In a recent interview to the Swedish newspaper, Aftonbladet, Bruce Dickinson said that the band should just continue playing live in about 5 more years, and then only record albums, because of the ages of the Maiden members.
Though it doesn't really correspond with what Steve Harris used to say - that he would play live until he couldn't hold a bass anymore.

Band profile:

Iron Maiden

Sweden's IN FLAMES have set "Soundtrack To Your Escape" as the title for their forthcoming album, due in Europe on March 29, 2004.

The follow-up to 2002's "Reroute To Remain" was recorded at a rented house/converted studio in Denmark with producers Daniel Bergstrand (MESHUGGAH, STRAPPING YOUNG LAD) and Örjan Örnkloo (ex-MISERY LOVES CO.) and is currently being mixed at Galaxy Studios in Mol, Belgium. Mastering will take place at the Cutting Room in Stockholm, Sweden.

The following is the tentative track listing for "Soundtrack To Your Escape" (in no particular order):

01. F(r)iend
02. The Quiet Place
03. Borders And Shading
04. Discover Me Like Emptiness
05. Touch Of Red
06. Bottled
07. Dead Alone
08. Superhero Of The Computer Rage
09. Like You Better Dead
10. Dial 595-Escape
11. Evil In A Closet
12. In Search For I
13. My Sweet Shadow

"Soundtrack To Your Escape" will be released in Europe through Nuclear Blast Records, with whom the group have two albums remaining under the terms of their present contract. IN FLAMES are currently in negotiations with several labels about a possible North American record deal. More information will be made available soon.

Band profile:

In Flames

NIGHTWISH studio engineer Tero Kinnunen has posted the following studio diary entry to the band's web site:

"Howdy ho!!! Greeting from our new studio! It has been a month full of work and fun since we started to work with the new NIGHTWISH album in these facilities. As a result of the demo recordings we now have twelve new songs and [keyboardist/songwriter] Tuomas [Holopainen] still has couple of new songs on the way.

"Everything went on as scheduled and everybody did their part as a good ole 'MetalHead' should. Some of the takes were so good that they will propably end up being on the final album as they are. (Especially [singer] Tarja [Turunen] and [bassist] Marco [Hietala] did their vocal parts so well that such a spontaneous performances can hardly be expected again...). Despite all this there is still plenty of work to be done. That's why we ended up postponing the drum recordings for a week. Lucky for us it was ok both for Karmila and Finnvox schedules. So even at the moment Yucca and Tuomas are rehearsing and giving the songs and arrangements their final touch.

"The songs are the best NIGHTWISH has ever had so we all have plenty of expectations!!! Also the guys know this and the enthusiasm in NW-camp is easily sensed and smelled...

"So the demo did its job and left everybody really hungry and anxious to get to do the final performance for the actual album!!!"

Band profile:

Nightwish

Sweden's OPETH recently returned from their first-ever Scandinavian tour. The band performed live in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. The Finns finally had a chance to see the band live in concert for the first time ever, and OPETH tried to repay their "debt" by playing a set over two hours 20 minutes long in Helsinki. Surprise for this tour was the inclusion of "April Ethereal" from the 1997 album "My Arms Your Hearse". This has only been played live twice before back in 1997.

The long-awaited DVD, "Lamentations - Live at Shepards Bush Empire" will be released in late November through Music For Nations. American release is set for the end of February 2004.

Candlelight Records have re-issued the first three OPETH albums ("Orchid", "Morningrise", and "My Arms Your Hearse") in embossed tin-can editions. This is a very limited release and they're available now.

Since OPETH have been in North America three times in support of "Deliverance" and "Damnation", there will be some drastic changes in the band's live set list for the upcoming 2004 tour. To keep the interest from the fans, the band will pull out a series of never-before-played numbers from albums past and present. Some songs up for rehearsals are "The Moor", "Nectar" and "Blackwater Park", among others.

Band profile:

Opeth

The German Power Metal act Freedom Call have found their missing link,
and added Nils Neuman to the band.
Freedom Call have for a long time said that they would add a Keyboard player if they found someone that would fit in the band, and now it seems like they have found him.

Band profile:

Freedom Call

IRON MAIDEN producer Kevin Shirley, who has worked with the group on their last two studio releases as well as the live album "Rock In Rio", has taken the unusual step of publicly defending the production on MAIDEN's latest CD, "Dance Of Death", calling it a perfect replica of the band's live sound.

Writing to his web site, Shirley said, "I have been getting all sorts of e-mails (yeah I read 'em, but don't reply to them all) about the sonic quality of 'Dance of Death'. Now, I don't need to qualify anything, except it sounds like that 'cos it's meant to sound like that! The band love it! Nicko [McBrain] prefers the energy of the drum/guitar balance to 'Brave New World', which actually featured more drums (which he liked). Steve [Harris] says the bass finally sounds like his rig sounds. The three amigos love the guitars - including the odd amp crackle and distortion which is the sound of them live - and that, my friends, is Bruce singing like he sings! Not coaxed, and digitally enhanced, tuned and corrected. IRON MAIDEN - captured. The songs are great, but not necessarily reflective of nu-metal themes - because THEY ARE NOT NU-METAL! That is IRON MAIDEN, and no one is stopping you filling up your CD players with LINKIN PARK, LIMP BIZKIT or CHEVELLE, or whatever the hell you think is a fine sounding record. (they all sound sonically pretty similar to me, whereas NO-ONE else sounds like MAIDEN. I love the album. So, Up the Irons - and for the know-it-all detractors = Up yours!"

Band profile:

Iron Maiden

Spinefarm Records will release three Nightwish box-sets in November. The reason is the existence of illegal boxsets called "Nightwish Memory Boxes" in central Europe. Those boxes are spreading quickly and something has to be done so that fans can support the band and not the pirates.

The legal boxes will also contain photos of the bandmembers as a special goodie. Please visit this page for a full description of the three boxsets.

Source:	nightwish.com
Band profile:	Nightwish

On Monday, 17th November 2003, WITHIN TEMPTATION will release their new double DVD featuring breathtaking live material, captivating backstage reports and many other specials.
It will be released in a stylish double DVD box.

Band profile:

Within Temptation

Norther's third studio albums will be named: Death Unlimited.

The album was recorded in Astia Studio in Lappeenranta.
10 songs and one cover song was recorded.

Mixing of this album is taken place at Finnvox studios now in November.

Band profile:

Norther

The former Angel Dust bassist Frank Banx contacted BW&BK with the following message:

"I would like to let you know, that I officially left the band on Friday, October 24th. this year. Because of unbridgeable personal differences with singer Dirk Thurisch, I've seen no other choice but to leave the band. Also, many so called "fans" in Germany are attacking me because of this decision in a very unkind verbal way in our guest book, what just underlines what I already posted in our guest book in July last year. I will play no more shows in Germany, until... (???) What so ever.

I will soon found my own record company, Frank Banx Enterprises, and I'm looking for a distributing partner for Canada and the USA to re-release Into The Dark Past from 1986 including unreleased bonus tracks from our 1985 demo Marching For Revenge, plus lyrics and more pictures, etc., and my future outputs and a.s.a.p. '88s To Dust You Will Decay with unreleased live video tracks from 1988 - 2002.

Also, if I get my visa, what I badly hope, I will found both, the company and my new band in America. So, I'm also looking for highly ambitioned musicians from wherever they like to come to Indianapolis then.

All right people, that's what I wanted to say. I hope to meet all you people very soon on the road (again...).

Sincerely yours, Frank Banx, musician."

Band profile:

Angel Dust

Guitarist Thomas Youngblood have reported in the following message to the official homepage:

"I just got back from a whirlwind 3 weeks in Norway and Germany. We have written 5 new songs for the next Kamelot follow-up to EPICA. Here are some working titles that may change on the album - March of Mephisto, Nothing Ever Dies and Serenade. The new songs range from HEAVY to Fast and we worked on a new ballad."

The Album, that will be the second part of the Epica story is expected early 2004, their first through SPV/Streamhammer.

Band profile:

Kamelot

"Lost Horizon have now decided that a session guitarist is needed for upcoming livegigs. Hans Boström has joined the band and played his first gig at Militärpalatset in Borås. He will also be with us at Chalmers!"

So it stands on their website. And they have officially confirmed that they will play on next years Sweden Rock Festival, June 10-12 2004, Sölvesborg, Sweden.

Lost Horizon have said, after the departure with Wojtek Lisicki, that they have no immediate plans to seek a permanent replacement. And will carry on as a five-piece.

Band profile:

Lost Horizon

Hello all, now we are done with the recording of the upcoming album, due out next spring. It took almost seven weeks in total to record and the way we choose to do it was the most challenging, interesting way we´ve ever recorded an album.

As you might know, we did this in Denmark, where we had found a house suitable for our purposes earlier this year. It was located just outside Fredrikshamn, so even though we were camped in the middle of nowhere, we had just a few minutes to reality.

We took all our gear and hired our two great friends and producers Örjan Örnkloo and Daniel Bergstrand to produce the album. They brought their equipment along and the first week was spent mostly by building the two control-rooms, that were located in the two wings of the building.

We also had two other good friends, Magnus & Magnus who took care of the cooking, driving, tuning, restringing and basically everything else that we had no time to do, as we were focusing on the recording. Without them we wouldn´t be alive...

Then, as the drums were recorded earlier in Dug-Out studios, we started with the guitars, and setting the sound that we needed for them. After another week it was time for bass guitar, alongside the recording of the remaining guitar parts.

When the bass was finished after six days, Anders started on his vocals, and it all sounded great. It was the first time we could hear the energy that we had created in a more finished form.

We are really thrilled, as we built this studio from scratch, and the sound that we achieved on this album can never be recreated 100%, this will be totally original, in a good way.

Anyways, hope you all will enjoy it, take care. Anders, Peter, Daniel, Björn & Jesper.

Band profile:

In Flames

German melodic metallers EDGUY have announced the details of their upcoming EP, "King Of Fools", due on February 2, 2004 through Nuclear Blast Records.

The complete track listing for "King Of Fools" is as follows:

01. King Of Fools (3:30)
02. New Age Messiah (5:58)
03. The Savage Union (4:14)
04. Holy Water (4:13)
05. Life and Times Of A Bonus Track (3:23)

Total Running Time: 21:32

According to vocalist Tobias Sammet, "There will even be two orchestra songs on the EP...it's gonna be first-class stuff and some of the material is gonna be played live as well, so there is no B-side shit at all!" Only one of the songs from the EP will appear on EDGUY's forthcoming full length album, "Hellfire Club", and according to Tobi, will be different than the version on the EP. "Hellfire Club" is due for release on March 15, 2004.

The follow-up to 2001's "Mandrake", which includes a collaboration with the German film orchestra Babelsberg (THE SCORPIONS), was produced by EDGUY and Norman Meiritz, with additional assistance from Sascha Paeth (RHAPSODY, ANGRA), who was responsible for the drum sound on the album. The final mix took place at the famous Finnvox Studios (NIGHTWISH, STRATOVARIUS) in Helsinki, Finland.

Band profile:

Edguy

ORPHAHED LAND's new album ?Mabool" is almost done and recorded in both Zaza and Bardo Studios in Israel. Here's a short message from singer Kobi Farhi:
?Hello everyone, we are in the end of mixing of our long awaited album ?Mabool", it is the most hard and painful creation we did in our lives, the album is more then 70 minutes long and contains 12 concept songs telling the Mabool (story of the Flood) and the story of the heroes - the three sons of Seven.

Here is the final song titles, each of them reflects a different part of the whole tale:

1. Birth Of The Three (The Unification)
2. Ocean Land (The Revelation)
3. The Kiss Of Babylon (The Sins)
4. A'salk
5. Halo Dies (The Wrath Of God)
6. A Call To Awake (The Quest)
7. Building The Ark
8. Norra El Norra (Entering The Ark)
9. The Calm Before The Flood
10. Mabool (The Flood)
11. The Storm Still Rages
12. Rainbow (The Resurrection)"

?Mabool" is tentatively scheduled for an early 2004 release.

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Band profile:

Orphaned Land