Hydra Head Comments On Final Khanate Album

A blogger at Hydra Head Records has posted some tantalizing notes about a final Khanate album, the still unreleased "Clean Hands Go Foul."

Production on the album is apparantly very close to completion; they've posted some gorgeous pictures of the finished cover. More...

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Unreleased Mastodon LP "Crack The Skye" Analyzed

Metal journalist John Doran has gotten his hands on Mastodon's new, unreleased album "Crack The Skye." He's given a track-by-track breakdown of his impressions on his blog, "The Quietus." The album's due out in early 2009, so for now, his review is all you get.

Brief synopsis: it's a bit mainstream, but it still shreds like a fiend.

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Wolves In The Throne Room Announces Tour Dates

Black metal heathens Wolves In The Throne Room have announced a series of shows for early in the new year. They plan to play two on the west coast of North America, and the rest throughout Europe. More...

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Behold...The Arctopus Parts Ways With Drummer

Behold...The Arctopus drummer Charlie Zeleny has issued the following update about quitting the band:

"Its been 5+ years of crazy music, amazing fans and good times but its definitely time for us to part ways. These days I've been really into developing my career as a Session Drummer live and in the studio and as a Drum Solo Artist. I'm also very excited to be working on some new projects with Jordan Rudess from Dream Theater and Terry Bozzio for the Drum Channel. I am excited to focus more on my own Online Drum Tracking business for artists all around the world which has already included Rudess, Blotted Science and Suspyre too. I wish the band the best of luck continuing on in the future without me and look forward to reconnecting with Arctopus fans on tour with other artists and bands soon, so stay tuned!"

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Cattle Decapitation Seeks Normal People For Video

San Diego band Cattle Decapitation is looking for volunteers for the recording of a video for the track "Regret & the Grave." The band has issued the following statement:

We will be filming the rest of the video (this is the storyline part) in the Burbank/northern Los Angeles area and we can use the following REGULAR, everyday, "normal looking folks":

MOMS
DADS
KIDS
OLD PEOPLE
TEENS...

...of all races, colors, basically as long as you are walking upright and speak a language understood by other same species on earth, we may be able to use you as an extra in our video. BUT, THIS PART IS VERY IMPORTANT SO PLEASE READ:

Unfortunately, we cannot really use folks that look too "metal", "punk", "crusty", "goth", "scene kids", etc... BUT, if you match that description and have very "normal, everyday" kind of friends or family, then we can definitely consider that. More...

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Into Eternity Posts Update And Album Recommends

Canadian extreme metal band Into Eternity has posted the following year end update and new albums recommend to fans:

We're dealing with an insane winter blizzard today and -37C, but it's warmer than last weeks -44C with wind chill! It will probably be a good idea to stay home in the warm and write some hot metal riffs...ha!

It was a great year of touring for us in 2008. The Symphony X USA tour and Japan were the 2 high points for me. During the long drives we would crank Symphony X's last album, 'Paradise Lost' and try to air guitar the licks and sing along to Russel's smooth pipes. I was personally out of the touring game in mid-September because Cortney and I were expecting a baby. Music has always been number one in my life, but I had to stay home and support the family. On November 28, 2008 Lucca Jacob Yngwie Roth was born into our world at 9:36 am. Cortney picked his first name, so I got to pick his middle names. Jacob was my father and Yngwie is my all time favorite guitar player. The choice of names was an easy one for me. Now all of my time has been dedicated to the family and it will be into the next year as well. More...

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Charon Guitar Player Missing Moscow Show

The guitarist for Finnish goth metal act Charon will be missing tonight's appearance in Moscow due to health issues. The band issued the following statement:

"Charon guitarist Lauri Tuohimaa was hospitalized during Christmas due to a blood clot. Because of his bad condition Lauri has a ban on travel and he's currently recovering at home.

For this the reason Lauri does not play at the New Year show in Moscow. Luckily we were able to find in a very short time a Russian guitarist who will back up Lauri at this special occasion. Despite this harmful situation, we wish you all a rocking New Year and hope to see you sometime soon!"

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Syrach Plans New Album

Norwegian doom metal act Syrach has announced that they will be recording a new album in January. The band issued the following statement:

"First of all we must apologize for the lack of updates and new blogs at the moment. But to our excuse, we have been very busy the last couple of months with different tasks and doings, both personal and bandwise.

That said, we will use this opportunity to wish all our fans and friends a grand new year, and may it bring you much great times and good music. And this is where we can help you out a bit:

We will enter studio on the 16th of January, to record our new album. The album will be produced by the great Bjørnar Nilsen, who did a good job on our last one as well. No title nor release date is set yet, but we hope to know more about this soon. The album will be released thru napalm records, who also did a great job with us on "Days of Wrath". We will try to keep you updated with the studio progress and maybe even post some pictures from the recordings. No promises though... some of you may have heard a song or two from the album on our live shows, but now we'll finally get them out to the rest. Have a great new year, and support true Norwegian doom!"

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Dead Head Streaming New Song Online

Dutch thrash band Dead Head are streaming a new song online from their upcoming album "Depression Tank" on their official MySpace Page. The band also issued the following update about the album:

"Hey, just uploaded "Firegate' to our player. And thanks to the 1100+ people who listened to "Less Than Zero' so far.

The new album will officially be released on Feb 16th, but Displeased is shipping early order from Jan 16th already. The March 20th shows marks our 20th anniversary and will be something special. More info when it follows."

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Wolverine Set To Record New Album

Swedish progressive metal act Wolverine has been working on their new album for three years running, and according to drummer Marcus Losbjer the recording will be taking place soon. He issued the following update:

"I’m looking forward to FINALLY record the new album, after more than 3! years of writing in a limbo! The absence of inspiration have been really severe this time. This album have been a struggle to write, by far the most difficult album to puzzle together out of all the Wolverine albums. It’s the complete opposite to the last album (Still) that was a dream to write. It was fast and actually quite easy!

As you may have read on forums, myspace and so on, we’ve had more difficulties to deal with this year than just the minor problems concerning the band. The heart problems with Stefan's daughter has maybe been the toughest. A reminder of how fragile we are! Everything has been mixed into a big melting-pot, just ready to explode! Thankfully, it didn’t. After the ProgPower Europe gigs in October, we found a little spark to lighten the inspiration again, this time I hope it will never go as ice-cold as it has been!"

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Spiritus Mortis Recording New Album

Finnish doom metal band Spiritus Mortis has announced that they are going to be recording a full length follow up to the 2006 release "Fallen." The new album, as yet untitled, will be recorded during the early weeks of January at Pop-Artikkeli studios. The album will be released through Firebox records, although no official release date has been announced yet.

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Robert Plant Honored by Queen

Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant received one of Britain's topmost honors today in a ceremony that also included jazz saxaphonist Courtenay Pine and fantasy novelist Terry Pratchett being inducted into the Order of the British Empire. More...

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Obituary Heads South with Malevolent Creation

Obituary have confirmed they will be joining fellow Florida-based death metallers Malevolent Creation in Central America for two shows in early 2009. More...

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Autumn Announce CD Release Show

Dutch metal act Autumn have planned a CD release show in honor of their upcoming album "Altitude," the fourth from the female-fronted symphonic metallers.

The show is scheduled to take place Friday, February 15, 2009 in Tivoli-de Helling in Utrecht. "We are very much looking forward to this show and we of course hope you will all be able to come and join the party," the band states on their official website. If you don't happen to be in The Netherlands, the new album will be released through Metal Blade Records the same day in Europe. A North American release date has yet to be announced.

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Arch Enemy Confirm 2009 Dates

Arch Enemy has officially booked their first few shows of 2009. "We have plans for tours in South America and Australia and plenty of European festivals and concerts in all kinds of places on this planet," the band announced today.
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Just For Fun

Scott Ian Turns 30...ish

Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian is celebrating a birthday today. According to the band's website, it's his 30th. "Yeah...30," the news pokes at the founding Anthrax member. More...

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Single Bullet Theory Announces New Album Details

Guitarist/vocalist Matt DiFabio of Philadelphia's Single Bullet Theory has issued the following update regarding their upcoming album, "Divine ways of Chaos:"

"Single Bullet Theory is honored to confirm the fact that Jack Frost (seven witches, bronx casket co., Savatage) will be contributing a guest solo to the up in coming SBT disc 'Divine ways of Chaos.'"

"I’m happy to say that Jack and I have been talking about doing something together… Jack will be playing a solo on the track “Heretic”. Which is a very up tempo, heavy ass song that totally fits his vibe”. I can’t wait to get him in the studio for a day with us." More...

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