Argentinian folk metal act Skiltron have announced very special guests to play on their upcoming album ''Beheading The Liars'', set to be released in May 2008. The guests include Kevin Ridley, Steve Ramsey and Georgine Biddle of Skyclad, Jonne Järvelä of Korpiklaani and Patrice Roques and Patrick Lafforgue of Stille Volk.

The tracklist with the guests musicians reads as follows:

01. Skiltron
02. The Beheading
03. I'm What You've Done
04. Praying Is Nothing (featuring Jonne Järvelä)
05. Calling Out
06. The Vision Of Blind Harry
07. Hate Dance
08. Signs, Symbols And The Marks Of Man (featuring Kevin Ridley, Steve Ramsey and Georgina Biddle)
09. Let The Spirit Be
10. Fast And Wild
11. Crides (featuring Patrice Roques and Patrick Lafforgue)

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Source:	skiltron.net
Band profile:	Skiltron

A new song called "Massacre Mountain" from Canadian thrash legends Exciter is currently streaming at this location.

The track is pulled from the band's new albumv"Thrash, Speed, Burn", which will be released via Massacre Records on February 22nd. The full tracklist is as follows:

01. Massacre Mountain
02, Thrash Speed Burn
03, In Mortal Fear
04. Crucifixion
05. Demon's Gate
06. Hangman
07. Evil Omen
08. Betrayal
09. The Punisher
10. Rot The Devil King

"Thrash, Speed, Burn" cover] will be issued as a regular CD and limited CD digipak. More info about the album at this location.

Exciter's 2007 line-up features original guitarist John Ricci, Rik Charron (drums), Clammy (bass) and new singer Kenny Winter.

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Source:	bravewords.com
Band profile:	Exciter

Hail Of Bullets will enter Excess studios in Rotterdam, Holland in February to begin recording their debut album for a May release via Metal Blade Records.

Comments drummer Ed Warby: "Yesterday we had our last band rehearsal before we enter the studio. Worked out some final arrangements and played the last two songs we wrote for the first time. One is the epic closer to the album (we'll have fun building this one up in the studio), and another is the proposed bonus track; a groovy beast of a tune that actually has a dual guitar solo in it. Martin couldn't attend, so we'll leave the vocal fine-tuning for the studio. I'm also working on a nice, moody intro for the album. Some strings, some bombs... it's turning out a lot cooler than I expected; God bless ProTools! Meanwhile our creative department is hard at work on putting together the artwork, it's starting to look very promising indeed. And finally we're close to securing a U.S. deal... more information will follow shortly."

Hail Of Bullets' entire four-song promotional CD is available for streaming on the band's MySpace page http://www.myspace.com.

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Source:	metalblade.de
Band profile:	Hail Of Bullets

Behemoth frontman Nergal has just revealed that the band will be filming their show in Paris La Locomotive on February 17.

"I've been thinking about this DVD for a long time now. Our last release "Crush.Fukk.Create" seems to be pretty outdated. We've released two records in new line up since then, we've toured the world few times and definitely grew as a band and developed our stage show. It's time for something fresh and exciting!

We've managed to collect over 100 tapes documenting all the touring for our last two records. Some of the most insane footage was caught there. Fall/winter release on Regain records is planned."

Source:	behemoth.pl
Band profile:	Behemoth
Event:	Behemoth: European Tour

Guitarist Alan Jordan of the reactivated British Thrashers Onslaught has released the following statement to Blabbermouth.net:

"It is with immediate effect that I will no longer be a part of Onslaught. I had the best part of three very happy years with the band and recorded what I considered to be a great album and DVD, both of which I'm very proud to be a part of.

Some internal circumstances within Onslaught changed and certain ideas were moving in a very different direction to what I envisaged.

I have no long-term plans at this moment in time, but would like to thank all the fans across the globe that I have met and spent time with. Respect to you all."

Source:	roadrunnerrecords.com
Band profile:	Onslaught

Greek melodic metal masters Firewind are glad to premier the first track taken off their forthcoming, much anticipated fifth album "The Premonition". The song is entitled "Mercenary Man" and will also be released as a CD-single in the band's home country, the song is streaming at the is location.

"The Premonition" scheduled for a release on March 24th in Europe, album cover art can be viewed here.

Album tracklisting:

01. Into The Fire
02. Head Up High
03. Mercenary Man
04. Angels Forgive Me
05. Remembered
06. My Loneliness
07. Circle Of Life
08. The Silent Code
09. Maniac
10. Life Foreclosed

Bandleader and guitar-wizard Gus G. advances some own words about the new material:

"Although the CD starts out with a pretty intense song ("Into The Fire") which is like a six and half minute riffing, shredding and double bass madness, the next few songs are what I'd call modern hard rock - if I have to put a tag on it!

I think there's a lot of cool guitar stuff all over the album and generally this is a more guitar-oriented effort. Our influences draw from Thin Lizzy to Black Sabbath and Megadeth and you can clearly hear that on the riffs and guitar melodies.

Songwriting-wise I think all songs are special and once again everyone was involved in the writing - we basically kept the Allegiance "winning team" together.

Thus, we once again recorded and mixed @ Studio Fredman in Sweden. Fredrik really knows the sounds we're after and delivers it in no time! We tried a few different things in the engineering this time - mainly with the drums and guitars and I feel we have a pretty tight, bone crushing Metal sound.

As for surprises we decided to cover the 80s pop smash hit, "Maniac", not because we're such lovers of the film "Flashdance", but because it's a kick ass song, period. Who knows, maybe we'll get to do a remake of that famous video one day!"

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Firewind

It is time once more for the annual Metal Storm Awards to take flight and collect your votes! It is up to you to decide just which of the many great albums of 2007 deserve the glory of being hailed winner in their category.

As the trend has been the past number of years, 2007 provided us once more with another fantastic year for metal of all kinds, which once again proved to be a more difficult task than we first imagined where agreeing on the limited amount of nominations is concerned. Indeed each category we feel has the best selection of albums from over the span of the year with the focus on the quality of the albums, not to be swayed by the big names that may just assume they have a place. Of course if your favourite is not nominated, you can still vote for it using the "write-in vote" to have your say about it.

This year we have nineteen genre categories as well as the other usuals for biggest surprise and letdown, etc. and of course our "drama of the year" to spice things up even further.

The voting is open for one month; it is time to make yourselves heard! Visit the Metal Storm Awards.

Metal Storm Staff

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Eluveitie have been busy the last days producing an "EPK" (Electronic Press Kit) from the new album, entitled "Slania". You can find this EKP at this location.
This short video includes previews of the songs: "Samon (acoustic)", "Primordial Breath", "Inis Mona", "The Somber Lay", "Bloodstained Ground", "Gray Sublime Archon" & "Slanias Song".

Also the band has uploaded a new video for the song "Inis Mona" at this location.

"Slania" release dates are as follows:
Germany / Switzerland / Austria: February 15th, 2008.
Rest of the World (except the USA): February 18th, 2008.
USA: March 11th, 2008.

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Eluveitie

Belgian Brutal Death Metal band Aborted have issued the following news:
"Hey everyone, it is with great pleasure that we announce the Iconoclast Part I Tour, where we will be supporting germany's finest Heaven Shall Burn alongside Misery Speakds.
The dates are as follows:

ICONOCLAST PART I
28.03.08 Brugge (B) - Entreepot
29.03.08 Lingen (Ger) - Alter Schlachthof
30.03.08 Hellendorn (NL) - De Lantaarn
31.03.08 Köln (Ger) - Werkstatt
01.04.08 Sheffield (UK) - Corporation
02.04.08 London (UK) - Underworld
03.04.08 Den Bosch (NL) - W2
04.04.08 Paris (F) - Le Nouveau Casino
05.04.08 Ravenna (I) - Rock Planet Club
06.04.08 Zürich (CH) - Abart
07.04.08 Stuttgart (Ger) - Röhre
08.04.08 Prag (CZ) - Rock Café
09.04.08 Berlin (Ger) - Columbia Club

Furthermore, writing of the new album is nearly completed, we are putting final touches to the material & are hitting the studio to record end February till mid March. Eric Rachel will mix this slab of brutality right after & it should see a summer release on Century Media records. Stay tuned for more!"

Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Aborted
Event:	Heaven Shall Burn: Iconoclast Tour

Finnish Melodic Death Metallers Omnium Gatherum have issued the following update:

"OG will begin to record the 4th magnum opus extravaganza in March and this time the album will be done in three different studios; recordings will be done at Sound Supreme Studios by Janne Saksa and at SouthEastSounds by Teemu Aalto and the mixing and mastering will be done at legendary Unisound Studio at Örebro, Sweden by Dan Swanö (Nightingale, ex-Edge Of Sanity, ex-Bloodbath etc.) who´ve produced the albums for Opeth, Katatonia and Dissection for example. So, we could say that we´re really enthusiastic about this, surprise!

First time the album composing process have been really easy task and this pure fresh spirit can really be heard from the songs. The next level have been entered, so beware folks - autumn 2008 will be time for THE OG INVASION!"

In other news the band have posted the following: "Evile have cancelled "The Great British Fiction Tour" and this means that OG will be the main support act and are playing just before Dark Tranquillity - which means a little bit longer set list! Evile will be compensated with local opening acts. See ya in UK!!"

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Source:	omniumgatherum.org
Band profile:	Omnium Gatherum
Event:	Dark Tranquillity: UK Tour

The following message can be found on the official Deep Purple website:

"These dates are confirmed by the Deep Purple management. If you hear or see any other dates that are not listed here then they are not yet confirmed or are only rumored dates. Deep Purple and the management can not be held responsible for falsely posted dates at other sites. Also, please be aware that cancelations, although rare as they are, may happen due to circumstances beyond the control of Deep Purple, their management and promoters. The dates you see here are the dates the web team know of. We post dates as soon as we receive them from the management. There is no point in e-mailing and asking if the band will play in your town/country anytime soon as what you see here is what we know. If you are a promoter looking to book the band, please send an e-mail with a brief presentation of your company, dates etc to info(AT)deep-purple(DOT)com. Thank you for understanding."

14.02.2008 - Mexico, Monterrey Arena - Monterrey
16.02.2008 - Mexico, Plaza de Toros - Mexico City
17.02.2008 - Mexico, Plaza de Toros - Guadalajara
20.02.2008 - Peru, Tribuna Estadio Nacional - Lima
22.02.2008 - Brazil, Citibank Hall - Rio de Janeiro
23.02.2008 - Brazil, Helloch - Curitiba
24.02.2008 - Brazil, Credicard Hall - Sao Paulo
26.02.2008 - Argentina, Luna Park - Buenos Aires
28.02.2008 - Chile, Estadio Regional - Concepcion
01.03.2008 - Chile, Teatro Caopolican - Santiago
06.03.2008 - Ecuador, Coliseo Ruminhaui - Quito
08.03.2008 - Venezuela, Concha Acustica - Caracas

Source:	deep-purple.com
Band profile:	Deep Purple
Event:	Deep Purple: Latin America Tour

God Dethroned's guitarists Isaac Delahaye has posted the following statement on the band's website:

A little while ago our long time drummer Ariën van Weesenbeek announced he would join the ranks of Dutch gothic metal rockers Epica, leaving us no other choice than to let him go. We do understand his career move and we wish him all the best of luck for the future, and we'd like to thank him for all the years of pure blasphemy.
We will play a farewell show with Ariën on March 28th at the Mezz club in Breda, Holland.

At the same time we are happy to announce the return of Roel Sanders, our drummer on the Grand Grimoire and Bloody Blasphemy albums!
Roel left God Dethroned in the summer of 2000, but this time he's back to stay with us till the end.
Some of you may also know him as the drummer for Inhume (and don't worry, he will continue with that band too).

Soon we will start the writing process of a new album with the working title: Passiondale... an epic tale about World War I.
Musically the new album will be a mix between Bloody Blasphemy and Lair of the White Worm, so better buckle up fellas!

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Source:	goddethroned.com
Band profile:	God Dethroned

The following message was posted on the official site of Swedish death metallers Bloodbath:

"So the time has come for Bloodbath to once again poison the scene with a contagious doze of über brutal death metal. An old acquaitance in this zombified bloodline has once again re-visited his old home. We can now announce that the vocalist on the new mini-cd is none other than Mikael Åkerfeldt courtesy of Opeth.

Second deathster to join the elite is Mr Per 'Sodomizer' Eriksson (ex-21 Lucifers, ex-Genocrush Ferox). Sodomizer's brutal death metal songwriting approach as well as guitar shredding is a highly welcomed element in the legacy of Bloodbath."

Source:	bloodbath.biz
Band profile:	Bloodbath

The following statement was posted at the official Hanoi Rocks site:

"Hanoi Rocks drummer to be replaced: Hanoi Rocks will end their working relationship with their current drummer Lacu.

Lacu will leave the band after Hanoi Rocks' European tour, which will start from Stockholm, 14th of February and will finish at the Astoria Club, London 7th of March 2008. The change behind the drumkit will not affect the forthcoming Hanoi Rocks gigs or tours.

The new drummer will be announced soon."

According to Finnish newspaper "Iltalehti" Lacu will join Finnish rock band "Popeda" after Hanoi Rocks' European tour is completed.

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Source:	hanoirocks.info
Band profile:	Hanoi Rocks

Belgium's highly appreciated and long-standing Metallers Axamenta have lost their frontman and singer Peter Meynckens. A statement by the band goes as follows:

"Very unfortunate news from the Axa-front, our frontman Peter has to quit singing in Axamenta, on doctor's orders.

Here's Peter official statement: "After more than 9 and a half years it has come to pass that I say goodbye to Axa. This has been a tough decision but alas it is a decision taken on doctor's orders. My heart is still with the guys and the music but my voice can't take anymore damage than it has taken over the years. It has been a great ride and I wish I could ride the cloud of Axa untill eternity. The gigs that are planned will go on with me as the singer.

You can check this Axa line-up this weekend at the sandstorm gig Link]. Come and support us!

Cheers, Peter"

We will surely still cherish a lot of good and fun moments with Peter, as we believe he will only leave the band in functional terms, of course not in close entourage, so to say.

In relation to Peter's departure from the band, we've posted an application form for those who are interested in auditioning for vocalist of Axamenta. You can read the application form here."

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Source:	axamenta.com
Band profile:	Axamenta