Russian Symphonic Heavy Metal band Mechanical Poet have announced their resurrection and a change of style into the realms of rock. The band's new incarnation consists of the former members Max Samosvat (vocals) and Lex Plotnikoff (guitars) and the newly added members Evan Izotoff (bass) and Vladimir Ermakoff (drums). The band is already in recording status for the upcoming album "Creepy Tales For Freaky Children", of which the artwork can be viewed here.

Regarding the recording, the band posted the following message on the official website:

"Hello there! After several months of silence our website is finally up and running! There's a lot of cool stuff happened, but the coolest one is that we started recording our third CD "CT4FC". Drums and bass parts are already done and soon it will be time for guitars. A thousand thanks to everyone who supported and believed in us! We hope you won't be disappointed =)))"

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Source:	mechanicalpoet.net
Band profile:	Mechanical Poet

Swedish Viking death metal heroes Amon Amarth have set "With Oden On Our Side" as the title of their sixth full-length album, to be released on 25 September via Metal Blade Records. The CD was recorded at Fascination Street studios in Örebro, Sweden with producer Jens Bogren.

"With Oden On Our Side" track listing:

01. Valhall Awaits Me
02. Runes to My Memory
03. Asator
04. Hermod's Ride to Hel – Lokes Treachery Part 1
05. Gods of War Arise
06. With Oden On Our Side
07. Cry of the Black Birds
08. Under the Northern Star
09. Prediction of Warfare

Metal Blade Records recently issued an Amon Amarth DVD, entitled "Wrath of the Norsemen". The three-disc set was released in a deluxe 10-page digipack with special gold-laminated slipcase. The main body of the DVD is the Cologne show from last year — filmed with 11 cameras, this was the longest show AMON AMARTH have ever played (23 songs!). Bonus footage includes interviews, behind-the-scenes of the DVD recording and other stuff filmed around the Cologne show. Discs 2 and 3 feature professionally filmed shows from Summer Breeze 2005, the Metal Blade Rrroooaaarrr 2005 (a show with a really unusual setlist!), Wacken Open Air 2004 and the release show for "Fate of Norns" in Ludwigsburg (Germany) in 2004.

Source:	roadrunnerrecords.com
Band profile:	Amon Amarth

The recordings of the new album have begun. Henri and Marko are currently at Tico Tico Studios in Kemi starting up the recordings of the new epic. The band have created a separate site for the studio-diary where you can follow everything http://www.moonsorrow.com/diary/mainpage.html

In other news, two summer festival gigs announced - Day of Darkness in Ireland and Jalometalli in Oulu, FInland. These, along with the gig at Kaltenback O:A will probably be the only Moonsorrow gigs this summer due to us entering the studio to record the new album. The dates are:

07.07 Day of Darkness, Ireland
15.07 Kaltenbach O:A, Austria
18.08 Jalometalli, Finland

Source:	moonsorrow.cjb.net
Band profile:	Moonsorrow

Amaseffer is the new "holy project" from Andy Kuntz, enigmatic lead singer of German progressive metal band Vanden Plas.

The story of Exodus will be told in the eventual trilogy of albums with the Hebrew name of Amaseffer referring to the name chosen for the Israelites in the Bible.

Originating from Israel, the musical side of Amaseffer features Yuval Kramer (guitar), Hanan Abramovitch (guitar) and Erez Yohanan (drums). The unique progressive sound of the trilogy is a mixture of Middle Eastern spices with an epic, cinematic scope polished with philharmonic orchestrations.

Andy Kuntz will co-produce the albums, with the second and third albums due nine and eighteen months respectively after the release of the first CD. The band are not yet signed but hope a deal can be arranged soon.

Source:	kissthis.com
Band profile:	Vanden Plas

Silent Stream Of Godless Elegy announced details of their upcoming MCD etitled OSAMĚLÍ. It will contain "four songs from RELIC DANCES album resung in Czech and Polish, some extended versions, remixes and our new video I WOULD DANCE, totally more than 50 minutes of music"

Release is scheduled for June 30th.

www.ssoge.com

Source:	ssoge.com
Band profile:	Silent Stream Of Godless Elegy

It is reported that Venom will be re-releasing their 1997 album Cast In Stone as an expansion cd. The new cd will contain all the original Cast In Stone tracks, digitally remastered. The cd will contain 29 tracks and cover two discs. It will also contain re-recorded versions of the five tracks on the rare Venom '96 EP.

These tracks are:
Seven Gates Of Hell
Welcome To Hell
In Nomine Satanas
Black Metal
The Evil One

Here is the cover for the new cd: http://eil.com/newGallery/Venom-Cast-In-Stone---E-361487.jpg

It is to be released soon.

Source:	blabbermouth.net
Band profile:	Venom

The tour dates for the Machines At War Tour featuring Fear Factory, Suffocation and Hypocrisy have been announced and are all official. Here are the dates for the 2006 American tour:

Oct. 26 - San Francisco, CA @ The Pound
Oct. 27 - San Francisco, CA @ The Pound
Oct. 28 - Santa Ana, CA @ Galaxy Theatre
Oct. 29 - Los Angeles, CA @ Key Club
Oct. 30 - Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theatre
Nov. 01 - Houston, TX @ Warehouse live
Nov. 02 - New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues
Nov. 03 - St. Petersburg, FL @ The State Theatre
Nov. 04 - Ft Lauderdale, FL @ Culture Room
Nov. 06 - Fayetteville, NC @ Jeeters Pub
Nov. 07 - West Springfield, VA @ Jaxx
Nov. 08 - New York, NY @ B.B. King's Blues Club
Nov. 10 - Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom
Nov. 11 - Atlantic City, NJ @ House of Blues
Nov. 12 - Hartford, CT @ Webster Theatre
Nov. 13 - Montreal, Que @ Medley
Nov. 14 - Toronto, ONT @ The Opera House
Nov. 16 - Cohoes, NY @ Saratoga Winners
Nov. 17 - Worcester, MA @ The Palladium
Nov. 18 - Poughkeepsie, NY @ The Chance
Nov. 19 - Cleveland, OH @ Peabody's
Nov. 22 - South Bend, IN @ Club Fever
Nov. 24 - Detroit, MI @ Harpo's
Nov. 25 - Chicago, IL @ Metro/Smart Bar
Nov. 26 - Saginaw, MI @ Shooters
Nov. 27 - Sauget, IL @ Pop's
Nov. 28 - Columbia Hts., MN @ Star Central
Nov. 29 - Winnipeg, MB @ Ramada Conf. Center
Dec. 01 - Edmonton, AL @ Starlite Room
Dec. 02 - Edmonton, AB @ Warehouse
Dec. 05 - Seattle, WA @ Studio Seven
Dec. 06 - Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
Dec. 08 - Englewood, CO @ Gothic Theater
Dec. 09 - Albuquerque, MN @ Sunshine Theater

Here is a comment by Fear Factory drummer Raymond Herrera about the tour:

"I'm really excited about doing a heavy tour like this. A brutal line-up full of metal pioneers has been a long time coming. I guarantee a lot of our fans will agree. Plus you'll be certain to hear some Fear Factory songs that have not been played live in quite some time."

Source:	blabbermouth.net
Band profile:	Fear Factory

The Zurich show of Exodus's Shovel Headed Kill Machine tour has been cancelled. The band is stuck in France, and can't get over to Switzerland in time for the show, so they've had to cancel it. Here is a message posted on Exodus's official website:

"Unfortunately, the Zurich show has now been cancelled entirely. The band are stuck in France and won't be able to make it back to Zurich in time. They have tried their best to make up for the cancelled show on June 18th but appearently it was not meant to be. Now, obviously you have a right to be upset but before you go taking it out on the band, they have been trekking through Europe trying to make this show happen and it's just as frustrating (or maybe even more) for them as for you."

Exodus will continue their Shovel Headed Kill Machine tour after everything is sorted out.

Source:	exodusattack.com
Band profile:	Exodus

Testament have parted ways with management company Thrill Entertainment Group. They would like to wish Phil Arnold all the best. For band bookings, contact Chuck Bernal at Artists Worldwide. For other inquiries e-mail: testamentmgmt@testamentlegions.com.

Source:	testamentlegions.com
Band profile:	Testament

Poisonblack's forthcoming album name is "Lust Stained Despair" and it will contain 11 songs. Song names are "Nothing Else Remains", "Hollow Be My Name", "The Darkest Lie", "Rush", "Nail", "Raivotar", "Soul In Flames", "Pain Becomes Me", "Never Enough", "Love Controlled Despair" and "The Living Dead".

"Lust Stained Despair" will be released through Century Media Records on 28.08. in Europe.

Poisonblack will play album release gig at Tavastia, Helsinki on 30.08!

Source:	poisonblack.com
Band profile:	Poisonblack

Michael LePond, the Bassist from Power/Progressive band Symphony X has now been released from hospital. He was diagnosed with Crohn's disease which is a bowel disorder. The disorder hospitalised him, and the band was forced to cancel some European tours. He has made a recovery however, and he has now been released from hospital.

Here is a message from LePond on Symphony X's offical website:

"Hello to Everyone !!!
I want you all to know that I had my surgery and have been released from the hospital. I am feeling so much better now. I am eating normally and getting stronger with each passing day. I should be fully recovered in about 3 weeks. I want to thank all of the fans who sent get well wishes to me. I will read every single one of them. I will never forget how kind and caring you are. I love you all."

The band will now resume work on a new album, which will be due out toward the end of this year. They will also tour once the new album is released.

Source:	symphonyx.com
Band profile:	Symphony X

Visions of Atlantis confirmed a new keyboardist and appearance at Summer Breeze:

"Martin Harb is to substitute Miro on keys! Since Miro Holly did not feel like VoA fitted in his new life anymore, he quit the band with very short notice, we were quite disappointed in him, but with Martin Harb we have found the perfect keyboarder for VoA. He already played with us on our Mexican tour 2003!

A new era has begun for VoA, with this new "kick ass" line up we are hungry for more!"

The Summer Breeze Open Air location has been confirmed. Visions of Atlantis will play at Dinkelsbühl- Flugplatz Aeroclub. The tickets are now available.

More news available at: www.visionsofatlantis.com

Source:	visionsofatlantis.com
Band profile:	Visions Of Atlantis

Norwegian black metallers Satyricon have posted the following message via their webpage:

"Satyricon will perform K.I.N.G LIVE at VG lista Topp 20 at Rådhusplassen in Oslo tomorrow at 22.40 sharp. It is expected that this multi-artist event will draw between 40 and 70.000 people. Get your ass down there if you live in town. It's free.
For those of you who can't see us play the song as a part of the audience at Rådhusplassen, you can watch it on live on NRK1."

Read more at www.satyricon.no

Source:	satyricon.no
Band profile:	Satyricon

American thrash metallers Machine Head are in the process of recording their next album. Below is an except from drummer Dave McClain's diary entry on their website:

What's up Everybody? Update time!!!!

We're finally on the home stretch!! A few more songs to go until the writing process is completed. Let me say a few things about the progress and way the songs are coming along.

First off, the freedom and drive we have on this album is far exceeding what we were doing on "Through The Ashes." Being able to take our time without a deadline breathing down our necks has been priceless, when we started writing in August (I think) of last year we had made February our time to get into the studio and start recording, but as we went along, the thought of going into the studio then, just to get the album out in a certain time frame became less appealing.

Read the rest at www.machinehead1.com/diary.html

Source:	machinehead1.com
Band profile:	Machine Head

Dream Theater's latest live CD and DVD "SCORE" is currently scheduled for release on Aug 29th 2006 on Rhino Records. (Date may vary slightly in different countries)

The 3-CD and 2-DVD sets will be available seperately.

Both versions will contain the entire "20th Anniversary World Tour" grand finale recorded live at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on April 1st 2006. (nearly 3 hours of music - over 90 minutes of which was performed with a full orchestra)

The DVD will also contain a 1 hour Documentary tracking the entire career of the band from the very beginnings at the Berklee College Of Music in 1985 all the way to the Radio City Music Hall grand finale. Including rare never before seen footage and interviews with current and previous members of the band.

Also included on the DVD are several live Bonus Tracks from through the years taken from the Portnoy Archives.

Source:	dreamtheater.net
Band profile:	Dream Theater