After a few years of silence Evoken finally re-emerged from the vault and completed the new album "Antithesis of Light".

We have just received the master tape a few hours before doing this news update, so we can't really say much about it in this very moment. From the few songs we had the opportunity to listen to, we all can expect an extreme album, with very little left to melodies and hope.

Album tracks list :

- INTRO
- IN SOLITARY RUIN
- ACCURSED PREMONITION
- THE MOURNFUL REFUSAL
- PAVOR NOCTURNUS
- ANTITHESIS OF LIGHT
- THE LAST OF VITALITY

(for a total playing time of 73 minutes !!!)

Here you have an anticipation of the album front cover ( click here )

www.avantgardemusic.com

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Band profile:

Evoken

We are looking for someone with experience, charisma, and a magnetic stage presence. Vocally must be able to sing all the Souza/ Baloff material and bring their own style to the table.Must be able to incorporate different elements into the mix( death metal, thrash and black metal styles). Not looking for saints, but must be clean of any hard drugs.

please send a cd / with picture of yourself and any dvd or vhs tape with live performances if you have
one...

send to:

Exodus
6331 Fairmount ave. suite #427
El Cerrito, Ca 94530

http://www.exodusattack.com/

Band profile:

Exodus

Craig Nielsen has posted the following Flotsam update on the message board:
"At long last, we start the record on January 2nd, after a series of delays, some to do with the band and some to do with the label. We are very recharged and ready to do a great Flotsam record.

Also, the video of one of our recent Tokyo shows came out even much better than we could have ever imagined thanks to the intense professionalism of the Japanese who recorded it, and the fact that it was one of the very best live shows this band has captured in their entire career. So we will shop it for another live release, as it actually blows away even our recent DVD.

And for upcoming shows, Flotsam will be playing with HATEBREED and AGNOSTIC FRONT on the "Goodyfest" in Phoenix, January 14th, then we play the next night, January 15th, at the "Deep Freeze" event in Westminister, Colorado, very close to Denver.

Bad news for the Flotsam/METAL CHURCH tour. The story has changed at least 5 times from the 3 different agencies involved so I wont even bother trying to decipher what really happened, but the tour is off. Agents have a tendency to lie a lot and constantly change what they come strong and sure at you with in the beginning as a proposal. We are still getting many, many emails from Europeans who would really like to see Flotsam so we may still make it happen.

As always, a very sincere thank you to all loyal Flotsam fans who continue to show so much support through all the bullshit!

Flots Til Death."

http://www.flotsam-and-jetsam.com/

Band profile:

Flotsam And Jetsam

New worldwide deal signed with Steamhammer/SPV
It's now official! We are very happy to tell you that we have inked a worldwide deal with Steamhammer/SPV.

It's an honour for us to be on the same rooster as quality bands such as Motörhead, Saxon, Type O Negative, Monster Magnet, Kreator, Raging Speedhorn, Dio, Sepultura etc.

"The Killing EP" recorded

We have visited the Jailhouse Studios in Horsens , Denmark , to record our new EP, simply entitled "The Killing EP". The EP was produced by Tommy Hansen (Helloween, Pretty Maids etc) in cooperation with Jacob Hansen (Invocator) and HateSphere. Tracklist for the EP is as follows:

1. Murderous Intent
2. You're the Enemy
3. The Will of God
4. Trip at the Brain (Suicidal Tendencies cover)

"The killing EP" will be out in Europe on January 31 st 2005 via SPV/Steamhammer.

www.hatesphere.com

After auditioning several guitarists, FALCONER have now found a new lead player to complete their line-up. His name is Jimmy Hedlund, and he totally outshone the rest of the applicants.

He nailed every note in each of the three songs that were tested, and possesses some amazing solo skills as well!

FALCONER will start recording their new album in late December for an early May release. The title of the fourth album will be "GRIME VS. GRANDEUR".

More detailed news can be found on the official homepage: www.falconermusic.com

Band profile:

Falconer

Arjen has revealed a bit of news about the project he will be working on in 2005. Here's a piece of Arjen's New Year greeting.

"A new project...

Ah yes... the new CD... You'll be glad to know that I will start working on it first thing this year. Which means that when you are reading this... I'm working! ;-) So what will it be? It is hard to explain, simply because I've only just started. But I can say at least a few things about it that I know for sure.

First off, it will be an entirely new project/band and I fully intent to make it sound very different from my other projects Ayreon, Ambeon and Star One. This actually means that ...if I succeed... there will be no analog keyboards, there will be no concept and there will be just one singer (there, I said it out loud, so now I have to stick to it!). I know I am not supposed to talk about this yet because it's far too early (and my manager Yvette will probably kill me for this) but I really can't stop myself from revealing the vocalist for this project to you (just don't tell anyone I told you) ;-)

The singer is the very talented and beautiful Marcela Bovio from Mexico, who sang the part of 'Wife' on 'The Human Equation'. Some months ago I sent Marcela a couple of basic ideas on acoustic guitar, and she returned them with some of her melodies. I'm not even gonna try to avoid my old cliches: WOAH, AMAZING, GOOSEBUMPS! Marcela will write her own melodies and lyrics, (and most of it will be English). To be honest... I have no idea yet what style it will be, and I really want it all to develop naturally as we work on it. It will definitely not become a happy or poppy album; some of it will be heavy, some of it will be soft... or maybe... aaargh, I'm just as curious as you are! I'll keep you posted on all developments as much as I can."

For full greeting go to the official site.
www.ayreon.com

Band profile:

Ayreon

Legendary German Metallers Accept has officially reunited, the classic line-up will play some shows live the summer of 2005. Three festivals is booked so far, Rock Hard Festival, Wacken Open Air and Sweden Rock Magazine.

But there will not be any new album or DVD, this is just a tour to celebrate our 25th anniversary. Explains singer Udo Dirkscheider.

[

Source:	Sweden Rock Magazine]
Band profile:	Accept

For the moment Prejudice is working on new material, allmost 2 songs are yet finished and it sounds pretty sickly till now. Plans are in progress to do a split cd with Mexican destroyers "Rottenness", more about this pretty soon.
Finally we have some news on the "Dominion Of Chaos" release period, "Two Fat Man" will do it in January because there where problems with the printings of the artwork. So in 2005 you can find it in stores everywere. That's it for now, stay sick & crush on !

www.prejudice.be

The album has been recorded, mixed and mastered. The album covers are also ready.
Everything looks and sounds really good!!!

At this point the release date may be at april, 2005. But nothing is for sure, at least not yet.

We have a new keyboard player called JOONA KUKKOLA.
He joined our team just before we went to studio, so you can hear his skills on the new album.

www.morsprincipiumest.com

Happy New Year everyone,
First of all, we want to apologize to all the God Forbid fans who were looking forward to seeing us in Pittsburgh as part of the Stillborn Fest. Our transportation broke down and we couldn't make it. We promise to do a make up show in March-April.
2004 has been the best year we have had as a band with a trek on Ozzfest as well as first time tours in mainland Europe and Japan. We'd like to thank Century Media worldwide, Tim and Face the Music Touring, Paul Ryan at the Agency Group, everyone at the Syndicate, and all of the bands we've played with this year. Most of all we have to thank all of the fans who have shown such amazing support. With out the people who attend the concerts, buy the records, and appreciate the music, we wouldn't be doing this.
We'll start work on "IV:Constitution of Treason" at the start of the new year, and I have to say that we are extremely excited. We have never been this comfortable or had this much material already writtten going into writing sessions, so it should be a quick and painless process. There are plans for a headline US and UK tour coming up. We'll see everyone on tour in early 2005! Peace.
Doc

Band profile:

God Forbid

Wintersun has found a 2nd guitarist for the band. His name is Teemu Mäntysaari, a very young dude, but an extremely skilful and motivated player! Maybe even better than me I might say, heh! We welcome him to the band! I wanna thank everyone who applied as a guitarist, you were all great! Thanks for the interest! Finding a good synthplayer has been more difficult task. I think we might have to use backup tapes for the shows at first. We´re still looking for synthplayers, but mainly finnish players and talented ones of course. I´ve been working on new material, but so far just riffs, melodies and ideas. Quite a lot great stuff actually, but It will take time to start putting them together as songs and to make the lyrics as well, so hopefully you will stay patient. We´re trying to organize the liveshit together at the moment. It´s a bit hard situation, ´cause we don´t have a rehearsal place and there´s other shit that needs to be organized too, but hopefully the year 2005 will bring us/you great liveshows! Thanks to everyone who´s bought the album or supported us in some way, it will help us to get forward, means a lot!

-Jari

http://www.kolumbus.fi/jarimetal/wintersun/wintersun_news.htm

Band profile:

Wintersun

Mike Patton is all done with Mr. Bungle, in a recent Rolling Stone interview the singer confirms the demise of the project. Patton will continue to concentrate on Tomahawk, Fantomas, and Peeping Tom in addition to his label, Ipecac Recordings.

www.absolutmetal.com

Hate Eternal guitarist Erik Rutan as been speaking abut the final stages of the recording process of the band's new album, to be called 'I, Monarch', due for release in April 2005.

The band have released one special advance version of the title track for use on an upcoming Earache CD given away free with the January 19 issue of the UK's Metal Hammer magazine, and Rutan is thrilled to be nearing the time when the band can unleash the rest of the record.

Comments the guitarist/vocalist;
"Just wanted to let all the fans know our third Hate Eternal record 'I, Monarch' is being mixed as we speak and shall be finished on January 4th, 2005 for a spring 2005 release. I just want to say that never have I been so prepared for an album and never have I spent so much time crafting an album. Therefore I feel like we really captured something special. It sounds amazing. At my studio I bought the analog 2 inch machine from Morrisound that we recorded the whole album to which was very special. Jim Morris sold it to me. In the past I recorded both 'Domination' and part of the 'Gateways...' album with it, and it's been used on great albums by numerous other bands like Deicide, Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse and Death so it is a very classic machine and I am very honored to have it be a part of my studio now."
"The tones on this album are amazing, such depth and clarity yet so pummeling.The material is very diverse I feel without compromising what Hate Eternal represents, which is an extreme Metal outfit. I got some killer solos on here and the drumming on the record is groundbreaking I feel, so I am very psyched to get this thing out and tour our asses off next year. I
think everyone will be very pleased. We look forward to getting back on the road and supporting 'I, Monarch' with a few surprises for sure . Hope all is Well for all our fans out there and be prepared!"

http://www.earache.com/

Greetings Dear Begheads,

It's been very quiet here lately?this is mostly due to all members of Spiritual Beggars working with their other bands and commitments (Arch Enemy, Grand Magus, Opeth, Firebird?).

But here are some Spiritual Beggars news and facts?

We have signed a new licensing agreement with Toy's Factory for the Japanese market and they have set a release date for the new studio album - 23rd of February 2005. This date might still change though.

The title of the new studio album is "DEMONS".

We have put together a bonus disc of live material from Tokyo, Japan 2003 that will come with the first pressing in Japan. Hopefully we can make the bonus CD happen in Europe and US too. We don't know yet.

We have still not decided on who'll be releasing the album in Europe and the US and other territories outside of Japan.

We have been working with a guy called Paul Smith in London, UK on the editing of a Spiritual Beggars DVD, and I must say that the rough cut looks fucking awesome! The 5.1 surround mixes (and the regular stereo mix) by Andy Sneap, sound really, really killer too! This DVD is going to ROCK your TV! Finally, fans of the Beggars will be able pick up a quality DVD release?it's exciting. Also, our friend Mikael Eriksson compiled our DV cam footage from the road in 2003 and made a neat 25 minute film/montage feature that shows us jamming in the BBC studio in London, Ludwig getting tattooed in Osaka, Japan?ogling the babes on the set of the video shoot of "Killing Time" ?and plenty of other stupid stuff in between! Also, interviews with JB and myself will be on there - cryptic ramblings of possibly quite mad men! The title of the DVD is "LIVE FIRE!" - No release date as of yet?we'll keep you posted!

We'll be back soon with more details on the new studio album and DVD?

Spiritual Beggars wish you all a happy and successful New Year!

http://www.spiritualbeggars.com/

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Band profile:

Spiritual Beggars

Rob Halford/Judas Priest fan site www.robhalford.de has posted the radio version of "Revolution" for download at this location: http://www.robhalford.de/Revolution.zip
Revolution is the 1st single off the forthcoming Judas Priest album "Angel of Retribution"
Release dates for the album are as follows:
28TH FEBRUARY 2005 - UK & EUROPE
1ST MARCH 2005 USA

Band profile:

Judas Priest