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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Swedish death metal "supergroup" BLOODBATH has launched a mini-site for its new studio album, "The Fathomless Mastery", which is scheduled for release on October 6 in Europe and October 28 in North America via Peaceville Records. According to a press release, "the site will feature a different track from the album each week in the run-up to the release with 'Iesous' being added today. Check back next Friday for the next track. The site also contains info on the album, downloads, a free MP3 of the track 'Mock The Cross' to anyone who signs up to the mailing list and also ...

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German progressive metallers SIEGES EVEN have split up "due to internal differences." No further information is currently available.

SIEGES EVEN released its first-ever live album, "Playgrounds", at the end of July via InsideOut Music. The CD contains ten songs from the "A Sense Of Change", "The Art Of Navigating By The Stars" and "Paramount" albums recorded during the first leg of the band's "Paramount" tour 2007-2008.

SIEGES EVEN's latest CD, entitled "Paramount", last year entered the Greek album chart at position No. 46. Released in North America on October 10, 2007 via Inside Out Music, the CD's c ...

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A PINK FLOYD spokesman says founding member Richard Wright has died. He was 65.

Wright died Monday after a battle with cancer at his home in Britain. His family did not want to give more details about his death. The spokesman is Doug Wright, who is not related to the artist.

Richard Wright met PINK FLOYD members Roger Waters and Nick Mason at college and joined their early band Sigma 6.

Sigma 6 eventually became PINK FLOYD and Wright wrote and sang some of the band's key songs. He wrote ``The Great Gig In The Sky'' and ``Us And Them'' from PINK FLOYD's 1973 ``The Dark Side Of The Moon.''

He left the group in the early 1980s to form his own band but rejoined PINK FLOYD for their 1987 album ``A Momentary Lapse of Reason.''

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Martin Eric Ain and Tom Gabriel Fischer of the Swiss avant-garde/metal pioneers CELTIC FROST have issued the following statement:

"In the wake of the events transpiring earlier this year, we, who together formed CELTIC FROST in 1984 and together reformed the group in 2001, have discussed the situation and agree that any continuation of CELTIC FROST without either one of us would be irreconcilable with our original ideas and detrimental to the group's legacy. We have therefore jointly decided to lay CELTIC FROST to rest for good and to treasure and honor what we have created together in the course of the history of this truly unique band. All ...

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