Swedish melodic Doom/Death metallers Slumber have issued the following update about new album recordings and line-up:

"The recording of Resonance (the new Slumber album) has been re-set to October 5th - November 15th. It will be recorded at the isolated sphere of "Panic Room Studios" in Skara as the last album. This time though, we have twice the time and much more knowledge. The album will shine!!"

New line-up for the album recording and live performance:

Ehsan Kalantarpour - Vocals / Synth
Jari Lindholm - Guitar
Siavosh Bigonah - Bass / Growl
Markus Hill - Guitar
Ted Larsson - Drums
Mikael Brunqvist - Live 3rd guitarrist and percussionist

Female performances by Ida Sundquvist, Lina Svärd and Vinköl choir.

"This is the moment some of us has been preparing our whole life for. The era of majestic melancholy in music that in time, hopefully can grow into a real live performing large orchestra of... dooom haha. We'll give this album our everything!

I hope you're enjoying the preview of Resonance. We'll put up more songs as we go along.

Take care

/Ehsan and Slumber"

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Slumber

From the Nevermore Myspace:

Seattle metallers Nevermore will enter the studio in August with producer (and Soilwork guitarist) Peter Wichers (who previously worked with Nevermore vocalist Warrel Dane on Dane's solo debut, "Praises to the War Machine") to begin recording their long-awaited follow-up to 2005's "This Godless Endeavor", tentatively due in early 2010 via Century Media Records. Longtime friend and collaborator Andy Sneap (Megadeth, Arch Enemy, Exodus, Machine Head) will once again be handling mixing duties.

Commented Dane: "These songs are full of newfound rage, lyrically and musically. Jeff Loomis has come up with some amazing new riffs that will no doubt please old and new fans alike. Also, I think the combination of Peter and Andy will result in something very, very special."

Songtitles set to appear on the CD include "Emptiness Unobstructed" and "Without Morals".

Nevemore's "The Year Of The Voyager" DVD last year entered the German DVD chart at position No. 82.

"The Year Of The Voyager" was released in North America on November 25, 2008 via Century Media. The set covers the "This Godless Endeavor" touring cycle, starting with amazing live footage from the U.S. Gigantour 2005, the Metal Mania festival 2006 in Poland, the Wacken Open Air festival in 2006 in Germany and the main DVD show recorded at the Zeche in Bochum, Germany on October 11, 2006. Bonus material includes two songs from Century Media USA 10th Anniversary Party 2001, all promo videos and an interview with singer Warrel Dane which was recorded at the Roax Film Studios in Berlin in the spring of 2008.

For continuing updates on the progress of the upcoming Nevermore album "The Obsidian Conspiracy," fans can follow at Twitter.

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Nevermore

Dark Funeral have issued the following update:

"Finally. We have a date set for our much delayed studio session... On July 10 (yezz, the day after we play the Rockweekend Festival in Kilafors, Sweden) we will enter Abyss Studio together with Peter Tagtgren to begin the recording of our new, yet untitled, full-length album.

At this point of time we have demoed 7 new and totally amazing (of course) songs and we got an 8th almost done. Besides that, we have quite a lot of additional material written that we hopefully will be able to turn into a killer track or two before our studio time runs out.

As I previous mentioned, the new album will definitely be our most varied album thus far, perhaps a little bit toned down compared to its precursor, but still carry on with the same spirit and strength as always.

This time we will offer more than one non blast beat (means heavy song) too. And some of the material will probably come as a surprise, as it's not all typical Dark Funeral style, which I personally find very inspiring. And I can't wait to nail this new album once and for all.

Once we begin to work at the Abyss Studio we will keep you updated on regular basis, that includes video reports too. Not sure which website we'll use as the main forum for this, but once it's decided we'll let you know of course."

Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Dark Funeral

While in North America on the Paganfest II Tour, Jarkko Aaltonen of Korpiklaani and Alan Averill of Primordial stopped by a New Hampshire radio station for an interview, available here:

http://bnm.podomatic.com/entry/2009-05-18T10_07_48-07_00

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Source:	bnm.podomatic.com
Band profile:	Korpiklaani

Audio samples of all the tracks that are set to appear on "Children Of The Dark Waters", the forthcoming album from Finnish metallers Eternal Tears Of Sorrow, are available for streaming on the Amazon.co.uk website.

"Children Of The Dark Waters" will be released in Finland on May 27 via Suomen Musiikki (in the rest of Europe via Massacre Records and in Asia via Marquee/Avalon).

More details about "Children Of The Dark Waters" were previously reported at this location.

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Eternal Tears Of Sorrow

Finnish metallers Kalmah have issued the following update:

"We have entered studio to record our 6th full length album. During May we will record 9 new songs and couple of covers. Mixing and mastering will take place at the beginning of Autumn when the daylight starts to disappear from the Northern Finland.

What's new? Well, I would have to say that all Kalmah elements are strongly present and the band has more strength than ever. And we will very likely use real trumpet, so at least that is something new...

You will find studio diary, pics and videos from here. Maybe you can get a hint of what is coming."

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Source:	kalmah.com
Band profile:	Kalmah

Savannah, GA's Baroness will head to Dallas, TX next week to begin work on a brand new full-length and follow-up to 2007's critically-acclaimed
Red Album.

Baroness will be working with the Grammy-nominated producer / engineer John Congleton (Explosions In The Sky, The Polyphonic Spree, The Roots,
Buddy Miles, Black Mountain) on the band's second full-length. The still untitled album is expected to see a fall 2009 release date.

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Band profile:

Baroness

Kamelot reportedly will enter the studio this June 2009 to record the follow-up to the blockbust CD "Ghost Opera" which spawned 4 high incredible videos, 100+ concerts in more than 22 countries and many sold out shows. Once again enlisting producers Sascha Paeth and Miro, the band plans to use studios in Germany, Norway and the USA for this next massive production. Kamelot's final concerts of 2009 will take place this Summer, including an appearance at the Sonisphere Festival with Metallica in Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

To smack your chops even more Kamelot's video producers ICode have uploaded the HD versions of the videos "Ghost Opera", "The Human Stain" and "Rule The World". Click here for access.

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Source:	kamelot.com
Band profile:	Kamelot

US metallers Nile have issued the following update:

"World Management would like to announce that Nile will be entering the studio for their forthcoming second Album on Nuclear Blast on June 8th at Mana Recording in Tampa Florida.

The band will be working again with Neil Kernon as producer and have added Erik Rutan to the team as engineer at his studio. The band will record at several locations throughout June and July. A mid October 2009 release is being planed world wide on Nuclear Blast.

Nile will then tour Europe in November of 2009 and January / February 2010 in North America, followed by tours in Australia, South America, Japan, Pacific Rim, Mexico, Central America and India. Stay tuned for tour news and further updates to be added."

Neil Kernon comments: "I'm really thrilled to be working on another album with Nile. This will be the third album we've done together, and we have a great working relationship in the studio that has only improved with time. I am certain that this record will be our strongest team effort yet. It will also be a lot of fun to meet and work with Erik Rutan, who is going to be involved with the engineering end of things. I've been a fan of Erik's work in Hate Eternal and also his studio work for some time. He has a strong work ethic, and I'm very optimistic that this collaboration will be fruitful and inspiring for all of us."

Erik Rutan adds: "Having Nile, one of the best bands in the genre, recording with me at Mana is a tremendous honor. I very much look forward to this collaboration with Nile and Neil Kernon to make an amazing death metal classic!"

Source:	nile-catacombs.net
Band profile:	Nile

Two medley songs from the upcoming Epica live album "The Classical Conspiracy" have been posted online here. The album is scheduled for a May 8 release via Nuclear Blast Records.

The band comments: "2009 is going to be a great year for Epica and their fans. First of all, the 8th of May the long expecting "the Classical Conspiracy" live-album will be released, and secondly, a brand new studio album will be released at September or early October of the same year. To celebrate this release Epica will perform in one of the most beautiful dutch venues: Paradiso! The show will take place on Saturday the 10th of October. The pre-sales will start at the 25th of April."

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Epica

Audio samples of all the tracks on Amberian Dawn's second album "The Clouds of Northland Thunder" are available for streaming at this location . The album will be released in Japan on May 13 and in the U.K. on April 22. The album will hit the streets in the rest of Europe sometime in June.

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Source:	amberiandawn.com
Band profile:	Amberian Dawn

Original news, posted on 24.02.2009

Madder Mortem guitarist Odd Eivind Ebbesen writes: "We've now gotten an update from Peaceville on the planned release dates for our new album, "Eight Ways":

Europe: the 18th of May 2009
USA: the 16th of June 2009

We're also working on two music videos for the new album. The release dates and details for these will be published later. Hold on, stay strong, and the waves will break for you!"

Tracklist:

01: Formaldehyde
02: The Little Things
03: Armour
04: Resolution
05: A Different Kind Of Hell
06: Riddle Wants To Be
07: Where Dream And Day Collide
08: The Flesh, The Blood And The Man
09: Get That Monster Out Of Here
10: Life, Lust & Liberty
11: All I Know
12: The Eighth Wave

UPDATE (thanks to 37592)

It has been a long time coming, but "Eight Ways", the highly-anticipated new opus of Madder Mortem is almost upon us (released May 18th). Be sure to visit the new album mini-site here for release info, audio, downloads & a whole lot more.

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Madder Mortem

Finnish metal outfit Norther has announced Aleksi Sihvonen (Medicated, ex-Imperanon) as replacement for ex-vocalist Petri Lindroos, who had left the band recently due to his commitments to Ensiferum. Norther states:

"After a hard search for a new vocalist we are honoured to announce Aleksi Sihvonen as our new lead singer. He's a creative and diverse vocalist with loads of experience. He will surely add new input to the band with his talent and variable singing styles, and most importantly: his personality fits to the band perfectly.

Besides this we have recruited, our old friend, Daniel Freyberg Naildown] as live guitarist to complete our team. We also want to thank all of you worldwide who applied for the new vocalist spot!

We hereby welcome our great new guys, Aleksi and Daniel, to the band and we will present you the fresh Norther line-up live soon!"

Aleksi Sihvonen adds:
"Sometimes life can take you to places you wouldn't even imagine going to. So, here I am and I'm very grateful and humbly honoured to be part of the Norther family.

I feel I've met the band I've always wanted to be in. Like every musician I want to make the very effort to improve my skills as much as possible and push myself to the limits and in Norther I feel that I'm able to use my voice as full and diverse as I've always wanted to.
I'm very excited on working on new material, practicing and playing shows everywhere possible!! See you all soon!!"

A version of the song "Frozen Angel" (taken from Norther's current album "N") featuring Aleksi's vocals can be downloaded at this location.

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Source:	www2.centurymedia.com
Band profile:	Norther

Original news posted on 15.01.2009

Graveworm have issued the following short update:

"We are currently working on songs for our upcoming album. We will enter the studio at the beginning of February and the new new one will be released at the end of May. We will present the new stuff at three festivals in May ? the Legacy festival in Germany, the Summer Nights festival in Austria and the Pratteln Z7 Metaldayz in Switzerland."

UPDATE (thanks to Raiden)

The new album has now been given the title "Diabolical Figures". It will contain 10 tracks and features a guest appearance by Karsten "Jagger" Jäger from Disbelief.

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Graveworm

Dutch metallers The Gathering have issued the following update:

"Hi all!

Yes, finally we are back! Fresh new start, brand new homepage, new songs ("All You Are", "Treasure" and "The West Pole") on our revamped MySpace, and you can order great packages at our webshop right now!

But first of all I like to announce Silje Wergeland as our new vocalist! Silje has been the singer of the Norwegian band Octavia Sperati for 8 years including several other projects. She did a superb job, as you can hear on our MySpace and new Gathering album "The West Pole". More info about Silje soon. This album also includes two very talented guest singers: the Dutch Anne van den Hoogen and Mexican Marcela Bovio (from Stream Of Passion), and some other guest musicians.

What can we say about "The West Pole"? It's a very vital, atmospheric and extravert rock orientated album, with all the quality and power The Gathering is so famous for, also with many new elements. The sound is guitar driven, alive and urgent; a strong and beautifully coloured album with haunting female vocals. It's produced by guitar player René Rutten and mixed & mastered by Zlaya Hadzich (who also did the production of "Souvenirs'" and René.

I hope you enjoy listening our new songs and our new homepage and MySpace.

Cheers!"

"The West Pole" cover artwork] tracklisting:

01. When Trust Becomes Sound
02. Treasure
03. All You Are
04. You Promised Me A Symphony
05. The West Pole
06. Capital Of Nowhere
07. No Bird Call
08. Pale Traces
09. No One Spoke
10. Constant Run

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Source:	gathering.nl
Band profile:	The Gathering