Dutch "atmospheric doomsters" OFFICIUM TRISTE will be re-issuing their classic debut, "Ne Vivam", on vinyl through the Badger label. Originally released in April 1997 through Tuetonic Existence Records, the LP will be issued on 180-gram vinyl in a limited edition of 500 copies and will be available in five different colors (100 copies per color) featuring black neon print on black background. For more information, visit www.badgerrecords.nl.

Band profile:

Officium Triste

Swedish thrashers CARNAL FORGE have finalized the track listing for their upcoming live DVD, "Destroy Live", due in May. The disc contains 20 songs recorded the last weekend of January 2004 in Krakow, Poland and clips from "The 2003 Metal Gods Tour" in New York and "Extreme Bleeding Japan Tour 2003" in Tokyo.

"Destroy Live" DVD track listing:

01. Destroy Life
02. I Smell Like Death (Son Of A Bastard)
03. Hand Of Doom
04. Ripped & Torn
05. Who's Gonna Burn
06. Baptized In Fire
07. Divine Killing Breed Machine
08. Deep Rivers Of Blood
09. Firedemon
10. Welcome To Your Funeral
11. Twisted
12. Butchered, Slaughtered, Strangled, Hanged
13. Totalitarian Torture
14. Everything Dies
15. Born To Hate
16. Chained
17. The Other Side
18. H.B.F. Suicide
19. No Resurrection
20. Too Much Hell Ain't Enough For Me

CARNAL FORGE's new studio album, "Aren't You Dead Yet", is scheduled for release in June through Century Media (Europe and USA) and Soundholic (Japan). 12 songs were recorded and mixed at Studio Underground for the follow-up to last year's "The More You Suffer", with the new material being described by guitarist Jari Kuusisto as " up from where the last album stopped. The new songs are a little bit more aggressive, but all of you that liked our previous albums won't get disappointed."

Band profile:

Carnal Forge

After much controversy the Seattle-based band NEVERMORE have officially re-signed with Century Media Records worldwide and are now preparing for a slew of activity in support of Enemies of Reality, their latest effort. The dynamic quartet will embark on a headlining U.S. tour this summer with support acts to be announced soon. NEVERMORE wrapped up a highly successfully tour alongside Dimmu Borgir, Children of Bodom and Hypocrisy last fall and look forward to getting back on the road and being able to play a longer set. The group will also be featured on the upcoming New England Metal and Hardcore Festival DVD compilation. Enemies of Reality, their fifth full-length release, showcases the band's aggressive songwriting style with a dizzying array of solos, easily satisfying any metal fan's expectations. A video clip for the track "I, Voyager" will also be shot early next month.

Warrel Dane (vocals) checks in with the following update, "The members of NEVERMORE would like to announce that after long negations, we have re-signed to Century Media Records. Both sides worked very hard to repair past problems and in the end, after fielding numerous offers, we felt this was the best to carry us into our future. We are currently writing new songs in our downtime and preparing for our first release under our new contract. We have four solid songs down at the moment and hope to hit the studio in early fall. In the meantime, we will be doing some major festivals in Europe, a headlining U.S. tour and a new video. All is well in NEVERMORE, and expect another major announcement to be made soon."

Band profile:

Nevermore

Bloodbath, Sweden's death metal super-group, has announced the addition of vocalist Peter Tägtgren (Hypocrisy, Lockup, Pain) who replaces the departed Mike Åkerfeldt (Opeth). Tägtgren joins the ranks of Bloodbath with fellow Swedes Anders "Blakkheim" Nyström (Katatonia, Diabolical Masquerade, Bewitched), Jonas Renkse (Katatonia, October Tide) and Dan Swanö (Nightingale, Dan Swanö Unicorn, Edge Of Sanity, Infestdead, Odyssey, Pan-Thy-Monium), and new drummer Martin "Axe" Axenrot (Witchery, Satanic Slaughter).

"We're currently in the heat of fire composing the last material for the follow-up to 2002's Resurrection Through Carnage and will soon deliver some titles." said Blakkneim in an online posting. "Until then, let the blood run red."

Band profile:

Bloodbath

Frontman Dave Mustaine of MEGADETH has checked in with an update to the band's official website:

"What's done is done.

Droogies!
Today I officially finished the last song of MEGADETH and am on to the MD.45 record.
The news is that excluding Risk which will only have two, every other record is going to have four bonus tracks. I enjoyed watching all of the ring pieces say that I was holding onto songs for later release for the money.

Boy don't you look stoopid now. Yes, you do.

There are Randy Burns mixes, Paul Lani mixes, RIP demos with Chris Poland, with Marty Friedman, and just with me as guitarist before I started interviewing anyone. There are Countdown and Youth demos, Cryptic demos, alternate mixes of Cryptic and Risk and then there are unreleased tracks. And I know none of you have these suckas!
One track that I know none of you have or have ever even heard was the track that MEGADETH did for the KISS - Kiss my Ass record. Well, you will.
I am honored to have performed for all of you, and I am very proud of what has been accomplished here in the last couple of months. I hope you know, this has never been done before where a person re-mixed his enitre catalogue for re-release in this short amount of time, AND it not sounding like ca-ca!

And let me close by sayng that the MD.45 record is hella kewl! I was worried about not being able to do justice to the vocal parts that Lee did, but I just remembered that I sang some of them to him when we were in the studio anyways, and I got over it.

I know Lee would rather I re-sang this record AND have our music get out to the masses, then it just remain in a vault somewhere, unheard of.
BTW - The surprise that I said I was working on hasn't been mentioned in this or any post made by me yet.

Now go get a tissue; you're dribblin'!

MSGD!"

Band profile:

Megadeth

Ex-STRATOVARIUS singer Timo Kotipelto was asked by Skipmag.de last month if he has any intentions of performing with his former bandmates at their scheduled appearance at Germany's Rock Hard festival in late May. "Let me put it like this," Timo replied. " One and a half weeks ago I played a festival in Spain. I really tried to give my best to the fans and to sing as good as possible. Jörg did the same. But the other guys, especially Tolkki and Johansson, messed up the whole show. That really pissed me off! I don't know if you've already read it somewhere but after the first song Mr. Boss left the stage and return later really drunk. And then Johansson did something that really shouldn't be done on stage (Johansson urinated on Tolkki's leg during the song "Forever" ? Ed.). That's simply not fair. I try to give my best for those people who paid all that money for their tickets. And I really don't want all this shit to happen on the stage. That really sucks! It was already hard enough for me to go to the rehearsals and then on stage with those people. If they do such shit then, it's not fair. At the moment I'm really not interested in playing another show with these people. But this can change within one month. I also think that these shows will take place, though I heard that Tolkki has in mind to dissolve the band. But I think there are many fans that want to see us live and also people that want to see me sing live and never saw us live or missed the last tour. I think we should try to do all this professional . I don't have to talk to these people after the show and they don't have to talk to me, but I think if these gigs take place, that every one of us should play as good as possible instead of doing all this shit."

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Band profile:

Stratovarius

Long-running Swedish death metallers DISMEMBER will have their April 14 gig in Stockholm recorded for future broadcast via Sveriges Radio P3's "P3 Live" concert series. More information will be made available soon.

DISMEMBER's brand-new album, "Where Ironcrosses Grow", is scheduled for release in the U.S. on April 20 through Candlelight Records. The follow-up to 2000's "Hate Campaign" was recorded at Stockholm's Sami studio and features artwork by acclaimed artist Dan Seagrave (ENTOMBED, SUFFOCATION, MORBID ANGEL).

DISMEMBER will be releasing a double DVD, entitled "Live Blasphemies", through Escapi later in the year. The first disc will contain the group's live performance from May 27, 2003 at Klubben in Stockholm, while the second disc will feature a 90-minute documentary/home video spanning the group's entire career.

Band profile:

Dismember

Swedish thrashers CARNAL FORGE have set "Aren't You Dead Yet" as the title of their new album, tentatively due in June through Century Media (Europe and USA) and Soundholic (Japan). 12 songs were recorded and mixed at Studio Underground for the follow-up to last year's "The More You Suffer", with the new material being described by guitarist Jari Kuusisto as " up from where the last album stopped. The new songs are a little bit more aggressive, but all of you that liked our previous albums won't get disappointed."
The tentative track listing for the album is as follows:

01. Decades of Despair
02. My Suicide
03. Burn Them Alive
04. Waiting For Sundown
05. Exploding Veins
06. Sacred Flame
07. Inhuman
08. The Final Hour
09. Totally Worthless
10. The Strength of Misery
11. Ruler of Your Blood (Japan only)

Band profile:

Carnal Forge

Audio clips of HAMMERFALL singer Joacim Cans talking about each track on his upcoming solo album, "Beyond the Gates", have been posted online at this location: http://208.203.139.81/cans/btg/liners.shtml

"Beyond The Gates" is scheduled for release on April 19 through Sanctuary Records. The album was recorded between November 2003 and February 2004 at Studio Fredman in Gothenburg, Sweden, Frankie's Hideaway in the U.S. and House of Music Studios in Germany, and was mixed and mastered at Twilight Studios in Germany. The recording lineup on the CD was as follows: Cans (vocals), Mat Sinner (bass, SINNER), "Metal" Mike Chlasciak (guitars, ex-HALFORD, PAINMUSEUM), Stefan Elmgren (guitars, HAMMERFALL) and Mark Zonder (drums, FATES WARNING). The album track "Fields of Yesterday" can be downloaded in MP3 format at this location: http://208.203.139.81/downloads/Cans@www.noiserecords.com-Fields_Of_Yesterday.mp3

Band profile:

HammerFall

DIMMU BORGIR have won the Norwegian Grammy award "Spellemannsprisen" for their current album "Death Cult Armageddon". The band outrivaled ENSLAVED and OLD MAN'S CHILD that were nominated in the "Metal" category as well.

Band profile:

Dimmu Borgir

First it was only a rumour, now it's official: Bass player Frank Bello has decided to leave ANTHRAX! This is the band's official statement on the matter: "Due to internal reasons, Joey Vera (ARMORED SAINT, FATES WARNING) will be temporarily handling bass playing duties for ANTHRAX on their upcoming tours of Japan and Australia."

ANTHRAX will play this tour as headliner together with KILLSWITCH ENGAGE and SOILWORK.

The band's next release will be the live DVD "Music Of Mass Destruction", due in April.

Band profile:

Anthrax

CRADLE OF FILTH bassist Dave Pybus has posted the following studio update on the band's official web site:

"It's official... CRADLE OF FILTH are possessed!!! We have now been transformed into zombified pork scratching eating fiends! On my return from a short weekend break, I was instructed NOT to come back unless I brought with me a whole sack of pork scratchings (to those who have no idea what I'm talking about, it's small bags of rock hard fatty pig skin!). The guys were rabid and scoffed the lot like greedy blood-crazed shits! Zombie partrol Vs. Ghoul tools Vs. Tag team tossers! They did taste good though.

"On a more serious note: Maybe some of you are wondering how the new record is shaping up. Well. Adrian has completed all his drums. I should be done with bass this week too. Dani has started vocals on like 6 or 7 tracks. Paul has nearly completed all his guitars and James has a few songs left to play. Martin... likes boys. I mean he's well into his keyboards. Everyone is very excited when we get to hear the tracks building up and there is way more variation with the songs. Fast, slow, moody, ultra fast, evil! You know the general theme... HEAVY METAL!!! True and simple. Only CRADLE OF FILTH styleee! We also have the album cover design 99% there and just done a few new t-shirt designs. Visited at the studio by our endorser rep and general superhero Dom Fairbanks!

"We are also getting dates through and are pleased to announce that we will be playing this years Download festival at Donnington Park, Saturday, 5th June. It's gonna be great to get back on the stage!!! I also visited this weekend our clothes design company SINWEAR for a future Metal Hammer feature. Saw some of the new designs for this years touring blitz! Check out their website for an insight into this great up-and-coming clothing company. Also check out what's getting sold via eBay these days."

Band profile:

Cradle Of Filth

A live video of Swedish death metallers Hypocrisy performing the track "Adjusting The Sun" on their recent American tour has been posted online in Quicktime and Windows Media formats at this location: http://www.mentalsuplex.com/media.html
(courtesy of MentalSuplex Productions).

Hypocrisy have just launched the European No Mercy Festivals 2004 tour with Cannibal Corpse, Kataklysm and Vomitory, among others.

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Band profile:

Hypocrisy

RHAPSODY will be issuing a new mini-CD, entitled "The Dark Secret", on May 29 through Magic Circle Music/SPV. The group's as-yet-untitled new full-length album will follow in September.

"The Dark Secret" track listing:

01. Unholy Warcry (short version)*
02. Thunder Mighty Roar*
03. Sacred Power Of Raging Winds
04. Guardians Of Destiny (English version)*
05. (T.B.C.)

* Titles will not appear on the upcoming studio album

The mini-CD will be packaged with a limited edition bonus DVD containing "Making of" footage for the new album (incl. interview sequences with Christopher Lee) and a 5.1 Mix of "Unholy Warcry" (short version).

As previously reported, RHAPSODY's new album will feature a very special appearance by acclaimed actor Christopher Lee ("Star Wars - Episode 2: Attack of the Clones", "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring", "Gremlins II", "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"). Mr. Lee is no stranger to music and recording studios as he is a classically trained opera singer himself. He will be providing a powerful narration on the forthcoming self-produced CD of the Italy-based group.

Among other well-known narrators and London actors, Lee will guide the listeners in the role of a king through a unique saga invented by RHAPSODY's founding members Luca Turilli and Alex Staropoli. As a special surprise, Mr. Lee's daughter Christina Lee will also appear in the part of a warrior princess. Incidentally this will mark the first time father and daughter will work together.

RHAPSODY's new CD is being recorded in four different studios in Europe with appearances by more than a dozen international guest soloists. Also appearing on the album will be the entire Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra from the Czech Republic as well as a 50-piece choir.

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Source:	blabbermouth.net
Band profile:	Rhapsody

*The following names have been added to our increasingly impressive bill :*

SLIPKNOT, ICED EARTH, DIMMU BORGIR, MORBID ANGEL,

HYPOCRISY, PLEYMO, ILL NINO, CHIMAIRA, SEVEN WITCHES, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, EPICA

The programme for the various days is now as follows :

Friday 25 June : a.o. ANATHEMA, CIRCLE II CIRCLE, EPICA, EXODUS, HYPOCRISY, ICED EARTH, IN EXTREMO and WHITE LION.

Saturday 26 June : a.o. AGNOSTIC FRONT, ALICE COOPER, ANTHRAX, BACKFIRE, BLOOD FOR BLOOD, CRADLE OF FILTH, DISIPLINE, EVERGREY, MORBID ANGEL, MOTÖRHEAD, MY DYING BRIDE, , PLEYMO, SLAPSHOT, SLIPKNOT and QUEENSRYCHE.

Sunday 27 June : a.o. CHIMAIRA, CHILDREN OF BODOM, DEATH ANGEL, DIMMU BORGIR, DYING FETUS, , HATEBREED, ILL NINO, JUDAS PRIEST, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, MALEVOLENT CREATION, LIFE OF AGONY, SAXON, SEVEN WITCHES, TESTAMENT and THERION

*BIG GRASPOP CLASH*

Year after year, scores of metalheads wonder why hardly any homegrown bands make it onto the otherwise excellent Graspop bill

Yes, well, we can't get around the fact that there are legions of international acts out there and most of them have been around the block a few times more than our Belgian bands. For a minute there, it looked as if no Belgian bands at all were going to grace this year's three-day festival, but of course we couldn't let that happen. We joined forces with Rock Tribune to look for a satisfactory solution. After all, who do you choose when every Belgian band feels called to? Then we thought: why not organise a genuine BATLLE OF BANDS and guess what? The people behind the Graspop festival also liked the idea. The place to be is Biebob, Vosselaar (or what did you expect?). A prestigious event calls for a prestigious location, so Belgium's permier metal temple was the logical choice.
This is the plan: on 22 May, five Belgian bands will thrash it out on stage in the crunching final of the Big Graspop Clash. The winner obviously gets to play Graspop, that goes without saying, but there's more... Thanks to musical instrument shop KEY MUSIC, the band that comes out on top will also win A BACKLINE WORTH NO LESS THAN ? 3,000 (!!). And still we at Rock Tribune felt it wasn't enough. A track by the winning band or artist will be included on the CD that will accompany the July/August issue of our magazine.
So what do you do if you have your own band? Go for it, of course!! Get a move on and send a CD with your material to

ROCK TRIBUNE GRASPOP CONCOURS -
GROTE STEENWEG ZUID 11 - 9052 GENT

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