The release date of DANZIG's eighth studio album, "Circle of Snakes", has been pushed back to the last week of August, according to the official DANZIG fansite The 7th House. A single from the album ? containing the title cut, "1000 Devils Reign" and another song to be announced later ? will surface by the end of June. The album will be released through Glenn Danzig's Evilive label in the U.S. and Regain Records in Europe.

"Circle of Snakes" track listing:

01. Intro
02. Skincarver
03. 1000 Devils Reign
04. Circle of Snakes
05. Netherbound
06. Hellmask
07. When We Were Dead
08. TBA (working title: "Devilsnight")
09. Skull Forrest
10. My Darkness
11. Black Angel, White Angel

The layout for the upcoming album is just about done. The cover features a "killer artwork piece and custom font, both designed by Glenn Danzig," according to a posting on The 7th House.

DANZIG will be playing dates in Europe in July and August. A "Blackest of The Black" U.S. tour will kick off late August and will run through September. DANZIG's current lineup (click here to view photo) consists of Glenn Danzig (vocals), Tommy Victor (guitar, PRONG), Bevan Davies (drums, COMES WITH THE FALL), and Jerry Montano (bass, ex-THE DEADLIGHTS).

Band profile:

Danzig

A recent interview with Ministry's frontman Al Jourgensen revealed a lot of important information about the band's future. Ministry wants to get rid of Bush so much on the next election that a special booth will be present on all of their US concerts which will be used to register voters agains Bush. Jourgensen himself is going to appear in this booth for two hours before every concert and do whatever is neccessary to convince young people to take part in the upcoming election (only 30% of the 18-29 demographic took part in the previous election).

Ministry is also planning a worldwide tour in support of their upcoming album, Houses Of The Mole, scheduled for a June 22 release. Supposedly, this might be a co-headlining tour with Nine Inch Nails, also scheduled to release a new album in the near future.

A video for the first single off the new Ministry album, "No W" is going to be shot in the first week of June and is supposed to put Jourgensen on the first place of the White House hate list.

In related news, Jourgensen and other members of the legendary industrial parody band Revolting Cocks are in the studio at the moment and recording material for an album to be released in August.

Band profile:

Ministry

As we all espected Andromeda has started recording their third album. This happened in last few weeks. It's still unknown how long will this take... I just can't wait to hear what band has to offer with their new work... Can you? I think that this waiting will pay off when new album is released!

Band profile:

Andromeda

The recordings for "NIGHTMARES MADE FLESH" are finished and the master has been delivered to Century Media that has scheduled it for an autumn release. We promise you a fukking brutal and varied piece of work with especially outstanding performances by the new members Axe and Tägtgren, proving Bloodbath is no longer a only tribute to death metal; it's death metal's very own elite.

A total of the following 12 songs to be featured on the album
of which 4 were written each by Blakkheim, Swanö and Renkse:

OUTNUMBERING THE DAY
YEAR OF THE CADAVER RACE
DRAPED IN DISEASE
CANCER OF THE SOUL
THE ASCENSION
EATEN
BRAVE NEW HELL
STILLBORN SAVIOUR
FEEDING THE UNDEAD
BASTARD SON OF GOD
SOUL EVISCERATION
BLOOD VORTEX

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Band profile:

Bloodbath

SAMAEL's webmaster has sent out the following update:

"Samaël just finished the recording of their new album!

Three and a half months of hard work in two different studios, four different sound engineers (for electronic, guitars, vocals, and acoustic takes), co-produced by Waldemar Sorychta (who worked on most of the band's efforts in the past), this record is said to be the most complex and the heaviest recording the band ever produced.

Samaël are going to France this weekend to play at La Rotonde Festival and they will then fly straight to Stockholm to mix the album. The mixing duty will be assured by Stephan Glaumann (BON JOVI/RAMMSTEIN).

Some of the new tracks are: 'Oriental Dawn', 'Telepathic', 'As The Sun', 'High Above', 'Heliopolis' and 'Further'.

The album is set to be released on Samaël's own label, Galactical Recordings with exclusive licenses to Musikvertreib for Switzerland and Regain Records for Europe/Asia. An American deal still has to be worked out."

Band profile:

Samael

According to the French radio "Radio Mon Païs", which interviewed Christofer Johnsson last Thursday, we will certainly have a third new album soon.

In fact more than 30 songs are already done, 21 are already on Lemuria & Serius B, the last songs will be on a new album which could be released very soon .

More news to come...

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Band profile:

Therion

EVERGREY guitarist Henrick Danhage recently spoke to KaffeineBuzz.com about the group's new CD, "The Inner Circle", and their current North American tour with ICED EARTH and CHILDREN OF BODOM, among other topics. Asked if they are trying to come across as "a more emotional power metal band instead of having a science fiction backdrop," Henrick replied, "I don't compare us as a power metal or a progressive metal band. I want to make a point about that - I think we're really different from all those bands. I'm not badmouthing any other bands, 'cause I believe what they play is what they want to do. But I don't want to get caught up in that prog metal shit, because we're not a prog metal band. I could call us a progressive metal band as far as I would say that OPETH or MESHUGGAH is a progressive metal band. But many bands equal standing up and jerking scales. In my book that has nothing to do with music. They're just fucking geeks. But I'm not dissing any bands 'cause they can do whatever they want."

With regards to how they're entertaining themselves on the bus while touring with ICED EARTH, Danhage said, "Alcohol, weed, women, you know - all the standard American stuff . I mean, we share a bus with CHILDREN OF BODOM. They're from Finland. We're crazy Scandinavians. I feel bad for the bus driver 'cause that's not a fun gig. You got 12 drunken people on the bus everyday . It's been good. ICED EARTH treats us really good. There's a lot of stories , but we went into this with a kind of blank eyes. We took it from zero, so we don't care because it has nothing to do with us."

Read EVERGREY guitarist Henrick Danhage's entire interview with KaffeineBuzz.com

http://www.kaffeinebuzz.com/interviews-evergrey.php

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Band profile:

Evergrey

According to www.Bravewords.com, Candlelight Records have set a June 28th release for the reissue of EMPEROR's live DVD, "Emperial Live Ceremony". It's been remastered for better sound, and includes new material such as a photo gallery.

Band profile:

Emperor

According to Barnes & Noble and Circuit City, RUSH will be releasing an eight-song, all-covers EP on June 29 through Atlantic Records. Titled "Feedback" (view cover here), the CD's complete track listing is as follows:

01. Summertime Blues (EDDIE COCHRAN)
02. Heart Full Of Soul (THE YARDBIRDS)
03. The Seeker (THE WHO)
04. For What It's Worth (BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD)
05. Mr. Soul (BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD)
06. Shapes Of Things (THE YARDBIRDS)
07. Seven & Seven Is (LOVE)
08. Crossroads (CREAM)

RUSH will kick off a 30th anniversary tour on May 26 outside Nashville. The trek will mark RUSH's first concerts in Prague, Italy and several territories that were formerly behind the Iron Curtain.

Band profile:

Rush

San Diego extreme metallers CATTLE DECAPITATION have set a June 14 European release date for their new album, "Humanure".

Recorded with producer Bill Metoyer (SLAYER, W.A.S.P., SIX FEET UNDER), "Humanure" marks the recording debut with the group of drummer Michael Laughlin. The band parted ways with drummer David Astor in May of 2003 due to his inability to live up to the obligations of touring and regular necessities of the band.

In other news, the cover artwork for "Humanure" has apparently caused some trouble in Germany, where Metal Blade's distributor SPV has refused to put the album into the stores. As a result, "Humanure" will be available in Germany via mailorder only.
"Humanure" track listing:

01. Scatology Domine (intro)
02. Humanure
03. Reduced To Paste
04. Bukkake Tsunami
05. Cloacula: The Anthropophagic Copromantik
06. Chummified
07. Applied Human Defragmentation
08. The Earthling
09. Polyps
10. Lips & Assholes
11. Men Before Swine (outro)

The Swedish viking inspired death metal band, Amon Amarth, have now entitled their new full-lenght album, which is planned to be released late this year in a contract with Metal Blade. The title will be "Fate of Norns", referring to the three Norns or Godesses of fate : Urd, Skuld and Verdandi.
Some of the song titles that they have revealed in their site are :

· An Ancient Sign of Coming Storm
· The Fate of Norns
· Arson
· Sealed in blood
· The Valkyries Ride

They will be entering the Berno Studio in Malmö next monday to start the recording.

Band profile:

Amon Amarth

http://www.blind-guardian.com/discography/dvd/ittlg/ittlg_cover.jpg

German power metallers BLIND GUARDIAN have posted the cover artwork for their upcoming live DVD, "Imaginations Through The Looking Glass". The disc, which was recorded primarily at the Blind Guardian Open Air festival in Coburg, Germany last June, will come with a bonus DVD, featuring interview and behind-the-scenes footage as well as additional live material. A June 14 release is expected.

In other news, BLIND GUARDIAN revealed in a posting on their web site that select movie theaters in Germany will be showing the new DVD on the big screen before it hits the stores. Dates are as follows:

Jun. 06 - Stuttgart (Cinemaxx)
Jun. 07 - München (Mathäser Filmpalast)
Jun. 09 - Bochum (UCI Ruhrpark)
Jun. 10 - Düsseldorf (UCI)
Jun. 11 - Hamburg (UCI Mundsburg Center)

"Imaginations Through The Looking Glass" DVD track listing:

DVD 1 - Blind Guardian Open Air (Coburg):

01. War of Wrath
02. Time Stands Still
03. Banish from Sanctuary
04. Nightfall
05. The Script for my Requiem
06. Valhalla
07. A Past and Future Secret
08. Punishment Divine
09. Mordred's Song
10. The Last Candle
11. Bright Eyes
12. Lord of the Rings
13. I'm Alive
14. Another Holy War
15. And then there was Silence
16. Somewhere far Beyond
17. The Bard's Song (in the Forest)
18. Imaginations from the other Side
19. And the Story Ends
20. Mirror Mirror

DVD 2 - Bonus DVD

* Interview with BLIND GUARDIAN
* Backstage Scenes of the "A Night At The Opera Tour 2002"
* The making of "The Blind Guardian Festival Coburg 2003"
* Slideshow

Bonus songs:

01. Into the Storm (Stuttgart 2002)
02. Welcome to Dying (Stuttgart 2002)
03. Lost in the Twilight Hall (Stuttgart 2002)
04. Majesty (Wacken 2002)

The DVD with NOT be region free. There will be separate PAL and NTSC versions with the appropriate region code for each country.

A trailer for the DVD will be released in the near future through the band's official homepage. Neither the format nor the size of this trailer is yet known. Distribution of the trailer will most likely be done using BitTorrent (as was done with the Live CD outtakes).

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Band profile:

Blind Guardian

Guitarist Wojtek Lisicki (a.k.a. Transcendental Protagonist) has rejoined Sweden's LOST HORIZON. This was confirmed by the band's promoter, M-Production, in a phone call to Sweden Rock magazine late Monday night (May 10). No further information was given, but according to the promoter, an official statement containing more details will be posted on the band's web site later this week. Wojtek will be on stage with the band when they perform at the Sweden Rock Festival on June 12.

Lisicki originally left LOST HORIZON last July due to "personal reasons." The group's second full-length album, "A Flame to the Ground Beneath", was released in February 2003 through Music For Nations Records.

Band profile:

Lost Horizon

Long-running Canadian thrashers INFERNAL MAJESTY have inked a deal with Greece's Black Lotus Records for the release of their latest album, "One Who Points To Death". Black Lotus Records will have the exclusive distribution rights for Europe, Asia and Oceania while the North American release is being handled by Canada's Galy Records.

"One Who Points to Death" was recorded by Sho at Profile Sound Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and was mastered by Pierre Remillard at Wild Studios in St-Zenon, Quebec, Canada. The 47-minute CD is "packed with old school thrash crunch and modern death metal intensity," according to an official press release.

INFERNAL MAJESTY will be on tour starting June 19 in Victoria B.C. Below is the current itinerary for the tours. City and venue information and exact dates will be added shortly.

Jun. 19 - Jul. 10 - Canadian Tour
Jul. 11 - Aug. 05 - East Coast U.S. Tour
Aug. 08 - Montreal
Aug. 09 - Toronto
Aug. 16-31 - Festivals in France, Belgium, Spain w/ U.K. tour
Sep. 01-30 - European Tour
Oct. 01-15 - Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania
Oct. 17-22 - Canadian Tour
Oct. 23 - Vancouver
Nov 01-15 - West Coast U.S. Tour

Band profile:

Infernäl Mäjesty

Swedish power metallers ISENGARD have announced the addition of keyboardist Peo Lövholm to the group's ranks. "Peo did the first job with ISENGARD during the recording of 'Crownless Majesty'," the group write on their web site. "He was the conductor for the choir we used and with his keyboard skills he is perfect for this job."

ISENGARD are currently writing material for their fourth full-length album, tentatively due later in the year.