Finnish gothic metallers Dark The Suns have parted ways with keyboardist Juha Kokkonen. According to the remaining members of the group, "Juha felt that he doesn't have enough time for band anymore. We thank Juha for the time we spent together and wish all the best for him!"

A replacement is expected to be announced soon.

Source:	darkthesuns.com
Band profile:	Dark The Suns

Santa Cruz, CA's Brain Drill are pleased to announce the addition of Ivan Munguia as the bands new bassist. Ivan has played bass for metal acts such as Carnivorous and Odious Mortem.

"I'm stoked to be playing with such high caliber musicians, in a band as crushing and talented as Brain Drill. Soon, we'll be out on the road laying waste to crowds, and delivering some sick new tunes" comments Ivan.

Brain Drill are currently hard at work rehearsing with Ivan and Joe to get them up to speed on the band's current material and plan to hit the road as soon as they can. Brain Drill are also currently hard at work on new tracks for the follow up to their devastating debut "Apocalyptic Feasting".

Fans can head over to YouTube (here and here) to check out some tryout footage featuring new drummer Joe Bondra playing two tracks from "Apocalyptic Feasting".

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Source:	blog.myspace.com
Band profile:	Brain Drill

Finish metal band Children Of Bodom have posted their newest video "Smile Pretty For The Devil" online. The video can be watched on their official MySpace site.
The video was directed by Sandra Marschner for Katapult Filmproduktion. "Smile Pretty For The Devil" is taken from Children Of Bodom's new album, "Blooddrunk", which was released in April this year.

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Children Of Bodom

American drone doom metallers Earth have announced the following US tour dates:

9/18 - Portland, Oregon - The Artistry
9/19 - Seattle, Washington - VERA Project
9/20 - Anacortes, Washington - Department Of Safety
9/23 - Seattle, Washington - Showbox Sodo
9/24 - Seattle, Washington - Showbox Sodo
10/11 - Providence, Rhode Island - Brown University
10/12 - Portland, Maine - Time Of Rivers Festival
10/13 - Boston, Massachusetts - Great Scott
10/14 - Brooklyn, New York - Union Pool
10/15 - Allentown, Pennsylvania- The Sterling Hotel
10/16 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - First Unitarian Church (Sanctuary) w/ Sunn O))) and Thou
10/17 - New York, New York - Columbia University
10/18 - New Haven, Connecticut - Wesleyan University
10/19 - New York, New York - Knitting Factory

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Earth
Event:	Earth: USA Tour

The Haunted will be streaming their entire new album "Versus" on their official MySpace page for one week, from September 12 through September 19. A short trailer promoting this clearly monumental event can be watched here.

"Versus" will be released through Century Media Records on the following dates:

Sweden: Wednesday, September 17
Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Benelux, Italy: Friday, September 19
Spain, Portugal: Tuesday, September 23
Finland, Hungary: Wednesday, September 24
UK, France, Greece, Denmark, Norway, Rest Of Europe: Monday, September 22
North America: Tuesday, October 14

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Source:	blog.myspace.com
Band profile:	The Haunted

Swedish industrial/goth metallers Deathstars have issued the following update on their official site:

"Deathstars have finished the recordings in the studio and have now entered ToyTown Studios to start the mixing with Stefan Glaumann.''

The band has also announced some new songtitles of the album.

The first songtitles that'll be revealed are:

Night Electric Night
Chertograd
Blood Stains Blondes
Opium
Venus In Arms

Source:	deathstars.net
Band profile:	Deathstars

Swedish melodic-death metallers Engel have entered in PUK studio in Gjerlev, Denmark with Danish producer Tue Madsen (The Haunted, Himsa, Sick Of It All) to begin recording its sophomore album for an early 2009 release via SPV Records.

The band has also launched a studio blog featuring photos and regular updates from the recording sessions.

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Source:	engelpropaganda.com
Band profile:	Engel

Finnish black metallers Horna will release their seventh album, "Sanojesi Äärelle", on September 29th via Debemur Morti Productions. You can also see the artwork
of the new album, at this location.

On "Sanojesi Äärelle", "the abyssic ones have conceived a dual tribute to the energies that stimulate them - one side worshipping Satanic darkness, one praising Luciferian light," according to a press release.

"Sanojesi Äärelle" tracklisting:

Disc I:

01. Muinaisten Alttarilta
02. Verilehto
03. Mustan Kirkkauden Sarastus
04. Katseet
05. Askeesi
06. Sanojesi Äärelle
07. Orjaroihu
08. Risti Ja Ruoska
09. Wikinger
10. Merkuriana

Disc II:

01. Liekki Ja Voima
02. Ruumisalttari
03. Musta Rukous
04. Baphometin Siunaus

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Source:	debemur-morti.com
Band profile:	Horna

Hungarian heavy metal band Ossian have made three new tracks available for streaming. You can listen to the songs on their official MySpace. These track are from the band's soon upcoming album, called "Küldetés" (Mission), which will be released on September 8th
via HAmmer Records Hungary. The album was recorded once again with the help of their longtime producer/friend Miklós Küronya at the studio P in Törökbálint.

"Küldetés" tracklisting:

01. Ébredés (Awakening) (intro)
02. A Számuzött visszatér (Outcast's Return)
03. A Véletlen (The Accident)
04. Új Aranykor /New Golden Age)
05. Asszony feketében (Woman In Black)
06. Mondd ki! (Fire Away!)
07. A koszikla (The Cliff)
08. Az ördögök mennyországa (Devils' Heaven)
09. Az Életvonal (Life Line)
10. A Küldetés (The Mission)
11. A Nagybetus Szavak (Words With Capitals)
12. Jó idoben, jó helyen (Good Time, Good Place)
13. Útközben (On The Way)

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Ossian

Brazilian metallers Soulfly have announced some new tour dates in Russia in October, plus one show in Ukraine, which will take place at the end of September.

Here are the following dates of "Russian Conquer Tour 2008":

Sep. 29 - Sport Arena - Odessa, Ukraine
Oct. 01 - B1 Club - Moscow, Russia
Oct. 03 - Sport Arena Trud - Irkutsk, Siberia
Oct. 05 - Gavana Club - Krasnoyarsk, Siberia
Oct. 06 - Rock City - Novosibirsk, Siberia
Oct. 07 - XL Club - Omsk, Siberia

Soulfly's new album "Conquer" is the band's sixth effort, and was released on July 29, 2008.

Source:	soulflyweb.com
Band profile:	Soulfly
Event:	Russian Conquer Tour 2008

Vocalist Jon Howard from Canadian metal band Threat Signal has posted the following statement:

"So I think its time I should let you know whats going on with the new album. We've been working really hard for almost a year writing and doing pre production for the new album. And I couldnt be more stoked on the songs! If you thought "Under Reprisal" was killer, you need to check this shit out. The album is 95% writen, and we will be hitting the studio in Nov to start recording the real thing. So with that said, we'll be looking at a release date early next year.
I'll have a lot more details for you soon...

You can also catch us in the East Cost on these dates playing new songs from the record"

Threat Signal tour dates:

Sep. 20 - Casbah - Hamilton, ONT
Sep. 22 - Mr. McGills - Utica, NY
Sep. 23 - Knitting Factory - New York, NY
Sep. 24 - Jaxx - Springfield, VA
Sep. 25 - Club Diablo - Buffalo, NY
Sep. 26 - The Jigsaw - Parma, OH
Sep. 27 - Madame Walker Theater - Metal Fest II - Indianapolis, IN

Source:	blog.myspace.com
Band profile:	Threat Signal

American grindcore metallers Misery Index have posted another new track online, entilted "Ghosts Of Catalonia". You can listen to the song on their MySpace site. The song comes from the band's new forthcoming album "Traitors", which will be released on September 30th in USA and on October 6th in the rest of the world via Relapse Records.

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Misery Index

Anders "Blakkheim" Nyström from Swedish metallers Katatonia has issued the following statement on the bands official site:

"We can hear many questions? "Why is there no new Katatonia album out by now???"

And you might rightfully think so, our eighth album (and the last in the contract with Peaceville) should have been done and put out "ages ago" if things would've gone according to plan? It's crazy how fast time goes by these days and that doesn't help us much when inspiration runs dry. We've been meaning to enter the studio on many occasions already since two years back and I think we ended up canceling booked sessions twice. Although it worked successfully every time in the past, it just got us stressed out and pushed us into a phase of writer's block. From this we learned we better not book anything in advance as it stands, but focus on completing 100% of the material, be perfectly happy with what we got and first then hit the studio.

It seems we might pull things together for maximum devotion this time as all current and previous distractions are now gone. The summer festivals are over and the level of live gigs for the next months are put to a minimum and Bloodbath - our Death Metal side-project's new album is done too (to be released on October 6th, check it out or all our hard work was for nothing hah!).

So what about the music? Bits and pieces have been collected ever since The Great Cold Distance came out. It's just that we've been trying too hard, been thinking too much about the sound and direction. How can we top this and how can we change that. We've been stumbling around off-road looking for the answers and it ended up being a long walk. We don't find it meaningful to trace your own footsteps back from where you came, but we rather find the first nearest exit to the same road up ahead where we're at to get back on the map again.

I wont give away any hints just yet about how it will sound, but we hope to give you more light on the progress of this untitled embryo as we get closer. What's certain is that we've found a good equation to work with now and that my friends is that it's all about the eighth studio album and the autumn. Here comes the Katatonia season?"

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Source:	katatonia.com
Band profile:	Katatonia

Midnattsol have posted the following update:

"It is a great pleasure for us to announce that we have finally found a new guitarist for Midnattsol. We have been having a good feeling about it for a while now, but latest after our gig on the Summer Breeze Festival it was clear:

We welcome Fabian Pospiech in the Midnattsol-familiy!!

We are sure that Fabian is the right new guitarist for Midnattsol, he certainly gives the band a lot through his amazing musical skills and his cheerful personality.

Thanx a lot to everyone who applied for this position, we got so impressed by the fact that guitarists from the whole world were sending us their applications! We are very sorry if we haven't got the chance to thank each of you individually, so on this place: Thank you all so much for your application and your interest in Midnattsol, it means a lot to us!"

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Source:	midnattsol.com
Band profile:	Midnattsol

Swedish metallers Evergrey have made their entire new album "Torn" available for streaming on their MySpace site. The album streaming will be available only for one week (starting Tuesday the 2nd of September).

Evergrey's seventh studio album will be released via Steamhammer/SPV (which is the band's new label) on the following dates:

Germany: September 19
Rest of Europe: September 22
USA/Canada: September 23

"Torn" tracklisting:

01. Broken Wings
02. Soaked
03. Fear
04. When Kingdoms Fall
05. In Confidence
06. Fail
07. Numb
08. Torn
09. Nothing Is Erased
10. Still Walk Alone
11. These Scars

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Evergrey