German modern metal machine MAROON will release its new album, "Order", on April 20 via Century Media Records. The follow-up to 2007's "The Cold Heart Of The Sun" was recorded at Klangschmiede Studio E (EISREGEN, THE VISION BLEAK, SECRETS OF THE MOON) and was mixed at Studio Fredman in Gothenburg, Sweden by Fredrik Nordström (ARCH ENEMY, AT THE GATES, DARK TRANQUILLITY). The mastering duties were handled at West West Side Studios (MASTODON, UNEARTH, EARTH CRISIS) in New Windsor, New York.

The track "Stay Brutal" is available for streaming on the band's MySpace page. A video for the track was recently completed and will be premiered in the coming weeks.

ISIS, the innovative Los Angeles-by-way-of-Boston-based band, will release its fifth full-length album, "Wavering Radiant", on May 5 via Ipecac Recordings. The CD, produced by Joe Baressi (TOOL, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE), will receive a limited-edition vinyl release on April 21. TOOL's Adam Jones contributed guitar to two songs from the LP.

"Wavering Radiant" track listing:

01. Hall Of The Dead
02. Ghost Key
03. Hand Of The Host
04. Wavering Radiant
05. Stone To Wake A Serpent
06. 20 Minutes / 40 Years
07. Threshold of Transformation

The song "20 Minutes / 40 Years" is available for free download as an MP3 audio file at this location.

AHAB, the German funeral doom metal band featuring MIDNATTSOL guitarist Daniel Droste on guitar/vocals and ex-MIDNATTSOL guitarist Christian Hector, is mixing its sophomore album at Klangschmiede Studio E for a late spring/early summer release via Napalm Records. The follow-up to 2006's "The Call of the Wretched Sea" will contain seven songs and will be based on the wreckage of the Essex.

The track listing is as follows:

01. Yet Another Raft of The Medusa (Pollard's Weakness)
02. The Divinity Of Oceans
03. O Father Sea
04. Redemption Lost
05. Tombstone Carousal
06. Gnawing Bones (Coffin's Lot)
07. Nickerson's Theme

According to the band, the guitar parts for AHAB's new album, which were mostly written by Daniel Droste this time, are "a bit more complex, yet in a funeral doom and death doom style." Hector says, "It sounds a bit like a mixture of the 'good ole' AHAB style mixed with very atmospheric tunes. So the description of AHAB as it's posted on Doom-Metal.com as a 'riffing funeral doom band' still is valid. You may say there are riffs, that sound a bit like Devin Townsend going funeral doom, CARCASS in slomo or MORBID ANGEL going beyond the slowness of 'Blessed Are The Sick'. Still to some extent the influence of our colleague of Tyranny can still be heard in some few riffs. So most of the music stays the same as you know it, although there are some hints to postcore and classical doom as well. It also maybe said, the songs are much more epic and vast. I think the new riffs fit perfectly to tell the story of the wreckage of the Essex! So Daniel made it quite easy for me to fit the lyrics to the music!"

AHAB is named after Captain Ahab, a character in the novel "Moby Dick" by Herman Melville. Along with its name, the band also draws thematic and lyrical inspiration from "Moby Dick" — some songs even feature direct quotations from the book.

"Strife", the new video from Finnish goth-metallers ENTWINE, can be viewed below. The song comes off the band's sixth album, "Painstained", which was released in Finland on January 28. The CD was recorded with producer Hiili Hiilesmaa (HIM, APOCALYPTICA, SENTENCED).

"Painstained" track listing:

01. Soul Sacrifice
02. Strife
03. Dying Moan
04. Beautifully Confined
05. Lost In My Denial
06. Greed of Mankind
07. Dead By Silence
08. Hollow
09. Caught By Desire
10. Say Goodbye

German extreme metal outfit NEAERA will release its fourth album, "Omnicide – Creation Unleashed" on May 25 in Europe via Metal Blade Records (except in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy, where it will arrive on May 22). The CD was recorded at the Rape Of Harmonies studio with producer Alexander Dietz. The artwork, which was once again created by Terje Johnsen, can be viewed here. The mixing and mastering was handled by Chris "Zeuss" Harris (HATEBREED, SHADOWS FALL, WHITECHAPEL).

NEAERA recently extended its worldwide record deal with Metal Blade for another three albums. The signing of the contract took place after the band's show in Karlsruhe, Germany on December 28.

"Armamentarium", the latest album from NEAERA, entered the German Media Control chart in September 2007 at position No. 65. The limited first edition of the album contained a bonus DVD recorded live at the band's sold-out show on May 19, 2007 in their hometown of Münster. Recorded at Hansen Studios in Denmark with producer Jacob Hansen, "Armamentarium" is "the most aggressive, focused and best sounding NEAERA album to date," according to a press release.

THE PROJECT HATE — the Swedish band featuring vocalist Jörgen Sandström (ex-ENTOMBED, GRAVE), guitarist Lord K. Philipson (GOD AMONG INSECTS, ex-LEUKEMIA), bassist Michael Håkansson (ENGEL, ex-EVERGREY), singer Jo Enckell (IGNORANCE BLISS), guitarist Anders Bertilsson (RUIN, COLDWORKER) and drummer Thomas Ohlsson (KAMTJATKA, AXENSTAR, SEVEN WISHES, CELLOUT) — has finished mixing its new album with Dan Swanö (NIGHTINGALE, EDGE OF SANITY, BLOODBATH) at Unisound in Örebro, Sweden. The CD will be released later in the year via Vic Records. The artwork and booklet design is being handled by Statik Majik.

THE PROJECT HATE's last CD, "In Hora Mortis Nostræ", was released in September 2007 via Stormvox Records, the label owned by Swedish actor Peter Stormare.

A five-minute video clip featuring audio excerpts from several tracks that are set to appear on the fourth album from Swedish metallers PERSUADER can be viewed here. The CD is tentatively due later in the year via Dockyard 1.

PERSUADER's third full-length effort, "When Eden Burns", was released in May 2006 via Dockyard 1. The follow-up to 2004's "Evolution Purgatory" (Sanctuary/Noise) was recorded at Powerhouse studio in Hamburg, Germany with producer (and SAVAGE CIRCUS bandmate) Piet Sielck (IRON SAVIOR).

PERSUADER members Jens Karlsson (vocals, guitar) and Emil Norberg (lead guitar) teamed up with Sielck and former BLIND GUARDIAN drummer Thomen Stauch in a new band called SAVAGE CIRCUS. The group's debut album, "Dreamland Manor", was released in August 2005 via Dockyard 1. Stauch has since been kicked out of the band.

QUEENSRŸCHE's video for the band's new single, "If I Were King", is available for viewing at Military.com. It can also be seen below.

QUEENSRŸCHE singer Geoff Tate recently stated about the track, "This is a song about guilt. A soldier who lost his friend in a firefight and spent a lot of time afterwards struggling with his feelings, wishing he could have done more to save his friend. The song is saying if I were king, if I could do anything, I'd have you back in my life again, back by my side. I thought that was a very interesting and inspiring viewpoint."

Military.com's free membership connects service members, military families and veterans to all the benefits of service — government benefits, scholarships, discounts, lifelong friends, mentors, great stories of military life or missions, and much more.

Military.com provides headline news and technology updates since the community answers the call and makes news. They also cover the rest of the military experience — from great content like their user-generated videos in their popular "Shock and Awe" feature to their military equipment guide.

QUEENSRŸCHE's twelfth studio release, the epic concept album "American Soldier", will be available from Atco/Rhino on March 31 for a suggested list price of $18.98 (CD) and $9.99 (digital). The ambitious album encompasses a dozen songs inspired by numerous interviews with veterans conducted by Geoff Tate, the group's singer and chief songwriter, who was intent on telling their story using their words. After speaking with soldiers who served in various conflicts — from World War II to Iraq — Tate turned their firsthand experiences from the frontlines into an unflinching musical examination of the life of a solider and the consequences of war.

Ben Robson of Australia's The Border Mail reports that 70-year-old Jan Berryman, grandmother of NEMESPHYXIA band member Tom Banks, is also arguably the death metal quintet's No. 1 fan.

"I cry sometimes while I am watching them, it's just so magical," the woman dubbed Metal Granny says.

"I sit in the lounge and listen to Tom play, hearing what he has just created is just wonderful."

Berryman says she hasn't missed one of NEMESPHYXIA's concerts, and loves to dress the part.

"Too right," she says. "I dress up all in black, boots and all.

"The band members are wonderful, they are so respectful.

"I am 70 years old, but they treat me like one of their mates and call me Jan like I'm just another teen — it's very funny.

"What they do is extremely musical, and the people who play it are musicians.

"They are so dedicated and are very nerdy, really — it's all about the music for them."

Trained as a classical pianist, Berryman says she first discovered metal in the 1960s when BLACK SABBATH was forging a name for itself.

"They were the first to actively go metal as I can recall," she says.

"And they were followed by bands like IRON MAIDEN and METALLICA.

"I used to watch these bands at the old boxing ring in Sydney."

"Guardians of Asgaard", the new video from Swedish viking metallers AMON AMARTH, can be viewed here (featuring a guest appearance by ENTOMBED's L.G. Petrov).

"Guardians Of Asgaard" comes off AMON AMARTH's seventh full-length album, "Twilight of the Thunder God", which sold more than 11,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 48 on The Billboard 200 chart.

"Twilight of the Thunder God" was recorded at Fascination Street Studio in Örebro, Sweden and features several high-profile guest appearances including ENTOMBED singer L.G. Petrov (on "Guardians of Asgaard"), CHILDREN OF BODOM guitarist Roope Latvala (who shreds a fierce solo on the track "Twilight of the Thunder God") and Finnish cello metal band APOCALYPTICA (a guest appearance on "Live For The Kill").

The video for the title track off "Twilight of the Thunder God" was filmed on the old Viking site, Jomsborg, home of the Jomsvikings in Wolin, Poland, with the Polish team Group 13 and director Dariusz Szermanowicz. The song features a guest appearance by CHILDREN OF BODOM guitarist Roope Latvala.

AMON AMARTH is having its first four albums reissued in 2009. The series kicked off with "Once Sent From A Golden Hall", which was released on February 27 in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy and March 2 in the rest of Europe as a double-popup-digipak featuring two discs. Disc one features the entire "Once Sent From A Golden Hall" album remastered plus the bonus track "Siegreicher Marsch" (German version of "Victorious March"). Disc two features the live recording of the show AMON AMARTH played on December 28, 2008 in Bochum, Germany where they played the album in its entirety. The order of songs is the same as on disc one (excluding "Siegreicher Marsch"). This reissue (and all the other ones that will follow later in the year) was released as an eight-sided double-figipak with individual pop-up. All four pop-ups attached to each other show a special three-dimensional pic. The reissue also features liner notes by the band and was released for the price of a regular CD.

SLIPKNOT filmed a video for the song "Sulfur" on March 9 in the Los Angeles area with director P.R. Brown (MÖTLEY CRÜE, MARILYN MANSON, CHIMAIRA, AVENGED SEVENFOLD), who helmed the last two SLIPKNOT clips, "Psychosocial" and "Dead Memories". The video is expected to make its online debut sometime in April.

SLIPKNOT just wrapped another hugely successful headline tour across the U.S. and continue to rack up accolades for its fourth album, "All Hope is Gone". The current single, "Dead Memories", has just landed at the #1 position on R&R's Active Rock chart. This is the first #1 radio single of the band's career, which follows up their first #1 on The Billboard 200 sales chart in August of last year. The video is also the most played at Fuse this week. Additionally, SLIPKNOT was recently awarded with an EMMA Award for "Best International Act." The EMMAs are the Finnish equivalent of the Grammys.

Vocalist Corey Taylor will be DJing at the first Revolver Golden Gods Awards, to be held on April 7 in Los Angeles. Other members of SLIPKNOT will also be in attendance at the event. The band will make a headlining appearance at Rock on the Range in Columbus, Ohio in May and will then head to Canada for a series of dates as part of their massive "All Hope is Gone" world tour. They will spend their summer headlining major music festivals in Europe, including Download, Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park. 2009 also represents the tenth anniversary of the band's debut, the multi-platinum "Slipknot".

"Chemical Wedding" — the supernatural horror-thriller written by IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson and longtime "Monty Python" editor Julian Doyle, who also directed the film — was voted top movie at the Athens International Sci-Fi & Fantasy Film Festival in Athens, Greece. The film was screened at the festival on March 17 at the theater Mikrokosmos.

"Chemical Wedding" was released in the U.S. under the title "Crowley" on DVD via Anchor Bay. The DVD artwork can be viewed here.

Dickinson is not the first rocker to be inspired by Crowley, who died in 1947. LED ZEPPELIN guitarist Jimmy Page was a big collector of Crowley's writings and even bought his Scottish estate. OZZY OSBOURNE, meanwhile, eulogized him in the song "Mr. Crowley".

Marilyn Manson's anticipated reunion with longtime friend and foil Twiggy Ramirez inches closer with the release of "We're From America", the first listen from the forthcoming "The High End of Low" album. Available as a free download March 27, exclusively on MarilynManson.com, the song will be available as a digital single on April 7 and will preview Manson's forthcoming seventh studio album landing May 26.

The album's official first single, "Arma... geddon", will arrive at radio April 13. Manson's new lineup, including Ramirez (for the first time in close to a decade), plus keyboardist Chris Vrenna, and drummer Ginger Fish, will close the main stage at the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, this July through August. Manson will also kick off his world tour with a headline festival run this June in Europe.

Produced by Manson, Vrenna and Twiggy, "The High End of Low" was recorded in Manson's Hollywood Hills studio and also features the track "I Want to Kill You Like They Do In The Movies". Manson says of the new album, "I think my life definitely ended and began. The record sounds very final, but it's almost optimistic — though that feels like a strange word to use. It's a phoenix from the fire and a redemption resurrection."

In a recent interview with U.K.'s Kerrang! magazine, Marilyn Manson stated about "The High End of Low", "This is not a record that we would leave black and self-titled and mature. This is the experienced record. This album is the 12th-grade guy that has VD and did cocaine in high school, who has been arrested once and the 9th-grade girl wants to fuck him.

"The songs on this record are quite autobiographical, but they're also very much their own stories in the same sense as some of my earlier work on 'Antichrist Superstar'. The songs are in the order in which they were written and sung. It was a story that took place and I didn't really know what it was going to be 'till it happened. I had to find out how it was going to end in order to end the record. This album left many scars, and I think they are good ones."

"I wrote all the lyrics on the wall of my room. It wasn't to be decorative; it was one of those things, like it's the last thing someone sees before they put them somewhere else. I think it looks good. And if anyone wants to come into this room and fornicate with me, I think they are a keeper… and when I say keeper, I mean kidnapping. I am probably going to do most of the press for the record from my house, before I leave or destroy it, because you can see the story and what the record as made from within the house."

"During the whole process I took a lot of photos, so the artwork is a lot of storytelling and the way that the songs have turned out is more from my point of view rather than looking at me. Because I always wanted to take pictures, my house is set up like a movie set. Instead of lamps I have movie lights and smoke machines and things."

"I really look at this record as a film, maybe because I sort of directed it. I stopped trying to conform regular life into the idea that it's regular life. Why isn't it all just a movie? If people are watching, they're watching me being an asshole or being boring or creating something amazing. That's just a part of the movie. It allowed me to be more creative."

"'15' is track 15 on the album. It's the most important song I think that's been written by MARILYN MANSON as an entity. It's the most unusual song I have ever heard. I thought that the album was done, as there is a glorious epic track [before that] that I think will make Twiggy forever recognized as a guitar hero. That felt like the end of the record, but what was happening in my life had not resolved itself. So on January 5, one five, I sang '15' and the lyrics will tell the story of that day…"

Alissa White-Gluz, the lead singer of the Montreal, Quebec, Canada-based band THE AGONIST, is featured in the current issue of Revolver magazine as one of the "Hottest Chicks In Metal." Check out photos from the issue at this location.

"Lullabies For A Dormant Mind", the sophomore album from THE AGONIST, sold around 600 copies in the United States in its first week of release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The CD debuted at No. 105 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

Guitarist Aydan of Italian folk-metallers ELVENKING has been forced to sit out the band's remaining shows in March after breaking his shoulder in a skiing accident. He says, "I was skiing with some friends. I don’t know exactly what happened but I lost my skis and jumped above, landing heavily with my shoulders and face on a block of ice hard as concrete. My shoulder was broken and I was operated on Thursday, March 12. The doctors placed a metal plate fixed with nine screws in order to maintain the bone. Pretty cool! Now I am finally back home but I still cannot move the arm. Obviously I am not able to play guitar at the moment, but I will do anything to be able to be back on stage as soon as possible."

ELVENKING will utilize the services of session guitarist Leonardo for the remaining March dates in Italy, Holland, Germany and Belgium.

ELVENKING recently announced the addition of second guitarist Rafahel to the group's ranks. Fans who had an opportunity to see the band perform over the course of the last year will recognize Rafahel, since he played a lot of gigs with the band around Italy and Europe.

Norwegian thrashers MANIFEST have announced the addition of bassist Johnny Wangberg (GRIFFIN, WATTAMEZZ) to the group's ranks. MANIFEST writes in a press release, "Kenneth Einarsen left the band in November 2008 and we have been working on finding a replacement for the last couple of months. It feels perfect to have Johnny in the band! He brings in years of experience from different bands and he's a great guy to work and hang out with."

Johnny made his live debut with MANIFEST on March 7 in the band's hometown of Trondheim. Fan-filmed video footage of the song "Swine" can be viewed below.

MANIFEST's most recent album, "Hedonism", came out in Norway on December 3, 2007 via Morningstar Records. The follow-up to 2005's "Half Past Violence" was recorded at Spiren Studio with producer Knut "Fug" Prytz. Audio samples from the CD are available for streaming on the band's MySpace page.

THE INFINITE STAIRCASE, the Staten Island, New York-based rock/metal band featuring Sebastian Bach's son Paris Bierk on drums, has made its debut full-length album entitled "The Road Less Taken" available to order through the group's web site. The CD was recorded at Majickly Malicious Studios in Staten Island, New York and was mixed by guitar virtuoso Blues Saraceno (POISON), who also makes a special guest appearance on the album, lending his signature chops and tone to the track "Happy Fields". Guitar legend Earl Slick (DAVID BOWIE, JOHN LENNON) can be heard on "Lately".

"The Road Less Taken" (cover) track listing:

01. Happy Fields (feat. Blues Saraceno)
02. Forever For Now
03. Better Off Dead
04. The Things We Do
05. Guns and Bibles
06. One For The Road
07. After All
08. Take Your Time
09. Dreamers
10. Catch You If I Can
11. Lately (feat. Earl Slick)
12. What's The Point?
13. Wasted

THE INFINITE STAIRCASE has been added to the "The Black Label Bash" tour featuring headliners BLACK LABEL SOCIETY alongside SEVENDUST and DOPE. The trek will kick off on March 22 in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Brothers Lenny and Jeff Cerzosie formed the basis for what would ultimately become THE INFINITE STAIRCASE around 2001-2002. Now joined by fellow musicians Paris Bierk (SEVERED HAND) on drums and Jared Hreha on bass, the band is working harder than ever to bring its dreams to reality and its music to the masses.

In the past few years alone, the group has independently managed to get featured on Fuse TV, perform on former "Saturday Night Live" comedian Jim Breuer's Sirius Satellite Radio show, get featured in the March 2008 issue of Metal Edge magazine (with a song being used on that issue's CD sampler) as well as open for the likes of CANDLEBOX, Jonathan Davis of KORN, HELLYEAH, SEVENDUST, ALTER BRIDGE, OTEP, BLOODSIMPLE, W.A.S.P., L.A. GUNS, WHITE LION, LILLIAN AXE, Eddie Ojeda of TWISTED SISTER, and many more.

Reunited hardcore legends EARTH CRISIS will release their new album, "To The Death", on May 5 via Century Media Records (April 20 in Europe). The self-produced CD was recorded at Castle Recording Studios in Utica, New York and was mixed by Tue Madsen (HEAVEN SHALL BURN, DARK TRANQUILLITY, MOONSPELL, THE HAUNTED). Artwork for the effort was handled by Paul Romano (MASTODON, GODFLESH). The band has also partnered with PETA and plan to stay active within the animal liberation scene.

"To The Death" track listing:

01. Against The Current
02. To Ashes
03. So Others Live
04. Security Threat #1
05. When Slaves Revolt
06. Plague Bearers
07. Control Through Fear
08. Cities Fall
09. Eye Of Babylon
10. What Horrifies
11. To The Death

The song "To Ashes" is available for streaming on the band's MySpace page.

Check out the cover artwork here.

French dark death metal band BLOODY SIGN is recording its third album, "Chaos Echoes", at DownTown Studio in Strasbourg with Didier Houbre for a late 2009 release. The CD will contain seven songs, an intro/outro, and a "few more surprises," according to a press release.

"Chaos Echoes" will be mixed in April at Rape Of Harmonies in Germany by Angel Of Disease. Songtitles set to appear on the CD include "Primordial Sound", "For the Unknown", "Chord Temple" and "Tongues of Shadows".

According to a press release, fans should "expect a unique trip into darkness, made of death black metal and lot of twisted and darklypsychedelic stuff, with a lyrical concept about music and all its links with death, myths, religions, cosmos, nature,
metal."

BLOODY SIGN's second full-length CD, "Explosion Of Elements", was released in April 2007 on Ibex Moon Records.

Artisan News Service recently spoke to SLAYER bassist/vocalist Tom Araya to see get an update on how the recording process or the band's new CD is going so far.

"This new album is coming together really well," he said. "We've been in the studio now for four weeks. I think four or five weeks and it's coming across together, you know it has all the SLAYER elements. I don't want to compare it to but it has very 'Christ Illusion'-type songs. You know, it's in that vein but there's also fast songs, l mean, [the recently released song] 'Psycopathy Red' — that right there should give you an example of the broad spectrum of SLAYER music is going to be on this album."

Guitarist/vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt of Swedish progressive metallers OPETH has issued the following update:

«Hey guys!

Just a little ramble about the Norwegian tour we just completed.

Can you believe this thing was backed up by Rikskonserter? Which is basically what I understand a company financed directly by the government. Fantastic! We had a blast, did 8 shows and all of them went well.

Apparently it was one of the most succesful tours in the history of Rikskonserter which is saying quite a lot. Oslo was amazing. We had Ihsahn come play with us and he was amazing! His first show. I know he was a little nervous but I couldn't tell. He did great.

Bergen completely killed! Awesome crowd! Had a little bar run with Grutle from Enslaved and King from Gorgoroth. We all got a bit wasted and Fred dissapeared....

We're also invited for dinner att Oyvinds, our soundman, parents house. They treated us to a fantastic meal, the whole crew, including our driver. Rakefisk and some lamb...oh, and lots of aquavit. This stuff is a typical Scandi schnapps...and we had our fair share of it. In fact we had so many that me and Axe started fighting, I started arguing with Fred and we all went to bed piss drunk and woke up with massive hungovers.
My arms was, and still is, completely bruised from Axe, or should I say Erik, hitting it relentlessly. He was completely out of it, but then again, so were the rest of us. Either way, we had a great night.

OK, gotta mention this. You know I'm a record collector right? Now, I'm after a original Lp pressing of a Norwegian guy called Freddy Lindquist. The album is called "Menu" and came out in 1970 on a label called Flower I think. It has a nude lady on the cover. If anyone should happen to find it, maybe have parents who bought it when it came out, or just stumble upon it. Let me know. I want it, I NEED IT!

After Norway we came back home for one (!) day, and then we had to fly to Poland for a sold out show in Warszawa. I'm in my room at the Sheraton here as I'm typing this and we played last night. Amazing! One of the best crowds we've had. It was a little bit of a magic show to us. Thank YOU Warszawa!!!

Catching a flight back home in a few hours. Can't wait to come back home.
Obviously next for us is Mexico and then down to South America. Wow! Finally! Will be awesome, I have no doubts!

OK people...take it eazy, and talk to ya soon..kinda...»

Former GORGOROTH members Gaahl (vocals; real name: Kristian Espedal) and King ov Hell (bass; real name: Tom Cato Visnes), who recently lost a court battle against guitarist Infernus (real name: Roger Tiegs) over the rights to the GORGOROTH band name, have chosen the new banner of GOD SEED to represent their art in the future.

GOD SEED was chosen for many reasons; it represents the will to grow, the god within man and nature and the will to reach one's highest potential. "God Seed" is also the title of a track from the last album released under the "GORGOROTH" banner and in that respect it symbolizes what is brought from the past into a new beginning and a new future.

Gaahl and King's new CD, which has been in the works as a "GORGOROTH" album, will now be released as the first GOD SEED LP and should be in stores in late 2009 via the group's rumored new label home, Norway's Indie Recordings.

King comments: "The past 18 months has been a struggle on many levels. Therefore I'm very excited about GOD SEED — even on a personal level. Hopefully this will lead to growth to me personally and for the band as a whole. It's time to use my energy on something that wants to live, rather than to use my energy on something that wants to die and be part of my past!!!"

Gaahl and King entered the studio on August 25, 2008 in the their hometown of Bergen, Norway to begin recording eight new tracks composed by the bassist for an as-yet-untitled new album. Along with Gaahl, King and Frost (SATYRICON) on drums, the full recording lineup includes Teloch (guitar) and Ice Dale (guitar). ENSLAVED's Herbrand Larsen once again produced the band in the studio.

The countdown is running: In less than a month Eluveitie's new acoustic album will be released!

"Evocation I - the arcane dominion" became for sure one of the most unique and exceptional works of the band - since it's their first fully acoustic album, as well as their first album completely in the ancient gaulish language.

So it's not too astonishing that this also caused a lot of questions - from fans, the scene and the music press. Here you can already read some precedent statements to the album by the band (FAQ) and also by diverse journalists and musicians:


Question: „Evocation I – the arcane dominion“ sounds very different than every other Eluveitie release so far. It doesn’t have much to do with metal, neither does it sound like pure folk music!

Eluveitie: Yes, absolutely! It is a purely acoustic album. We had the wish of once doing an acoustic album for quite a while already - it actually came up in our heads already three years ago. Much later then this idea became concrete. It seems perfectly obvious that the result of a folk metal band producing an acoustic album will be a folk album. But we wanted to go much further than that. We wanted to stay 100% true to ourselves and continue the idea of Eluveitie’s music, even on a purely acoustic album: To portray ancient history, mythology and culture “in our own words”, with our own music and to transport something ancient and primordial into our modern age. So we tried to not just display 1000-times-heard traditional folkmusic (much as we love it though), but to create something new: Our own acoustic music – still rooting in tradition and containing traditional tunes, but in our own version.


Question: So, did you change your style of music now? Will Eluveitie be kind of a folkish acoustic band in future?

Eluveitie: No, of course not! Eluveitie is fuckin metal and will always be. As mentioned before, we wanted to once do something purely acoustic. This is something that really challenged us.

So, to us “Evocation” is more like a project. A project that means a lot to us though, we really love the album and invested lots of effort and lifeblood in it. But we’re a metal band and our next album after “Evocation I – the arcane dominion” will for sure be a metal album again.

Question: All the lyrics are in ancient gaulish language. Why is that?.

Eluveitie: We wanted to create our acoustic album as authentic and pristine as possible. “Evocation I – the arcane dominion” is a concept release portraying pure celtic (gaulish) mythology. The album is like a musical journey through the celtic soul – musically as well as lyrically.

And to be as authentic as possible, most of the songs are even not only in gaulish language, but contain original gaulish texts; that means gaulish texts that have been written between 1600 and 2100 years ago! The texts we
used in our songs have been found during archaeological excavations during the last two centuries – inscribed in tiles, pottery (such as discs and plates) and zinc tablets. Again we have been working together with diverse scientists to achieve an as possible true to original pronunciation.


Question: So what are these lyrics about?

Eluveitie: As said before, the album portrays pure gaulish mythology. So, all the songs are of mythological and magical nature. All in all the content of “Evocation I – the arcane dominion” is of pretty dark nature in a way. Some songs narrate of mythological topics, some contain magical verses and some imply magical maledictions.

Question: The album is entitled “Evocation I”. Does this mean, that there will also be a part II?

Eluveitie: Yes. When we began to write the concept of “Evocation”, the idea came up to really extend it and to do a two-pieced concept album. Now we’ll release the first part. For the second part we will again take our time to write and elaborate it. Our next release after "Evocation I" will be a metal album again, as mentioned earlier. We are a metal band. After a next metal album we will work out the second part of our acoustic project then.

"No Sacrifice, No Victory", the new album from Swedish melodic metallers HAMMERFALL, has been certified gold in the band's home country for sales in excess of 20,000 copies.

Says guitarist Oscar Dronjak: "This was a very welcome wake-up call in Bamberg, where we're playing tonight. This is the sweetest of the gold albums we have gotten so far, we all believed so hard in this new album and line-up and it's great to see such results. Sacrifices have been made, and now victory is attained!"

Note: The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) in Sweden has revised the sales requirements for albums to reach gold status in the country twice in the last seven years — from the pre-2002 level of 40,000 to the current 20,000.

A guitar previously owned by Ralph Santolla (OBITUARY, DEICIDE, DEATH, ICED EARTH) is currently being auctioned via eBay. All proceeds will go to the family of DECAPITATED singer Adrian "Covan" Kowanek, who was seriously injured on November 2, 2007 in a Russian road collision.

Commented Ralph: "As most people know, the drummer for DECAPITATED, Vitek, lost his life in an auto accident while on tour in November 2007. His singer, Covan, was seriously injured. He has a very long road to recovery ahead of him, and he and his family face enormous medical costs. At the end of the Winterfest tour [featuring DEICIDE, VADER, SAMAEL and DEVIAN], we gave Vitek's brother, Wacek (Waclaw 'Vogg' Kieltyka; guitarist for VADER), a Jackson Randy Rhoads 24-fret guitar that was signed by the entire tour. This guitar will be auctioned to raise money for Covan and his family. This guitar was used on DEICIDE's 'Till Death Do Us Part' album, OBITUARY's 'Left to Die' EP and many, many tours and festivals. It's also an amazing instrument. This guitar has seen more of the world than you! Please do whatever you can to support this cause!"

Finnish metallers GLORIA MORTI have issued the following update:

"After 10 years as the band's drummer, Jarmo [Juurikka] has decided to leave the group due to personal reasons. There is no grudge between him and the other members. GLORIA MORTI is now in progress of finding a new drummer.

"There has been very few updates conserning the upcoming album and we apologize for this. Things may look quiet but even as we speak, [Juho] Räihä's kettles are boiling with some really nasty shit, and unnerving shrieks and wails are carrying out of his guitar cabinet.

"Expect the very worst humanity has to offer.

GLORIA MORTI is currently working on the follow-up to the band's second album, "Eryx", which was released last year through Stay Heavy Records in Finland and Cyclone Empire Records in the rest of Europe.