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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.

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.”

Dream Theater reveal Mike Mangini as new drummer

Dream Theater have finally revealed their new drummer in the third episode of the youtube series that depicted their selection process. And the result says ‘Mike Mangini’. Mangini has played for Annihilator, Extreme, James LaBrie, and Steve Vai. He is a teacher at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and held five World’s Fastest Drummer world records. Apparently it boiled down to him v/s Marco Minnemann, who is also known for his extremely technical and fast playing in bands like Illogicist and Necrophagist.

You can watch the entire video here.

The Sprit Carries On – 3

 

 

 

Roy Khan bids farewell to Kamelot

 

It seems that the slew of disappointing departures by band members from important bands is becoming a trend. After KK Downing left Judas Priest and Jeff Loomis and Van Williams both left Nevermore, Roy Khan has decided to bow out of power metal powerhouse Kamelot. His reasons cited pertained to health issues that he had been having since the end of 2010. Kamelot plan to continue touring without him, with the help of Rhapsody of Fire vocalist Fabio Lione and Tommy Karevik from Seventh Wonder. To read an official statement, click below to go to their official website:

http://www.kamelot.com/site/news/kamelot-statement/#more-823

Jeff Loomis and Van Williams part ways with Nevermore

In what has been an extremely shocking turn of events, Jeff Loomis and Van Williams, Nevermore’s guitarist and drummer respectively have announced their departure from the band. Loomis and Williams who had been with Nevermore since the band’s first album, 1995’s self titled, Nevermore, have shaken fans all over the world with this announcement, fans really begin to wonder what the future holds for this iconic band. Jeff and Van have however issued a statement.

“In a mutual decision Jeff Loomis and Van Williams have decided to leave Nevermore. The time has come to pursue our own paths from the group. Due to internal struggles and ongoing issues within the band, we feel it is our time to move on. We would like to thank all of our fans around the world for their years of love, support and enthusiasm. This was not an easy decision but a very necessary one at this point, may we all meet again someday, somewhere in time.”

With K.K. Downing’s retirement barely digested, it seems like the metal world is falling apart. I sincerely hope the band carries on with the power and the greatness of legendary frontman Warrel Dane, though musicians at the level of Jeff and Van are practically impossible to replace. Looks like a future uncertain, indeed.

K.K. Downing announces retirement from Priest

Judas PriestLegendary iconic Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing has announced his retirement from the band just before their Epitaph tour. The band however have agreed to go ahead with the tour without K.K and respect his decision to leave. Epitaph will be Priest’s final world tour before they finally retire. It will feature songs from all their albums and will mark the grand exit of the band from the scene after rocking for 40 odd years.

The replacement is Richard Faulkner, the guitarist of Lauren Harris, the band of Steve Harris’ daughter. Fans all over the world are shaken as well as furious, not just for K.K’s decision as well as for the replacement, saying K.K is irreplaceable. At this point however it doesn’t matter as K.K is gone and will never come back to the metal scene, and Priest will never be the same again. I hope his decision is for sane reasons however. And hope we get to catch Priest live here in India sometime before it’s too late. Rock rolla guys!

Christian Muenzner to release solo album ‘Timewarp’

Spawn of Possession guitarist Christian Muenzner has revealed the cover artwork and track listing for his upcoming, all-instrumental solo album, “Timewarp”. The CD features Hannes Grossmann on drums and Daniel Galmarini on keyboards, with bass duties split between legend Steve DiGiorgio and Jacob Schmidt. Due by the end of April, it features guest appearances by Shrapnel recording artists Derek Taylor, Per Nilsson, Ryan Knight, Bob Katsionis and Alex Guth.

“Timewarp” track listing:

01. Maybe Tomorrow
02. Confusion(Listen to the full song here)
03. The Tell-Tale Heart
04. Timewarp
05. Victory
06. Rocket Shop
07. Soulmates
08. Over The Mountains
09. Wastelands
10. Dawn Of The Shred
11. The Gunslinger
12. Endless Caravan

The cover artwork was created by Anestis Goudas.

In Flames Reveal New Album Tracklist

Swedish melodic death spearheads have revealed the cover art (refer to pic) and the track list for their upcoming album Sounds of a Playground Fading, due this June.
The track list is –
01. Sounds Of A Playground Fading
02. Deliver Us
03. All For Me
04. The Puzzle
05. Fear Is The Weakness
06. Where The Dead Ships Dwell
07. The Attic
08. Darker Times
09. Ropes
10. Enter Tragedy
11. Jester’s Door
12. A New Dawn
13. Liberation

Sounds of a Playground Fading will be released in the middle of june across various dates in different places. The first single Deliver Us will be released online in the first week of May.