Tampa, Florida-based death metal veterans CANNIBAL CORPSE have set "Evisceration Plague" as the title of their new album due on February 3, 2009 via Metal Blade Records. The follow-up to 2006's "Kill" was produced by Erik Rutan (HATE ETERNAL, MORBID ANGEL) at his Mana Recording Studios in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Commented bassist Alex Webster: "In CANNIBAL CORPSE, our goal has always been to try and make each new album we record our heaviest. That goal was a bit more challenging this time since we were extremely satisfied with our last album 'Kill', but we knew that by working with producer Erik Rutan ...

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Gary Wehrkamp, Shadow Gallery band member, officially releases this press statement:

ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA -

It is with deep sadness and regret that we announce the passing of Shadow Gallery vocalist, Michael A. Baker. Mike, 45 years old, suffered a heart attack, Wednesday afternoon, October 29th, 2008. Mike was a founding member of Shadow Gallery and for the past 16 years helped shape the sound of the band with his magical voice. Additionally, he made many appearances on rock records around the world. Those who knew him best were moved by his gentle spirit, sincere kindness, fun nature and passion for both music and sports. He was a warrior in the studio, a true profes ...

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"Perpetual Flame", the new album from the legendary Swedish guitarist YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, sold around 2,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Short audio samples of all 12 tracks that appear on "Perpetual Flame" can be found on the

German power metallers PRIMAL FEAR have set "16.6" as the working title of the follow-up to last year's "New Religion" album. The CD will be recorded in November/December 2008 for a tentative early 2009 release via Frontiers Records.

Commented the band: "The pre-production for the new PRIMAL FEAR recordings is close to be finished and the studio and crew are finally booked. We've finished the songwriting and pre-production on ten songs so far and have some more little things to do on another four songs."

The group added, "The material so far makes us all very happy. Between real back to the roots Sinner/Wolter/Scheepers vi ...

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Ohio's sons of Midwestern darkness SKELETONWITCH have announce the addition of bassist Evan Linger to the group's ranks. Linger, a longtime friend of the band, entered the fold after the departure of Eric Harris. Evan has been out with the 'WITCH since October 2 when the pre-DANZIG dates kicked off.

"I'm stoked to be a part of SKELETONWITCH," Linger says in a press release. "I've been friends with these assholes for quite a long time so I have a pretty good idea of what I'm in for...a hangover!"

Guitarist Nate Garnette states: "We we would like to officially welcome our new bass player, Evan Linger, to ...

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"Inner Sanctum", the new video from Polish extreme metal veterans BEHEMOTH, can be viewed below. The clip was directed by Mateusz "Mania" Winkiel.

Commented BEHEMOTH mainman Adam "Nergal" Darski: "Here we finally come with our brand new video…surprised? I fuckin' hope so. I'm still blown away by the effect myself. Why? 'Coz it looks like NOTHING I've ever seen in the metal genre. Lately it felt like we've pretty much explored every territory in the world of music videos, especially with our last clip for 'At The Left Hand Ov God'. This time we took completely opposite artistic approach…we went black and white, absolutely no effects, analog ...

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David E. Gehlke of Blistering.com recently conducted an interview with EXODUS guitarist Gary Holt. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

Blistering.com: Did the re-recording of "Bonded By Blood" rekindle a lot of old memories of Paul (Baloff)?

Gary Holt: Yeah, sure. Anytime we're recorded anything, I tend to use Paul as my barometer to see if it's heavy enough. Whether we're working on "Atrocity" or "Shovelheaded" I always think what Paul would think. When we're doing dru ...

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Taken from the Season Of Mist email newsletter, October 8th:

Season of Mist is proud to announce the freshly inked deal the label signed with Slavonic heathen metal band DRUDKH. Their cinematic, folk-influenced music focuses on a strong atmosphere with a lot of feeling, and the lyrical contents are about nature mysticism, seasons, philosophy, Ukrainian mythology, legends and history. Many of the band's lyrics are derived from the works of nineteenth and twentieth centuries Ukrainian poets.

DRUDKH decided to issue this one public statement only. They will also in future stick to their general rule, which means that DRUDKH will not be giving interviews nor make use of an ...

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Finnish/Swedish symphonic metallers NIGHTWISH, who cancelled the September 23 concert in Knoxville, Tennessee, the September 24 show in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the September 26 gig in Baltimore due to singer Anette Olzon's "sudden severe illness," have issued the following update:

"Due to Anette's illness, also the show in New York [on September 27] is cancelled. SONATA ARCTICA will play though, and the guys of NIGHTWISH will be there for a meet-and-greet. This was one of the best tour legs we have ever done, and it's a pity it has to end this way, but there's no competing with the forces of nature. There is nothing anybody can do about these ...

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German black/death/gothic metallers AGATHODAIMON have issued the following update:

"After lots of rehearsals and a long search, we finally can confirm and hereby present our new vocalist Chris 'Ashtrael' Bonner. [see photo below]

"Amongst the candidates during the past weeks, he was the one that really convinced us with his motivation, attitude and, of course, his awesome voice!

"During the next weeks, we'll be working together on the vocal lines for the songs of our upcoming album, 'Phoenix', as well as the setlist/rehearsals for the next gigs. We can't wait to enter the stage again!"

AGATHODAIMON's last album, "Serpent's Embrace", was released in 2004 via Nuclear Blast Records.

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