaco - Cuautitlán, MEX

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Slipknot's Royal Affair

Slipknot's recent show in Bangkok was attended by Her Royal Highness Princess Siribhachudhabhorn of Thailand.

According to Roadrunner Records U.K., "Thailand's royal family are nationally held in very high regard, so it was quite an honour to learn that Her Royal Highness, who is in her early twenties, was a fan of the band and was coming to the show!

"The promoter of the show had arranged for a white tent backstage with white satin chairs for the Princess (who was wearing a Slipknot t-shirt) and her friends to have a special pre-show meet & greet with the band for photos and autographs!

"To watch the show afterwards, although a special area had been created in front of the soundboard for Her Royal Highness and her friends, they decided to watch up-front, and remained front and centre for the entire show."

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Sevendust Guitarist Quits Tour

As of Tuesday morning, December 14, 2004, guuitarist Clint Lowery has left the current Sevendust tour due to "personal issues," according to an official statement. "Sevendust has made the decision to continue its present tour for its deserving fans and deliver a show one has come to expect from the Sevendust moniker," the statement continues.

Sevendust are continuing to tour behind their acoustic live CD/DVD, "Southside Double-Wide Acoustic Live", available on TVT Records. Recorded and filmed at The Georgia Theater in Athens, GA, the set contains many of the band's greatest hits, including "Bitch", "Too Close To Hate", "Black", "Xmas Day", "Broken Down", and a cover of the NINE INCH NAILS/JOHNNY CASH classic "Hurt". The DVD side contains over two hours of live footage and tons of DVD extras.

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Within Temptation's The Silent Force Certified Gol

Within Temptation's latest album, "The Silent Force", has been certified gold in Holland a mere three weeks after it was released.

The Dutch group were presented with the gold awards for the album during a live performance on the BNN radio show "That's Live". The award presentation was a surprise for the band and they celebrated this event with the fans who were present at the radio station studio. A photo of the award presentation can be viewed at this location.

"The Silent Force" was mixed at Toytown Studios in Sweden and was produced by Daniel Gibson, who co-wrote four songs with the band, including first single "Stand My Ground". Additional songwriting credit on "Stand My Ground" comes from Han'some, who, like Gibson, is represented by EMI Music Publishing.

Within Temptation's "Mother Earth" album, which was originally released in 2000 and then re-issued in 2002 to rave reviews, reportedly sold 350,000 copies in Europe and reached triple-platinum status in Holland.

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Arch Enemy Issues Statement On Cancelled NYC Show

Arch Enemy has issued the following statement regarding their cancelled show with Cradle of Filth at the Irving Plaza, New York on Dec. 14:

We're here at the Irving Plaza as you know, and we've just been given some devastating news. The show has been cancelled tonight, due to reasons entirely beyond our control. We have been told that Dani from Cradle of Filth has been taken ill and they cannot do the show tonight. When the promoter found out, he decided to pull the entire show, even though Arch Enemy was more than ready and to go ahead and just play the show anyway. We talked with our friends in Bleeding Through and Himsa and they thought the same as us - we all wanted to play.

We are totally, totally gutted about this. We cannot believe this decision from the promoter, but we've been told there is NOTHING we (or anybody else) can do about it. Worst of all, it's a sold out show, so we know how many people will be disappointed. The guys from Himsa even got on the phone to other promoters and venues in the area, to see if we could all go and play a three band show somewhere else, but with such short notice it just isn't happening.

I just don't know what else to say, we are all sitting here stunned right now. This has been one of our best ever US tours, and to end it like this, totally powerless, just SUCKS BEYOND BELIEF!! We are so on fire right now, the last week of shows have been amazing, this one was shaping up to be even better! Talk about a total let-down.

As you can imagine it's total chaos at the venue right now, I'm gonna get kicked off this machine soon - no doubt there'll be more on this subject from me soon but as you know we're flying to London in the morning for our big show (at least there's still that to look forward to)! Anyway, just wanted to say 'sorry' to all our fans in NYC who were coming along to see us; I'm sure you'll understand that there was nothing we could do here, but we will be back to see you next year...

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Fear Factory Song Connected To Murder?

Rocky Mountain News reports that the Fear Factory song "Bite the Hand that Bleeds" could be tied to a murder:

Westminster police have identified a murder victim found naked with her hands severed as Catrina Renee Powell. Her body was found early on the morning of Oct. 25 behind the Country Meadows shopping plaza in the 7500 block of Sheridan Boulevard.

The night before Powell's body was found, four heavy-metal bands played at the Ogden Theater near where she was last seen. Carlson said Monday that police have explored which bands were appearing at the concert venue at the time and were aware of the heavy-metal show.

One of the bands in the show, Fear Factory, was promoting a new song titled "Bite the Hand that Bleeds." That song, according to the band's Web site, is featured in a recently released film Saw, which features a maniacal killer known as "Jigsaw." That song's lyrics contain the refrain: "One more drop of blood I spill/ one more drop you take/ one more drop and I will spite/ and bite the hand that bleeds."

When asked about that song Monday, Carlson said investigators were not aware of the Fear Factory song and didn't know if it could have any connection to the case.

"To say it might have some significance - perhaps. I couldn't discount it. Perhaps, at the same time, maybe it was just a coincidence. To say it's actually tied in, who knows?" Carlson said.

Read the full article at Rocky Mountain News.

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