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Anal Cunt frontman passes away

Yet another death grips the metal industry as controversial frontman of Anal Cunt Seth Putnam passed away last night. It is suspected to be of a heart attack. He was 43 years old. The publicist of AxCx (as the internet world calls them) Kim Kelly commented “Yes, it’s true. Seth Putnam, one of the most infamous musicians that extreme metal has ever seen, the grindcore GG Allin, has passed away due to a heart attack. I handled all the promotion for Anal Cunt’s last album, Fuckin’ A, and Seth was always happy to oblige any request I sent his way. The band had been working on a new album before his passing, so chances are his musical career’s epitaph has yet to be inscribed.” R.I.P.

Theorized to release new single

Bangalore based Thrash metal band Theorized will be releasing a brand new single titled “Genetic Variants” on Sunday, June 12th 2011. Those of you who have watched the band in recent gigs would have heard some of their latest compositions, which are quite different from the older stuff on ‘False Hope of Tyranny’. Check out their new song on Sunday on the official Facebook page.

Exhumation parts way with drummer Yash

In a note published by Exhumation, they’ve just announced that their drummer Yash has quit the band. This is what the statement reads: Exhumation has officially parted ways with drummer Yash Pathak. The band now welcomes drummer Virendra Kaith into the lineup. We wish Yash all the best in his future musical ventures. A statement from Yash “I would like to say that I quit Exhumation and welcome Viru in the band. I had fun playin wth these guys and hope wth Viru and Pman this band goes places. I will be back in the scene soon.”

Arch Enemy releases ‘Khaos Legions’

Swedish melodic death metallers Arch Enemy are all set to release their latest (2011) album ‘Khaos Legions‘ today, the 7th of June. However, the album is available for streaming in its entirety online on the official Arch Enemy MySpace page. Listen to ‘Khaos Legions’ for free online here! The track-list for the album is as follows: 1. Khaos Overture 2. Yesterday Is Dead And Gone 3. Bloodstained Cross 4. Under Black Flags We March 5. No Gods, No Masters 6. City Of The Dead 7. Through The Eyes Of A Raven 8. Cruelty Without Beauty 9. We Are A Godless Entity 10. Cult Of Chaos 11. Thorns In My Flesh 12. Turn To Dust 13. Vengeance Is Mine 14. Secrets 15. The Zoo 16. Snow Bound Rumour has it that the band will be playing in India sometime soon, i.e. either later this year or the next. We’ll keep you posted on that, so watch this space!

Opeth announce new album

Sweden’s elite progressive metal masters Opeth will release Heritage, their third album for Roadrunner, on September 20th. The first video and single will be the song “The Devil’s Orchard”. Heritage follows up 2008’s Watershed and 2005’s Ghost Reveries, each of which garnered the forward-thinking, genre-bending band some of the best reviews of their career. Opeth frontman and guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt weighed in on Heritage, saying: “It will be our 10th album/observation. I dig it; we all do. In fact, it feels like I’ve been building up to write for and participate on an album like this since I was 19.” Åkerfeldt went a little deeper and described the music contained within Heritage, saying: “It’s quite intense at times in some ‘old’ murky way, and quite beautiful and stark at times, if I may say so myself. It’s obvious I’m going to say nice things about it since I wrote basically the whole piece, but I guess it will raise a few eyebrows and it certainly is an acquired taste. I think you’ll need a slightly deeper understanding of our music as a whole to be able to appreciate this record. I’ve realized my influences for this album are so diverse that I can’t really say what it sounds like. If I can compare it to any other band, it would have to be Opeth, but it’s different from the stuff we’ve done before. I’ve listened a lot to Alice Cooper for the last year, yet I can’t say it sounds like ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy’. I hope you’ll like it once you hear it.” The album was produced by Åkerfeldt and mixed along with Porcupine Tree frontman/guitarist Steven Wilson, who is also a labelmate of Opeth. Longtime collaborator Travis Smith also worked with Åkerfeldt to create, design and execute the album’s artwork (see image). The tracklist is as follows 01. Heritage 02. The Devil’s Orchard 03. I Feel The Dark 04. Slither 05. Nepenthe 06. Haxprocess 07. Famine 08. The Lines In My Hand 09. Folklore 10. Marrow Of The Earth

Update from Cryptopsy

Lead guitarist and songwriter Jon Levasseur has rejoined Canadian extreme metallers Cryptopsy. Youri Raymond (Secret Chiefs 3), who had been playing guitar, is now handling bass duties following Levassour’s return and bassist Eric Langois’ recent departure from the band. The band is also working on new material. The group released the following statement: “We have some important informative news we would like to announce. Jon Levasseur, former lead guitarist and major creative contributing force behind None So Vile, Whisper Supremacy, And Then You’ll Beg… has returned to the band. The combination of Jon and Chris Donaldson has revived the power and energy of the infamous Cryptopsy string section, without losing the backup vocals and creative talent of Youri Raymond whom is now playing the six string bass. Eric Langlois has, for now, decided to step back and take a break from the Cryptopsy family. The reborn and fully motivated chemistry of Matt, Chris, Youri, Jon and Flo is determined to make an impact in 2011 and beyond. New material is in the works (with the actual line-up) and will be available to all with your support in late 2011. Meanwhile, three new songs have been completed and will soon be featured on a final Century Media release. This meaning, the future is ours and yours and promises to be true Cryptopsy.”

Gig Alert: Unseen Underground J.A.M

The first show of  Unseen Underground J.A.M (Just About Music),  a festival of rock, blues, jazz & metal music is scheduled to be held on the 4th of June 2011. This is an initiative by Unseen Underground to find new talent from different sub-genres of rock and provide them a stage to showcase this alongside some already established musicians. Here’s a list of bands performing: Jack, Johnnie and the Old Monk ( Folk/Blues Rock band-Chennai ) White Lady ( Hard Rock band-Chennai ) Dark Desolation (Black Metal band-Bangalore ) Crypted (Technical/Progressive Death Metal band- Chennai) Trojan Horse (Technical Death Metal band- Chennai) Djinns Lament (Progressive Metal band- Chennai) Anthramorphia (Progressive Death /Metalcore band-Chennai ) Like Weekend (Hard Rock band-Chennai ) Venue: Geoffrey’s Pub, Radha Regent Hotel, Chennai Date: 04th June 2011 (Saturday) Time: 5.30pm to 11:00pm For more details visit: http://unseenunderground.com/j-a-m-1/ E-mail: info@unseenunderground.com SMS +91-7299307251 For help with direction to the venue call 044-66778899 RSVP: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=123222351091020 J.A.M will be held as a monthly event or bi monthly event apart from the other regular Unseen Underground gigs depending on the success of this first show. Unseen Underground is supported by Headbangers India.

Impending Doom 2011

Impending Doom is a gig organized by Infinite Dreams Artist Management featuring some of the bigger bands in Bangalore. The gig features Pillbox 666 as headliners. Pillbox 666 is Vikram Bhat (Dying Embrace) Nolan Lewis (Kryptos) Ganesh Krishnaswamy (Bevar Sea) Deepak Raghu (Dying Embrace, Bevar Sea) The gig also features Theorized Culminant Eccentric Pendulum Corrode Venue – B52 Koramangala Date – 12th June 2011 Sunday Time – 5 PM Entry – Rs 200/- See you there!