Danzig have confirmed a Full US Tour on "Blackest Of The Black" to coincide with the 20th Anniversary of the release of the 1st Danzig Album on Def American. Danzig has not done a Full US Tour in some time and who knows when he will again. "It will be nice to get back to many of these Cities that I have not been to in some time and do the Live Show for all the People who've followed My Music all these Years". Danzig continues: "I'm also very happy to have Dimmu Borgir sharing the Stage this time, as they are one of my Favorite Bands and always wanted them on Blackest Of The Black. Should be an INCREDIBLE 20th Anniversary Tour."

This year's "Blackest Of The Black" tour, headlined by Danzig, will kick off in October and will feature support from Dimmu Borgir, Moonspell, Winds Of Plague, and Skeletonwitch. Announced live dates include:

10/09 Ft. Laudersale, FL @ Revolution
10/10 Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live
10/11 Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
10/13 Richmond, VA @ Toads Place
10/14 Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
10/15 New York, NY @ Roseland
10/17 Worcester, MA @ Palladium
10/18 Montreal, QC @ Metropolis
10/19 Toronto, ONT @ Sound Academy
10/21 Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave
10/22 Minneapolis, MN @ Myth
10/24 Detroit, MI @ Fillmore Theater
10/25 Chicago, IL @ Congress Theater
10/26 St. Louis, MO @ Pageant
10/28 Houston, TX @ House Of Blues
10/30 Dallas, TX @ Palladium
10/31 Kansas City, KS @ Uptown
11/01 Denver, CO @ Fillmore Theater
11/03 Las Vegas, NV @ The Joint
11/05 Los Angeles, CA @ Gibson Amphitheater
11/07 Portland, OR @ Roseland
11/08 Seattle, WA @ Showbox At Market
11/10 San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield

Read more ››

Source:	blackestoftheblack.com
Band profile:	Danzig
Event:	Blackest Of The Black Tour

"Booze, Broads And Beelzebub", the forthcoming sophomore album from Chrome Division, the Norwegian five-piece featuring Dimmu Borgir frontman Shagrath (a.k.a. Stian Thoresen), is scheduled for release in North America on August 19, 2008 and in Europe on July 18, 2008 via Nuclear Blast Records.

The album was recorded at Studio Fredman in Sweden during January 2008 and contains the following cover art and tracks:

01. The Second Coming (Intro)
02. Booze, Broads and Beelzebub Listen]
03. Wine Of Sin
04. Raven Black Cadillac
05. Life Of A Fighter
06. The Devil Walks Proud
07. Hate This Town
08. The Boys From The East
09. Doomsday Riders
10. Lets Hear It
11. Sharp Dressed Man
12. Bad Broad (Good Girl Gone Bad)
13. Raise Your Flag

The material is described by the band as "a bit more varied than on "Doomsday Rock 'n Roll". A bit more metal, more fast stuff, but still the basics in filthy rock 'n' roll."

More about the band on http://www.myspace.com/chromedivision.

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Source:	nuclearblast.de
Band profile:	Chrome Division

Abysmal Dawn's brand new album "Programmed To Consume" is currently streaming in its entirety at this location, courtesy of Dutch website 3voor12.nl. The band's debut on Relapse Records was recorded last November with producer John Haddad (Intronaut, Phobia, Eyes Of Fire), and was scheduled for a May 13th North American release (May 17th internationally).

Read more ››

Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Abysmal Dawn

Belgian Heavy metal band Gitaron have announced they've changed their line up once more. The word from the band is that in may 2008, Gitaron decided to continue without guitar player Aaron Onghena. Shorlty after the departure of Aaron, also drummer Tom Willems decided to leave the band due to personal reasons. His place was taken over by Freddie Vandenberghe, brother of bass player Wilfried. The new guitar player is David Van Gompel.

The statement from the band reads as follows:

"Tom Willems has decided to leave the band due personal reasons. We want to thank him for the time he spend with Gitaron and wish him all the best. In the meantime, Freddie Vandenberghe will take over his drumming duties. Welcome Freddie!"

Gitaron has also found a new guitar player! His name is David Van Gompel. This young talented guy will be an excellent addition to the band. Together with Gio, David will also take care of the solo parts. Welcome in the band David!"

Current line up is as follows:
Nico De Clercq: vocals
Giovanni Smet: guitars, backing vocals
David Van Gompel: guitars
Wilfried Vandenberghe: bass
Freddie Vandenberghe: drums

Gitaron are currently working on their first full-length album.

Source:

gitaron.be

Swedish metallers Scar Symmetry's latest album, "Holographic Universe", can now be streamed in its entirety at the group's MySpace Page.

01. Morphogenesis
02. Timewave Zero
03. Quantumleaper
04. Artificial Sun Projection
05. The Missing Coordinates
06. Ghost Prototype I (Measurement of Thought)
07. Fear Catalyst
08. Trapezoid
09. Prism and Gate
10. Holographic Universe
11. The Three-Dimensional Shadow
12. Ghost Prototype II (Deus Ex Machina)

"Holographic Universe" is scheduled for release in Europe on June 20, 2008 and in North America on July 8, 2008 via Nuclear Blast Records.

Read more ››

Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Scar Symmetry

As I Lay Dying singer Tim Lambesis will see the debut album, "Total Brutal", from his new side-project, Austrian Death Machine, released on July 22nd in North America through Metal Blade Records. The album will be available on July 25th (Germany/Austria/Switzerland/Italy) / July 28th rest of Europe. The first single from the "Total Brutal" album, "If It Bleeds, We Can Kill It", is now available at the band's MySpace page.

The track features the voice of Ahhnold as Dutch from the movie Predator screaming back and forth with the Predator himself. Comments main-man Tim Lambesis: "In the first verse Ahhnold is talking trash about how he's going to take Predator down, but in the second verse Predator comes back spittin' his evil game. This is the classic struggle of good and evil but with way bigger muscles and more brutal double bass. In fact, I think it's the breakdown about 1/2 way through the song that crushes Predator's evil once and for all".

Here's what frontman Ahhnold had to say about the band's first single: "Most bands put all of their good songs first. Instead I decided to release track 15 first to prove that this album is Total Brutal from start to finish. If you like this song, then get ready for 17 tracks of punishing brutality when the CD finally hits.... or when I hit you in the face for not buying it. Whichever happens first, at least we know things only get better from here."

Austrian Death Machine's "Total Brutal" tracklisting:

01. Hello California
02. Get To The Choppa
03. Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers
04. All Of The Songs Sound The Same
05. I Am A Cybernetic Organism, Living Tissue Over (Metal) Endoskeleton
06. Come With Me If You Want To Live
07. What It's like To Be A Singer At Band Practice
08. Who Is Your Daddy, And What Does He Do?
09. You Have Just Been Erased
10. Broo-Tall Song Idea
11. Here Is Subzero, Now Plain Zero
12. So Far, So Good, So Let's Talk About It
13. Screw You (Benny)
14. Why?
15. If It Bleeds, We Can Kill It
16. It's Not A Tumor
17. Not So Hidden Track

Get pumped and check out http://www.myspace.com/austriandeathmachine. All info about the album here.

Read more ››

Source:

blog.myspace.com

Meshuggah's Tomas Haake has been named the No. 1 drummer in the "Metal" category in the July 2008 Modern Drummer magazine's 2008 Readers' Poll.
The Readers' Poll results appear in the July 2008 issue of the magazine.

2008 results in the "Metal" category:

01. Tomas Haake (Meshuggah)
02. Jason Bittner (Shadows Fall)
03. Chris Adler (Lamb Of God)
04. Derek Roddy (ex-Hate Eternal)
05. Joey Jordison (Slipknot)

Read more ››

Source:	nuclearblast.de
Band profile:	Meshuggah

The following message was posted, two weeks ago, by Amsterdam-fronted Progressive Death metallers Obisidian:

"There is no turning back. End of August drummer Melle Kramer will start the recording of our next album in studio Excess. To the outside world there is an eerie silence before the storm. But behind the scenes we are burning rubber. Test recordings, artwork, practice sessions and group hugs don't come cheap you know."

The new album is expected to be released later this year (or in early 2009) through Rusty Cage Records.

Source:	obsidian.nu
Band profile:	Obsidian

The following update has been posted on http://www.myspace.com/metalchurch:

"We have been getting so many emails about tour dates we wanted to give you an update on the plans for this years US dates. Metal Church will only be doing a handful of show later this summer at larger venues to accomodate more of the fans. These shows are currently being booked by Chuck Bernal at Artists Worldwide and will be recorded for our live album. It has been a long time since we have released a live album and this is the perfect opportunity.

We do have a couple special dates that have been confirmed. The first date is August 2, 2008 Mapplewood MN with Judas Priest. The second date is August 16th in San Juan Puerto Rico at Roberto Clemente Coliseum with Queensrÿche.

We are really looking forward to these shows and we will keep you all posted on the other dates as soon as we know more."

Metal Church's upcoming album "This Present Wasteland" is scheduled for an autumn release through SPV.

Read more ››

Source:	blog.myspace.com
Band profile:	Metal Church

Into Eternity guitarist/songwriter Tim Roth has announced that the band's upcoming album "The Incurable Tragedy" should be mixed by the end of the week. He added: "The album is sounding really cool and we can't wait to release the record to everybody soon."

In the meantime, dates have officially been announced the Summer Slaughter Canada Tour. Necrophagist, Dying Fetus, Beneath The Massacre, Into Eternity, Neuraxis, Whitechapel, Veil Of Maya, Divinity, and Common Grave are teaming up for the Summer Slaughter Canada tour, set to take place in August.

Confirmed dates are as follows:

Aug. 14 - Quebec City, QC - Imperial
Aug. 15 - Montreal, QC - Club Soda
Aug. 16 - Toronto, ON - Opera House
Aug. 18 - Thunder Bay, ON - Kilroys
Aug. 19 - Winnipeg, MB - Garrick Center
Aug. 20 - Regina, SK - Riddell Center
Aug. 21 - Calgary, AB - Warehouse
Aug. 22 - Edmonton, AB - Starlite
Aug. 23 - Prince George, BC - Roll-a-Dome
Aug. 25 - Vancouver, BC - Commodore Ballroom (no Common Grave, Divinity)

Read more ››

Source:	blog.myspace.com
Band profile:	Into Eternity
Event:	The Summer Slaughter Tour 2008 - Canada

Century Media Records and Finnish symphonic fantasy/folk metallers Kivimetsän Druidi have signed a worldwide record deal. Kivimetsän Druidi, who played a massive European tour supporting fellow Finnish folkmetalheads Korpiklaani last October and November, have entered Noice Camp studio in Turku in order to record their forthcoming debut album due to be released at the end of October 2008.

"Kivimetsän Druidi members are extremely pleased with the deal with Century Media Records whose impressive catalogue speaks for itself. It is great to be a part of the Century Media family with such awesome bands like Turisas, Strapping Young Lad, Lacuna Coil and Arch Enemy."

During the summer Kivimetsän Druidi will play only a handful of festival gigs as they are busy recording their forthcoming album, but when the autumn comes they will tour extensively both in Finland and abroad.

More about Kivimetsän Druidi on http://www.myspace.com/kivimetsandruidi.

Read more ››

Source:	www2.centurymedia.com
Band profile:	Kivimetsän Druidi

The 2008 edition of the Castle Festival, set to take place from July 1st - 5th in Smederevo Fortress, Serbia has reportedly been cancelled.

According to a posting on Helloween's website, who were headlining day 5, "the Castle Festival in Smederevo/Serbia has to be cancelled from the side of the local promoter because of the political situation and local incidents in the country."

An official statement on the Castle Festival website is expected soon.

Read more ››

Source:	helloween.org
Event:	Castle Festival - CANCELLED!

Die Apokalyptischen Reiter have posted two new tracks, entitled "Es Wird Schlimmer" and "Der Weg", from the upcoming album "Licht" on the group's MySpace page.

The band will release an exclusive EP "Der Weg", via iTunes on June 27. "Der Weg" will feature four songs, two of which will only be available on this EP. The new album "Licht" is scheduled for a August 29 release through Nuclear Blast Records.

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Source:	blog.myspace.com
Band profile:	Die Apokalyptischen Reiter

Voting for the UK wide initiative Metal 2 The Masses has opened. Bloodstock was inundated with venues wanting to host their own heats in order to put forward 4 bands to represent their area. All the voters have to do is go to the forum page on www.bloodstock.uk.com and click on the unsigned section and well, basically...vote for the band of your choice at each venue. From over 50 venue applicants hosts were selected at Alton, Birmingham, Derby, Glasgow, Kent and Swindon. Each of these partner venues held several heats over March, April and May to find the best Metal bands in and around their county.

Bloodstock's Clive Leighton who heads up the Unsigned Stages and Marquees, is personally handling M2TM. Winning bands will be announced on 01 July and they'll all earn a place on the Bloodstock Unsigned stage.

More info at this location and at this location.

(Thanks alexo dynami)

Read more ››

Source:	bloodstock.uk.com
Event:	Bloodstock Open Air 2008

Norwegian Black Metallers Gorgoroth have announced their live line up. Gorgoroth live members this summer are Nick Barker on drums, Teloch and Ice Dale on guitars. The band added "Be prepared for some spectacular shows."

Read more ››

Source:	gorgoroth.org
Band profile:	Gorgoroth