Bassist Geilt has parted ways with Italian doom metal band DoomSword after six years of service. Geilt will continue to play with Midryasi and to work with his brother Deathmaster on future musical projects. DoomSword would like to thank Geilt for his contribution to the band.

The band has announced Christian "Nidhoggr" Grillo as his replacement. Christian is a talented musician and an old friend of the band having played with drummer Wrathlord in Fury N Grace, and in Gjallarhorn with vocalist Deathmaster and Wrathlord.

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Source:	metalstorm.net
Band profile:	DoomSword

Choose Suffolk over the last months have been carrying out an open poll to allow people to vote for an image which is most iconic of the easterly county of Suffolk. The winning image was to be used to advertise the county as an attractive destination to visit.

An image of Suffolk resident Dani Filth from the county's most notorious band Cradle Of Filth turned out to be the winner, with a total number of 13,025 votes. A picture of an old swimming pool came second with a tiny 2,055 votes in comparison.

Choose Suffolk have unfortunately disregarded the support for the funny-looking man and have ignored the result in favour of a new short-list of images to choose from.

A spokesperson for the website apparently stated that the judges were "looking for icons which had a wider currency outside the borders of Suffolk", which apparently Cradle Of Filth don't have.

Still, you can vote for your favourite non-Filthy, Suffolky picture here.

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Source:	telegraph.co.uk
Band profile:	Cradle Of Filth

As announced by Primordial in early December, the band will undertake a small ten date European mini-tour (including the 5 Metalfests) at the end of May/beginning of June. Support on the trek will come from While Heaven Wept and Alcest.

The following dates were confirmed today:

May 27 - Dessau, Germany - Metalfest Open Air Germany
May 28 - Mining am Inn, Austria - Metalfest Open Air Austria
May 29 - Pratteln, Switzerland - Metalfest Open Air Switzerland
May 30 - Tilburg, Netherlands - O13
May 31 - Nijmegen, Netherlands - Doornroosje
Jun. 01 - Vosselaar, Belgium - Biebob
Jun. 02 - Aschaffenburg, Germany - Colos-Saal
Jun. 03 - Ljubljana, Slovenia - Stuk
Jun. 04 - Budapest, Hungary - Metalfest Open Air Hungary
Jun. 05 - Pilsen, Czech Republic - Metalfest Open Air Czech Republic

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Source:	primordialweb.com
Band profile:	Primordial
Event:	Primordial + While Heaven Wept + Alcest

Angtoria vocalist Sarah Jezebel Deva (ex-Cradle Of Filth) has posted a three track sample medley from her forthcoming solo album, The Corruption Of Mercy. The tracks featured are called "No Paragons Of Virtue", "Sirens" and "The Corruption Of Mercy". Go check it out at this location.

More The Corruption Of Mercy album details, including a release date, will be announced soon.

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Source:

myspace.com

The reunited Animosity line-up Corrosion Of Conformity has confirmed a string of European tour dates in April. The classic original three-piece of Woodroe, Mike, and Reed will be touring and performing songs from the Animosity/Technocracy-ear, and some NEW stuff!

Confirmed dates are as follows:

Apr. 14 - Bochum, Germany - Matrix
Apr. 15 - Tilburg, Netherlands - Roadburn Festival
Apr. 16 - Bremen, Germany - Tower
Apr. 17 - Wiesbaden, Germany - Schlachthof
Apr. 19 - Vienna, Austria - Arena
Apr. 20 - Munich, Germany - Feierwerk
Apr. 21 - Athens, Greece - An Club
Apr. 22 - Mezzago (MI), Italy - Bloom
Apr. 23 - Karlsruhe, Germany - Dudefest-Jubez
Apr. 25 - Bristol, UK - Bierkeller
Apr. 26 - London, UK - Underworld
Apr. 28 - Manchester, UK - Moho
Apr. 29 - Sheffield, UK - Corporation
Apr. 30 - Vosselaar, Belgium - Biebob
May 01 - Deventer, Netherlands - Burgerweeshuis

May 27 - Baltimore, MD - Maryland Deathfest

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Source:	coc.com
Band profile:	Corrosion Of Conformity
Event:	Corrosion Of Conformity

Pantheist are thrilled to announce that after several months of negotiations, the band has signed a contract with German label Grau Records to release their upcoming album as well as two additional optional albums.

The official press release reads as follows: "We have been following Grau for years and have always been impressed by the quality of their material, so we feel honoured to be part of their family now. We thank Tom for his trust and we are already in the process of mixing our fourth album with Greg Chandler at Priory Studios. We are fully confident that this upcoming album, that is bound to remain untitled to signify the new start in our history, contains the most powerful, emotive and heartfelt material we have produced so far and we are impatient to finish mixing and mastering in January for a projected spring 2011 release. You can find photographs of us recording in the studio, as well as some short clips, on our Facebook and MySpace pages.

In other news, we regret to inform you that after having been a core member of the band since 2004, Mark Bodossian (Esoteric) is leaving Pantheist to move to Norway. Mark joined the band during the recording sessions of Amartia and he also participated in the recordings of The Pains of Sleep, Journey Through Lands Unknown, Unveiling the Signs as well as our upcoming album which we are still in the process of mixing. Furthermore, he has played tens of gigs with us, as well as participating at a tour with Skepticism and Ophis in 2008. We wish him the best of luck with all his future endeavours.

We are currently rehearsing with Aleksej Obradovic (ex-De Profundis) on bass and are quite confident that he will be up to the difficult task of filling in Mark's shoes.

Finally, Pantheist are among the confirmed bands for a doom metal festival that will take place in Dordrecht (The Netherlands) on the 14th of May. More details will be made known about this soon. We will play several more gigs and are planning a small tour around the release of our next album (likely to take place in spring 2011) so any interested promoters, both in and outside the UK, please get in touch for bookings now."

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Source:	pantheist.co.uk
Band profile:	Pantheïst

Negură Bunget have issued the following band update, including a detailed year recap and their plans for the future:

"2010 was the most intense year in the history of the band. Two albums released, Măiestrit on Prophecy Production and Vîrstele Pămîntului on Code666 Records, followed by a long European tour as headliners (Spirit of the Land Tour), another tour in autumn (Black Trolls Over Europe), some festivals in between (including Hellfest), some line-up changes (guitarists Corb and Spin were replaced by Urzit and Fulmineos), a MCD to symbolically end our 10 years cooperation with Code666 Records and a lot of work, all make this year special and unforgettable.

Figures for 2010: 72 gigs played, 2 European Tours as headliners, more than 50.000 km of driving on our van, 66 answered interviews, more than 10.000 CD's sold.
We thank everybody who helped us in any way, and we promise we are already focusing on making 2011 even more special!

The firsts signs are here already: 2011 marks 15 years of Negură Bunget, so all our activities will celebrate this anniversary. We already have the release of the Live DVD, Focul Viu, set for March, the April tour along Enslaved (which includes a special performance at Ragnarök Festival) and some summer festivals (of which Party.San is already announced). 2011 will also develop one of our most ambitious project, The Transilvanian Trilogy."

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Negură Bunget

Destruction will be returning to North America in support of their new studio album, Day Of Reckoning, due out in the US and Canada on March 8th, 2011 and on February 18th in Europe. Special guests on the tour are Australia's Deströyer 666.

Destruction bassist & vocalist Schmier shares the following on the upcoming trek: "It feels fantastic to return to North American shores for the first time after our return to Nuclear Blast with a new album as brutal as Day Of Reckoning on our backs. This is the strongest material we have written since The Antichrist and we are burning to present these shredding songs and introduce our new 6.6 foot tall drum animal Vaaver (UnSun, Indukti) live! Of course, all the Destruction classics will be there; we know what our faithful fans want and we will serve them well! You will feel the force of the strongest line-up we have ever had. Experience the true power and the rigorous precision of German Thrash Metal live this spring! Can't fuckin' wait!"

North American Reckoning 2011 Tour:

Apr. 26 - Rickshaw Theatre - Vancouver, BC
Apr. 27 - Studio Seven - Seattle, WA
Apr. 29 - Oakland Metro Operahouse - Oakland, CA
Apr. 30 - The Boardwalk - Orangevale, CA
May 01 - Brick By Brick - San Diego, CA
May 03 - Oriental Theater - Denver, CO
May 05 - Reggie's Rock Club - Chicago, IL
May 06 - Peabody's - Cleveland, OH
May 07 - Harpo's - Detroit, MI
May 08 - Maverick's Bar - Ottawa, ON
May 09 - Fourfounes Electriques - Montreal, QC
May 10 - Bourbon Street - Baltimore, MD
May 11 - BB Kings - New York, NY
May 12 - Church Of Boston - Boston, MA
May 13 - Jaxx - West Springfield, VA
May 14 - Respuesta - Santurce, Puerto Rico (Destruction only)
May 16 - The Rail - Fort Worth, TX
May 17 - Mug Shots - Austin, TX
May 18 - Numbers - Houston, TX
May 20 - Galaxy Theatre - Santa Ana, CA
May 21 - Angel's - Yucaipa, CA
May 22 - Key Club - West Hollywood, CA

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Source:	metal-rules.com
Band profile:	Destruction
Event:	Destruction: North American Reckoning Tour

Brazilian heavy metal band Hibria have uploaded a new song on MySpace. The track is called "Nonconforming Minds", and comes from the band's upcoming third official album Blind Ride, which will be released by the Japanese label King Records in January 26th, 2011.

The album was mixed and mastered in New York at Machine Shop.

Blind Ride cover art] tracklist:

01. Blind Ride (intro)
02. Nonconforming Minds
03. Welcome To The Horror Show
04. Shoot Me Down
05. Blinded By Faith
06. The Shelter's On Fire
07. Beyond Regrets Of The Past
08. I Feel No Bliss
09. Sight Of Blindness
10. Tough Is The Way
11. Rotten Souls

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Hibria

Threat Signal has officially added guitarist Chris Feener and drummer Alex Rudinger to their ranks. They will replace guitarist Adam Weber and drummer Norman Killeen, who parted ways with the band last year.

Frontman Jon Howard commented as follows: I'd like to announce two new members of the Threat Signal camp. We destroyed Europe with these guys, and we couldn't be more excited with the sound of the band right now and what the future holds together.

Replacing Norm Killeen on drums is Alex Rudinger from Frederick, MD, USA. I caught wind of Alex's drumming through YouTube. He has a large number of drumming videos including covers, and originals. My jaw dropped when I first saw this kid play!

Replacing Adam Weber on guitar is Chris Feener from Grand Falls-Windsor, Newfoundland, Canada. Chris also has a ton of self recorded videos on YouTube. I haven't seen a guy shred like this in a long time!

A BIG thank you to Norm and Adam for their hard work in Threat Signal over the years. It was a mutual decision between us all to part ways, and there are no hard feeling what so ever. We are still great friends. We shared some amazing times together and we will never forget that. We love you guys and wish you all the best.

Lastly, we are currently writing our third album and plan to hit the studio sometime in the spring. We'll keep you updated on our progress. All I can say for now is that the new material is heavier than anything we've done before! Get ready kids, Threat Signal is gonna tear you some new holes this year!"

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Threat Signal

US Power/Thrash metal supergroup Charred Walls Of The Damned (featuring vocalist Tim "The Ripper" Owens, bassist Steve DiGiorgio and guitarist Jason Suecof) are busy recording a new album. The band's founding father, drummer Richard Christy, has issued the following update:

"Last week I recorded drum tracks for 12 new songs for the second Charred Walls of the Damned album! I flew down to Miami, Florida the day after Christmas to start tracking drums at the legendary studio The Hit Factory Criteria Studios. The drum room we recorded in was insane, it was the size of a school gymnasium and my drums sounded massive in there! We got a very natural drum sound thanks to our awesome engineer Mark Lewis and the amazing drum room, everything went really smooth and we finished up in a very quick two and a half days, and I'm super excited for everyone to hear the monster drum sound we got for these awesome songs.

Seeing gold albums hanging on the walls from bands like The Eagles and Black Sabbath was so inspiring too, the historic music that's been created at that studio is just unreal and it was an honor to record the drums for the second Charred Walls of the Damned album there.

We'll be finishing up the rest of the album in January and February at Audiohammer Studios in Orlando and we're hoping to have the album out some time this summer. The songs are super heavy, brutal, and very melodic and catchy like the first album, I can't wait for people to hear our new material!

I'll have many more updates in the coming months and I also took tons of video in the studio that I'll be posting here on my site and also possibly including in a bonus DVD when our second CD comes out."

The band's self-titled debut was released early last year. Pictures from the studio are available here.

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Source:	richardchristy.com
Band profile:	Charred Walls Of The Damned

While you are reading these lines the editors are putting the finishing touches on the forthcoming Avantasia double DVD (concert film and documentary) The Flying Opera - Around The World In 20 Days.

Both DVD's portray the all-star ensemble's journey on their first ever world tour in 2008. Within just a few weeks the studio project Avantasia became a traveling live event featuring many artists from various bands who got together and set off on the road under the flag of Avantasia for the first time.

The first DVD contains a live concert with a running time of almost two hours featuring footage filmed at the headlining shows of Wacken Open Air (Germany) and Masters Of Rock (Czech Republic). On the second DVD there will be a movie "Around The World In 20 Days" that gives fans the opportunity to join Avantasia backstage and take a look at the surroundings and the thrill behind the scenes that go along with an extensive undertaking such as this. The DVD-set will portray Avantasia 2008 when it all started.

The Flying Opera - Around The World In 20 Days will be available as a 2-DVD set featuring the documentary movie, a live concert film, and additional bonus material. It will be also available as a double live album on CD and as a limited edition 2-CD / 2-DVD boxset. The effort is slated for an early March release via Nuclear Blast Records in Europe and Avalon Marquee in Asia.

The band also confirmed their performance at Wacken Open Air in August will be their only show in 2011.

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Source:	tobiassammet.com
Band profile:	Avantasia

US deathcore act Whitechapel has parted ways with drummer Kevin Lane. According to internet sources, Lane has returned home to Kingsport, TN and is planning to go back to school in the near future. The band has reportedly recruited Ben Harclerode, drummer for Knights Of The Abyss, to replace him.

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Whitechapel

US progressive metallers Grayceon have completed work on their third studio album, named ll We Destroy. The CD is slated for a March 1st release through Profound Lore Records.

An MP3 of the track "Shellmounds" can be found here.

Stated the band: "We are so proud of this album and feel it is our strongest, heaviest, most epic album to date."

"We would also like to announce our CD release show which will take place on February 11th at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco, CA, with friends and label mates Worm Ouroboros and a new band we love called Hollow Mirrors. If you pay entry into this show, you get a copy of All We Destroy for FREE! You heard it right, you get our new album two weeks before the release date for absolutely free with entry into the show. So, if you are local, please come out and show your support."

And here's the Profound Lore press release: Always hard to classify, the eclectic nature of Grayceon has always worked to the band's advantage when trying to pinpoint the unique and epic nature of their music. Featuring members of the Voivod-esque Bay Area forward-thinking thrash/punk metal band Walken and cellist/vocalist Jackie Perez Gratz (of Giant Squid, and who also has served as the recording cellist for bands like Agalloch, Om, Asunder, Cattle Decapitation, Amber Asylum, and Neurosis), Grayceon is solely comprised of cello, guitars, drums, and vocals (male and female respectively).

By combining elements of progressive rock/metal, sludge/doom metal, neo-classical chamber music, and neo-folk, All We Destroy follows the band's previous two releases (namely their self-titled debut and their sophomore release This Grand Show) and builds upon the sound they formulated into something heavier, and more moving, while at the same time, something much more frantic and devastating.

Overall, All We Destroy is an album that deploys a punishing seductive power. One of ferocity, beauty, and modern-day tragedy.

All We Destroy cover art] tracklist:

01. Dreamer Deceived
02. Shellmounds .mp3]
03. We Can
04. Once A Shadow
05. A Road Less Traveled
06. War's End

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Source:

myspace.com

"Summoning Majestic War", the first single off the new The Project Hate MCMXCIX album Bleeding The New Apocalypse is available for free download at this location (.mp3).

Bleeding The New Apocalypse will be released on February 14th, 2011 via Season Of Mist. More album details are available here.

Frontman Lord K. Philipson comments: "Why have we chosen this particular track to be your first glimpse of the new album? No reason really, we could have chosen any of them since they all absolutely dominate. We just thought it'd be nice to have Leif Edling somewhat introduce you to what we have created this time around. Yeah, Candlemass bassist/everyday legend Leif Edling contributes some spoken words in this track. You can all start applauding now. But not only that. In this tune you'll also get some insanely nice vocals from Christian Älvestam (ex-Scar Symmetry) (who also sang a line or two on our last album).

So, that's a lot of bonus stuff for ya apart from the simple fact that "Summoning Majestic War" is a goddamn phenomenal symphony that represents TPH in every shape, way and form. If you survive these 12+ minutes of pure excellence, pray you'll survive the remaining five tracks on Bleeding The New Apocalypse as well. It will not be an easy task. Domination is a fierce beast. Our work is done - now it's your turn to purchase the album and help us ship a few copies so we will be able to record another masterpiece with a great label such as SOM backing us up.

If you consider yourself a fan of music in general and TPH in particular, and do not absolutely love what we have created in this song, as well as the whole album - you are apparently deaf."

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Source:	theprojecthate.net
Band profile:	The Project Hate MCMXCIX