Japanese death/doom metallers Coffins are confirmed for Maryland Deathfest 2010

Organizers for the Maryland Deathfest announced today that Japanese death/doom metallers Coffins, Dutch extreme metallers Melechesh and Dutch powerviolence act Jesus Cröst will be performing at next year’s event, scheduled for May 2010.

Coffins are easily one of my favorite death/doom metal acts, haven’t listened to either of the other bands, but judging by samples I heard on MySpace, as Georges St. Pierre would say… I am not impressed by their performances.

More acts are expected to be announced on Friday, including one of the headliners.  Here’s a list of the first 18 acts announced last week.

Cephalectomy set to release An Epitaph To Tranquility on July 17th

Canadian mystical death grinder Cephalectomy have announced they’ll be releasing their fourth full length effort, An Epitaph To Tranquility, as a free digital download on July 17th.

Yes, finally the news you’ve all been waiting for. The new Cephalectomy album An Epitaph To Tranquility will be available for free download on Friday, July 17th. The album consists of 12 tracks and clocks in at just under 31 minutes. The download will include the whole album (Mp3 Format @ 320Kbps) + the album artwork at full quality, so for those of you who didn’t order a cd, the option to burn/print off your own copy will be there. We don’t have a 100% exact date for when we will have the cds in our hands, but for those of you who ordered copies, they will be in the mail as soon as we have them. Thanks to everyone who’s supported us over the years! Stay Sick!

New Cephalectomy material, available for free on Friday.  If this news doesn’t give you a death grinding boner, you are truly dead to me.  All of their previous recordings are fucking amazing, especially their last effort, The Dream Cycle Mythos.  Haven’t heard it?  Here’s a quick sample fresh from the band’s website;

Their entire Eclipsing The Dawn full length is available, remastered and free, from the band’s site, be sure to check it out; http://www.cephalectomy.com/

Putrescence announce line-up changes

Winnipeg death grind maniacs’ Putrescence announce the sudden departure of guitar player Colostomy Bag Darrell from the band.

“Bag Darrell has decided to pursue a degree as a Mortuary science student at the Gary University of Funeral Service Education in Indiana,” commented Teufel’s Tomb scribe and Putrescence vocalist Soiled Depends while enjoying the twisting fumes of a Black Snake firecracker celebrating July 4th in his back yard. “It turns out that he thinks he’ll be even more brutal in life without our band holding him back. I think it’s a bunch of bullshit. We’ve sang about a million more corpses that he’ll ever get to embalm. We’re accredited in death metal and Fulci movies; he’s going to be accredited in washing a hearse. It’s fuck all, really. Maybe there is hope for us here…or maybe we are just going mad.”

“I got tired of being a shitty bar metal band,” replied Bag Darrell when tracked down for comment at his new residence in Englewood, Chicago. “Opening up for Drowning Pool and Exhumed were a couple of boner moves for sure and now it just never stops. They seem to love it; the parties, driving fast, getting wild, but you know I need to think about me before I end up getting angrily stomped to death or something”. Bag Darrell plans to complete his studies in 4 years and looks forward to cremating the members of Putrescence one day. “You tell people the truth: I didn’t get kicked out, I left. I’m gone, just like the frigid snows of yesteryear.”

While the news may come as a shock to fans worldwide, Soiled Depends is pleased to announce that things are moving ahead with the band.

“We got this guy that people in the band are excited about. Grimmgore called me from the Camen Islands to tell me about it yesterday. His name is “Snake J. Danger Terror”. Apparently he doesn’t frighten easily and from what I hear he has absolutely no faith in anything. We’ve been using his gear for the last four years and I don’t seem to have a terrible feeling about the bands’ sound changing at all.”

Be on the lookout for the re-vamped Putrescence who will soon be announcing a brief string of Eastern Canadian tour dates.

Belgian grinders Leng Tch'e begin work on their new full length

Belgian grinders Leng Tch’e have announced they’ve begun work on writing their new full length, and first since the departures of Aborted’s Sven de Caluwe (drums), guitarist Geert Devenster and vocalist Boris Cornelissen (ex-Suppository).

So it’s been a while since our last update but that’s because we’ve been crazy busy playing shows (UK Deathfest, Neurotic Deathfest, Gore Galore Fest, Suffering Life Fest – they all kicked ass) and writing songs for the next album. That’s right, I said it! We currently have 14 songs ready for a total playing time of 35 minutes. The plan is to record drums at the end of this month, guitars and bass next month and vocals in September. Then it’s off to England to mix and master that sucker with grindcore producer extraordinaire Russ Russell (Napalm Death, Brujeria, Venomous Concept)! We couldn’t be more stoked. The new material is fast, brutal and with that extra touch of Leng Tch’e special sauce that made Marasmus a heavy metal landmark, ha! Expect a release somewhere late 2009 / early 2010.

And keep your eyes peeled for the Nasum tribute album coming out this month on Power It Up Records.

Leng Tch’e’s last release was a split effort with Canada’s Fuck The Facts on Power It Up Records ( review ) which was the band’s first recording with the “new” line-up.  To be honest, Fuck The Facts‘ half of the split was really good, but the Leng Tch’e material was a little flat in comparison to their previous efforts.  I’m hoping they’re able to get back on track with the new full length, more killer, less filler!

Malevolent Creation's Phil Fasciana is a retard

You’ve probably already heard about this, but if you haven’t, here is proof that death metal musicians are fucking retarded… (from Blabbermouth)

Guitarist Phil Fasciana of long-running Florida death metallers Malevolent Creation was reportedly involved in a bizarre shootout at a convenient store in his hometown of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. According Fasciana, he pulled into a small store at around 3:00 p.m. Friday afternoon (July 3) to get something to drink and walked right into a robbery in progress. “I went in this little store on my way home to get a chocolate milk, of all things, and little did I know, I was walking into a life-or-death situation,” he says. “When I walked into the store, I did not notice anyone else in the store until someone started screaming at me and pointed a gun at me. I nearly shit myself, because the dude looked wacked out of his mind and fired four shots directly at me and I went down to the ground because I thought I was surely shot. After about 30 seconds, I realized I was not hit at all and the shooter thought I was dead or injured and started attacking the store worker when I snuck up behind the burglar and talked [to] him and took the gun out of his hands and told him to get out of the store. He then reached in his sock and pulled another gun out and pointed it at me and that’s when I fired two shots into his head, killing him instantly!

“Never in my life has anything so twisted happened to me before and I would like to forget it ever happened, but I had no other choice. Lucky for me, the stupid crackhead burglar had the worst aim in the world and missed me with all four shots from about 10 feet away! Needless to say, all charges have been dropped and the store owner has offered me a lifetime of chocolate milk! Ha Ha!

“I have been in some scary situations before, but having someone shoot out you from that close and miss is a fucking miracle and I have no remorse for killing the assailant who tried to take my life and the store owner’s.

“I gotta move out of this town!! I have enough problems as it is!!

“I am very lucky and could easily be dead at this moment, but I’m not and I’m gearing up for our Mexican, South American and European headlining tour which start at the end of July.

“I would like to put this behind me and not talk about it anymore. It was the most fucked up thing I have ever been involved with, besides my ex-girlfriend!!”

UPDATE: According to Phil, the entire incident was captured on the store’s surveillance video, but the police has yet to release the tape.

Sound pretty fucked up and far fetched?  It gets dumber…

“Due to the ridiculous amounts of e-mails, MySpace messages, text messages and phone calls concerning my misfortune a few days ago which resulted in someone dying, I need to straighten a few things out that have been taken out of context and are wrong about the story.

“When I walked into that store to buy something, I had no idea the store was in the middle of being robbed. I immediately felt something was wrong when I walked in, because it was very quiet and the man working behind the counter was staring at me like I was gonna rob the store. When that 80-pound homeless crackhead yelled at me and pointed his gun at me and fired four shots at me, I thought i was surely dead and had no time to react! After realizing I was not hit, I slowly crawled around to the back of the store, and while the gunman was screaming at the worker, I ran down the isle he was in and tackled him with the intention of beating the living shit out of him. I did not try approaching this man and try reasoning with him and take the gun from his hands like it was reported on Blabbermouth the other day. The guy already shot at me four times and surely would have shot at me again if he knew I was still alive and I’m not retarded enough to think I could talk my way out of that kind of situation.

“When I tackled him and starting beating the shit out of him with the dude working there, he dropped the gun and I grabbed it. I had no intention of shooting him until he reached for another gun in his sneaker and looked at me, and before he got the chance to shoot at me again, that’s when I shot him in the face two times and put an end to that whole nightmare!

“By no means am I a hero. I could have easily just ran out of the store like a pussy after realizing I was not shot and left the store worker to most likely get killed, but I was so pissed I just wanted to beat the fuck out of that loser who just tried to end my life over nothing. Anyone in my situation may have done the same thing, but nobody knows when something like that could happen to yourself or how to react just like me.

“The gunman was a homeless crackhead who was living somewhere behind the plaza the store was in and has apparently been a problem for a long time, and to this day, the police still cannot identify the man because he has no identification and nobody will come forward and tell the police who he is.

“I have a lot of personal family problems that are far worse then what I just went through and asked the police if it was possible to keep this story from getting in the press and having my dying father and grandfather have to know about something like that happening to me.

“As for the idiots who are calling me a murderer and other ridiculous things, [you] can FUCK OFF!!!! I didn’t want this to happen to me and I surely did not wake up that day knowing I was going to kill someone trying to defend myself over a fucking chocolate milk I wanted to buy from a store!

“I would appreciate some alone time and for this whole thing to blow over and stop making a big deal about what happened to me, if at all possible. Let some crackhead who is foaming at the mouth point a 45 gun at you and start shooting at you and try to imagine what you would do. You don’t think I was scared? I just couldn’t believe he didn’t hit me with at least one of the four bullets he fired directly at me.

“Needless to say, it’s over and done with and cannot be taken back, and I will have to live with that image in my head for the rest of my life, but at least I am alive and can get back on tour with my band Malevolent Creation for our Mexico, South American and European tours starting in a few weeks. Hopefully that will keep my mind off all the negative shit that is surrounding me.”

His story sounded so stupid and unbelievable that a radio station in the UK went to the effort of calling the Fort Lauderdale police department to get confirmation on the story… instead, they found out Phil is completely full of shit;

U.K.’s Rock Radio spoke to a homicide detective at the Fort Lauderdale Police Department about Malevolent Creation guitarist Phil Fasciana’s claim that he was involved in a bizarre shootout at a convenient store in Fort Lauderdale on July 3, 2009.

Commenting on Fasciana’s claims, Detective Mark Shotwell of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department told Rock Radio that he’s unable to find evidence that any such event ever took place.

“This did not happen,” Shotwell said. “Our last murder was on June 22 and Fasciana was not involved. I’m certain of this. Even if the death was a result of self-defense, it would still be classed as a homicide and investigated as such.

“All witnesses, reportees, victims and suspects are entered into a database, but the most recent entry for Fasciana is on April 1, involving him and a female in a domestic dispute.”

Rock Radio spoke to Fasciana about Detective Shotwell’s comments, and the guitarist replied: “The store where it took place isn’t considered Fort Lauderdale. What happened is true and I really don’t know how it leaked into Blabbermouth because I never told anyone about it.”

(For the record, Fasciana’s original statement was sent to BLABBERMOUTH.NET from one of two separate e-mail accounts that Phil has confirmed that he is in control of. BLABBERMOUTH.NET did not edit Fasciana’s comments except for clarity and no other person contributed to the story.)

But Shotwell explained: “There are about 15 suburbs near Fort Lauderdale, but all murders use the Broward County Medical Examiner’s office for autopsies — mandatory in a homicide. There have been no murders in the entire county during July.

“Homeless crackheads would trade a gun as soon as they got it and I’ve never seen one with two guns. And the scenario as described would have made headlines — even in Miami.”

Fasciana’s final word on the matter (as told to Rock Radio): “This is the second time I was involved in the death of a homeless man. Me and a friend were driving, completely sober, about six years ago, and a homeless drunk dude ran into the street. We ran him over and killed him with several witnesses. I’m flipped out over this and many near-death experiences I have had living in this shithole Fort Lauderdale.”

So how does Phil respond to being called on his bullshit? By having a hissy fit.

“Concerning this idiotic debate over my involvement in an attempted robbery and shootout, I wish everyone would believe it is not true and leave me the fuck alone.

“For all the retards who hide behind a computer all day at mommy’s house and talk shit about rumors on Blabbermouth and other heavy metal-related websites, you need to get a life!!!! Get out of the house and maybe someone will try robbing and shooting you one day!!!! Then I would like to hear your reaction!!!

“I never posted or told anyone but my brother about what happened to me afterwards. Why would I post something that horrible on Blabbermouth or anywhere on the Internet and have people know what I had just gone through? I found out by friends a day later that they read that news about on Blabbermouth. Why and who posted, I have no idea and it has nothing to do with music or my band, so why it would be on a website that is and used to be about finding out information about heavy metal bands and the news concerning the bands that have news to release about there bands future happenings and releases. Now it is just a big gossip column for people who have no life and talk shit about people.”

(For the record, Fasciana’s latest e-mail was sent to BLABBERMOUTH.NET from the same e-mail address as the original message which contained the details of the alleged shooting incident. Phil subsequently confirmed to BLABBERMOUTH.NET that he is, in fact, in control of this e-mail account.)

“This is the second incident I have been involved with that resulted in someone dying in South Florida and I’m glad they both were not glorified in the news and press.

“A few years ago me and a friend were driving on a very busy street in Ft. Lauderdale when a drunk homeless man ran into the street and we ran him down and killed him and there was no way to avoid it. It was in the afternoon with many witnesses, and when the police arrived, we told them what happened and let us leave and that was the end of story!!! Me and my friend were mortified and there was no news about it or information given to us afterwards at anytime.

“South Florida has bigger problems then homeless people robbing liquor stores and small corner stores with hopes of getting caught to go to jail purposely so they have a home for a few days!!!

“My mother was robbed at gunpoint after leaving work and trying to make a money deposit after her work day and got robbed for over $25,000 of the store she manages money and never got any justice and there was no news or anything done for her.

“Two of my good friends were gunned down in a Denny’s restaurant parking lot and killed for no reason and nothing was done or had any news about what happened to them and that is heavy shit!!!!

“Believe what you idiots want!!! This whole incident is as dead to me as the fool who tried killing me!!!!! This is why I haven’t gone to Blabbermouth for music news a few years ago. There is hardly any music-related news. If someone in a band has a hangnail or stubbed their toe, it is reported on Blabbermouth and people shit-talk about it.

“Some of you people need to get a real life. When something horrible or tragic happens to someone or someone’s family that can create problems and drama, most people would like to keep that news out of press just like me. Because of retards that have nothing better to do than spread rumors and news, it’s too late for me to have my family not know about what happened to me and has caused even more problems for me and my family.

“And for the record, the robbery and shootout didn’t happen in Ft. Lauderdale!! So there is some more wrong info for you idiots to debate about.

“I have been in jail and arrested for many stupid things while living in South Florida and I never got to make the news down here and I’m glad!!!! As I’m sure many other people who have been involved with tragic or embarrassing incidents that got them involved or in trouble would like it as well.

“Believe what you want!!! I’m going to band practice!!!! I have a life!!!”

Congratulations, Phil, your Darwin award is in the mail.

Swedish death metallers F.K.U. set to release Where Moshers Dwell On July 24th

Swedish “horror” thrash metallers F.K.Ü. have announced they’ll be releasing their latest full length opus, Where Moshers Dwell, on July 24th through Metal On Metal Records.

That’s right, it’s time to reveal all the gritty and gruesome details about our upcoming 3rd and most lethal offering yet. The new album entitled Where Moshers Dwell features 17 tracks of neck-snapping Horror Thrash Metal that will leave you for dead, yet begging for more. The album was produced by the band and recorded at Blueflame Studios, mixed by Lawrence Mackrory at Great Scot! Audio and mastered by Mats Lindfors at Cutting Room. The album artwork was created by horror artist mastermind Jeff Zornow and contains a brand new 10-page F.K.Ü. comic book. Special guests on the album include cult actor and Daddy Freddy himself, Robert Englund, as narrator, the man with the sickest death metal-pipes in the world, Jörgen Sandström (Vicious Art, The Project Hate Mcmxcix, Torture Division, Krux, ex-Grave, ex-Entombed) on guest vocals on “Bedilia – Back For Cake” and last but not least, Ryan Sorensen (Engorged) delivers a mind melting shred on the song “Faster Than The Shark”.

European release date is July 24th (US & rest of the world dates TBA) through Metal On Metal Records. The album will be available through all well-stocked CD-vendors and online shops but also through Metal On Metal Records and our own band website.

Tracklist:

1. Welcome To Your Nightmare
2. Where Moshers Dwell
3. Twitch Of The Thrash Nerve
4. Faster Than The Shark
5. The Pit And The Poser
6. Dead Coroner
7. Almost Metal
8. Hate Your Guts (Love Your Brain)
9. Bedilia – Back For Cake
10. Worms
11. Sleepwalker Texas Ranger
12. He Knows The Drill
13. Six Feet Ünderwear
14. Phantom Killer Attack
15. Blairsville Blues
16. Horror Metal Moshing Machine
17. Highway To Horror

New F.K.Ü. disc featuring narration by Freddy Kreuger himself and a full comic booklet by Jeff Zornow?  Fuck yeah!  If you haven’t heard them already, do yourself a favor and check out their MySpace page and check out some samples!  Great shit!

Montreal-based tech death metallers Neuraxis seeking new drummer and bassist

Montreal, Quebec-based technical death metallers Neuraxis have announced the departure of bassist Yan Thiel and drummer Tommy Mckinnon via a their MySpace page;

The time has come again for us to refresh the Neuraxis family as we are now seeking a new drummer and bassist. Nothing really juicy to tell. For Tommy, his priorities began to differ from ours while on the road until it became clear to us that he was no longer enjoying the touring lifestyle. He wishes to go back to school to complete his education. As for Yan its just been a case of him deciding to further his working career and he can no longer dedicate himself to the band. This has been going on for many years now and its time for us to have a full-time bassist on board. Both of them will continue playing in other musical projects. We thank our metal brothers for all the good times we had together and wish them the best for the future. Tommy and Yan will be fullfilling all our summer shows already booked ending with a fitting show in Montreal at the Club Soda on Sept 11th 2009.

With that being said, we are excited to get some new blood in the band. For those interested in auditioning for the drummer and bassist positions , visit our myspace page to learn the following 3 songs: “Dreaming The End”, “Darkness Prevails” and “Clarity” and make sure to read all the requirements before getting in touch with us. We ask you to video tape yourself playing these songs, add it to your youtube page and send us the link by myspace. Include Drummer audition and Bassist audition in the subject.

I wasn’t super thrilled with Neuraxis‘ last studio effort, The Thin Line Between, so hopefully two new members can inject some new energy into the band.

Obituary and Entombed among the first 18 bands announced for Maryland Deathfest in 2010

The organizer’s for the annual Maryland Deathfest have announced the first 18 bands for next year’s event, scheduled for May 28th-30th, 2010.

16
Birds Of Prey
Entombed
Eyehategod
Fuck The Facts
Gride
Gridlink
Haemorrhage
Howl
Impaled
Incantation
Ingrowing
Massgrave
Obituary
Pentagram
Portal
Sinister
Tombs

Obituary!  Entombed!  Sinister!  Incantation!  Portal!  I think I just got a fucking boner… and I mean that in the most manly and hetero way possible.

Burzum's Varg Vikernes announces plans to record new album

Blabbermouth reports recent parolee/murderer/arsonist/prison escapee/racist douchebag Varg Vikernes has announced he’s written 9 songs for the first new Burzum album since 1999’s Hliðskjálf, which he recorded in prison.

He tells Norway’s Dagbladet that several record labels are interested in issuing the band’s first LP in eleven years. “I want to take my time [with the album], so that I can get it the way I like it,” Vikernes says. “It will be metal, and the fans can expect to hear some real Burzum.”

Dagbladet has posted several exclusive excerpts from Varg Vikernes’ as-yet-unpublished book which he wrote during his nearly-16-year prison stay. The book contains Varg’s personal account of of what transpired in the years from the Norwegian black metal community’s inception in 1991 until he was convicted for murder and church fires three years later.

“I am not the ‘Count’ that has been portrayed in the media,” Vikernes tells Dagbladet. “That is just sad. Those who have known me a long time know that what was written about me was not the complete truth. But I am partly to blame for how things were presented in the press. That’s why I wrote this book, which I hope to release via a publisher. I will lay this issue to rest and put what happened behind me. I will begin a new phase in life.”

Dagbladet: Do you regret the fact that you killed another human being?

Vikernes: “I cannot regret the fact that I took the life of someone who wanted to kill me. I felt threatened by his plans, but it was never my intention to kill.”

Dagbladet: Do you think that you can kill again?

Vikernes: “Everyone is capable of killing. But there is less chance that I will kill again, because I’ve been in that situation before, and so I know better how to deal with it. It is not possible to know how to behave in threatening situations before you even end up in such a situation. Had I been in the same situation today, I would have contacted the police first.”

Dagbladet: Are you a racist?

Vikernes: “Yes. But I don’t hate anybody. Hate is irrational. I am a rational person.”

Dagbladet: Are you proud of who you’ve become?

Vikernes: “Yes!”

Dagbladet: Do you feel that people are afraid of you?

Vikernes: “From how [things] have been portrayed in the media, I understand that [is the case].”

Although his parole application was denied four times — most recently in September 2008 — Vikernes received word in February that he would be released after serving almost 16 years in prison. He was finally allowed to leave this past spring, according to Dagbladet.

Vikernes currently resides in Bø, a municipality in the county of Telemark, Norway. Varg purchased the farm sometime last year and lives on the property with his French wife (whom he met while he was incarcerated) and son.

“It was completely random that we ended up buying a home here,” Vikernes tells Dagbladet. “We wanted a quiet and peaceful place with beautiful scenery outside the city. It is so beautiful up here. Here we can be by ourselves. But there is a lot of work that is required to maintain the house, lawn and garden.”

I really don’t care how influential a musician he may be, he’s a complete fucking douchebag and I’m hopeful he’ll wind up doing something really stupid soon so he winds up spending the rest of his days rotting in a prison cell.  Either that or he should do like Dissection’s Jon Nödtveidt and off himself.  What a fuckin’ tool!

Amon Amarth set to re-release The Crusher remastered with a bonus live disc

Following the successful re-releases of Amon Amarth’s Once Sent From The Golden Hall ( Review ) and The Avenger (review coming), Metal Blade Records have announced they’ll be re-releasing Amon Amarth’s third full length effort, The Crusher on September 1st in a deluxe double-popup-digipak.  Like the previous two re-releases, the deluxe version will see The Crusher remastered, plus a cover of Possessed’s “The Eyes Of Horror” with the second disc featuring The Crusher played live in it’s entirety from a concert played December 30, 2008 in Bochum, Germany.

The Crusher reissue will be made available as an eight-sided double-digipak with an individual pop-up. All four pop-ups attached to each other show a special three-dimensional image. The reissue also features liner notes by Amon Amarth.

The Crusher ( Original Review ) was one of Amon Amarth’s best albums and the previous re-releases have been pretty awesome and it’s safe to say they’ll definitely be worthwhile purchases for anyone who doesn’t already have Amon Amarth’s early works, which are far superior to their more recent offerings.  The live album from Once Sent From The Golden Hall (recorded just days prior) is easily one of the best sounding live album’s I’ve heard to date and will almost definitely be a worthwhile listen on it’s own.

At least Metal Blade know how to make a re-release worthwhile.

Chilean death metallers Thornafire unveil details of their new full length

Chilean death metallers Thornafire have announced details for their upcoming full length offering, Vorex Deconstrucción, due out on Ibex Moon Records later this month.

The track listing for the CD is as follows:

01. Hacia La Ruina Del Agartha
02. Sucubación
03. Deconstrucción
04. Otredad
05. Confesión
06. En El Eon De Las Falacias
07. Por El Delirio
08. Conflagracóin Del Monoteismo
09. De La Destrucción Al Trono

Their Ibex Moon Records debut, Exacerbated Gnostic Manifestation ( review ), was a pretty solid slab of dark death metal.  The album had some questionable song-writing, but there’s no denying the band’s ability to write quality material.  Hopefully this new effort is even better than the last.  A widget containing material from the band’s two Ibex Moon Records releases is available below.

Norwegian blackened thrash grinders Amok have begun writing new full length

Blabbermouth reports Norwegian blackened thrash grinders Amok have begun the writing process for the band’s second full length album.

Norwegian death/thrash outfit Amok is currently writing material for a new studio album, Exodus Reversal Hex, which it hopes to begin recording this fall. Songtitles set to appear on the CD include “Remembered With Uttermost Hatred”, “East Of The River Where Life Is Drunk”, “Triangular Corridors”, “Speak Up Your Sins, ‘Cause The Winds Are Howling From The Sea” and “A Glimpse Of His Splendor”.

Exodus Reversal Hex will mark the recording debut of Amok’s new vocalist, Kybermensch (Tri-Function Million, Cemetary Droids).

Amok is currently unsigned and seeking a new label home. Serious record companies can get in contact with the band by writing to amoklava@gmail.com.

I’m pretty stoked about this news.  Their debut, Necrospiritual Deathcore ( review ), was a huge surprise and one of my favorite releases of 2006.  If the new material is even half as good as Necrospiritual Deathcore, I’ll be pleased.  You can check out some samples over at their MySpace page.

Scottish death grinders Man Must Die add second guitarist, preview clip for new album

Scottish death grinders Man Must Die have announced the addition of a new guitarist to the band’s ranks as well as posted a new audio sample from the band’s upcoming third full length effort, No Tolerance for Imperfection on the band’s MySpace page;

Well today we posted a second song from the new album which comes out on Aug 10th, the song is called “This Day is Black”, we hope you like it.

Also Man Must Die are delighted to announce that we have just recruited a second guitarist. After meeting and playing together on a recent European tour, we are proud to have on board Renne Hauffe, from German grinders Japanische Kampfhörspiele.

Renne brings a wealth of experience to Man Must Die along with a ferocious playing style and live performance. Alan McFarland says, “Renne just slotted right in, he’s a real fast learner and a super cool guy. He was able to play with us during some of the recent dates in Europe, learning the tunes in the back of the tourbus!”

We are all really excited about our new future, it will make a huge difference to Man Must Die’s live performance and we can’t wait to get out with our new line-up and play the new songs!

Renne is currenlty learning the new set for the forthcoming tours.

Based off of the two samples I’ve heard, I can’t say I’m impressed or looking forward to this release at all.  Hopefully the full album is better than the two sample tracks, but I rather doubt it.

Armed For Apocalypse sign with Metal Blade Records imprint Ironclad Recordings

California-based death/sludge metallers Armed For Apocalypse have signed with Metal Blade Records imprint Ironclad Recordings and Siege Of Ameda Records.

Hello to anybody that pays attention to us as people or musicians. Today is a very cool day in the lives of the guys in Armed For Apocalypse. I don’t know how many times we have collectively bought, listened to, and loved CD’s that had the Metal Blade Records logo on the back, and thought how cool it must be to be in one of those bands. Well now, thanks to Trevor Phipps (vocalist for the almighty Unearth) we will have the opportunity to be one of them.

We are very happy to announce today that we have signed to Trevor’s imprint on Metal Blade called Iron Clad Recordings to release our debut record Defeat, which we now know will come out on September 15th in the United States and Canada.

We are very proud of this record and can’t wait for everyone to hear it in its entirety. We aren’t the type to toot our own horn or say how good we are, so all we can honestly say is that it’s heavy, and there are some riffs on it that will bring a smile to your face if you are in to heavy music.

We have simultaneously signed with Siege of Amida, or SOAR as they are commonly known, for the UK and Europe.

If you’re unfamiliar with Armed For Apocalypse, and chances are you’ve never heard of them before now, they’re a death/sludge band featuring members of The Abominable Iron Sloth, Will Haven and Ghostride.  The press release from Ironclad Recordings describes it as “a racket akin to the gates of hell opening; mixing the sludgy, down-tuned heavy riffs of Crowbar and Eyehategod with the white noise assault of Cursed, and the death metal groove of Entombed.”

I checked out the two tracks on the band’s MySpace page and was intrigued by what I heard.  It likely won’t appeal to all fans of “extreme” metal, but if you like sludgy death metal, it’s definitely worth a listen.  I’m interested to hear what the full length sounds like.

Swedish death metallers Spawn of Possession complete new line-up

Swedish technical death metallers Spawn Of Possession have finally rounded out their line-up for the band’s upcoming full length effort;

Two very talented and competent musicians has recently joined Spawn Of Possession. Matthew Chalk (ex-Psycroptic) is going to handle the vocal and lyric writing. Christian Münzner (Obscura, ex-Necrophagist) is going to do the lead guitar part and unleash his madness into the multicolored and distorted universe of Spawn Of Possession.

The songwriting process has been going quite well these last few months and five new songs are now complete. Seven other songs are in the works.

Quick recap.  Everyone but founding guitarist Jonas Bryssling quit in the past year or two, so pretty much the entire line-up, minus Bryssling, has changed since 2006’s Noctambulant.  It’s looking more like Spawn Of Possession will be a part-time band, rather than full-time, with members scattered throughout Europe and Australia, but still, with the current line-up of Bryssling, Chalk, Münzner, Erlend Caspersen and Richard Schill, I still have high hopes for their next studio effort as the band clearly isn’t lacking in musical talent despite the many departures/replacements.

Sarcolytic, featuring Jon Zig on vocals, set to release Unique Leader debut

Texas-based brutal death metallers Sarcolytic, featuring death metal cover artist / tattoo artist Jon Zig on vocals, fellow Images Of Violence members Mark Denton and Steven Watkins and Disgorge (US) drummer Ricky Myers, have completed work on the band’s debut full length offering, Thee Arcane Progeny, set for an August 25th release on Unique Leader Records.

The band have posted a track from the new effort, titled “The Seed Of All Beginnings” on the band’s MySpace page.

The material doesn’t sound particularly thrilling, pretty straight forward brutal death metal. It might be good, but probably not. I guess we’ll find out for sure in August.

Gorgoroth complete recording new studio effort, Pest records over Gaahl's vocals for live album

Norwegian black metallers Gorgoroth have announced they’ve recently completed work on their ninth studio effort, titled Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt, due out October 21st in Europe and November 11th in the US via Regain Records.

The CD was recorded at Tomas Asklund’s Monolith Studio and features Infernus on guitar, Frank Watkins (Obituary) on bass, Pest on vocals and Tomas Asklund on drums.

Since Infernus wrote all the music for the album and extensive rehearsals and a pre-production recording had also been completed before second guitarist Tormentor rejoined the band last year, it was decided that it would be more convenient for Infernus to record all the guitars on the LP.

Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt was produced by Infernus and co-produced/engineered by Tomas Asklund. It will be mastered at the Cutting Room in Stockholm later this month.

Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt tentative track listing:

01. Introibo ad Alatare Satanas
02. Aneuthanasia
03. Building a Man
04. Prayer
05. Rebirth
06. Cleansing Fire
07. New Breed
08. Human Sacrifice
09. Satan-Prometheus

In addition to completing the new full length effort, Gorgoroth have also revealed that vocalist Pest has re-recorded the vocals for True Norwegian Black Metal – Live in Grieghallen, released last year on Regain Records.

Gorgoroth has recently spent time at Threeman Recordings in Stockholm with Nico Elgstrand (Entombed), where, among other things, Pest has successfully replaced the vocals for the True Norwegian Black Metal – Live in Grieghallen album. Infernus has already consulted legal representatives regarding this album, and is prepared to support Regain Records in the label’s ongoing legal conflict with two of the band’s ex-members, if any such support is needed.

The “live” album is actually a studio effort that was recorded with the “old” Gorgoroth line-up which consisted of Infernus, King ov Hell, Gaahl, session guitarist Teloch and session drummer Garghuf.  Infernus already re-recorded King ov Hell’s bass lines and now with Pest replacing Gaahl’s vocalst it looks like the album may finally be properly released without the legal cat fighting started by Gaahl and King ov Hell.

Sound stupid?  Yeah… it is… it’s Norwegian black metal, what do you expect?

Defeated Sanity add former Disgorge vocalist AJ Magana

German technical brutal death metallers Defeated Sanity have announced the addition of vocalist AJ Magana (ex-Disgorge (US) & Deprecated) to the band’s ranks.

Recording line up for Chapters Of Repugnance confirmed:

Aj Magana
Christian Kuehn
Jacob Schmidt
Lille Gruber

This line up will also play the late August UK tour so get your asses out there!”

The band are currently working on their Willowtip Records debut, Chapters Of Repugnance.  Their last studio effort, 2007’s Psalms Of The Moribund, received an “Excellent” rating from Necro-tron.  I haven’t checked them out, but looks like I’m missing out.  I’ll have to pick that up soon!

Italian death metallers Hour Of Penance rejoined by guitarist Enrico, work on new full length offering

Italian death metallers Hour Of Penance recently announced that they’ve been rejoined by founding guitarist Enrico Schettino and are currently working on their fourth full length studio effort.

The band is now back as a quintet and will perform for the first time with the renowned lineup at the Armageddon In The Park festival on August 1. Join us there!

Their Unique Leader Records debut, The Vile Conception, was released last year.  I own it, but haven’t gotten around to listening to it yet, although from what I’m hearing from a lot of people is it’s definitely an album that will appeal to fans of Unique Leader Records-flavored technical brutal death metal.

Lividity announce upcoming album, touring plans

Brutal death metallers Lividity have announced they’re working on a new full length album, titled To Desecrate And Defile, set to be released in October on War Anthem Records & Epitomite Productions, a new live split with Warpath as well as upcoming touring plans.

New Album: We are in the process of completing the studio sessions at Mercenary Digital Studios in Zion, Illinois for the upcoming album To Desecrate And Defile. The songs have a mix of all the Lividity you have grown accustomed to the past 15 years with the grooves and grinds every metal head would appreciate. You will find the flavors of Fetish For The Sick, The Age Of Clitoral Decay, Til Only The Sick Remain & Used, Abused And Left For Dead. This promises to be the most trecherous and disturbing Lividity to date with precision razor like grinds, textures and fist pounding fury. Holding the flag of metal high in the air for the old school meets modern chaos. Triple vocal threat with Von Young inhaled gutturals, Dave Kibler painful screams and Jake Lahniers demonic gutturals / alien screams. Garrett “The Man-lan” Scanlan providing the beats of hell to pummel every bitch in his path. This album will be released October 2009 through War Anthem Records (Germany) with a limited addition (1000 pieces) CD/DVD combo digi pack of our performance from Party.San Open Air Festival (Germany) 2008. Epitomite Productions will release the USA version of the CD in October as well.

Festivals: We will embark and terrorize Europe once again July 16th & 17th, 2009 at the mighty Obscene Extreme Open Air festival (Czech Republic) & Kaltenbach Open Air Festival (Austria) with some the most intense and raging metal acts to crush the death metal world. With the likes of… OEF: Napalm Death, Machetazo, Desecration, Hail Of Bullets, Venomous Concept, Necrovile, Dead Infection, Fleshless, Blood Duster, Jig-Ai and more / Kaltenbach: Amon Amarth, Dying Fetus, Malechesh, Absu, Dark Tranquility, Vomitory, Evocation and more… Both festivals are 3 days of booze, boobs & brutality. Hope to see you there.

We will rage the stage in Urbana, Illinois August 1st, 2009 at the Central Illinois Metal Fest with the likes of Immolation, Waco Jesus, Putrid Pile, Master, Vital Remains, Daath, Goreaphobia, Blasphemer, Fuck The Facts, Malignancy and more… 2 days of musical destruction.

Canadian Tour: Be prepared to get a stiff rod in the ass while we set out to destroy east Canada on a mini tour through October 2009. Thanx to the organizers Brent & Maxime of Leafburner Booking and to the support acts Mortify & Blastomycosis for this exciting opportunity. See you sickos in Canada.

Live Album: New Live CD Alive And Split Open with the mighty Warpath from Ireland. This is available now through the bands and released by Underground Movement record label in Ireland. This contains a live set from both bands Lividity gig in Germany from 2007 Europe Tour / Warpath gig in Ireland 2008 Thanx Ian… Warpath had the opportunity to play 16 dates through Europe with us this past April 2009. They are very awesome brutal death metal band that should not go unheard. Young band with a lot of fire. Check ‘em out!!! Yeahhhh Booiiii

These guys have more live albums than they do studio efforts.  Can’t say I’m a fan, but they are significantly better since adding Von Young from Deaden.

Fan footage from France's Hellfest, featuring Amon Amarth and Aborted, posted online

Downlord vocalist Dave Ingham has added several video clips from multiple bands from last weekend’s Hellfest in Clisson, France.  Here are some of the highlights;

Entombed “Revel In Flesh”

Repulsion “Schizo” (Venom cover)

Vader “Silent Empire”

Aborted “Sanguine Verses” (complete with choreographed moshpit)

Amon Amarth “Guardians Of Asgaard”

Looks like it was a pretty fun weekend. To see more footage, head over to Dave Ingham’s YouTube page.

Legendary satanic death metallers Deicide have cancelled their upcoming Australian tour

Legendary satanic death metallers Deicide (or as Necro-tron likes to call them, Strawberry Cupcake and the Chucklefucks) have announced the cancellation of their scheduled Australian/New Zealand tour in October due to recording commitments.

We are currently working on the new album and will be recording during the time frame of said tour… On behalf of the band and myself, we are sorry for any inconvenience and will reschedule the tour for another time frame as soon as we can.

So there you have it, Aussie and Kiwi death metal fans, no Deicide for you.  Looks like Strawberry Shortcake and the Chucklefucks will be releasing their Century Media debut in early 2010.  I haven’t listened to their most recent stuff, but I can’t deny that the self-titled album is one of the all-time best death metal releases.  In fact, I’m going to listen to it again right now.

Cripple Bastards boxset being released by Selfmadegod Records

Selfmadegod Records have announced that they’ll be releasing a 4-CD boxset featuring the early works of legendary grinders Cripple Bastards.

Age Of Vandalism is four-CD box set to be released on July 16. This deluxe digipack features remastered versions of ALL of the Cripple Bastards‘ releases from 1988 to 1993, plus an incredible amount of unreleased tunes, and draws the complete history of the Bastards on tape. This will include the four official demos, the split 7″ with Violent Headache (with extra unreleased tracks!), and basically HOURS of unreleased noise, including pre-Cripple Bastards thrash from 1986-1987.

A jump back to the late-1980s/early-1990s DIY noisecore spirit made by tapetraders, cult labels, and ear-damaging bands releasing zillions of tracks on terrific lo-fi demos, not giving a damn about studio production and “I can’t hear the snare”-type pedant asses, Age Of Vandalism contains 1,036 songs.

They have a pretty huge following, although I can’t say I’m a big fan, I’ve only heard a few splits they were on, and enjoyed what I heard for the most part.  If you’re a diehard Cripple Bastards fan then this release is likely a mandatory addition to your collection, it’s only limited to 1,000 copies though.  You can pre-order it direct from Selfmadegod Records.

Vader set to tour North America with Decrepit Birth in the Winter of 2009

Polish death metal veterans Vader will be headlining the “Monsters Of Death” Tour in the Winter of 2009, supported by Decrepit Birth, Warbringer, The Amenta, Augury and Success Will Write Apocalypse Across The Sky.  A full list of dates and venues is listed below;

Nov. 04 – Sonar – Baltimore, MD
Nov. 05 – The Palladium – Worcester, MA
Nov. 06 – Webster Underground – Hartford, CT
Nov. 07 – The Blender Theater @ Gramercy – New York, NY
Nov. 08 – Foufounes Electriques – Montreal, QC
Nov. 09 – Imperial de Quebec – Quebec City, QC
Nov. 10 – Mod Club – Toronto, ON
Nov. 11 – Penny Arcade – Rochester, NY
Nov. 12 – Peabody’s – Cleveland, OH
Nov. 13 – The Pearl Room – Mokena, IL
Nov. 14 – Rave – Milwaukee, WI
Nov. 15 – Station 4 – St. Paul, MN
Nov. 16 – Royal Albert Arms – Winnipeg, MB
Nov. 17 – The Exchange – Regina, SK
Nov. 18 – The Underground – Calgary, AB
Nov. 19 – Starlite Room – Edmonton, AB
Nov. 20 – Roll-A-Dome – Prince George, BC
Nov. 21 – Bourbon – Vancouver, BC
Nov. 22 – Sugar – Victoria, BC
Nov. 23 – El Corazon – Seattle, WA
Nov. 24 – Satyricon – Portland, OR
Nov. 25 – Regency Grand Ballroom – San Francisco, CA
Nov. 27 – Jumping Turtle – San Marcos, CA
Nov. 28 – Chain Reaction – Anaheim, CA
Nov. 29 – The Key Club – Hollywood, CA
Nov. 30 – U.B’s – Mesa, AZ
Dec. 01 – The Rock – Tucson, AZ
Dec. 02 – Gator’s – Farmington, NM
Dec. 03 – Club Vegas – Salt Lake City, UT
Dec. 04 – Bluebird Theater – Denver, CO
Dec. 05 – Marquee – Tulsa, OK
Dec. 06 – Scout Bar – San Antonio, TX
Dec. 07 – Scout Bar – Houston, TX
Dec. 09 – The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
Dec. 10 – Peppermint Beach Club – Virginia Beach, VA
Dec. 11 – Volume 11 – Raleigh, NC
Dec. 12 – Rex Theater – Pittsburgh, PA
Dec. 13 – The Trocadero – Philadelphia, PA

Pre-sales are available through Enter The Vault from now until July 17th. July 18th tickets go onsale through regular ticket outlets.

I don’t know about you guys, but this touring line-up doesn’t do anything for me at all.  I wouldn’t mind seeing Decrepit Birth, but I’m either completely unfamiliar with the remaining bands or just don’t give a fuck about them at all.

Immolation sign with Nuclear Blast Records, set to release new full length in early 2010

New York death metal veterans Immolation have signed a worldwide, multi-album contract with Nuclear Blast Records, who will release the band’s upcoming eighth studio album in early 2010.

We are looking forward to working with Nuclear Blast, a classic label that has become one of the largest driving forces in metal today. We intend to have a new album out for early next year. Expect the new one to have some of the most dark and intense music we’ve ever put together!

This is great news!  Definitely looking forward to new Immolation material!