SOULFLY's official web site has been updated with the following message:

"For the first time since 2000, SOULFLY will be making a brief visit to South America to play some music. On April 20th SOULFLY will be playing at Estadio Pepsi Music in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and they will be at Estadio Victor Jara in Santiago, Chile on April 21st. A message from Max [Cavalera, SOULFLY mainman]: 'SOULFLY Tribe, it's time to Downstroy. . . We're finally coming back. It's been too fucking long! We can't wait to be jamming live again so you better get the mosh pit ready, it's gonna be fucking awesome. Do Caralho. Respect.'

"We did our best to line up dates for other countries in South America but we weren't able to secure a decent promoter in time for this visit. Any fans in Brasil, Colombia, Peru, Ecuduador, Uruguay, Costa Rica and anywhere else should try to get a hold of big local promoters in your area and tell them that you want to see SOULFLY, because SOULFLY wants to see you.

The MySpace premiere of the new DIMMU BORGIR video, "The Serpentine Offering", on April 3 was an "unbelievably huge success," according to the band's record label, Nuclear Blast Records. 20,000 visitors checked out the clip within the first two hours after it was released, and the number has already grown to over 80,000, with more people watching the video every minute.

To view the "The Serpentine Offering" video, click here. The clip was shot by Swedish director Patric Ullaeus (LACUNA COIL, KAMELOT) of Revolver Film Company AB and is the group's first promotional video for their much anticipated album, "In Sorte Diaboli".
The North American version of the "The Serpentine Offering" single is available for digital download at iTunes.com and includes the following three songs: "The Serpentine Offering", "The Serpentine Offering" (video edit), and an instrumental version of "The Heretic Hammer" as an exclusive track.

Together with its soundtrack – LACRIMOSA's first live CD to be released in nine years! – the "Lichtjahre“
(Light Years) film is coming out on DVD. This film will reawaken the most beautiful, extreme and emotional
moments of this mammoth tour-project in powerful, evocative images and, with live on-stage performances from actual hits like "Letzte Ausfahrt: Leben“, "The party is over“ and "Lichtgestalt“, as well as stage versions
of such mature classics as "Ich bin der brennende Komet“, "Der Morgen danach“ and "Stolzes Herz“, this DVD
includes a cross-section of many years of musical creativity.

Nevertheless, "Lichtjahre“ is not restricted solely to clips of live stage shows that have been extravagantly produced with lots of cameras and cranes, but also reveals insights into what goes on behind the scenes of LACRIMOSA concerts that have never been seen before. They begin in the practice room, during the preparations for this long tour, include coach journeys and flights to foreign cities and cultures, interviews with members of the audience, for example during a press conference in Hong Kong and on the Red Square in Moscow, until the final moments in the backstage before the bands hits the stage, as well as this
DVD shows a private view from the after-show-parties back in their hotel room!

CARNAL FORGE's video for the song "Burning Eden" has been posted online at YouTube. The track comes off the Swedish thrashers' upcoming sixth album, "Testify for My Victims", due in May via Candlelight Records. The follow-up to 2004's "Aren't You Dead Yet?" was recorded, mixed and mastered over a four-and-a-half-month period and was produced by CARNAL FORGE.

"Testify for My Victims" track listing:

01. Testify For My Victims
02. Burning Eden
03. Numb (The Dead)
04. Godsend Gods End
05. End Game
06. Questions Pertaining The Ownership Of My Mind
07. Freedom By Mutilation
08. Subhuman
09. No Longer Bleeding
10. Biological Waste Matter
11. Lost Legion
12. Ante Mori

"Testify For My Victims" was mixed at Black Lounge Studios. Two videos have already been filmed for the album tracks "Numb" and "Burning Eden", both directed by Owe Lingvall (Village Road Film).

The cover artwork for the upcoming PARADISE LOST album, "In Requiem", has been posted online at this location. The artwork was created by Greek artist Seth, whose gloomy designs already graced releases by HEAVEN SHALL BURN and ROTTING CHRIST, among others.

In other news, PARADISE LOST has just shot a video for its new single, "The Enemy" on the Crimean peninsula in Yalta with the Ukrainian director Edward 209. Edward 209 already proved his talent with dark and bizarre looking videos for FRONT 242 and IN STRICT CONFIDENCE, and you can expect something really special. Check out pictures from the video shoot: Photo#1, Photo#2.

Right after the video shoot, PARADISE LOST co-headlined (with TESTAMENT) the Metalmania Festival in Katowice, Poland where they debuted "The Enemy" live in front of 4,000 Polish fans. A bootleg-quality video clip of PARADISE LOST performing "The Enemy" in Poland is available at YouTube

CREMATORY have started to write new songs in February and the new studio album with working title *Gothic Metal* is set for a January 2008 release.

Lyrics and singing wise the songs are supposed to have a darker vibe, although the separation between Felix and Matze with the dark and the cleaner vocals will be retained. The album will have English lyrics, but the appearance of a German track finding its way on the record is not impossible.

Musically it will be a treat to the ears with the familiar catchy melodies, paired with massive guitar riffs, even more brutal and darker than in the past.

With the keyboards the sound will be like in the earlier days and orchestral arrangements will be integrated. Moving away from the technoid samples and analogue sounds, going more in the direction of the early days with strings and choirs.

Once again the record will be produced with Kristian “Kohle” Kohlmannslehner in the Kohlekeller Studios in the Odenwald, who had already produced the records *Revolution* and *Klagebilder* with the band.

SHADOWS FALL's video for the band's new single, "Redemption", has been posted online at this location. Tomorrow, SHADOWS FALL will be the featured band on MTV2's "The Drop", found at this location. In addition, "Redemption" — directed by Zach Merck (BLUE OCTOBER, HINDER, CONVERGE) — will be seen on an upcoming installment of Fuse's Friday night metalfest, "Uranium".

Due on April 3, SHADOWS FALL's new album, "Threads of Life", was produced by Nick Raskulinecz (RUSH, FOO FIGHTERS, VELVET REVOLVER). "Redemption" is already lighting a fire at radio, reaching #1 at Metal Radio on the Mediaguide Metal Specialty Tracks while also scoring major play at Active Rock.

Swedish melodic metallers NOCTURNAL RITES have revealed the cover artwork of their new album, "The 8th Sin", due in Europe in late May via Century Media Records. The artwork was created by renowned artist Axel Herrmann, who previously worked with ICED EARTH, DREAM EVIL, UNLEASHED, EDGUY, SODOM and many more. According to a press release, "The 8th Sin" offers "a slightly more modern sound with harsh riffs, huge choruses and the band's classic guitar extravaganza. But don't be afraid of any bad surprises, the new album is 110% NOCTURNAL RITES from start to finish!"

"The 8th Sin" was produced by the band themselves, co-produced by Shep and mixed by Mattias Eklund and NOCTURNAL RITES at Toontrack Music in Umeå, Sweden. The track listing is as follows:

01. Call Out To The World
02. Never Again
03. Not The Only
04. Tell Me
05. Not Like You
06. Leave Me Alone
07. Till I Come Alive
08. Strong Enough
09. Me
10. Pain & Pleasure
11. Fools Parade (Outro)

NOCTURNAL RITES recently finished filming a video for the song "Never Again". According to bassist Nils Eriksson, the track "is a sort of midtempo, in-your-face, heavy-slab-of-meat kind of thing."

Dutch rock band THE GATHERING has commented on its recently announced one-off headlining show in New York City and its upcoming live CD and DVD, "A Noise Severe".

Says drummer Hans Rutten, "We are going to do a one-off special headlining show in New York City before we support our friends from LACUNA COIL for a mere two weeks! We are looking forward to come to the USA and Canada again. Hope to see you all somewhere!

"We just finished our tour in South America with the recordings of our live DVD and CD, and they went very, very well. We recorded in front of 4,000 totally crazy Chileans! It was one of the biggest highlights of the band's career, and what makes it even more special is that we were able to capture this vibe on DVD. It will be called 'A Noise Severe', and a noise severe it was, with the audience alone hitting 104 db several times without the band playing!"

"A Noise Severe" is the follow-up to the well-received 2005 DVD "A Sound Relief".

Night of the Vinyl Dead has just reissued KREATOR's 1999 album "Endorama" on "bicolored vinyl," limited to 333 hand-numbered copies. The track listing is as follows:

Side A

01. Golden Age
02. Endorama
03. Shadowland
04. Chosen Few
05. Everlasting Flame
06. Passage to Babylon

Side B

01. Future King
02. Entry
03. Soul Eraser
04. Willing Spirit
05. Pandemonium
06. Tyranny

Finnish progressive/avantgarde metallists FALL OF THE LEAFE have completed work on their sixth album, "Aerolithe". The track listing is as follows:

01. Opening
02. All the Good Faith
03. Drawing Worry
04. Lithe
05. At a Breath's Pace
06. Graceful Retreat
07. Sink Teeth Here
08. Minor Nuisance
09. Especially By Stealth
10. Look into Me
11. Closure

Swiss hard rockers GOTTHARD will film a video for their new single, "The Call", this week in Germany. The track comes off the group's new album, "Domino Effect", which is scheduled for release on April 27. Check out the cover artwork at this location. According to singer Leo Leoni, "it is the best GOTTHARD album ever to be released".

01. Master of Illusion
02. Gone Too Far
03. Domino Effect
04. Falling
05. The Call
06. The Oscar Goes to You
07. The Cruiser (Judgement Day)
08. Heal Me
09. Letter to a Friend
10. Tomorrow's Just Begun
11. Come Alive
12. Bad to the Bone
13. Now
14. Where Is Love When It's Gone

Powerhouse heavy metal vocalist ROB ROCK (ex-IMPELLITTERI, DRIVER, JOSHUA) has set "Garden of Chaos" as the title of his new album, due later this year via AFM Records (Europe) and JVC/Victor Entertainment (Asia). The CD, which is currently being mixed in Denmark with producer Jacob Hansen (RAUNCHY, INVOCATOR), once again features songwriting collaborations between Rob and Roy Z. (HALFORD, BRUCE DICKINSON, JUDAS PRIEST).

JVC/Victor Entertainment Japan released ROB ROCK's latest CD, "Holy Hell", with four bonus tracks on September 22, 2005: "Ride the Wind", featuring a Gus G. (FIREWIND) guitar solo; "Lost in a World", originally recorded and mixed during the "Rage of Creation" (2000) sessions; "I’m a Warrior" (alternate mix) and "First Winds of the End of Time" (alternate mix) (alternate mixes by Roy Z).

German metallers IRON SAVIOR will release their new album, "Megatropolis", on June 4 via Dockyard 1. The track listing for the effort is as follows:

01. Running Riot
02. The Omega Man
03. Flesh
04. Megatropolis
05. Cybernetic Queen
06. Cyber Hero
07. A Tale From Down Below
08. Still I Believe
09. Farewell And Good Bye

The limited-edition digipack version of the album will include the bonus track "Hammerdown".

IRON SAVIOR has scheduled a joint CD-release party with ABANDONED on June 1 at the Ballroom in Hamburg, Germany.

Austrian symphonic metal band EDENBRIDGE will issue a rarities/"best of" compilation, entitled "The Chronicles of Eden", as a double-CD and limited double-digipack on May 25. Disc One will contain three new, previously unreleased songs, all Japanese and European bonus tracks and songs that were included on all out-of-print singles. Disc Two will include a "best of" selection out of the five released studio albums. The track listing is as follows:

CD 1 (New Songs, Bonus Tracks, Rarities):

01. Thin Red Line
02. The Silent Wake
03. Images In The Sand
04. For Your Eyes Only
05. Evermore
06. Empire Of The Sun
07. Shine (Single Version)
08. On Sacred Ground
09. Anthem
10. On The Verge Of Infinity
11. The Whispering Gallery
12. The Whisper Of The Ages
13. Velvet Eyes Of Dawn

CD 2 ("Best Of" as voted by the fans):

01. Sunrise In Eden
02. Cheyenne Spirit
03. Arcana
04. The Palace
05. The Undiscovered Land
06. Red Ball In Blue Sky
07. Wild Chase
08. The Canterville Prophecy
09. The Canterville Ghost
10. The Grand Design
11. Terra Nova

EDENBRIDGE last month parted ways with drummer Roland Navratil due to "personal, musical and financial differences." A replacement drummer has yet to be announced.

ARCH ENEMY frontwoman Angela Gossow has commented on guitarist Christopher Amott's decision to return to the band almost two years after he left the group at the end of the "Doomsday Machine" recording sessions in 2005.

"Yessssss, I can finally blurt it out: HE IS BACK!" she writes on her MySpace page. "Our brother Chris has returned to his rightful place, that is being a guitar hero in ARCH ENEMY! It was hard to sit on the news for all these weeks. 'Cuz really all I wanted to do was running up and down the streets and cry it out loud. It felt so wrong without him, although Fredrik [Åkesson] is a wonderful guy and a great talent. But Chris [Amott] and Michael started this band together and they are ARCH ENEMY for me. Their signature guitar work is what got me into this band in the first place. Plus, we missed Chris dearly as a person, as a great friend. He is out of school and back into rock 'n' roll!"

ARCH ENEMY has spent the last weeks locked in intense rehearsals at its homebase in Halmstad, Sweden, putting the final touches to the new material and integrating Christopher on the new songs for the forthcoming studio album. More news on this will follow in the next few days.

Long-running Swedish metallers ENTOMBED will release their new album, "Serpent Saints – The Ten Amendments", in Germany on July 13 through Threeman Recordings via a special arrangement with Candlelight Records. The 10-song effort will mark the group's first release with drummer Olle Dahlstedt (ALPHA SAFARI, ex-MISERY LOVES CO.), who replaced Peter Stjärnvind in 2006. The band has also scheduled a special showcase gig on May 3 at the Ballroom in Hamburg, Germany. Songtitles set to appear on the new CD include "In the Blood" and "The Dead, The Dying and rhe Dying to be Dead". Mastering duties will take place at the end of the month with Soren Elofsson at Cosmos Mastering in Stockholm, Sweden.

With regards to the musical direction of the new album, the band previously said, "'Serpents Saints' goes wider and deeper than the 'When In Sodom' EP but it's a pretty good indicator. It's no concept album but an ambitious attempt at creating a solid album with some recurring themes. Almost like the soundtrack to the film with the same name."

ENTOMBED's "When In Sodom" EP was released last year.

Brand New Album "AVIATOR" coming SOON
Little over a year since Funker Vogt's last release ( "Navigator" ), they are back in the cockpit with their follow-up full length album "Aviator". Again conceptualising their war-obsessed themes ( throughout the cover artwork, booklet and band photos ) "Aviator" follows the new direction began with "Navigator" with 12 Brand New tracks set to pulvarise and bombard the dance-floor.

Undertaking to diversify sound structures overall "Aviator" still relies on the fast beat-driven rhythms and sequences Funker Vogt are renown for but these are further enhanced with more emphasis given to well placed sounds and samples making "Aviator" a much more pronounced album. "Aviator’s" club tracks ( "City Of Darkness" , "Paralyzed", "Thanatophobia", "One" and "My Fortune" ) come across as fresher and more aggressive than ever cementing Funker Vogt's updated Electro sound for 2007.

Funker Vogt will do various specials around the release of the new album ' 'Aviator''. They have put a fan edit of ''City of Darkness'' online as mp3. This is a special item for their old and new fans, released in cooperation with Germany's Zillo music magazine and SPV-Recoreds: "City Of Darkness" (special fan edit) Funker Vogt - "City Of Darkness" mp3 (the site is in German, simply click "Download") .

Download

Alexi is back in business. His shoulder should be ok, not perfect
never again, but so that it shouldn't affect his playing anyway. So
he is very very very relieved!

And we have have started to put some tunes together now...And we have something already done...

It's exciting to do something new again after a couple of years
touring! Recording will happen somewhere, after summer! So we will do those festivals in between songwriting sessions!

What else is new...

...we will put some footage somewhere later on from our rehearsals, so we will keep u updated!

That's all for now,

Later

Henkka

ICED EARTH mainman Jon Schaffer has sent the following update to BLABBERMOUTH.NET:

"I just wanted to give you an update of what's happening in ICED EARTH world.

"We just finished mixing and mastering the [new] single, which will be titled 'Overture of the Wicked' and should be released in late May or early June. The four songs that will be featured on this are as follows:

01. Ten Thousand Strong
02. Prophecy
03. Birth of the Wicked
04. The Coming Curse

"'Ten Thousand Strong' will be the song that we will be filming a video for in the following months, most likely in June right around the Sweden Rock festival.

"I'm very happy with the results of our efforts. We've been really working hard on delivering something special to you guys and this single is just a hint of things to come, and it's freakin' awesome.

"We will be finishing the rest of production for Part 1 over the course of the next few weeks, with plans to mix in the early part of May. The title of the full release is 'Framing Armageddon (Something Wicked Part 1)' and should be out in the late August/September time frame. The 'Framing Armageddon' tracklist will appear as follows:

01. Overture
02. Something Wicked (Part 1)
03. Invasion
04. Man's Motivation
05. The Setian Massacre
06. A Charge to Keep
07. Reflections
08. Ten Thousand Strong
09. Execution
10. Order of the Rose
11. The Clouding
12. Infiltrate and Assimilate
13. Retribution Through the Ages
14. Something Wicked (Part 2)
15. The Domino Decree
16. Framing Armageddon
17. When Stars Collide (Born is He)
18. The Awakening

"The working title of Part 2 is 'Revelation Abomination Something Wicked (Part 2)' and the tracklist is as follows:

01. The Sacred Flames
02. Behold the Wicked Child
03. Minions of the Watch
04. A Gift or a Curse
05. I Walk Among You
06. Harbinger of Fate
07. Ancient Rage of the High Priest
08. A Gathering Threat / Time Marches On
09. Sacrificial Kingdoms
10. Something Wicked (Part 3)
11. Divide Devour
12. Conspiracy / Pilgrimage In Guile
13. Come What May

"The final tracking and mixing for Part 2 will take place between the festivals and world tour and will have a targeted release in February/March of 2008.

"Due to family health issues, Bo Wallace will not be able to be involved with ICED EARTH. I played the bass guitar parts on the single and we will be bringing Dennis Hayes, who worked with Tim [Owens, vocals] on his BEYOND FEAR side project, in to play on parts of the remainder of the recording. He will be doing the live shows as well."

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE started recording its new album in January at Sonic Ranch studios in Tornillo, Texas with producer Colin Richardson (MACHINE HEAD, FEAR FACTORY, NAPALM DEATH). Richardson has issued the following update on the project:

"I've had a lot of messages from people asking for more details as to what the new BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE album is sounding like. Can't really give out much info just yet, such as song titles (up to the band to announce when they are ready), but just know that everyone is going to love this album. Some examples of vibe: one song is sort of old-school metal, like JUDAS PRIEST 'Painkiller' style, with a seriously catchy heavy vocal chorus. Another track is again pounding old-school metal with a lot of twists and turns and a great singing chorus. I could go on and on! It's going to be an awesome album and I am looking forward to getting back in the studio with guys after the break."

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE frontman Matt Tuck recently told Revolver magazine that he is writing meaner, less syrupy melodies for the group's upcoming CD. He is also avoiding lyrics about relationships.

"We want to be more metal all across the board," Tuck told Revolver. "On their second album, a lot of bands try to please their record company by doing something more commercial. We didn't want to fall into that trap."

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE has written 14 songs for the as-yet-untitled CD, which they hope to have out by the fall. Songtitles set to appear on the album include "Scream, Aim and Fire", which is about going to war, and "Waking the Demon", a cut that's definitely not suitable for KROQ or MTV. "It's about getting revenge on a bully at school by slicing pieces off him," Tuck told Revolver. "There's some really sick shit in there, so I'm happy."

GAMMA RAY guitarist/vocalist Kai Hansen has posted the following message on the groiup's official web site:

"Dear friends, it's been a while since you've had some news from the band and since there's been a lot of questions asked by many, we thought the time is right to give you an update from the GAMMA RAY camp.

"About the DVD [tentatively titled 'Hell Yeah! The Awesome Foursome (And The Finnish Keyboarder Who Didn't Want To Wear His Donald Duck Costume) Live in Montreal' and featuring a multi-camera recording of the band's May 6, 2006 show at Medley in Montreal, Quebec]: The current status is that everything is ready so far, except for the 'Home Video' part of the 'Bonus' section. We have made our way through quite a bit of tapes, CDs, DVDs etc filmed by ourselves, friends, fans, crew and so on, and there's a lot of material that had to be converted, cut and edited. Yesterday I spoke to the video company and they told me that it was laid on ice for two weeks because they had two other shootings to do, but we should get a viewing copy by the end of the week.... Let's see. This thing seems to be turning into a never-ending story... Sh*t, we just want to say 'done' now and announce a release date... which hopefully is going to be before summer.

"About the new album: Good stuff growing there! We already have composed many tracks by me, Henjo [Richter, guitar], Dan [Daniel Zimmermann, drums] and even Dirk [Schlächter, bass] came up with something. The current status is 14 [songs], from simple rockers to complex anthems, all with great melodies and heaviness. All songs have a very powerful positive energy without being too clean and polished. The good old Hamburg jaws are shining through all the way. There might be even more to come and maybe we're put into the situation where we have to make a choice of what's gonna be on the album. We are constantly rehearsing and working on the demos to get the songs to our (and your) total satisfaction. It might be a nice idea to organize a fan club meeting at that time, play you the demos and get some feedback... Hmmm, what do you think? When we think we're ready, we'll start the production. We have pulled Tommy Newton aboard the ship to record the drums, bass and rhythm guitars, dubs, solos etc. we'll do ourselves, vocals I normally prefer to do just on my own firstly and then go over it again with someone else to make adjustments or decide between alternatives. The mix will be done by Tommy. He did a great job on the mix for the DVD and we totally trust him. The good thing is that this allows us to be just musicians and not worry about engineering, haha! Anyhow, we plan to release the album in autumn, which leads us to…

"The next tour: Yes, there are negotiations about a tour with HELLOWEEN, but we can't give out too much now. It would start in November, take us through all countries, including Europe, Japan, USA, Canada and South America. We would play before HELLOWEEN with approximately 75 minutes (even in places where we had more people on the last tour than they had; switching is not practical), and there will be one or two support bands, in some places maybe even more, as a kind of festival thing. We all like the idea of united powers here, and, of course, the opportunity for some worldwide jams, but still this might as well not happen, as I said... we're negotiating.

"About [the project featuring former HELLOWEEN singer Michael] Kiske, Hansen [and ex-HELLOWEEN/current MASTERPLAN guitarist Roland] Grapow: Another 'yes' with a 'but.' We have met and want to do something together, so Roland and me will have to find time to write some good songs that are not too agressive for Michi (....you all know about his metal phobia). Musically it should be a bit out of the ordinary, which is good; I wouldn't want to write songs for this which I'd rather have for GAMMA RAY. The 'when' is still open and of course we can only get into detail when we have the first tracks and are sure it's gonna be a great thing, or some project that ends up in eternal discussions about musical direction.

"For now, there is only GAMMA RAY on my 'to do' list (okay, okay, except for a week of skiing I will allow myself... Of course, only to fill my lungs with fresh mountain air to sing even better).

"It's nine-thirty in the morning, a nice sunny day in Hamburg and I'm off to the studio now to work on the end of a long track called 'Insurrection' (who says musicians are lazy bastards that sleep until afternoon...)."