The UK's Gorerotted have decided to take the big step of changing their name to THE ROTTED! Having worked so hard on their new album "Get Dead Or Die Trying", the lads felt that due to the huge progression they've made from previous releases musically and lyrically and after frequent line-up changes that this was the only right thing to do.

Says frontman Ben McCrow: "The motives behind what we were doing with Gorerotted have changed over the years, and as a mark of respect for what we achieved, for previous band members and for fans, we didn't feel it was right to continue under our previous monicker. This album is gonna blow people away, I couldn't even classify it for you if I tried, all I can say is its heavy as fuck, catchy as hell and a piece of work we're all incredibly proud of. People have been affectionally referring to us as The Rotted for some time now, so it seemed like a decent change to us."

Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	The Rotted

The following short message was posted on the home page of Elis:

''We will play at the 'Festival For Free' at the P.M.K. in Innsbruck (A) on April 19th 2008! So if you want to see Elis for free, be there!''

Also this:

''We proudly announce that we are going to play this year at Wave-Gotik-Treffen and M'era Luna Festival! We are very happy to be part of the line-up, and can't wait to play! Hope to see you there!''

Read more ››

Source:	elis.li
Band profile:	Elis

The following blog has been posted on the Stormlord MySpace:

"Stormlord has signed a recording deal with Locomotive Records (Grave Digger, Astral Doors, Benedictum) to release the new, long awaited fourth full length album titled "Mare Nostrum".

The band says: "We are so excited about this new deal, Locomotive Records is one of the leading labels in metal scene and they will grant a worldwide availability to our new album. The recording session are almost finished and the stuff sound amazing, we can't wait for you to hear it, in the first weeks of March all the songs will be mixed and ready. We want to thank our former label Scarlet Records for these beautiful 8 years spent together, they have always believed in Stormlord and their support made us reach some huge goals."

"Mare Nostrum" will be released on Locomotive Records on late May.

In the band own words "it'll see Stormlord going back to an epic sound near to our first album "Supreme Art Of War", that almost ten years ago was able to influence tons of bands still growing strong in the scene, even if the style of our recent albums will not be missing. You'll find some surprises like an acoustic song, folk instruments and even some sitar parts, everything mixed with an extreme-epic attitude like it was back in the days, but with the nowadays production and a well developed technical skill."

Read more ››

Source:	blog.myspace.com
Band profile:	Stormlord

The following blog has been posted at the official Pantheist MySpace page:

"As you may have not noticed, since the font is completely unreadable (one could argue that this is done deliberately as it would grant us a certain aura of kvltness, but I have to admit that it's probably the actual myspace skin that needs changing) there is a new gig date displayed on our profile: Friday 21st of March (bank holiday) we are playing at The Unicorn in Camden. That's right, after having been based in London for about 4 years now, it is about time -in true funeral doom terms- for our first ever London gig. We seek to perform mainly new tracks with a small dose of 'oldies' in between.

Furthermore, our promo has been sent to several labels, so we are awaiting for responses and feedback that will hopefully allow us to set up another perfect marriage between cynical business and idealistic naivete (without of course wanting to disclose at which side we currently are). Stay tuned as news will be announced here as soon as there is something worthwhile to mention.

Lastly, many many thanks to those who have listened to the previous promo track "The Loss Of Innocense" in the past few days. After 750 plays in ten days time or so we started to fear that people might actually become sick of the track before it's even properly recorded, so we decided to take it down again. However, your persistence and enthusiasm has moved us so we decided to give you a sneak preview of the second promo track as well for a few days."

In the meantime, a track called "Eternal Sorrow" has been posted on the band's MySpace page.

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Source:	blog.myspace.com
Band profile:	Pantheïst

Onslaught have confirmed their appearance at the Lagoa Burning Live festival on their MySpace:

"We are very proud to announce that we have just been confirmed to appear at the Lagoa Burning Live Festival At Estombar, Algarve in Portugal, on 27th July 2008 alongside our good friends Obituary..

Also appearing at the festival will be:
Tankard
Grave Digger
Cruachan
Dark Moon
Dionysus
+ More TBA

Onslaught guitarist Nige Rockett comments: ''We cant fuckin wait to return to
Portugal especially to such a great festival as this one..It really is gonna be awesome with the Obituary guys there too..
Our last visit was amazing and we met so many cool people, this one promises to be every bit as special...''

Read more ››

Source:	blog.myspace.com
Band profile:	Onslaught
Event:	Lagoa Burning Live Festival [CANCELLED]

Vocalist Michael Sweet of Stryper has issued an update on the upcoming album:

"I'm still tracking vocals in my studio and we plan to start mixing by the first week in February. We should be finished mixing by the end of February and then we'll master, do a photo shoot and then the rest will be up to artwork department at Big3 to put it all together and package it."

Michael estimates that the album will be out in July/August followed by a tour.

"The record sounds amazing and it will have everything that you've always wanted a Stryper record to have - melodies, guitar solos, stacked vocal harmonies and screams. Sonically, it's our best to date. It's a very edgy record yet at the same time it retains it's melodic sense. I'll keep you updated as we progress."

Read more ››

Source:	blog.myspace.com
Band profile:	Stryper

Austrian gothic metallers Darkwell have posted on their website that band now has a you tube channel that can be found at this location. On the channel, live clips of 2007 have been uploaded.

Today, the band will performing live P.M.K. Innsbruck, Austria.

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Source:	darkwell.org
Band profile:	Darkwell

Danish doom metal band Saturnus has announced on their MySpace page that their bassist Lennart Jacobsen with whom they've recorded "Veronika Decides To Die" and toured the United States, Russia and parts of Europe has parted ways with the band. No reasons were disclosed for the departure, but according to the band there were no hard feelings involved and they wish him best of luck with his music in the future.

In other news, ex-bass player Brian Pomy Hansen with whom the band has recorded "Paradise Belongs To You", "For The Loveless Lonely Nights" and "Martyre" has rejoined the band. Biran was playing in the band Wizard of Doom with current vocalist Thomas, and when he was contacted by the band he agreed on rejoining.

The band is currently writing new material for the next album and has some European tour dates lined up for the spring of 2008.

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Source:	blog.myspace.com
Band profile:	Saturnus

Tankard has announced their first South American tour ever! This is the message that Gerre posted on their official website:

''Hi Folks!

We proudly announce the dates of our very first South-America-tour! We are really looking forward to thrash and party following cities and clubs:

04.12.07 Santiago (RCH), Galpon Victor Jara
05.12.07 Porto Alegre/RS (BR), Bar Opinião
06.12.07 Cascavel/PR (BR), Cascavel Country Clube
07.12.07 Sao Paulo/SP (BR), Hangar 110
08.12.07 Belo Horizonte/MG (BR), Lapa Multishow

Hope to meet you crazy thrashers on tour!

Cheers Tankard''

Read more ››

Source:	tankard.info
Band profile:	Tankard
Event:	Tankard: South American Tour

Finland's Waltari have announced they will play 4 shows together with Wohnout and Lenka Dusilova in December in Czech Republik.

Mon 10.12. Ostrava Cas Arena
Tue 11.12. Brno Semilasso
Wed 12.12. Jihlava TRANE Club (Only Waltari, no Wohnout+Lenka D.)
Thu 13.12. Zlin Masters of Rock Cafe
Fri 14.12. Praha Sports Hall Folimanka

Read more ››

Source:	waltarimusic.com
Band profile:	Waltari
Event:	United International Friendship Tour

Italian Power Metallers Vision Divine have issued the following update:

"Due to a big problem related with his tendinitis, Federico Puleri isunable to follow the band on the South American Tour. The problem
was known since the Asian shows, but the band decided to try anything possible to solve it. Unfortunately the problem didn't get solved and became even bigger, so the doctor ordered him a full month of rest, and it has been decided not to risk his health. No substitute will be taken, and Olaf will play the South American shows alone. After this tour Federico will be back, fully recovered, healthy and ready
to be on stage again for the next shows... our best wishes to Federico!"

Source:	visiondivine.com
Band profile:	Vision Divine
Event:	Vision Divine: South American Tour

The following update concerning the new album has been posted on the band's website:

"Okay... here is the latest news from Tvangeste camp.
We cannot really say they are good but anyway - no news is the worst thing for it means death. At the same time bad news signify that we are still alive....sorry for such a long introduction folks.

As it was scheduled on May 2007 we were sitting in Europe recording metal parts of the new material. All guitars and basses were recorded so Tvangeste was heading to Sweden to record solo guitars, voices, to make mixdown. We applied for Swedish visas (it's visitors visa - we are still Russian citizens so we need visas in order to visit any other countries). Right up to the end of our studio time in Poland we got a negative answer from Swedish Consulate. I do not know why - they didn't provide us with any reasons of rejecting our applications. In fact they are not ought to. So this unexpected problem fucked up a whole recording schedule! We tried to find a solution but in vain.

we are really sorry for the inconvenience. We know that we've been keeping you waiting for so long and it makes the situation even worse. As we have already mentioned: a whole recording schedule was broken and hence album release date is not certain for now. Sure thing - it will happen sooner or later. We have booked studio time again but this time in Canada.

NOTE!!!! If you would like to get your money back - no problem just let us know and You will get your pre-ordering money refunded immediately."

Source:	tvangeste.com
Band profile:	Tvangeste

The following update has been posted on the Trouble website in October:

''Here we are, waiting for the release of SMC in the States. Can there possibly be any more delays? Anyway, It is now scheduled to come out in Jan 2008. (let's hope). If not, shit will hit the fan. In the meantime, We have decided to release the Unplugged CD. They will start shipping on December 15, 2007. The first 100 sold will be limited editions signed by the band. Pre-orders are being accepted NOW. Only available on the newtrouble.com website.

In other news, a tour is in the works starting in March through April 2008. Exact tour dates not available at this time. But we do know they will hit the majority of Europe.''

Read more ››

Source:	newtrouble.com
Band profile:	Trouble

The following dates have been announced as part of the Scorpions Humanity-Hour1 world tour:

October 31st, 2007 Tokyo Japan
November 10th, 2007 Sibiu Romania
November 28th, 2007 Bordeaux France
November 29th, 2007 Toulouse France
November 30th, 2007 Clermont-Ferrand France
December 4th, 2007 Lisbon Portugal
December 6th, 2007 Guimaraes Portugal
December 12th, 2007 Shillong India
December 14th, 2007 Bombay/Mumbai India
December 16th, 2007 Bangalore India

The band have also posted the following warning banner: "'Regarding the tourdates of the Scorpions Humanity-Hour1 world tour: It is the booking agents policy to publish Scorpions concert dates only when all contracts are signed. Please don´t send us questions regarding dates posted on other websites, all 100% confirmed dates will be posted here immediately.''

Source:	the-scorpions.com
Band profile:	Scorpions
Event:	Scorpions: Humanity-Hour1 World Tour

The following blog was posted on the British Funeral Doomster's MySpace Page:

''As you will have noticed, we have been quite slow with updates lately so I thought I will kickstart some more activity here. First the band news:

We are in the process of recording a two-song promo to send to labels for feedback. It will consist of two ultra epic, lengthy tracks that, although they retain the typical Pantheist flavour, will be more evolved in terms of atmosphere and execution. We hope to have a finished product by the end of this year. Any interested labels that would like to release a future classic in the dark doom genre and lose a lot of money along the way can contact us via the website or this myspace site for a copy of the promo.

For the rest, the band routine has not changed much and as usual includes band members moving abroad or joining other bands. However, rest assured that when the time is there, we will deliver a slab of ridiculously heavy modern doom to crush funereal bedroom projects and atavistic retro hippies alike.

Furthermore, to create some more animosity and controversy, I have decided to follow the example of my good friend Mr Greaves from CBP and occassionally indulge in embarassing yet satisfying rants against everyone and everything, but no one in particular. The frequency will depend on my (nowaydays pretty grumpy) mood, so watch this space...''

Source:	blog.myspace.com
Band profile:	Pantheïst