Swedish melodic death metallers DARK TRANQUILLITY have updated their site with the following message:

"Time for some new-year activity on the site. As you probably have noticed, updates have been somewhat scarce recently, but rest assured that we're not resting on our laurels. The songwriting for the next album is commencing with full force, and in a not-too-distant future we'll begin recording our seventh full length album. More details regarding where, when and why will be posted here soon.

The DVD is now available in the US as well - finally! For a list of (worldwide) online vendors selling it, please visit Gtranquillity's site at www.dark-tranquillity.nl.

For an upcoming project, we'd like to hear from people with DARK TRANQUILLITY tattoos, so if you're one of the lucky few, please get in touch via info@darktranquillity.com.

The mini tour in Italy about a month ago was a huge success, and we'd like to thank all of you that made it such a great experience. Photos from some of the shows will be uploaded in the near future.

Other than this, there are a few promising things, that doubtlessly will make many of you happy, in the pipeline, but before anything is 100% confirmed, we can't go public with any details."

Band profile:

Dark Tranquillity

Revolver magazine has named LAMB OF GOD's "As the Palaces Burn" as 2003's "Album of the Year."

Commented the band: "This is absolutely flattering, and it came totally unexpected. We'd like to express our sincerest gratitude to Revolver's readers and staff, and to our fans worldwide who've made 2003 an amazing year for us. Things are bigger and better than we ever dreamed they could become. We remain grateful to our friends, fans and family for their support and continue to be inspired by their dedication.

"We're home now, working harder than ever on the follow up to 'As the Palaces Burn'...it's a thrilling time for each of us in this band. We are looking forward to the coming year, a new album and new tours...our sincerest thanks."

Band profile:

Lamb Of God

Former MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine will make an appearance at the ESP booth at NAMM on Saturday, January 17 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.

In other news, MEGADETH have entered into an agreement with merchandise company Bandmerch to bring high-quality apparel and other MEGADETH-related items for sale at MEGADETH's official web site, www.megadeth.com. Many new styles and designs are currently being considered, but for now, this is the only official MEGADETH merchandise available.

Mustaine is currently working on his first solo album, due later in the year through Sanctuary Records.

Band profile:

Megadeth

PARADISE LOST are hoping to enter the studio in April to begin recording the follow-up to "Symbol Of Life", tentatively due in August.

"Symbol Of Life", PARADISE LOST's ninth studio album, was produced by Rhys Fulber (FEAR FACTORY, FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY) and was released in October 2002 through G.U.N./ BMG Records in Europe (Koch Entertainment in North America).

Band profile:

Paradise Lost

KARMAGEDDON MEDIA presents a new sub-division for the underground "NEW AEON MEDIA"

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"Annoyed and irritated", that's how I sometimes feel when I hear and see new releases from so-called "bigger" names in the Metal scene.

A lot of these albums are in no way better than what I hear in the Underground, sometimes they do not even stand a comparison.

Are some of those bands "burned up"? Guess so...

And then another killer demo or album reaches us, but to develop any new band as of today is nearly impossible, unless one develops a good system...

So we decided to start NEW AEON MEDIA as a sub-division for KARMAGEDDON MEDIA, to support the Underground and bring you (hopefully) the best of the Underground.

So far we are very pleased with the first bands we came to an agreement with, FINAL DAWN from Finland (mix of Rotting Christ, Sentenced and older Megadeth), RIBSPREADER (unbelievable Old School Swedish Death Metal, produced by Dan Swano who is in the band too) and JUDGEMENT DAY from The Netherlands (brutal, twisted innovative Death Metal, no baggy trousers bullshit, but extreme Metal!).

As one will notice these albums will be released soon, and we think they deserve to be released... your support is appreciated, support new talent, no an old band that did the same album 3 times by now!

Bands feel free to send material to:

NEW AEON MEDIA
P.O. BOX 277
6300 AG Valkenburg
The Netherlands

We listen to your recordings, and if you stick out of the masses we will surely get in touch.

And yes, we are not limited on a specific style.

Guido Heijnens on behalf of NEW AEON MEDIA / KARMAGEDDON MEDIA.

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DISMEMBER, CARPATHIAN FOREST and GOREROTTED are the latest bands added to Germany's Party San Festival which will take place August 12th-14th. The full list of bands is now as follows:

DISMEMBER, CARPATHIAN FOREST, GOREROTTED, VOMITORY, ENSIFERUM, DISFEAR, ZYKLON, MISERY INDEX, HATESPHERE, PUNGENT STENCH, GRAVEWORM, PURGATORY, INCAPACITY

Band profile:

Carpathian Forest

The melodic thrash quintet CHILDREN OF BODOM have just been nominated for a Finnish "Grammy" in the "Best Hard Rock/Metal" category. The group will make their much-anticipated return to the U.S. this April on a major package tour (reportedly with ICED EARTH in the headlining slot) in support of their latest, critically acclaimed release, "Hate Crew Deathroll". Full details on the tour will be announced soon.

In other news, CHILDREN OF BODOM's Alexi Laiho and DREAM EVIL/FIREWIND's Gus G. are sharing the cover of the popular Japanese magazine Young Guitar this month.

Band profile:

Children Of Bodom

ARCH ENEMY, NASUM, KATATONIA, CULT OF LUNA and BURST are nominated for a Manifest award in the category "Best Hard Rock/Punk."

The event will take place at Debaser in Stockholm on January 29 at 8:00 p.m. CET.

The Manifest Awards are being held by SOM (Svenska Oberoende Musikproducenter) (Swedish Independent Musicproducers), an organization that consists of over 100 record labels.

"Best Hard Rock/Punk" Nominees:

ARCH ENEMY ¡V "Anthems of Rebellion"
BURST ¡V "Prey On Life"
CULT OF LUNA ¡V "The beyond"
KATATONIA ¡V "Viva Emptiness"
NASUM ¡V "Helvete"

Band profile:

Arch Enemy

Italian goth-metallers LACUNA COIL are the latest act confirmed for this year's Rock Hard Festival, a two-day event set to take place May 29-30, 2004 at Amphitheater in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Other bands currently scheduled to appear are STRATOVARIUS, RAGE, DOOMSWORD, DESASTER and DEAD SOUL TRIBE. Tickets to the festival cost 50 euros (including one parking space) plus a five-euro advance booking fee, and can be ordered from the following address:

Rock Hard
Festival 2004
Postfach 11 02 12
44058 Dortmund
Germany

Band profile:

Lacuna Coil

Sweden's SOILWORK have posted the following message on their official web site:

"Hello there soilers!

"As you might have heard already, Richard Evensand is no longer playing with SOILWORK.

"Richard is an amazing drummer and we are very happy that we have had the privilege to play with him for the period of time that we did.

"Richard and SOILWORK have decided not to continue playing together and we have parted as good friends. We wish him all the best of luck with his future projects.

"We are happy to inform you guys that Dirk Verbeuren from SCARVE will be filling in as a session drummer for our upcoming headlining tour in Europe.

"Dirk is a very talented drummer, and needless to say he will do a kickass job on the tour.

"Check out Dirk's band SCARVE on www.scarve.net.

"Cheers, SOILWORK"

Band profile:

Soilwork

Irish folk metal band CRUACHAN have pushed back the release date of their fourth full-length album, "Pagan" (Karmageddon Media), to April 5. No reason was given for the delay.

"Pagan" was recorded and mixed at Radio Na Life Studios in Dublin, Ireland with producer Al Cowen and is the follow-up to last year's "Folk-Lore".

The band recorded a total of 15 songs, of which 13 will end up on the final album and the remaining songs will be used as bonus-material.

Among the tracks set to appear on the CD are "Michael Collins", "The Gael", "The March to Cluain Tairbh", "Viking Slayer" and "1014 A.D."

Cover artwork for "Pagan" was created by John Howe, the leading JRR Tolkien illustrator and the conceptual artist from "The Lord of the Rings" movies.

Band profile:

Cruachan

Norwegian black metallers DIMMU BORGIR have reportedly cancelled all of their Australian/Japanese dates that were scheduled to take place in early February. Although no official reason was given for the cancellation, it is believed that problems with the Japanese portion of the trek led to the decision to call off both tours. This is the second time DIMMU BORGIR have cancelled an Australian tour, having previously axed what would have been their first-ever trip Down Under back in 1999.

The affected dates are as follows:

Feb. 03 - Shibuya Club Quattro ¡V Tokyo, JAP
Feb. 04 - Nagoya Club Quattro - Nagoya, JAP
Feb. 05 - Shinsaibashi Club Quattro - Osaka, JAP
Feb. 10 - The Arena - Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, AUS
Feb. 11 - The Metro ¡V Sydney, AUS
Feb. 13 - HiFi Bar - Melbourne, AUS
Feb. 14 - HiFi Bar - Melbourne, AUS
Feb. 15 - Adelaide Uni - Adelaide, AUS

Band profile:

Dimmu Borgir

Sweden's KATATONIA have set a February 23 release date through Avantgarde Records for their two-disc compilation of all of their previously out-of-print mini-CDs, plus sampler tracks from old full-length albums and one unreleased track.

Titled "Brave Yester Days" (view cover here), the double CD will feature artwork by Agni Kaster and will be released in a digipack format together with a 16-page booklet.

The artwork follows "an incredible old worn yesterdays vibe and there are many old band pictures incorporated into the layout, as well credits and lyrics to all songs," according to a post on the band's web site.

The complete track listing for "Brave Yester Days" is as follows:

Volume One (disc 1):

"Jhva Elohim Meth"
01. Midwinter Gates (Prologue)
02. Without God
03. Palace Of Frost
04. The Northern Silence
05. Crimson Tears (Epilogue)

"Dance Of December Souls"
06. Gateways Of Bereavement
07. Velvet Thorns (Of Drynwhyl)

"War Compilation Vol One"
08. Black Erotica
09. Love Of The Swan

"For Funerals To Come¡K"
10. Funeral Wedding
11. Shades Of Emerald Fields
12. For Funerals To Come
13. Epistel

Volume Two (Disc 2):

"Brave Murder Day"
01. Murder
02. Rainroom

"Sounds Of Decay"
03. Nowhere
04. At Last
05. Inside The Fall
06. Untrue (Previously Unreleased)

"Saw You Drown"
07. Nerve
08. Saw You Drown
09. Quiet World
10. Scarlet Heavens

Band profile:

Katatonia

According to a posting on their website (www.behemoth.metalkings.com), BEHEMOTH have begun working on new material under the working title Demigod, due out in late 2004 through Regain Records (Europe), Century Media (North America and South America) and Mystic (Poland).

The follow-up to 2002's Zos Kia Cultus - Here And Beyond will feature the following lineup: Nergal- guitars and vocals, Inferno - drums and Seth - bass, guitars.

"2003 was probably the most hard working period in band's history," Nergal commented. "Especially the US leg of Zos Kia tour, more than 60 shows that we played, was a breaking point for Behemoth. We took a very short break after last shows, and now we focus totally on writing."

"I'm very excited about new songs" says Nergal. "We've just started working on new songs, and developing ideas and riffs I've been working on for the last few months. It's just insane, I can tell you. This new stuff is going to be so much ahead of what we've done before. We've never reached such an intense point. The working title for our seventh album is Demigod and this should tell you everything about what it will sound like. With no doubt it's gonna be the most devastating, technical and crushing record we've ever come up with! New riffs just flow, the working atmosphere is just perfect. We've got so much new inspiration lately. It will all have strong impact on what you will hear on Demigod."

Behemoth is also planning to finally complete mixing of their first official DVD.

"Well, it's highly possible that we will release long time planned DVD this year," Nergal adds. "We have some labels interested in putting it out. We have hours and hours of materials, two professionally filmed shows, video clips and tons of really extreme stuff to be featured. It's gonna be the quality, great DVD material, totally authorized by the band, unlike the shitty DVD, The Art Of Rebellion, that we consider as a bootleg release."

In other news, before Behemoth enter the studio in April, they will invade Israel and do one exclusive show for the first time ever. In March they will be playing two shows in Greece with CARPATHIAN FOREST.

Band profile:

Behemoth

After 15 years in the business as one of the reigning heavyweight champs of death metal, Florida's legendary DEICIDE have shot their very first music video.

For this historic occasion, the band chose to immortalize the title track off their forthcoming Earache Records debut, "Scars Of The Crucifix" ? a song which brutally sums up what DEICIDE is all about.

Bone-rattling riffage, firestorm drumming, and vocals from the pit of hell combine to make "Scars" one of the most venomous anthems DEICIDE has ever recorded.

Shot in Nottingham, U.K. by acclaimed director Pete Bridgewater (THE HAUNTED, DECEMBER), the "Scars Of The Crucifix" video shows DEICIDE in rare form.

The "Scars Of The Crucifix" video is now in the post-production stages. Look for this video, coming soon to Earache.com and a TV near you.

"Scars Of The Crucifix" was recorded at Morrisound Studios in Tampa, Florida with producer Neil Kernon (CANNIBAL CORPSE, NEVERMORE) and was mixed at Sonic Ranch studios in Tornillo, Texas. A February 24, 2004 release through Earache Records is expected.

Band profile:

Deicide