Metal Mind Productions have updated their MySpace page to include the new video from Polish atmospheric Gothic/Black metallers Darzamat.

Head here to view the clip for 'The Burning Times'.

Darzamat filmed the video in cooperation with the film association GTW from Gliwice, Poland. The video, created to promote the band's new album "Transkarpatia" deals with the times of The Inquisition, the fanatic witch-hunts as well as with the war that the Church was declaring to everything and everyone who stood out of the one and the only appropriate vision that the Church presented.

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Source:	darzamat.art.pl
Band profile:	Darzamat

German Viking metal band Equilibrium has officially signed a multi-album deal with Nuclear Blast Records.
Comments the band: "A deal with Nuclear Blast? Wow. A dream came true. We´re looking forward to some cool years and even cooler records!"
Equilibrium will enter the studio in January to record a new album, titled "Sagas," which will hit streets next summer.

Website: http://www.equilibrium-metal.de

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Source:	nuclearblast.de
Band profile:	Equilibrium

Santa Cruz based brutal death metallers Decrepit Birth have posted the following update:

"We would like to officially announce that Erlend Caspersen (Blood Red Throne, The All Seeing I), will be filling in as our touring and session bassist until a permanent bassist can fill the position. We are very happy to have him in the line up, as he is one of the most amazing young bassists in the scene. You can see him on the road with us in January across Europe, tour dates coming soon!

We are still looking for a permanent bass player who is willing to relocate to our area and be a serious and professional member of Decrepit Birth. All that are interested should contact decrepitbirth@msn.com"

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Source:	decrepitbirth.com
Band profile:	Decrepit Birth

Glenn Danzig has announced that his former Samhain bandmate Steve Zing will be the surprise bassist on the Blackest Of The Black live dates.

"I'm looking forward to being on stage with Glenn again and seeing all the fans," Zing stated. "It's gonna be a blast."

Danzig has also announced that guitarist Kenny Hickey and drummer Johnny Kelly, both from Type O Negative, will round out his band.

The complete lineup for the 2006 Blackest Of The Black Tour features: Danzig, Lacuna Coil, The Haunted, Belphegor and Asesino. Dates are as follows:

November
17 - Seattle, WA - The Fenix
18 - Spokane, WA - The Big Easy
19 - Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
21 - Santa Cruz, CA - The Catalyst
22 - San Diego, CA - Soma
24 - tba
25 - Phoenix, AZ - Celebrity Theatre
26 - Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine Theatre
28 - Las Vegas, NV - House Of Blues
29 - Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern
30 - Fresno, CA - Rainbow Ballroom

Source:	danzig-verotik.com
Band profile:	Danzig

Saxon's manager Thomas Jensen has posted the following update on the band's official website:

"Unfortunately I have to announce that Saxon have to cancel all festival appearances in South America due to recording commitments. Please don't book any flights. I am really sorry to have to send this news."

The five cancelled gigs were scheduled to take place from October 7th to October 14th in Mexico, Argentina and Brazil.

However, Saxon still intend to perform in Belgium on November 18th.

Source:	saxon747.com
Band profile:	Saxon

More live bootleg Savatage footage has surfaced on YouTube. This time it's high quality single camera video of the band performing 'Agony And Ecstasy' from the "Streets" album. Go to this location to check it out.

A Savatage fan has uploaded his video library of band-related footage on YouTube. It can be found here. It includes two rare pro-shot Savatage performances. Go to this location to check out the band performing 'Tonight He Grins Again' at the Tampa Music Awards in 1992. The clip is believed to be some of the best existing live footage of the band's "Streets" album line-up (Jon Oliva, Criss Oliva, Steve Wacholz, Johnny Lee Middleton).

The second clip is from a special VIVA TV broadcast filmed during The Wake Of Magellan tour in 1997 in Cologne, Germany. Go to this location to check out 'Turns To Me' performed by the Savatage line-up of Zak Stevens, Jon Oliva, Chris Caffery, Al Pitrelli, Johnny Lee Middleton and Jeff Plate.

In addition, rare live footage of a 2002 festival performance featuring Annihilator guitarist Jeff Waters and vocalist Damond Jiniya is now available via YouTube. Click here to check it out. Waters was filling in for guitarist Al Pitrelli for a string of dates around this time and Jiniya was the replacement for Zak Stevens, now with Circle II Circle.

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Source:	bravewords.com
Band profile:	Savatage

The 2006 Monterrey Metal Fest has finalized it's line-up for this year's festival to be held on Saturday, November 18, 2006 at the Coca Cola Auditorium in the city of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.

Main Stage:

Blind Guardian (Headliner)
U.D.O. (Co-Headliner)
Cathedral
Edguy
Obituary
Deicide
Leaves' Eyes
Sadus

2nd stage:

Joe Stump's Reign Of Terror
Bludgeon
Hydrogyn
Vainglory
Maligno
Dimension
Souls On Fire
Solitude
Muluc Pax
Pentagram
Mutum

The official festival pre-party will be held on Friday, November 17, 2006 at the Cafe Iguana with mini-sets from bands that will be performing on the festival's main stage and second stage.

To view the official festival poster, visit the official festival websites: http://www.mmf.com.mx AND http://www.myspace.com/monterreymetalfest

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Source:	mmf.com.mx
Event:	Monterrey Metal Fest

Kreator's new video for the song 'Enemy of God' has been posted online. It can be watched here The clip comes off the German thrashers' "Enemy of God Revisited" album, where you will also find the 'Extended Terror Version' and the 'Making Of' video of 'Enemy of God'.

A re-release of Kreator's latest album, "Enemy of God Revisited" is due on October 30, 2006 (Germany: October 27; America: October 24). The album will be issued as a DVD + CD digipack, containing a CD featuring all the songs from the regular album, plus the two additional live tracks, "Toxic Trace" and "Coma Of Souls", both recorded live in Busan, Korea. The DVD features lots of exciting extras and previously unreleased recordings, its highlight consisting of footage from the Kreator show at the Wacken Open Air 2005, plus the brand-new video clip, "Enemy of God", the bootleg video "Kreator Live At The Rockpalast", making-of footage of "Enemy Of God", including the official clip of the title track, and the video "Dying Race Apocalypse". This worthwhile DVD is rounded off with a crystal-clear 5.1 DTS 96/24 audio mix of the whole album. On top of that, the package features new cover artwork and a comprehensive booklet.

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Source:	hailmetal.com
Band profile:	Kreator

Dutch Death Metal band Gorefest have posted the following update at their official website:

"Right, this really sucks. We were supposed to be going over to Turkey at the start of November to do two shows in Istanbul and Ankara. Last two weeks however, rumours came to our attention these shows were being cancelled. We knew nothing about this, but these people apparently were much better informed then us, since the promotor seems to have vanished into thin air. Emails are bouncing, phones are disconnected. To our Turkish fans, please let it be known we are not the ones fucking this up. We had a great time last year in Istanbul, and were all revved up and ready to go out and administer some frightfully heavy Metal to you guys 'n gals. I guess we'll just have to postpone it all again. Don't worry though, we WILL get there!"
Frank & Gorefest

Source:	gorefest.nl
Band profile:	Gorefest

Shaaman (formerly Shaman), the Brazilian band featuring former Angra members André Matos (vocals), Luis Mariutti (bass) and Ricardo Confessori (drums), has officially split up.

According to a statement released by Confessori to the "For Tomorrow" Shaaman fan club. The break-up, which has been long rumored, is being attributed to personal and musical differences. No information is currently available regarding the bandmembers' future plans.

Shaaman released its sophomore album, "Reason", in May 2005 via AFM Records. The 10-song follow-up to 2002's "Ritual" was mixed and mastered at Heaven's Gate Studios in Wolfsburg, Germany with producer Sascha Paeth, who previously worked with such acts as Kamelot, Edguy, Rhapsody and Freedom Call. A DVD, entitled "RituAlive", came out in 2003.

Source:	roadrunnerrecords.com
Band profile:	Shaman

A recently posted news item on the official site of the Fields Of The Nephilim states that Jungle is about to release another, after "Fallen", fake FOTN album called "Genesis And Revelation"

"Some of you may be aware of the insidious release of a new 'box set'
of Fields of the Nephilim works entitled Genesis and Revelation.
Camden-based record company Jungle Records are yet again attempting to
deceive our famously loyal followers into parting with their cash.

Please be aware that this 'product', which claims to include previously unreleased
audio tracks and audio-visual live footage from the band, is no more than a shoddy concoction of
generally low quality recordings and bootlegs, much of which have been freely available on the Internet for years.
The release contains no new or official material, and is
not sanctioned, sponsored or condoned in any way by Fields of the Nephilim.

Please note also that Fields of the Nephilim benefit nothing from the release of this material,
and we urge all fans to boycott this and any other products issued by them without recourse to the band.
As previously stated these releases in no way reflect the incredibly high standards
that the band has always insisted upon since its inception."

The same news item contains some more positive information -

"On a more speculative note, the buzz in the Watchman camp is that recently
Carl McCoy has been in intensive discussions with original members Paul and Nod Wright.
Although the reasons for these meetings are yet to be disclosed,
the rumour is that a further more positive announcement will be made in the near future."

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Source:	fields-of-the-nephilim.com
Band profile:	Fields Of The Nephilim

UK Progressive metallers Threshold are currently recording the follow-up to their award winning 2004 album "Subsurface". Recording is taking place at Thin Ice Studios and Bray Studios in the south of England, produced by Karl Groom and Richard West.

The new album has a working title of "Pilot In The Sky Of Dreams", and the song titles are: Slipstream, This is your life, Elusive, Disappear, Fighting for breath, Hollow, Safe to fly, One degree down, Landing lights.

Mac, in the middle of vocal sessions at Bray, said: 'If I thought it would be this good I'd have joined Threshold sooner! I've got a good feeling about this album. I think things are going to snowball for us next year, I thought so even before I heard the demos. I'm having a brilliant time!'

Threshold's last album "Subsurface" picked up 15 Album Of The Month awards across the globe. Earlier this year the band moved to Nuclear Blast Records to join a highly successful roster of bands including In Flames, Nightwish and Blind Guardian.

Recording and mixing of "Pilot In The Sky Of Dreams" is expected to be complete in November, with a release planned for early in 2007.

Source:	thresh.net
Band profile:	Threshold

Another new song from Power Metal band Mob Rules has been posted online. The song is a further preview to the band's upcoming new album "Ethnolution A.D.", which will be released on the 23rd of this month. The song that's available for listening to is called 'With Sparrows'.

Here is a comment by Mob Rules regarding the song: "...an awesome number with an addictive chorus and amazing instrumental performances - an instant classic!".

You can stream the song online here.

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Source:	mobrules.de
Band profile:	Mob Rules

Brent Smedley, drummer for Iced Earth in the later 90's has rejoined the band. He will be the drummer for Iced Earth's upcoming tours, and on the band's recording of their upcoming concept album the "Something Wicked" saga Parts 1 & 2. He will then remain as their drummer in the future. Smedley originally left the band due to 'personal issues'.

Here is a posting by Iced Earth mainman Jon Schaffer on Iced Earth's official website:

"For those of you not familiar you can hear Brent's amazing drumming on the 'Alive in Athens' CD, which in my opinion is the best thing about the recording. I can tell you that on a personal level this makes me very happy. Brent left the band about 7 years ago due to personal issues and I've missed him ever since. WELCOME BACK BROTHER!! The machine gun tight rhythm section is back!!!!

I wish Bobby Jarzombek the best of luck in his future endeavors, it was a pleasure jamming with him in the short time that we did.

Due to a personal situation Ernie Carletti will not be able to participate in band activities.

I will be making a significant announcement concerning the guitar and bass player positions very soon.

Also, the writing is going well and things are on track. I will post some details soon on www.icedearth.com. As challenging as this gigantic story is to tell in music, I have no doubt that it will be the pinnacle of Iced Earth's work thus far".

Source:	icedearth.com
Band profile:	Iced Earth

Power Metal band Helloween have posted a new video on SPV's (their record company) website. The video is of the band's new song 'Light The Universe'. The song (and the video) come from soon to be released single of "Light The Universe". The song features singing from Blackmore's Night vocallist Candice Night. The video was made at Veldenstein Castle in Germany. It was directed by Alexander Diezinger. The "Light The Universe" single will be released on the 13th November this year.

To view more information on SPV's official site, click here. To view the video, click here.

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Source:	helloween.org
Band profile:	Helloween