METAL  NEWS  2006

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METAL  NEWS  061206 DELIVERANCE fans rejoice! Jimmy Brown of DELIVERANCE is currently rehearsing with the reformed band to perform select shows and record a new cd tentatively titled "Enlightened". The new cd will be really heavy and appeal to both old and new fans of DELIVERANCE. www.myspace.com/thebigdlives NORDIC FEST took place on the 2-5 November in Oslo, Norway. It featured great bands like HORDE, PARAMÆCIUM, EXTOL, LAUDAMUS, PANTOKRATOR, ADMONISH, SOTAHUUTO, EVERGRACE and more. The gig with HORDE was their first and only gig ever. The gig was recorded and will possibly come out on DVD later. www.nordicfest.no A new Christian Metal Compilation will soon see the light. The compilation is titled CMR II -The Narrow Path. The CD features 16 songs from bands who are members of the Christian Metal Realm and includes songs from Neon Cross, Valediction, Tykkus, Liberty N Justice, Time Spent Burning, Pacto de Sangre, Venia, Jon Hooper, Skyliner, Enduvus, Pastor Brad, Still Small Voice, Jump Ship Quick, Grave Forsaken and Incarnate. Only 300 of these will ever be printed http://p087.ezboard.com/fthechristianmetalrealmfrm1 ENDTIME  FESTIVAL A really cool festival will take place in Halmstad, Sweden 30-31 March 2007! The festival is organized by the legendary label Endtime Productions. The bands that will play are Crimson Moonlight, Antestor, Veni Domine , Harmony, Extol, Evergrace, Drottnar, Virgin Forest, Inevitable End and Vardoger. What a great lineup! Find out more about this cool festival at http://www.endtime-festival.com In the December issue of Sweden Rock Magazine (the leading Metal Magazine in Sweden) the new DIVINEFIRE album Into A New Dimension was ranked as the best metal album by the writers of the magazine. In the November issue of the same magazine there also was a halfpage article about the METAL BIBLE. Talking about the METAL BIBLE all the copies of the second printing are now gone which means that in just 1.5 years over 20 000 Metal Bibles have gone out! Amen. The English edition of the Metal Bible is also in the works. The releasedate has however been postponed to Summer 2007. Translations into Portugese, Spanish, German and Dutch are also on the way. Find out more about this cool special Bible edition at www.metalbibel.nu John Mahan (ex SAINT) and Josh Kramer the present singer of SAINT have a solo project tentavitely titled Mahan and Kramer of Saint. Musically it will be a smorgasbord of different metal genres during the last 20 years. Visit www.saint777.net for more info. LENGSEL released their second album "The Kiss the hope" on the 23rd of November on Whirlwind Records in Germany. The band consists of 3 members of EXTOL. Musically the songs range from experimental metal to new wave inspired passages to fragile soundscapes. http://www.whirlwind-records.com/en/home/ TERAMAZE from Australia has reformed. They are also working on a new album http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=114728545 The big label SONY/BMG has added STRYPER to the Extended Versions series. The new live album is simple called STRYPER - Extended Versions and features live performances from the 2003 reunion tour including the first live version of You Won't Be Lonely to ever be released. Other tracks are Makes Me Wanna Sing, Calling On You, Free, More Than A Man, Reach Out, The Way, Soldiers Under Command, To Hell With The Devil and Honestly. www.stryper.com HEAVEN'S METAL, the legandary Christian Metal Magazine has a new issue out featuring interviews with people like Matt Smith of THEOCRACY, Jimmy Brown of DELIVERANCE/JUPITER VI, Ty Tabor of KINGS X and more. As always it also has reviews and interesting columns by Steve Rowe of MORTIFICATION and Pastor Bob Beeman of SANCTUARY INTERNATIONAL. http://www.hmmag.com/heavensmetal/ There is a site about Christian Metal in El Salvador at http://www.metalenelsalvador.tk/ Finnish Power Metal Band Oratorio released their brand new cd Redemption on November 18th. It's released on the new label Mata Records. For more info visit www.matarecords.com/ or http://www.oratoriometal.com/ EMI Music/CMG Distribution has recently issued a new compilation by guitar metal band WHITECROSS. Covering the five albums that were originally released by Starsong, the collection contains the following tunes; 'Enough is Enough,' 'Who Will You Follow' (debut - 1987); 'When the Walls Tumble Down,' 'Take It to the Limit' (Hammer and Nail- 1988), 'Shakedown,' Attention Please' (Triumphant Return - 1989), 'Good Enough,' 'No Second Chances,' 'In the Kingdom,' 'We Know What's Right' (In the Kingdom - 1991), and 'Dancin' in Heaven' (High Gear - 1992) In addition, the band's website reports that guitarist Rex Carroll and vocalist Scott Wenzel are in the process of writing new songs as a follow-up to the re-recorded debut album that was issued earlier in the year. www.whitecrossmusic.com ICE SCREAM is a Finnish Metal Compilation covering bands ranging from Black/Death Metal to Thrash and Power Metal. It features bands like Sotahuuto, Essence of Sorrow, Megiddon, Venia, Wingdom, Kremator and many more. www.maanalainenlevykauppa.com NOIZEGATE MUSIC, the leading Christian Rock/Metal Magazine in Scandinavia now has a new issue out featuring PETRA, ANTIDEMON, BLINDSIDE, Torbjörn Weinesjö of VENI DOMINE and many more. There are also plenty of reviews and other cool stuff. http://www.noizegatemusic.com PARAMAECIUM  NEWS We have some exciting news which we've been keeping to ourselves for about a year now. Paramaecium's final shows took place in Blackstump in Sydney, Australia and Nordic Fest in Oslo, Norway. As of 2007 we will be forging on with our new material, with a new band name, and will no longer play the old Paramaecium songs live. The lineup will remain as it is today with myself on bass and vocals, Jason De Ron on guitar and Jayson Sherlock on drums. We will be playing a faster and more melodic form of death metal. The new band name is inExordium. We've thought long and hard about a band name which represents our new style but also links to the heritage of Paramaecium. InExordium is the new name of the band as of 2007. What this all means: 1: The lineup will remain the same. 2. The music will be a faster and more melodic type of death metal. 3. The new band name is inExordium. 4. In early 2007 we will be recording the first inExordium album. Why are we doing it? There are many many reasons. But some immediate ones are simply that we will no longer be pursuing any form of doom and felt that we needed a new identity which was less gothic and suited the new music. Also, having reformed after so many years, it is fun to play the old material again but our hearts are with our exciting new songs, the music we now love to create, and we felt a change was needed. And finally, no matter how good an album we put out next (and we think it will be our best), many fans would compare it to Exhumed which is often held up as our best work - it wouldn't be fair to compare any new work to Exhumed because of the massive differences in genre and time, but there is a lot of nostalgia attached to Exhumed for many people - overcoming that would be impossible. So we forge on to a new version of the band. We are very excited! Please join us for the ride! www.paramaecium.com BRIDE has a new cd out titled Skin For Skin. Musically it's like a mix of all the previous Bride albums and Bride’s most guitar driven effort in years. The CD also features Steve Osborne, the guitarplayer that played on Live To Die. www.bridepub.com RETROACTIVE RECORDS have recently released the following cds: BRIDE - Skin For Skin, THE SEVENTH POWER - The Seventh Power (classic metal for fans of Saint, Armageddon, Barren Cross, Ozzy and Black Sabbath featuring Final Axe/Stryper members) , JUPITER VI - Back From Mars (the solo project with Jimmy Brown of DELIVERANCE), SERVANT - CAUGHT IN THE ACT OF LOVING HIM , SERVANT - WORLD OF SAND +2 bonus tracks, EMOTION - Emotion (Progressive rock/metal from Sweden), THE LEAD - Hardcore for Jesus (2 CDs of punkish speed metal), VARIOUS - Lightning Strikes Twice....again (Vol. 2) (20 tracks with various bands connected to Retroactive Records) Look for new releases from DELIVERANCE, ULTIMATUM, TITANIC, and ZION as well as re-releases by ARMAGEDDON (Money Mask) and X-SINNER (Loud & Proud +2 bonus tracks) next year. www.retroactiverecords.net TOURNIQUET has now finally released their long awaited DVD! It's recorded on the legendary Christian Metal Festival Bobfest in March 2005. The title is TILL SVERIGE MED KÄRLEK (To Sweden With Love) In addition to the live show, the DVD includes some ¨ cool "extras" – including 2002 Cornerstone footage and 2 live performances of “If I Was There”, one featuring a string quartet and harpsichord. The concert is 72 minutes long plus about 30 minutes of "extras" - over 100 minutes of footage. The DVD is in region free NTSC format. http://www.tourniquet.net BLOODGOOD will be playing a showcase at the upcoming GMA Music Week, held in Nashville in April 2007. More about the event can found on the Gospel Music Association website. The band lineup will probably be Les Carlsen, Michael Bloodgood, Paul Jackson, and Mark Welling. http://www.bloodgoodband.com/ SWEDISH  CHRISTIAN  METAL  NEWS Progressive Power Metal band MAJESTIC VANGUARD are happy to announce that Peter Sigfridsson, their vocalist now is much better in his vocal cords and that he will rejoin the band in just some weeks. The band will also do a simple promotion video this Fall. The recordings will be carried out in a ruined abbey. If everything goes as it's planned the video will be found on the website in the beginning of December.… www.majesticvanguard.net Torbjorn and Thomas Weinesjo of VENI DOMINE has left the band HERO. Their replacements will soon be announced. www.heroesplace.com DIVINEFIRE's 3rd studio album Into A New Dimension is now released on Rivel Records. www.rivelrecords.com The bands new video Facing The Liar can be watched at http://www.myspace.com/divinefireofficial GRIMMARK is the band name of Carl Johan Grimmark, guitarplayer of NARNIA & ROB ROCK solo band featuring PETER WILDOER (DARKANE,MAJESTIC) & JAN S ECKERT (MASTERPLAN) CARL JOHAN is handling the guitars,keyboards,lead & backing vocals. www.myspace.com/grimmark MISERATION is a new great melodic extreme metal band is led by Jani Stefanovic (DIVINEFIRE,ESSENCE OF SORROW) and on lead vocals we find Christian Alvestam (SCAR SYMMETRY) Other great musicians involved on this album are Patrik Gardberg (AMMOTRACK,DIVINEFIRE), Barry Haldan (Ex. RENASCENT) The album is titled - Your Demons, Their Angels. Three tracks from the upcoming album can be heard at http://www.myspace.com/miseration GRIMMARK,MISERATION & ESSENCE OF SORROW albums will be finished in a near future with planned release dates on Rivel Records early 2007. Both MISERATION and ESSENCE OF SORROW will also be released on King Records in Japan in December. Jani Stefanovic (DIVINEFIRE,MISERATION) is busy these days and ESSENCE OF SORROW is a great metal release featuring very good people such as Mats Levén (MALMSTEEN,THERION,AT VANCE), Christian Palin (RANDOM EYES), Mikko Harkin (WINGDOM,RANDOM EYES EX. SONATA ARTICA) and more. The album will be titled Reflections of the Obscure. Visit www.essenceofsorrow.com or http://www.myspace.com/essenceofsorrow for more info. CRIMSON MOONLIGHT reports that Erik Tordsson has left the band. New guitar player is Jocke Malmborg of INEVITABLE END. The new EP "In depths of dreams unconsious" will soon be released in Europe. Look for a release before the end of the year. www.crimsonmoonlight.com PANTOKRATOR will enter the studio in early December to record their new album Aurum. The album will be recorded this fall in Slaughterhouse Studios in Halmstad, Sweden. Producer of the album will be Rickard Bengtsson - who has also produced several albums with Arch Enemy and Spiritual Beggars - and also owns of the studio. www.pantokrator.com The album will be released by the German label Whirlwind Records http://www.whirlwind-records.de/ The thrashers of INEVITABLE END has had some memberchanges lately. Marcus Bertilsson has joined the band on guitars which means that the band now has two guitarplayers. Longtime drummer Christoffer Johansson has also decided to leave the band to study in Bible school. The band totally respects Christoffer's decision and wishes him good luck. A new drummer will soon be announced. http://www.inevitable-end.tk/ VENI DOMINE is currently in the study recording their next cd. www.venidomine.com The Power Metallers of THEOCRACY are now working very hard to get the new album ready. Release date isn't set yet but hopefully the album will see the light in early 2007. http://www.theocracymusic.com ROWE  PRODUCTIONS  NEWS It has been a big couple of months here at Rowe Productions. I welcome GRAVE FORSAKEN and SCOURGED FLESH, both from Perth, Western Australia, to the roster. Both bands are thrash/death metal in the vein of early Mortification's "Mortification" and "Break the Curse" era and both bands are also full-on Jesus Revolution Evangelistic Metal! The way it should be!!! Both Grave Forsaken's debut album "Beside The River Of Blood" and Scourged Flesh's "Released From Damnation" is now available. Scourged Flesh are a brutal young band. Dave Kilgallon's drumming reminds me of a young Jayson Sherlock. The "Scrolls Of The Megilloth" shirt has now been reprinted. Soundmass will also be re-issuing the '91 self-titled Mortification album in December, so make sure you look out for that one as well. An interesting development just up and running is the availability of all Nuclear Blast's Mort releases on iTunes. You can buy individual songs or complete albums. "Scrolls Of The Megilloth" and "Post Momentary Affliction" are sold together as a double-pak, so if you just want the "Scrolls..." release you can purchase the re-issue right here. 60% of the money from the iTunes sales comes back to the band, so please stop stealing Mort albums from the net and start buying them legally. This is much needed in our mission to continue presenting Jesus Metal to the world. For several reasons out of our hands, the proposed Central, Latin and South America tour for MORTIFICATION is not going ahead as planned for this November but has been postponed for now. We hope our supporters down in this great part of the world are understanding that we make every effort to get over to your countries to play. www.roweproductions.com Blessings, Steve Rowe Back To Top  or  Mainpage METAL  NEWS  060718 MORTIFICATION has released their new album Erasing The Goblin on MCM Music in Germany. This month sees the official release in USA. Also set for release August 1st is a special DVD edition of the classic video "Live Planetarium", with extensive bonus footage. www.roweproductions.com PETRA's - Farewell DVD was released some time ago on Inpop Records including classics like 01. All About Who You Know 02. Dance 03. Amazing Grace 04. Test of Time 05. Creed 06. Right Place 07. ROCK MEDLEY: Sight Unseen * It Is Finished *Think Twice * I Am on the Rock * Midnight Oil * Mine Field * This Means War 08. Jekyll and Hyde 09. ACOUSTIC SET: Rose Colored Stained Glass Windows * Road to Zion * For Annie * No Doubt * The Coloring Song * Love 10. Grave Robber 11. Beyond Belief 12. He Came, He Saw, He Conquered BONUS MATERIAL: * Interview with Petra * Interview with Peter Furler (newsboys) * Interview with fans * Bonus rehearsal footage For more info visit www.petraband.com The long awaited DVD with the glam metal band HOLY SOLDIER is now finally released! The title is Live, Rare and Raw! It contains interviews, live shows, professional videos "Last Train" & "See No Evil" and lots of other cool stuff. As extra bonus they have added clips with Neon Cross, Tykküs and Ultimatum from Up From The Ashes festival last year! And don't miss the pro videos of "Last Train" & "See No Evil". Neon Cross, Tykküs and Ultimatum! For more info visit www.roxxproductions.com and www.holysoldierfan.com BRIDE is very proud to announce the addition of the drummer Denny Johnson to their lineup. Denny is the former drummer of the 80's hit band Bullet Boys. Denny has been playing with the band over the last few weeks and in that time Bride has been rehearsing and writing for the next CD. At this time Bride is still unsigned but is planning to record and release this project with or without the support of an established label. Bride hopes that in the next couple of weeks they can give the fans a sneak peak at some of the new songs. They plan on recording some of the preproduction work and releasing it to the public. Expect the new release to be very aggressive, heavy and creative. At this time no U.S. tour is planned but there is a Brazilian tour in the works for December of this year. www.bridepub.com Doom metal band TROGLODYTE DAWN has a new bassist in Garth Linkey. They are also looking for a new drummer. Randy has stepped down from his position as lead vocalist for TYKKÜS in order to devote his full energy to TROGLODYTE DAWN. New singer is Will V. www.tykkus.com DROTTNAR from Norway signed with Endtime Productions last year and their debut fullength Welterwerk is chaotic and technical, still structured and extremely tight black metal mayhem. For more info see www.drottnar.com and www.endtimeproductions.com ALTERA ENIGMA - Alteration is the project of Jason De Ron of Paramæcium together with Jefrey Arwadi of Kekal. They have together produced an interesting progressive metal album mixing in elements from jazz such as death metal. A tribute band to SAINT was set up in Germany and Josh Kramer himself is doing the vocals of this cool live album titled JOSH KRAMER OF SAINT: Headbanger's Night 2 Melodic Metallers NARNIA's new album Enter The Gate was voted as the best metal album in the recent issue of Sweden Rock Magazine, which is the leading metal magazine in Sweden. www.narniaworld.com HOPE delivers oldschool thrash metal from Croatia! Their new cd is titled Light Of The Salvation http://www.hopemetal.tk/ PROMISE LAND is a cool band that mix Mozart with Metal! http://www.angelfire.com/theforce/trm/pland.html BOMBWORKS RECORDS NEWS Bombworks Records would like to announce 3 new signings to the label, all with releases to come out late summer. Adiastasia hails from Brazil and plays power metal in the vein of bands like Helloween and Gamma Ray. Their debut album will be entitled "Life War" and will contain 11 tracks of blistering technical power metal. Hailing from Puerto Rico, Azmaveth blends death, black, thrash, and their Hispanic roots to create a unique brutal soundscape. Their 13-song debut will be entitled "Strong as Death" and is sure to whet the extreme metal appetite. Finally, after several demos, California death metallers Tortured Conscience will be releasing their debut full length recording "Every Knee Shall Bow". Featuring members of grind act Vulgar Pigeons, Tortured Conscience grinds through 10 brutal tracks, the last of which is a cover of the Bloodgood classic "Crucify". Tracks will be posted shortly for all 3 bands. Also, be looking for both Century Sleeper and Angel 7 to be released in June. http://www.bombworksrecords.com THE SALVATION CRUSADE is the first White-Progressive Metal Band from India! For more info visit http://www.thesalvationcrusade.com German Power Metallers LIGHTMARE reports that the recording of the new cd now is finished. They are now looking for interested labels http://www.lightmare.de/ Classic Brittish Metallers in STAIRWAY have now finished the new album titled 'The Other Side of Midnight'. According to the band it is their heaviest album to this date. Look for a release this month. http://www.stairwaymusic.co.uk/ HERO's debut album is called "Bless This Nation". The cd is filled with strong melodies and a modern sound of groovy hardrock, will hit your ears. The album was released on the independent label GOOD NEWS MUSIC in February 2006. The band consists of Michael Hjelte (Sons of Thunder), Björn Sundström, Torbjörn Weinesjö (Veni Domine), Thomas Weinesjö (Veni Domine). http://www.heroesplace.com/ An interesting interview with MICHAEL BLOODGOOD can be found at http://www.therefineryrock.com/interview8.htm During the Spring, JERUSALEM performed 3 gigs with two settings to celebrate their 30 years of Hardrock. On these gigs they played for over 3 hours at each gig! This cool tour was filmed and will be released on DVD. Look for a release this Fall/Winter. www.jerusalem.se X-SINNER NEWS The band re-records some of the tracks off the Peace Treaty album and add a new bonus track as well! Get ready for a raw new album that blows AC/DC away. "We were not entirely satisfied with how the original cd turned out back in 1991, especially the guitar tracks, so we ended up retracking to get the crunch we had always wanted." says Greg Bishop. The cd is titled "Fire It Up" and is released this month. Fans of AC/DC and Def Leppard (especially Pyromania era) will definately love it. Besides Fire It Up releasing this month, Retroactive Records is also pressing a second limited edition run of Loud And Proud with new artwork! This cd is a collection of early versions of songs and demo takes and is for the truely diehard X-Sinner fan. The first edition was a very limited run of a few thousand copies which sold out right away. This second edition is even smaller in number making it truely collectable. Other exciting news is that the band is also recording an album of all new material! One of the songs will be on the "Fire It Up" re-tracked album as a bonus track. The new release will be titled Back In Red. Look for a release Spring/Summer 2007. X-Sinner also has a new really cool website at http://www.x-sinner.org/ DIVINEFIRE NEWS Now our new album INTO A NEW DIMENSION is finally mixed and we are pleased with the result. We also shot the new pictures this week for promotional use and for the new album and the release date is set to September 23, 2006 in Japan. The release for rest of the world will be late November. Our Japanese record company King Records visited us in Sweden the last day of the mix and they were happy with our new album. We will keep you updated about the progress and more news in a near future. www.divinefire.net ESSENCE OF SORROW a cool melodic metal band with progressive elements, mixed with beautiful finnish melancholic melodies. The setting consists of Jani Stefanovic - Rhythm & Lead Guitars (DIVINEFIRE, RENASCENT), Christian Palin - Vocals (RANDOM EYES), Timo Kuusjärvi - Rhythm Guitars (RANDOM EYES),Mikko Härkin - Keyboards (Ex. SONATA ARCTICA, WINGDOM) Harri Räsänen - Drums and Sidi Miettiäinen on Bass. The band's debut cd "Reflections of the Obscure" will be released Fall 2006 on Rivel Records (Sweden)and King Records (Japan) , during Fall 2006. www.essenceofsorrow.com Melodic Metallers LAUDAMUS has a new selftitled cd out. They re-recorded the songs from Unlimited Love with new arrangements, as well as a song from their first vinyl single. Bonus material also includes the super rare 4-track EP titled Ready Or Not from 1992. This is something for fans of Stryper (Against The Law-era), Angelica, Bloodgood, and Leviticus. The album is released on Rivel Records. For more info visit www.laudamus.se and www.rivelrecords.com HEARTCRY, another hard rocking band on Rivel Records also has a new album out titled Firehouse. http://www.heartcry.se Maanalainen Levykauppa has just released a cool Finnish Metal Compilation titled ICE SCREAM: Finnish Metal Compilation It contains 16 talented bands mostly death metal and heavy metal. www.maanalainenlevykauppa.com STRYPER  BIOGRAPHY  TO  BE  RELEASED  THIS  MONTH! After being out of print for years, Dale Erickson and myself, Jesse Sturdevant, have updated and revised the authorized bio Stryper:Loud 'n Clear, set for release in late June. For those who may not know, we spent countless hours with Michael, Robert, Oz and Tim (not to mention dozens of others related to the Stryper's history) discussing their lives and the band that has changed the lives of so many. It was originally released in 2001 and now it's revamped for 2005. Pre-order today! Also available is The Road To Yellow and Black, a 30 minute DVD featuring footage from the authors' personal collection--see Tim Gaines give a tour of landmarks such as the Sweets' old garage (where Stryper was born), hanging out with Robert and Oz, and footage from the Stryper Expo 2001. Both items are available separately or together as one--for pre-ordering info and more details check out www.stryperbook.com The official Stryper biography, "Loud 'n' Clear" is back in print, and with a new chapter, updated editing, and a new cover! The first edition was released about 6 years ago and it went out of print after only 6 months!! Well, finally, it has been reprinted and only a limited supply is available. You can go to Stryperbook.com and preorder your book. There is also a DVD available. There are very rare and many never seen before photos in the book. The book consists of about 13 chapters, and yes, including their "Against the Law" period. We not only interviewed the band, but their family members, former employees, record company executives, and many others. This is the Stryper biograhy, a 200 page book that takes an in depth, personal, inside look into the history of this band. This book was originally released in 2001 and quickly sold out. This version has a new cover and a new chapter that updates the band's activities through 2006. Also includes the DVD Road to Yellow and Black-- a 30 minute DVD which finds the authors researching the book by visiting old Stryper sites in California as well as some footage from the Stryper Expo 2 and other moments with the band. The DVD consists of our journey to CA while researching the book--we went to several old Strype haunts such as their garage where they started their first bible studies---several scenes that were recorded in their MTV videos--like the house in "Honestly" for example. there's also footage of us at the 2nd Stryper expo in CA with footage of some of their clo0thes from their world tours, and a very private moment of me, Jesse, Robert Sweet and Oz sitting in a hotel room as they were signing copies. They tell a story about playing at a high school well before they were Stryper. Check it out at www.stryperbook.com HOPE - the Christian Thrashers from Croatia are out with a new cd called "LIGHT OF THE SALVATION". The cd is available through www.nordicmission.net as well as from their website www.hopemetal.tk TEMPLE OF BLOOD is a four piece American band formed by vocalist/guitarist Jim Mullis late 2001. Their debut album Prepare For the Judgement Of Mankind features nine metal tracks with styles ranging from classic heavy/melodic power metal to speed metal, reminiscent of Megadeth, Judas Priest, Saint Annihilator, Iron Maiden, and Dark Angel. www.templeofblood.net REVELATION PROJECT is a cool American band playing Progressive Rock/Metal in the veins of Dream Theater, Shadow Gallery,Rush, Yes and Kansas. http://www.revelationproject.com German Power Metallers SEVENTH AVENUE report that almost all songs are ready and preproduced. They will start to recording this month. Further they have a video for download - it's a "on the road" video with the music of Future Tale. www.seventh-avenue.de Glam Metal band HOLY SOLDIER are currently writing and demoing new material and will be officially unleashing some new tunes this Summer as the band goes out on tour. www.holysoldierfan.com Here is some exciting news for all fans of PARAMAECIUM! The band reports that in April 2006, Jayson Sherlock returned to Paramaecium after a 10 year break. As the band prepare for the next album and possible shows, Paramaecium now consists of the original Exhumed lineup: Andrew Tompkins: Vocals and Bass, Jason De Ron: Guitars, Jayson Sherlock: Drums www.paramaecium.com An interesting VENI DOMINE interview can be found at http://thewhippingpost.tripod.com/venidomine2006interview1.htm Swedish Deather's PANTOKRATOR has signed a record deal with the German label Whirlwind Records. Pantokrators sophomore album, entitled "Aurum", will be recorded this fall in Slaughterhouse Studios in Halmstad, Sweden. Producer of the album will be Rickard Bengtsson - who has also produced several albums with Arch Enemy and Spiritual Beggars - and also owns of the studio. www.pantokrator.com TOURNIQUET will release a brand new DVD this Summer! It's recorded on the legendary Christian Metal Festival Bobfest 2005. The title is TILL SVERIGE MED KÄRLEK (To Sweden With Love) In addition to the live show, the DVD will include some ¨ cool "extras" – including 2002 Cornerstone footage and 2 live performances of “If I Was There”, one featuring a string quartet and harpsichord. The projected release date is August 15. The concert is 72 minutes long plus about 30 minutes of "extras" - over 100 minutes of footage. This is without a doubt the highest quality live Tourniquet concert footage ever released so be sure to not miss this megacool DVD! http://www.tourniquet.net Melodic rockers ZION are working on new tunes and has a new website at http://www.zionrocks.org/ BLOODGOOD fans rejoice! Les Carlsen, Michael Bloodgood, and Paul Jackson met recently to discuss the future of Bloodgood. After a disappointing false start in 2002, it seems there is hope for an active Bloodgood once again. Michael reported that they intend to re-record classic Bloodgood songs to give them an updated sound, and then work on recording new material. Michael implied that his recovery from his near death experience has been a strong motivating factor in his renewed interest in the band. When asked who would play drums, Michael suggested that the most likely candidate is former Bloodgood drummer Mark Welling. http://www.bloodgoodband.com/ ENDTIME PRODUCTIONS signs CRIMSON MOONLIGHT! ENDTIME PRODUCTIONS are very proud to announce the latest addition to the family, CRIMSON MOONLIGHT. With no need to introduce one of Scandinavia finest - and hardest - live acts to the scene we would like to welcome them and their purifying fire to the label. Together with DROTTNAR they strengthen the label even further in our ambition to serve our listeners with the very best Scandinavia can offer! Revelation of the End Times; an EP is already recorded in profound secrecy, to be released this Autumn. The EP will contain two brand new BRUTAL tracks and one classic early CRIMSON MOONLIGHT song re-recorded in a furious new version. More details to be announced soon. www.endtimeproductions.com A STRYPER DVD will be released this Summer! It's called Greatest Hits - Live in Puerto Rico DVD At long last, Stryper live in concert is available on DVD! Filmed in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2004, this video captures the original setting of the band rockin' through 14 of their biggest hits. The featured tunes are: 1. Sing Along Song 2. Makes Me Wanna Sing 3. Calling On You 4. Free 5. More Than a Man 6. Caught in the Middle 7. You Won't Be Lonely 8. Reach Out 9. Loud and Clear 10. The Way 11. Soldiers Under Command 12. To Hell With the Devil 13. Honestly 14. Winter Wonderland The running time is circa 100 minutes. The DVD will see the light in late August www.stryper.com THEOCRACY NEWS "We regret to announce that Theocracy bassist Seth Filkins has decided to leave the band to allow more time for his family and other pursuits. The split was 100% amicable and there are absolutely no hard feelings either way. “Seth will always be a great friend and a member of this band in spirit, because he’s supported and helped us in so many ways,” said Theocracy founder Matt Smith. “After some reflection, he just felt like things are about to go farther than he’s really prepared to go with it, and has decided to step down to devote more time to other things. I understand this completely, and I respect him for doing it now and not down the road when the timing could have been much worse.” Seth prepared the following statement:“Dear Theocracy Fans, I regret to inform you that I will no longer be able to fulfill my duties as Theocracy's bassist. As we were nearing completion of the songwriting for the new album, I realized that Theocracy will go further than I am willing to go with it. My life goals do not currently mesh with "life on the road," etc. I am also currently building a house and am staying busy at work and just do not have as much time as is needed to devote to Theocracy. Matt and Shawn deserve someone who is equally as dedicated to the success of the band as they are. I leave with no bad feelings and wish nothing but the best for the rest of the guys! I know Josh is an excellent player and think he will be a good fit for the band (plus he looks and IS a whole lot tougher than me!). This was not an easy decision for me by any stretch of the imagination, but it's what I feel like is right for me right now. Thanks for your support of me and I hope you will continue to give your support to the rest of the guys. Prepare to be blown away by the next album!” In order to keep things moving forward, Theocracy have already chosen Josh Sloan to be the band’s new bass player. Josh is an Athens, GA native who has been playing bass for years and comes from a musical background. “I’ve known Josh for quite a few years from school and church,” says Matt. “We kind of grew up in the same circles, although he’s a few years younger than I am. He’s a great bass player, but he also has a great singing voice so he’ll be able to take over the background vocals that Seth handled in a live setting. So far, he’s really put in the work to learn the material, and we’ve played a couple of shows with him that have gone well, so that’s pretty much what we’re looking for. Plus, he’s a big biker dude, so he can double as band bodyguard. “This has actually been in the works for months now, but we wanted to wait until we had chosen our new bassist to make the announcement. Thank you all for understanding, and for sticking with us. We’re moving forward stronger than ever.” THEOCRACY has now completed its full line up with the addition of another new member, the guitarist Jonathan Hinds. The full THEOCRACY lineup will hit the stage at the ProgPower USA Pre-party in Atlanta on September 14. www.theocracymusic.com UP FROM THE ASHES II will be a very cool Christian Metal Festival featuring bands like SAINT, ONCE DEAD, FINAL AXE, ULTIMATUM, NEON CROSS and more! www.roxxproductions.com PASTOR BRAD/SAINT Reshredded Project update Guitarshredder Pastor Brad has some news about his new cool projects: "Just wanted to let you know that Richard and Dee from SAINT have both finished recording their parts and they sound fantastic! I just mailed songs out to 10 other players today--for both the RESHREDDED and SHREDDED SWEET projects. Once everyone's finished--I'll do the final editing/overdubs, etc. then master it... Hopefully---both projects will be ready for release sometime this fall... I'm not setting an dates just yet." You can check out cover art and learn lots more about these guitar metal projects at www.guitarjams.net Fans of MODEST ATTRACTION rejoice! Their first album The Truth In Your Face has now been released. It's released in a limited edition of 300 copies on Rivel Records. www.rivelrecords.com RETROACTIVE RECORDS HAVE SOME COOL RELEASES ON THE WAY : JUPITER VI - BACK FROM MARS (Christian metal master, Deliverance lead vocalist, Jimmy Brown's Da, Iggy Pop, David Bowie influenced album. The title track will be the first track on the Sept/Oct. HM Compilation that goes out to 56650 subscribers) (Sept. '06) X-SINNER - LOUD & PROUD + 2 bonus tracks from the Cracked album (Oct. '06) A reissue of the classic AC/DC influenced band with unreleased and the best in demo tracks from the band's vast collection. Out of print for 5 years, demand has required a re-release with new artwork, and two bonus tracks, "Prophet & the Cowboy" & "Going Around In Circles" from the X-sinner album CRACKED which is now out of print. EMOTION - S/T (Swedish melodic metal ala Narnia/Helloween. They even toured with Helloween in the 90's.) (Oct. '06) Not only do you get the band's full length album (originally released in Europe and Japan in 1996 as Taste of Grapes), but we have added the ultra rare 5 song EP called TIP TO TOE as a bonus. All new artwork, band history, and a digital remastering put this heavy metal classic in the league of Narnia, Seventh Avenue, and Rob Rock. SERVANT - CAUGHT IN THE ACT OF LOVING HIM (Christian rock classic, will be first time on CD. Remastered with band penned liner notes/history.) LIMITED EDITION (Oct. '06) SERVANT - WORLD OF SAND (Oct. '06) (Christian rock classic, will be first time on CD. Remastered with band penned liner notes/history. Includes the 2 song non-lp bonus tracks "Cog In the Wheel" and "Tree Planter Stomp" ) LIMITED EDITION THE SEVENTH POWER - S/T (Final Axe,Titanic guitarist, Bill Menchen solo cd with Robert Sweet on drums. This is Heavy Metal that will delight fans of 80's era Ozzy. It will have a track on the Sept/Oct HM Sampler) (Nov. '06) ZION - THRILL SEEKER: A LIVE HISTORY (Nov. '06) LIMITED EDITION (Extremely high quality demo and live tracks from the AC/DC influenced band. Lead singer Rex Scott went on to sing for his current band, X-sinner. This will be their second release since the classic THUNDER FROM THE MOUNTAIN release) THE LEAD - HARDCORE FOR JESUS (2 CD SET) LIMITED EDITION 1000 copies (Nov. '06) Powerful Slayer-ific metal guitars with all the grit of the Dead Kennedys and the Cro-Mags. This 2 cd set spans the entire career of the "Crossover" band that helped estanblish bands like M.O.D., S.O.D., and The Crucified. This album includes the '85 self-titled release, the 19 song RETURN FIRE ('86), AUTOMOLOCH ('86), the original non-R.E.X. version of THE PAST BEHIND ('87), which was a completely different recording, and BURN THIS RECORD ('89). Open Grave & Red State Records are pleased to announce the latest addition to the Open Grave/Red State Records Family, FEAST ETERNAL. Feast Eternal started out in the winter of 1992 with John Greenman (ex-Infested) and T.J. Humlinski (ex-Infested). Late in October of 1993 the lineup was completed by the addition of drummer, Matt Skrzypczak. In early 2000 Feast Eternal released upon the world their debut album, "Prisons of Flesh." "Prisons of Flesh" was met with critical acclaim and produced a loyal fan base, even leading them to receive attention from a major metal record label. However due to personal reasons John left the band before Feast was able to proceed with future endevours, putting the band on hold for a long period of time. Fast forward to June 2006. The remaining members of Feast Eternal (T.J. & Matt) make their presence known again within the scene and begin writing material for a new Feast Eternal album. In a short time Open Grave/Red State Records took interest in working with Feast Eternal and in mid-July 2006 the relationship was solitified. In late 2006 the original, "Prisons of Flesh" album will be reissued in it's original form and will include two new tracks as a bonus to tie fans over for the full length return of Feast Eternal in early 2007. For more info visit www.feasteternal.comand http://www.opengraverecords.com The new SAINT album The Mark was released this Spring filled to the bone with pure classic Heavy Metal. www.saintsite.com The Thrashers of ULTIMATUM has just released a limited EP of 300 copies only. All are individually signed and hand numbered by the band! The EP consists of the tracks Deathwish, One For All, Heart of Metal, Blind Faith, Sins of Omission and Blink (live). For more visit www.roxxproductions.com and www.ultimatum.net METAL  BIBLE  OUTREACH  REPORT  FROM  SWEDEN  ROCK Last but not least, here is a report of the cool things that God is doing through the Metal Bible, which is a special Bible edition that besides the new testament also contains plenty of metalheads (including Nicko McBrain (Iron Maiden), Tommy Aldridge (Whitesnake), Peter Baltes (Accept), Steve Rowe (Mortification), Michael Sweet (Stryper) and many many more) that share their life stories and talk about what the Bible means to them. In the beginning of June it was reprinted in 10 000 copies and of these only a few hundred remains! So they are really going fast! Here is a report of the response the Metal Bible got at Sweden Rock Festival, one of the biggest metal festivals in Europe: "Hello folks! Thank you so much for your prayers! We could really feel that your prayers backed us up when we stood there handing out metal bibles. Things went so smooth and the response we got was mostly very positive! Most of the people said that the metal bible was a great idea and really wanted to have a copy. This time we were about 25-30 people involved in the outreach and we were standing at three different places. We had put up signs that said that people could get metal bibles for free at our tables, and many was interested and came and picked up a copy, so it was all on their initiative. So we weren't giving the bibles out just to anyone but only to those that were interested in it. The most common responses we got were "Cool, this one I really have to have!", "Great idea with a metal bible!", "Can I take a copy for my friend?", "I will read this in my tent tonight". Some people even took us in hand and thanked us for the metal bible and most of the people were positive or very positive to it. While giving away bibles we also had plenty of good spiritual conversations and also prayed for some. Many were really open for God and had many questions about God and we got to witness to many. Of course there were also some that didn't liked the metal bibel at all because of its Christian content and put it back when they had looked in it, but that was a minority. The festival started on Thirsday but already on Wednesday we put some Metal Bibles on the table and 700 went away the first day, although the festival had still not started! So people were really hungry to get them. And this was only the start! Then on first real festival day about 3300 copies went away so 4000 copies were spread in just two days! So we now understood that the 5000 copies we have brought with us wouldn't be enough so some in the team had to go and pick up 1700 more on the following day. And so they did. And then on Friday about 1500 copies went out and then on Saturday the last 1200 remaining copies were given away. People were so hungry for the Word of God! A fitting Bible verse that talks about this is Amos 8:11 that says: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:" So a total of 6700 Metal Bibles plus over 500 Biker Bibles were given away during the festival which meant that about a third of the 21 000 people on the festival got a bible! Amen. So God's Word was really going out heavily during the festival. The Bible also says that the Word of God will never never return void and that God will watch over His Word to fulfill it so we have a great harvest to look forward to! (Isaiah 55:11, Jeremiah 1:12). I'm so thankful to GOD for all He has done during this festival through the metal bibles and for having the opportunity to be a part of it. Please keep all the the people that received metal bibles in prayer, that God will urge them to read it especially during the next following days and that God will speak prophetically into their lives through the bibles and that they will find Christ through it. Besides spreading bibles I was also selling Christian metal cds and shirts in my booth during the festival and I sold really well. By standing there and selling Christian Metal many misconceptions about Christian Metal were broken and many discovered that there really is plenty of good quality Christian Metal bands out there. Pray that God will continue to speak to them through the Christian Metal cds they bought and continue His work in them. Two local newspapers also wrote about the metal bible and a radiostation talked about it as well and we met many that had heard about it in media that came and wanted to have a copy, so God really opened some big doors for us! Overall, we have seen so many miracles during this outreach and God has really provided us with all we needed. And I'm sure this wouldn't have happen if you hadn't backed us up in prayer. So once again I really want to thank you for your prayer support. Standing there at Sweden Rock and giving away metal bibles was a fantastic experience and it was so wonderful to see that the vision I had for this special bible worked so well in reality and that people that normally would never give the bible a chance really wanted to get the metal bible and read it, since it related to them. A cool thing is also that most people find the metal bible very valuable and are really proud to have it. And of the 6700 copies that were spread we found only about 10 on the ground and none were cut in part. Everywhere, we saw people walking around with a metal bible in their hand or in the pocket. I really want to thank GOD for all He did during this metal bible outreach! God is so awesome and He is really the one that has made this metal bible outreach so successful. I'm glad to have the privilege to be His servant. To God be the glory forever and ever. Amen. In His Service Johannes Jonsson An English version of the metal bible will see the light before the end of the year. More info about the Metal Bible can be found on www.metalbibel.nu Back To Top  or  Mainpage METAL  NEWS  060205 TOURNIQUET  UPDATE New Tourniquet DVD to be released - Live from Linkoping, Sweden - Bobfest 2005. This is by far the best quality live Tourniquet footage we have ever had - both in terms of the video (4 cameras) and audio. The crowd was awesome too! There will be songs included that have never been on any live Tourniquet video or DVD before -The Tomb of Gilgamesh and Skeezix Part II to name a couple. Also included will be songs from Where Moth and Rust Destroy, and of course, some old favorites. Look for an early 2006 release. Tourniquet on MySpace - Finally, Tourniquet has a home on MySpace. Now it's even easier to connect with Tourniquet fans all over the world - so check it out at www.myspace.com/tourniquetrocks and add us as your friends! Special thanks to Spence and Lucid for making it happen. We are working on the new album - look for a late 2006 release. Luke, Aaron, Steve and Ted www.tourniquet.net SARDONYX have just released a 4-track cd titled Linear Progression filled with Worship in real Metal style! http://www.lightshineministries.orghttp://www.lightshineministries.org Swedish doomsters VENI DOMINE signs record deal with MCM Music (Germany) http://www.mcm-music.de/ The brand new Veni Domine release "23:59" will see the daylight 6th February 2006. www.venidomine.com Classic Heavy Metal band SAINT have released their first ever live CD, featuring both new songs and fan favorites. Larry London is the band's new drummer. They are now working hard with the new cd that will be the most apocalyptic metal Saint has ever done. Look for 11 or 12 song CD and real Saint style artwork. www.saintsite.com Groundbreaking Swedish hardrockers in JERUSALEM will celebrate their 30 years (!) of hardrock with some megaconcerts consisting of two lineups! On these gigs they will play classics all the way from the beginning until now so if you are a fan of Jerusalem be sure to not miss these cool gigs! The Jerusalem - 30 years celebration - concerts takes place on: Thursday March 23:rd - Trädgår’n in Göteborg (Gothenburg). Friday March 24:th - Kungsporten in Jönköping Sunday March 26:th - Fryshuset in Stockholm. For more info visit http://www.jerusalem.se RIVEL  RECORDS  NEWS Hope you had a nice CHRISTMAS and a great start for the new year 2006. It seems that this year will filled with good releases from RIVEL RECORDS Right now Jani Stefanovic & me are working on the new material for the 3rd DIVINEFIRE album and it will have the title INTO A NEW DIMENSION. Planned to hit the stores in September 2006 in Japan and November for the rest of the world. More information later. I will also record a new soloalbum and do new versions of songs written by NARNIA, FLAGSHIP and some new songs will be added in a more acoustic & atmospheric way together with OLOV ANDERSSON keyboard player & songwriter from the very good progressive rockband GRAND STAND www.grandstandmusic.net The album will be called LIVING WATER FROM THE THRONE and planned to be out autumn 2006. I will be touring as well on this album together with Olov Andersson. See www.rivelrecords.com for more updates about the album and tour. Jani is a very productive and effective man these days and he is now in the process to finish the debut album of his EXTREME METAL band called ETERNIUM and his new metal band ESSENCE OF SORROW. He has wrote all the songs and produced both albums. He has used the same studio as DIVINEFIRE is using so the production and sound is very good and heavy! ESSENENCE OF SORROW – Reflections Of The Obscure is the title of the album. Planned to be out this Spring/Summer 2006 on RIVEL RECORDS. The Finnish hard rock & heavy metal explosion is growing stronger and stronger and the new metal band called ESSENCE OF SORROW from FINLAND shows that. With members from bands like DIVINEFIRE, WINGDOM, RANDOM EYES & EX. SONATA ARTICA This unit called ESSENCE OF SORROW will caught attention in the metal world. With the extremely talented vocalists Christian Palin (RANDOM EYES) and special guest Mats Levén (THERION, Ex. MALMSTEEN, AT VANCE) ESSENCE OF SORROW will deliver a killer album. Line-Up: Jani Stefanovic - Guitars Christian Palin - Vocals Mikko Härkin - Keyboards Timo Kuusjärvi -Guitars Markus Niemispelto - Drums Sidi - Bass Special guests: Mats Levén (Therion, Ex.At Vance & Malmsteen) Andreas Olsson (DIVINEFIRE & NARNIA) Patrik Gardberg (AMMOTRACK) Plec (UNMOORED) See www.essenceofsorrow.com for more information. ETERNIUM is a new excting band where we find BARRY HALDAN former vocalist of RENASCENT. Both Barry & Jani left RENASCENT after their debut album THROUGH DARKNESS who has received very good response in metal media. Jani & Barry wanted to go forward with their ideas and formed ETERNIUM. Here you find the speed, melody and lots of aggresive and furious metal produced in a powerful way! You will find great musicians like PLEC & PATRIK GARDBERG both incredible guitarists who guested on the last DIVINEFIRE album HERO. ETERNIUM will be out Summer/Autumn of 2006 on RIVEL RECORDS. The next release is 7 DAYS.7 DAYS formed by guitarist MARKUS SIGFRIDSSON. MARKUS have done all the artworks for DIVINEFIRE both albums GLORY THY NAME & HERO and many more for RIVEL RECORDS. He is also involved in the melodic metal band called HARMONY. They have just entered the studio to record the 2nd album to their critically acclaimed debut album DREAMING AWAKE. Markus also played the guitarsolo on the Japanese bonus track MASQUERADE on the HERO album. Markus have composed all the songs and produced the album as well. A powerful production,bright and sharp with epic feeling! Very beautiful melodies with nice keyboard arrangements. The lead and backing vocals is done by THOMAS VIKSTRÖM - One of the best hard rock and heavy metal singers in the world right now and known for his tremendous work with TALK OF THE TOWN, CANDLEMASS, BRAZEN ABBOT and all choir arrangements and backing vocals for DIVINEFIRE. 7 DAYS LINE-UP: Markus Sigfridsson – Guitars & keyboards (HARMONY) Thomas Vikström - Vocals (CANDLEMASS, BRAZEN ABBOT, TALK OF THE TOWN) Daniel Flores - Drums (MIND'S EYE) Andreas Olsson - Bass (DIVINEFIRE) Special Guest: Kaspar Dahlquist - Keyboards (DIONYSOS) Hope you will follow RIVEL RECORDS during this year because it will be an exciting year. THANX FOR YOUR GREAT SUPPORT! All the best and God Bless! Christian Rivel RIVEL RECORDS www.rivelrecords.com Guitar metal band RIVERA/BOMMA have finally set the release dat for their new album "I Am God". It will be released in Europe & Japan on Mausoleum Records on Feb. 10, 2006 and in the U.S.A. on January 31st, 2006 thru The End Records. Musically the band sounds like a mixture of traditional hard rock and melodic American power metal - at times a hint progressive, due to the presence of majestic, but subtle keyboards. ROD and JOHN have written some epic anthems which they perform over pulsating rhythms, revealing the influences of their 70s heroes, such as DEEP PURPLE and RAINBOW. The power and range of JOHN BOMMA’S voice comparable to an IAN GILLAN or RONNIE JAMES DIO, whilst ROD RIVERA is a guitar virtuoso parallel to RICHIE BLACKMORE or MICHAEL SCHENKER, occasionally also shredding MALMSTEEN-style, as well as playing some dazzling Latin Flamenco guitar. The band's influences show through (Deep Purple, Rainbow, Dio, Michael Schenker Band) while always maintaining their own individualistic sound. For more info on this cool band visit www.riverabomma.com SSwedish thrash/deathers INEVITABLE END have now released their new demo Reversal. On their site you can also download the first track Reditegration. In the beginning of 2006 they will tour together with Sonic Syndicate and Avatar under the name Sweden United - Metal Tour 2006. http://www.inevitable-end.com/ STRYPER  NEWS The melodic metallers of STRYPER will play Sauna Open Air Tampere, Finland on June 9, 2006. They are scheduled to play at Sweden Rock Festival in Solvesborg, Sweden on June 10, 2006. There they will play for over 20 000 metalheads with bands like WHITESNAKE, DEEP PURPLE, JOURNEY, VENOM, CELTIC FROST, W.A.S.P., GAMMA RAY, ANVIL, CATHEDRAL, METAL CHURCH, LORD BELIAL, RAISE HELL, EVERGREY and many many more. www.swedenrock.com Stryper will be doing a rare acoustic-style tour in churches across America. Also, a very special Stryper Fan Excursion is scheduled to take place in late 2006 and will be announced soon. This will be an amazing event for Stryper fans from around the world. www.stryper.com ELEMENTS OF ROCK, the cool Christian Metal Festival in Switzerland will take place in April 21-23, 2006 at Stadthofsaal Uster, Switzerland. The lineup consists of bands like Rob Rock, Narnia, Once Dead, Immortal Souls, Holy Blood, Frosthardr, Inevitable End and more. http://www.elementsofrock.com/ There is an interesting interview with Ez Gomér from JET CIRCUS at http://www.bridefan.com/Ez_Interview.htm Roxx Productions are working hard to get the HOLY SOLDIER DVD ready. It will include tons of archive stuff for the faithful fans as well as some newly recorded versions of some classic songs featuring their new vocalist Don Russell as well as some other classic performances from some of the other artists that played at the Roxx Productions event Up From The Ashes, including Neon Cross, Laudamus, Once Dead and more. The release date has been set to March 28th. In addition to this, HOLY SOLDIER are currently writing and demoing new material now and will be officially unleashing some new tunes this Summer as the band goes out on tour! For more info visit www.roxxproductions.com and www.holysoldierfan.com There is an interesting article with Oz Fox of STRYPER at and another one at http://www.rockdetector.com/interviews A new BRIDE dvd will soon be offered highlighting the 2005 Brazilian tour hopefully with footage from their first time in Mexico. www.bridepub.com Guitarmaestro PASTOR BRAD has now release his new album SHRED www.guitarjams.net HARMONY  NEWS All drumtracks are now finished. Just some final editing before we continue tracking guitars. The new album will be faster and heavier than Dreaming Awake, but still very melodic. We will record 13 songs in various styles. Among them the three songs we´ve played at some of our gigs, KINGDOM, RAIN and WEAK. We are really anxious to get the album out to you as soon as possible. We will also try to keep you updated here on the recording progress." www.harmonymetal.net NARNIA  NEWS We are VERY PLEASED to announce that we have now reached an agreement with german label Massacre Records (www.massacre-records.de) and that you can expect a release of our new studio album "Enter the Gate" on April 21st. We also worked with Massacre for the release of our Live-DVD in 2004 and we are very excited about stepping into the future together with them. As earlier mentioned "Enter The Gate" will be released in Japan through ATTIC ARCADE/GENCROSS on the 23rd of March - 2006. Our working-relationship with Nuclear Blast ended after 8 years and 4 studio albums. Our Thanks and Goodbye's goes to Markus Staiger and his staff. The new album "Enter The Gate" has been mixed by Anders "Theo" Theander at the Roastinghouse studio in Malmö, Sweden. Theo has also worked with bands like Lande/Allen project, Pain of Salvation, Last Tribe etc etc. The result so far is the most well-sounding and well-performed Narnia album to date. The album contains the most melodic and catchy songs since "Long Live the King" from the late 90's but in a brand new sound and approach. The lyrics are also the most uplifting we have ever done, which we think is necessary in a dark time. The lineup on "Enter the Gate" is stripped down to a powerful quartet: Andreas Johansson - Drums Christian Rivel - Vocals Andreas Olsson - Bass Carl Johan Grimmark - Guitars and Keyboards Mats Levén (Malmsteen, Therion) is our guest on backing vocals on the entire album. LIVE ALBUM - released 23rd of January - 2006. We are happy to announce that the concert we recorded at Owener Rocknacht in Germany 2003 recently was released on CD by MCM Music in Germany. http://www.mcm-music.de/ It was released on DVD as "At short notice....Live in Germany" in 2004 and has now been edited and remastered for this fresh CD-version. The title remains the same. All the best and God's blessings NARNIA http://www.narniaworld.com The doom metal band TROGLODYTE DAWN plan to release their new cd Darkest Void sometime in early 2006. John Mrowiec is the new drummer. They are now auditioning potential bass players in the Phoenix area. http://www.trogdawn.net/ The bombastic deathers of RENASCENT have released their first fullength album Through Darkness at Metal Union Records. Musically the album will refer to fans of Soilwork. The band also reports that Barry Halldan and Jani Stefanovic have quit in Renascent due to lack of time, changed circumstances and the will to concentrate on other projects. Jani will continue in Divinefire and Essence of Sorrow. We thank them for all their efforts, especially for using their gifts in this band and for traveling from Sweden to Finland to practice. Renascent is now searching for a new drummer from Helsinki, Finland. www.renascent.net MORTIFICATION  NEWS MORTIFICATION's new drummer is Damien Percy. The new album "Erasing the goblin" has been mixed and mastered and should be available in late Marh. Expect a Death Metal oriented release with some brutal riffing. There are Thrash and Power Metal influences but "Erasing..." is a heavier and stronger release than anything the band released in the past ten years. Soundmass in Australia has re-issued the long out of print Grind Planets VHS as a DVD. The DVD contains eight professionally filmed clips from the self-titled debut and Scrolls Of the Megilloth: 'Terminate Damnation,' 'Turn,' 'Until the End,' 'The Destroyer Beholds,' ' Raise the Chalice,' Eternal Lamentation,' 'Satan's Doom,' and 'Majestic Infiltration Of Order,' as well as tour footage, the making of Scrolls Of the Megilloth, a Scripture reflection by Steve Rowe, plus a bonus full live show of the band from The Arthouse in Melbourne, Australia in 1992. Ideas that were musically and visually ahead of their time were brought to life by film maker Neil Johnson. This DVD is a 'Region Free NTSC' DVD, meaning it will play on ALL DVD players worldwide. Total time 89 minutes. www.roweproductions.com In November, 2005, Soundmass released the self-titled debut EP of the South Australia extreme music band SYNNOVE. This is a mix of atmospheric, black, doom, and death metal. Think of a speedy Paradise Lost crossed with Bathory and Arcturus. Synnove was formed in 2002 by former Virgin Black bassist/lyricist Brad Bessel, who now plays guitar. www.soundmass.com REVOLUTION METAL FEST took place 19-20 November in Mexico City, Mexico. The fest featured Bride, Petra, Exousia, Deborah, Crimson Thorn, Shadows of Paragon, Jacob's Dream and the Jeff Scheetz Band. www.revolutionmetalfest.com Fans of doom oriented hard rock who liked the sound of OZZY OSBOURNE, but not the message, will love this indie release of DAVID BENSON'S fourth full length recording, this time with his new band DBEALITY. The title for the cd is "We Won't Bow". Robert Sweet of Stryper produced it and plays drums, and Dale Greer handles guitars. David Bensons two latest releases are also available from the band's website http://www.dbeality.com/ German Power Metallers LIGHTMARE reports that the recording of their new cd is almost finished. Special guest on the album is Josh Kramer from SAINT that sings some parts on the new CD. www.lightmare.de The thrashers of ULTIMATUM are currently recording a new CD titled "Into the Pit". Look of a new album this Spring. Steve Trujillo has resigned from the band. New guitarplayer is Augustine Ortiz (guitars). http://www.ultimatum.net Former HIRAX guitarist Glenn Rogers has officially joined ONCE DEAD, the Christian metal band featuring former members of VENGEANCE RISING. "Glenn, as most of you know, was one of the original founding members of VENGEANCE, and had written many of the songs with us prior to Roger Martinez, Larry Farkas and Glen Mancaruso joining the group," guitarist Doug Thieme writes on the band's web site. "Glenn left our group to join DELIVERANCE, and then later joined HIRAX. "The addition of Glenn offers us an incredibly talented guitarist, an awesome song writer, as well as a longtime friend. We are very excited about Glenn joining us and we look forward to working with him on the upcoming album. "We are now in the process of writing the new material, recording demos, choosing a studio, producer etc... Glenn, myself and Larry [Farkas] are now beginning to work on some new material together that will have a powerful triple guitar attack, true to old-school speed metal, and with the skills of Mr. Jim Chaffin on drums we will exploit our punk and thrash influences as well. We are all incredibly pumped on the new material, and this just may be our best stuff ever." ONCE DEAD are now made up of: Jim Chaffin (ex-The Crucified): drums Doug Thieme (ex-Vengeance Rising/Die Happy): guitars Larry Farkas (ex-Vengeance/Die Happy): guitars Glenn Rogers (ex-Deliverance/Hirax/Vengeance): guitars Roger Dale Martin (ex-Vengeance/Die Happy): bass Scott Waters (Ultimatum): vocals With bandmembers like this really seems to be an excellent thrash metal release! There is also a Once Dead DVD out titled "Return with a Vengeance" featuring material from the first two Vengeance Rising records. It was recorded in August 2004 at a club in Anaheim. Check the band's site for more info: www.oncedeadband.net Classic brutal band Deuteronomium from Finland will reunite for one concert at OHM-Fest06 on June 24th 2006. http://koti.mbnet.fi/%7Ekpaju/deuteronomium/ The new issue of HEAVEN'S METAL features This new issue of Heaven's Metal features Divinefire (Christian Rivel interviewed by Steve Rowe); Neal Morse, Saint, Jet Circus, David Benson, What Fireball Ministry Says, and more http://www.hmmag.com/heavensmetal PETRA  NEWS PETRA's final album, Farewell, is now out on Inpop Records. It was recorded in front of a live audience at an exclusive concert held in Franklin, TN in early October, 2005. Featuring PETRA classics, medleys and guest appearances by former band members including Greg X Volz and John Lawry, making this a must-have for any PETRA fan. Track Listing: 1. All About Who You Know 2. Dance 3. Amazing Grace 4. Test of Time 5. Creed 6. Right Place 7. Rock Medley: Sight Unseen; It Is Finished; Think Twice; I Am On The Rock; Midnight Oil; Mine Field; This Means War; It Is Finished(Reprise) 8. Jekyll & Hyde 9. Acoustic Set ft. Greg X Volz: Rose Colored Stained Glass Windows; Road to Zion; More Power to Ya; For Annie; No Doubt; The Coloring Song; Love 10. Grave Robber 11. Keyboard Solo ft. John Lawry 12. Beyond Belief 13. Guitar Solo ft. Bob Hartman 14. He Came, He Saw, He Conquered During their Farewell tour they had the privilege to play for 100 000 people at a show in Buenos Aires in Argentina! http://www.petramasalladelafe.com.ar/fotos/petra_en_el_ultimo_superclasico.htm For more info about Petra visit http://www.petraband.com RETROACTIVE RECORDS Retroactive Records are busy and have many releases on the way. Coming out in 2006 are the following releases: Lust Control - We Are Not Ashamed (with 18 bonus tracks, including an 8-minute commentary track from yours truly); The Lead - TBA (will include 2 CD's worth of all their ultra rare groundbreaking albums before R.E.X., and maybe even Burn This Record as an add-on bonus); Deliverance - River Disturbance (with two unreleased bonus tracks, and third bonus track from Jimmy Brown talking about his favorite D album!); First Strike - Rock Of Offense (with the original Exit Records debut remastered with the Crank It Up demo and possibly more!); The Seventh Power - S/T (classic style metal from Titanic guitarist Bill Menchen and Robert Sweet on drums); Final Axe - Blades Of Blood (new release with (busy) Robert Sweet on drums); Jupiter 6 (a new album from Jimmy Brown); a 2-disc compilation of songs from the Retroactive Records roster called Lightning Strikes Twice; and all of the following Daniel Band albums - On Rock, Straight Ahead, Run From The Darkness, Rise Up, Running Out Of Time, and a TBA title with early demos. For more info about this cool label visit http://www.retroactiverecords.cjb.net/ LUMINARIA is a Polish post-Gothic metal band with melodic piano parts, crushing metal guitars, haunting David Bowie-esque vocals, harsh extreme vocals, and gothic overtones, creating a hauntingly beautiful and heavy sound. The band has been compared to TYPE O NEGATIVE, and they have a sound reminiscient of early 90's SAVIOUR MACHINE, especially if they had incorporated extreme vocals into the mix. The band's brand new album Arche is now out on http://www.bombworksrecords.com CRIMSON MOONLIGHT just returned from a successful European Club Tour. www.crimsonmoonlight.com MAJESTIC VANGUARD is an excellent new Swedish melodic metal outfit combining powerful riffs, epic parts and catchy hooklines - fans of ROB ROCK, NARNIA, HELLOWEEN, EDGUY, KAMELOT and MASTERPLAN should definately give this band a try. www.majesticvanguard.net THE FESTIVAL RESURRECTION IS WAITING TO BE RESURRECTED It is with great sadness, but also with a little bit of relief we write these words. We have now decided to take the tough decision to cancel this years Resurrection. There are two main reasons why: 1. Money: Because this is the first year of the festival we didn’t have any backup money saved from earlier festivals. Because of that we felt it as a risk just to move on, even if we only needed to sell 200 more tickets to take the festival to its harbour. But when people don’t seem to plan their festival visits early, we couldn’t wait any longer. The day when we decided to cancel, we only had 65 pre-booked tickets. 2. Lack of motivation in the organizing team: The closer the festival gets, the bigger was the need for more people in the team to take a step forward to make reality of this festival. That didn’t happen. Instead people started to take a step back. Left was a little bunch of people, who still had a passion for this festival. If they had chosen to organize Resurrection this year they may have been able to do the festival, but they would have been burned out. That means that this should have been the only Resurrection they would ever have the power to organize. Now when we cancel we can start to reorganize the organizing team and come back stronger than ever with a new and reborn Resurrection festival. If we do that Resurrection will last for a long period of time. We can’t say when for the moment. Maybe it will be next year or the year after that. We don’t know yet. We still strongly believe that Sweden needs Resurrection, and that God will resurrect many people through Resurrection. For more info visit www.resurrection.se Metal Express Radio are looking for more christian metal to play on their shows. Interested bands and labels can mail cds and promos to Metal Express Radio, attn: Nordahl, Ovrefoss 14, N-0555 Oslo, NORWAY SEVEN ANGELS from Brazil have now released their brand new cd Faceless Man filled with melodic power metal and operatic female vocals. www.sevanangels.com.br Back To Top  or  Mainpage © Johannes Jonsson 1997-2006  e-mail: johannes@metalforjesus.org