Last week, Greek Melodic Death metallers Nightfall announced their return with a fresh line-up. Before the weekend, the band issued the following update on the recording process:

"Preproduction is ready to roll. The album will have 12 tracks unfold in 45 minutes approximately. Composed of epic melodies backed by heavy powerful drumming the way it was before trigger mania arrived in the neighbourhood will certainly be a pleasure trip in time for anyone into metal.

Jorg as a studio owner himself (Soundlodge studios, Germany - God Dethroned, Dew-Scented), knows exactly what he is doing, resulting in super efficient drum takes. This makes the process much easier on everyone else, since no stress is accumulated during this initial phase of recording.

Drummer Jörg Uken flew down to Greece to track his parts and do the rehearsals at a studio in Athens. Prior to that a series of guidelines, ideas, and comments had been bouncing back and forth between him and vocalist Efthimis Karadimas for quite some time, so things were pretty honed and he knew exactly where we would want everything! It was really just a matter of Jörg hammering the parts out, since he was already familiar with them.

Jörg comes from an old-school camp of drummers who love hitting hard and loud - before the days of extreme triggering, and hell, even "extreme drumming", for that matter! What this means for the new Nightfall record is that we have a classic metal drum sound going on - beefy, thick, punchy, with force and fury.

After just a few days of slamming both the skins and some beers alike, Jörg will have the drum parts for the record ready; the foundation for the Astron Black & the Thirty Tyrants."

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Nightfall

Original news, posted on 23.06.2009

Polish metallers Behemoth have posted online a new song, "Ov Fire And The Void", on their MySpace page.

"Ov Fire And The Void" comes off the band's forthcoming album, entitled "Evangelion", which is scheduled for release on August 7 in Europe via Nuclear Blast Records and August 11 in North America through Metal Blade.

"Evangelion" cover art] tracklisting:

01. Daimonos
02. Shemhamforash
03. Ov Fire And The Void
04. Transmigrating Beyond Realms Ov Amenti
05. He Who Breeds Pestilence
06. The Seed Ov I
07. Alas, Lord Is Upon Me
08. Defiling Morality Ov Black God
09. Lucifer

UPDATED, on 23.07.2009

Polish metallers Behemoth have posted online another new song, "Shemhamforash", on their MySpace page.

"Shemhamforash" comes off the band's forthcoming album, entitled "Evangelion", which will be released on August 7 in Europe via Nuclear Blast Records and on August 11 in North America through Metal Blade Records.

UPDATE

"Ov Fire And The Void", the new video from Polish metallers Behemoth, has been made available online. The video was filmed by Grupa 13 in Poland.

Nergal comments on the video: "We are proud and we are satisfied. This is our life's work and we are happy to finally get it out to people. Watch and enjoy!"

"Ov Fire And The Void" comes off the band's forthcoming album, entitled "Evangelion", which will be released on August 7 in Europe via Nuclear Blast Records and on August 11 in North America through Metal Blade Records.


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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Behemoth

Original news, posted on 16.05.2009

US metallers Suffocation have posted online a new song, "Cataclysmic Purification", on their MySpace page.

"Cataclysmic Purification" comes off the band's forthcoming album, entitled "Blood Oath", which is scheduled for release on July 3 in Europe (on July 14 in North America) via Nuclear Blast Records.

More details about "Blood Oath" were previously reported at this location.

UPDATE

Suffocation have made the title track to their new album "Blood Oath" available for listening exclusively on the bands Twitter page.

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Suffocation

Deströyer 666 have posted a new song from their upcoming fourth studio album "Defiance" on their official MySpace page. The song is called "A Stand Defiant".

"Defiance" will be released on June 22 via Season Of Mist Records.

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Deströyer 666

Evocation have posted a new video for the track "Tomorrow Has No Sunrise" online. The video comes from the bands latest release, "Dead Chalm Chaos". The video was directed by René U Valdes (Hardcore Superstar, Avatar etc.) fand was shot at Kvarnbyn in Gothenburg (Sweden) on the 14th of April.


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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Evocation

"Severed Reality," the new video from US thrash metalers Warbringer has been made available online at their official Myspace page.

The song comes off the band's new album, "Waking Into Nightmares," which will be released on May 19 via Century Media Records.

Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Warbringer

Dutch metalers Asphyx have posted online a new song, "Scorbutics", on their MySpace page.

"Scorbutics" comes off the band's upcoming album, "Death... The Brutal Way", which will be released on June 22 via Century Media Records.

"Death... The Brutal Way" cover art] tracklisting:

01. Scorbutics
02. The Herald
03. Bloodswamp
04. Death... The Brutal Way
05. Asphyx II (They Died As They Marched)
06. Eisenbahnmörser
07. Black Hole Storm
08. Riflegun Redeemer
09. Cape Horn
10. The Saw, The Torture, The Pain

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Asphyx

Thomas Granzow, the guitarist of German death metalers Ressurected, has issued the following message:

"Most of you fuckers may have read it elsewhere before as I forgot to put it up on MySpace - "Fierce" is the album title for the follow-up on "Endless Sea Of Loss", cover artwork has been finished as well and was done by Plamen Kolev. Thanks to him for his patience altering his sketch a thousand times, hahaha...

Album tracks are "New Reign Rising", "Perverse Consecration", "Urge To Murder", "Tortured By Deities", "Divine Masturbation", "Hindsight", "Gunshot Victim", "Slumdog", "Mental Retardation" and "Day Of Suffering" (Morbid Angel cover version).

Mixing is set for March 27th at Soundlodge Recording under the firm hands of Jörg Uken."

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Resurrected

Crystal Eyes have posted the following message on their official MySpace page:

"Recently Nico let us know that he didn't have the time to play live with Crystal Eyes anymore so we've decided to carry on as a four piece band. This is how we've been rehearsing all the time and the only change is that Mikael is once again doing the lead vocals.

Mikael - "The reasons I once handed over the lead vocals are just not there anymore, and since I wrote all vocal melodies for my voice it wasn't a big step to be the lead singer once again. I actually never stopped singing. I've been the singer of the Judas Priest tribute band "Defenders Of The Faith" the whole time, recorded all the vocals for Crystal Eyes' demos, backing vocals on the albums, and of course the lead vocals on the closing song on our three last albums."

We've put up two of those songs in the second player a bit down at http://www.myspace.com/crystaleyesfromsweden "Guardian" and "The Halls Of Valhalla". Plus an edited medley of the demo recordings of "Chained" featuring Mikael on lead vocals. (The vocals on the demo recordings are first takes with no real lyrics. Just random "Heavy Metal words".) You may also find some other surprises in this new player."

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Crystal Eyes

Hatesphere have posted a new song online enttled "Backstabber" on their official MySpace page. The band commented: "Here's a song that musically is a little bit all over the place, as far as getting a taste of what is to come on the new album. Pepe and Jakob penned it and we all assembled it last year. It's also Me and Joller's response to the mindless violent crimes, leading kids to die in the streets of Copenhagen." The lyrics of the song can be read here.

The track comes off the band's new upcoming album, "To The Nines", which will be released on the following dates:

23 Mar: Denmark
25 Mar: Finland, Spain
27 Mar: Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Benelux, France, Italy, Sweden
30 Mar: Europe
07 Apr: USA, Canada

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Hatesphere

Queensrÿche have posted the following statement on their official MySpace:

"Queensrÿche envisions war through the eyes of a soldier with the band's twelfth studio release, the epic concept album "American Soldier". The ambitious album encompasses a dozen songs inspired by numerous interviews with veterans conducted by Geoff Tate, the group's singer and chief songwriter, who was intent on telling their story using their words. After speaking with soldiers who served in various conflicts - from World War II to Iraq - Tate turned their firsthand experiences from the frontlines into an unflinching musical examination of the life of a solider and the consequences of war. "American Soldier" will be available from Atco/Rhino on March 31 for a suggested list price of $18.98 (CD) and $9.99 (digital).

Geoff Tate, Michael Wilton (guitar), Ed Jackson (bass) and Scott Rockenfield (drums) recorded the album in 2008 over the course of nine months. The idea for "American Soldier", Tate says, came from hearing stories from fans that are veterans, as well as his own father, who served in both Korea and Vietnam. "My father was a career military man, but until very recently he never spoke about what he went through. I think that reticence is true of a lot of veterans, which means most people never truly understand what it means to be a soldier at war. Hearing what he and some of our fans have endured made me want to share their stories with the world. This is an album about the soldiers, for the soldiers, as told by the soldiers themselves."

Those stories resonate at the heart of "American Soldier", imbuing each song with vivid details about both the emotional and physical impacts of war, evoking war zone battles ("Middle Of Hell"), sacrifice ("The Killer"), loss ("If I Were King"), the longing for home ("Remember Me"), and adjusting to society after returning from war ("Man Down!").

Geoff Tate recorded many of his interviews with the soldiers, and some dialogue from these discussions is mixed into several of tracks, allowing the soldiers' own words to help tell their compelling stories. The band also brought a few of the soldiers into the studio with them to record vocals. The verses of the track "Unafraid" feature the voices of Chris Devine, a Vietnam veteran, and Sean Lenahan, a veteran of Somalia, recalling their war experiences while Tate provides the anthemic chorus. Also making a guest vocal appearance is Tate's 10-year-old daughter Emily on the gripping duet "Home Again," which examines the emotional toll of war from two perspectives, with Geoff singing from the soldier's point of view and his daughter singing from the viewpoint of the child left behind.

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Queensrÿche

Behemoth have issued the following text on their official Myspace page:

"The band has just been officially confirmed for the USA Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival tour which is scheduled to kick off July 10 in Sacramento, California. The headlining bands of this tour are Slayer and Marilyn Manson. The other confirmed bands are Bullet For My Valentine, Trivium, Cannibal Corpse, God Forbid, The Black Dahlia Murder, and Job For A Cowboy.

Behemoth will also play with Slayer on their 3-week pre-Mayhem Festival tour. That tour will include a dates in "B-markets" - smaller cities which the Mayhem Festival will not reach. We will update you with the dates and more information real soon.

Nergal's comments about Behemoth being part of this prestigious tour: "I cannot find words to express the enthusiasm that literally blows us up! It's a great ennoblement to be accompanied by Slayer and Marilyn Manson. This is the best reward that we could ever get after a dozen of years of hard work and wandering in various venues all over the world. I can promise that Behemoth will be at its best. We will play a cross-sectional set with some new material included!"

The dates are as follows:

Jul. 10 - Sacramento, CA
Jul. 11 - San Francisco, CA
Jul. 12 - San Bernardino, CA
Jul. 14 - Seattle, WA
Jul. 17 - Phoenix, AZ
Jul. 18 - Albuquerque, NM
Jul. 19 - Denver, CO
Jul. 21 - Kansas City
Jul. 22 - St. Louis, MO
Jul. 24 - Atlanta, GA
Jul. 25 - Indianapolis, IN
Jul. 26 - Chicago, IL
Jul. 28 - Toronto, ON
Jul. 29 - Scranton, PA
Jul. 31 - Cleveland, OH
Aug. 01 - Pittsburgh, PA
Aug. 02 - Detroit, MI
Aug. 04 - Boston, MA
Aug. 06 - Virginia Beach, VA
Aug. 07 - Camden, NJ
Aug. 08 - Hartford, CT
Aug. 09 - Washington, DC
Aug. 11 - Tampa, FL
Aug. 12 - West Palm Beach, FL
Aug. 14 - Dallas, TX
Aug. 15 - Houston, TX
Aug. 16 - San Antonio, TX

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Behemoth
Event:	Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival 2009

German thrashers Abandoned have posted the following message on their official MySpace page:

"Due to a general lack of time because of his day-job and stuff, Sven Vormann leaves the band. We wish him all the best and regret this decision wholeheartedly. As his successor we'd like to introduce you to Jan S. Mischon, who replaced Sven temporarily earlier on our little tour with Tankard around x-mas time 2008 and helped us out when we were playing Wacken and Earthshaker Festivals in 2005.

So Jan will be the drummer on our next CD, which we will start recording in May 2009 or so to deliver the ultimate thrash grenade by the end of the year."

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Source:	blogs.myspace.com
Band profile:	Abandoned

Official press release

Texas-based mythological occult metal band Absu have posted the song "Girra's Temple" from their self-titled new album due in stores February 24 on their official MySpace page. The song offers fans the first listen to material on the anxiously awaited new album that features an all-star array of guest musicians.

"Absu" is the first new recording from the trio since their highly acclaimed album "Tara" released in 2001. Produced by the band with mixing assistance from J.T. Longoria (King Diamond, Solitude Aeturnus), the album features artwork from Belgian artist Kris Verwimp. Drummer/vocalist Proscriptor says of the album's lyrical concepts, "I am concentrating more on Sumerian-based occult themes of magick and mythology versus the Celtic aspect of my previous writings, which was heavily expressed on the last few Absu studio albums. Musically speaking, the material will be quite similar to Tara, but with more of a '70s progressive/psychedelic texture within it."

Absu came to international prominence with the release of their debut, "Barathrum: VITRIOL", in 1992. Originally released via Gothic Records, the label later licensed the record to France's Osmose Productions (Immortal, Enslaved, Marduk). Absu would establish a solid relationship with the label and thus release all later recordings via the renowned independent, including the highly regarded "Tara" (2001). In 2007, the band would announce a new partnership with London-based Candlelight Records.

Here's the tracklisting for "Absu" cover] again:

01. Between The Absu Of Eridu & Erech
02. Night Fire Canonization
03. Amy
04. Nunbarshegunu
05. 13 Globes
06. ?Of The Dead Who Never Rest In Their Tombs Are The Attendance Of Familiar Spirits?
a) Diversified Signs Inscribed
b) Our Earth Of Black
c) Voor
07. Magic(k) Square Cipher
08. In The Name Of Auebothiabathabaithobeuee
09. Girra's Temple
10. Those Of The Void Will Re-Enter
11. Sceptre Command
12. Ye Uttuku Spells
13. Twix Yesterday, The Day & The Morrow

The release dates are:

Europe, February 16th,
North America, February 24th.

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Absu

German metallers Kreator have posted online a new song, entitled "Warcurse", on their MySpace page.

The track comes off the band's new album, entitled "Hordes Of Chaos", which will be released in Europe on January 19, 2009 via SPV Records (January 16 in Germany and January 13 in the US).
"Hordes Of Chaos" was recorded at Berlin's Tritonus studios under the direction of producer Moses Schneider. The cover artwork was created by Joachim Luetke.

"Hordes Of Chaos" cover] tracklisting:

Disc I
01. Hordes Of Chaos (A Necrologue For The Elite)
02. Warcurse
03. Escalation
04. Amok Run
05. Destroy What Destroys You
06. Radical Resistance
07. Absolute Misanthropy
08. To The Afterborn
09. Corpses Of Liberty
10. Demon Prince

Disc II
+ The making Of "Hordes Of Chaos"
+ Awakening Of The Gods
+ Coma Of Souls
+ Hordes Of Chaos

Also a trailer for the CD (in German, with English subtitles) can be viewed at this location.

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Kreator