Voyageur Press has set an August 15th release date for The Big Book Of Hair Metal: The Illustrated Oral History Of Heavy Metal's Debauched Decade. The book was written by acclaimed heavy metal journalist Martin Popoff. He has penned more than 40 books on hard rock, heavy metal, and record collecting, including Voyageur Press' Rush: The Illustrated History, Sweating Bullets: The Deth And Rebirth Of Megadeth, and Metallica: The Complete Illustrated History. He has also worked in film and television, his most recent projects being Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage and VH1's Metal Evolution. If you are curious about it, check out the book description below.
Wovenwar is the new band formed by Jordan Mancino (drums), Nick Hipa (guitar), Phil Sgrosso (guitar) and Josh Gilbert (bass) of San Diego act As I Lay Dying, and Shane Blay (vocals) of Oh, Sleeper. The group has been sharing previews of their impending self-titled debut album this week. You can now hear previews for the songs "Death To Rights" and "Tempest" below. Tell us if you think the songs sound promising for what's to come.
A few years on from their first gig in the U.S., Japanese legends X Japan are returning and performing on Madison Square Garden on October 11th for one night only. It'll mark the band's first performance in the States since their 2010 North American tour.
Enchant are finally releasing a new album! After more than 10 years of silence, the proggers return with The Great Divide and a first teaser for the new record is now available here as well as the album cover art. Enchant's 8th studio album will be released on September 29th, 2014 in Europe and on September 30th in North America via the band's longtime label partner InsideOutMusic.
Bay Area-based Botanist is in a sharing mood and decided to unveil the second track off its new album today. With two weeks until the new release VI: Flora drops, you can now enjoy "Stargazer" which is also the album opener. VI: Flora will be out on August 11th, 2014 on The Flenser.
Heavy metal outfit Stryper will release a concert CD/DVD combination called Live At The Whisky on September 23rd in North America and September 19th in Europe via Frontiers Records. The live recording was captured at a sold-out show last November at the legendary Whisky a Go Go in West Hollywood, California. For now, you can watch the DVD trailer below!
After unleashing the first song off their new album, Blood Of Kingu share another one today. The second song they've chosen is "The Bringer Of Pestilence". If you want to hear what Roman Saenko (Drudkh) and company have come up with for Dark Star On The Right Horn Of The Crescent Moon, check out the song right now.
Austria's death/black metal troop Belphegor are premiering the official music video for "Conjuring The Dead" - the title track of their brand new opus. This gives you an opportunity to listen to another new song from the album. The clip was shot and edited this past May by director Walter Fanninger with German fetish/tattoo model Makani Terror embodying the main character on screen. You can watch it now here.
Sadly, blackened post-hardcore outfit Castevet have officially broken up, after 8 years of existence. The New York City based band released two full-length studio albums: Mounds Of Ash (2010) and Obsian (2013).
Visual-kei survivors Dir En Grey resurfaced last week with a new live DVD and Blu-ray, Dum Spiro Spero At Nippon Budokan. Filmed over two nights back in March, the double-disc set contains both concerts in full. The limited edition also boasts assorted extras and behind-the-scenes footage, plus a bonus CD featuring alternate versions of most songs from 2011's Dum Spiro Spero.
Detroit black metal monsters Dauden I Mørke have released the tracklist for their upcoming EP, Coldwired, that they have been working on. The EP will consist of a handful of old Dauden I Mørke favorites and covers of various artists reworked through the artistic lens of their 2014 album Cold Miasmic Domain, which came out on January 12th of this year.
AfterBlood, the groove death metal band hailing from Greece, recently released their first video clip for the song "Before Time Runs Out" from their debut album Of Unsound Minds. This video is entirely "home-made" by the band's singer Hel Pyre and by John Mitsakos, as it was made with only a photo camera, DIY lighting and some green cloth for keying background, and a lack of any previous experience in this field.
Roadburn 2015 is officially taking off. Enslaved guitarist Ivar Bjørnson has been announced as one of the curators of Roadburn Festival 2015 alongside Wardruna's Einar Kvitrafn Selvik. As curators, both Ivar and Einar will personally select the bands for their curated Roadburn event, named Houses of the Holistic, and play special shows with Enslaved and Wardruna respectively as well.
Xanthochroid recently announced that they have started recording new material. In a post from July 20th, they say "Holy shit we officially start recording tomorrow!" so clearly they are excited. The group also posted a picture of the drum kit in the studio. No news on a release date but the band's new album Of Erthe & Axen will drop via Blood Music which is also working behind-the-scenes on mastering Blessed He With Boils and Incultus for vinyl.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Canadian progressive death metallers Beyond Creation just debuted a new song. The last time we heard of the band, they were working on their new album. Today we find out that it will be called Earthborn Evolution. As of now, you can spin the new tune "Elusive Reverence" right here! All the album details are available below as well.
