Official press release

Independent musicians, graphic artists, and a computer graphics demogroup have collaborated on a grand scale multimedia tribute to drummer Mike Portnoy (Transatlantic, ex-Dream Theater, ex-Avenged Sevenfold, ex-Liquid Tension Experiment), in celebration of over a quarter of a century of highly influential musicianship.

Mike Portnoy's early investment into the internet, as well as his relationship with the global fan base, created a fad-transcending musical community that continues to grow past the post quarter century mark. Mike Portnoy has always possessed a strong commitment to bringing a diverse lineup of "under the radar" support bands on the road. These tours introduced hundreds of thousands to some truly genre-defining music, and inspired a new generation with music that would have otherwise remained outside the public view.

"Mike, over the years, has fueled an online community with tireless energy and effort, of which it has been a pleasure to be a part of. Members of the community feel that paying some of that energy forward is the least they could do to show their appreciation," says compilation producer Anthony Morse.

Click here to see a bigger picture of the album cover art.

The multimedia tribute appears in the form of a free three disc digital album, interviews, and some stunning music videos graphically generated by the legendary Greek demogroup Andromeda Software Development.

Honor Thy Drummer: A Tribute to Mike Portnoy contains 3 digital discs, 2 new, and a bonus 2009 retrospective disc featuring choice selections from the previous digital release MPF 2009. Honor Thy Drummer features a diverse range of styles and approaches, drawing inspiration from Mr. Portnoy's award winning approach to music, created by acts inspired by his musical influence. The resulting music seamlessly crosses many musical boundaries weaving from heavy time-spanning progressive metal to concise folk.

The Honor Thy Drummer multimedia collection is available for free download at this location. It contains the digital album in MP3 format, a digital PDF booklet featuring photos, lyrics, and bios of the contributing artists. Two of three interviews with contributing artists Relocator, In Progress, and S.A. Adams, are included, and shed light on their collaborations with progressive metal superstars Derek Sherinian, Mark Zonder, and Mike Portnoy himself, all of whom play on the artists' tracks featured in Honor Thy Drummer. The third interview will be released in January.

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Source:

spaceprog.com

As was reported earlier, Japanese death metal jaggernauts Defiled are set to release their fourth studio effort, entitled In Crisis, this January. As you eagerly wait for this release, the band gives you a "taste of things" to come. Download the brand-new track, "Retrogression", NOW and let us know what you think!

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Source:	season-of-mist.com
Band profile:	Defiled

A few days ago already, Canadian drone doomsters Nadja have launched a bandcamp page for digital music downloads, including a couple pay-what-you-want releases. You can stream and/or download full albums - 16 to be exact! - as well as separate songs from both Nadja and Aidan Baker's solo project.

All you have to do is name a price (with no minimum), and give away your e-mail address (you'll be added to the Broken Spine Productions mailing list, from which you can unsubscribe at any time) to download hours and hours of drone sweetness.

Go check it all out at this location.

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Nadja

British crossover thrashers SSS are spreading some festive metal cheer by offering you a free song, titled "Merry ChristmaSSS".

It's that time of the year again and the Liverpool thrashers have taken time out of their schedule to think of others and give you all a special treat with a free song to see you through the holiday period.

Download "Merry ChristmaSSS" now for free at this location (view an image with the lyrics here).

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Source:	earachenews.blogspot.com
Band profile:	SSS

More good news today! None other than "the incredible" Linkin Park will be the second headliner of the 2011 edition of Download Festival, set to take place June 10-12 at Donington Park. And if that wasn't enough, also Rob Zombie has been added to the line-up today. Earlier this month the organization already confirmed the appearance of "the mighty" Avenged Sevenfold, with System Of A Down as the absolute headliners of the festival.

Here's the accompanying press release:

"With the boards brimming with activity over this evening's news that Linkin Park have been confirmed as the second headliner for Download 2011, we've just added one more artist to the bill that's sent the hype machine in to overdrive!

We're thrilled to announce that Grammy award winning musician/producer and director Rob Zombie will perform at next year's Download - an incredible 16 years since he last played the Donington Park site with his then band White Zombie.

Rob Zombie founded the metal band White Zombie and has since carved a successful career as a horror producer and director, notably for movies House Of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects. He released his new album Hellbilly Deluxe 2 earlier this year to huge critical acclaim.

Fans have been begging us for years to get Rob on the bill - and we're pleased to finally answer their call."

And here's the comment of Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington: "We are very excited to be playing Download again next year. It's one of the best festivals in the world and it's always an honour to play in front of such a great crowd. We can't wait!"

Since forming in 1996, Linkin Park have gone on to win two Grammy awards and sold over 50 million records worldwide, and they recently released their fourth studio album A Thousand Suns.

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Source:	downloadfestival.co.uk
Event:	Download Festival 2011

It's official! As was speculated last week, System Of A Down are indeed planning a string of reunion/comeback live dates for Europe, set to take place in June.

The official statement issued by the band reads as follows: "We are excited to announce that System will be playing some dates together in 2011.

We also want to thank you for your loyalty and support, not only to System Of A Down, but to all of our solo efforts as well. We have no master plan of sorts - we are playing these shows simply because we want to play together again as a band and for you, our amazing fans. We look forward to seeing all of you!"

06/02/11 - Italy, Milan, Milan Fiera Arena
06/04/11 - Germany, Nurnberg, Rock im Park
06/05/11 - Germany, Nurburgring, Rock am Ring
06/06/11 - France, Paris, Omnisports de Bercy
06/09/11 - Switzerland, Interlaken, Greenfield Festival
06/11/11 - UK, Castle Donington, Download Festival
06/13/11 - Austria, Nickelsdorf, Nova Rock Festival
06/15/11 - Germany, Berlin, Wuhlheide
06/17/11 - Sweden, Gothenburg, Metaltown Festival
06/19/11 - Finland, Seinäjoki, Provinssirock

More shows will - hopefully - be announced soon.

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Source:	systemofadown.com
Band profile:	System Of A Down
Event:	System Of A Down

Original news, published on 20.11.2010

So it's starting to look like System Of A Down are planning a string of reunion gigs in 2011... which is excellent news (and if you can't accept that go fuck yourself, ed.). Anyway, here's the copy from Blabbermouth:

According to the official blog of Francis Zégut, host of the show "Pop Rock Station" on the French radio station RTL2, System Of A Down will perform at the Palais Omnisports de Paris Bercy in Paris, France on June 6, 2011. This is expected to be one of many gigs the reunited band will play in Europe during next summer's festival season. An official announcement on the matter, with more details about the group's future plans, could come as early as next week.

More dates announced soon.

UPDATE

System Of A Down's much-rumored comeback/reunion tour is expected to be announced on Monday, November 29 - or so Blabbermouth tells me - along with details of several European festival appearances in 2011, likely including Download Festival.

In the words of bassist Shavo, "Stay tuned".

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Source:	zegut.blogspot.com
Band profile:	System Of A Down
Event:	System Of A Down

Brazilian thrash metallers Facínora have made their debut album Hell Is Here available for free download. According to the band they will independently distribute their much anticipated debut album by giving their listeners a dose of Facínora without breaking their wallets or bank accounts. Get your dose of thrash at this location (click on the album cover to download the .rar file).

Hell Is Here cover art] tracklist:

01. Hell Is Here
02. Source Of Madness
03. R.I.P (Religions Is A Plague)
04. Intro
05. Empty Illusions
06. Living In Reality
07. War Between Selfish
08. Despair
09. Terror
10. The Evil

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Facínora

Soon Firewind will return with a highly anticipated new album entitled Days of Defiance, which is due October 25th, 2010 via Century Media Records in Europe. Fans have already the chance to get a special advance taste of Days Of Defiance for free!

Century Media has launched a download page that will allow you to get the furious album's opening track "The Ark Of Lies" completely free after you tweet or Facebook about the song. Go HERE for more details.

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Source:	centurymedia.com
Band profile:	Firewind

Season Of Mist press release

Italian industrial black metallers Aborym's new opus Psychogrotesque cover art] will hit the stores on next November 8th (one day later in the US). Made of a single, 52+ minute song divided into 10 parts, the album will be available as limited edition digipak and gatefold double LP with digital download card. More info about Psychogrotesque was previously reported over here.

Download part VII of Psychogrotesque as free MP3 at this location.

Also you can pre-order both formats of Psychogrotesque on Season Of Mist's e-shop.

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Source:	season-of-mist.com
Band profile:	Aborym

Paracletus, the fifth full-length by French black metallers Deathspell Omega, will be out on November 9th. Paracletus is the last chapter of a trilogy which took nine years to complete, a musical and spiritual quest during which everything was put at risk. The record closes the circle to the hallucinated sound of dissonant violence and menacing splendour, exploring the depths of abjection and the corruption of the other worlds on high.

And the best thing is, you can now download a full song off Paracletus for free. Click here to check out the track "Devouring Famine".

Paracletus cover art] tracklist:

01. Epiklesis I
02. Wings Of Predation
03. Abscission
04. Dearth
05. Phosphene
06. Epiklesis II
07. Malconfort
08. Have You Beheld The Fevers?
09. Devouring Famine .mp3]
10. Apokatastasis Pantôn

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Source:	season-of-mist.com
Band profile:	Deathspell Omega

You can now download Grand Theft Audio, the newest EP from Swedish garage rockers Foobar The Band, for free. Go to this location and the five-track EP is just one mouse click away.

According to the accompanying press release, Foobar The Band is a five piece steamroller that no one gets by unharmed. With their filthy, uncomplicated, "shout out - riff music mayhem" it makes you wonder what dark hole these guys came from and the answer is Gothenburg, Sweden. The city that have produced many big acts like In Flames for instance. These guys will fill that rock void in your soul that's been untouched for so long. And if you enjoy Danko Jones, Clutch or Rage Against The Machine, Foobar The Band might be the thing for you!

The band is currently working on their new studio album, despite having just released this EP.

Grand Theft Audio cover art] tracklist:

01. Lost In Translation
02. Get Old
03. Come On So Long
04. In Blood
05. Black Sunday

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Source:

foobartheband.com

Female-fronted Rio de Janeiro-based thrashers Diva are offering a free download of their debut EP WarSaw. Go to this location and click on the green arrow (under the main banner) to download the whole package.

Vocalist Angélica Burns comments: "We are very happy with the feedback received from our fans, so we decided to upload our EP on MySpace in order to know what people really think about our work. We hope that everyone get in contact with us to tell their opinion about WarSaw."

WarSaw cover art] tracklist:

01. The War Saw
02. Forged In Blood
03. Condemned
04. Life Goes Off
05. Age Of Death


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Source:

myspace.com

Mortiis returns to satiate fans' desire for new music today (October 10) with Perfectly Defect, a completely free, full-length, downloadable album. Get your fix of new Mortiis material here.

"Putting Perfectly Defect out as a free download was a decision we made after some consideration," said the band's namesake Mortiis. "The new model of the music business is important to keep in mind; there´s a new mentality out there in terms of how people acquire their music now. For better or worse, music seems to have become a medium a lot of people aren´t prepared to pay for in the old fashioned way. So, we paid to record it out of our own pockets 'cos we thought it would be a really cool gift to our fans that have been waiting around for ages for something new to come out."

Mortiis has spent much of the past couple years writing and recording The Great Deceiver, the long-awaited follow-up to 2004's full-length The Grudge and the 2007 remix album, Some Kind of Heroin. Perfectly Defect is the quintessential prelude to the world of The Great Deceiver - while the latter is heavier and darker, the former is varied, experimental, and largely instrumental. The bottom line is that Perfectly Defect leads into The Great Deceiver acting as a crucial stage in the evolution of Mortiis' music.

"When we were writing and working on The Great Deceiver, we were coming up with all sorts of inspired stuff, a really varied collection of music," Mortiis offered. "Some of it was far too varied and experimental to be included in such an angry, dark album as The Great Deceiver so we created a brand new album that is the introductory element to the more intricate world of The Great Deceiver."

"I think we really captured a cool vibe here," Mortiis enthused. "It's not easy marrying anger with melody, but I believe we did it. The songs on Perfectly Defect were created across a period of time, and I believe it shows in terms of what inspired these songs. They're rather soundtrack-y in a dark and sometimes bombastic way."

With the concept of digital distribution came a new empowerment for Mortiis - one where the artist controls his own artistic destiny.

"After our record deal finally expired, I had developed a profound aversion to the very idea of letting other people control my art, my lifework," he said. "So, again, the idea of the new technology really did grow on me. We dealt with some really evil stuff in the industry. Nothing shocking in terms of industry practice, but at a human level, it was a living nightmare. It reached a point where we fired everyone around us except for the handful of people we knew we could trust. It was a big move, but had to be done in order to survive. It was like rewinding the clock back to the start and beginning with a clean slate. We started working on a ton of new music right then. With the advent of modern technology, we realized we could do a lot of stuff without the often self-serving, meddling record labels. No record label would ever have let us put out an album for free, with the option to donate if the fans wanted to."

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Source:	mortiis.com
Band profile:	Mortiis

Atheist's fourth album Jupiter will be out on November 8th (one day later in the US). This magnum opus will be available as limited Digipak edition, vinyl LP with download card and poster, and jewel case CD. You can now download the album's opening track, "Second to Sun", for free by clicking here (.mp3)

All Jupiter album details available here.

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Source:	season-of-mist.com
Band profile:	Atheist