BLACK METAL News January 27, 2005

~ CRADLE OF FILTH Part Ways With Bassist DAVE PYBUS ~
British extreme metallers CRADLE OF FILTH have parted ways with bassist Dave Pybus. The band's official statement on the matter reads as follows:

"We are sorry to say that as of [last Thursday, Jan. 20], Dave Pybus is no longer with CRADLE OF FILTH. Dave has decided, for personal reasons, that he is unable to continue with the band. This will not endanger the tour dates we currently have in place or future recording commitments, as a replacement will be found to complete these. We are all very sorry that Dave has made this decision and he will be missed."

CRADLE OF FILTH will be releasing "Nymphetamine: Special Edition" on March 1 via Roadrunner Records. The collection will feature two all-new tracks ("Prey" and "Soft White Throat"), covers of OZZY OSBOURNE's "Mr. Crowley", BATHORY's "Bestial Lust" and CLIFF RICHARD's 1976 hit "Devil Woman" (featuring King Diamond), two previously unreleased tracks, all-new and expanded artwork and the video for "Nymphetamine"

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~ ANAAL NATHRAKH To Be Joined By NAPALM DEATH, Ex-DIMMU BORGIR Members For BBC Appearance ~
British black metal act ANAAL NATHRAKH were recently asked by the BBC to perform a set to be aired on the Radio 1 "Rock Show". To make the occasion particularly interesting, ANAAL NATHRAKH will, for the first time ever, be performing as a full band. Currently planned to flesh out the lineup are drummer Nick Barker (ex-DIMMU BORGIR, CRADLE OF FILTH) and Shane Embury (NAPALM DEATH), although precise details remain to be seen. An exact air date has yet to be announced.

ANAAL NATHRAKH's second full-length album, "Domine Non Es Dignus", was released last November through Season Of Mist. The follow-up to 2001's "The Codex Necro" was recorded at Necrodeath studios and contains no "keyboards, vocal distortion or harmonizers," according to a posting on the band's web site

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~ BLOODSTAINED DUSK Guitarist/Vocalist Dies In Car Crash ~
On the night of January 24, Anthony Patrick Panter (a.k.a. Daggeth), vocalist/guitarist of the Huntsville, AL-based black metal band BLOODSTAINED DUSK, was killed in a terrible car crash on his way home. He was 24 years of age.

BLOODSTAINED DUSK released two CDs on Baphomet Records: a reissue of their self-financed demo, "Thy Legions Reign Over Christendom", and the cult classic, "Dirge Of Death's Silence". They also released a number of self-financed cassette demos and appeared on numerous compilation albums. In 2003, they toured the U.S. as direct support for death metal legends MONSTROSITY. Their most recent release was 2004's "Continuance of Evil" on Black Flame Records.

A memorial for Panter was attended by his bandmates, family, friends, fans and members of acts such as FLESHTIZED, SPINECAST, CONVERGENCE FROM WITHIN, TEMPLE OF BLOOD and more. He will be missed.

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~ SEASON OF MIST Unable To Reach Agreement With GORGOROTH ~
The French record label Season of Mist has issued the following statement:

"Despite negotiating for several months and despite all the rumors, Season of Mist and [Norwegian black metallers] GORGOROTH could not find a final agreement on their cooperation, both on a contractual and personal level. We nonetheless sincerely wish the band the best."

As previously reported, GORGOROTH entered Lydriket Studios in Norway on January 14 to begin laying down drum tracks for their new album, "Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam".

"Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam" will contain eight tracks and is tentatively expected late spring/early summer through an as-yet-undisclosed label.

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~ HOLY MOSES: New Album Details Revealed ~
HOLY MOSES, the long-running German thrash outfit fronted by Sabina Classen (sister of Black Metal producer Andy Classen), have set "Strange Power Will Passion" as the title of their 10th album, tentatively due on May 23 via Armageddon Music. 22 songs and over 80 minutes of music were reportedly laid down at the band's Absurd studio for the follow-up to 2002's "Disorder of the Order" (Century Media). Songtitles set to appear on the CD include "Symbol of Spirit", "Examination", "Lost Inside", "I Will", "Angel Cry", "Rebirthing", "Space Clearing" and "End of Time". Cover artwork will be handled Markus Mayer.

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~ DARKANE: New Album Update ~
Swedish thrashers DARKANE have set "Layers of Lies" as the working title of their new CD, tentatively due in May via Nuclear Blast Records. "So far six songs out of ten are done with vocals," drummer Peter Wildoer writes on the group's web site. "A bit more than half of the guitar solos are also to be recorded. Songtitles set to appear on "Layers of Lies" include "Secondary Effect", "Fading Dimensions", "Organic Canvas", "The Creation Insane" and the projected title track. A video for "Secondary Effect" will be filmed during the coming week.

Guitarist Christofer Malmström of the Swedish thrashers DARKANE has posted the following update on the recording sessions for the group's new album:

"OK, we are still recording the DARKANE album. Right now we have vocals to 5 songs, and 5 more songs to go. I've recorded a few of my solos too. I'm very eager to get this album ready because it's taken a lot of time. We started in October and it's taking so long because we are working our day jobs at the same time, and you can't be in the studio every day either. Got to take care of personal stuff too. Some days we enter the studio just to fix something that might have gone broken or just make backup copies of the hard drive, and such things takes a lot of time too. Anyway, the end result will be good I'm quite convinced. If you like our former albums you will probably like this too. On 'Expanding Senses' there were a lot of 'one-note vocal lines', and we have tried to avoid that this time by writing 'more-than-one-note vocal lines'! Get it? =) Anyway, today I think some new photos from the studio turned up at www.darkane.com .

"Today was a day off from the studio for me so I thought I would check in and at least give you something. And when I give something it's mostly video clips because I am the guy in the band that always runs the video camera when things are happening. I've taped a lot of all of our recordings and tours and someday parts of it will end up on a DVD. That's been the plan for a long time.

"This time however I won't put up anything that I've shot myself, but a small TV clip from December 2003 when DARKANE was on the national television program 'Musikbyrån'. The show was about the Sweden Rock festival earlier that year and we had the opportunity to be a part of it. It starts with an interview in Swedish with Mr. Wildoer, and after that is a small segment from 'Violence From Within' played live. Shots from that festival also ended up on the 'Chaos vs Order' video.

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~ OBITUARY To Begin Recording New Album Next Month ~
Legendary death metal band OBITUARY will enter Red Room studios in Tampa, Florida on February 17 to begin recording their new album, tentatively due this summer via Roadrunner Records.

The band's as-yet-untitled new CD will mark their first collection of new songs since 1997's "Back
From the Dead".

In related news, OBITUARY guitarist Trevor Peres' side project, CATASTROPHIC, will be teaming up with ABSCESS and DIVINE EMPIRE for a European tour between April 24 and May 5 (including an appearance at Germany's Fuck the Commerce festival). CATASTROPHIC will be touring in support of their newly recorded sophomore album, "Apathy's Warm Embrace", tentatively due later in the year through an as-yet-undetermined label.

CATASTROPHIC, who are currently unsigned, released their debut album, "The Cleansing", in 2001 via Metal Blade Record.

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~ AFTER FOREVER Announce New Album Title, Prepare To Hit The Studio ~
Dutch gothic/atmospheric doom metal group /B>AFTER FOREVE have posted the following update on their official web site:

"At the end of February the recordings of the fourth album of AFTER FOREVER will start! AFTER FOREVER will record the drums, bass guitar and the guitars in the Excess Studio in Rotterdam (The Netherlands) again. The vocals, classical stuff and the mix will be done in the Gate Studio of Sascha Peath and Miro in Wolfsburg, Germany. The writing process has just finished and we are very happy about the results again! The songs are more compact, fresh, catchy and again; typically AFTER FOREVER. In melodic aspect, the album will be more simular to 'Decipher'.

"It will not become a concept album just like 'Invisible Circles'. The songs have several subjects, some about your imagined life when you dream, some about the reality of this world. The title will be 'Remagine'.

"'Remagine' means you can reflect on life and you imagine in. Both ingredients are there in the lyrics and in the music. The word is a combination between 'Reflection' and 'Imagination'. The album will be released in September 2005!!! We would love to see you on some of the summer festivals we are now planning to do to introduce some of the new songs there!!!"

AFTER FOREVER's latest album, "Invisible Circles", was released in March 2004 through Transmission Records. "Invisible Circles" is the follow-up to "Decipher", which was issued in 2001

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~ Reunited BLOODLUST Plan Festival Appearances, Album Reissue ~
BLOODLUST, one of the original California-based speed/power/thrash metal bands, will begin a series of reunion shows throughout the 2005/2006 festival season in the U.S. and Europe. In addition, the band will be remastering and reissuing all of their releases on one CD, with new recordings of old songs and even a couple of surprises thrown in. The re-recorded songs will be "Too Scared To Run" and "Guilty As Sin". Additional material will consist of the album "Guilty As Sin" (Metal Blade), the "Terminal Velocity" EP, and even something from the group's "Anti Life" demo tape. The package will include rare photos, and liner-notes from the members, past and present.

BLOODLUST's current lineup is:
Earl Mendenhall - Guitar
Sandy K. - Bass
Mark E Cuestas - Drums
John Lisi - Guitar
Steve Gaines - Vocals

Asked why the band chose to reunite at this time, Gaines (also in ABATTOIR, DREAMS OF DAMNATION, PAGAN WAR MACHINE, ANGER AS ART) cited the fact that fans on tour were asking him to sign their BLOODLUST LPs, t-shirts, and even bootleg CDs (of which there were many).

Commented Steve Gaines, "The seed was firmly planted in Cleveland, Ohio at the BW&BK Six Pack Weekend 2004. Brad Youngblood, the founder and promoter of the Metal Music Foundation and Classic Metal Festival was witnessing this outpouring of love for BLOODLUST, and he took me aside. He said, 'If you can put it back together, I'll have you headline Classic Metal Festival 5 in Chicago.' Upon returning home, I contacted the guys, and we set up a rehearsal to see if we still had it - and it sounded amazing - like we had a week off.

"The cool thing is that there is demand for it - it isn't a bunch of old geezers trying to relive their teens. We have all stayed in contact with each other over the years, and it was very easy to get back together and play. We don't know how long it will last - ideally as long as there is demand. And offers have rolled in through 2006, so… who knows?"

BLOODLUST's appearance at the Classic Metal Festival in Chicago is scheduled for Saturday, May 14. The band are also expected to appear at the 2006 edition of Germany's Headbanger's Open Air festival.
For more information, visit www.bloodlust.tv .

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~ Founding Member Dino Cazares Quits Brujeria ~
Former FEAR FACTORY guitarist Dino Cazares has quit BRUJERIA, the extreme metal project he co-founded 16 years ago. According to Dino, he made the decision to leave the group in order to spend more time working on a new band he recently formed with ex-DIMMU BORGIR / CRADLE OF FILTH drummer Nick Barker. "Sometimes you have too many projects and one always suffers," Dino explained.

Although BRUJERIA's most recent touring lineup included Barker and bassist Shane Embury (NAPALM DEATH), neither musician will continue to perform with the group, according to Cazares. It is not presently clear if singer John Lepe (a.k.a. Juan Brujo) - the band's sole remaining member - will attempt to carry on with BRUJERIA using replacement musicians.

Formed in 1989, BRUJERIA released four full-length albums through the Roadrunner label and boasted a revolving lineup of high-profile musicians, including former FAITH NO MORE bassist Billy Gould and FEAR FACTORY drummer Raymond Herrera. Despite his split with BRUJERIA, Cazares will continue his
involvement with ASESINO, the BRUJERIA off-shoot project that also features in its ranks STATIC-X bassist Tony Campos on bass/vocals and SADISTIC INTENT drummer Emilio Marquez. Dino's as-yet-unnamed collaboration with Barker recently recorded a two-song instrumental demo with producer James Murphy (TESTAMENT, DEATH, OBITUARY) and is currently seeking a bassist and singer.

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~ EXODUS Announce New Singer ~
San Francisco Bay Area thrashers EXODUS have announced the addition of singer Rob Dukes (recently pictured with EXODUS guitarist Rick Hunolt) to the group's ranks. "[Rob] has been absolutely crushing in practice and only gets stronger every day," guitarist Gary Holt writes in the group's official forum.

"I know some of you will want details, i.e. what bands has he been in, etc., but I'll have to get back to you on that one," Holt added. "I've heard some of his old demo stuff, but he is a virtual unknown. But he is going to blow people's minds. He does incredible justice to both Paul [Baloff] and Zetro's [Souza] material, but when you hear the new shit you won't believe your ears. Totally crushing!

"To all who sent in their demos and such, I'd like to thank each and every one of you for taking the time. But now our search is over.

"Rob just happened to end up my guitar tech for the MEGADETH tour after things didn't work out with my first tech.

"Rob was referred to me by a friend at the Hollywood show and the rest is history. Divine intervention, if you will!

"We will be recording some demos of a few new songs next week and if everything stays on track we will be in the studio recording the next album in April." *(Thanks: Kenneth Biby, Jr.)

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~ THE HIDDEN HAND Part Ways With Drummer, Announce Replacement ~
THE HIDDEN HAND, the band featuring hard rock guitar legend Scott "Wino" Weinrich (ST. VITUS, THE OBSESSED, SPIRIT CARAVAN), have parted ways with drummer Dave Hennesey.

"The PENTAGRAM show was Dave's last show," Wino writes on the group's web site. "This was voluntary, amicable, and expected.

"We love Dave, and he will be missed, but being in two bands, and having to travel long distances to practice, and hold down a full-time job was too much. We all agreed it was for the best, and the next night we auditioned, and confirmed his replacement, Evan Tanner. Evan came out with a good command of four or five songs, and we took it from there.

"I think one could expect a pretty seamless transition. I foresee a furious blast soon to come, with the emphasis, once again, on the new, and the uncharted. Our next show will be a free show, pretty much in our backyard (Gaithersburg, MD) on February 12, and a NYC show with OM on March 26 at the Knitting Factory."

THE HIDDEN HAND's latest album, "Mother Teacher Destroyer", was released last year through Southern Lord Records. *(Thanks: StonerRock.com)

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~ SUMMON Confirmed For MINNEAPOLIS MAYHEM 2 Festival -
Michigan-based black metallers SUMMON have been confirmed for this year's Minneapolis Mayhem 2 festival, set to take place on May 6-7 at Star Central in Columbia Heights, Minnesota Also scheduled to appear at the festival are German thrash pioneers SODOM, long-running San Francisco Bay Area metallers SADUS, and Las Vegas, Nevada thrashers AVENGER OF BLOOD.

As previously reported, SUMMON recently finished recording their their sixth album, "Fallen", at Flatline Audio Studios (formerly Hellion Studios) in Denver, Colorado with producer Dave Otero (CEPHALIC CARNAGE, SERBERUS). The follow-up to 2002's "And the Blood Runs Black" is "ungodly - the best thing that has been recorded so far," stated bassist/vocalist Chas Schoals.

SUMMON will be embarking on a West Coast tour in February/March and hitting Europe in April. A headlining appearance at the SWR VIII Fest in Portugal is also planned. Other groups set to appear at the festival include GOREROTTED, DESECRATION, MERRIMACK, PANCHRYSIA, IN THA UMBRA, INTHYFLESH, EMPTY, THE ART OF BUTCHERY and GODÜS.

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~ Killer Who Cited METALLICA Lyrics Executed -
A Texas death row inmate who chanted the chorus to METALLICA's "No Remorse" after fatally shooting a man in the head in Corpus Christi and robbing him of $13 twenty years ago was executed Tuesday (Jan. 25), according to The Associated Press.

The execution came after the U.S. Supreme Court refused on a narrow 5-4 vote to block Troy Kunkle's execution.

Kunkle was contrite as he looked toward the daughter and son-in-law of his victim, Stephen Horton, and sought their forgiveness.

"I would like to ask you to forgive me," he said. "I made a mistake and I am sorry for what I did. All I can do is ask you to forgive me."

Kunkle then turned his head toward an adjacent window in the death house and expressed love to witnesses he selected to watch him die, including his mother and his wife.

"I love you and I will see all of you in heaven," he said. "I love you very much. Praise Jesus."

Kunkle recited the Lord's Prayer and then indicated to the warden he had finished. In the seconds before the lethal drugs began taking effect, he repeatedly mouthed "I love you" to his friends and relatives. He exhaled slightly and gasped before he slipped into unconsciousness. Eight minutes later, at 8:12 p.m. CST, he was pronounced dead.

"Shame to Texas," his wife, Christa Heber, said as she watched him die.

Kunkle, 38, spent more than half of his life on death row for the death of Horton, 31, who was fatally shot and robbed of $13. Twice last year, Kunkle was spared from the Texas death chamber by court rulings on the day he was scheduled to die. The most recent halt came Nov. 18, when the U.S. Supreme Court stopped the execution about 40 minutes after Kunkle could have been strapped to the death chamber gurney for injection.

The 1984 shooting gained notoriety with disclosures that Kunkle quoted lyrics from METALLICA's song "No Remorse", from the album "Kill 'em All" ("Another day, another death, another sorrow, another breath") after Horton was gunned down. Prosecutors also remembered him at one point during his trial playing an air guitar in the courtroom as lawyers discussed whether the METALLICA song could be admitted into evidence.