On February 7th, Russian folk metal band Svartby will enter the Rock Syndicate Studio to record the band's third brutal fairy-tale volume: the "long-promised" album Elementary Tales.

The album will be released in September through the German label Trollzorn.

Elementary Tales tracklist (subject to change):

01. Impby
02. Scum from Underwater
03. Boulder Massacration
04. Sleepy Devils
05. Mushroom Rings
06. Done with the Wind
07. Morning Wood
08. Flaming Balls
09. Tequila Diaries
10. Elemental Tales

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Svartby

"Whales", a brand-new track from US progressive instrumentalists Scale The Summit, has been made available for streaming, exclusively at MetalSucks.

"Whales" comes off the band's upcoming new album The Collective, which will be released on March 1st through Prosthetic Records.

Scale The Summit guitarist Chris Letchford on the new track: "We're all very proud to be releasing a new song and not only just any but our personal favorite from the record, "Whales". This song was already all of ours personal favorite during the final stages of writing The Collective. We felt this song was a great first release since it has a little of everything; melodic, aggression, great solos, clean jazzy vibe, and a very chill outro. Hope a lot of you out there really enjoy it and that it gets you guys even more excited for the release of The Collective!"

41942 for the scoop!]

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Source:

metalsucks.net

Mathieu "Matt" Paquette, vocalist of Montréal, QC-based technical metalcore/deathcore outfit Beheading Of A King, has reportedly passed away. A cause of death has yet to be disclosed. Paquette was only twenty years old.

The band wrote the following on their Facebook wall: "Thank you so much for your support everyone. Matt will stay in our hearts and will be remembered forever. He would not want the band to end. We will not stop. We miss you so much. Keep an eye on us, your friends, your band, your tons of fans. Today, we lost an icon of the metal music scene. You will never be forgotten. We love you Matt."

And: "Whatever the fuckin reason... He's not there anymore. It's enough."

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Source:

myspace.com

After repeated requests from fans and concert promoters alike, Royal Hunt and their former lead singer DC Cooper mutually decided to reunite for a very few selected dates, in order to perform the entire Paradox (the band's first concept album from 1997) and several of "everybody's all-time favourite" songs from that period.

Keep an eye out for upcoming tour dates!

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Source:	royalhunt.com
Band profile:	Royal Hunt

Antigama recently entered Progresja Studio in Warsaw, Poland to record a handful of new tracks.

The band recorded with Pawel Grabowski and the songs were mixed and produced by Szymon Czech. The new tracks will appear on an upcoming split CD with Italy's Psychofagist. Additional information on the split will be made available shortly along with audio previews.

Additionally, Antigama has almost completed writing for a brand new full-length and follow-up album to 2009's Warning. The band is set to record again with Szymon Czech in spring 2011.

2011 marks the 10th anniversary for Antigama. The band is planning a special anniversary show toward the end of the year along with a CD compilation of their 10-year recorded history. Regular updates and additional information will be posted via the new Antigama blog.

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Source:	relapse.com
Band profile:	Antigama

"Mancoon", a brand-new track from US stoner metal band Weedeater, has been made available for streaming, exclusively at BrooklynVegan.

"Mancoon" comes off the band's upcoming new album Jason... The Dragon, which will be released on March 1st through Southern Lord Records.

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Source:

brooklynvegan.com

Last weekend, Krypteria vocalist Ji-In revealed on Luxembourg-based radio program "The Abbey Metal Show", that the band's upcoming new album would be entitled All Beauty Must Die. Now the band has also announced the tracklist of the album.

The band will reveal the names of the guest musicians and unleash a new track any time soon. All Beauty Must Die is set for an April 22nd release through Roadrunner Records.

All Beauty Must Die cover art] tracklist:

01. Messiah
02. As I Slowly Bleed
03. Fly Away With Me
04. You Killed Me
05. Live To Fight Another Day
06. Eyes Of A Stranger
07. Thanks For Nothing
08. Turn The World Around
09. Higher
10. Victoria
11. (How Can Something So Good) Hurt So Bad
12. The Eye Collector

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Source:	krypteria.de
Band profile:	Krypteria

Deathtrap, the brand-new EP from Romanian melodic death doom metal band Era Decay, has been made available for streaming over at this location.

Deathtrap cover art] tracklist:

01. Deathtrap
02. Poisoned
03. World's Decay
04. Unchained
05. Cooldown
06. Damned

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Source:

depestrada.ro

After some deliberation, Swiss hard-rock veterans Gotthard have decided to continue their activities.

The band released the following collective statement: "After the tragic accident of our friend and singer Steve Lee, who died October the 5th 2010 in the USA, we withdrew ourselves until after the new year and took a break. Now we are back again with plans for the future and a difficult task to fulfil.

Guitarist Leo Leoni:"After the very emotional days after Steve´s death, it was important for us to first of all try and cope with the pain, give it a place to rest and find ourselves again. And so we sat down in the new year and tried to look at the new situation "soberly"... it was obvious to all of us very quickly that we had to go on - Gotthard is not a job for us - GOTTHARD IS OUR LIFE!!"

Drummer Hena Habegger: "Of course it can only go on if we are lucky to find the right guy. We're not only searching for a voice which can bring our songs alive again. We are looking much more for a singer who also humanly fits with us - with the Gotthard Family!"

Guitarist Freddy Scherer: "For all of us it's a big challenge and it will not be easy at all. But we have good faith and we do what we do best - make music!"

Bassist Marc Lynn: "A big thank you to all the fans. Your concern, cards, e-mails and entries in the guestbook have given us the supporting power to deal with what has happened better and to gather new courage for the future."

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Source:	gotthard.com
Band profile:	Gotthard

Only two days after bassist Terry Butler (now in Obituary) and drummer Greg Gall announced their departure from Six Feet Under, the band welcomes their new drummer, Kevin Talley.

Well-known Dååth and studio/session drummer Kevin Talley (ex-Dying Fetus, ex-Misery Index, ex-Chimaira) has joined up with Six Feet Under and will appear on the upcoming album, fulfill touring duties, etc.

Commented Chris Barnes: "I am 110% stoked to have Kevin join SFU he is undeniably one of the best, if not THE best drummer in death metal, and I'm proud to have him along for the ride!"

Barnes earlier stated the following regarding the departure: "Just to fill you all in, Steve and myself are very excited about the future of the SFU, and I have been working hard on writing the new SFU material for the past 4 months with a new writing partner.

I will make this guarantee and promise to all the fans of Six Feet Under; the new line up will be a DEATH METAL force to be dealt with, with the long awaited addition of a brutal as fuck drummer and riffs that will rip your face off, vocals ala 1993-1995..."

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Six Feet Under

"Chuzhoj" (trans: Stranger), a brand-new track from Finnish doom metal band Kypck, has been made available for streaming over at MySpace.

Another new song, called "Allyeya Stalina" (trans: The Alley Of Stalin), is also streaming at the same location.

"Chuzhoj" comes off the band's upcoming new album Nizhe, which will be self-released on February 9th.

Read more ››

Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Kypck

Only less than two weeks ago, the good news came out that the 33-year-old leukemia-stricken Behemoth frontman Nergal has been released from the hospital. But the optimism proved short lived...

According to Fakt.pl, Nergal (his hot girlfriend calls him Adam Darski), has been readmitted to the hematology division of Uniwersyteckie Centrum Kliniczne in Gdansk because he developed an infection six weeks after he underwent a bone marrow transplant procedure.

Dr. Maria Bieniaszewska, assistant professor in the Department of Hematology, was quoted as saying: "The patient was taken to hospital again because he did not take proper care of himself."

It is not presently clear if the infection will affect Nergal's adoption of the bone marrow transplant and how long he will have to remain in the hospital. In his condition, when the immune system is weakened, such infections could even be life-threatening.

According to marrow.org, most infections happen in the first 100 days after a transplant, but they remain a risk as long as the patient's immune system is weak.

In the statement Nergal issued when released from the hospital, he said: "Although the whole treatment went really good, as well as the bone marrow transplant and the post-transplant period, the next several months is the time when I must really take care of myself. Of course, I will have plenty of time to recover, think about the strategy and my return to the stage ? which approaches imminently. (laughs) First of all, however, I must rebuild my physical condition."

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Source:	roadrunnerrecords.com
Band profile:	Behemoth

Dear Metalstormers,

The 2010 Metalstorm Awards are here!

Throughout the year, a dedicated team at the Metal Storm HQ donates countless hours making the definitive list of all the worthwhile albums in every possible metal subgenre released throughout the year. In January, amidst heated arguments, we prune this list to an exclusive grouping of what we believe to be truly the best and most influential albums released. Our team also spends insane amounts of time preparing descriptions and making sure each and every nominee's music is easy to access and listen to.

This year, we're introducing the new Clandestine Cut Of The Year category. We're very excited to be promoting some of these fresh and hungry artists based on their excellent demos and EPs. Please take some time to check out this section.

Please don't ignore all this effort - check out all nominees before voting. Please vote for the best, not for the most well-known! You can cast your votes HERE. Voting will be open all month; winners will be announced March 1st.

Finally, don't forget to tell all of your friends to register at Metal Storm and help make these awards the most luxurious and definitive metal awards out there! Please feel free to post links to the awards on your blogs, twitter pages and social networks.

And most importantly - don't forget to have fun! 2010 was a year rich in awesome releases, here is your chance to discover some of them!

The Metal Storm Awards 2010 Team

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Source:

metalstorm.net

Danish tabloid Ekstra Bladet recently conducted an interview with formerly renowned Danish tennis pro Lars Ulrich.

When asked when he and his jamming buddies in Metalium would begin work on the follow-up to Death Magnetic (voted Best Heavy Metal Album of 2008 according to 478 people with the best taste in music of everyone on this site), he answered:

"There's a really good vibe in the band at the moment. In the past, we would be fed up with Metallica whenever we returned home after a gigantic world tour, but this time it's different. Therefore it won't be that long before we start working on a new album. I think that we'll probably already get the creative process going in March or April and go into the studio. We really want to get back to Metallica quickly because we are enjoying it so much right now."

If you must, the full interview can be read on Blabbymouth.

Next to a huge one-show tour of North America in April, Metallica will also be playing two Sonisphere Festivals (UK and France) in July and Rock In Rio in September.

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Source:	roadrunnerrecords.com
Band profile:	Metallica

Season of Mist is proud to welcome innovative Egyptian-born artist Nader Sadek to the roster.

Known as the designer responsible for the stage imagery on Mayhem's 2009 US tour, Nader decided to delve deeper into the metal world by forming his own project. He thus teamed up with guitarist Rune Eriksen (Ava Inferi, Aura Noir, ex-Mayhem), bassist Steve Tucker (ex-Morbid Angel) and drummer Flo Mounier (Cryptopsy) to create a death metal project under his own name.

Nader Sadek's debut is entitled In the Flesh and features compositions and performances by all four artists and has been set to a May 16th release in Europe, and a day later in the USA. The video for "Nigredo In Necromance" off the new album can be watched below.

Says Sadek: "My general association with death metal, deals with the notion of false perceptions, and how great individuality can be smothered by the weight of an overwhelming environment. This idea is ever-present throughout all my work. Each of the players in this album played key roles in their respective bands, facing difficult challenges, and yet taking their bands to higher levels. Their talent as well as their tenacity has always intrigued me. As such, they fit perfectly in this project."

"I've been looking forward to doing this recording for months", Steve Tucker comments. "Nader does some very interesting art and I enjoy helping him achieve his twisted vision. It's rare to get to play alongside a drummer with the abilities that Flo possesses. It's a bonus that I get the opportunity to jam with professionals such as Rune and Flo. It'll be brutal."

Flo Mounier adds: "It's amazing that artists with different backgrounds can come together to create something so extreme and so dark but yet have so much fun doing so! It has been a pleasure working with Nader and Steve in the past and I'm looking forward to experimenting with Rune's unique style, I can't wait to start laying down the extreme with my boys."

Rune Eriksen: "When first being approached by Nader to collaborate with him, Steve and Flo, I was immediately caught up by the idea of it. Not only is Nader's concept and reasons for doing this of an inspirational character in itself, but also the very thought of collaborating with musicians such as Steve and Flo seemed like an opportunity not to miss."


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Source:

season-of-mist.com