HOD to replace Thornafire on upcoming Monstrosity US Tour

Chilean death metallers Thornafire were forced to pull out of their scheduled appearance on the upcoming Monstrosity US tour also featuring Torn The Fuck Apart;

Commented guitarist Victor MacNamara: “Due to delays in the processing of our visa application to enter the USA, THORNAFIRE will unfortunately have to cancel their appearance on the monstrosity U.S. tour 2009, scheduled to take place this June. We’ve done everything in our power and have followed every procedure to make this happen, but the process is very expensive and time-consuming. This matter is out of our hands and we are very disappointed as this was to be our first opportunity to show our madness to the U.S. fans.

“On a happier note, we are releasing our second album, Vorex Deconstrucción, and it’s already sounding very impressive! We are also working with Ibex Moon Records on setting up a new U.S. tour.”

This is too bad.  Thornafire are a solid dark death metal act, and an appearance on the Monstrosity tour would have been good for them.  Luckily, the tour promoter was able to get fellow Ibex Moon Records-labelmates HOD to take their spot on the tour.

“HOD is proud to announce we are taking part of the MONSTROSITY summer tour. We look forward to destroying every city we play! See you maniacs out on the road!”

If you’ve never heard them, HOD are a San Antonio, TX-based blackened death metal band featuring members of Pillcrusher, Necrovore, Thornspawn, GG Allin and Exulcerate.  I haven’t had a chance to listen to their new album yet, but I’ve heard a few sample tracks and was decently impressed.  Regardless, this tour is all about Monstrosity and if this tour is playing through your town and you don’t go, you’re officially a fucking douchebag poseur.

But wait… there’s more!  Melodic death metallers Dreaming Dead, who recently released their debut full length Within One on Ibex Moon Records will also be playing the first half of the tour before embarking on a US tour with Master and Pathology.  Full dates are listed below;

MONSTROSITY, TORN THE FUCK APART and DREAMING DEAD:
July 01 – Deja Vu Nightclub – Stuart, FL
July 02 – Volume 11- Raleigh, NC
July 03 – The Half Shell – Virginia Beach, VA
July 04 – The Alhambra Arena – Philadelphia, PA
July 05 – Dub Land Underground – Rochester, NY
July 06 – The Lost Horizon – Syracuse, NY
July 07 – Talking Head – Baltimore, MD
July 09 – Zanies Too – Indianapolis, IN

MONSTROSITY and TORN THE FUCK APART:
July 10 – The Canopy Club – Urbana, Illinois

MONSTROSITY, TORN THE FUCK APART and HOD:
July 11 – The Riot Room – Kansas City, Missouri
July 12 – Knickerbockers – Lincoln, Nebraska
July 15 – The Cheyenne Saloon – Las Vegas, Nevada
July 16 – Fredo’s Club – Los Angeles, California
July 17 – The Jumping Turtle – San Marcos, California
July 18 – Ub’s Bar – Mesa, Arizona
July 20 – The War Legion Underground – Amarillo, Texas
July 21 – The Gypsy – Fayetteville, Arkansas
July 22 – The Muse – Nashville, Tennessee
July 23 – The Drunken Unicorn – Atlanta, Georgia
July 24 – The Oasis – Charleston, South Carolina
July 25 – Bourbon Street – New Port Richey, Florida

DREAMING DEAD with MASTER and PATHOLOGY:
July 10 – The Rock – Maplewood, MN
July 11 – The Elbo Room – Chicago, IL
July 12 – Mac’s Bar – Lansing, MI
July 14 – The Muse – Nashville, TN
July 16 – Schotzi’s – College Station, TX
July 17 – Walter’s – Houston, TX
July 18 – The Pit at Jasobi’s – San Antonio, TX
July 20 – The Compound – Albuquerque, NM
July 21 – UB’s – Bar Mesa, AZ
July 22 – The Jumping Turtle – San Marcos, Ca
July 23 – The Knitting Factory – Hollywood, CA
July 24 – Annie’s Social Club – San Francisco, CA
July 25 – The Cheyenne Saloon – Las Vegas, NV
July 27 – Union Station – Colorado Springs, CO
July 28 – Knickbockers – Lincoln, NE
July 29 – The Riot Room – Kansas City, MO
July 31 – The Canopy Club/CIM 2009 – Urbana, IL

I’d definitely recommend checking out both tours.  If either one came up North I’d definitely go.

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Suffocation set to tour Australia with Arch Enemy in November

New York death metallers Suffocation will be heading to the land down under in November with Swedish melodic… whatever the fuck they are… Arch Enemy for a string of dates.

Commented ARCH ENEMY guitarist Michael Amott: “We’re totally looking forward returning to Australia. You know we’ve missed the fans and the great weather! Although the tours in ’06 (with MEGADETH) and ’07 (with MACHINE HEAD) were amazing in many ways, we haven’t played a full headline tour in Australia since our first visit back in 2005. So this is long overdue and we are more than ready to attack your shores once again! We can’t wait to give you the full ARCH ENEMY heavy metal mayhem experience! And we already know you — the fans, will bring it… Aussie style! See you all in November!”

Here’s the full list of dates;

Nov. 01 – Capitol – Perth, Australia (18+)
Nov. 03 – Fowlers Live – Adelaide, Australia (Lic/AA)
Nov. 05 – The Forum – Melbourne, Australia (18+) (w/ Winds Of Plague)
Nov. 06 – The Roundhouse – Sydney, Austraila (Lic/ AA) (w/ Winds Of Plague)
Nov. 07 – The Hifi – Brisbane, Australia (18+) (w/ Winds Of Plague)

Sadly, Arch Enemy, who are more popular (for whatever reason), will likely be headlining, however, Suffocation put on such a powerful performance it’ll be worth checking them out regardless.  Personally, I can’t wait til July when Suffocation play here again, even if I have to sit through 10 crappy bands to hear them.

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Marduk comment on Blackenedfest tour problems

Swedish black metallers Marduk commented on Sunday regarding their abscence from the current North American Blackenedfest Tour featuring Mayhem, Cephalic Carnage, Cattle Decapitation and Withered;

The situation with MARDUK not having performed during the first half of Blackenedfest is due to one member of the band not having received his visa yet.

It is not a ‘denied’ visa. The band filed for a P-1 non-immigrant working visa, which is required for a band to play in the states. The visa was APPROVED by the United States Government’s Homeland Security Office.

Furthermore, as required, the band members each individually went to their visa appointments at the U.S. embassy in Stockholm for the standard interview, at which point the persons handling the band’s applications informed the band that there was no further action needed and that they should expect their passports in the mail with the P-1 visa attached.

Everyone in the band received theirs except Mortuus…

”There was no missing document, as earlier stated by Earsplit, but a legal document in Swedish that the US Embassy one day (!) prior to departure informed us that they needed to have ”professionally translated” into English in order to finalize the visa – even though we specifically asked them months earlier if it was ok that some documents were in Swedish; their response being: ”Yes, there is no problem, we have people here that speak Swedish”. Note that a translation from a certified agency (which is a mandatory) takes up to a week – and the Embassy is well aware of this. So, why they waited until the very last day to give us this information, or why the other member’s documents needed no translation, one can only imagine”
/Mort.

We are currently awaiting each day for the passport to be returned to Mortuus with the visa stamp. The embassy is aware of the urgency of this matter and we expect the band to join the tour in progress any day now.

MARDUK are prepared to make up the shows they missed immediately after Blackenedfest ends. These dates will be announced shortly.
/Marduk

Sounds like a lot of foreign bands have been royally fucked over for North American tours by various branches of the US government.  Still no word on whether Marduk have touched down on American soil yet though.  For those of you interested in catching the remainder of the Blackenedfest Tour (which may or may not contain Marduk) here are the remaining dates;

Jun. 05 – Seattle, WA – Studio Seven
Jun. 06 – Boise, ID – Knitting Factory Concert House
Jun. 07 – Denver, CO – Gothic Theater
Jun. 09 – St Paul, MN – Station 4
Jun. 11 – Chicago, IL – House Of Blues
Jun. 12 – Cleveland, OH – Peabody’s
Jun. 13 – Detroit, MI – The Majestic Theater
Jun. 14 – Toronto, ON – The Opera House
Jun. 15 – Montreal, QC – Les Foufounes Electriques

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Rottrevore's classic "Iniquitous" to be re-issued by Xtreem Music

Dave Rotten’s Xtreem Music will be re-issuing the Rottrevore classic Iniquitous in CD format according to a recent post on Blabbermouth;

Iniquitous will be properly reissued on July 1 on both CD and 12″ LP format. This new version will be remastered and contain three live bonus tracks from 1992. For this, the band’s guitarist/vocalist, Mark Mastro, who was also responsible of the album’s cover art, provided the original version of the painting to ensure that the highest quality will be available in every format (CD/LP/shirt).

Typically I don’t get too excited about re-issues, but Iniquitous has been out of print for more than a decade.  If you’ve never heard Rottrevore, they’re crushing American death metal, it’s literally some of the heaviest down-tuned death metal ever recorded.  I can’t wait for this disc to be re-released, I found out about them too late to get the original disc, but have been listening to MP3 samples of the disc for years and it’s fucking AWESOME!

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Brujeria set to unveil new songs during upcoming European shows

Brujeria, currently featuring Jeff Walker (Carcass), Adrian Erlandsson (At The Gates) and Shane Embury (Napalm Death), will be playing select shows in Europe this summer and have announced they’ll be playing new tracks written for an upcoming full length offering.

Here’s the full list of dates;

Jun. 02 – Underworld – Camden, UK
Jun. 03 – Sala Heineken – Madrid, Spain
Jun. 04 – Sala Razamataz – Barcelona, Spain
Jun. 05 – Sala Santana – Bilbao Pais Vasco, Spain
Jun. 06 – Piorno Rock Festival – Granada, Spain
Aug. 07 – Brutal Assault Festival – Jaromer, Czech Republic
Aug. 11 – Backstage – Munich, Germany
Aug. 14 – Sziget Festival – Budapest, Hungary
Aug. 15 – Rock Planet – Rimini, Italy

“Got some new songs to play, which is going to be a lot of fun after so long a time. Hoping to see some old friends next week so come and say hi.”

I never got into Brujeria, but if you’re a fan and live in the area of those shows, it may be worth the trip to check ‘em out.

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Dismember release details about upcoming DVD

Legendary Swedish death metallers Dismember have revealed the cover artwork and details for their upcoming double DVD titled Under Blood Red Skies, available later this month on Regain Records.

Long-running Swedish death metallers DISMEMBER will release a brand new DVD, entitled Under Bloodred Skies, in June via Regain Records. The two-disc set will include footage of two separate concerts (one in the Netherlands and the other at last year’s Party.San Open Air festival, which was held in Bad Berka, Germany) plus tons of backstage material and bonus features.

Commented the band: “We have been working hard as hell on this DVD for so long now and it feels great to finally have it released. We have been filming stuff on every tour (and almost every gig) since 2004, so we have had tons of material to choose from. To break that down to make it fit in a DVD format with interviews with all the band members has been a tough one indeed. But the final outcome will surely be worth all the effort and time we put down in this project. It will be a very honest look into the life of being in DISMEMBER, and it will include a lot of scenes that will make people laugh.

“You’ll get to see how we work in the studio and how it is being on tour with its ups and downs. There will be some cool backstage footage and live material from the Masters Of Death tour we did with our good friends ENTOMBED, GRAVE and UNLEASHED, plus tons of other interesting stuff from all around the world. We also filmed last year’s gig at the Party.San festival. We did a special set at that night; it was divided into two parts, where the first one contains lots of new material as well as some older classics. In the second part of the set we played the the whole first album from 1991,‘Like An Ever Flowing Stream, for the first time in the history of the band, everything very nicely accompanied by fiery pyrotechnics.”

The cover artwork for the DVD, was created by Erik Danielsson (Trident Art).

Unfortunately I missed them when they toured Canada last year (I ended up going to a Joe Rogan comedy show instead… I know, I know, I’m a complete douchebag… I know…) so I’ll more than likely pick this up to see what kind of show I missed out on.  Sounds like it’ll be an interesting DVD set that will be worth the money!

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Florida death metal legends Obituary set to release "Darkest Day" June 30th

Legendary Florida death metallers Obituary have posted a new track, “List Of Dead”, from the band’s upcoming full length offering, Darkest Day, on the band’s official MySpace page.

The track comes off the legendary Florida death metallers’ new album, Darkest Day, which is scheduled for release on June 30 via Candlelight Records. Vocalist John Tardy previousy said about the CD, “It came out really sick and I cannot wait for you guys to hear it… it is heavy!!”

The band once again worked with artist Andreas Marschall, who created the art for The End Complete, Frozen in Time, and the group’s last record, Xecutioner’s Return.

Darkest Day track listing:

01. List of Dead
02. Blood to Give
03. Lost
04. Outside My Head
05. Payback
06. Your Darkest Day
07. This Life
08. See Me Now
09. Fields of Pain
10. Violent Dreams
11. Truth Be Told
12. Forces Realign
13. Left to Die

Guitarist Ralph Santolla previously said about the new material, “The new stuff is HEAVY, some of my favorite OBI riffs yet. Trevor’s [Peres] guitar sounds huge and menacing. If you like OBITUARY, you’re gonna love this record.”

OBITUARY will release a new concert DVD, tentatively titled Live Xecution In Bad Berka 2008, in June via Regain Records. The footage for the disc was filmed at last year’s Party.San Open Air festival, which was held August 7-9, 2008 in Bad Berka, Germany.

Commented bassist Frank Watkins: “We did over 30 festivals last summer and the Party.San festival was the very last and best one for OBITUARY… Fortunately, the show was filmed.”

Based on what I’ve heard, this sounds like it’s going to be another fun old school death metal release by Obituary.  If you’re a fan, you won’t be disappointed, if not, you probably won’t care anyway.  I do have to say, however, I’m surprised Andreas Marschall did that artwork, I’m a big fan of his work (the stuff he did for Immolation is fucking incredible), but the artwork for Darkest Day, at least judging from images I’ve seen, looks like a steaming pile of crap in comparison.  Not sure what’s up with that.  Hopefully it looks better on paper.

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Earache Records set to re-issue Morbid Angel's "Blessed Are The Sick"

Earache Records are, once again, looking to cash in on yet another re-issue, this time it’s a re-issue of Morbid Angel‘s Blessed Are The Sick as a “special DualDisc”;

Blessed Are The Sick, the seminal death metal classic by Floridian legends MORBID ANGEL is due to be reissued by Earache Records as a special DualDisc format redux edition.

MORBID ANGEL‘s second album, Blessed Are The Sick was originally released in 1991 and is widely regarged as one of the most important death metal releases of all time. This essential album is now due to be re-released in a deluxe, multi-panel digipak with the album on one side of the disc and an exclusive bonus DVD on the other side.

The DVD side contains a brand new, exclusive 1-hour documentary featuring interviews with the band and crew discussing the recording and release of the album, and highlighting the band’s rise from underground heroes to worldwide flag-bearers for the death metal scene.

To celebrate this important release, a special limited edition picture disc LP will also be issued, marking the first time the album has been available on this format.

The Blessed Are The Sick redux edition is due to be released on 27th July, 2009.

Catch MORBID ANGEL live at the following shows:

26 May 2009 Los Angeles, USA – Key Club
30 May 2009 Auckland, New Zealand – Transmission Room
01 Jun 2009 Melbourne, Australia – Billboard’s Club
03 Jun 2009 Perth, Australia – Capitol
05 Jun 2009 Sydney, Australia – The Metro
07 Jun 2009 Brisbane, Australia – The Arena
20 Jun 2009 Guatemala City, Guatemala – Parque de la Industria
21 Jun 2009 San Salvador, El Salvador – Centro de Ferias & Convenciones
24 Jun 2009 Lima, Peru – VOCE
26 Jun 2009 Quito, Ecuador – Estadio Chaupicruz
27 Jun 2009 Bogota, Colombia – Rock al Parque Festival, Parque Simon Bolivar
28 Jun 2009 Maracay, Venezuela – Complejo Ferial San Jacinto

The current Earache roster is pretty weak, so it’s no surprise the label continues to churn out re-issue after re-issue of their earlier releases.  If you already own Blessed Are The Sick, there’s really no reason to get the re-issue, unless you’re a completist collector.  If you don’t already have it, honestly, unless you’re a fan of Morbid Angel, it’s not really necessary.  While I appreciate Morbid Angel‘s contributions to death metal, I’ve never found their music to be terribly exciting.  They’re okay, but I always found more enjoyment listening to many other bands from the late 80s/early 90s extreme metal era.

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