From the webpage of the Polish progressive rock/metal band:

"After the successful performance at the European edition of ProgPower, now has come a time to pay a visit overseas. We have been invited to take part in NEARFest which is held annually in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. This time the festival is scheduled on July 9th and 10th and the featured artists are: IQ, Le Orme, Present, Kenso, Steve Roach, Matthew Parmenter, Frogg Cafe, The Muffins, Wobbler... and Riverside (provided we manage to get our visas:))).
For more details, visit the official NEARFest site".

Source:

riverside.art.pl

Here are few words from the band:

"The Tiamat family have lost a member.

PA Danielsson, Our old friend and former keyboardplayer, has suddenly left us with great sadness.

Our depeest condolances to his family.

We miss you brother."

www.churchoftiamat.com

Band profile:

Tiamat

A newsletter came in earlier today:

The Final Experiment 10th aniversary!

The last re-issue in the Ayreon series will be The Final Experiment which celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2005! To mark this special occasion Arjen decided to create a bonus album containing over 30 minutes of extra music!

The tracks are completely new arrangements of 9 songs of The Final Experiment featuring drums, bass, cello, flute, electric and acoustic guitars plus 9 different vocalists and various instrumentalists from past, present and future albums.

Arjen is currently having a great time in the studio recording the newly arranged versions of 'Dreamtime', 'Eyes of Time', ' The Accusation', 'Ye Courtyard Minstrel Boy', 'Sail Away to Avalon', 'Nature's Dance', 'Waracle', 'Merlin's Will', 'Charm of the Seer'.

This double album will be re-issued February 28, 2005 by InsideOut Music. Stay tuned for more information!

www.ayreon.com

Band profile:

Ayreon

Sweden's CENTINEX have set "World Declension" as the title of their new album, tentatively due in June via Cold Records (a subsidiary of Metal Blade). The group's follow-up to this year's "Decadence - Prophecies of Cosmic Chaos" will be recorded in March. No further details are currently available.

"Decadence - Prophecies of Cosmic Chaos" was recorded and mixed at Black Lounge Studios and contains nine tracks, including an instrumental piece written and performed by Peter Pettersson from Swedish goth/industrial act ARCANA. The artwork for the album was conceived by Per Gustafson (CULT OF LUNA), while the layout was, once again, handled by Timo "The Eyeless" Ketola.

Upcoming CENTINEX shows:

Dec. 18 - Uppsala, SWE - Fellini
May 05 - Neiden, GER - Fuck The Commerce VIII Festival
May 06 - Osby, SWE - TBA
May 07 - Växjö, SWE - Uffes Källare

Source:

blabbermouth.net

"Things Buried" the debut solo album from Richard Barbieri is supposed to be released on December 6th and is now available to order online at The Burning Shed and richardbarbieri.net. The album will not be in record stores until next year. There should be information at the respective sites as to whether orders will be processed and delivered before Christmas. Atmospheric in places but more often dynamic and rhythmic, the album also features the distinctive performances of Percy Jones on fretless bass and Andy Gangadeen on drums. Total running time - 51 minutes. Richard will be playing tracks from the album when he supports Blackfield on their Eurpean tour and the cd will also be available at the merchandise stand.
More live solo shows expected early next year.

Source:	porcupinetree.com
Band profile:	Porcupine Tree

The Airut: saga continues with a new full length album! The saga that began with Tenhi's AIRUT:CIWI now stands on its own under the title Harmaa. The Harmaa band is based around the visions of Tyko Saarikko and Ilmari Issakainen.
The second part of Airut saga ? AIRUT:AAMUJEN ? was released through UTUstudio. All of its 9 tracks are piano driven compositions varying from romantic atmospheres to darker shades of nature.
For listening the songs, follow this link:
http://utustudio.com/harmaa.shtml#tracks

Source:

tenhi.com

Hi everybody!

Towersound, new melodic metal band has just signed up with Brennus, "The french melodic metal label".

Our first album will be officialy released on April 2005, an excerpt of each song awaits you on our website. ( at http://songs.towersound.net )

Musical salutations, Lonn, Guitarist & Webmaster.
Towersound's Band --] http://english.towersound.net
Brennus's Label --] http://www.brennus-music.com

Acclaimed German producer/engineer Charlie Bauerfeind (SAXON, HAMMERFALL, RAGE, BLIND GUARDIAN) has posted the following update at his official web site:

"Finally we started the pre-production phase of the next HELLOWEEN record about a week ago. The guys are already in songwriting and rehearsal mode since month and are working very hard to shape up some truly great songs. I joined them for the first time on 24th of November in their rehearsal room and got some great vibes. Sascha (Gerstner, guitar) and Stefan (Schwarzmann, drums) seem to be solidly integrated now into HELLOWEEN and everything was sounding really tight. The keyboards also melt very well into the sound-picture. German keyboard veteran Friedl Amon, who used to mastermind hardrock/'metal' shootingstar formation REVOLVER in the early '80s, adds some great stuff to the lot. He will handle the keyboard arrangements at his studio in Germany throughout the next months.

"I think we're gonna be starting to record the basic tracks at around middle of December and after a short Christmas break, commence our work 'till March 2005."

Band profile:

Helloween

My Dying Bride are busying themselves preparing for their next full-length DVD release, planned for spring 2005. They are working with David Palser again to produce a new video clip exclusively for this release. The track is "The Blue Lotus" and "it is going to be a stunning work," according to a posting on the group's web site. "A great new photo shoot by Lady Morgana has also been completed, which shows the band like you have never seen them before. Expect to be amazed. The previously available DVD, 'For Darkest Eyes', has been repackaged and will be available at a special price from March. If that wasn't enough, we're also expecting the writing of a new studio album for 2006 release."

Source:	blabbermouth.net
Band profile:	My Dying Bride

On the website of the band were posted one full version of the track "Equilibrium" and three extracts from other tracks on the album.
Follow the link for hearing them:
http://www.tristania.com/main_pages/news/011204_2.htm

"The new album, Ashes, will contain 9 (8) tracks. The limited digipack release will contain one extra track not on the regular jewel case release.
The promo CDs were printed while the band was on tour, at the same time as the artwork was completed. Some confusion ensued, and the promo CD was printed with only 7 tracks. Thus - most reviews will list this as a 7 track release with a running time of 42 minutes, while the first releases will indeed be closer to 56 minutes in length (and still no fillers).
"Bird" is the closing track on both releases, most likely not listed in reviews and early advertisments".

Also, the band is planning a tour in Norway, for the first time.
"In early March 2005, Rikskonsertene will arrange a tour of Norway, featuring Tristania and Gothminister. Some 8-10 selected cities will be visited by the bands, with exact dates and venues to be published soon.
The band is very enthusiastic about the the planned tour, as this will be their first opportunity to perform around Norway. They've earlier only performed single gigs in Stavanger + Tau/Jørpeland, in addition to Kristiansand. They view this tour as an excellent opportunity to reach other parts of the country with their music".

Source:	tristania.com
Band profile:	Tristania

From the website of the band:
"We are happy to announce that the mixing process with the amazing Dan Swano is now complete. Dan worked many long days and nights to make sure we were 100% happy with the final product, offering several versions of each song. We could not be more pleased with this entire process. Dan is one of the hardest working people in metal, and he treated Novembers Doom as if it were one of his own projects. We have a great deal of respect for him, and our eternal gratitude for making this as perfect as it is. Swano fans won't be disappointed either, as there is a guest appearance on the CD from him.

The recordings will now be shipped to James Murphy (Death, Obituary, Testament) for mastering. With some of the great CD's we've heard James do, this should be an absolutely amazing sounding CD, and we're looking forward to everyone hearing it!

Artwork, a newly designed website, and some possible samples will all be revealed in the very near future!"

http://www.novembersdoom.com/

Vintersorg mainman Andreas Hedlund (a.k.a. Vintersorg) has issued the following update regarding the group's current activities:

"We're working hard on the new material. The songs feel very artistic, some progressive elements are of course there, but it's taken a more symphonic approach. The recording of the piece will take place next year and we're really looking forward to it. With so many ideas and visions, we feel that we can produce a very good album. I've also written material for a MCD that takes a look back to the past, while remaining innovative and inspiring. We plan to to record it in 2005 as well."

With regard to his Fission project, in which he is joined by Vintersorg live session drummer Benny "Hägge" Hägglund, Hedlund said, "In the Fission camp everything is great. We have four songs for the next album and are now fine-tuning our sound. So be prepared for a very energetic and thrashy album, where melody is still present. It will have some very haunting moments as well."

Source:	blabbermouth.net
Band profile:	Vintersorg

"Second day in the studio and finally some action.

We actually managed to put one song on tape late last night, but this morning we dicovered some mysterious noise in the background on one channel so we had to ditch it, and get back to it later.

After some morning (11.00 o'clock) coffee we started to record Candlemass next album. We got about 10 songs and we tape them in the same order as we rehearsed them. First the uptemto opener, then the heavy 2:nd track, and after that an ultracool thing with lots of great parts and riffs.

One annoying thing is that we haven't yet nailed a first take. Most songs are second takes but I guess its quite good anyway considering we put both drums and bass on tape at the same time. Did I say tape?? Sorry, I mean harddisc. ProTools got a wonderful new program that now gives you the possibility to do digital drums with a warm great sound. You could't do it before - or even last year - but now.......damn!!!

7 songs were done today, and the rest will be dealt with tomorrow.

Leif Edling (sat nov 27)

After three days behind the legendary round windows of the upstairs studioat Polar, I got a splitting headache. Lots of work preparing the recordings, stress and finally - a whole bunch of total concentration has taken it's toll......I'm dead!!!

You, see, I had to focus really hard to put on a supertight live-bass - normally you put it on afterwards, but I felt I wanted more live feeling. But all songs are recorded with drums and bass, thats the most important thing. And you know, we don't use a clicktrack and therefore the bass must follow the drums through the timechanges in the song. It takes ages to do that sitting comfortably in the studioroom besides the engineer, you sip your coffee, got great sound and monitors.....but it takes time!

So....fuck that, I haven't got the patience!!

Jan did really good today playing some excellent drums in between his usual fooling around, while Lars and Mappe mostly cruised and relaxed with their "supportive" guitars. Those are recorded (and actually sound quite good) to give some guidelines for drums, bass, vocals and solos..... and - the real guitars you put on later. Later.......meaning tomorrow. That will be interesting! And hopefully a day for me without headache.

Leif Edling (sun nov 28)

Four days in the studio and we're ahead of schedule. Unbelievable!!

The monday was booked for bassrepairs and to try different amps for a really good guitar sound. But as there was no need for bassplaying (I'm so fucking good!)

Read more ››

Band profile:

Candlemass

"In 1984 Saint released on Rotten Records their 6 song EP, WARRIORS OF THE SON. Now 20 years later Saint has returned to the studio and re-recorded the entire album but this time with 2 new songs. THE KILLERS AND THE DESTROYERS as well as THE REAPER. Accoring to Richard Lynch these songs were originally written for the 1984 EP Warriors of the Son, time but money limitations only allow for a 6 songs EP. "This is the way it was suppose to be" says Richard. "Josh Kramers is at the top of his game vocally". This CD is incredible. Now for the first time ever SAINT is offering the full length CD WARRIORS OF THE SON 20th anniversary edition."

http://www.saintsite.com

"HOLY MOSES, the long-running German thrash outfit fronted by Sabina Classen, have signed a new record deal with Armageddon Music. A new studio album is tentatively scheduled for release next spring/summer.

HOLY MOSES' last album, "Disorder of the Order", was released in 2002 via Century Media Records.

Armageddon Music will release the new album worldwide!"

http://www.holymoses.de