SAMAEL's webmaster has sent out the following update:

"Samaël just finished the recording of their new album!

Three and a half months of hard work in two different studios, four different sound engineers (for electronic, guitars, vocals, and acoustic takes), co-produced by Waldemar Sorychta (who worked on most of the band's efforts in the past), this record is said to be the most complex and the heaviest recording the band ever produced.

Samaël are going to France this weekend to play at La Rotonde Festival and they will then fly straight to Stockholm to mix the album. The mixing duty will be assured by Stephan Glaumann (BON JOVI/RAMMSTEIN).

Some of the new tracks are: 'Oriental Dawn', 'Telepathic', 'As The Sun', 'High Above', 'Heliopolis' and 'Further'.

The album is set to be released on Samaël's own label, Galactical Recordings with exclusive licenses to Musikvertreib for Switzerland and Regain Records for Europe/Asia. An American deal still has to be worked out."

Band profile:

Samael

According to the French radio "Radio Mon Païs", which interviewed Christofer Johnsson last Thursday, we will certainly have a third new album soon.

In fact more than 30 songs are already done, 21 are already on Lemuria & Serius B, the last songs will be on a new album which could be released very soon .

More news to come...

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Band profile:

Therion

German industrial metallers RAMMSTEIN have set a June 14 release date for their new single, entitled "Mein Teil". "Mein Teil" comes off the group's long-awaited follow-up to 2001's "Mutter", tentatively due this summer.

The recording sessions for the new RAMMSTEIN album took place in Spain while additional recordings were made in a session with strings and a choir in Berlin. Production duties on the upcoming CD are being handled by Jacob Hellner, who worked with the group on "Mutter". No further information is currently available.

Band profile:

Rammstein

From the Official Homepage:

"As anounced Angel Dust are already busy with the Songwriting for the new CD. Also nothing will change at the Line Up (Dirk, Assy, Steven) for this time. A new guitarist and a new bass player are employed therefore at the earliest for the recordings. Therefore there will not be any shows probably until then.

At this place still once a lot of thanks to all that supported us until today and believed in us in spite of the whole trouble in the last months (Sorry !!!)"

Band profile:

Angel Dust

TUSKA OPEN AIR METAL FESTIVAL 2004 ROSTER NOW COMPLETE - FIRST VERSION OF RUNNING ORDER ONLINE

The line-up for Tuska 2004 festival taking place in Kaisaniemi Park, Helsinki during the 16.-18.7. is now ready.

The final foreign addition and a reason for celebration for black metal-enthusiasts, is the Dark Funeral -show going off on Friday the 16th.
This legendary Swedish black metal-act has just recently released a live-album and their show will most certainly be exciting, to say the least.

Another addition for Friday is the Finnish folk metal -group Ensiferum, whose new album entitled Iron was just released in Finland and will be
released throughout Europe in May. Ensiferum is currently touring in Europe.

There will be one more, yet to be named french act appearing at Tuska 2004; the winner from the band contest held at the Rotonde-festival at
the end of May.

The first version of the running order for the weekend can now be viewed on our website www.tuska-festival.fi. The programme for the official
Tuska-evening clubs is also ready. The first version of the evening club running order is also up on our website.

Tuska Open Air Metal Festival proudly presents the complete 2004 line-up:

DIO (USA)
In Flames (SWE)
Nightwish
Fear Factory (USA)
Death Angel (USA)
Kotiteollisuus
Timo Rautiainen & Trio Niskalaukaus
Suburban Tribe
Sonata Arctica
Soilwork (SWE)
Diablo
Dark Tranquillity (SWE)
Charon
Dark Funeral (SWE)
Dismember (SWE)
Mokoma
Ensiferum
Dew-Scented (GER)
Nasum (SWE)
Impaled Nazarene
Sinergy
Beseech (SWE)
Blake
Chaosbreed
Swallow The Sun
Drive
Trollheim's Grott
Machine Men
Kilpi
Twilightning
Turisas

Time-table is now available in html and pdf format at http://www.tuska-festival.fi (Aikataulu)

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Florida's Death Metal maniacs MALEVOLENT CREATION have completed their ninth studio album named "Warkult". Stated to be the band's most diverse and punishing record to date, "Warcult" was recorded at Liquid Ghost Recording Studio in Boca Raton, FL, by Phil Plaskon, produced and mixed by producer Jean Francois Degenais (KATAKLYSM) and mastered by Bernard Belley in Montreal, Canada.

The album also marks the return of long time drummer Dave Culross back in the line up.

"Warkult" shall be released on June 28th across Europe, in the USA and other territories about a month later.

Tracklist "Warkult":

01) Dead March
02) Preemtive Strike
03) Supremacy Through Annihilation
04) Murder Reigns
05) Captured
06) Merciless
07) Section 8
08) On Grounds Of Battle
09) Tyrannic Oppression
10) Ravaged By Conflict
11) Shock And Awe
12) Jack The Ripper * (bonus track) Cover song from Australian cult thrash gods Hobbs Angel Of Death.

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Band profile:

Malevolent Creation

German power metallers FREEDOM CALL, who feature in their ranks GAMMA RAY drummer Dan Zimmermann, have set a May 10 release date through SPV Records for their long-awaited live album, "Live Invasion".

The disc, which was recorded on the band's tour with BLIND GUARDIAN, will include a special bonus CD featuring the "Tears Of Taragon" EP plus two tracks that were previously only available in Japan.

Band profile:

Freedom Call

Reunited New York death metallers SUFFOCATION have completed work on the first music video from their forthcoming new album, "Souls to Deny".

The video, for the song "Surgery of Impalement", was filmed at Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary and features the band (vocalist Frank Mullen, drummer Mike Smith, guitarists Terrance Hobbs and Guy Marchais and bassist Derek Boyer) performing live in various locations in and around the prison's locale. Still images from the video, which is expected to make its world premier in the immediate future, can be viewed at this location: http://www.relapse.com/preview/suffocationvideo.jpg

Eastern State Penitentiary, which no longer houses inmates and is now a historical site, was built in 1829. Eastern State is known previously for having held notorious gangster Al Capone, and was featured in the 1995 motion picture "Twelve Monkeys".

SUFFOCATION's "Souls to Deny" will be released on April 27 in North America and on May 17 in Europe via Relapse. The band will kick off its first tour in support of "Souls to Deny" on April 13 at the House of Blues in Lake Buena Vista, FL.

*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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Tuska-Festival which takes place in Helsinki, Finland during July 16-18th
2004 has confirmed more artists, nearly completing the line-up for this
year's festival.

Fear Factory from Los Angeles, California will be appearing on the
mainstage on Sunday the 18th of July. Fear Factory has been a pioneer in
combining modern metal with industrial beats and synthesizers and their
seventh full length album, entitled Archetype, will be released in April.

On Saturday the 17th of July, another California act, legendary Bay Area-
thrashers Death Angel take the stage. Their debut album, The Ultra
Violence was released in 1987 and their latest effort, The Art Of Dying
will be released this spring.

Old School death metal will be represented at Tuska 2004 by Dismember
from neighbouring Sweden. This Stockholm outfit have just released their
new album entitled Where Ironcrosses Grow.

The Tuska 2004 Festival gets the most intense start possible in the form
the swedish grindcore act Nasum. The band has just recently added second
guitar player to the line-up and their Tuska-show will be the band's
first time in Finland as a four-piece.

For domestic additions, industrial-flavoured Drive has been added to the
roster, as well as folk metal group Turisas who were just recently signed
to Century Media Records. Also, the spacey stoner rock band Blake will be
appearing at this year's festival.

In addition to these confirmed artists, we are still seeking several acts.

Ticket sales for Tuska 2004 start earlier than previous years. Tickets
will go on sale on the 5th of April through www.tiketti.fi,
www.lippupalvelu.fi and www.menolippu.fi. One day ticket costs 30? and
three day ticket 65?, respectively.

Tuska 2004 roster looks currently like this:

DIO (USA)
In Flames (SWE)
Nightwish
Fear Factory (USA)
Death Angel (USA)
Kotiteollisuus
Timo Rautiainen & Trio Niskalaukaus
Suburban Tribe
Sonata Arctica
Dismember (SWE)
Soilwork (SWE)
Diablo
Dark Tranquillity (SWE)
Charon
Mokoma
Dew-Scented (GER)
Impaled Nazarene
Nasum (SWE)
Sinergy
Beseech (SWE)
Blake
Chaosbreed
Swallow The Sun
Trollheim's Grott
Machine Men
Kilpi
Twilightning
Turisas

Additional information: www.tuska-festival.fi

Trent Gardner has finished the writing process of a new Magellan Album.

Check the website in the next days for further details about the follow-up of "Impossible Figures", released on last november by Inside Out.

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ICED EARTH guitarist Ralph Santolla demanded to be let off a flight to England earlier today (March 17) after he spotted two fellow passengers behaving strangely while boarding the plane. The following is Ralph's detailed account of the whole experience, as provided exclusively to BLABBERMOUTH.NET:

"OK. First of all, let me say unequivocally that I am not a racist. I have three Moroccan-Arab nieces, and more than a couple of Muslim family members (I'm Catholic).

"I was leaving today for the Manchester/Liverpool area of England to work on mixes for my modern rock/metal project, STARE. At the gate in Tampa, there were two Arab dudes getting on the plane. The three of us were at the end of the line boarding. One guy was dressed in a suit, the other like a college student. They were acting (?) like they didn't know each other. They seemed very nervous. About four elderly folks got in between the two guys. I noticed that the guy next to me, the one in the suit, had, at a minimum, his hands and wrists shaved. I thought that was weird, in a disturbing kind of way (shaving one's body hair is a religious obligation often observed by would-be suicide bombers so that they are 'clean' before entering heaven). They both noticed that I was watching them closely. The college-looking guy kept looking back and making eye contact with the other guy and then looking away. When we got on the plane, the guy in the suit turns out to be a pilot getting a free ride of the jumpseat in the cockpit. After the other guy looked around making eye contact with me several times, as if to see if I was still keeping an eye on them, I called the flight attendant. I told him there was something not right about these guys, and I wanted off. They had to bring the jetway back out to get me off the plane! The airline will let me use the same ticket on Friday, but I was pretty spooked!"

ICED EARTH will kick off a U.S. headlining tour with CHILDREN OF BODOM and EVERGREY on April 18 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Taken from Blabbermouth.net

Band profile:

Iced Earth

The Great Deceiver are poised to release their second full album for Peaceville - "TERRA INCOGNITO". Recorded at Dug Out Studios in Uppsala and produced by Daniel Bergstrand, this album packs a mean punch and is unleashed on APRIL 12TH. There is also a promo video for the track "Lake Of Sulphur" directed by PATRIC ULLAEUS which will be an enhanced feature on the album. A stunning follow up to "A Venom Well Designed" - their much talked about debut!!

Band profile:

The Great Deceiver

Israeli prog-metallers ORPHANED LAND recently hosted a hometown CD release party for their new album, "Mabool" (due in the U.S. on April 6 through Century Media Records). Vocalist Kobi Farhi checked in with the following update:

"Hello to all our ORPHANED brothers and sisters, we had the launch party release of 'Mabool' two days ago and it was a blast!! More than 1,200 people attended, and the event was completely sold out! 200 people unfortunately had to go home with no tickets...we played for an hour and a half and at the end of the show we wore costumes, because it was Purim's eve ? same as Halloween, and we played a few more songs and a funny cover version for the theme song from 80's TV series ? 'Transformers'!! We hope to see you all in the U.S. stages real soon."

ORPHANED LAND's next gig in Israel will be a semi-acoustic appearance on March 23 at The Third Ear CD Shop in Tel-Aviv.

Band profile:

Orphaned Land

Registered members of the MEGADETH forums at Megadeth.com can enter a contest to win a phone call from Dave Mustaine and an ESP guitar. The rules of the contest are to guess the correct lyrics for a yet to be released MEGADETH song "Blackmail The Universe". Daily winners receive a phone call from Dave himself, and the person who submits all the correct lyrics to the entire song will win a limited ESP DV-8r guitar. To enter the contest, submit your guesses to webmaster@megadeth.com and check the daily contest announcement in the MEGADETH topics forum. Check out the "Dave Speaks" forum for recent MEGADETH updates posted by Dave Mustaine!

Band profile:

Megadeth