The beautiful voice of Arjen Anthony Lucassen's AMBEON project finally resurfaces in a new band called theENDORPHINS. Born somewhere around November 2003, band members Astrid van der Veen (AMBEON, AYREON), Arjan Hoekstra and Dennis Edelenbosch have recently gone live on the world wide web.

The official bio reads "The band uses a very wide range of instruments. In addition to the regular guitar, bass and piano you hear tuba, violin, harmonium and various percussion. The dual vocal lines have a way of surprisingly curling into one another. The style of music is not easily described. Although the musi ...

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Nebraska-based extreme power metallers CELLADOR has issued the following update regarding the progress of the recording sessions for their debut album:

"We are back in Omaha after our three-week trip to Tampa, FL for the recording of our Metal Blade debut album at Mana Studios under producer Erik Rutan, entitled 'Enter Deception'. We have laid down all the drums, bass, rhythm guitars, and about 50% of the lead guitars. We will be returning for vocals, leads, and the mixing of the album in March.

"The recording process and the resulting product we have heard so far has us nothing short of ecstatically optimistic. I can assure you that this fir ...

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A brand-new WITCHERY track, entitled "Plague Rider", taken from the group's upcoming album "Don't Fear the Reaper", has been made available for download at this location. Scheduled for North American release March 21, the album was recorded at Berno Studios (AMON AMARTH, DARK FUNERAL) in 2004, with mixing duties entrusted to Tue Madsen and his Antfarm Studios (THE HAUNTED, HEAVEN SHALL BURN). The original artwork by David Diaz (P.O.D.) can be viewed

GORGOROTH guitarist Infernus was convicted of aggravated sexual assault but was cleared of the more serious rape charge by a Norwegian court on Monday (Jan. 9).

Bergens Tidende reports that a four to five hour-long drama in the jury room resulted in court history being made in Norway. The verdict in the Gulating court of appeals in Bergen has created confusion.

Tiegs (real name: Roger Tiegs) and a friend (whose identity has not been revealed by the Norwegian media) were

Chicago-based metal band EDEN'S FALL have announced the release of their debut CD, entitled "Harmony of Lies". Over two years in the making, the album was mixed at Unisound Recordings in Örebro, Sweden by Dan Swanö (EDGE OF SANITY, BLOODBATH, PAN THY MONIUM) and was mastered at The SafeRoom, FL by James Murphy (TESTAMENT, DEATH, OBITUARY).

"Harmony of Lies" track listing:

01. Blur the Lines (4:22)
02. Planet Hate (4:20)
03. Lost Again (4:55)
04. Chemical Dreams (4:13)
05. Bleed (5:34)
06. Dead Thought Matrix (5:36)
07. Liqui ...

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Finnish dark metallers BEFORE THE DAWN will release their new album, "The Ghost", in March/April 2006 via Locomotive Music. The CD was recorded and mixed at Villvox studios during the fall and early winter 2005 by Aleksanteri Kuosa. Mastering duties were handled by Minerva Pappi at Finnvox studios.

"The Ghost" (view cover here) track listing:

01. Disappear
02. Repentance
03. Away
04. Scar
05. Angel's Tombstone
06. Black Dawn
07. Enemy
08. Stormbringer
09. ...

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An audio clip of a brand-new KITTIE track, entitled "Never Again", has been posted online at this location (Windows Media). The song is the title cut of the Canadian metal band's upcoming EP, which will be released digitally on February 7. More exclusive sneak preview clips of the tracks appearing on the EP will be available on the band's official MySpace.com page before the release date. A new 45-second clip will be available to preview on the official KITTIE MySpace.com p ...

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Sweden's DARK TRANQUILLITY and Canada's THE DEVIN TOWNSEND BAND have been confirmed as the opening acts for OPETH on their upcoming North American tour beginning in mid-February. Dates so far include:

Feb. 15 - Raleigh, NC @ Lincoln Theatre
Feb. 16 - Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa
Feb. 17 - Towson, MD @ Recher Theatre
Feb. 18 - Millvale, PA @ Mr. Small's
Feb. 19 - Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart's
Feb. 21 - Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall

More dates will be announced soon.

As previously reported, OPETH have once again been nominated for a Swedish Grammy the "Best Hard Rock" category for their "Ghost Reveries" release. This is t ...

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Vocalist John Tardy of the Floridian death metal legends OBITUARY has posted the following message on the band's official web site:

"As you may or may not know, we are no longer with our old record company [Roadrunner Records] and we have a lot of options for what we might want to do. One thing is for sure and that is we will have a new CD out sometime this year. We have been working on some new material and when we get done with our European Tour in January we are going to work hard on getting that completed.

"Everything is set for our trip to Europe and we are all ready to go. I was just checking the weather and it looks like we will be freezing our ...

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The cover artwork (by Anthony Clarkson) for BLIND GUARDIAN's upcoming single, "Fly", has been posted online at this location. The single, which is tentatively scheduled for release on February 24, 2006 via Nuclear Blast, will contain the following track listing:

01. Fly
02. Skalds and Shadows (acoustic version)
03. In A Gadda Da Vida (IRON BUTTERFLY cover)

The acoustic version of "Skalds and Shadows" and BLIND GUARDIAN's version of the IRON BUTTERFLY classic "In A Gadda Da Vida" ...

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