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ARMA GATHAS post second song of 'Dead To This World' online and launch new MySpace!
The eminent metal outfit ARMA GATHAS has posted the second song for their debut album Dead To This World to be released the 23rd/26th of April, 2010!

Click HERE to check out New Savior!

In other news ARMA GATHAS has pimped their MySpace profile so go the link above to check it out!

Dead To This World consists of 13 songs, ranging from bludgeoning aggression and frustration in its purest form to atmospheric interludes and music pieces.

ARMA GATHAS is former CATARACT guitarist Simon Fülleman, ex-BORN FROM PAIN singer Ché Snelting, MACHINEMADE GOD and ex-CORNELIUS guitarist Marc Niedersberg, ex- DISLOYAL drummer and talented drum student Max van Winkelhof and Alex Härtel on bass. They recorded their debut album Dead To This World in November 2009 at the Barracs studios together with Sky Hoff as a producer, who worked with Caliban in the past. Mastering was done by the legendary Alan Douches at the West West Side Studio in New York together with Simon in early December.

Dead to this World track listing:
1. Antagonist
2. The rise and fall
3. Losing hope
4. The lies of man
5. The damage done
6. Liberate me
7. Depopulation
8. New savior
9. Generation Doom
10. Protagonist
11. God's Wrath
12. Constant Hunt for Blood
13. Our last goodbye - our final breath

The ARMA GATHAS debut Dead To This World will be released as a limited Digipak on the 23rd / 26th of April in Europe and the 27th of April in North America!

http://www.armagathas.com
http://www.myspace.com/armagathas
http://www.twitter.com/armagathas


CANNIBAL CORPSE video for 'Priests of Sodom' now live at Metal Blade TV!
Priests of Sodom, the new video from Tampa, FL death metalers CANNIBAL CORPSE off their current album Evisceration Plague is now playing at Metal Blade TV. Click HERE to check it out!

The video for Priests of Sodom was shot back in February in Florida with director Kevin Custer (Overkill, Hatebreed, System Divide, Lacuna Coil, Tombs, Testament).

Bassist and founding member Alex Webster comments; "We had a great time working with Kevin Custer on the 'Priests of Sodom' video; he was totally professional and really seemed to understand what to do with our music. He brought a lot of cool new ideas to the table, ideas that may very well make this our most intense video yet. We're all very psyched to see the final product."

Priests of Sodom comes off CANNIBAL CORPSE's latest release and eleventh studio album Evisceration Plague (released in February 2009).

http://www.cannibalcorpse.net/
http://www.myspace.com/cannibalcorpse
http://www.BloodyDisgusting.com/


DEW-SCENTED reveal Invocation cover artwork; announce release show, return from Portugal!
German Thrash Metallers DEW-SCENTED are proud to reveal the front cover artwork for their new album Invocation, to be released May, 21st/24th 2010 in Europe via Metal Blade Records. The artwork was created by the band’s longterm partner Björn / www.killustrations.com and can be viewed here:

Vocalist Leif Jensen comments: “We were lucky to work with Björn / Killustrations again and he did an amazing job on this one, nailing down an apocalyptic artwork that fits perfectly to our style as well as the concept/vibe of ‚Invocation’. Total Thrash! We have been working with Killustrations non-stop for all our albums and merchandising matters since 2003’s release ‚Impact’ and are once more very proud of the final results!”

Invocation will contain 12 songs in its regular edition and an additional two bonus tracks for the limited first pressing Digipak version via Metal Blade Records in Europe. Here is the exact track-listing:

DEW-SCENTED – Invocation:
1. Downfall (Instrumental)
2. Arise From Decay
3. The Invocation
4. Have No Mercy On Us
5. Artificial Life
6. Condemnation
7. Totem (Instrumental)
8. Torn To Shreds
9. Revel In Contempt
10. A Critical Mass
11. Global Hysteria
12. Slaves Of Consent

The bonus tracks on the limited Digipak edition will be:
13. On The Brink
14. Thrashard (D.R.I. Cover Version)

Furthermore, DEW-SCENTED have just announced a very special Invocation album release show in Bremen / Northern Germany at the Tower club, where the band already presented their previous album ‚Incinerate’ back in 2007. The concert will take place on Friday, June 4th, 2010 and next to an especially long D-S set, the show will also feature legendary Death-Thrash Metallers and labelmates God Dethroned from The Netherlands as well as local Northern German Death Metal friends Despondency. The club’s traditional metal disco will run after the show as well and the low-priced tickets for the gig will start to be pre-sold as of next week, so look out! Here is a flyer for the event:

FR 04.06.2010 Bremen (Germany) – Tower / Invocation CD Release Show
+ God Dethroned & Despondency
http://www.kerosene-bremen.de
http://www.myspace.com/pureguitarmusic
http://www.myspace.com/tower-bremen

In other news, DEW-SCENTED just returned from an intense weekend on shows in Portugal (Porto and Moita Metal Fest) and the trip was nothing but a pleasure, with fantastic crowd reactions! We will have some photos, video links and a brief report available in the coming days! Greetings to everyone who made it such a killer time!

More news on Invocation coming up the next days…

http://www.dew-scented.net
http://www.myspace.com/dewscented


GOD DETHRONED re-signs with Metal Blade Records!
Highly distinguished Dutch death metal greats, GOD DETHRONED, have recently released what is being heralded as one of the best albums of their long career in Passiondale. On the heels of this release, Metal Blade has extended GOD DETHRONED's contract yet again to continue putting out some of the most intense and unique death metal albums from one of the genre's best bands.

GOD DETHRONED will be campaigning across North America once again. This time, they'll be supporting Overkills' 25th Anniversary Killfest tour throughout April. The tour starts April 1st in Philadelphia at the Trocadero.

Metal Blade CEO Brian Slagel comments, "We are very happy to continue our long and great relationship with God Dethroned. We've been working with the band and Henri for over a decade and we look forward to more great music from them in the future!"

Henri Sattler, GOD DETHRONED guitarist and vocalist adds, "Once you're in it, you're in it for life, the head of Metal Blade in Europe once said to me. It was already a dream come true to sign our first deal with the label back in '97, and now 13 years later we just put our signature on our third contract with them. It's just as exciting as it was back then and we're very proud of earning their trust and support after all these years."

"We are halfway through the writing process for a new album, which we will record starting end of May. First, we'll play on the Killfest tour in the U.S. supporting Overkill together with label mates Woe of Tyrants and many other great bands. Abigail Williams' axeman Ian Jekelis will take over touring duties for Susan, with whom we parted ways last January. We will announce the name of our new shredder right before we play our first European festival in May."

GOD DETHRONED's video for Poison Fog from the Passiondale album can be seen on now on MetalBlade.tv.

http://www.goddethroned.com
http://www.myspace.com/villavampiria


HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE signs to Metal Blade Records!
Metal Blade Records is pleased to announce the signing of San Francisco's progressive metal outfit HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE. Metal Blade Records will release four of the band's previous releases in late summer 2010 with a new studio album expected in 2011.

"Metal Blade contacted us in April of 2009. After some back and forth we came to an agreement that will allow Hammers of Misfortune to continue making albums the way we always have: unsupervised and self-produced. Also, we grew up on Metal Blade releases - from Destruction and Slayer to Trouble and Fates Warning - so we feel pretty good about that." Guitarist and founding member John Cobbett

"We are really happy and honored to have signed Hammers of Misfortune. I have been a huge fan for awhile now and I personally am really excited to work with them." Brian Slagel

Formed by the eclectic and versatile guitarist John Cobbett (GWAR, Ludicra, Slough Feg, Amber Asylum, Jarboe) in the late 90's, HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE started as an exercise in songwriting and making coherent full length albums making the group more of an experiment in art than your typical band. HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE is made up of some of the most talented musicians John Cobbett and co. can find.

Founding member John Cobbett explains; "I set out to do it this way from the beginning. Having been in a dozen or so bands that broke up before realizing their potential, I decided that the songs and albums were the most important thing. So I formed a 'break-up proof' project that depends more on good material and strong albums than a consistent line-up."

One thing that is consistent, though, is that HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE has always consisted of John Cobbett (guitars) and Chewy Marzolo (drums) with Sigrid Sheie (keys, voice, flute) being another a long term member of the group. Bassist Max Barnett (ex Old Grandad) has been with the group for over a year now and HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE recently added Leila Abdul-Rauf (ex Saros) on guitar and vocals.

Come late summer 2010, Metal Blade Records will be reissuing the following HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE catalog:

The Bastard
The August Engine
The Locust Years
Fields/Church of Broken Glass

Stay tuned to both the band's and Metal Blade's websites for further details on packaging, pre-orders, and release dates.

Check out the band's merch page HERE for vinyl, shirts, patches, and more.

http://www.hammersofmisfortune.com
http://www.myspace.com/hammersofmisfortune


NEAERA post songwriting update and new dates!
German Extreme Metal Champs NEAERA have posted an update about the status of songwriting for the next album and announced some more festival shows.

"The songwriting process is going fluently, we´re focused and very close to wrapping this thing up. We are very confident about the song material, this one is going to be a beast!

We will enter the studio in June to work on this next record which will be released in the fall of this year via Metal Blade Records. In compliance with the back-to-the-roots approach to this record, we will record the drums at Stage One studio with the Mr. Myiagi among metal producers, Andy Classen, who already produced our first record, "The Rising Tide of Oblivion". Of course, we will also work again with our good friend Alexander Dietz, the self-proclaimed Brad Pitt among metal producers, on this one. The mixing/ mastering will be done by none other than Tue Madsen at Antfarm. We will continue updating you guys as more information unfolds."

Cheers,
Neaera

New confirmed live dates are as follows:

NEAERA
28/05/10 – DE – Backnang – Greenality 5 vor 12 Festival
11-13/06/10 – CH – Interlaken – Greenfield Festival
25/06/10 – DE – Montabaur – Mach 1 Festival
04/07/10 – DE – Essen – Devilside Festival

http://www.neaera.com
http://www.myspace.com/neaera


THE OCEAN post two of four 'In the Studio' videos on Metal Blade TV! 'Heliocentric' coming April 9/16!
In honor of THE OCEAN's upcoming opus Heliocentric, Metal Blade Records has posted two in depth making of videos for the album. Fans can now surf over to Metal Blade TV (www.metalblade.tv) to check out the two highly interesting videos including music of the album.

The packaging for Heliocentric is quite amazing, featuring a black digipak with silver foil and black embossed designs as well as cards in place of the traditional CD booklet. There are a total of 9 cards, each with its own artwork on one side and lyrics on the opposite side. Heliocentric is out April 9/16 so make sure to pre-order now, f.e. at the great EMP store (www.emp.de)!

The lyrics and snippets of every song off Heliocentric can be previewed at: http://www.theoceancollective.com/heliocentric

For those who do not know, The Ocean is releasing two CD's that are tied to one another. The first being Heliocentric out in April and the second being Anthropocentric, due out in the fall 2010.

The concept at the base of both albums is a critique of Christianity from different philosophical and personal angles.

While the songs, art and lyrics of Heliocentric tell the story of the rise of the heliocentric world view and its effects on Christian belief from medieval times to Darwin and Dawkins, "Anthropocentric" challenges the views of creationists and other modern fundamentalists who still believe that the earth is at the center of the universe.

The track listing of Heliocentric is as follows:
1. Shamayim
2. Firmament
3. The First Commandment of the Luminaries
4. Ptolemy Was Wrong
5. Metaphysics of the Hangman
6. Catharsis of a Heretic
7. Swallowed by the Earth
8. Epiphany
9. The Origin of Species
10. The Origin of God

Musically, Heliocentric covers the largest range of dynamics and styles to date: "There are a few really calm songs with mainly piano and vocals, as well as some crushing heavy tunes. There is a very special atmosphere to it that pervades the album", comments guitarist Jonathan Nido.

"Our new vocalist Loic Rossetti has immensely widenened the musical spectrum of this band and there are some songs on the album that even those people who have conceived of this band as being unpredictable and daring would have never imagined", adds Robin Staps. "But this is exactly what makes it a 150% The Ocean album".

Heliocentric continues where the Proterozoic half of the Precambrian album left off, with dense, epic songs and big orchestrations. Anthropocentric is going to be a bit more straight forward rocking and technical, whilst tapping the full dynamic range from acoustic pieces to eclectic heaviness as well.

The albums were mainly recorded in the mountainous isolation of La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, the highest city of Europe. The band decided to record and mix the album with the band's house sound engineer Julien Fehlmann: "We wanted to be in control of every single detail, and we have an amazing studio at hand here. Sound wise this is by far the best-sounding album we have done to date".

http://www.theoceancollective.com
http://www.myspace.com/theoceancollective
http://www.facebook.com/theoceancollective
http://www.youtube.com/theoceancollective


SKYFORGER post second song MySpace and studio report and reveal details about the concept of their new album ‘Kurbads’!
Latvian Pagan Metal Kings SKYFORGER are ready to release their latest masterpiece “Kurbads” upon mankind!

This will take a few more weeks though, but to give you another glimpse on the rich variety of this album the band has posted another new song on their MySpace. Click HERE to check out In The Underworld!

SKYFORGER have also posted a studio report including sound and loads of details on the recordings of Kurbads. Click HERE to check it out!

Kurbads offers the typical SKYFORGER fusion of various metal styles, like old school Thrash and Heavy Metal as well as Latvian Folk music, all rounded up with the trademark SKYFORGER sound!

The whole artwork was created by SKYFORGER's guitarist Martins and is connected to the story of Kurbads. Kurbads is the name of a legendary hero from Latvian fairytales of old. He was born magically from the white mare, grew up very fast and was unimaginably strong!

Comments lead vocalist and guitarist Peter: “The tale of Kurbads is a collection of stories and legends recorded near the end of the 19th century by folk enthusiasts. Usually, they were short or medium in length and had many variations. The main theme found in all of them, however, is that of a man who fights against mythical evil forces and, by defeating them, becomes a hero. I think that the tale of Kurbads is interesting because it uncovers many things from Latvia's past, not just historical facts of course, but aspects of daily life and people's ways of thinking who lived in ancient times. Baltic cultural heritage is mostly unknown to Europe and even more so to the rest of the world. So we wanted to reveal some parts of it, and also show that, in Baltic literature, there are great legends and tales just as those about Cuchulainn, Nibelungs, Kalevala, King Arthur and the knights of the round table, and more!”

SKYFORGER's new album Kurbads will be released as a limited 6-panel-Digipak on the 23rd/ 26th of April 2010 via Metal Blade Records in Europe and on the 11th of May 2010 in the U.S.

http://www.myspace.com/skyforgerofficial
http://www.skyforger.lv
http://twitter.com/Skyforger


WHITECHAPEL releases album artwork & track listing for 'A New Era of Corruption'! Reveal details! Guest appearance by Chino Moreno of Deftones!
Knoxville, Tennessee's WHITECHAPEL is pleased to release the cover art and track listing for their 3rd full-length release (second for Metal Blade), A New Era of Corruption due out June 4th/7th via Metal Blade Records in Europe!

"The album is finally 100% complete and we couldn't be more excited. I think this record truly represents where we are as musicians at this point in our career. A New Era of Corruption is the heaviest and most aggressive material we have written to date," comments guitarist and founding member Alex Wade. Alex continues; "Some of you may notice that the title of the new record, A New Era of Corruption, is a line from the song 'Possession' off of our last album 'This Is Exile.' We wanted to name the CD this to bring a little flavor from 'This Is Exile' into the new CD, as well as I think the name represents this new age of extreme metal that we are currently rising in. The album is not a concept record like 'This Is Exile' was. It just has its own general theme and each song deals with its own topic track by track."

’A New Era Of Corruption’ track listing:
1. Devolver
2. Breeding Violence
3. The Darkest Day of Man
4. Reprogrammed to Hate
5. End of Flesh
6. Unnerving
7. A Future Corrupt
8. Prayer of Mockery
9. Murder Sermon
10. Nercomechanical
11. Single File to Dehumanization

Bonus Track 'Animus' available only on digital and vinyl versions of A New Era of Corruption.

Handling artwork for A New Era of Corruption is Brent Elliot White who has also handled cover artwork for bands like Job for a Cowboy and Carnifex. "Brent handled the artwork for the record and absolutely nailed it. The dark and ominous vibe he portrayed with his art fits the mood of the CD perfectly," states Alex.

A New Era of Corruption features guest vocals from Vincent of The Acacia Strain on the track 'Murder Sermon' and Chino from the Deftones on the track 'Reprogrammed to Hate'. Alex elaborates; "Vincent has been a long time friend of the band and we have always talked about him doing guest vocals on one of our records, so naturally his style of vocals fits our music perfectly and sounds great. We're honored to have Deftones vocalist Chino Moreno on our record. All of us are huge Deftones fans so it's pretty surreal for us. He absolutely killed his part on the album and it's everything I envisioned it would be. Plus it's cool that Chino was so opened minded to do vocals on something so extreme; I think that it sounds fantastic."

In other news, WHITECHAPEL is set to film their first music video for the track 'The Darkest Day of Man' off of A New Era of Corruption. The band will once again be working with famed metal video director David Brodsky of MyGoodEye and will be shooting in April. Stay tuned to MetalBlade.tv and Whitechapel's MySpace page.

WHITECHAPEL stands out in today's overcrowded metal scene due in part to their ability to fuse memorable and even groovy riffs with crushing breakdowns, tremolo picking at neck breaking speeds, and incredibly evil and dissonant sounds. Their songs demand repeated listens and gang vocals at shows are common place. This is Exile, the band's Metal Blade debut, was unleashed on July 8th, 2008, and debuted at #118 on the Billboard top 200 charts, #2 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers, and #14 on Billboard's Top Independent albums. An accomplishment that is impressive for veteran artists, much less a relatively brand new metal act.

http://www.myspace.com/whitechapel
http://www.facebook.com/whitechapelmetal
http://www.youtube.com/whitechapeltv


MB LIVE UPDATE:
These are just UPDATES! For full listing of our artists European tourdates please click HERE!

ANIMA
28/05/10 – DE – Leipzig – Moritzbastei
29/05/10 – DE – Paderborn – Cube
20/11/10 – DE – Würzburg – B-hof
26/12/10 – DE – Flensburg – Roxy w/ We butter the Bread with Butter/Versus the Throne/Shake the Pagoda Tree
27/12/10 – DE – Zwickau – Moccabar w/ We butter the Bread with Butter/Versus the Throne/Shake the Pagoda Tree
28/12/10 – DE – Mümchen – Feierwerk w/ We butter the Bread with Butter/Versus the Throne/Shake the Pagoda Tree
29/12/10 – DE – Darmstadt – Steinbruch w/ We butter the Bread with Butter/Versus the Throne/Shake the Pagoda Tree
30/12/10 – DE – Münster – Sputnik w/ We butter the Bread with Butter/Versus the Throne/Shake the Pagoda Tree

DIABULUS IN MUSICA
05/06/10 – ES – Aizoáin (Pamplona) – Sala Movie – CD-release show
12/06/10 – NL – Dokkum - Dokk´em Open Air
23-24/10/10 – BE – Wieze – Metal Female Voices Fest

EVERGREEN TERRACE
25/06/10 – DE – Dortmund – Vainstream Festival

LAY DOWN ROTTEN
03/04/10 – CH – Luzern – Treibhaus
04/07/10 – DE – Rojtzschjora – With Full Force Open Air
11/09/10 – DE – Magdeburg – Metal Embrace Festival

LIZZY BORDEN
07/08/10 – BE – Deinze - Alcatraz Festival
13/08/10 – ES – San Javier - Leyendas Del Rock Festival
28/08/10 – NL – Rijssen – Elsrock

NEAERA
28/05/10 – DE – Backnang – Greenality 5 vor 12 Festival
11-13/06/10 – CH – Interlaken – Greenfield Festival
25/06/10 – DE – Montabaur – Mach 1 Festival
04/07/10 – DE – Essen – Devilside Festival

SKYFORGER
08/05/10 – LV – Riga – Sapnu Fabrika
04/09/10 – BE – Oostende – Velorock Festival
04/09/10 – SK – Kosice – CANCELLED!!!