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Symphony X - Bassist Is Fully Recovered

Michael LePond, the bassist from Power/Progressive/Symphonic Metal band Symphony X has fully recovered from Crohn's Disease. The bassist was diagnosed with the bowel disorder earlier this year, and the band was forced to cancel some European tours. He was discharged from hospital a couple of months ago, but he still wasn't 100% well. He's made a full recovery now though, and he says he feels "...strong as ever."

Here is a statement from LePond, taken from Symphony X's official website: "Hello everybody!! First of all, I want to let you that I am now fully recovered. I have gained all of my weight back and feel as strong as ever. My bass chops are back up to speed, just in time for the recording of the new CD.

Secondly, I want to give my deepest thanks to all of you for your sympathy and support during my illness. I read every single e-mail that was sent to me. It was better than any medicine I could have taken. I will never forget the kindness you guys have shown me.
I love all of you.."

Source: symphonyx.com
Band profile: Symphony X
Posted: 21.07.2006 by Raiden | Comments (3)


Monsters Of Rock 2006 - Cancelled

The higly anticipated Balkan festival Monsters of Rock 2006 in Varna, Bulgaria was officially cancelled and will not take place this year. Here is the official statement by Universum Entertainment posted on thier official web page:

"To our great regret we should inform you that the Second Festival Monsters of Rock in Bulgaria will not take place. Quite recently Mr. Kiril Yordanov, the Mayor of the city of Varna, dramatically changed the terms and conditions of the official authorities that we were familiar with and thus deliberately spoiled the event. He wanted, among other things, to ban the consumption of alcoholic drinks during the festival and to change the closing time so that the event can not happen in a normal and reliable manner.

The 10 months of hard working, organization and great costs spent for advertising, TV- and radio- broadcasts, press, performers, etc. neither impressed the Mayor, nor did they made him abandon his intention.

Although the Municipal Council of the city of Varna has passed a public written resolution authorizing the conducting of Monsters of Rock Festival, it was ignored because the political fights for power in the municipality seem to be more important than doing something for the benefit of the city.

Please send your complaints and proposals to the city of Varna's official Web site at www.varna.bg.
We know that you are as disappointed as we are; we wanted, however, to organize such normal and reliable event as we were promised in order to avoid any mess, disorder and damage whatsoever for all participants, but in return we got this rejection.
We count on your understanding and we apologize once again.

We will, of course, refund all tickets sold for the MoR via www.eventim.bg.
In 2007, MoR will take place in Albena and we will do our best to ensure that all bands scheduled for 2006 MoR will be present thereat."

Source: monstersofrock.org
Event: Monsters Of Rock (CANCELED!)
Posted: 21.07.2006 by marinBG | Comments (1)


Noumena - New Album Completed

Finnish melodeath act Noumena has completed their third album, entitled "Anatomy Of Life". It was recorded and mixed in Studio Sundi Coop by Tuomo Valtonen and mastered at Finnvox Studios by Mika Jussila. Tracks are as follows:

1. Misanthropolis
2. Burden of Solacement
3. Retrospection
4. The Burning
5. Monument of Pain
6. Triumph and Loss
7. Marionettes
8. Through the Element
9. Fire and Water

With the new album Noumena has evolved their approach to melodic death. "This time we worked more on terms of the songs. We didn't want to squeeze every song into the same format", analyzes guitarist Tuukka Tuomela. "However, heavy rhythms and catchy melodies are on their place", he continues. Along with growler Antti Haapanen the tracks include guest vocalists.

Anatomy of Life will be released in the end of October. Further information at Noumena homepage.

Source: thenoumena.com
Posted: 21.07.2006 by Thryce | Comments (2)


Cannibal Corpse - Australian Tour Sparks Outrage

The West Australian newspaper reported in its July 8 edition that Cannibal Corpse's October concert in Perth, Australia has sparked calls for the band to be banned over its alleged glorification of "child rape, suicide, murder and necrophilia" in its lyrics. Community groups have joined shadow police minister Rob Johnson in calling for Cannibal Corpse to be stopped from appearing at Club Capitol on October 10.

Cannibal Corpse, who played in Perth in 1995, has songs such as "Dismembered and Molested", and "Necropedophile", which details "the pleasure gained from killing, then raping, children." In the past 16 years, the group has released 14 albums, many of which are available at music stores throughout Perth.

Mr. Johnson said he was disgusted by the band's highly explicit songs. "They should be banned from appearing here," he said. "There is enough violence and youth suicide in West Australia already without any encouragement from awful groups like this. I feel sick at the thought of those lyrics being sung to the youth of WA." Australian Family Association vice-president Gillian Gonzalez said Cannibal Corpse have the most offensive lyrics she had ever seen. "They are absolutely vile and should not be allowed into the country" she said.

Attorney-Gerneral Jim McGinty did not comment on whether the group should be banned from playing and said outfits like Cannibal Corpse thrived off negative publicity.

Cannibal Corpse tour of Australia/New Zealand:

Oct. 03 - The Hifi Bar - Melbourne, AUS
Oct. 04 - The Gaelic Club - Sydney, AUS
Oct. 05 - The Arena - Brisbane, AUS
Oct. 06 - 420 - Auckland, NZ
Oct. 07 - Indigo Bar - Wellington, NZ
Oct. 09 - Fowlers Live - Adelaide, AUS
Oct. 10 - Club Capitol - Perth, AUS

The company planning the tour have made it official that Tasmanian Death Metal band Psycroptic and Western Australian Metallers Plague will be supporting Cannibal Corpse when they come to Australia. Ulcerate will be with them for the two New Zealand shows. Psycroptic have supported such acts as Cryptopsy in the past.

Read more ››

Source: blabbermouth.net
Band profile: Cannibal Corpse
Posted: 19.07.2006 by Xtreme Jax | Comments (29)


Motörhead - Reveal Details On Their New Album

The cover artwork for Motörheads new album Kiss Of Death, as well as tracklisting are revealed. Due on August 29 via Sanctuary Records, the follow-up to 2004's "Inferno" was produced by Cameron Webb, who also worked with the group on their last effort. A new Motörhead track, entitled "Kingdom of the Worm", received its world premiere on May 19 during Motörhead mainman Lemmy Kilmister's appearance on the "Jonesy's Jukebox" radio show on Indie 103.1 FM.

Lemmy is featured in the June 2006 issue of Maxim magazine as one of the top 10 "Living Legends of Sex." Also appearing in the issue are Jack Nicholson, Julio Iglesias, Gene Simmons, Charlie Sheen and Magic Johnson, among others.

"Kiss of Death" track listing:

01. Sucker
02. One Night Stand
03. Devil I Know
04. Trigger
05. Under The Gun
06. God Was Never On Your Side
07. Living In The Past
08. Christine
09. Sword of Glory
10. Be My Baby
11. Kingdom of the Worm
12. Going Down
13. R.A.M.O.N.E.S.

View album cover

Read more ››

Source: imotorhead.com
Band profile: Motörhead
Posted: 19.07.2006 by DreamWeaver | Comments (5)


Dark Tranquillity - Set To Tour Australia

Dark Tranquillity have joined the list of bands that will be performing upcoming shows in Australia. They will be covering most Australian states and will start the tour in mid September. There will be three 18+ gigs and two shows for all ages.

Here are the dates for the upcoming shows:

September 15 - Capitol - Perth (18+)
September 16 - Unibar - Adelaide (All ages)
September 17 - Manning Bar - Sydney (All ages)
September 18 - Basement - Brisbane (18+)
September 19 - Hi Fi - Melbourne (18+)

Tickets will go on sale on August 3. Support acts will be announced soon.

Source: blabbermouth.net
Band profile: Dark Tranquillity
Posted: 19.07.2006 by Raiden | Comments (5)


Vanishing Point - New Album On The Way

Vanishing Point have announced that a new album will be recorded soon. The band has been writing material for the album, and they've said that they will be hitting the studio in September to start recording it. They will be using Palm Studio for the recording.

Here is a statement by the band taken off their official website:

"We are currently busy writing and preparing ourselves for our fourth album for Dockyard 1, we are booked to go back into the recording studio in September with Endel Rivers at Palm Studio's (Black Majesty, The Eternal and many others) and things are going really well, what can we say about the new material so far? It's probably the heaviest music that we have come up with in some parts within the Vanishing Point style, we still have the melodic edge, symphonic arrangements and thought provoking lyrics as usual that you would expect on a Vanishing Point album, we are very excited about the new material and we hope that you guys stick around for the next album!

Oh yeah, this time the album will not take years to complete, we want to have it ready for early next year and yes as many people are asking the songs will be shorter, at least the majority of them will be."

Source: vanishing-point.com.au
Band profile: Vanishing Point
Posted: 19.07.2006 by Raiden | Comments (1)


Forgotten Tomb - New Album Details

Italian Black/Doom metal band Forgotten Tomb will release their new album ''Negative Megalomania'' in Spetember 2006. This album shows a significative evolution of the band, which added many new elements to their classic style, creating a bleak, perverse and apocalyptic vision of life and future. Track List:

01. Negative Megalomania
02. Blood and Concrete
03. The Scapegoat
04. A Dish Best Served Cold
05. No Rehab (Final Exit)

Source: avantgardemusic.com
Band profile: Forgotten Tomb
Posted: 18.07.2006 by Bad English | Comments (4)


Aborted - To Release A DVD, 'The Auricular Chronicles'

Work is proceeding well on the 'The Auricular Chronicles' DVD, which is set to be released by October through Listenable records. At the moment you can check a teaser for the dvd here: http://www.goremageddon.be/

Artwork for this release will be in the hands of SPINA studios, who also did the last Leng Tch'e record. As stated, the DVD will contain a liveshow of an hour shot in Paris with 13 cams, sound remixed by Tue Madsen, both videoclips, backstage shenanigans, other liveshows, interviews with all bandmembers & more.

Read more ››

Source: goremageddon.be
Band profile: Aborted
Posted: 18.07.2006 by Sekhmet | Comments (0)


Battlelore - To Record New Album

NEW ALBUM! posted by J Vahvanen on 07-16-2006 11:51

We are entering to the dungeons of totally renewed MusicBros studio in the end of September 2006 for the recordings of the new album. Miitri Aaltonen will produce this 4th Battlelore masterpiece.

Source: battlelore.net
Band profile: Battlelore
Posted: 18.07.2006 by Unknown user | Comments (2)


Dockyard 1 - Newsletter July 2006

This is the last newsletter of the German label, Dockyard 1!

New Signings:

- DEADSTAR ASSEMBLY:
This is really a couple of new signings in a row, and DeadStar Assembly are the outstanding first: DEADSTAR ASSEMBLY are sunny South Florida's dark side. The troupe of musical avant-gardes deliver a sinister sound so intense and fierce that it burns. Like demented seraphim, DSA's poisonous blend of death-pop industrial rock is setting the world ablaze with no apologies. Formed in 2002 by singer Dearborn, DSA was a meticulous formation that was birthed before any additional members even joined the band. The selftitled debut sold over 10.000 units independently four years ago, now the German press is raving about the successor "Unsaved". And we'll release it to you!

- F- RONTSIDE:
FRONTSIDE is Europe's answer to bands like Bleeding Through and Killswitch Engage! FRONTSIDE already won a Grammy in their native country Poland for non-compromising death metal in the vain of SLAYER or VADER mixed with the power of hardcore heroes like BIOHAZARD or HATEBREED. Their upcoming album was already released Polish-only, we will offer you the English translation "Twilight of The Gods. A First Step To The Mental Revolution" on August 28th.

Nergal of BEHEMOTH fame comments on them:
"This band proves that metalcore may have BIG balls! Mindblowing energy with lots of melody. Awesome band!"

Martin from DECAPITATED adds:
"These guys are one of the best bands I've seen on stage in last few years! Their music is fresh and powerfull, a must have!"

- WINGDOM
Ex-Sonata Arctica keybordist MIKKO HARKIN and ex-RHAPSODY bass player ALESSANDRO LOTTA collaborating with other talented Finnish musicians like JUKKA RUOTSALAINEN, SAMI ASP and MARKUS NIEMISPELTO - the outcome is very melodic music with progressive elements and a sharp metallic edge. This cought the interest of Timo Kotipelto of STRATOVARIUS fame. He enjoyed the fresh and original appearance of the music and offered to release the album "Reality" through his own label High and Loud.
"This was the first band that really impressed me so much that I wanted to sign it to my label", says Timo. "We are really happy to work with Timo. Hes a good friend and that makes our cooperation very comfortable", smiles Mikko.

- REDKEY
A new star's up on the firmament of Power Metal: REDKEY are hailing from the town in Germany where VW started to run around the globe, and the members of REDKEY are also long-distance runners: Former HEAVEN's GATE singer Thomas Rettke and guitar player Sascha Paeth didn't play together for 15 years. Till now! Now they're back. Back with a new outfit called REDKEY and the new album "Rage Of Fire", out in September. But REDKEY isn't a simple succession of HEAVEN'S GATE, it's a new step: This is NWoBHM translated to the 21st century, mainly influenced by mighty Judas Priest plus the sound of US-metal in the likes of Racer X or Vicious Rumours.

Read more ››

Source: dockyard1.com
Posted: 18.07.2006 by Jeff | Comments (1)


Megadeth - Release Details Of New Album

Megadeth's upcoming album scheduled for a release this Halloween, has been named 'United Abominations'.

"My decision was a combination of a few things," Mustaine said as he prepared to enter the studio to record vocals for the band's upcoming album, United Abominations, which is scheduled for a Halloween release. "I was finally associating with guys that really love to play ? ? and that make me feel really good to play. They respect me and are fans of the music that we play and of the music in our genre. Also, ticket sales were up and record sales were up ? it was happening again."

United Abominations will mark the Megadeth recording debut of the Drover brothers. The album will contain 11 songs, including the title track, "Washington's Next" and "Gears of War"; an additional track will be included with the Japanese release. "It's a really diverse record," Shawn said. "There's some faster stuff that should appeal to the band's thrash fans and it's got a little more mainstream stuff as well. It's definitely not one-dimensional."

"I wanted to go back to the way the stuff was done in the beginning," said Mustaine. "I think Megadeth boils down to its bare minimum. When you break it down, Megadeth is guitar, bass, drums and guitar solos. And when it starts going in directions where there's a little bit too much stuff going on that can't be done onstage, it loses heaviness because that stuff probably shouldn't be there anyway."

Read more ››

Source: megadeth.com
Band profile: Megadeth
Posted: 18.07.2006 by Daru Jericho | Comments (11)


Trail Of Tears - Upcoming Gigs In August 2006

The band has posted in their official website the dates for the upcoming gigs in August 2006:

11. Baroeg - Rotterdam - The Netherlands
12. Dokk'Em Open Air - The Netherlands
13. Triangel - Weert - The Netherlands
17-18. Summer Breeze - Ostalbkreis Germany
19. Metalzone-Diablo Festival - Biebob - Vosselaar, Belgium
20. Metalzone Diablo Festival - Plato- Helmond, The Netherlands

Source: trailoftears.no
Band profile: Trail Of Tears
Posted: 15.07.2006 by Zamoth | Comments (0)


Anathema - South American Tour Dates Confirmed

The band has announced the dates for the South American Tour in October in their official website:

"We can now finally confirm the tour dates for Mexico and South America! They are as follows:
OCTOBER
6th Circo Volador, Mexico City, MEXICO
10th Caupolican, Santiago de Chile, CHILE
11th ND Ateneo, Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA
13th Direct TV, Sau Paulo, BRAZIL
14th Opera 1, Curitiba, BRAZIL
15th Poliedro de Caracas, Caracas, VENEZUELA

ARGENTINA TICKETS http://www.ticketek.com.ar
CHILE TICKETS http://www.ticketmaster.cl

Ticket links for the other shows will follow as fast as possible
We are working on more shows right now and will let you know right away if we can confirm any more."

Source: anathema.ws
Band profile: Anathema
Posted: 15.07.2006 by Zamoth | Comments (2)


Danzig - 'Black Aria II' Release Date And Artwork

Danzig's Long Awaited Black Aria II, the follow up to the original Black Aria, will be available in stores on Sepember 19, 2006. Check out the cover artwork at this location.

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Source: danzig-verotik.com
Band profile: Danzig
Posted: 15.07.2006 by DarkStone | Comments (0)