Former HEATHEN bassist Mike "Yaz" Jastremski passed away this morning (May 23). No further information is currently available.

Jastremski performed on HEATHEN's classic 1987 debut "Breaking the Silence" before leaving the group a short time later to form PIGS. He eventually rejoined HEATHEN in time for their appearance at the August 2001 Thrash of the Titans benefit concert for TESTAMENT frontman Chuck Billy.

HEATHEN parted ways with Jastremski in June 2004 over what was rumored at the time to be Yaz's "continued drug and drinking problems." He was replaced in the group by Jon Torres, who had previously participated in such bands as THUNDERHEAD, WARNING SF, ULYSSES SIREN, LAAZ ROCKIT and ANGEL WITCH.

HEATHEN guitarist Lee Altus said at the time of Yaz's final departure from the band, "We're sorry to see go and wish him all the best. He is a good friend and I'm glad that we parted ways without any animosity and can still remain best of friends."

http://www.roadrun.com/blabbermouth.net/

R.I.P.

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Band profile:

Heathen

Townsend Avalanche Music will be releasing an IMMORTAL tribute album this fall. Entitled "Epimythion - Tribute to Immortal", the collection will feature the following track listing:

SUNN O))) - "Cursed Realms Of The Winterdemons"
BEYOND DAWN - "Storming Through Red Clouds And Holocaust Winds"
VREID - "As The Eternity Opens"
OCD+BRAINCONTROLLER - "Pure Holocaust"
ENDWARFMENT - "Unsilent Storms In The North Abyss"
TRAGEDY BEGINS - "The Sun No Longer Rises"
ZWEIZZ - "Blacker Than Darkness"
ENTHRONED - "Eternal Years on the Path to the Cemetary Gates"
AURA NOIR - t.b.c.
SETH - "Battles in the North"
FUNERAL PROCESSION - "A Perfect Vision of the Rising Northland"

In other news, ZWEIZZ mastermind Svein Egil Hatlevik has issued the following statement regarding his contribution to the project:

"I am about to make an interpretation of the IMMORTAL song 'Blacker than Darkness' with my band/project ZWEIZZ for the IMMORTAL tribute album 'Epimythion - Tribute to Immortal', and in connection with this I am doing the following experiment.

"I would like to try to collect audio recordings of IMMORTAL fans screaming, and try to put it all together in a collage/mixture/whatever thing. If you are interested to participate in this project, please record an audio file of yourself screaming and send it in mp3 or ogg format in high quality (little compression) to s.e.hatlevik@gmail.com. You may be anonymous if you want, but for my own interest, I would appreciate if you could let me know which country you come from. The scream you record may be as long as you want, provided you do it one exhalation. Please do not send screams sampled from movies etc. Or the death screams of people you have killed lately.I also want to encourage everyone to spread the word about this project to other people that might be interested in spewing their guts in tribute to Immortal. I need all contributions before the 15th of June."

http://www.roadrun.com/blabbermouth.net/

Band profile:

Immortal

Nuclear Blast announced that "Swedish experimental extreme metallers MESHUGGAH have re-signed with the label!"

The band recently release their album "Catch 33" on 23 May in Europe, and will release it on 31 May in the U.S.A.

Source:	nuclearblast.de
Band profile:	Meshuggah

Last month GOD FORBID completed the final round of touring in support of their Gone Forever album. The group immediately proceeded to the studio to begin work on their highly anticipated new album, IV:Constitution Of Treason, with Eric Rachel (ATREYU, DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, EVETY TIME I DIE) at Trax East and Jason Suecof (TRIVIUM) at Audiohammer Studios. The eagerly anticipated new album is tentatively set for a September 20th release via Century Media.

Dallas Coyle (guitars, vocals) checks in with the following studio report: "This is Dallas here to let you guys know what's been going on with us. We just finished the Black White Dead All Over tour at the end of April and it was a complete success. I'd like to thank all the people for coming out to the shows and showing us some love. We met a lot of cool people and went to a lot of familiar and unfamiliar cities. Good times. I'd also like to thank all the bands on the Black White Dead All Over tour: It Dies Today, Caliban and Full Blown Chaos.

One day after we finished the tour Corey went into Trax East with producer/long time friend Eric Rachel to lay down the drums for the new record IV: Constitution Of Treason. Currently, we are in the middle of doing guitar and vocals at Audio Hammer Studios with Jason Suecof and everything so far is sounding really special. It's such a relaxed atmosphere and you guys should have a new GOD FORBID record by the end of the year. Don't worry you won't be disappointed. We'll be having some video up of our recording sessions so keep a look out.

We have some new features on www.f-p-e.com with Ferrante's Power Equipment. I have one of the riffs of the month and Doc and I give some tips on guitar playing. Check out if you're a gear head, if you want learn some techniques on guitar. Well, I gotta get going and get back to the studio. Keep rockin out there and raise the new flag."

http://www.bravewords.com

The upcoming album by Falkenbach will be entitled "Heralding - The Fireblade", the album that was recorded before under the name "En Their Medh Riki Fara" was going to be the Falkenbach debut but "due to the bad equipment and a lack of competence of the engineer the recording was stopped and the songs were not completed", some of the songs are featured "on other Falkenbach albums, like "Laeknishendr" or "Homeward Shore" for example, but most of them are unreleased so far, like "?En Their Medh Riki Fara?"or " Of Forests unknown"."

"At the moment it´s not sure if all the songs will make it on the album in the end, but you can expect a running time of about 40-50 minutes. The final recording and mixing will start at the end of July, the day of release has not been announced by Napalm Rec. yet."

Source:	geocities.com
Band profile:	Falkenbach

GAMMA RAY FINISH WORK ON THEIR NEW ALBUM!

Gamma Ray have recently finished the final mixing of their new album which was recorded at the Hansen Studios in Hamburg. The album includes 11 tracks which represent all of the characteristic strengths of the bands musical career to date. The album title is 'MAJESTIC' and is scheduled for a release late September. Until then the band will undetake worldwide promotional activities and in parallel they also have to move their Hamburg studio to a new Location because the actual building will be completely rebuilt this summer.

You can meet GAMMA RAY during summer at the following European Festivals:
24.06. Balingen, Germany, BANG YOUR HEAD Festival
16.07. Helsinki, Finland, TUSKA Festival

The album release will be followed by a worldwide headline tour which is in the planning stage at the moment. Further to this, the Gamma Ray website will be relaunched with a completely new design and a dedicated Fan Club member area in June. Fan Club Members who haven't received the Fan Club Newsletter in February by post and everyone who is interested in joining the bands official Fan Club should send an email to the new Fan Club email address: _GammaRayFC@aol.com_ to receive further information.

Here are some direct words from the band:

"Dear Friends

Yes, we know it's been a long time without any real news and visible activity from the band!

But, since December 2004 we have been working on the production of the new album and it was a long period of blood sweat and tears, but also of joy and pleasure. Everyone in the band went through some personal suffering or difficulties during this time and occasionally we had the feeling that something or someone wanted to stop us from making this record.

Finally, two months ago, we got the message that we had to leave our studio complex at the end of day because some sharks bought the whole building and had nothing more constructive in mind than kicking out all the bands that were rehearsing there only to rebuild it into a storage place for rich peoples dirty attorney files or whatever.....! With this in mind it made working in a relaxed atmosphere even harder. But we could not be stopped and fought our way through and....presto... WE MADE IT!!!

We are sure that the long wait has not been in vain and everyone's gonna be rewarded with an album that goes beyond the expected (as always this is just our humble opinion and the rest is up to the listener).

Now we're working out the big promo and touring game plan with Sanctuary and All Access and of course getting everything ready to move to the new studio location which we found a few weeks ago.

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Source:	Noise Records
Band profile:	Gamma Ray

Great news are coming in. Arjen Anthony Lucassen has decided to form a band after 10 years of studio work and a small tour with Star One project.

Stream Of Passion will be a band blending mysterious gothic vocals, metal guitars and atmospheric trip-hop, with haunting pianos and live celli- and violin quartets.

Currently the band is formed of:
* Marcela Bovio - vocals, lyrics, violin
Young talented Mexican singer who performed on the latest Ayreon album, also fronting Elfonía.
* Arjen Lucassen - guitars, music
This man needs no introduction to fans of Ayreon.
* Lori Linstruth - lead guitars
Skilled American female guitarist residing in Sweden whom Arjen discovered via Yahoo Ayreon mailing-list.
* Johan van Stratum - bass guitar
Dutch bass player from the Rock Academy in Tilburg.
* Davy Mickers - drums
Dutch drummer who a year ago downloaded a special track from Lucassen's website to enter a musicians contest and used it to showcase his incredible drumming skills.
* Alejandro Millán - keyboards
Mexican pianist who with Marcela formed Elfonía.

The band is currently negotiating an album deal. So, all this can probably mean one thing, Arjen will probably go live soon!

To read more about this fascinating band, visit the homepage. It's not much yet but more is said to come.

Source:	streamofpassion.com
Band profile:	Stream Of Passion

The Following is the Press Release posted on the David Wayne website:

David Wayne's Metal Church

May 10, 2005

On behalf of David Wayne's Metal Church, we would like to express our deepest sorrow in the passing of our Metal Brother, David Wayne. This is not only a loss for us as a band and his family, but also millions of "Metal Heads" throughout the world. David died due to complications from injuries he sustained in a head-on automobile accident several months ago.

David Wayne was the patented scratchy vocals of several Metal Church albums and was in the process of returning to the metal scene with his new band lineup. His goal was to return to the sounds of Metal Church's albums released in 1984 and 1986. We will always remember the burning words and vocals in "Gods of Wrath," "Watch the Children Pray," and "Start the Fire." David and his current band had just completed several new songs and were ready to head to the recording studio after their European tour dates this summer.

Along with David's family and friends, we would ask that cards, letters, and flowers be sent to the below address. Additionally, donations are being accepted to help David's family with funeral expenses.

David Wayne's Memorial Fund
C/O Verna Schielling
1217 North 57 th Court
Ridgefield, WA 98642

Source:	davidwaynesmetalchurch.com David R.I....
Band profile:	Metal Church

The following message was posted on the Dreamaker site about Elisa's new French band Hamka:

Elisa and Will (ex-Fairyland) are proud to show you the new French metal band called HAMKA.

The band is signing a record deal with the Finnish label RISING REALM RECORDS for a worldwide distribution.

HAMKA is in studio to record their first album "UNEARTH" that will be realeased date is plan for late summer 2005.

The album will distribute in Japan by King Records end July 2005.
The band will also participate to the Megadeth's tribute available in June 2005.
You can listen 4 songs in the official website:

http://www.hamkaband.com

Source:	dreamaker.net
Band profile:	Dreamaker

The band posted the following update concerning the recording of the new album and other issues:

"Hey there!

Just a little update to let you know that i am about half way through the recording of my guitar tracks for the new album and (aside from a few computer problems that will be fixed this weekend) things are sounding great!

Adrian will start his first 3 bass tracks this coming thursday (may 5th, Shawn's b-day!) which im sure will sound awesome, as we are using a couple new pieces of gear for this recording which are very cool! speaking of which, i have some more new toys (man, it's like xmas every day around here lately. WOOOOO HOOOOO!!!!) for the studio, which i will use for some of my recordings along the way.

I will be leaving for the European Festival tour with Megadeth at the beginning of june, so i must finish all of the bass tracks and main guitar tracks before the end of the month, at which point i will send all the files to Nils in norway for vocals.

As i have mentioned before, i'm Really not sure when the album will be complete. we are looking at the beginning of 2006.
talk soon.

Glen"

http://www.eidolon-nightmareworld.com

Band profile:

Eidolon

The thrash band was confirmed to play on the Beyond The Mountains Music Festival, the following message was posted on the site of the festival:

"That's right, the mighty "D" has agreed to reunite one last time for what is turning out to be the lineup of a lifetime. Deliverance will play the fest on Saturday evening"

The other Lineup of the event is completed by Tourniquet, Holy Soldier, Whitecross, Guardian, Barren Cross, Once Dead, Sacred Warrior, Neon Cross, Recon, Saint, Ultimatum, Laudamus, Tower of Hundred, 39 Lashes, Reaching For Mercy and Demize.

Source:

beyondthemountain.com

Tom Gabriel Fischer posted the following update on his blog:

We finished the demonstration songs yesterday. They will be used for various industry purposes. We focused entirely on heavy material, and these songs are a clear indication of what the album is going to be like, they are dark, ferocious, sometimes very unique, and very intense. The full album will be more varied, but the general direction is obvious.

All the recordings were made at our rehearsal studio, and we used live versions for most of the tracks. We spent Sunday mixing at Oakland Recording in Winterthur, Switzerland. Erol engineered, and Martin and me managed to annoy him constantly with our demands/comments/immaturities.

Almost everything came out as intended. The only song that doesn't yet work is "Os Abysmi vel Daath". This is a bitter pill to swallow, for it is one of our earliest dark songs for the new album, and we had a lot of faith in it. We will have to go back and put some very concise work into it. The song seems so simple, and yet it is very complex and has managed to defeat us every step of the way so far.

The other songs of the demo sound extremely Celtic Frost to me, in details sometimes astonishingly close to "Morbid Tales" or "To Mega Therion". "Ain Elohim" and "Temple of Depression" are perhaps my favourites among these songs. Although it is a new song, the title and some of my contributions to "Temple of Depression" go back to the original Celtic Frost of many years ago.

If all goes according to plan, Martin is going to pick up a well-known Swedish producer from the airport in just a few hours. We'll talk for a day about a possible collaboration, and he'll hear almost the entire album on Tuesday.

Source:	apollyonsun.blogspot.com
Band profile:	Celtic Frost

Ayreon newsletter arrived today earlier with some great news.

Firstly. New Ayreon single! The third single taken from the Ayreon album 'The Human Equation' will be released June 16th, 2005. It is called 'Come Back to Me', and is a slightly extended and newly mixed version of the song 'Day 7: Hope'. Other tracks include: 'August Fire' featuring Mostly Autumn's Heather Findlay; 'When I'm 64', a Beatles cover song; and 'Back 2 Me', a special remix. A video clip was shot during the summer of 2004 and is included on the single together with a 'making of' video. For more information and artwork, visit the site.

Secondly. It's been quiet for a while now... Consider it the calm before the storm, because the last few months have been extremely hectic in the Electric Castle. Arjen has been hard at work; inside his studio recording a new album, and outside his studio doing photoshoots and videoshoots, all for his latest musical endeavour: a band! The newsletter says that they have to keep us in suspense a little while longer before they can reveal details of this exciting new development.

Thirdly. Shadow Gallery's Gary Wehrkamp and Mike Baker have been good friends with Arjen for years now. Gary and Mike performed on various Arjen Lucassen projects and when Shadow Gallery began work on their new album, they asked for Arjen to perform a solo on one of their songs. He was only too happy and thrilled to play on the album called 'Room V' to be released at the end of May, 2005 through InsideOut. Arjen also sang and played guitar on a very interesting bonus track featured on the special edition of Room V. For more information on this album please check: http://www.shadowgallery.com

And lastly. For all those who would like to get their hands on the ProgAid project single, it is now available for ordering. Arjen contributed two guitar solos to this project that has many artists from the prog community participating to raise money for the Asian Tsunami Relief Fund. Arjen's solo spots are featured in the 'Definitive Mix'. More information on the project at http://www.ProgAID.com

Source:	ayreon.com
Band profile:	Ayreon

The band posted the following update concerning the lineup, tours and new album:

"Psycroptic would like to announce that Jason Peppiatt is the new vocalist of the band. Jason did an amazing job on the recent European tour, and Psycroptic welcomes him to the band. His first live shows as a full member of Psycroptic will be on the Hate Eternal Australian tour in June. The material for the new as yet untitled album has almost been completed, with finishing touches currently being put on the songs. It is hopeful that the recording will start around august. A US tour is expected to take place in October with Deeds of Flesh - not July as previously stated. Thanks to Outbreak Studios, a new website design is underway and should be ready by May."

http://www.psycroptic.com

Drummer Erik Sayenga has left DYING FETUS "due to circumstances beyond his control," according to an official statement.

Commented Erik: "DYING FETUS are a great band and I want to thank the other members of FETUS, the cool people we have met on the road and all the fans for the good times.I am unable to continue playing in this band but I wish DYING FETUS all the best of luck in all they do."

In other news, Erik's new project WARTHRONE will begin recording their debut five-song EP soon. Joining Sayenga in the black/death-inspired project are Richard Johnson (ex-WITCH-HUNT, SANGUINARY) on vocals, and Kristel (ex-WITCH-HUNT, DARK PURITY) on keyboards and bass. Check out www.warthrone.net for more information.

http://www.roadrun.com/blabbermouth.net

Band profile:

Dying Fetus