French black metallers Temple Of Baal will enter the studio in April to record the long awaited album "Lightslaying Rituals", for a release date around October via Agonia Records.

The album will be recorded in Hybreed Studios with Andrew Guillotin (responsible for the sound on Glorior Belli's "Manifesting The Raging Beast" album and Temple Of Baal's split EP with Aosoth, among many others). The visual aspect will be done by and Vertigo Photography. More info to follow soon.

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Temple Of Baal

French heavy metal squad Lonewolf have started pre-production of the brand new, fourth studio album. Some of the special guests that will take part in the recordings are Majk Moti (ex-Running Wild) and Jan Bünning (ex-Paragon). The yet untitled release will be recorded this summer, produced by Bart Gabriel (Crystal Viper, Metalucifer, Sabbat), and mixed & mastered by the Grammy nominated Andy La Rocque (King Diamond, Hammerfall, Evergrey) in the Sonic Train Studios in Varberg, Sweden.

Lonewolf was formed in 1992, and except several demo tapes and singles, released three studio albums that estabilished their position in the heavy metal underground. Their sound continue the classic legacy of the German heavy metal acts such as Running Wild, Grave Digger, Accept and Paragon. More information to be found at http://www.myspace.com/metalonewolf.

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Lonewolf

Axxis are currently recording the material for their new studio album. This time, the band members will come up with a special surprise to celebrate their 20th band anniversary. Stay tuned for upcoming news regarding this matter.

At this moment, Axxis singer Bernhard is recording his vocal tracks before drummer Alex Landenburg will start with the drum recordings.

The upcoming Axxis album will be produced by Harry and Berny. The band is once again working with engineer Dennis Ward (never change a winning team!). Also a female vocalist will take part at the new production, but this time, she will only act in the background.

Source:	afm-records.de
Band profile:	Axxis

Metal Mind Productions press release

Get ready for an hour of despair with the uncanny doom metallers! Metal Mind Production presents a CD audio version of the latest Solitude Aeturnus DVD entitled "Hour Of Despair". Robert Lowe's haunting vocals, unbelievably heavy and slow riffs, strange melodies and sublime compositions - all this complemented by the band's desperate, insane personal appeal.

The tracklist comprised of songs recorded during their live show in Poland. It includes songs from their latest album "Alone" as well as from some of their previous releases (from the classic debut "Into The Depths Of Sorrow", from "Through The Darkest Hour", "Downfall", and the cult album "Adagio"). "Hour Of Despair" CD will be released on 2nd March in Europe and 10th March in USA (via MVD). Digipak edition is limited to 1000 copies!"

Solitude Aeturnus - Hour Of Despair cover art]

Label: Metal Mind Records
Cat. No.: MASS CD 1020 DG
Barcode: 5907785034419
Format: CD DG (limited edition)
Genre: doom metal
Release date: 02.03.2009 Europe / 10.03.2009 USA

Tracklist:

01. Scent of Death
02. Haunting the Obscure
03. Mental Pictures
04. Destiny Falls to Ruin
05. Sightless
06. 9th Day: Awakening
07. Phantoms
08. Is There
09. Pawns of Anger
10. Waiting for the Light
11. Days of Prayer
12. Falling

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Source:	metalmind.com.pl
Band profile:	Solitude Aeturnus

Prog Metal veterans Dream Theater are currently wrapping up work on their tenth studio album. The band commenced work on the as-yet untitled album - their second for Roadrunner Records, following up 2007's "Systematic Chaos" ? in October of last year.

Drummer Mike Portnoy and guitarist John Petrucci are once again producing the CD, while engineer Paul Northfield will mix the record. Roadrunner Records plans to release the album in early summer upon which the band will immediately embark on a world tour to support it.

Source:	roadrunnerrecords.com
Band profile:	Dream Theater

Gamma Ray have posted the following short update on their website:

"Gamma Ray has started working on new material for the next studio album, which is planed to be released in late Autumn. Next tour will probably start in November."

Source:	gammaray.org
Band profile:	Gamma Ray

On Friday January 16th, NOVEMBERS DOOM will enter recording studio "Belle City Sound" to begin recording their 7th full length CD, to be titled "Into Night's Requiem Infernal". Tracking duties will be handled by Chris Djuricic (Engineer and Novembers Doom bassist), and the mixing of the disc by Dan Swano at Unisound. The band comments:

"We're using the same Recording / Mixing formula we've used on "The Pale Haunt Departure" and "The Novella Reservoir". In our opinion, the combination of Djuricic and Swano creates the perfect sound for us, and we've received nothing but stellar reviews of sound quality from this combination in the past.

"Every band hypes their new material, and says it's the best they've done, and the hardest and the heaviest... You can judge that for yourself in time. What we can say is that this is the first time going into a recording the entire band feels confident and believes the material will please fans of the band, as well as turn many new heads in our direction. It's dark, aggressive, and melodic, and compliments the last three releases."

The cover artwork can be viewed here

Tracklisting for Into Night's Requiem Infernal:

01. Into Night's Requiem Infernal
02. Eulogy for the Living Lost
03. Empathy's Greed
04. The Fifth Day of March
05. Lazarus Regret
06. I Hurt Those I Adore
07. The Harlots Lie
08. When Desperation Fills the Void

Novembers Doom is:

Paul Kuhr - Vocals
Larry Roberts - Guitar
Vito Marchese - Guitar
Chris Djuricic - Bass
Sasha Horn - Drums

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Novembers Doom

From the official website of Hammer Horde:

"Greetings from the studio everyone! We've successfully finished laying down the drum tracks for our debut album "Under the Mighty Oath" this weekend and are now preparing to record guitars. Despite some setbacks with the trip here, we managed to set up on Friday and blast through the set. The gods appeared to be on our side as we trudged throughout the 9 tracks, resulting in what we believe to be a solid foundation and starting point for the album. At this rate, we are shooting to be done with the overall recordings by the beginning of the New Year, so you can expect to have "Under The Mighty Oath" in your hands sometime in '09. Updates will follow shortly so stay tuned."

In later news, the band announced that all the recordings are done and only the final mixing remains. As a new year's eve present, three tracks have been posted for your hearing pleasure here.

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Source:	hammerhorde.com
Band profile:	Hammer Horde

German black metallers Endstille have posted the following short update:

"We booked JAKs-Hell again to record our sixth album for January/February 2009. The album will be entitled "Verführer" and will be released via Regain Records in Spring/Summer 2009. We are also planning to do a European Tour in fall. Some shows and festivals are confirmed so far."

Source:	endstille.com
Band profile:	Endstille

Suicidal Angels have issued the following statement on their MySpace blog:

"Hello to everyone!

As it is now confirmed, we can announce that everything's set for the recording of the second Suicidal Angels album! Recordings will be held at "Prophecy and Music Factory Studios" in Germany, under the direction of producer R.D. Liapakis, who, as many might know, is an accomplished fellow Greek musician and recording engineer, lead singer of the heavy metal group Mystic Prophecy.

The yet untitled record will contain 9 tracks of pure thrash metal, which we can't wait to play live by the way! It will be recorded in March and released (hopefully) later in 2009. One of the songs, "Jesus Lies", has already been performed live in various occasions and can also be heard through our upcoming DVD, "Live Domination", the production of which has been unfortunately hampered by some artwork issues, that will very soon be resolved. This song will give you an idea of the straight-in-your-face approach we have adopted while writing new material, that we hope you like.

So everything's rolling and March draws near! Moreover, the plans for a 2009 European tour are in motion, many shows have already been confirmed and we can't wait to see you all again and have a hell of a time. More on our upcoming tour will be posted soon, as the final details will be worked out early in 2009.

Take care you all, and have a nice thrashing holiday!

Suicidal Angels"

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Source:	profile.myspace.com
Band profile:	Suicidal Angels

Audio samples of all the songs of the new upcoming Kreator albul "Hordes Of Chaos" are available for streaming onlile over at the JPC.de website.

The twelfth Kreator studio album will be released in Europe on January 19, 2009 via SPV Records (except in Germany, on January 16) and in U.S. on January 13.

JPC.de website is also streaming audio samples of all 13 tracks that appear on "Into The Labyrinth", the new album from British metallers Saxon.

"Into The Labyrinth" will be released in Europe on January 12, 2009 (Germany, on January 9; USA, on January 13) via SPV Records.

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Source:	jpc.de
Band profile:	Kreator

As announced on the Napalm Records website, the Scottish buccaneers have not been idle the past few weeks. Besides an occasional raid and plunder, Alestorm entered the studio to work on new material. The hard work has paid off. Pirate Christopher Bowes has already confirmed the delivery of hymns in the traditional Alestorm style: sing-along refrains, keyboard melodies, heavy guitar riffs, and a full mug of rum! All of that and much more will be found on the upcoming album "Black Sails At Midnight", which will be unleashed upon corsairs and landlubbers in the spring of 2009. Hoist the sails and polish the grapnels.

Source:	napalmrecords.com
Band profile:	Alestorm

Swedish grindcore act General Surgery are releasing a new album and posted the following update regarding this event:

"So, the new album is done. 15 tracks of unholy gore metal, served on a viscera infested mortuary slab for your audial displeasure, "Corpus In Extremis: Analysing Necrocriticism" will be unleashed some time during March 2009 on Listenable Records.

There will be both a CD and LP version with slightly different track lists, the artwork and photos will also be altered for each release.As usual, the album was recorded at Off Beat studio in Stockholm, but this time by the surgeons themselves so this is a truly self-produced effort. Mastered at the renowned Tailor Maid facilities in Stockholm by mastering wizard Peter In De Betou. Artwork by Sven/Listenable Graphix.

As a special putrid treat for the holidays, we offer you two slices of reeking putrefaction up on our page, namely "Exotoxic Septicity" and "Ichor". Have a listen and make sure you leave us a comment."

"Corpus In Extremis: Analysing Necrocriticism" cover artwork and tracklist:

01. Necronomics
02. Decedent Scarification Aesthetics
03. Restrained Remains
04. Final Excarnation
05. Necrocriticism
06. Exotoxic Septicity
07. Adnexal Mass (CD) - Excessive Corpus Delicti (LP)
08. Virulent Corpus Dispersement
09. Ichor
10. Idle Teratoma Core
11. Perfunctory Fleshless Precipitate
12. Plexus Necrosis
13. Unwitting Donor/Cadaver Exchange
14. Mortsafe Rupture
15. Deadhouse

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	General Surgery

SPV Records have posted audio samples of all the tracks for Sepultura's new album "A-Lex" over at this location (scroll down to "Tracklisting"). "A-Lex" will be released in January.

Here's the "A-Lex" tracklisting again:

01. A-Lex I
02. Moloko Mesto
03. Filthy Rot
04. We've Lost You
05. What I do!
06. A-Lex II
07. The Treatment
08. Metamorphosis
09. Sadistic Values
10. Forceful Behavior
11. Conform
12. A-Lex III
13. The Experiment
14. Strike
15. Enough Said
16. Ludwig Van
17. A-Lex IV
18. Paradox

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Source:	spv.de
Band profile:	Sepultura

Finnish melodic death metallers Crystalic have posted the following update:

"We are hitting D-Studio 19.12.2008 for the drum recordings of our second full lenght album.
Rest of the instruments and vocals are going to be handled by Deaf Ear Music with Matti Auerkallio on the helm.

There's definitely some surprises coming your way with the new material, for example the fastest Crystalic song to date (with some blastbeats!) and also the slowest one. Stay tuned for a possible studio diary, photos, videos etc once we get going!

Also we have updated the site with some new promo/livepics by Heikki Santasalo, Check 'em out at this location."

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Source:	crystalic.net
Band profile:	Crystalic