Pensées Nocturnes' MySpace features two new songs from their upcoming Grotesque album, due on the 27th of March. The two songs are called "Thokk" and "Paria". More details on Grotesque will follow.

Grotesque cover art] tracklist:

01. Vulgum Pecus
02. Paria
03. Rahu
04. Eros
05. Monosis
06. Hel
07. Thokk
08. Suivant (Next)

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Source:

myspace.com

Skyforger have posted the following update regarding a new upcoming album:

"Finally this is time for big news package about our new album Kurbads, which will be released by Metal Blade on 23/26 April in Europe, 11 May in North America. Today we would like to post the first song of new album Kurbads online and reveal the album cover and song titles.

Skyforger recorded Kurbads at the Latvian studio Lauska in 2009 together with the band's own bagpipe player Kaspars Barbals handling engineering duties. The band members also produced the album themselves. The artwork was created by Skyforger's guitarist Martins and is connected to the whole story of Kurbads. More information regarding the concept of Kurbads will be revealed shortly.

Meanwhile you can enjoy the new song "Son Of The Mare", the first single of the new album. Check out the song by clicking here (you can find the music player at the right of the screen).

Kurbads cover art] tracklist:

01. Curse Of The Witch
02. Son Of The Mare
03. The Nine-Headed
04. Bewitched Forest
05. In The Yard Of The Father's Son
06. The Devilslayer
07. The Stone Sentinel
08. In The Underworld
09. Black Rider
10. The Last Battle
11. Kurbads

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Source:	skyforger.lv
Band profile:	Skyforger

Nightwish vocalist Anette Olzon is having a baby. Here's what she wrote on her blog today:

"I have held a little secret for you all for some time now, but today I feel I want to share it with you all. As you all know, I am very private and don't want to share to much about my personal life, but due to some speculations and since I am so happy I have decided to tell my secret:

Last autumn in the middle of my demo recordings of my solo album, I started to feel very, very tired and also nauseated. I took a pregnancy test and guess if me and my bf was really surprised to see that I had gotten pregnant. Since I had decided to not have any more children than my son, it was totally not planned, but after the very first shock, it felt really, really good.

Now I have almost done half the pregnancy and I am feeling extremely good, but its due to this I decided to not do the solo this year. I am sure you all can understand this decision better now and I do promise to release the songs at another time."

Read some interview extracts in which Anette is talking about her pregnancy here.


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Source:	anette-olzon.blogspot.com
Band profile:	Nightwish

Salem have made their new album Playing God And Other Short Stories available for streaming in its entirety at AOL Music for a limited time period.

Playing God And Other Short Stories will be released later in the year via Pulverised Records. The album was recorded at Harold Studios in Israel and was mastered by UE Nastasi at Sterling Sound in New York City. More album details available here.

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Source:	music.aol.com
Band profile:	Salem

Finnish rockers Apocalyptica have announced that their upcoming album will be titled 7th Symphony. The new album will follow up their chart-topping release Worlds Collide. 7th Symphony will be - shockingly - Apocalyptica's 7th studio album. The album will be released in a few months. Read more here.

The band recently announced tour dates in their native Finland with more international dates to be revealed soon.

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Apocalyptica

Dutch Death Doom metal band Officium Triste were so kind to post the following news:

"2010 is already 3 months on its way so it is about time to let you all know what's going on with Officium Triste. We've got some bad news and some more exciting news. Let's start with the bad news. We had to part ways with drummer Ronald Lagerwaard. Ronald simply couldn't commit to the plans we have concerning Officium Triste's future. Because of this we had to make a difficult decision as we really appreciated Ronald as a person and as a skilled drummer. As a band we do want to perform live on a regular basis and that simply wasn't possible due to logistics and personal affairs. We like to thank Ronald for his time in Officium Triste.

In the meantime we have found a replacement. After some serious brainstorming who would be an ideal drummer we decided to ask Niels Jordaan who in the past pounded the drums for the now defunct band In Age And Sadness. Since we shared the stage with In Age And Sadness several times in the past we knew Niels would be a good replacement. Niels gladly accepted our offer and we are currently rehearsing material with Niels.

Next to the news about out change in the line-up we are working very hard on material for our new, 5th, full-length album. Right now we have plenty of ideas for 6 to 7 new songs and it's coming along nicely. We hope to finish the album before the summer and have it released this fall. This will be our last album under the current contract with Displeased Records.

At this moment we are also negotiating a couple of festival appearances later this year. More news about those performances is expected soon."

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Source:	officiumtriste.com
Band profile:	Officium Triste

A brand new song, called "Edwige's Eyes" from Cathedral's forthcoming album The Guessing Game is now available for streaming at the band's MySpace. The Guessing Game will hit the streets on March 26 via Nuclear Blast Records. More album details can be here.

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Cathedral

Swedish war machine Sabaton is about to embark on yet another invasion. Here's the official statement from the band:

"As our new album Coat of Arms hits the stores on the 21st of May we prepare for a massive assault through the European mainland on major metal festivals during the summer. Our headline tour, fittingly named the "World War Tour" kicks off on the 27th of August and consists of over 60 shows in more than 20 nations.
The final show will take place on the 11th of December, after which we will regroup, rearm and prepare for yet another strike in 2011. Tickets are already available for many of the shows and the rest will follow ASAP."

Sabaton Tour Preview

Sabaton World War Tour 2010:

27.08.10 Tel Aviv - TBA
15.09.10 Stavanger - Folken
16.09.10 Bergen - Garage
17.09.10 Haugesund - Byscenen
18.09.10 Oslo - Rockefeller
24.09.10 Karlstad - Nöjesfabriken
25.09.10 Köpenhamn - Pumpehuset
26.09.10 Hamburg - Markthalle
27.09.10 Zaandam - De Kade
29.09.10 Hannover - Musikzentrum
30.09.10 Leipzig - Hellraiser
01.10.10 Geiselwind - Musik Hall
02.10.10 München - Backstage
03.10.10 Ludwigsburg - Rockfabrik
05.10.10 Köln - Underground
06.10.10 Saarbrücken - Garage
07.10.10 Milan - Alcatraz
08.10.10 Pratteln - Z7
09.10.10 Paris - Nouveau Casino
11.10.10 Manchester - Academy 2
12.10.10 Glasgow - Garage
14.10.10 London - Electric Ballroom
15.10.10 Wolverhampton - Wulfrun Hall
16.10.10 Sheffield - Corporation
17.10.10 Brighton - Concorde 2
19.10.10 Antwerpen - Hof Ter Lo
20.10.10 Frankfurt - Batschkapp
21.10.10 Nijmegen - Doornroosje
22.10.10 Dortmund - FZW
28.10.10 Huskvarna - Folkets Park
29.10.10 Lund - Mejeriet
30.10.10 Norrköping - Flygeln
01.11.10 Tallin - Rock Café
02.11.10 Riga - Melna Piekdiena
03.11.10 Minsk - Reaktor
05.11.10 Vienna - Szene
06.11.10 Zlin - MOR Café
07.11.10 Prague - KD Vltavska
08.11.10 Krakow - Studio
10.11.10 Katowice - Mega Club
11.11.10 Lodz - Dekompresja
12.11.10 Rzeszow - Pod Palma
13.11.10 Bratislava - Majestic Musik Club
14.11.10 Budapest - WigWam
16.11.10 Sofia Blue - Box Club
17.11.10 Bucharest - Silver Church
19.11.10 Belgrade - SKC
20.11.10 Zagreb - Mochvara
21.11.10 Graz - Seifenfabrik
22.11.10 Woergl - Komma
23.11.10 Berlin - Colombia Club
25.11.10 Göteborg - Trädgårn
26.11.10 Ronneby - Club Ron
27.11.10 Stockholm - Arenan
03.12.10 Helsinki - Tavastia
04.12.10 Turku - Klubi
05.12.10 Åland - Dino's
08.12.10 Trondheim - Blæst

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Source:	sabaton.net
Band profile:	Sabaton
Event:	Sabaton: World War Tour

"Beg To Consume", the new video from Canadian metallers Divinity, can be viewed at this location. The clip was directed by Troy Niemans of Outernational Films.

"Beg To Consume" comes off the band's latest album, The Singularity, which was released on December 2009 via Nuclear Blast Records.


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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Divinity

"The Longest Year", a new video from Swedish metallers Katatonia, has been made available online. The video was directed by Charlie Granberg, and comes off both the band's last effort, Night Is The New Day, and their upcoming EP titled The Longest Year.

Dark_Blood]

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Source:	katatonia.com
Band profile:	Katatonia

"Collapsing", the new video from US metallers Demon Hunter, can be viewed at this location.

"Collapsing" comes off the band's forthcoming album, The World Is A Thorn, which is scheduled for release on March 9 via SolidState Records.

The World Is A Thorn cover art] tracklist:

01. Descending Upon Us
02. LifeWar
03. Collapsing
04. This Is The Line
05. Driving Nails
06. The World Is A Thorn
07. Tie This Around Your Neck
08. Just Breathe
09. Shallow Water
10. Feel As Though You Could
11. Blood In The Tears

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Demon Hunter

The voting is now closed and we'd like to thank all voters who participated. This year we had 10 categories breaking the 1000 votes mark, pretty awesome!

Results can be found here!

OK, enjoy browsing the results, and remember that they are the product of public voting, so that you know who to blame. Just making sure...

Feel free to discuss the outcome in this thread.

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Official press release

Madder Mortem, Norway's darlings of the avantgarde, unearth a new box of treasures with their new EP, Where Dream & Day Collide.

The EP contains 3 brand new songs from the Madders' warped imaginations, along with the single & album versions of the title track, taken from the sublime 2009 release Eight Ways; a dynamic journey through jazz, prog, metal & numerous musical anomalies in between.

Artwork appears courtesy of Christian Ruud, who, along with Kim Holm & the people at Toxic, is also responsible for the breathtaking visuals on the suitably mysterious "Where Dream & Day Collide" video which also features on the disc.

The new EP, which will be released on May, can be pre-ordered through the Peaceville webstore.

Where Dream & Day Collide cover art] tracklist:

01. Where Dream & Day Collide
02. Jitterheart
03. The Purest Strain
04. Quietude
05. Where Dream & Day Collide
+ Where Dream & Day Collide

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Source:	burningshed.com
Band profile:	Madder Mortem

German metallers Powerwolf have issued the following update on their MySpace blog:

"Stefane Funebre will have to focus on his increasing religious duties in the future and will therefore no longer be able to join the wolves on their crusade. Funebre will however remain a part of the pack for life and will keep supporting us with his spiritual and mental guidance behind the scenes.

As the new member of the Wolfpack we welcome Tom Diener, who will take place on the holy drumseat in the future.

Tom already toured with us as temporary replacement for Funebre during the last 12 months and in the meantime has become a true member of the pack and a master of the ceremony. Be sure he will unleash some great metal madness with us in the future."

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Powerwolf

In anticipation of the God Of War 3 soundtrack - entitled God Of War: Blood And Metal - to be released today, March 2nd, Roadrunner Records is streaming Killswitch Engage's contribution, "My Obsession", on their official website.

"I have played the previous God of War releases,'" Killswitch Engage vocalist Howard Jones says of the upcoming game. "To be a part of this game in any fashion is amazing! Let the rivers flow red with blood; there is vengeance to bestow! Bring me more new finishing blows to my enemies!"

Gamers interested in picking up a copy of this digital-only exclusive EP can do so for just $2 for a limited time here.

BudDa]

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Source:	roadrunnerrecords.com
Band profile:	Killswitch Engage