Yeah, it’s kinda late in the day for another post, but I just saw a press release about a new tour running from March 15 through April 21 of next year that I thought was worth talking about. This tour had been forecast previously, but now we have a concrete schedule. Here’s the line-up:

DevilDriver
The Faceless
Dying Fetus
Job For A Cowboy
3 Inches of Blood
Impending Doom
Wretched

Why is this interesting? Well, first of all, it should be loaded with new music. The Faceless is currently putting the finishing touches on its third album for a tentative February release on Sumerian. Stands to reason that they’ll be performing songs from that album. I’ll be curious to hear it, because guitarist Michael Keene has described the CD as “the most musical and progressive record we’ve made” and says the songs will be more focused “on musicality and making an expressive, unique, moody and expansive record.”

On top of that, Dying Fetus is currently recording a new album. It’s not projected for release until the middle of next year on Relapse, but they will clearly be finished with the recording before hitting the road on this tour, and so we can expect new songs from them, too. And that’s not all.

Job For A Cowboy has also recently finished recording their next album for an early 2012 release on Metal Blade. So yes, we can expect to hear new songs from them, too. I thought the Gloom EP released this year was a step ahead for this band, and their next full-length is something I definitely want to hear.

And 3 Inches of Blood? They’re currently recording their next album as we speak.

What about Wretched? According to their facebook posts, they’ve been writing new songs and plan to play new music on their tours this winter, pointing toward a new album next year.

Impending Doom is also planning to release a new record in 2012, though whether the songwriting is sufficiently advanced for road-testing of new music I don’t know. Still, I’ve never been disappointed in one of their live shows.

Probably nothing new from DevilDriver, but I know from experience that they kick plenty of ass in a live performance — as do all of these bands. So even if there were no new music coming, this would still be a tour worth checking out. But getting new music from almost all of these bands in a live setting? Bonus!

Here are the dates and places:

Mar. 15 – Austin, TX @ SXSW / Scoot Inn
Mar. 16 – New Orleans, LA @ The Hangar
Mar. 17 – St Petersburg, FL @ State Theater
Mar. 18 – Charlotte, NC @ Amos’ Southend
Mar. 20 – Baltimore, MD @ Sonar
Mar. 21 – New York, NY @ Gramercy Theater
Mar. 22 – Danvers, MA @ Palace Ballroom
Mar. 23 – Montreal, QC @ Club Soda
Mar. 24 – Toronto, ON @ Opera House
Mar. 25 – Columbus, OH @ Alrosa Villa
Mar. 26 – Joliet, IL @ Mojoe’s
Mar. 27 – St Paul, MN @ Station 4
Mar. 28 – Winnipeg, MB @ Garrick Centre
Mar. 29 – Regina, SK @ Riddell Centre
Mar. 30 – Edmonton, AB @ Edmonton Events Centre
Mar. 31 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theater
Apr. 01 – Seattle, WA @ Studio Seven
Apr. 03 – Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theater
Apr. 05 – Oakland, CA @ The Pound
Apr. 06 – Pomona, CA @ Fox Theater
Apr. 07 – Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theater
Apr. 09 – Denver, CO @ The Summit Music Hall
Apr. 10 – Omaha, NE @ Sokol Auditorium
Apr. 11 – Des Moines, IA @ 7 Flags Event Center
Apr. 13 – Memphis, TN @ New Daisy Theater
Apr. 15 – Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theater
Apr. 16 – Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom
Apr. 19 – Dallas, TX @ House Of Blues
Apr. 20 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s East
Apr. 21 – Houston, TX @ House Of Blues

I’ve never been entirely sure about the point of metal news releases about music you can’t yet hear, albums you can’t yet buy, and tours for which you can’t yet acquire tickets, but people still seem to be interested in this kind of shit. Not me, of course. I’m so fucking zen-like in my outlook that these kinds of pointless cock-teasers just flow over me like a soft summer breeze, barely ruffling my hair. My pulse rate doesn’t move a beat from its normal, slothlike resting state. I remain as steady and unmoving as a hummingbird.

Wait, that didn’t end right. Okay, well maybe it did. Truth is, I am metal-nerd enough to get excited about this stuff, though I can’t provide any rational reason why. In keeping with our unintentional Finn-centric theme of this week’s posts, several of these items focus on Finnish metal.

So, here’s the top-level summary of news for this post: Announcement of two new European tours — one featuring Gorgoroth and Vader and the other headlined by Machine Head; a progress report on Insomnium‘s new album; word of an all-star album (and the label “all-star” is no bullshit) in the planning stages from Finland’s Spinefarm Records; and perhaps the most glaring example I’ve seen in months of an interviewer failing to ask a follow-up question (in this case, about Opeth‘s new album).

While I’ve got your attention, I might as well also throw in some music you can actually hear right now — high-quality footage of Suicide Silence performing a song from their forthcoming new album.  (all that stuff after the jump . . .)

TOUR NEWS

I can’t see either of these tours because they will be in Europe and though I’m a jet-setter in my mind, I do not own an actual jet, and the tech-geeks in tech-heavy Seattle still — STILL — haven’t perfected the teleporter technology. But I’m biting down on my frustration and serving up this tid-bit for all you Europeans and true jet-setters out there.

The first announcement is that Norway’s Gorgoroth and Poland’s Vader will join forces for “The Sign Of Hell Tour 2011″. It will include over 45 shows throughout Europe. It will kick off at the end of October and conclude right before Christmas. A press release reports that Gorgoroth’s set will include material from their re-recording of Under the Sign of Hell, to be released on August 29 by Regain Records, and that Vader will be playing new songs from their next Nuclear Blast release, Welcome to the Morbid Reich (due August 13 in Europe and September 13 in NorthAm). Two or three more bands will be added to the bill eventually.

No specific dates or venues have yet been released. If I’m not too bitter about my inability to see this, I might put up a post when the schedule is released. But I make no promises.

The next tour news is enticing and odd at the same time — enticing because the headliner will be Machine Head and the support will include DevilDriver and Darkest Hour, odd because the tour will also include Bring Me the Horizon. At least this time, we have a schedule (though more dates may be added):

Nov. 02 – Oslo, Norway @ Sentrum Scene
Nov. 03 – Stockholm, Sweden @ Arenan
Nov. 05 – Tampere, Finland @ Sorsapuistosali
Nov. 06 – Helsinki, Finland @ The Circus
Nov. 08 – Fredriksberg, Denmark @ KB Hallen
Nov. 09 – Hamburg, Germany @ Grosse Freiheit 36
Nov. 10 – Dresden, Germany @ Alter Schlachthof
Nov. 12 – Vienna, Austria @ Gasometer
Nov. 13 – Milan, Italy @ Alcatraz
Nov. 17 – Lisbon, Portugal @ Coliseum
Nov. 18 – Oporto, Portugal @Coliseum
Nov. 21 – Zurich, Switzerland @ Volkshaus
Nov. 23 – Paris, France @ Zenith
Nov. 24 – Neu-Isenburg, Germany @ Hugenottenhalle
Nov. 25 – Munich, Germany @ Kesselhaus
Nov. 26 – Ludwigsburg, Germany @ Arena
Nov. 28 – Eindhoven, Holland @ Klokgebouw
Nov. 29 – Brussels, Belgium @ Vorst Nationaal
Nov. 30 – Oberhausen, Germany @ Turbinenhalle
Dec. 03 – London, UK @ Wembley Arena
Dec. 04 – Birmingham, UK @ National Indoor Arena
Dec. 05 – Glasgow, UK @ Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC)
Dec. 06 – Manchester, UK @ Central

INSOMNIUM NEWS

The next album from Finland’s Insomnium is one of the year’s most anticipated at this site. The news is that the band have disclosed the title of the album — One For Sorrow. It’s now scheduled for release in October on Century Media Records. It  was recorded in Gothenburg, Sweden with sound engineer Daniel Antonsson (who’s the bassist in Dark Tranquillity and guitarist in Dimension Zero) and at Fantom studios in Tempere, Finland, where the album is also currently being mixed by Samu Oittisen. Yes, all this did raise my pulse-rate. I don’t know why.

SPINEFARM ALL-STARS

This next item really elevated my pulse, all the way up to the point where it could be detected by trained medical professionals as a sign of life. Finnish record label Spinefarm Records reports that it will celebrate its 20th anniversary by organizing a “summer camp” in July where members of various bands signed to the company will collaborate with each other in creating and recording new songs. Now, check out the bands whose members will be participating:

Shining
Moonsorrow
Swallow the Sun
Finntroll
Medea
Ensiferum

The resulting album is tentatively titled Spinefarm Allstars. Fuck yeah, I’d say that’s a good name for it. The album will allegedly be released before the end of the year.

OPETH NEWS (and interview fail)

Mike Bax of Lithium Magazine recently conducted an interview with guitarist/vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt of Opeth. Here’s one question and one titillating answer from the interview:

Lithium Magazine: “Heritage” will be your tenth album, and your third album on Roadrunner Records. Did you have anything different in mind that you really wanted to accomplish on this tenth album?

Mikael: I just wanted it to be different. I had a pretty strong urge to do it differently and not be stuck in a rut, so to speak. I’d like to think that every album we’ve done has been an album that reflects what we really wanted to do at the time. This time around, when I started writing, I was a bit disillusioned with what I wanted to do and what we should do as a band. I didn’t want us to get stuck with a sound. I get restless and when that happens it’s just time to move on and try something different, and that’s what we did with this album.

We just wrote eleven or twelve songs that sounded like stuff that I would want to listen to now, rather than writing stuff that sounds like things we’ve already done before. We have always tried to do records that we want to hear. There’s no exception to that rule with “Heritage”, but it’s a different-sounding album than our previous ones.

Now, what do you think the next question was? What would you ask next? What’s the most obvious next question in the world?

Here’s what Mr. Bax asked: “If I’m reading my Internet bits correctly, “The Devil’s Orchard” is set to be your first single, correct? Are you going to pop that online to give fans a taste of the new material?”

Fuuuuuuuck.

SUICIDE SILENCE (the only actual music in this post)

Now for some actual music. This is high-quality performance footage of the new song “You Only Live Once”, as performed by Suicide Silence on June 19 in Vienna, Austria. The song will appear on the band’s next album, “The Black Crown”, which will drop on July 12 via Century Media Records.

(NCS contributor BadWolf weighs in with his review of the new album by DevilDriver — which debuts today in its official release.)

The American melodic metalcore wave was (can we say “was” now? I think we can) unstable. The bands that, to me at the time, seemed like the true spearheads of the genre, the artistic and energetic studs, fell off the map fast. Killswitch had two back-to-back classics, one after a lead vocalist swap, and then became lost in their own shtick. Trivium (whose Ascendancy record is the wave’s crest as far as I’m concerned) became lost in other people’s shtick. As far as I’m concerned, all As I Lay Dying had was shtick in the first place. Shtick and lots of frosting to cover up the sour Christian taste.

Half a decade later and on the same day, two bands I had pegged for second tier at best are releasing two consistent records. Slow and steady wins the race; both are solid. Andy Synn’s taking on Darkest Hour’s new record (here), so I’m going head to head with DevilDriver’s Beast.

It is one fun fight. Darkest Hour write breakup records, pure and simple. So what kind of records do DevilDriver write? Workout records. And the best thing I can say about and to describe Beast is that it makes me want to pump iron and hit things for its entire duration.  (more after the jump, including a track to hear . . .)

Its predecessor Pray for Villains did not make me want to do very much. Beast is a step up: It has in general faster tempos (the record is still mid-paced through and through, double-bass pedal notwithstanding) and a more powerful groove.

This record very much wants to be Pantera’s Far Beyond Driven with better melodies—at moments, it succeeds. Both records give me the impression that their vocalists (in this case Dez) are about three inches away from my face screaming at me like my own personal trainer. Every lyric is straightforward, macho, somehow juvenile, but empowering enough to appeal to me.

The strongest change is a slight (very slight) return of the atmospheric elements present in DevilDriver’s ugly and problematic self-titled record. Here, there are more guitar effects than samples, which is a definite improvement. DevilDriver know how to set a mood when pressed.

The trick to this sort of approach to album-making (regular releases with similar-sounding songs; the AC/DC-meets-The Black Album approach) is in the songs themselves. Beast does not have a “Clouds Over California”, but it has stronger songs in general.

The best songs on the record, clustered about 1/3 and 2/3′s in, manage to combine the atmospheric elements—intros and bridges—with strong songs. My choice cuts would be “Shitlist” (perhaps the best of the bunch), “Coldblooded”, and “Blur.” It’s worth noting that, in general, the shorter the songs are, the stronger they are; “Blur” is the exception.

This is a strong release form a band with remarkable longevity, so ask yourself—how do I feel about owning a record where the strongest songs are called “Shitlist,” and have choruses like “I don’t know you, but I fucking hate you”? Your call.

EDITOR’S NOTE: For your listening pleasure, here’s one of BadWolf’s “choice cuts” of Beast for you to stream:

The first month of the year has come and gone. January brought those of us in Seattle some typically ass-sucking winter weather, though it wasn’t nearly as bad as the brutality dished out by the weather gods on our metal brothers and sisters in the Midwest and Northeast of the U.S. And of course, our readers ins places like Russia, and Finland, and Sweden are probably laughing their asses off reading our complaints about our winter weather. So, we’ll just shut up about that.

Besides, January brought all sorts of great new metal to our tender ears, so who gives a shit about the weather anyway? And you know what else January brought? It brought news of still more metal goodness on the way — great bursts of audio sunshine in our collective futures that will part these winter clouds and leave them whimpering in cloudy tatters.

Okay, maybe we should leave poetry to the poets and just get on with this next monthly installment of METAL IN THE FORGE, where we collect news blurbs and press releases we’ve seen over the last 30 days about forthcoming new albums from bands we know and like, or from bands that look interesting, even though we don’t know them yet. And in this post, we’ve cut and pasted the announcements and compiled them in alphabetical order. Look for your favorite bands, or get intrigued about some new ones:

AJATARRA: “AJATTARA — the Finnish band featuring former AMORPHIS frontman Pasi Koskinen (a.k.a. Itse Ruoja Suruntuoj) — will release its seventh album, Murhat (“Murders”) on February 2 via Osasto-A Records. Murhat is available for streaming in its entirety on the AJATTARA Facebook page.”  (much more after the jump . . .)

ALL SHALL PERISH: “Oakland, California extreme metal band All Shall Perish are currently nearing completion of their fourth album and follow-up to their 2008 release, Awaken the Dreamers.”

ARTILLERY: “Danish thrash metal veterans ARTILLERY have completed work on their sixth album, My Blood, at Medley Studios in Copenhagen for a March 21 European release via Metal Mind Productions (April 5 in the U.S. through MVD and March 9 in Japan via King Records).”

AUGURY: “Sonic Unyon Metal will reissue Concealed, the first album from the progressive death metal outfit AUGURY, on March 8. Originally released in 2004 via Galy Records, this updated version features a fully remastered recording of the album, also expanded to include two bonus tracks from the band’s 2006 demo. This definitive edition will also be packaged in a new digipak format, designed by Sven de Caluwé of ABORTED.”

AVANTASIA: “AVANTASIA — the project led by EDGUY frontman Tobias Sammet — is putting the finishing touches on its two-disc DVD, The Flying Opera – Around The World In 20 Days, for an early March release via Nuclear Blast Records in Europe and Avalon Marquee in Asia.”

BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE: “Georgia-based metallers BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE will release their fourth album, Celestial Completion, on March 29 via Solid State Records. The CD was produced by Matt Goldman (UNDEROATH, THE CHARIOT, COPELAND) and contains 11 tracks.”

BLACKGUARD: “Montreal, Quebec, Canada-based sympho/black/folk/power metallers BLACKGUARD (formerly PROFUGUS MORTIS) have set Firefight as the title of their sophomore album, due on March 29 via Victory Records.”

BLOTTED SCIENCE: “Instrumental extreme metal triumvirate BLOTTED SCIENCE, featuring guitarist Ron Jarzombek (WATCHTOWER, SPASTIC INK, MARTY FRIEDMAN), bassist Alex Webster (CANNIBAL CORPSE, HATE ETERNAL) and drummer Hannes Grossmann (NECROPHAGIST, OBSCURA), is preparing to enter the studio to begin recording a new EP, The Animation Of Entomology, for a tentative late 2011 release.”

BORN OF OSIRIS: “Chicago-based progressive metal hybrid BORN OF OSIRIS will release its third full-length album, The Discovery, on March 22 via Sumerian Records. The CD was recorded at BOTA Studio in Lake In The Hills, Illinois and was mixed by Jason Suecof (ALL THAT REMAINS, TRIVIUM, DEVILDRIVER). ”

THE BRONX CASKET CO.: “THE BRONX CASKET CO., the side project of OVERKILL bassist D.D. Verni and SEVEN WITCHES guitarist Jack Frost, will release its new album, Antihero, on January 25 via eOne Music.”

BURZUM: “Fallen, the eighth album from BURZUM, will be released in North America on April 5. The album is the second to be released via Varg Vikernes’ imprint Byelobog Productions (via Candlelight for the territory).  Fallen features seven new compositions by the controversial Norwegian musician, each adding another storied journey to the celebrated BURZUM legacy.”

BYFROST: “Norwegian blackened thrashers BYFROST have inked a deal with Germany’s AFM Records, who are set to release the band’s sophomore album before the summer.  Of Death, will be recorded at the Conclave and Earshot Studios in the band’s home town of Bergen, and will be produced by ENSLAVED’s Herbrand Larsen and VULTURE INDUSTRIES’ Bjornar Nilsen, who had also produced BYFROST’s debut album.”

CANNIBAL CORPSE: From an interview with Alex Webster: “We have no plans to tour in 2011. We are currently home in the Tampa Bay Area writing our next album, we’ll record it in September so that will leave us with an early 2012 release. So, we’ll probably wait to tour until the album is released.”

CANNIBAL CORPSE: “Florida death metallers CANNIBAL CORPSE are tentatively scheduled to release a new two-disc DVD set, “Global Evisceration”, on March 15 via Metal Blade. The band filmed two shows in May 2010 for the upcoming DVD.”

THE CRIMSON ARMADA: “Columbus, Ohio band The Crimson Armada has inked a deal with Artery Recordings, the joint venture between The Artery Foundation and Razor & Tie. The group will enter the studio this spring with producer Brian Hood (A Plea For Purging, Hope for the Dying) to record their 2011 Artery Recordings debut, titled Conviction, which will be released this summer.”

DARKEST HOUR: “Washington D.C.-based metallers DARKEST HOUR have completed work on their new album, The Human Romance, for a February 22, 2011 release via eOne Music. The CD was recorded at a North Carolina studio with producer (and SOILWORK guitarist) Peter Wichers.”

DEATH: “DEATH‘s seventh and final album, The Sound of Perseverance, will be reissued on February 15 in North America (February 21 internationally) via Relapse Records. The first in a series of official DEATH reissues slated for 2011, the LP has been remastered from the original studio tapes and expanded to include a second disc of previously unreleased demo material. The reissue will also include enhanced artwork and liner notes from the original cover artist Travis Smith as well as liner notes from DEATH guitarist Shannon Hamm and never-before-seen photographs from The Sound of Perseverance era. A special deluxe version of the The Sound of Perseverance reissue includes a third bonus disc of unreleased material and will only be available via Relapse mailorder and digitally via iTunes.”

DERANGED: “Swedish death metal masters DERANGED will enter Berno Studio in Malmö, Sweden in February to begin recording their eighth full-length album, Cut, Carve, Rip, Serve, to be released via Sevared Records.”

DEVILDRIVER: “‘Dead To Rights’, the first single from DEVILDRIVER‘s forthcoming fifth album, Beast, is available for free download at RoadrunnerRecords.com (free e-mail sign-up required). . . . Beast will be issued on February 22, 2011 via Roadrunner Records. The CD was recorded at Sonic Ranch studios in Tornillo, Texas with producer Mark Lewis (TRIVIUM, CHIMAIRA, ALL THAT REMAINS) and was mixed by acclaimed British producer Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, EXODUS, MACHINE HEAD, NEVERMORE, ARCH ENEMY) at his Backstage studio in Derbyshire, England.”

DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS: “Los Angeles-based extreme metal band DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS has set Satánico Dramático as the title of its first full-length album, set for worldwide digital release on February 23, 2011.”

FRAGMENTS OF UNBECOMING: “German death metallers FRAGMENTS OF UNBECOMING are working on material for their fifth album, tentatively titled The Art Of Coming Apart, for a late 2011 release. Songtitles set to appear on the CD include “Trapping The Unseen”, “Hours Of Suffering” and “Memorial Stone”.”

GRAYCEON: “Bay Area progressive rock/metal three-piece GRAYCEON has completed work on its third full-length album, All We Destroy, for a March 1 release. GRAYCEON is recognized as one of the most creative and unique forces within the Bay Area underground metal scene, on par with such contemporaries as LUDICRA, HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE, SLOUGH FEG, AMBER ASYLUM, ASUNDER and WORM OUROBOROS.”

ILLDISPOSED: “Danish extreme metallers ILLDISPOSED have set There Is Light (But It’s Not For Me) as the title of their new album, due in Europe on March 25 via Massacre Records. The band is currently recording the CD at Antfarm Studio in Århus, Denmark with producer Tue Madsen (MOONSPELL, DARK TRANQUILLITY, GOREFEST, SICK OF IT ALL).”

INSISION: “Swedish death metallers INSISION have posted a video teaser for their upcoming EP, End Of All, due later in the year via the U.S. label Sevared Records. The CD was recorded at Off Beat Studio in Stockholm with engineer Anders Eriksson.”

MORDBRAND: “Swedish death metallers MORDBRAND have posted three songs —“Deliverance”, “Graveyard Revisited” and “Deathbound” — from their upcoming six-track 10-inch EP, due in the early spring via Me Saco Un Ojo Records. The songs will also be available via iTunes and Spotify.”

NEGURA BUNGET: “NEGURA BUNGET is putting the finishing touches on a new mini-CD, Poarta De Dincolo (English translation: “A Gate From The Above” or “Carrying From The Other Side”). The effort is being recorded once again at Negura Music studio and, as the title suggests, focuses on exploring the relation between worlds, either from above, under or beyond.”

NEGURA BUNGET: “Negura Bunget’s live DVD/2CD Focul Viu will be released by Lupus Lounge / Prophecy Productions on March 11th, 2011 (Germany and Austria) and March 14th (rest of the Europe). The material with a playing time of over 90 minutes was recorded back in December 2008 at a concert in Bucharest with the band’s classic line-up featuring Hupogrammos, Sol Faur, and Negru. Watch a trailer video for Focul Viu here: “Focul Viu” trailer”

NERVECELL: From the band’s press release: “It is with great pleasure to announce that we have set PSYCHOGENOCIDE as the title of our long-awaited new album, due for release late March 2011 in Europe through Lifeforce Records and Spellbind Records for the Middle East. The artwork has been a concept, which we have been working on for quite a while within the band and we are extremely proud of how it has turned out, perfectly matching the aggression and musical direction of the new album. PSYCHOGENOCIDE is scheduled to be mixed and mastered at Hertz Studios (Behemoth, Decapitated, Vader) in Warsaw, Poland by the Wieslawscy Bros.”

NEURAXIS: “‘Asylum’, a brand new track from Montreal-based death metallers NEURAXIS, is available for streaming at this location. The song comes off the band’s sixth album, Asylon, which will be released in North America on February 15, 2011.”

NOCTEM: “Spanish death/black metallers NOCTEM will enter Ultrasound studios in Braga, Portugal, in February with producer Daniel Cardoso to begin recording their sophomore album. According to a posting on the group’s MySpace page, the follow-up to 2009′s Divinity will be a ‘logical progression of the last album, full of new nuances and based in a darker sound and a more complex composition.’”

PRIMORDIAL: “Irish dark metal masters PRIMORDIAL are putting the finishing touches on their seventh studio album, Redemption At The Puritan’s Hand, with producer Chris Fielding (NAPALM DEATH, ELECTRIC WIZARD) for a tentative April release via Metal Blade Records.”

REVOCATION: “Revocation are currently recording their new as-yet-untitled full-length album at Damage Studios in Southbridge, Massachusetts with engineer Pete Rutcho. The follow-up to the band’s break-through Relapse Records debut Existence Is Futile is expected to see its release in summer 2011.”

RIGOR MORTIS: “Texas thrash metal veterans RIGOR MORTIS will celebrate their 25th anniversary this year with several special shows. . . . In other news, RIGOR MORTIS will record two new songs in February. These will be the first songs this lineup has recorded together since the band’s 1988 self-titled debut album. The groups plans to write and record enough songs in the upcoming months for a future full-length release.”

THE ROTTED: “London, England-based death metallers THE ROTTED have entered Parlour Studios to record the follow-up to 2008′s Get Dead Or Die Trying. Production duties are once again being handled by Russ Russell (NAPALM DEATH, DIMMU BORGIR, EVILE). . . . The as-yet untitled-album is set for a mid/late 2011 release.”

ROTTEN SOUND: “‘Plan’, a brand new song from Finland’s ROTTEN SOUND, is available for streaming on the band’s MySpace and Facebook pages. The track comes off the group’s new full-length album, Cursed, which will be released on March 15 via Relapse Records (except in Finland, where it will arrive on March 16 through Fullsteam Records).”

SINISTER: “Poland’s Metal Mind Productions will release an exclusive box containing the full discography of one of the best death metal bands around — Holland’s SINISTER — on February 14 in Poland, February 21 in Europe and April 5 in the USA. Entitled Altered Since Birth, the set contains eight studio albums, a live DVD, a compilation of demo tracks, plus a booklet containing a full biography based on an exclusive interview, the complete discography, lyrics to all songs and a selection of amazing archive photos.”

SUICIDE SILENCE: “Suicide Silence will soon enter the studio to begin recording a new full-length. Tracking will take place with producer/engineer Steve Evetts (Dillinger Escape Plan, Every Time I Die) and the yet-to-be-titled effort will hit stores this summer via Century Media Records.”

SUPREME PAIN: “Dutch brutal death metallers SUPREME PAIN, who feature in their ranks members of SINISTER, CONSOLATION, PUTREFIED and FONDLECORPSE, have inked a deal with Massacre Records. The band’s third album, Divine Incarnation was recorded at Soundlodge Studiosin Leer, Germany with producer Jörg Uken and is scheduled for release later in the year.”

SYLOSIS: “U.K. modern thrashers SYLOSIS will release their sophomore album, Edge Of The Earth, on March 11 via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD was produced by Scott Atkins, who previously worked with the band on 2008′s Conclusion Of An Age.”

SYMPHONY X: “Vocalist Russell Allen of New Jersey’s progressive metal masters SYMPHONY X revealed that the band has set Iconoclast as the title of its eighth album, due later this year via Nuclear Blast Records. When asked what stage of the recording/mixing process the new CD is in, Allen replied, ‘We are in post-production, so the album is pretty much almost done. At this point, mixes are being wrapped up and finalized and it’s off to mastering and should be ready for release in a few months — definitely first quarter of 2011.’”

TEXTURES: From the band’s blog: “We have started recording our fourth album at Split Second Sound studios in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The album will be produced by TEXTURES’  guitar player Jochem Jacobs, who also was responsible for the production of TEXTURES’ previous albums. . . . The yet untitled album will see its release in the fall of 2011 through Nuclear Blast Records.”

TROLLFEST: “True Norwegian Balkan metallers’ TROLLFEST have inked a deal with NoiseArt Records as well as the booking agency Rock The Nation. The band’s new album, En Kvest For Den Hellige Gral, will be released on April 29.”

THE UNGUIDED: “THE UNGUIDED — the new project featuring former SONIC SYNDICATE members Richard Sjunnesson (vocals) and Roland Johansson (vocals), along with current SONIC SYNDICATE guitarist (and Richard‘s brother) Roger Sjunnesson — will release a two-track digital and physical single entitled “Nightmareland” in February.”

VOMITORY: “Mighty Swedish death metallers Vomitory have finished the recordings for their anticipated eighth studio album entitled Opus Mortis VIII. . . . Vomitory’s Opus Mortis VIII will be released in the spring of 2011 via Metal Blade Records.”

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  Did you see what we did?  We had to change the logo for this edition of SICKNESS.  Because 2010 is behind us, and the new year lies ahead.

We spent the last 30 days, as we’ve been doing for the last year, collecting news blurbs and press releases about forthcoming new albums from bands we know and like, or from bands that look interesting, even though we don’t know them yet. And in this post, we’ve cut and pasted the announcements and compiled them in alphabetical order.

All of our previous monthly updates can be found via the “Forthcoming Albums” category link on the right side of our pages, and because we’re not keeping a cumulative list, you might want to check the last couple months of these posts if you want to get a full picture of what’s coming. The list that follows, in alphabetical order, are albums we didn’t know about at the time of our last installment when November ended, or updated info about albums we’d previously heard were on the way. And be forewarned: This is a really long list. There’s a massive slag of new metal coming our way, and man, does it look hot.

So, without further ado, let’s get started. See if there’s anything on the list that makes you moist, or tumescent, or just generally slobbery.

ABORTED: “Good news is that we are starting pre-productions for our upcoming record on January 4th. This means we will demo all the songs for the record, make sure everything sounds good and make the necessary adjustments to make sure they are all more lethal than a chainsaw in Mr. Leatherface’s hands. We’re all very excited about the material thus far and can’t wait to get this over with and proceed to the actual recordings later this year. Expect a fall 2011 release through our culprates in mayhem Century Media.”

AGNOSTIC FRONT: “The Godfathers of New York Hardcore, Agnostic Front, have just finished recording their highly anticipated follow up to their 2007 release, Warriors. The yet to be titled album features 13 new powerful and anthemic songs laid down by Erik Rutan (Madball, Goatwhore, Cannibal Corpse) at his Mana Recording Studio in Tampa, FL under the watchful guide of producer Freddy Cricien of Madball. The record was mastered by Alan Douches (Nile, Mastodon) and will be released in Europe of March 4, 2011 and in North America on March 22, 2011.”

(the list continues after the jump . . .)

ALESTORM: “Scottish folk/power metal band ALESTORM has issued the following update: ‘It is my very great pleasure to announce that on January 10th ALESTORM will be heading to the studio to record our third album, which we’re gonna call Back Through Time. It’s gonna be an epic adventure through piratical badassery in 11 tracks, with more drunken singalong anthems than you can shake a stick at. There will be songs about midgets. There will be songs about Wisconsin. There will be songs about travelling through time to kill Vikings. And, of course, loads of songs about pirates doing what they do best; kicking your ass and stealing your wenches!’”

ALGHAZANTH: “Three years after the release of the band’s highly acclaimed fifth album, Wreath of Thevetat, Finnish black metallers ALGHAZANTH have arisen from the depths and are preparing to unleash their brand new full-length offering titled Vinum Intus. The album contains 54 minutes of majestic black metal full of grim beauty and burning passion for the ‘Master.’ This piece of black art will be unveiled to the world by Woodcut Records on January 1, 2011 as a digipak CD and in February as a gatefold double LP.”

AMARNA SKY: “Victor Bullok (a.k.a. V. Santura), guitarist for such bands as TRIPTYKON, DARK FORTRESS and NONEUCLID, will guest on the forthcoming album from the Egyptian-themed Brazilian doom metal band AMARNA SKY. Entitled Under Sekhmet’s Breath, the CD will be, according to mainman Deni Deathnoise, ‘heavier, more technical and aggressive’ than AMARNA SKY‘s debut, Rising Heresy. Other guest musicians schedules to appear on the album are Aziza A. Poggi, frontwoman of American prog-metal act DENDURA, and NILE‘s Karl Sanders.”

ARCH ENEMY: “Coming off a triumphant headlining tour in the U.K. last month with support from GRAND MAGUS, CHTHONIC and MALEFICE, Swedish/German extreme metallers ARCH ENEMY have entered Sweet Spot Studio in the south of Sweden to begin recording their new studio album for a tentative May 2011 release via Century Media Records.”

ASPHYX: “Dutch death metallers ASPHYX will enter Sonic Assault studio in January with engineer Frank Klein Douwel to begin recording the first four songs for their forthcoming album, Deathhammer. Song titles set to appear on the CD include ‘Reign Of The Brute’, ‘Vespa Cabro’, ‘We Doom You To Death’, ‘Asphyx-Minefield’ and ‘Deathhammer’. Axel Hermann will create the cover artwork while Dan Swanö (BLOODBATH, EDGE OF SANITY) will take care of the mixing duties.”

AURORA BOREALIS: “Maryland-based death/black metallers AURORA BOREALIS recently entered Nightsky Studios to begin recording their sixth album, Timeline: The Beginning And End Of Everything, for a tentative early 2011 release.”

AVA INFERI: “AVA INFERI, the Portugal-based band whose lineup includes Norwegian guitarist Rune Eriksen (a.k.a. ex-MAYHEM guitarist/songwriter Blasphemer), will release its fourth album, Onyx, on February 14 (February 15 in the U.S.) via Season Of Mist.”

BATTLELORE: “Finnish fantasy metallers BATTLELORE have completed work on their sixth full-length album, Doombound, featuring 11 new songs, one of which is instrumental. . . . Release dates: Jan. 26 – Spain, Finland, Sweden; Jan. 28 – Germany, Austria, Switzerland, BeNeLux, Italy ; Jan. 31 – rest of Europe ; Feb. 08 – Canada, U.S.”

BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE: “Atlanta, Georgia’s Becoming The Archetype has finished recording their new album, titled Celestial Completion. The effort was recorded by Matt Goldman (The Chariot) and will consist of eleven songs. According to the group, ‘Dennis Culp of Five Iron Frenzy fame lent his trombone skills to a particularly interesting track containing a ska section.’ A March release via Solid State Records is planned.”

BEFORE THE DAWN: “Nuclear Blast Records is proud to announce the signing of Finnish melodic death/dark metal outfit Before The Dawn. Founded in 1999 and led by multi-talented Tuomas Saukkonen, Before The Dawn have managed to pave their way to uniqueness by combining the heaviness of melodic death metal, the gloom of dark metal and the frostbitten cold of Finnish winters with beautiful melodies and epic hymnody like no other band out there! The brand new album Deathstar Rising will be unleashed February 25, 2011 (in Europe).”

BENIGHTED: “Season of Mist is happy to welcome French brutal death metallers Benighted to the roster. The tentative release date of the band’s as-yet-untitled sixth album has been set to April 18th, 2011. The band issued the following statement: ‘Benighted is back from the psychiatric hospital and is very proud to announce the signing with Season of Mist for the new album – twelve tracks mixing brutality and groove, a new concept album telling the story of a schizophrenic and the abysses of his delirium about Josef Fritz in his own cave.’”

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME: “As expected, Between The Buried And Me will be recording a new EP this month. The group is currently in Toronto, Canada and will track the material during the next ten days with engineer/producer David Bottrill at the helm. In addition to winning three Grammys, Bottrill has produced several notable releases, including Tool’s Aenima, King Crimson’s Thrak, and Muse’s Origin of Symmetry.”

CANDIRIA: “Candiria will be in the studio this month tracking new material. The group will be recording drums at Jupiter4 Studio in Rockaway Park, NY with a spring 2011 release planned.”

CEREMONIAL PERFECTION: “Nailboard Records has set a January 11, 2011 release date for the debut album from the up-and-coming Estonian melodic death metal band CEREMONIAL PERFECTION. To support the release, the band will embark upon a 15-day tour of Poland, Russia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.”

CHARRED WALLS OF THE DAMNED: “CHARRED WALLS OF THE DAMNED — the project led by acclaimed metal drummer Richard Christy (ICED EARTH, DEATH, LEASH LAW, CONTROL DENIED, BURNING INSIDE) — is preparing to enter Criteria Recording Studios in Miami, Florida with producer Mark Lewis (ALL THAT REMAINS, DEVILDRIVER, TRIVIUM, CHIMAIRA) to begin recording its sophomore album for an early 2011 release via Metal Blade Records.”

CHILDREN OF BODOM: “CHILDREN OF BODOM (also COB), the hard partying Finnish Heavy Metal band that features frontman and modern day guitar hero Alexi Laiho will release its new album Relentless Reckless Forever on March 8, 2011 via Universal Music. Recorded in Finland’s Petrax Studios with famed rock producer Matt Hyde (Slayer, Monster Magnet), Relentless Reckless Forever is the seventh studio album of COB’s illustrious career and the first new record from the band since 2008′s Blooddrunk, which debuted at #22 on Billboard’s Top 200 Chart and scored the quintet its third consecutive #1 debut in Finland.”

COLDWORKER: “COLDWORKER — the Örebro, Sweden-based ‘blasting’ death metal band consisting of current and former/current members of such acts as NASUM, RELENTLESS, RUIN and PHOBOS — has entered Soundlab Studios in the group’s hometown to begin recording its third album for an early 2011 release.”

CONDEMNED?: “Northern CA based crossover veterans Condemned? have re-signed with their former label Nuclear Blast Records. As the second band to ever be released by Nuclear Blast the label is honored to be once again working with one of the groups that helped get them up and running. The band is currently wrapping up recording at Prairie Sun Recording Studios with producer Billy Anderson (Neurosis, Mr. Bungle, Cattle Decapitation) and an early-2011 release is expected.”

CROWBAR: “Legendary metal-sludge giants Crowbar will release their crushing, long-awaited new studio album, Sever The Wicked Hand on Tuesday, February 8th, 2011 via eOne Music. . . . The new album, produced by Kirk Windstein and mixed by Zeuss, is the band’s first new album of all new original studio material since 2005′s Lifesblood for the Downtrodden.”

DEICIDE: “The most infamous blasphemers in heavy metal history are set to return on February 15 as Deicide gears up to unleash To Hell With God. This smoldering heap of brutality will certainly find itself at the forefront of much backlash due to its themes but critics will not be able to deny the sheer brilliance of a band that has once again redefined the face of death metal.”

DEVILDRIVER: “DevilDriver’s new album Beast will come out on Roadrunner on February 22.”

DIABOLICAL: “Swedish death metal veterans Diabolical have signed with Abyss Records for the worldwide release of their upcoming full-length album, Ars Vitae; due out in February of 2011. Ars Vitae contains 17 tracks and will feature a mix of new material – recorded earlier this year at Necromorbus Studios - and previously unreleased recordings.”

DYING FETUS: “Dying Fetus will see their earliest records remastered and repackaged for a series of expanded re-issues set for release in early 2011 via Relapse Records. In January, Dying Fetus’ 1995 collection of demos Infatuation With Malevolence will be re-released including liner notes written by the band, archival photographs from that period, expanded artwork, and two previously un-released bonus tracks. Infatuation With Malevolence will see its re-issue on January 18th. Also to be released on January 18th is the re-issue of the band’s debut album Purification Through Violence.”

ELECTRIC WIZARD: “World-class British doom metal band Electric Wizard will release its long-awaited new album Black Masses in North America on January 18, 2011 via Rise Above Records. The legendary group’s seventh studio album and first since 2007′s Witchcult Today, Black Masses was recorded with Grammy Award-winning British recording engineer Liam Watson (The White Stripes) in London’s Toe Rag Studios and promises to deliver ‘a crushing behemoth of funereal march pyschedelia’ and ‘the oblivion and ecstasy of 10,000 watts of doom!’

EMMURE: “Emmure‘s next album, Speaker of the Dead, has been scheduled for a February 15th release via Victory Records.”

THE FAMINE: “North Texas death metal outfit THE FAMINE has posted the first in a series of video blogs featuring behind-the-scenes footage from the making of the band’s new album, The Architects Of Guilt. The Architects Of Guilt will be released on February 15 via Solid State Records. The follow-up to 2008′s The Raven And The Reaping was produced by D. Braxton Henry (ex-DEVOURMENT) and was mixed by Jason Suecof (THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, TRIVIUM, DEVILDRIVER).”

INFUNERAL: “Swedish black metallers INFUNERAL will release their second album, Torn From The Abyss, on January 7, 2011 via Blackcrowned Records. According to a press release, the CD contains “eight tracks of fast and majestic black metal played in the Swedish way.” The album will be made available on CD and as a limited-edition DVD box (100 copies) containing a sticker and a postcard. The first single from Torn From The Abyss, entitled “The Circle Master”, is available for streaming at this location.”

IN SOLITUDE: “Metal Blade Records is pleased to announce the signing of the metal act In Solitude, who hails from Uppsala, Sweden (the same town as Watain and Invidious). . . . The week of November 15th, the horde entered Nicke Anderson’s (Hellacopters) brand new studio Gutterview Recorders in Stockholm, Sweden with producer Fred Estby (Dismember, Death Breath) to record the band’s sophomore record, which will see release in the spring of 2011.”

IXION: “French atmospheric doom metallers IXION have inked a deal with Avantgarde Music for the release of their new album, To The Void. Due on February 28, 2011, the CD features 10 tracks with a running time of 56 minutes.”

KYPCK: “KYPCK (‘Kursk’ in the western alphabet) — the Russian-singing Finnish doom metal band featuring former SENTENCED guitarist Sami Lopakka (a.k.a. S.S. Lopakka) — will release its sophomore album, which is named after the Russian word for ‘lower’ (pronounced ‘nizhe’), on February 9, 2011 via an as-yet-undisclosed record label.”

LAZARUS A.D.: “Midwest thrashers LAZARUS A.D. are pleased to announce Black Rivers Flow as the title to their second full-length album due out February 1st via Metal Blade Records. The highly anticipated release was recorded in July and August 2010 at Belle City Sound with Chris Wisco and was mixed & mastered by James Murphy at Safehouse Production.”

LIONHEART: “Northern California hardcore band LIONHEART will release its new album, Built On Struggle, on January 18, 2011 via Mediaskare Records. The CD features guest appearances by Brandan Schippati (BLEEDING THROUGH), Karl Buechner (EARTH CRISIS), Dave Nassie (BLEEDING THROUGH, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES), Lord Ezec (SKARHEAD) and Bruce LaPage (100 DEMONS).”

MARUTA: “Miami, FL’s Maruta have finished up work on their new album, and second for Willowtip Records, entitled Forward Into Regression. A release set has been set for February 22, 2011. Germany’s Power It Up Records will be releasing a gatefold LP version. A release date for the vinyl is TBD.”

MOTÖRHEAD: “MOTÖRHEAD‘s new album, The Wörld Is Yours, will be released in North America on February 8, 2011. The CD, is being packaged in the U.K. with Classic Rock Presents Motörhead fan pack, which will hit newsstands across the country on December 14.”

MOUNTAIN MAN: “Grief is defined as ‘a deep poignant distress caused by or as if by bereavement.’ In order for one to heal from the grieving process they must go through what is called ‘the five stages of grief’ – denial, anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance. With this concept, Mountain Man details their debut full-length, set for release on February 22nd via Think Fast! Records. The album channels the five stages of grief musically and lyrically through 17 tracks that are as dark, bitter, and ugly as one would expect from the concept.”

NECRONOCLAST: “British black/doom metal cult NECRONOCLAST will release its new album, Ashes, on February 22 via Moribund Records. The cover artwork was created by Gabriel Byrne.”

NEGURA BUNGET: “NEGURA BUNGET — the Romanian band that incorporates elements of black metal, progressive metal, folk metal and dark ambient — is putting the finishing touches on a new mini-CD, Poarta De Dincolo (English translation: ‘A Gate From The Above’ or ‘Carrying From The Other Side’). The effort is being recorded once again at Negura Music studio and, as the title suggests, focuses on exploring the relation between worlds, either from above, under or beyond.”

NEURAXIS: “Montreal-based death metallers NEURAXIS will release their sixth album, Asylon, in North America on February 15, 2011. The cover art was created by artist Dennis Sibeijn of Damnengine Artwork, who worked with the band on its previous CD, The Thin Line Between, as well with JOB FOR A COWBOY, CHIMAIRA and more.”

OMNIUM GATHERUM: “Finnish melodic death metallers OMNIUM GATHERUM will release their fifth album, New World Shadows, via Lifeforce Records on the following dates: Germany, Austria, Switzerland: February 4, 2011; Sweden, Finland, Hungary: February 9, 2011; Rest Of Europe: February 7, 2011; North America: March 1, 2011. The CD was recorded at Astia Studios in Lappeenranta, Finland with Teemu Aalto, and was mixed and mastered at Unisound Studio in Örebro, Sweden by Dan Swanö (EDGE OF SANITY, HAIL OF BULLETS,NOVEMBERS DOOM). Swanö also contributed clean vocals to two songs while Niilo Sevänen from INSOMNIUM added ‘a few guest growls.’”

OPETH: “That’s right! Opeth will start the recording of their 10th album on the 31st January 2011. The band has picked the legendary Atlantis studios (ex Metronome studios) in Stockholm and will once again work with Jens Bogren engineering. Mixing duties will be handled by Steven Wilson (Porcupine tree). Possible release worldwide in the fall of 2011, through Roadrunner Records.”

PITCHBLACK: “Danish modern ‘melodeath thrashers’ PITCHBLACK have inked a deal with the Danish label Mighty Music, which is a part of Target Records. The band’s sophomore album, The Devilty, will be released on February 28.”

POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER: “Acclaimed drummer Marco Minnemann (KREATOR, NECROPHAGIST, EPHEL DUATH, JOE SATRIANI) has laid down the drum tracks for the third album from the Italian alternative/progressive metal band POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER. Entitled A Sense Of Decay, the CD is tentatively scheduled ror release in May 2011 via My Kingdom Music.”

RABBITS: “Portland, Oregon’s RABBITS has completed work on its new album, Lower Forms, at Type Foundry (THE DECEMBERISTS, LAST OF THE JUANITAS, RED FANG, THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS) in the band’s hometown with Jeremy Romagna and Lauren Newman at the helm. A February 15 North American release via Relapse Records (February 28 internationally) is expected. RABBITS‘ music meets somewhere in the crossroads of punk, sludge, and metal, using unwavering volume and intensity as their guides.”

RAMMSTEIN: “Bassist Oliver ‘Ollie’ Riedel of German industrial metallers RAMMSTEIN revealed during an interview with MusikUniverse.net that the band’s recent concerts in New York and Montreal were filmed for a forthcoming DVD. In addition, the group is planning to release a ‘best-of’ collection in April 2011 featuring two previously unreleased songs.”

ROTTEN SOUND: “Rotten Sound‘s brand new full-length album Cursed will see its worldwide (excluding Finland) release on March 15th via Relapse Records. The album will see its Finnish release on March 16th courtesy of Fullsteam Records.”

SPEED\KILL/HATE: “Old-school thrashers SPEED\KILL/HATE — who feature in their ranks OVERKILL guitarist Dave Linsk — will release their long-awaited sophomore album, Out For Blood, on January 25 via Hammerfist Records. The CD was recorded and mixed by Dave Linsk at SKH Studios and was mastered by Roger Lian at Masterdisk in New York.”

TESTAMENT: “Prosthetic Records will re-release TESTAMENT‘s out-of-print 1995 hometown-show album Live At The Fillmore on CD on January 18, 2011. The LP was reissued digitally last spring.”

TIMES OF GRACE: “‘Where The Spirit Leads Me’, the new video from TIMES OF GRACE — the new project that reteams KILLSWITCH ENGAGE guitarist and producer extraordinaire Adam Dutkiewicz with original KILLSWITCH ENGAGE vocalist Jesse Leach — [has been released]. The song is featured on the band’s forthcoming debut album, The Hymn Of A Broken Man, which lands in stores on January 18 via Roadrunner Records. The unique clip is just one of 13 total videos that will appear on the special edition of the album, which is also out on January 18.”

TOMBS: “Tombs has entered Elmwood Recording studios in Dallas, TX with engineer John Congleton (Baroness, Explosions In The Sky, Black Mountain, St. Vincent) to begin work on their follow-up album to Winter Hours. The new album is expected to see a spring 2011 international release via Relapse Records with more details to be announced soon.”

TOXIC HOLOCAUST: “Toxic Holocaust has entered Dexters Lab Recording in Milford, CT to begin work on the long-awaited follow-up to An Overdose Of Death…. The band is recording with Toxic Holocaust/Kingdom Of Sorrow drummer and engineer Nick Bellmore (Hatebreed, Phantoms, Full Blow Chaos). The new full-length is expected to see a late spring 2011 release date via Relapse Records.”

UNIVERSUM: “A rough-mix version of a new song from Australian melodic death metallers UNIVERSUM, ‘Sum Of The Universe’, can be streamed in a YouTube clip. The track features guest vocals from Christian Älvestam (SCAR SYMMETRY, SOLUTION .45) along with lead solos from both NIGHTRAGE axemen Marios Iliopoulos and Olof Mörck. . . . ‘Sum Of The Universe’ comes off UNIVERSUM‘s sophomore album, Mortuus Machina, which is tentatively due in early 2011.”

VAN HALEN: “According to the unofficial VAN HALEN site Van Halen News Desk, VAN HALEN has tapped producer/songwriter/musician John Shanks (whom Clive Davis calls ‘the father of that guitar-driven kind of pop sound’) to helm the band’s upcoming studio album, which the group plans to begin recording in January.”

VYGR: “Massachusetts’ Ambient-Sludge masters VYGR (pronounced ‘Voyager’) have announced the release of their highly anticipated full-length debut, Hypersleep. The Double-LP/CD release will hit stores on January 25th, 2011 via Creator-Destructor Records. A track from the record entitled ‘Shapeshifters’ is now available to stream at VYGR’s bandcamp website: http://vygr.bandcamp.com/”

WORMROT: “The critically acclaimed grind act, Wormrot will be heading into Singapore’s TNT Music Productions this January to record a brand new album entitled Dirge. With this being the full-length followup to Abuse, the band promises to bring their breakneck grind tones to grim new lows. . . . Wormrot’s new album, Dirge is due out in Spring 2011.”

My, how time flies. Another month is in the history books. However much time you have on earth, you now have 31 days less of it since since the last installment of this post. Drink up!

But have no fear. You’re headed for a better place. That’s right, basically the same existence you had a month ago, but with more new metal ahead of you. Drink up!

And all those physical processes that are inexorably decaying your bodies on the rocky road to your demise, they’re still there and they’re still working on you like termites that have found a rotting log. But hey, you can still bang your head, so . . . Drink up!

Yes, we’re now a full seven months into 2010, and so it’s time for another monthly update to the list of forthcoming new albums we first posted on January 1. (All the other updates can be found via the “Forthcoming Albums” category link on the right side of our pages.) Below is a list of still more projected new releases we didn’t know about at the time of our previous updates, or updated info about some of the previously noted releases.

Once again, we’ve cobbled together news blurbs about bands whose past work we’ve liked, or who look interesting for other reasons. Perhaps needless to say, these are bands that mostly fit the profile of music we cover on this site — the kind that would like to tear your head off.

So, in alphabetical order, here’s our list of cut-and-pasted items from various sources since our last update about forthcoming new releases. Look for the bands you like and put reminders on your calendar. Or if you’re like us, just stick post-it notes on your forehead. Of course, if your foreheads are the low, sloping kind, you may only have room for a few, so be choosy.

ABIGAIL WILLIAMS: “Candlelight Records today confirms September 28 as the North American release date for In the Absence of Light, the second full-length album from black metallers Abigail Williams. Recorded at Conquistador Studios in Cleveland, Ohio, the album was mixed by Peter Tagtgren (Dimmu Borgir, Immortal, Celtic Frost) and features artwork by Farron Kerzner (Nachtmystium, Lightning Swords of Death). In The Absence of Light is true to the rules of black metal. . . .”

ARCKANUM: “Swedish black metallers ARCKANUM will release their new album, Sviga Læ, later in the year via Regain Records. . . . Commented Shamaatae (all instruments): ‘The new ARCKANUM album, Sviga Læ, is a dedication to Surtr; Giant and Ruler of the world of flames Múspellzheimr, and Loki; the Flaming Giant and Archenemy of the worlds. Sviga Læ is a manifestation of the blazing Chaos and the burning of the gods.’”

AS BLOOD RUNS BLACK: “A full 4 years after their deathcore masterpiece, Allegience, As Blood Runs Black are finishing up work on their sophomore album. . . . A statement from the band reads: ‘Our first single for our new album is finally being mixed!! Sounds fucking awesome!! Can’t wait to put it up. “Instinct” COMING SOON.’ The album is expected to drop before the end of the year.”

AUTOPSY: “U.S. gore legends AUTOPSY have completed the recording of their first tracks since officially reforming last year. The Tomb Within consists of five new tunes of gore and depravity and will be released on September 13 through Peaceville Records on CD and 12-inch vinyl, with general release set for September 27. Cover art is supplied by renowned fantasy/horror artist Matt Cavotta.”

THE AUTUMN OFFERING: “A seven-minute trailer/teaser for THE AUTUMN OFFERING‘s new, self-titled album [has been released]. Due on August 31 via Victory Records, the new CD is ‘the band’s most crushing release to date’ and is ‘chock-full of blast beats and twin guitar wizardry’ while ‘vocalist Matt McChesney sounds as if he is being burned at the stake,’ according to a press release.”

BAD RELIGION: “Celebrating three decades of influential, thought-provoking and groundbreaking punk rock, BAD RELIGION will release its fifteenth studio album, The Dissent Of Man, on September 28.”

BENEATH THE MASSACRE: “Montreal masters of tech death brutality, Beneath The Massacre, have announced they will be releasing an EP, featuring five brand new tracks, in the coming months. This will be the band’s first release since 2008′s Dystopia.”

CITY OF FIRE: “CITY OF FIRE, the new band featuring vocalist Burton C. Bell, bassist Byron Stroud, guitarist Terry Murray, guitarist Ian White, and drummer Bob Wagner, made a surprise live appearance last weekend opening for FEAR FACTORY at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver. The performance marked the first live appearance for the band this year as they ready themselves for the anticipated release of their self-titled debut album on August 24.”

THE CROWN: “‘Blood O.D.’, a brand new song from the reunited Swedish death/thrash metal act THE CROWN, is available for streaming on the band’s MySpace page. The track comes off the group’s new album, Doomsday King, which is scheduled for release on September 27 via Century Media Records.”

DAGOBA: “‘Black Smokers’, a brand new song from French metallers DAGOBA, can be streamed on the band’s MySpace page. The track comes off the group’s fourth album, “Poseidon”, which will be released on August 30 via the French label XIII Bis Records. The CD was recorded at Hyperion Studioin Marseille, France with ‘Brew’ Varea and was mixed by Dave Chang at Philia Studio in the U.K.”

DEMIURG: “DEMIURG — the Sweden-based band featuring Rogga Johansson (RIBSPREADER, PAGANIZER) on vocals and guitars, Johan Berglund (THIS HAVEN) on bass, Ed Warby (GOREFEST, AYREON, HAIL OF BULLETS) on drums and Dan Swanö (EDGE OF SANITY, NIGHTINGALE, BLOODBATH) on lead guitar and keyboards — will release its third album, Slakthus Gamleby, on July 30 via Cyclone Empire Records.”

DEVILDRIVER: “DEVILDRIVER recently finished recording its fifth album at Sonic Ranch studios in Tornillo, Texas with producer Mark Lewis (TRIVIUM,CHIMAIRA, ALL THAT REMAINS) for a tentative early 2011 release through Roadrunner Records. According to drummer John Boecklin, acclaimed British producer Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, EXODUS, MACHINE HEAD, NEVERMORE, ARCH ENEMY) will mix the effort in late July at Andy‘s Backstage studio in Derbyshire, England.”

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA: “The Devil Wears Prada will release their previously announced EP on August 24th via Ferret Music [entitled] Zombie . . . .  Both a teaser and a track (“Outnumbered”) from the EP can be found via www.tdwpslays.com.”

DEVOID/ALBATROSS: “Demonstealer Records has announced the signing of two of India’s most promising young bands: DEVOID (MySpace page), a thrash metal act from Mumbai, and ALBATROSS (MySpace page), a group that likes to mix horror and metal. Both bands’ debut efforts — ALBATROSS‘ Dinner Is You EP and DEVOID‘s A God’s Lie album — are scheduled for a worldwide release in September. ALBATROSS‘ Dinner Is You EP was mastered by acclaimed Swedish producer Andy La Rocque (KING DIAMOND, DEATH, ILLWILL, X-WORLD/5).”

ENSLAVED: “Norwegian psychedelic post-black metal band ENSLAVED will release its new album, Axioma Ethica Odini, in Europe on September 27 and in North America on September 28. The CD’s cover artwork was created by the Norwegian artist Truls Espedal, who has painted every ENSLAVED album cover since 2001′s Monumension.”

GHOST MACHINERY: “Finnish melodic metallers GHOST MACHINERY will release their second album, Out For Blood, in Europe on August 27 and in North America on October 5 via Germany’s Limb Music.”

GOAT THE HEAD: “Norwegian death metallers GOAT THE HEAD will release their second full-length album, Doppelgängers, on September 13 via Aftermath Music. The CD was mixed and mastered by Tue Madsen (HALFORD, BEHEMOTH,KATAKLYSM, THE HAUNTED) at his Antfarm Studio in Århus , Denmark and it ‘boasts 10 furious tracks exerting about every color of the metal palette,’ according to a press release.”

GRAVE DIGGER: “German power metallers GRAVE DIGGER have set The Clans Will Rise Again as the title of their new album, due in Europe on October 1 via Napalm Records. . . .The Clans Will Rise Again is a loose sequel of the Tunes Of War album, but this time not a concept album about the Scottish history, rather a work about Scotland, its mysticism and its people.”

IMMORTAL: “The Seventh Date Of Blashyrkh, the band’s first official live DVD and live CD release in the history of their existence, features songs that span IMMORTAL‘s timeless discography and includes three back-to-back-to-back selections from their most acclaimed release to date. The leather and spikes, the “war paint,” the bursting pyrotechnics, the essential anthems, Abbath‘s on-stage acrobatics, and an audience that drew upwards of 70,000 people… the magic’s all there, ready to be absorbed into your consciousness. . . .  The Seventh Date Of Blashyrkh will be released in Europe on August 6 and in North America on September 14 via Nuclear Blast.”

INFERNAEON: ““Ziasudra”, a brand new song from Floridian extreme metallers INFERNAEON, is available for streaming on the band’s MySpace page. According to a press release, the track tells the story of the Sumerian king of the same name from which the story of Noah is derived. “Ziasudra” comes off INFERNAEON‘s new album, Genesis To Nemesis, which is scheduled for release on August 31 via Prosthetic Records. The CD was recorded at Erik Rutan‘s Mana Recording Studios (GOATWHORE, CANNIBAL CORPSE, HATE ETERNAL) in St. Petersburg, Florida with producer Brian Elliott.”

IRON MAIDEN: “IRON MAIDEN‘s 15th studio LP, The Final Frontier, will be released in North America on August 17 (one day earlier internationally) via Universal Music Enterprises (UMe). The band reunited with long-time MAIDEN producer Kevin “Caveman” Shirley in early 2010 at Compass Point Studios, Nassau to record the album and then moved to The Cave Studios in Malibu, California to finish the recording and do the mixing.”

THE MAN-EATING TREE: “THE MAN-EATING TREE — the new atmospheric metal band featuring former SENTENCED drummer Vesa Ranta alongside current/former members of POISONBLACK, REFLEXION and EMBRAZE — will release its debut album, Vine, in Finland on September 22 via Cobra Records and in other territories through Century Media Records. The CD was recorded at Mastervox Studio in Oulu, Finland with producer Hiili Hiilesmaa (HIM, SENTENCED, AMORPHIS).”

MUSHROOMHEAD: “Ohio’s MUSHROOMHEAD has changed the title of its new album to Beautiful Stories For Ugly Children from the previously announced Slaughterhouse Road. Due on September 28 via Filthy Hands/Megaforce Records, the CD was mastered by Roger Lian at Masterdisk in New York City.”

NEAERA: “The first in a series of webisodes featuring behind-the-scenes footage from the recording sessions for Forging The Eclipse, the fifth album from German extreme metallers NEAERA, [have been released]. Forging The Eclipse is scheduled for an October 22 release via Metal Blade Records. . . . The mixing/mastering will be handled by Tue Madsen (HEAVEN SHALL BURN, DARK TRANQUILLITY, MOONSPELL).”

NIGHTFALL: “The cover artwork for Astron Black And The Thirty Tyrants, the new album from reformed Greek metallers NIGHTFALL — featuring frontman and lyricist Efthimis Karadimas alongside Evan Hensley on guitar, Stathis Kassios on keyboards and Jörg Uken on drums — [has been released]. The CD is scheduled for release on August 31 (one day earlier internationally) via Metal Blade Records. The cover artwork was created by Travis Smith (OPETH, DEATH, NEVERMORE, KATATONIA).”

OBSCURA: “Progressive death metal act OBSCURA has entered Woodshed Studio in southern Germany with engineer V. Santura (TRIPTYKON, DARK FORTRESS) to begin recording its new album for an early 2011 release via Relapse Records.”

ONE MAN ARMY AND THE UNDEAD QUARTET: “ONE MAN ARMY AND THE UNDEAD QUARTET, the Swedish band featuring former THE CROWN vocalist Johan Lindstrand, is currently writing material for its fourth album, tentatively due in early 2011.Lindstrand states, ‘We will enter Black Lounge studio in October and together with Jonas Kjellgren we will try to create the best possible ARMYalbum ever. If we succeed or not is up to you to judge, but all I can say is that for the first time all songs feels like keepers.’”

PANTERA: “PANTERA found its growl and groove on Cowboys From Hell, a landmark album whose bone-powdering intensity, razor-sharp riffing and pummeling rhythmic assault represented a turning point in modern metal when it was released in 1990. . . . To celebrate the 20-year anniversary of Cowboys From Hell, Rhino rounds up a three-disc “Ultimate Edition,” a three-disc “Deluxe Edition,” and a two-disc “Expanded Edition.” All three editions include a newly remastered version of the original album along with unreleased and rare live performances from the “Cowboys From Hell” tour. The “Ultimate” and “Deluxe” editions will also feature a disc of unreleased demos for nearly every album track, plus, “The Will To Survive”, a previously unreleased song recorded during the album’s sessions.The “Deluxe” and “Expanded” editions of “Cowboys From Hell” will be released September 14 at all retail outlets, including www.pantera.com and www.rhino.com .”

PRO-PAIN: “Absolute Power, the thirteenth full-length album from PRO-PAIN, will be released in North America on August 10 via Regain Records. According to a press release, the CD ‘explores several sides to the tried-and-true American unit’s somewhat patented sound. While a vast chunk of the album immediately recalls standard PRO-PAIN New York City-style metal/hardcore crossover attacks, many elements at play on Absolute Power infiltrate totally new ground for the band.’”

THE SHOWDOWN: “‘Heavy Lies The Crown’, a brand new song from the Tennessee’s riff-tastic southern metal outfit THE SHOWDOWN, can be streamed on the band’s MySpace page. The track comes off the group’s fourth album, Blood in the Gears, which is scheduled for release on August 24 via Solid State Records.”

THERION: “THERION will release its new album, Sitra Ahra, in North America on October 26 via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD was mixed at the legendary Polar Studios in Stockholm by Lennart Östlund (LED ZEPPELIN, ABBA). The cover artwork was created by Thomas Ewerhard, who worked on all of the band’s most recent releases in addition to collaborating with EDGUY,AVANTASIA, RAGE and HAMMERFALL, among others.”

WINDS OF PLAGUE: “Los Angeles metallers WINDS OF PLAGUE will enter the studio later this summer with producer Matt Hyde (SLAYER, HATEBREED) to begin recording their third album for an early 2011 release via Century Media Records.”

WITHIN THE RUINS: “Western Massachusetts own Within The Ruins prepares for the release of their second full-length album Invade, follow-up of the band’s 2009 release Creature. Invade is set to hit stores officially on August 31st through Victory Records.”

The line-up, dates, and venues for the 2010 edition of Ozzfest have now been released. I don’t really know why I’m giving space to this announcement, which is still fairly hot off the presses. Maybe because some of you will care about it more than I do. Maybe because it’s nice to anticipate that Goatwhore and Skeletonwitch will pick up some new fans (which they certainly deserve). Other than that, I’m afraid it’s a big yawn for me, tinged with a little nausea.  First, the line-up (as recited in the official press release):

The main stage will feature full sets from Ozzy, Motley Crue and Rob Halford (who last appeared on Ozzfest in 2004 with Judas Priest), performing songs from his solo career along with material from Judas Priest and Fight. DevilDriver and Nonpoint will round out the main stage line-up.

Second stage headliners and six-time Ozzfest veterans Black Label Society will be joined by Drowning Pool, Kingdom of Sorrow, and Goatwhore, Skeletonwitch, Saviours, Kataklysm.

The second stage is far stronger than the first, that’s for sure. DevilDriver puts on a kick-ass live set, but the rest of the performers on Stage 1 look like nothing more than half-baked nostalgia. No question, Ozzy and Priest were hugely influential once upon a time, but Ozzy and Halford aren’t pushing metal in any new directions today, and they certainly don’t have the stage chops they used to have. Nonpoint is completely meh, and Motley Crue? Give me a fucking. Break.

Of course, feel free to telepathically tell me to fuck off if this news makes your day.  Ticket info and the predictably small list of dates and places follow after the jump . . .

Tickets for the shows go on sale May 22 at www.Ozzfest.com and www.LiveNation.com.

The 2010 Ozzfest dates are as follows:

8/14 San Bernardino, CA @ San Manuel Amphitheater
8/17 Chicago, IL @ First Midwest Bank Amp.
8/19 Pittsburgh, PA @ First Niagara Pavilion
8/21 Hartford, CT @ Comcast Theater
8/22 Camden, NJ @ Susquehanna
8/24 Boston, MA @ Comcast Center

It’s 2010, and last night two of your NCS Co-Authors made it to our first metal show of the new year as the “Bound By the Road Tour” barreled its way through Seattle. We emerged unscathed (barely) with a few decent photos, which we hope to put up a bit later today, and this report.  [Editor's note: we've now got photos from NCS Author Alexis up in this post for all the bands but DevilDriver.]

In a nutshell, experiencing a night with the likes of Thy Will Be Done, Goatwhore, Suffocation, and DevilDriver was the sonic equivalent of being suspended by your ankles over a blast furnace. It was an intense, blistering, full-bore onslaught by four bands who are superb live musicians and know how to whip a crowd into a frenzy.

And for the cherry on top, we got to see three of the most charismatic frontmen in the business on one bill: Dez Fafara, Frank Mullen, and Ben Falgoust (and J. Costa is no slouch either). What a truly ass-kicking way to start a new year of live metal in the Emerald City! Now, for a few details about each band’s performance (after the jump).

DYING TO BLEED

The show started early, and unfortunately our daytime commitments prevented us from getting our asses over to Studio Seven in time to catch this local death metal band, about which we’ve heard good things. Hope we’ll get another chance to see ‘em live soon.

THY WILL BE DONE

This Rhode Island band’s 2009 release In Ancient of Days was a killer album, and we had high expectations about seeing them live. Man, they did not disappoint! A high-energy, high-intensity set of groove-oriented, thrash-influenced heavy metal with powerful harsh vocals by J. Costa — who was in constant motion from start to finish. They got heads banging from the start, and the pit had begun to roil by the time their brief set concluded. I hope they come back this direction soon!

Random stage banter from J. Costa, while rubbing his crotch: “Our job is to get you warm in the pants! Are you warm in the pants yet?!” (Loud affirmative crowd noises.)

GOATWHORE

This band’s 2009 release Carving Out the Eyes of God catapulted these dudes from NOLA onto lots of “Best of 2009″ lists (including our list of the Ten Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs of 2009), and we were blown away by their live performance in Seattle last summer with Daath, Abysmal Dawn, and Abigail Williams.

Last night’s performance was at least the equal of that 2009 show. Driven by the masterful guitar work of Sammy Duet and the magnetic, high-energy presence of vocalist Ben Falgoust, Goatwhore ratcheted up the intensity level in a crowd that was primed and ready for their unique, Americanized version of blackened death metal.

And man, does Ben Falgoust have a great voice for this shit — like a bushel of gravel being forced through a wood chipper.

Random stage banter from Ben: “Don’t say Hail Satan unless you mean it! Unlike the man upstairs, he doesn’t ask for your money, he just wants you to have a fucking good time!”

SUFFOCATION

No secret that your NCS Co-Authors are huge fans of this legendary death metal band from Long Island. We caught them in Seattle last year in a much bigger venue, and for me they were the high point of that heavily populated tour. This time, we got the chance to watch them close up in a club setting, and it was an eye-opener.

The band played a wide range of older and newer songs, including “Catatonia,” “Cataclysmic Purification,” “Suspended in Tribulation,” “Blood Oath,” “Come Hell or High Priest,” “Pierced From Within,” and “Liege of Inveracity.” There are mosh-inducing crowd-pleasers on that list, but also some extremely intricate music with multiple tempo shifts and start-stop time signatures that just makes you stop and stare in wonder.

Mike Smith (drums), Derek Boyer (bass), and Guy Marchais laid down a completely in-sync, ultra-heavy low end, allowing Terrance Hobbs to really shine on the leads. All of these dudes are superb musicians, and were completely focused and concentrated on delivering a flawless execution.

Of course, they didn’t need to divert themselves from their playing by stage antics, because their larger-than-life frontman Frank Mullen more than took care of that. It’s really hard to take your eyes off that dude — just a fully electrified live-wire thrashing around the stage with barely controlled insanity. Overall, a masterful, pummeling performance by some dudes that have been doing this shit longer than many in their audience have been alive. Think of an acetylene torch to the face with jet engine backwash for accompaniment.

Random stage banter from Frank the Tank: “At some point we all took a blood oath to death metal, to extreme metal, call it what you want! And that’s what this shit is about!”

DEVILDRIVER

To be honest, going into this show, DevilDriver was the least of the attractions on the bill for your NCS Co-Authors. DD’s brand of infectious groove metal has definitely got its attractions, but we’ve never been huge fans of their albums.

But now I get it: DevilDriver music is meant to be heard live in a densely packed throng of chaotic humanity. From the first blasting notes of the first song, the crowd at Studio Seven surged forward and immediately started roiling in a massive, densely packed pit that didn’t let up until the band walked off the stage at the end of the night.

And there was no let-up on stage either — the intensity level was in the red zone from start to finish. Dez Fafara knows how to work a crowd into a lather, and that’s exactly what he and his bandmates did. I’m impaired in my ability to tell you much about what songs were being played or even how well they were being played. I got caught up in the pit — basically no way to avoid it unless you wanted to hide in the john — and just drowned in a electrifying maelstrom of machine-gun noise and swarming bodies.

About the only pause in the chaos occurred before the final song when Fafara commanded that the crowd part and move out to the perimeter of the floor. I was thinking, wall of death?! No — a huge circle pit that didn’t stop until the band did.

I’m still not sure I’ll listen to DevilDriver’s albums any more often than I did before last night, but I’ll say this: performing on stage, that is one kick-ass band that knows how to connect to the reptile part of your brain and get you partying. One of the most viscerally consuming live shows I’ve yet seen.

Random stage banter from Dez (undoubtedly to the delight of the Studio Seven security dudes): “This stage is as much yours as it is ours! So get your asses up here with us!” (followed by much crowd surfing and stage-diving)