The Pre-Production of Power/Progressive Metal band Adagio's upcoming album is now complete. Four demo songs for 'Archangels In Black' have been written now and their titles have been released. The four tracks so far are: 'Archangels In Black', 'Undead', 'The Fear Circus' and 'Twilight At Dawn'. Adagio will enter the studio in December to commence the recording of the album and it will be released some time next year.

Here is a comment by guitarist Stephan Forté: "This album is a sort of tribute to dark arts, including horror movies and gothic litterature, it's our own musical representation of what Darkness is. I think the song 'Archangels In Black' would be a cool hymn for all those of us who enjoy sinister arts".

Source:	adagio-online.com
Band profile:	Adagio

Veteran Heavy Metallers Running Wild have announced that they will be releasing a best-of compilation album. The album will be callled 'Best Of Adrian' and will be released on the 24th November. The compilation will have songs from Running Wild's last nine years, which is while the band has been with G.U.N. Records.

Running Wild have put the album up at amazon.de for pre-order. You can pre-order it here.

Read more ››

Source:	running-wild.net
Band profile:	Running Wild

Swedish Metal band Therion have made a posting on their official website regarding a new album. The recording has been going on for the last couple of months and was finished a couple of weeks ago. The mixing process has just been completed as well. The album is set for release on the 12th January next year.

In other Therion news, some of the dates on the band's recently announced 2007 European tour have changed. The Toulouse and the Lyon shows have switched dates. Toulouse is now on the 24th January and the Lyon gig is on the 28th January.

Source:	megatherion.com
Band profile:	Therion

Lacuna Coil's stunning performance from this summer's Kerrang! sponsored Download Festival will make its way to movie theaters across the U.S. as part of a one night screening on Thursday, October 19th. The screening is set to take place in over 80 cites and will also feature other Download performances from such artists as Guns N' Roses, The Deftones, Avenged Sevenfold and Trivium, among others. Plus, viewers will see exclusive behind-the-scenes interviews with the artists. Click on the link here for a list of cities and times.

Lacuna Coil's upcoming Blackest Of The Black Tour with Danzig also coincides with the launch of the group's new single for 'Closer', the third single from Karmacode. The radio mix and edit of 'Closer' was done by Brian Malouf (Michael Jackson, Madonna, Pearl Jam), and the captivating video for the track, completed by the directorial team Fort Awesome (who also shot the group's acclaimed 'Our Truth' clip), can be viewed by clicking here

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Source:	thekarmacode.com
Band profile:	Lacuna Coil
Event:	Blackest Of The Black Tour

Grindcore outfit Trap Them, AKA Trap Them And Kill Them AKA 77+K7, have officially announced the addition of Nat Coghlan to their line up.
Coghlan previously played with Transistor Transistor and is now a full member of the group.
The band's vinyl-only debut, entitled "Cunt Heir To The Throne," is due out November 21st from Trash Art! with a full-length to follow soon after. Check out a track from the album here.

The whole line up:
Brian Vincent Izzi - guitar
Ryan John McKenney - vocals
Nat Coghlan - bass
Scott Defusco - drums

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Source:

myspace.com

Iced Earth founder/guitarist Jon Schaffer has issued the following update on his search for a new guitarist:

"Greetings,

The new Iced Earth guitar player is an absolutely fantastic player from the UK named Tim Mills. Tim is the owner/founder/visionary of Bare Knuckle Pickups, which is an incredible company providing state of the art handwound pickups from England, which is how I met him. I highly recommend any and all serious players to check out his website and try a few of his p/ups, they absolutely rule.

As for his playing, it's awesome, very melodic, very tasty and he has great original ideas and songwriting abilities as well. He's here now and we're really inspiring each other and coming up with some great parts together. It's been a very long time since I've felt this kind of chemistry and I'm very psyched about it. It's an ingredient that's been missing for a very long time, so it should bring some very cool results.

It's a good thing I always call Tim Owens 'T'; that will help with the two guys in the band named Tim factor........ ;-)

There's more good news coming soon!

Jon Schaffer"

The search for a new guitarist began last month when Iced Earth axe Ernie Carletti was arrested on charges of rape.

As reported a few days ago (here), old drummer Brent Smedley, (drummer for Iced Earth in the later 90's) has rejoined the band.

Iced Earth current line up goes as follows:
Jon Schaffer - Guitars
Tim 'Ripper' Owens - Vocals
Tim Mills - Guitars
Brent Smedley - Drums

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Source:	icedearth.com
Band profile:	Iced Earth

Epica's first ever North American tour - supporting Kamelot - wrapped up on October 11th in Los Angeles, CA. Epica have posted the following update at their official website:

"We have just returned from our first USA/Canadian tour. It was an experience that we will never forget and we can only hope to return as soon as possible. Our thanks go out to Kamelot, the crew, the promoters, all the other bands we have shared the stage with and of course all of our fans that showed up every night!

Unfortunately, there is also some bad news: Jeroen (Simons) has decided to concentrate on an other musical career and will therefore leave Epica. We want to thank him for everything he has contributed to the band for the last 4 years and want to wish him all the best in his new musical career!

This means we are now looking for a new drummer. For more info contact info@epica.nl."

Epica will enter Gate Studios to begin pre-production for their next studio album on November 2nd.

Source:	epica.nl
Band profile:	Epica

Cradle Of Filth have updated their tour schedule. They will now kick off the tour in Brighton, UK at Concorde 2 on November 11th. In addition, the dates for Spain have been shuffled and will now include a show in Bilbao on November 23rd. And finally, the show scheduled for December 5th in Stuttgart, Germany has been moved to Munich.

The complete schedule is now as follows:

November
11 - Concorde 2 in Brighton, UK (NEW DATE)
12 - 013 in Tilburg, Netherlands
13 - Bataclan in Paris, France
15 - ABBox in Brussels, Belgium
16 - La Laiterie in Strasbourg, France
17 - La Cooperative de Mai Clermont in Ferrand, France
19 - Apolo in Barcelona, Spain (NEW DATE)
20 - Paradise Garage in Lisbon, Portugal
21 - Hard Club in Porto, Portugal
23 - Rockstar in Bilbao, Spain (NEW DATE)
24 - Heineken Hall in Madrid, Spain (NEW DATE)
26 - Alcatraz in Milan, Italy
27 - Volkshaus in Zurich, Switzerland
29 - Boogaloo in Zagreb, Croatia
30 - Petofi Hall in Budapest, Hungary

December
01 - Planet Music in Vienna, Austria
02 - Novesta Hall in Zlin, Czech Republic
04 - Live Music Hall in Köln, Germany
05 - Georg Eiser Halle in Munich, Germany (NEW DATE)
07 - Alte Reithalle in Dresden, Germany
08 - Progresje in Warsaw, Poland
10 - Markthalle Klosterwall in Hamburg, Germany
11 - Train in Aarhus, Denmark
12 - Rockefeller in Oslo, Norway
13 - Amager Bio in Copenhagen, Denmark
14 - Karen in Gotheborg, Sweden
16 - Antwerp, Belgium at Hof Ter Lo
17 - Manchester, UK at Academy**
18 - Birmingham, UK at Academy**
19 - London, UK at Astoria**
** with Sabbat

Sabbat - featuring vocalist Martin Walkyier (ex-Skyclad) and producer/guitarist Andy Sneap - have reunited to play as support for the three UK dates in December. Deathstarts will suppport Cradle Of Filth for the duration of the tour.

Read more ››

Source:	cradleoffilth.com
Band profile:	Cradle Of Filth
Event:	Cradle Of Filth: European Tour

Swedish black metallers Dark Funeral performed an all-instrumental set in Lima, Peru Sunday night (October 8) after the group's vocalist/bassist Emperor Magnus Caligula was taken ill. A near-riot followed the concert, with several irate fans destroying property around the concert venue as a way of registering their dissatisfaction over what they felt was a less than adequate performance.
Watch video footage of Dark Funeral fans engaging in post-concert vandalism:
video no 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEXRWhZBl_g
video no 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ_5yzABnoI

The band posted comment on their official myspace website about this incident:

"Finally back home again after a killer tour in Latin America, except for the somewhat chaotic ending in Peru. I guess it's about time to set the record straight and explain what really happened there.

After a killer show in Santiago (Chile), Caligula started to feel sick. And to tell you the truth, it's a real miracle that no one else in the band got sick during this tour. Travel-wise it was the hardest tour in our career. Late shows and very early flights every fucking day, which left us with not more than 1-2 hours sleep per night. Sure, that kind of schedule works a couple of days, or perhaps a week, but after 2+ weeks ? one is pretty much a wreck. Despite this, we still managed to give 110% at every show, except for the last one in Peru, which of course sucks as much for us as for the fans.

Anyway, shortly after the Santiago show, and during the flight over to Peru, Caligula started to feel really sick. And by the time we arrived at the airport in Peru he had high fever and had completely lost his voice. So the very first thing we did when we met up with the local promoter was to ask for a doctor, which was arranged very quickly. Our hope was of course that Caligula would get some medicine so he could at least get back his voice and be able to pull off that one last show. Unfortunately his condition was much worse than what we expected it to be. The doctor literally said that it was of biggest importance that he did not sing during the next 14 days. If he did, he would take a serious risk to get severe problems with his voice in the future. And if someone really believes that he wanted to take that chance and sing that night, you got to be really fucking stupid.

At this point we told the Peruvian promoter that we would unfortunately be forced to cancel the show but that we were ready to do whatever we could from our side to at least give the fans something. I mean, we were, after all, in the country and everyone but Caligula was feeling OK, except for the fact that we were all very fucking tired. The Peruvian promoter said he would not accept any other solution other than that we played. He said if we didn't play, with or without Caligula, all hell would break loose. Well, as we all now know, it happened anyway. Normally, if one of us get sick on tour and can't perform ? we cancel. But trust me, it will take a lot before we go as far as cancelling a show. After a long discussion between the band, the tour manager and the local promoter, who literally were begging us to play with or without Caligula, we decided that it would indeed be the best for everyone, including the fans, that we played after all, and that would have to be without Caligula, who at this point of time couldn't get a word out of his mouth.

Read more ››

Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Dark Funeral

After three years, UK death metal duo Mithras have completed work on their latest album, titled "Behind The Shadows Lie Madness".
The band's third record will be released worldwide by Candlelight Records and will feature art by Dan Seagrave who is known for his work with Morbid Angel, Entombed, Suffocation and many others. The release date should be announced soon.

The recording line up is as follows:
Leon Macey - guitars / drums
Rayner Coss - oratory / bass

Source:

mithras.org.uk

At the end of this year Metallica will be releasing a DVD collection of all of their promotional videos. It will be entitled "The Videos 1989-2004". It will be released on the 4th December everywhere except North America (where it will be released on the 5th December). Click here to see the cover of the DVD.

Here is the tracklist:
01. One
02. Enter Sandman
03. The Unforgiven
04. Nothing Else Matters
05. Wherever I May Roam
06. Sad But True
07. Until It Sleeps
08. Hero Of The Day
09. Mama Said
10. King Nothing
11. The Memory Remains
12. The Unforgiven II
13. Fuel
14. Turn The Page
15. Whiskey In The Jar
16. No Leaf Clover
17. I Disappear
18. St. Anger
19. Frantic
20. The Unnamed Feeling
21. Some Kind Of Monster

Bonus:
22. 2 Of One - Introduction
23. One (Jammin' Version)
24. The Unforgiven (Theatrical Version)
25. Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster Film Trailer

Here is a comment by the band: "We've been getting requests for many years to release all the promotional videos on DVD and it's finally happening! In addition to every video we've ever made, for the first time ever the "2 of One," release (which up until now has only been available on VHS) will be available on DVD. Also included is 'Mama Said' which never aired in North America, maybe not even anywhere in the world, and a few little extras such as 'The Unforgiven' theatrical version and the 'Some Kind Of Monster' film trailer. Plus, all the audio has been re-mixed in 5.1 surround sound".

Read more ››

Source:	metallica.com
Band profile:	Metallica

The recording and mixing process for Doom/Death Metal band Swallow The Sun is now complete. The recording for their so far untitled third album was done at Seawolf Studios in Helsinki. The band have also announced that the mixing for the album will begin on the 16th October at by Minerva Pappi at Finnvox studios.

More information about the information is said to be announced soon.

In the meantime, Mikko and Juha will be on Radio X3M's Metallväktarna to talk about the recording of the new album and everything else next Sunday!

Source:	swallowthesun.net
Band profile:	Swallow The Sun

Royal Hunt's new live 2CD/ DVD will be released via Frontiers Records on December 8th. The band picked the historic stage of St. Petersburg's Music Hall to film their new "Live In Concert" DVD on. The event, which lasted about 2 hours, features a wide selection of songs from all of their releases since 1991 and some tracks from the latest one - "Paper Blood".

The DVD also includes some backstage footage as well as interviews with band members and their road crew, while the 2CD set is the ultimate Royal Hunt package, an essential item for all the long time fans.

DVD tracklisting:
01. Paper Blood
02. Time
03. The Mission
04. Never Give Up
05. Can't Let Go
06. Last Goodbye
07. Follow Me
08. Cold City Lights
09. Martial Arts
10. Surrender
11. Running Wild
12. Far Away
13. Lies
14. Wasted Time
15. Message To God
16. SK983
17. Epilogue

2CD Version tracklisting:
Disc 1:
01. Paper Blood
02. Time
03. The Mission
04. Never Give Up
05. Can't Let Go (sample)
06. Last Goodbye
07. Follow Me
08. Cold City Lights

Disc 2:
01. Martial Arts
02. Surrender
03. Running Wild
04. Far Away (sample)
05. Lies
06. Wasted Time
07. Message To God
08. Epilogue
09. Long Way Home (bonus track)

Royal Hunt website: http://www.royalhunt.com

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Source:	frontiers.it
Band profile:	Royal Hunt

Winterborn, Doro and Benedictum will team up for a European tour beginning in early December. Confirmed dates are as follows:

Dec. 05 - Italy - Florence, Flog
Dec. 06 - Italy - Traviso, New Age
Dec. 07 - Italy - Milan, Live Club
Dec. 09 - Germany - Affalter, Zur Linde
Dec. 10 - Germany - Braunschweig, Jolly Joker
Dec. 11 - Germany - Berlin, Postbahnhof
Dec. 13 - Germany - Bremen, Aladin
Dec. 15 - Austria - Wörgl, Komma
Dec. 16 - Germany - Kaufbeuren, All-Karthalle
Dec. 19 - Germany - Ubach-Palenberg, Rockfabrik
Dec. 20 - The Netherlands - Weert, De Bosuil
Dec. 21 - The Netherlands - Hellendorn, Lantaarn
Dec. 22 - Germany - Flensburg, Roxy
Dec. 25 - Germany - Speyer, Halle 101
Dec. 26 - Germany - Bochum, Zeche
Dec. 27 - Belgium - Antwerpen, Hof Ter Lo
Dec. 28 - Germany - Aschaffenburg, Colos-Saal
Dec. 29 - Germany - Andernach, JUZ Live Club
Dec. 30 - Germany - Crailsheim, Jahnhalle

As commented Winterborn: "Winterborn is very happy to announce European Tour 2006 with Doro and Benedictum. And because of this, theres a few changes in gig dates in Finland. And some more gigs in Finland."

Source:	winterborn.info
Band profile:	Winterborn

On the 15th of November 2006, Sonata Arctica will release their second compilation "The Collection 1999-2006". This one has nothing to do with the compilation released in Japan earlier this year.
The compilation (cover art here) will include two re-makes and the limited version will include two live videos and one promotional video.

Tracklist:
01. The Ruins Of My Life
02. 8th Commandment
03. Don't Say A Word
04. Victoria's Secret
05. Tallulah
06. Wolf & Raven
07. Black Sheep
08. Broken
09. Kingdom For A Heart
10. FullMoon
11. My Land
12. The Cage
13. Last Drop Falls
14. UnOpened
15. San Sebastian
16. Ain't Your Fairytale
17. Replica

Limited Edition:
18. Wolf & Raven
19. The Cage
20. Kingdom For A Heart

Read more ››

Source:	fanzone.fi
Band profile:	Sonata Arctica