I’ve been waiting for this for weeks, ever since Norway’s Shining began dribbling out the news that it was coming. It’s the band’s official video for the song “Fisheye” off their remarkable 2010 album, Blackjazz, and it just appeared.

“Blackjazz is wild in every sense of the word – feral, uninhibited, unpredictable, deranged, vicious. Ah, hell, wild is too tame an adjective — it’s just bug-eyed, batshit crazy. Not headbanging music. Not music you can have on background as you do something else. If you’re going to listen, that’s what you’ve got to do — listen with single-minded focus.” That’s what I wrote in a February 2010 review. I still pretty much feel that way, except I’ve decided there are parts of “Fisheye” that you can headbang to.

But mainly, it’s wild. It thunders, it squeals, it hammers, it howls. It’s creepy and it’s exhilarating. I was really curious whether Shining could put together a music video that would mesh with the aura of the music. Well, they did. Or rather, director Kyrre H. Larsen did. From the lighting, to the color scheme, to the editing, to the flashes of grotesque masks, the video provides fitting visual accompaniment to the music. Watch it after the jump.

December and 2011 are both over, and with the end of the last month, it’s time to round up what we saw over the last 30 days about forthcoming albums.

We usually try to post these updates on the first of the month, but the first of this month was New year’s Day, and I was moving kinda slowly that day. Plus, I’ve been focusing on year-end lists from a variety of sources, and, well, I’m late with this. I have more excuses, if you’d like to hear them.  No?  Okay, I understand.  I’ll just shut up and get going with this list.

So, here’s the deal:  In these METAL IN THE FORGE posts, I collect news blurbs and press releases I’ve seen over the last month about forthcoming new albums from bands we know and like at NCS (including occasional updates about releases we’ve included in previous installments of this series), or from bands that look interesting, even though we don’t know their music yet. In this series, we cut and paste those announcements and compile them in alphabetical order.

Remember — THIS ISN’T A CUMULATIVE LIST. If we found out about a new forthcoming album before December, we wrote about it in previous installments of this series. So, be sure to check the Category link called “Forthcoming Albums” on the right side of this page to see forecasted releases we reported earlier.

This month’s list begins right after the jump. It includes some real eye-openers. In fact, it’s not too soon to say that 2012 is already looking like yet another royally skull-fucking year for metal. But as usual, this list is half-assed rather than comprehensive. I confess that in December I was even more half-assed than usual in keeping my eyes open for news about new albums. So, feel free to leave Comments and tell all of us what I missed when I put this list together. Let us know about albums on the way that  you’re stoked about, even if you don’t see them here!

ABORTED: “”The Origin Of Disease”, a brand new song from Belgian death metalers ABORTED, can be streamed at NO CLEAN SINGING. The track comes off the band’s seventh studio album, “Global Flatline”, which will be released on January 24, 2012 (one day earlier internationally) via Century Media Records.”

THE AMENTA: “Australia’s extreme metal unit THE AMENTA is working on material for their third album for a 2012 release. Vocalist Cain Cressal states, “All arrangements and lyrics are 90% complete. I’ll be flying over to Sydney soon to finetune vocal patterns/lyrics after much demoing over the last few months. We intend to start tracking the album in January.” Tentatively titled “Flesh Is Heir”, the follow-up to 2008′s “n0n” is a crystallization of THE AMENTA‘s methods.”

ASPHYX: “Deathhammer is the title track of ASPHYX‘s new studio album, which will be released on February 27, 2012 in Europe and February 28, 2012 in North America via Century Media Records.”

BLOODSHOT DAWN: “First formed in 2003, Bloodshot Dawn have evolved from a straight forward, groove orientated death metal band into an unrelenting, hyper speed, extreme-metal machine. Hailed by Terrorizer as a band that delivers “blistering live shows”, Bloodshot Dawn have become a household name in the UK underground.  In September 2011, Bloodshot Dawn entered the studio again, this time at 11th Cellar Studios in Rome (Fleshgod Apocalypse, Hour Of Penance, Inherit Disease), to record their debut full-length release. The album was finished in December 2011 and is set for a limited release on 26 January 2012.”

BORKNAGAR: “Norway’s BORKNAGAR has entered Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden to begin mixing its new album with Jens Bogren, who has previously worked with such acts as KATATONIA, OPETH, PARADISE LOST and AMON AMARTH. The CD is tentatively due in February 2012 via Century Media Records. ”

CANCER BATS: “‘Old Blood‘, a brand new song from Canadian metallers CANCER BATS, was premiered on tonight’s (Monday, January 2) edition of BBC Radio 1‘s “Rock Show With Daniel P Carter”. You can now stream the track in a YouTube clip here. “Old Blood” comes off CANCER BATS‘ fourth album, “Dead Set On Living”, which is due in April via Distort Inc. ”

THE CONTORTIONIST: “Indianapolis, Indiana’s prog-metal prodigies THE CONTORTIONIST will enter AudioHammer Studios in Sanford, Florida in February with producers Jason Suecof (TRIVIUM, CHIMAIRA, DEVILDRIVER) and Eyal Levi (AUGUST BURNS RED, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER) to begin recording their sophomore album for a late spring/early summer 2012 release via Good Fight Music.”

CONVERGE: “Terrorizer have heard on the hardcore grapevine that the mighty Converge are set to start recording their eighth album, the follow up to 2009′s smasher, Axe To Fall. This is to be titled ‘All We Love We Leave Behind’ and it’s due out in the late spring/early summer through Epitaph.”

DRUDKH: “Unconventional, dramatic and mysterious, Ukrainian black metal outfit Drudkh are announcing a new album called Eternal Turn of the Wheel out February 24. The new album “marks a return to the band’s roots and early sound,” according to Season of Mist, the French label that has been releasing Drudkh‘s albums since 2009.”

DYING FETUS:  ”John Gallagher, guitarist and vocalist of Dying Fetus, has announced that the group has entered the studio to record a new full-length album. The band will once again be working with long-time producer Steve Wright (Slipknot, Misery Index) at Wrightway Studios in Baltimore, MD. Set to be released in mid 2012 through Relapse Records, the album will feature nine tracks and is a “return to roots” with production focused slightly more on slam than in the band’s last few works.

DYSRHYTHMIA: From the band’s facebook page: “Happy new year, all. We are excited to announce we will be working with Profound Lore Records, for the release of our next album! Recording will commence this Spring with Colin Marston, with a projected late Summer/ Fall release date. We’re gonna do our most to make this the best Dysrhythmia yet.”

ELUVEITIE: “ELUVEITIE’S fifth studio album, Helvetios, will be released on February 10 (Europe) and February 28 (North America) 2012 via Nuclear Blast.”

ENOCHIAN THEORY: Life . . . And All It Entails, the new album by UK progressive metallers Enochian Theory will be released on Feb 12, 2012 by Mascot Records and is available for pre-order here, where the album art is also on display.

ENTHRONED: “Belgian black metallers ENTHRONED have inked a two-album deal with Agonia Records. The band’s new album, “Obsidium”, will be released in early 2012.”

GOATWHORE: “New Orleans’ GOATWHORE has set “Blood For The Master” as the title of its new album, due on February 14 in North America via Metal Blade Records. The follow-up to 2009′s “Carving Out The Eyes Of God” was recorded at Mana Recording Studios in St. Petersburg, Florida with producer with Erik Rutan.”

HEIDEVOLK: “Dutch folk/viking band Heidevolk announced that it will release the band’s fourth LP entitled “Batavi” on March 2, 2012 through Napalm Records. The album is the follow up to the 2012 release “Uit Oude Grond.” More details on the album are expected shortly.”

HIGH ON FIRE: “Oakland, CA hard rock band HIGH ON FIRE has entered Salem, Massachusetts’ GodCity Studios to begin tracking their as-yet-untitled new album. The world renowned group featuring drummer Des Kensel, bassist Jeff Matz and guitarist / vocalist Matt Pike (also of legendary stoner metal trio SLEEP) is collaborating with producer and Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou on the new effort; the band’s sixth studio recording and follow up to 2010′s Snakes for the Divine which debuted at #62 on the Billboard Top 200 and has been called “wonderful” by The New York Times and “an exhilarating rush” by The Chicago Tribune. A mid-2012 release date is expected via eOne Music.”

MAGENTA HARVEST: “MAGENTA HARVEST, the Finnish death metal band featuring current and former members of FINNTROLL, CHTHONIAN, MYGRAIN and …AND OCEANS, will enter the studio later this month [December] to begin recording its second demo. According to a press release, the new effort will see the group widening its soundscape with the help of Aleksi Virta of FINNTROLL, who “will create some epic keyboard stuff” to go along with the material. An early 2012 release is expected.”

MESHUGGAH: “Swedish experimental extreme metallers MESHUGGAH have issued the following update: ”After a long time of deep soul searching and intense wrecking of the psyches, the new album is finally done. Soon you will meet this colossus that will pulverize your being. Welcome to the other side on March 27.”"

MORBID ANGEL: “On February 24, 2012 (February 28 in North America), Season of Mist will release a compilation of remixed tracks from MORBID ANGEL’s latest album, “Illud Divinum Insanus”. Far from being just revamped versions of the seminal extreme metal band’s newest songs, this collection will present the work of 39 artists from the electro / industrial, techno and club scene.”

MUNICIPAL WASTE: “Virginia crossover thrash metal band MUNICIPAL WASTE has completed work on its fifth studio album, “The Fatal Feast”, for a spring 2012 release via Nuclear Blast Records.”

MURDER CONSTRUCT: “MURDER CONSTRUCT, the Los Angeles, California-based band featuring Travis Ryan (CATTLE DECAPITATION) on vocals, Leon del Muerte (EXHUMED, PHOBIA, IMPALED) on guitar and vocals, Kevin Fetus (FETUS EATERS, WATCH ME BURN) on guitar, Danny Walker (INTRONAUT, EXHUMED, UPHILL BATTLE) on drums, and Caleb Schneider (BAD ACID TRIP) on bass, has entered the studio to begin work on its full-length debut full-length for a mid-2012 release via Relapse Records.”

NAGLFAR: “Swedish black metallers NAGLFAR have completed work on their sixth album, “Téras”, for a March 2012 release via Century Media Records. The drum tracks on the CD were laid down by Dirk Verbeuren (SOILWORK).”

NAPALM DEATH: “NAPALM DEATH will release its 14th studio album (excluding the cover album “Leaders Not Followers”), “Utilitarian”, on February 27 in Europe and February 28 in North America via the band’s longtime partner, Century Media Records. ”

PALLBEARER: “Little Rock, Arkansas doom metal disciples PALLBEARER have completed work on their debut album, “Sorrow And Extinction”, for a February 21, 2012 release via Profound Lore Records.”

PSYCROPTIC: “Pre-orders are now available for Tasmanian technical death metal outfit PSYCROPTIC’s upcoming fifth studio album, The Inherited Repression. The Inherited Repression will be released in Europe on February 7th in North America and on February 10th in Europe on Nuclear Blast Records.”

SEAR BLISS:  ”Eternal Recurrence, the 7th album from Sear Bliss, is set to be released in February, 2012 through Candlelight Records. The songs are dramatic and unsettling, dark and painful.”

SHINING: “Sweden’s SHINING the, extreme metal band founded by controversial front man Niklas Kvarforth, has today [Jan 2] entered the Sonic Train Studios in Varberg, Sweden, with producer Andy La Rocque to begin recording the band’s eighth full-length album, which, as is usual with SHINING, currently only bears the working title VIII.”

SIGH: “Japan’s SIGH will release its ninth album, “In Somniphobia”, in March 2012 via Candlelight Records. According to a press release, the CD is “by far more musically varied” compared to the [band's] last two albums. Put heavy metal, classical music, jazz, Indian traditional music, Stockhausen, and Xenakis into a cauldron of hell and stir it, you’ll get ‘In Somniphobia’. It is a pure sonic nightmare that lasts more than an hour.”

SOILWORK: “After a highly successful run of European festivals and select club shows, Swedish melodic metal maestros SOILWORK have started writing music for the follow-up to The Panic Broadcast, which debuted the US Billboard charts at #88 upon its release in July 2010.”

SOREPTION: “Soreption will enter the studio in February to begin the recording of the next album. The release is not set yet, but we´re aming for fall next year.”

SPAWN OF POSSESSION: Swedish tech-death assassins SPAWN OF POSSESSION have completed work on their third full-length album, “Incurso”, for a March 13, 2012 release via Relapse Records. The CD, which will contain nine tracks plus an instrumental intro, was recorded at Pama Studios in Kristianopel, Sweden with engineer Magnus “Mankan” Sedenberg.

SWALLOW THE SUN: “SWALLOW THE SUN’S fifth full-length album, “Emerald Forest And The Blackbird”, will be released on February 1 via Spinefarm Records. The CD was recorded during September and October 2011 by Mikko Karmila (NIGHTWISH, AMORPHIS, CHILDREN OF BODOM) at Drumforest Studios in Viitasaari and Sonic Pump 2 in Helsinki, and by Hannu Honkonen at Noisework Studios in Helsinki. The effort was mixed by Hiili Hiilesmaa (HIM, APOCALYPTICA, AMORPHIS, MOONSPELL) and will be mastered by Mika Jussila (NIGHTWISH, AMORPHIS, SENTENCED) at Finnvox Studios.”

TESTAMENT: “TESTAMENT‘s new album, “The Dark Roots Of Earth”, is tentatively due in late April/early May 2012 via Nuclear Blast Records. Due to a “serious injury,” TESTAMENT drummer Paul Bostaph was unable to take part in the recording sessions for the CD and was replaced by Gene “The Atomic Clock” Hoglan (DARK ANGEL, STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, FEAR FACTORY, DETHKLOK). Bostaph has since announced his departure from the group.”

This is the fourth and final part of a multi-part post about up-and-coming Norwegian bands. The first part is HERE, the second part is HERE, and Part 3 is HERE.  And below is an abbreviated version of the full explanation, which appears long-form in Part 1. But first, since I’m on the subject of Norwegian metal, here’s a bit of breaking news:

The Spellemann Awards are the Norwegian equivalent of the Grammy’s here in the U.S. The first Spellemannprisen were awarded in 1973 for albums released in 1972, so if my math is correct, we’re approaching the 40th annual awards show, and today the Spellemann nominees were announced. In the category of Best Metal Album, the following bands and albums were nominated (and we’ve featured four of the five nominees here at NCS):

	INSENSE	BURN IN BEAUTIFUL FIRE
	SHINING	LIVE BLACKJAZZ
	TAAKE	NOREGS VAAPEN
	VREID	V
	ÅRABROT	SOLAR ANUS

And now, onward to the explanation about the rest of this post: “Pyro” is the name of a radio program on one of the radio channels (P3) operated by NRK, the state-owned Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. The NRK P3 radio channel is mainly aimed at younger listeners, and Pyro is the program that focuses mainly on metal and hard rock.

At the end of November, the Pyro web site rolled out its 2011 list of the most promising metal bands in Norway. What I’m doing in this series is just repeating what I found on the Pyro web site, doing my best (with the lame assistance of Google Translate) to give Pyro’s descriptions of each band they picked as the best new metal bands in Norway, plus the same music from each band that they gave as an example (most of the songs can be found on Amazon mp3 or downloaded from the Urørt site via the links provided in the music descriptions below). Since the verbiage isn’t a professional translation, any fuck-ups are mine, not Pyro’s. My own words are included in brackets.

So here we go with Part 4. In this final part of the series, we’re including Jagged Vision, Deathbed Reunion, and Shadowmind. Below the images in the rest of this post, I’ve turned each of the band’s names into links that will take you to social media sites for each of them, in case you want to explore further.

JAGGED VISION

Out of nowhere (or really Hommesåk / Stavanger), Jagged Vision suddenly appeared with their debut EP. Brought up on Kvelertak and Purified In Blood, inspired by stoner-rock and 90′s hardcore, and with a youthful ferocity that we love. Check out the EP called Jagged Vision, visit the band via their Urørt page, and give the song “Thrasher” a listen below.

DEATHBED REUNION

Fresh hardcore from Sandnes / Stavanger with Norwegian melodic elements that many people can be happy with in this very promising band. Not too tight, not too soft. Perfect for an island festival. Perfect for you. Check out Deathbed Reunion via their Urørt pages, and see and hear their talent in “Part IV: The Serious Party” below. Video and stuff.

SHADOWMIND

Deathbed Reunion is not the only new band on this list with video. Shadowmind has one too, and they’re just as promising. Shadowmind plays metal, heavy and beautiful metal. Shadow Mind is working right now on their first album, and the songs we’ve heard provide so much promise that it makes us tingle. You can check out more music from Shadowmind ( on Bandcamp), and you can see the nice video they have made for the song “Rebirth” below.

Because of work-related travel and longer hours than usual this week, I didn’t have time for my usual daily interhole browsing for metal news and new music. So I did that this morning, while listening to the last piece of music in this post. I found a half-dozen items that I thought were well worth sharing, and they’re collected in this post. Almost all of them are new videos, and there’s tremendous diversity in the music. The subjects are Vallenfyre, King Conquer, Devin Townsend (with a new song), Shining, Decapitated, and finally, William Basinski.

And yeah, the meerkats are still secretly controlling the world, according to the NCS lorises. They think they’ve identified the kingpin. I don’t buy this nonsense for a minute, of course, because, really, this one looks way too young to be the kingpin.

VALLENFYRE

In our continuing coverage of Vallenfyre (UK) and their forthcoming album, The Fragile King (due for release on Oct 31 in Europe and Nov 1 in North America), I found a video preview that surfaced yesterday on Metal Injection. It was filmed during the making of a music video for a song from the album called “Cathedrals of Dread” and features comments from each of the band’s members about how this “supergroup” came together and about the genesis of the music. It also includes snippets of the song, which provide further confirmation (though none is needed here) that this album will be a must-hear release.

Our most recent previous posts about Vallenfyre can be found here and here. The video preview is right after the jump.

And next, we’ll turn to . . . deathcore!

KING CONQUER

We reviewed the debut album from this Floridian collective, America’s Most Haunted, almost one year ago, calling the band “one of the most promising new purveyors of hardcore-influenced death metal we’ve heard this year.” The album was so much better than the average offerings in the vast wasteland of deathcore and it ventured outside the standard tropes of the genre in interesting ways. We speculated that the band would blow up big-time on the strength of their debut, and that has indeed happened. We also included a different King Conquer song (“Wasted Potential”) in our list of 2010′s most infectious extreme metal songs (listen to that one here).

This week, the band released a pre-production version of a new song called “Tyranny”. It’s mighty fuckin’ heavy. If you really want to have nothing to do with this sub-genre, then you’ll want to skip over to the next item. But otherwise, prepare to have your head staved in:

Next up, a dramatic change of pace . . .

DEVIN TOWNSEND

We didn’t review Devin Townsend’s Ghost album. It’s a beautiful collection of music — too beautiful and too mellow for NCS. A couple of days ago, DT released a high-quality video — a montage of scenes from the last few months of touring by The Devin Townsend Project, culminating in a “silent” “Deconstruction” jam at the home of drummer Dirk Verbeuren.

Apart from being fun to watch if you’re a DT fan, the video is notable because the music playing over the montage of clips is a “rough demo” of an unreleased and untitled new DT song. It doesn’t sound rough to me. It sounds like something that would have fit well on Ghost. It’s beautiful — but I’m including it in this post anyway. Because it’s beautiful (and the equal IMO of anything on Ghost).

And where the hell do we go from here? Let’s go someplace very different . . .

SHINING

Norwegian “blackjazz” outfit Shining (not to be confused with the Swedish band of the same name) will release its first-ever live DVD and CD, Live Blackjazz, on November 11 via Indie Recordings. I’m a big fan of this band, and watching them perform live is something I’ve longed to do but not yet accomplished. I’m pretty tempted by this DVD. This week, the band released a trailer for it, with very brief clips from each song. That’s what’s next, and then below that is a professionally filmed vid of the band performing “Fisheye” on Norwegian national TV a couple years ago. Kind of amusing to see a polite, older-than-your-average metalhead audience seated in a studio watching and listening to this freaked-out shit. I dug it.

And from there, I think it’s time to be decapitated . . .

DECAPITATED

I had a shit-ton of fun talking with Fleshgod Apocalypse after their set when they passed through Seattle recently, but that led to me missing the performance of the headline act — Decapitated. I had no shortage of people tell me I’d missed one of the best death-metal sets of the year. I got a taste of what I missed from a recently posted drum-cam video of the band performing “Pest” on October 11 at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco. The camera focuses on drummer Kerim Lechner, but you can hear the rest of the band quite clearly. Holy mother of fuck, this is a beast.

Well, that’s really it for the metal in this post. But it’s not the end of the post.

WILLIAM BASINSKI

William Basinski is a Houston native, now based in New York. He’s a musician and performance artist and an avant-garde composer of ambient music. His most notable work is a four-volume album called The Disintegration Loops. This morning, while browsing the interhole, I listened to the first part. It’s 1:03:30 long. Listening to it is a unique experience, though not one that I suspect most of you would make the time to hear. But just in case, I’m sticking it in this post.

The music is a repeating loop of a single melancholy musical theme, slowly degrading until nothing is left. It did something to my brain chemistry, leaving me with a feeling of tranquility yet also a powerful sense of loss. I found this further description in an online mag called NthPosition, which I’m just going to paste below in lieu of me trying to say more about this myself:

“William Bassinski, a New York-based composer and sometime Anthony and the Johnson’s associate has a long history of minimal tape loop experiments, and it is from this that Disintegration Loopsderives. In late 2001, he was reviewing old tapes and came across a pastoral composition from 1982 which he had completely forgotten about. Intending to transfer it to digital format for preservation, he set the old tapes running, but time is not kind to magnetic tape and decay had fatally undermined their stability. As they played, fragments of iron oxide spalled off the tape’s surface and became dust, gradually, but progressively, breaking down the music into a ghost of its former self, becoming ever more fragmented as the recording progressed. Almost simultaneously, within view of Bassinski’s apartment, the appalling events of 11 September were unfolding. In the collapsing loops, he saw their reflection, and the music became a requiem for the twin towers. And very fitting it is, too, a gently shifting cavernous drone, becoming more blurred and fragmented as the tape self-destructs in front of us, sombre and dignified, a beautiful epic of romantic decay.”

Here’s the music. Enjoy the rest of your fucking day.

September is behind us. Here in Seattle, it was such a beautiful month that it seemed like nature’s compensation for how late the summer started. Unfortunately, with September’s end, we’re on a short track to the onset of winter, which means about six months of short, cold, grey, ceaselessly wet days. Ain’t that just fuckin’ great?

Well, bitchin’ about the winter ahead won’t change one fucking thing. I prefer to think instead about the deluge of new metal that’s headed our way and try (momentarily) to forget about the deluge of rain on the horizon. Which brings us to the latest monthly edition of METAL IN THE FORGE.

You know the drill:  In these posts, we collect news blurbs and press releases we’ve seen over the last month about forthcoming new albums from bands we know and like (including occasional updates about releases we’ve included in previous installments of this series), or from bands that look interesting, even though we don’t know their music yet. In this series, we cut and paste those announcements and compile them in alphabetical order.

Remember — this isn’t a cumulative list. If we found out about a new album before August, we wrote about it in previous installments of this series. So, be sure to check the Category link called “Forthcoming Albums” on the right side of this page to see forecasted releases we reported earlier. This month’s list begins right after the jump. Look for your favorite bands, or get intrigued about some new ones. As usual, also feel free to tell us about how we fucked up by omitting releases that you’re stoked about.

ABIGAIL WILLIAMS: “Abigail Williams will begin recording their third full-length album today. The process begins in the band’s new home of Southern California as the band enter Keene Machine Studios with The Faceless’ Michael Keene and Abigail Williams’ mainman Ken Sorceron engineering. Former Abigail Williams and Black Dahlia Murder drummer Zach Gibson will be playing on the album, as previous band mate Ken Bedene focuses on The Aborted. . . . The new album has an anticipated January release, followed by additional US tours supporting Dark Funeral and then Deicide.”

AMON: “AMON, the resurrected Florida-based death metal band featuring former DEICIDE members Eric Hoffmann (guitar) and Brian Hoffman (guitar), will film a new music video on October 22 in Clearwater, Florida with director Chris Nemzek (former CROSSBREED guitarist). AMON has set an October 31 release date for its new album, “Liar In Wait”.

ANIMALS AS LEADERS: “Progressive instrumentalists ANIMALS AS LEADERS will release their second full-length album, “Weightless”, in North America on November 8, in mainland Europe on November 4 and in the U.K. on November 7 via Prosthetic Records.”

ANAAL NATHRAKH: “U.K. extreme metallers ANAAL NATHRAKH — consisting of Mick Kenney and David Hunt — are currently working on the follow-up to “Passion”, released earlier this year via Candlelight Records. Hunt commented from the studio, “The songs we’ve recorded so far have come out very well. They are stylistically quite heterogeneous yet somehow sounding focused at the same time. And there’s one section that’s completely from left field, which we’ve included as a personal tribute. It’s all still in a raw, hardly mixed and not-yet-mastered state, but it’s all sounding quite powerful.”

A PLEA FOR PURGING: “”The Life”, a brand new song from the Nashville, Tennessee-based Christian metal/hardcore act A PLEA FOR PURGING, can be streamed in a new YouTube clip. The track comes off the band’s new album, “The Life & Death Of A Plea For Purging”, due on November 8 via Facedown Records.”

BIOHAZARD: “”Reborn In Defiance”, the long-awaited new studio album from New York hardcore metal legends BIOHAZARD, will be released on January 20, 2012. The CD will be made a vailable via Nuclear Blast outside of North America, with a U.S. label partner soon to be announced. The band will celebrate the launch with a record-release party in its hometown of Brooklyn, New York before setting off on an extensive international tour.”

BLEEDING THROUGH: “Orange County, California’s BLEEDING THROUGH is working on material for its next album, tentatively due in early 2012 via the Portland, Oregon-based independent record label Rise Records.”

CANNIBAL CORPSE: “Cannibal Corpse has begun recording their twelfth studio album at Sonic Ranch studios in Texas with producer Erik Rutan. The band has spent months writing the album and has recorded at Sonic Ranch in the past, but never with Rutan at the helm. More details on the album, including art, songs, title and more will be revealed in the months to follow. For now, the band is hard at work forging their next death metal offering.”

CARNIFEX: ““Until I Feel Nothing” will be released on October 25 via Victory Records. Produced by Tim Lambesis (AS I LAY DYING), the follow-up to 2010′s “Hell Chose Me” “captures an in-your-face extremity that drips with malice and ferocity, solidifying the effort as the most anticipated album of the year,” according to a press release. The cover artwork was created by famed comic book illustrator Menton3 (Silent Hill, Monocyte).”

CITY OF FIRE: CITY OF FIRE, the band featuring Burton C. Bell (FEAR FACTORY), bassist Byron Stroud (FEAR FACTORY, STRAPPING YOUNG LAD), guitarist Terry “Sho” Murray, and drummer Bob Wagner, will enter the studio this week to begin recording its sophomore album.”

CLOCKWORK SPIRIT: “AMARANTINE, the Helsinki, Finland-based metal band featuring members of AJATTARA, KIUAS, LIE IN RUINS and HANGING GARDEN, have changed its name to CLOCKWORK SPIRIT to coincide with the release of its self-titled debut album. Due on October 28, the CD will be distributed by the German label Dance Macabre Records and will initially be available only in Europe.”

CRADLE OF FILTH: “The UK’s premier extreme metal antagonist, Cradle Of Filth, has revealed the track list and artwork for the band’s upcoming CD/DVD mini-album entitled, Evermore Darkly…. The follow-on from last year’s, Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa, will hit stores in North America on October 18 through Nuclear Blast Records. Artwork comes courtesy of Natalie Shau, whom also contributed the cover art for Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa.”

CYNIC: “Progressive rock/metal band CYNIC will release a new EP, “Carbon-Based Anatomy”, on November 11 in Europe and November 15 in North America via Season Of Mist. Unlike last year’s “Re-Traced”, this new EP consists exclusively of brand new material.”

DYING FETUS: “DYING FETUS, HAIL OF BULLETS, WACO JESUS, SUFFOCATION and LOCK UP are among the artists who are featured on the “Death Feast Open Air 2010″ DVD. The set, which has a running time of almost two hours, was filmed and recorded during last year’s edition of the Death Feast Open Air festival on June 10-12, 2010 in Hünxe, Germany. As an extra bonus, the DVD includes a 30-minute special from Death Feast Open Air 2011. You can pre-order the “Death Feast Open Air 2010″ DVD for 15 euros (plus shipping and handling) at the Death Feast Open Air shop. Delivery starts November 1.”

FINNTROLL: “Finnish metal marauders FINNTROLL will release a special tour edition of their last album, “Nifelvind”, at the end of September. The digipak tour edition comes with new artwork by the band’s guitarist, Skrymer, and an extra CD including three brand-new cover versions: “Insects” (OINGO BOINGO), “Can You Forgive Her?” (PET SHOP BOYS) and “The God That Failed” (METALLICA). The cover versions were recorded and mixed at Sonic Pump Studios between June 27 and July 4 by FINNTROLL and Nino Laurenne.”

GOATWHORE: “Video footage of New Orleans natives GOATWHORE performing a brand new song, “Beyond The Spell Of Discontent”, on September 16 in Fort Walton Beach, Florida [has been recorded]. The entire concert is available at Tyronehood.tv. GOATWHORE recently entered Mana Recording Studios in St. Petersburg, Florida with producer with Erik Rutan to begin recording the follow-up to its most successful album to date, “Carving Out The Eyes Of God”. An early 2012 release via Metal Blade Records is expected.”

HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE: “With a newly rejuvenated lineup and its signature sound intact, San Francisco’s HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE has returned with “17th Street”, a brash and heartfelt song cycle, blending the best elements of NWOBHM, thrash, doom, and American folk music while somehow sounding unlike any of these. Due in Europe on October 24 (three days earlier in Germany), “17th Street” takes the band’s inimitable sound to a new level . . . . “I can see how someone could find it an upbeat record,” says John Cobbett, guitarist and producer of the band, also of underground metal legends LUDICRA and SLOUGH FEG. “There are glimmers of hope there. But if you listen carefully to each song, you’ll find that each one has its own point of view; you might find hope, or something very different, very dark.”

I DECLARE WAR: “Seattle’s I Declare War is back with their sophomore Artery Recordings album, the self-entitled “I Declare War”. The album will be released on October 11th. “I Declare War” is produced by Andreas Magnusson (The Black Dahlia Murder, Haste The Day). The album is the first the band recorded with new vocalist, Jamie Hanks.”

JOB FOR A COWBOY: “Arizona extreme metallers JOB FOR A COWBOY have entered Audiohammer Studios in Sanford, Florida to begin recording their next album for an early 2012 release via Metal Blade Records. The band is once again working with producer Jason Suecof (TRIVIUM, CHIMAIRA, DEVILDRIVER), who helmed the group’s latest EP, “Gloom”.”

KORN: “KORN will release its tenth studio album, “The Path Of Totality”, on December 6 via Roadrunner Records. But this one is unlike any KORN record. It’s even unlike any record released before. “The Path Of Totality” is an experimental album which finds KORN shifting gears and exploring new territory. For “The Path Of Totality”, the band collaborated with some of the leading dubstep and electronic producers in the world, including Skrillex, Excision, Datsik, Noisia, Kill the Noise, and 12th Planet. The result is something completely new, yet utterly and definitively KORN.”

KRISIUN: “Brazilian death metallers KRISIUN will release their new album, “The Great Execution”, on October 31 in Europe and November 1 in North America via Century Media Records. The band’s eighth studio CD “musically expands KRISIUN trademark high-speed death metal violence with a heavily increased amount of diversity ranging from extreme tempo variations over distinct rhythm patterns to clean guitars and even Flamenco parts!” according to a press release.”

LIKE MOTHS TO FLAME: “Ohio-based metalcore quintet LIKE MOTHS TO FLAMES has inked a European deal with Nuclear Blast Records. The band’s full-length debut, “When We Don’t Exist”, is scheduled for a November 11 release.”

METALLICA/LOU REED: “The musical collaboration between Lou Reed and METALLICA, “Lulu”, will be released on November 1 in North America via Warner Bros. Recordsand one day earlier (October 31) in the rest of the world through Universal Music.”

MORBUS CHRON: “The fine folks at Invisible Oranges are currently streaming MORBUS CHRON’s full-length debut “Sleepers In The Rift” in its entirety! The latest offering from the Swedish makers of audio filth is set for release in North America via Pulverised Records on September 27, 2011. A throwback to crude, early ’90s death metal, the hellions from MORBUS CHRON rekindle the vital atmosphere of this genre. “Sleepers In The Rift” was produced by Nicke Andersson (ex-Entombed), features artwork by Spanish fantasy/horror artist Raul Gonzales (Deceased, Abraxas, etc.) and will prove to be one of the finest hours in blistering, old-school death metal; the mortuary is now open and no corpse shall be spared! Prepare to be gut-fucked. Slay your ears HERE.”

MY DYING BRIDE: “Following the release of Evinta earlier this year, in which the band marked 20 years of existence with a release of symphonic compositions re-imagining past My Dying Bride themes, the UK doom legend now presents its latest chapter in the form of new EP, The Barghest O’ Whitby, to be released November 7th through Peaceville Records on CD and limited vinyl. This single track, 25-minute epic represents the epitome of poetic grace and funeral soundscapes from one of gothic doom’s most celebrated acts. With a masterful blend of pounding guitar riffs and sombre atmospheric passages, My Dying Bride embarks on a chilling journey through superstition and folklore.”

NIGHTWISH: “Finnish/Swedish symphonic metallers NIGHTWISH will release their new album, “Imaginaerum”, in Finland on Wednesday, November 30 and the rest of Europe on Friday, December 2 via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD will be made available in North America through Roadrunner Records.”

NOCTURNAL RITES: “Swedish power metallers NOCTURNAL RITES are currently rehearsing new songs and are preparing to start recording them in a few weeks or so. In the meantime, the band has released “a little trailer to let [the fans] know [the group is] still alive!”"

REDEMPTION: “REDEMPTION, the U.S. progressive metal band featuring in its ranks guitarist/songwriter Nick van Dyk and legendary FATES WARNING vocalist Ray Alder, will release its fifth studio album, “This Mortal Coil”, on September 26 in Europe and October 11 in North America via InsideOut Music.”

RUMPELSTILTSKIN GRINDER: “Candlelight Records has announced the worldwide signing of thrashers RUMPELSTILTSKIN GRINDER. The Philadelphia-based band is already working on its new album, titled “Ghostmaker”, expected for release early spring 2012.”

SHADOWS FALL: “Massachusetts metallers SHADOWS FALL will enter the studio in October to begin recording their new album for an early 2012 release.”

SHINING: “Norwegian “blackjazz” outfit SHINING (not to be confused with the Swedish extreme metal band of the same name) will release its first-ever live DVD and CD, “Live Blackjazz”, on November 11 via Indie Recordings. The effort was produced by SHINING frontman Jørgen Munkeby and was mixed by Sean Beavan (MARILYN MANSON, NINE INCH NAILS, SLAYER). The mastering duties were handled by Tom Baker (MARILYN MANSON, NINE INCH NAILS).”

SLIPKNOT: “It’s been 10 years since SLIPKNOT unleashed its second album, “Iowa”, on the world. . . . To celebrate the album’s decade of existence, the band is releasing a special, tenth-anniversary edition of this landmark release, which will drop on November 1. . . . Disc One will comprise the original “Iowa” album along with a remix of “My Plague” as an added bonus track. Disc Two will include the full live audio from the legendary “Disasterpieces” DVD, where the band’s 2002 show at the London Arena was captured by 30 cameras and released as a concert film. The DVD will include “Goat”, a new film directed by M. Shawn Crahan featuring never-before-seen interviews and footage showing the madness that surrounded the “Iowa” era, plus four music videos.”

SOULDRAINER: “Swedish death metallers SOULDRAINER will release their second full-length, “Heaven’s Gate”, on November 25 via ViciSolum Productions. The follow-up to 2007′s “Reborn” was recorded at Empire Studio in Frösön, Sweden and was produced, mixed and mastered my Marcus Edvardsson.”

STORM CORROSION: “STORM CORROSION, the much-anticipated collaboration project between OPETH’s Mikael Åkerfeldt and PORCUPINE TREE’s Steven Wilson, has completed work on its self-titled debut album for an April 2012 release through an as-yet-undicslosed record label.”

SWALLOW THE SUN: “Finnish doom metallers SWALLOW THE SUN check in with the following update: ‘During the well-deserved break we took from shows this year, we’ve been preparing new music, and now we are happy to announce that we have entered Drumforest Studios at Viitasaari to record our fifth full length album, which will be released February 1, 2012 by Spinefarm Records.’”

TAAKE: “TAAKE’s fifth full-length album, “Noregs Vaapen”, was released in Europe on September 20 via Dark Essence Records and will be made available on November 1 in the USA.”

TERROR: “On November 1, Los Angeles hardcore/metal band TERROR will release the “Defining The Faith” DVD as part of the special deluxe reissue of the group’s latest CD, “Keepers Of The Faith”. Produced, edited, and authored by Carlo Oppermann and Ambitious.Films, “Defining The Faith” features a full live set that is composed of three different TERROR shows in three distinct settings: a small club, a big hall, and a massive European festival.”

TESTAMENT: “TESTAMENT has been spending time in the studio recording its new album, “Dark Roots Of Earth”, tentatively due in February 2012 via Nuclear Blast Records.”

UFOMAMMUT: “Italian masters of thunderous psychedelic doom UFOMAMMUT have inked a deal with Neurot Recordings for the release of their next album. . . UFOMAMMUT is in the studio at this very moment working on their next epic.”

VENOM: “VENOM, the hugely influential U.K. outfit now celebrating a full 30 years since the release of its “Welcome To Hell” debut, will have a brand new studio album released on November 28 via Spinefarm Records/Universal. Titled “Fallen Angels” and featuring 13 fresh recordings produced by mainman/bassist Conrad “Cronos” Lant, this is the follow-up to 2008′s “Hell” release, and sees the trio (completed by guitarist Rage and drummer Dante) adopting a style highly redolent of classic early VENOM with modern studio technology employed only to increase the general level of nastiness.:

VOIVOD: “Canadian metal innovators VOIVOD are continuing to write and demo new material for their upcoming album, tentatively due in early 2012. The follow-up to 2009′s “Infini” will contain the band’s first music to be written with new guitarist Daniel “Chewy” Mongrain (MARTYR) following the passing of original axeman Denis “Piggy” D’Amour in 2005.”

June is behind us, July lies ahead. Here in the U.S., we’re about to start the long weekend leading up to Independence Day, when Americans celebrate the birth of the nation by buying explosive ordinance wherever fine explosive ordinance is sold and lighting up the night sky (in addition to blowing the shit out of objects and sometimes themselves). People will also be exposing unsightly parts of their bodies wherever sun can be found and eating large quantities of health food prepared on outdoor grills. Our Founding Fathers would be proud of what they wrought!

Because the last month has ended, that means it’s time for another installment of METAL IN THE FORGE, in which we collect news blurbs and press releases we’ve seen over the last month about forthcoming new albums from bands we know and like (including occasional updates about releases we’ve included in previous installments of this series), or from bands that look interesting, even though we don’t know their music yet. In this series, we cut and paste those announcements and compile them in alphabetical order.

Remember — this isn’t a cumulative list. If we found out about a new album during May or preceding months, we wrote about them in previous installments of this series. So, be sure to check the Category link called “Forthcoming Albums” on the right side of this page to see forecasted releases we reported earlier. This month’s list begins right after the jump. Look for your favorite bands, or get intrigued about some new ones. And feel free to tell us about how we fucked up by omitting releases that we overlooked.

ABORTED: “Death metal psychopaths ABORTED have entered Hansen Studios in Ribe, Denmark with producer Jacob Hansen (INVOCATOR,HATESPHERE, VOLBEAT) to begin recording their seventh full-length album, “Global Flatline”, for a late 2011 release via Century Media Records. 15 tracks of “the most brutal and intense material the band has written to date” are laid down for the effort, with 12 tracks set to appear on the regular CD and the rest to be used as bonus material.”

ABORYM: “Legendary Italian industrial/post-black metallers ABORYM have inked a worldwide deal with Agonia Records. The band’s sixth album will be released in 2012 and it will coincide with the group’s 20th anniversary.”

ADRENALINE MOB: “ADRENALINE MOB, the new band featuring former DREAM THEATER/AVENGED SEVENFOLD drummer Mike Portnoy, SYMPHONY X frontman Russell Allen, guitar virtuoso Mike Orlando (SONIC STOMP), bassist Paul DiLeo and STUCK MOJO/FOZZY axeman Rich Ward, has posted audio samples from its upcoming debut album on the group’s Facebook page (you must “like” the page in order to hear the samples).”

ALL SHALL PERISH: “Oakland, California extreme metallers ALL SHALL PERISH will release their fourth full-length album, “This Is Where It Ends”, on July 26 (North America) and July 29 (Europe) via Nuclear Blast Records. A pre-order package containing the new CD, an official ALL SHALL PERISH “party tech” 34 oz. mug and shot glass, a new ALL SHALL PERISH shirt, and five ALL SHALL PERISH condoms is now available for “only $32 dollars.” A press release states, “For the price of two CD’s you can get drunk, have safe sex, and still support an incredible band. What are you waiting for? ”

AMON: “Former DEICIDE members Eric Hoffmann (guitar) and Brian Hoffman (guitar) recently resurrected their pre-DEICIDE band AMON with Jesse “Jecheal” Jolly (PROMETHEAN HORDE, DIABOLIC, SUCCESS WILL WRITE APOCALYPSE ACROSS THE SKY, AFTER DEATH) on vocals/bass and and Mike Petrak (LEPROSY, SUCCESS WILL WRITE APOCALYPSE ACROSS THE SKY) on drums. The Florida-based quartet entered RedRoom Recorders in Tampa on December 10, 2010 with producer Mark Prator to record its new album, entitled “Liar In Wait”.”

ANIMALS AS LEADERS: “ANIMALS AS LEADERS is currently recording its second CD with drummer Navene Koperweis handling production duties. A fall release is expected.”

BLUT AUS NORD: “”777 – The Desanctification”, the eagerly awaited second part of BLUT AUS NORD’s “777″ trilogy, is currently being recorded and will be released via Debemur Morti Productions this coming September.”

CADAVERIA: “CADAVERIA, the Italian band featuring former OPERA IX vocalistCadaveria and ex-OPERA IX drummer/NECRODEATH vocalist Marçelo Santos (a.k.a. Flegias), has issued the following update: “Well, we can say the new album is almost done! We are finishing the mix and refining the last tracks and, during the next week, we will begin working on the mastering. It is now early to talk about an official release date for CADAVERIA fourth full-length. However, we can assume it could be in stores before the end of this year.”

CHIMAIRA: “A 43-second video teaser for “The Age Of Hell”, the new album from Cleveland, Ohio metallers CHIMAIRA, can be seen here. The CD is due in August in North America, South America and Japan via eOne Music.”

CIPHER SYSTEM: “Nuclear Blast Records has announced the signing of the Swedish futuristic and extreme metal act CIPHER SYSTEM. 15 years after the birth of the band, CIPHER SYSTEM returns with what has to be described as a masterpiece in a genre where innovation has become sparse, putting their murderous machinations on public display, forged with fearsome skill and precision: “Communicate The Storm”. Packed in the rapturous art of a true genius of darkened visuals, Seth Siro Anton (SOILWORK, PARADISE LOST, SEPTICFLESH), and with a mix once again stemming from the hallowed grounds of Studio Fredman, this colossus of an album is sure to send tremors throughout the scene when it hits the street on September 9.”

DECAPITATED: “Polish technical death metal band DECAPITATED will release their fifth studio album, “Carnival Is Forever”, in North America on July 12 viaNuclear Blast Records.”

DENIAL FIEND: “Horror metal supergroup DENIAL FIEND will release its second full-length album, “Horror Holocaust”, on August 2 via Ibex Moon Records. Recorded at Mana Recording Studios in St. Petersburg, Florida, the long-awaited follow-up to 2007′s “They Rise” is the band’s first CD to feature DENIAL FIEND‘s current lineup of drummer Rob Rampy (D.R.I.), vocalist Blaine Cook (THE ACCUSED), bassist Terry Butler (DEATH, SIX FEET UNDER, MASSACRE) and guitarist Sam Williams (DOWN BY LAW).”

DESCENDING: “After a long period of intensive work in Greece and Sweden along with producer Fredrik Nordström (IN FLAMES, DIMMU BORGIR, ARCH ENEMY) at Fredman studios, Athens, Greece-based death/thrash metal band DESCENDING has completed work the follow-up to its debut album,“Enter Annihilation”, which was released in European and Japanese markets in 2008-2009. The new CD, “New Death Celebrity”, will be made available on September 23 via Massacre Records. A single, “How Much This Life Weights?”, is now available for free download at this location.”

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA: “Dayton, Ohio Christian metalcore band THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA has set “Dead Throne” as the title of its new album, due in the U.S. on September 13 via Ferret Music and one day earlier internationally through Roadrunner Records.”

DIR EN GREY: “Japanese rockers DIR EN GREY will release their eighth studio album,“Dum Spiro Spero”, two years and ten months after “Uroboros”, which garnered overwhelming support as the strongest and the maddest record resonating across the globe.”

DOMINANZ: “DOMINANZ, the atmospheric metal band from Norway, will release its new album, “As I Shine”, in Europe on August 19 via Industrial Silence Production and Rock N Growl Distro/Cargo Records. The CD was recorded and mixed at Conclave Studio by Bjørnar E. Nilsen and Roy N. Mathisen and mastered at Earshot Studio by Herbrand Larsen.”

DOWN: “DOWN guitarist Kirk Windstein has confirmed to Radio Metal that the band is planning to release four separate EPs over the course of the next couple of years. “We’re going to do four EPs, and they’ll all be different,” he said. “We have many elements to our sound, so each one will have its own characteristics. Like, for example, this one we’re writing right now and are about to start recording will be really hard, with heavy DOWNstuff. Then we’ll have a mellow one, then a doom one — you know, slower and doomy stuff. A little bit of everything.”

DYING FETUS: “Maryland-based extreme metallers DYING FETUS will enter the studio in November to begin recording their new album for an early 2012 release.”

EAST OF THE WALL: “Technical metal subversives EAST OF THE WALL have completed the recording process for their upcoming third full-length, The Apologist, the highly anticipated opus set for release this October on Translation Loss Records for the CD and digital release, and on Antithetic for the vinyl release. The album’s official release date, track listing and more will be announced within the next few weeks.”

GENERATION KILL: “GENERATION KILL, the crossover metal outfit featuring EXODUS frontman Rob Dukes, has set “Red White And Blood” as the title of its debut album, due on September 16 in Europe and September 27 in North America via Season Of Mist. A digital single containing the CD’s title track and a cover of the NINE INCH NAILS classic “Wish” will precede the full-length effort on July 4.”

GHOST BRIGADE: “Finnish metallers GHOST BRIGADE will release their third album, “Until Fear No Longer Defines Us”, on August 19 in Europe and August 23 in North America via Season Of Mist.”

GOJIRA: “The GOJIRA EP (Sea Shepherd) is tentatively scheduled for release in September, with a new full new album to follow later. Regarding what the new GOJIRA material sounds like, Duplantier said, “It’s GOJIRA but wiser and heavier.”

GORGORTH: “”Under The Sign Of Hell 2011″, the re-recording of GORGOROTH’s third album, will be released by Regain Records and has had it release date pushed back to August 29 from the previously announced June 20 due to “manufacturing problems.” On the LP, Pest and Infernus repeat their roles as vocalist and guitarist/bassist, respectively, from the original 1996 recording, while Tomas Asklund handles the drums.”

HACKNEYED: “German death metal lunatics HACKNEYED will release their third album, “Carnival Cadavre”, on August 22 in Europe and August 30 in North America via Lifeforce Records.”

HATESPHERE: “Danish thrashers HATESPHERE have entered Antfarm Studio in Aarhus, Denmark with producer Tue Madsen (SICK OF IT ALL, THE HAUNTED, GOREFEST, MOONSPELL) to begin recording their new album for a September release via Napalm Records.”

INSOMNIUM: “Finnish melodic death metallers INSOMNIUM have set “One For Sorrow” as the title of their new album, due in October via Century Media Records. The CD was recorded in Gothenburg, Sweden with sound engineer Daniel Antonsson (also 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.”

LANDMINE MARATHON: “LANDMINE MARATHON are recording the follow-up to 2010′s “Sovereign Descent”. Once again, the band’s as-yet-untitled fourth CD is being tracked at guitarist Ryan Butler‘s Arcane Digital Recording Studios, where he’s recorded past efforts from the band, as well as those by MISERY INDEX, PHOBIA, THE FUNERAL PYRE and many more. LANDMINE MARATHON is about to enter the mixing stage and is aiming for a late fall release.”

LEVIATHAN: From the Profound Lore label — “We will be releasing the next full-length from the cursed U.S. black metal enigma LEVIATHAN in the late stages of the fall (if all goes accordingly to schedule). Recently the notorious Wrest has tracked the new album with Sanford Parker at Engine Studios in Chicago and will be laying down the final touches to this hateful, wretched piece of tormenting dismal black metal art soon enough. Beware…”

MACHINE HEAD: “San Francisco Bay Area metallers MACHINE HEAD have set “Unto The Locust” as the title of their new album, due in late September via longtime label Roadrunner Records. The CD was recorded at JingleTown Studios in Oakland, with frontman Robb Flynn producing, and it is sure to level anything and everything that happens upon its path.”

METALLICA: “Producer Rick Rubin, who is also co-chairman of Columbia Records, tells Billboard.com in a new interview that METALLICA is “about to start writing” material for the follow-up to 2008′s “Death Magnetic” album, Rubin‘s first collaboration with the group. “I had a meeting with [METALLICA drummer] Lars [Ulrich] in San Francisco… to explore what the focus was going to be this time around,” Rick says.”

NIGHTRAGE: “Multi-national thrashers NIGHTRAGE have set “Insidious” as the title of their fifth album, due on September 27 (one day earlier internationally) via Lifeforce Records. The CD features guest appearances by Gus G. (OZZY OSBOURNE, FIREWIND), Tomas S. Englund (EVERGREY), Apollo Papathanasio (FIREWIND, SPIRITUAL BEGGARS), John K (BIOMECHANICAL) and the band’s former frontman Tomas Lindberg (also known for his work with AT THE GATES, THE CROWN and LOCK UP).”

PUSCIFER: “PUSCIFER, the project ringleader Maynard James Keenan describes as “‘Twin Peaks’ in the desert,” will release “Conditions Of My Parole” on October 18 via Puscifer Entertainment. “Man Overboard”, the first single from the album, will be available via iTunes and other digital service providers on July 19.”

RINGWORM: “Cleveland, Ohio hardcore heavyweights RINGWORM will release their fifth album, “Scars”, on July 19 via Victory Records. Twenty years after its 1991 birth, RINGWORM “rise above with the brutal new release to remind fans why they are the pioneering visionaries of the hardcore genre known as ‘crossover,’” according to a press release. ”

SKELETONWITCH: “Athens, Ohio’s SKELETONWITCH has set “Forever Abomination” as the title of its new record, due in the fall via Prosthetic Records. The follow-up to 2009′s “Breathing The Fire” is being recorded at a Los Angeles studio with producer Matt Hyde (SLAYER, MACHINE HEAD, KREATOR).”

SOULDRAINER: “Swedish death metallers SOULDRAINER have inked a deal with ViciSolum Productions. The band’s second full-length album will be released in the fall. . . . SOULDRAINER previously decribed the new material as “beautiful, evil, slightly more aggressive and heavier” than that on “Reborn” (2007). The band added, “Prepare for an epic death/doom album so heavy it will blow your face off.’”

SPAWN OF POSSESSION: “Drummer Henrik “Morris” Schönström of Swedish technical death metallers SPAWN OF POSSESSION has entered Pama Studios in Kristianopel, Sweden with engineer Magnus “Mankan” Sedenberg to begin recording the band’s new album for a fall release via Relapse Records. The CD will contain nine tracks plus an instrumental intro.”

SPINEFARM ALLSTARS: “Finnish record label Spinefarm Records will celebrate its 20th anniversary by organizing a “summer camp” in July where members of various bands signed to the company — including those from SHINING, MOONSORROW, SWALLOW THE SUN, FINNTROLL, MEDEA and ENSIFERUM — will collaborate with each other in creating and recording new songs. The resulting album, tentatively titled “Spinefarm Allstars”, will be released before the end of the year.”

TESTAMENT: “San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal veterans TESTAMENT have just entered the studio with British producer Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, ARCH ENEMY, NEVERMORE, MACHINE HEAD) to begin recording their new album for a late 2011 release.”

YOB: “Doom metallers YOB will release their sixth album, “Atma”, on August 16 via Profound Lore Records. The follow-up to 2009′s “The Great Cessation” is described in a press release as “dirtier and sludgier than ever before.” The CD features guest appearances by NEUROSIS’ Scott Kelly on the tracks “Before We Dreamed Of Two Mastered” and “Adrift In The Ocean”.”

Shining‘s new album, VII / Född Förlorare (“born loser” in English) is one of the most musically varied, beautifully written, and superbly executed albums I’ve heard this year. It also may be the most surprising.

Maybe I wouldn’t have been so surprised if I’d been more familiar with the band’s previous releases, but I came to the album as a Shining newbie, never having heard any of the earlier music. What I had in my head before listening were bits and pieces of things I’d heard or read over the years — that the band played a mix of black metal and doom, that the lyrics promoted suicide and other forms of self-injury (including drug abuse), that the band’s concerts have turned violent on occasion, and that frontman Niklas Kvarforth mutilates himself on stage. There was also this quote from Kvarforth that I read someplace (the original source is here):

“Of course we support suicide, SHINING support all that is negative in this bastard world of ours. We have had a couple of cases in the past with people whom have ended their lives under the influence or partially under the influence of our work and of course this is a true blessing indeed, yet we pray for increased numbers of fatalities.”

With all that, and a general sense I had that Shining really doesn’t care what anyone thinks of them or their music, I’m not completely sure what I was expecting from the new album, but it wasn’t what I got. What I got was something that defies easy characterization, a mixture of folk music, progressive metal, acoustic ballads, chug-heavy aggression, wonderfully varied vocals, and absolutely blistering guitar solos. The music is rich and often has the feel of something intensely personal. Yes, it’s mostly dark and melancholy, but it didn’t make me feel suicidal at all.  (more after the jump . . .)

The album, recorded over a three-year period, contains six songs. All the music and lyrics (sung exclusively in Swedish) were written by Niklas Kvarforth. Whatever else you may think of him — and I’m sure he really doesn’t give a fuck — there’s no denying he’s extremely talented. As you’ll see, he also had some valuable help on this album, not only from the other talented musicians in Shining but also from guests.

The album’s opening track, “Förtvivlan, Min Arvedel” (Despair, My Heritage) is the subject of a music video we featured here a couple weeks ago. We were really taken with that song then — it’s what led us to beg for an advance listen to the rest of the album — and it hasn’t lost any of its luster with repeated listening.

Lyrically, it’s about as bleak and hopeless as it could be, but the music is striking. To steal from what I wrote when we featured the video: “It’s almost two songs in one — a galvanizing charge of groove-inscribed black-metal catharsis and a haunting melody carried by acoustic guitar and clean singing. Yet those two creations are twined together, the one flowing seamlessly into the other and back again in a way that makes perfect sense.”

Second song, “Tiden Läker Inga Sår” (Time Heals Nothing), is another study in contrasts that complement each other. The first segment of the song and the last are slow and beautiful, driven by acoustic guitar, flute, and moving, clean vocals (along with a hacking cough). In the middle, the vocals turn harsh and anguished and the music is all metal, with howling guitars and ravaging double bass. Watain‘s Erik Danielsson provides guest vocals on this track.

Unless you speak Swedish, you wouldn’t know that, lyrically, the song is an inducement to suicide — yours.

“Människa O’Avskyvärda Människa” (Man Despicable Man) is the track I’ve come back to the most, because parts of it just set my head on fire — the parts that feature extended guitar solo’s by Arch Enemy‘s Chris Amott and Shining guitarist Peter Huss. They jump forward in the mix and blaze like comets in a night sky; in my humble opinion, you won’t find better on any metal album this year. When those guitars aren’t blazing, the music is a pattern of heavy, chugging riffs and jabbing verse rhythms. But this song, too, has a double nature, with the first guitar solo preceded by a subdued instrumental performed with acoustic guitar, bass, and synthesizer.

The fourth and fifth songs are really one long song, and the most beautiful work(s) on the album. “Tillsammans Är Vi Allt” (Together We Are All) is itself more than nine minutes in length. A grand piano leads the opening of the song before driving drum-and-bass rhythms and buzzing guitars take over. In the verse, Kvarforth’s anguished howls hold sway, but the remarkably memorable clean-voiced refrain is provided by a Swedish pop star named Nordman. In the middle of the song, the pounding music melts away, replaced by the shimmer of a mellotron (when’s the last time you heard a mellotron on a metal album?) and a reverberating guitar.

The grand piano returns, with string accompaniment, at the end, and the piano melody flows right over without pause into the intro of “I Nattens Timma” (In The Night Hour). This turns out to be a cover of a song by a Swedish prog/art-rock band called Landberk from their 1992 album Riktigt Akta. On this song, the principal instruments are the piano and the mellotron, though there’s also a masterful acoustic guitar solo. The haunting melody is sung with clean voices, including a guest vocal appearance by Peter Bjärgö of Arcana.

The last track, “FFF”, opens with an industrial-style rhythm with a rising bass line and ringing guitars, followed by an acoustic guitar melody with Kvarforth’s clean vocals. But then the song fucking erupts — harsh, agonizing vocals; double-bass hammering a mile a minute; and raucous guitars that whirr and stab. Even on this track, an acoustic guitar makes a brief appearance in the mid-section, but it’s soon overwhelmed by another head-spinning guitar solo before the synthesizer and acoustic instrumental that brings the album to a close.

In this last song, true to form, Kvarforth lyrically curses his parents, himself, and the entire, defective human gene pool that has perverted the Earth.

No question, human beings have done a pretty good job fucking up our home and each other (with no real end to that in sight), but as long as human beings can create music as good as what’s to be found on VII / Född Förlorare, I think I’ll stick around a while longer.

“Människa O’Avskyvärda Människa” may not be the most artistically accomplished song on the album, but it fucking rocks. I like to fucking rock, and so that’s the one I’ve picked to stream with this review:

VII / Född Förlorare was released in Europe on May 25 by Spinefarm, and the album will be released in the U.S. during July.

More information about Shining can be found on the band’s MySpace page. The lyrics are available at Shining’s Metal Archives page, and Google Translate renders them into English pretty effectively.

Ah, fuckit, since I’ve gone on this long about Shining, might as well toss in some performance videos. The first one is the band performing the track “I och med insikt skall du förgå” from the fourth album, The Eerie Cold, live at Party.San in 2009. After that is the same song I streamed for you off the new album, performed live in Belgium last October; Kvarforth gears up for that one by snorting a line on stage.

This morning brought news of two brand new videos that hit the silver screens overnight, and neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night will stay us in the swift completion of our appointed rounds in delivering them to you. Both songs are amazing. Both videos are beautifully made. In other words, these are must-see offerings.

Two weeks ago we posted a feature on the very impressive new EP by Atlanta’s From Exile — a compilation of four covers from the extravagant songbook of Nine Inch Nails under the title Just Like You Imagined. The band have now released a video for one of those songs, the ephemeral, otherworldly “A Warm Place”. Of the four excellent songs on the EP, that purely instrumental piece made the deepest impression on us.

As we said in our review: “From Exile’s take on the song magnifies the rush and power of the sound, and a more flowing, reverberating guitar lead/solo by Emil Werstler (Daath) replaces the isolated keyboard notes of the original. Werstler’s contribution is a superb and all-too-brief piece of instrumental extravagance, thankfully reprised again near the song’s end.” The simplicity of the video suits the song — Werstler standing in an empty upper floor of a church, doing his thing, illuminated by the natural light filtering softly through stain-glassed windows.

The seventh full length album from Sweden’s Shining is called VII / Född Förlorare”, which in English means “Born Loser”. It was released this month on the band’s new label Spinefarm Records, and includes guest appearances from Erik Danielsson of Watain, Chris Amott of Arch Enemy, Peter Bjärgö of Arcana, and Nordman, who is one of Sweden’s biggest pop stars. Shining have now released an official video for the song called “Förtvivlan, Min Arvedel” — which is the first video the band have ever released in their 15-year history. The video is expertly filmed and edited, and it’s powerful. And the song — the song is simply fantastic. (more after the jump . . .)

Perpetually behind as we are, we still haven’t gotten around to hearing Shining’s new album — this video was our first introduction to the album’s music. Based on Google Translate, the Swedish song title means “Despair, My Inheritance”. It’s almost two songs in one — a galvanizing charge of groove-inscribed black-metal catharsis and a haunting melody carried by acoustic guitar and clean singing. Yet those two creations are twined together, the one flowing seamlessly into the other and back again in a way that makes perfect sense.

As noted, the video is superbly made, interspersing scenes of the band performing the song and episodes of drug use and self-mutilation. The lyrics are in Swedish, but if the subject matter of the video is faithful to the lyrical content, the song deals with addiction. I don’t see it as any kind of glorification of drug use, nor do I think the scenes of self-mutilation are gratuitous; they’re in the video for a reason.

I suppose some people could criticize the content. At least Shining suspects that will happen: “We know we are going to get heavily criticised for some of the scenes” commented front man and founder Niklas Kvarforth, “but it’s nothing more than you will see as soon as you switch on a television or watch a move, or walk down a city street come to that.  But we’re SHINING and it’s always open season on SHINING when it comes to people who have neither understood, nor taken the time to try and understand, where the band is coming from”.

The video comes in a censored and an uncensored version. We’ll put both of them in this post because, YouTube being YouTube, I suppose there’s always a chance someone will get their panties in a bunch and make YouTube take down the uncensored one. Below, the uncensored on appears first.

Okay, we’ll have an end to the words now. Hope you enjoy these two vidz, and the music, as much as I did.

From Exile’s new EP is available for free download at this location.

Liz is 25 years old. Two years ago, Liz had 40 songs on her iPod and “a graveyard of abandoned projects”. She found a book called 1001 Albums You Should Listen To Before You Die. The book starts with a Frank Sinatra album called In The Wee Small Hours from 1955 and goes up to 2007. On a day 516 days ago, Liz decided to start listening to all the albums in that book. She listens to one album each day, from start to finish, and then she writes her impressions in a blog. On May 6, 2012, if she keeps this up, she’ll have listened to someone’s idea of the best 1001 albums in history.

What caught my eye was that this list of 1001 albums includes some metal. I haven’t made my way through very many of Liz’s posts, but on April 2 (Day 513) she listened to The Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden and on March 26 (Day 510) she listened to Black Metal by Venom. By her own admission, Liz was in a “tiny music bubble” when she started this project. Whatever music was in the bubble with her, it’s fair to say that it didn’t include anything like Iron Maiden or Venom.

I like imagining how non-metalheads react when they listen to metal. Reading Liz’s take on these albums, seeing them through the eyes of someone who is new to the genre but is clearly doing her best to keep an open mind, is kind of fun. Of course, she hasn’t been converted — yet. It would have been better if she had found a list of the 1001 best extreme metal albums of all time and forced herself to do that for 1001 days, though she might have been hospitalized before finishing. Also, I’m not sure there are 1001 great extreme metal albums.

After the jump, you can see what she wrote about The Number of the Beast and Black Metal. You can also hear a brand new track from the Swedish band called Shining (not the Norwegian one by the same name) from their next album. I’m wondering how Liz would react to this beast of a song (it’s a fucking killer).

Here’s Liz’s take on Black Metal:

Oh hey. Guess what these guys do….extreme heavy metal. Extreme? So heavy metal wasn’t crazy enough? Black metal, Venom’s cup of tea, is, and I quote, “It often uses fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure.” So, as you can imagine, I couldn’t get enough of it.

Oh I’m just kidding. Heavy metal…go sit with psychedelic music and jazz and think about what you’ve done.

I wanted to somehow get on board with these guys. I attempted to reason with heavy metal with The Birthday Party and get my head around the appeal. I still sort of get it and I see where it came from…people wanted to break with the conventions of rock and just go crazy.

I get it.

I just don’t like it.

I’m sorry boys.

Here’s a list of other manly things I don’t care for…let’s just get this out of the way:

1. Caddyshack…not funny.
2. I didn’t even get vaguely weepy over Field of Dreams.
3. Star Wars…overrated.
4. Clint Eastwood? No thanks.
5. Boxing…wrestling…don’t get it.

I’m sure there’s more. Don’t hate me…it’s just little princess ears can’t handle this kind of angsty loudness. I’m sure this is great heavy metal but I couldn’t wait until the album was over. 2 stars.

Now here’s what Liz had to say about The Number of the Beast:

Iron Maiden. You, my friends, are the perfect amount of bad-assery. Scary metal…meet Iron Maiden…these guys know how to rock out without giving me a cluster headache.

This album was just so much fun. Every ounce of it was so tremendously epic and I just wanted to be in a huge crowd screaming and jumping around while it was playing. “22 Acacia Avenue” has these crazy guitar solos, I mean crazy. This song was incredible, it got me all hopped

This album was definitely going for something. They had the whole intro to The Prisoner (love that show!) in the song “The Prisoner” which made me smile. “The Number of the Beast” had a quote from The Bible about 666. I couldn’t quite put the connection together…number theme…but it didn’t mater. It definitely gave this heavy metal album some interesting weight.

Overall, I was really into this album. It was heavy metal with a lot more emphasis on the rock and less on the scary crap. It really focused on the amazing guitar and drum work. It’s quite a listen. 5 stars.

So, 5 stars for The Number of the Beast shows that Liz’s mind isn’t closed. But 2 stars for Black Metal shows that it isn’t open quite wide enough yet. Still, there’s hope for Liz.

Maybe she’ll take a momentary break from Def Leppard‘s Pyromania (which appears to be what’s on her list for today) and have a listen to this next song. It’s called “Förtvivlan, Min Arvedel” (Despair, My Heritage) and it will be on the new album from Shining called VII / Född Förlorare, which in English means “Born Loser”. The album is scheduled for release on May 25 via Shining’s new label, Spinefarm.

So Liz, what’d you think of that monster? It fucking slayed me. Give me more! May 25 will not come soon enough.

Liz’s blog is here.  Thanks to the incomparable Presurfer blog for writing about Liz and giving me the idea for this post. Cover art for the new Shining album is below:

Technically, we should have posted this yesterday, but yesterday was April Fool’s Day, and people might have thought we were making up some of this shit. But it’s all true, and nothing happens on April 2 to plant doubt about truth. Except for what causes doubt to be planted about truth on any other day of the year.

Here we are at the beginning of the second quarter of 2011 — the time when for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, spring is supposed to spring.  Where I live, spring has apparently been victimized by a brutal street mugging and is hospitalized at the moment.  A few plants have been deluded into thinking it’s spring, but for the rest of our local world, it’s still fucking winter.

Fortunately, the change of the seasons have fuck all to do with the release of metal. What we do with these installments of METAL IN THE FORGE is collect news blurbs and press releases we’ve seen over the last 30 days (or in this case, the last 31 days) about forthcoming new albums from bands we know and like (including updates about releases we’ve included in previous installments of this series), or from bands that look interesting, even though we don’t know them yet. And in this post, we cut and paste the announcements and compile them in alphabetical order.

This isn’t a cumulative list, so be sure to check the Category link called “Forthcoming New Albums” on the right side of this page to see forecasted releases we reported in previous installments. This month’s list begins right after the jump. Look for your favorite bands, or get intrigued about some new ones. There’s some awesome shit on the way. Dive in after the jump.

ABSOLUTE POWER: “ABSOLUTE POWER, the U.K.-based classic metal band featuring former/current members of NAPALM DEATH and BENEDICTION as well as producers behind albums for such acts as PARADISE LOST, EVILE and CROWBAR, will release its long-awaited, self-titled album on May 9. The NWOBHM-inspired, fist-pumping warriors have been sitting on the finished product for some time, but are now ready to unleash the solos, the riffs… and the power.”

AGNOSTIC FRONT: “New York hardcore legends AGNOSTIC FRONT are less than three weeks away from releasing their latest album, My Life, My Way, in North America.”

ANAAL NATHRAKH: UK extremists Anaal Nathrakh will release their latest album, Passion, via Candlelight Records on May 17.”

ARKAN: “ARKAN — the band featuring drummer Foued Moukid (THE OLD DEAD TREE), vocalist Abder Abdellahoum (DAWN OF DECLINE), guitarists Samir Ramila and Mus Elkamal (WORTH), and growler Florent Jannier (WHISPER-X) — will release its sophomore album, Salam, on April 18 via Season Of Mist. The CD was recorded at Studio Fredman in Västra Frölunda, Sweden.”

ARSONISTS GET ALL THE GIRLS: “Santa Cruz, California-based progressive hardcore/death metallers ARSONISTS GET ALL THE GIRLS have set Motherland as the title of their fourth album, due on May 17 via Century Media Records. The CD was recorded at Castle Ultimate studios in Fremont, California with producer Zack Ohren (AS BLOOD RUNS BLACK, ALL SHALL PERISH).”

BENEATH: “Icelandic death metallers BENEATH are putting the finishing touches on their new album, Enslaved By Fear. The CD will contain nine songs and will be mixed by Daniel Bergstrand (MESHUGGAH, BEHEMOTH,IN FLAMES, DARK FUNERAL). The artwork will be created by Raymond Swanland (DEEDS OF FLESH, PSYCROPTIC).”

BLACK: “Vocalist Tony Martin (BLACK SABBATH), bassist Magnus Rosén (HAMMERFALL), guitarist Andy La Rocque (KING DIAMOND) and drummer Danny ‘Danté’ Needham (VENOM, TONY MARTIN) have joined forces in a new ‘supergroup’ which is presently going under the working band name BLACK. . . . BLACK is currently working on music at La Rocque‘s Sonic Train Studios in Varberg, Sweden as well as in England.”

BLOODBATH: “Swedish death metal ‘supergroup’ BLOODBATH will release of an all-new live DVD, Bloodbath Over Bloodstock, on April 25 via Peaceville Records. The deluxe mediabook-packaged set will feature BLOODBATH’s August 2010 performance from the Bloodstock festival— one of the U.K.’s leading metal events — consisting of songs from the critically acclaimed The Fathomless Mastery (2008) album, as well as other classics and fan favorites.”

CATALEPSY: “Central Florida-based metal band CATALEPSY will release its second album, Bleed, on May 10 via Eulogy Recordings. The CD was produced by Matt Johnson (THE AUTUMN OFFERING) and contains the track “Goliath”, which features guest vocals by Matt Bruso (BURY YOUR DEAD).”

DAWN OF DISEASE: “German death metallers DAWN OF DISEASE will release their debut album, Legends Of Brutality, on April 29 via Noise Art Records. The CD was recorded at Soundlodge Studio (GOD DETHRONED, DEW-SCENTED, SINISTER) with producer Jörg Uken.”

DEMONAZ: “Demonaz Occulta (real name: Harald Nævdal), the once-guitarist and chief lyricist for the Norwegian black metal veterans IMMORTAL, will release his first solo album, March Of The Norse, on April 1 in Europe and May 17 in North America via Nuclear Blast Records.”

DESCEND: “”The Life Delusion”, the new single from Swedish progressive death metallers DESCEND, is available for streaming. The single artwork was created by Emil Maxén . . . . “The Life Delusion” comes off the band’s debut album, Through The Eyes Of The Burdened, which will be released this spring/summer via Supernova Records.”

THE DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT: “Canadian musician/producer Devin Townsend (STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, STEVE VAI, LAMB OF GOD, DARKEST HOUR, GWAR) will release Deconstruction and Ghost — the third and fourth in a series of albums to be made available under THE DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT moniker — in Europe on June 20 via InsideOut Music. . . . According to Devin, ‘Ghost is the mellowest (by far) and prettiest record I’ve done so far’ with a ‘very wonderful vibe.’ . . . Devin previously described Deconstruction as ‘brutal in a lot of parts, but pretty glorious in others. It rides the fence of negativity but ultimately ends supremely positive.’”

DEVOLVED: “Australian/Los Angeles tech-metal masters DEVOLVED will release their new full-length album, Oblivion, on May 24 via Unique Leader Records. According to a press release, the CD will contain “’10 songs of unrelenting modern metal which combines uncompromising intensity, chaotic timing signitures, insane musicianship and a futuristic soundscape blended to create an epic and totally crushing listening experience from start to stop!’”

DIM MAK: “One of the greatest technical death metal bands ever assembled, New Jersey’s DIM MAK is working on its new album, Emergence Of Reptilian Altar, for a late 2011 release. The band recently finished tracking the bass and drums for the follow-up to 2006′s Knives Of Ice and is scheduled to begin laying down the guitars the first week of April.”

EAST OF THE WALL: “EAST OF THE WALL is extremely excited to announce that they will enter the studio on May 8th to begin work on their next record, The Apologist. The New Jersey-based technical metal unit will be recording at Translator Audio in Brooklyn, New York with Andrew Schneider, renowned for his work with Cave In, Pelican, Keelhaul, Unsane, Rosetta, City of Ships, Made Out of Babies and many others.”

EVILE: “British thrashers EVILE will enter the studio this weekend to begin recording their third album. . . . Commented EVILE lead guitarist Ol Drake: ‘This has been one hell of a 2011 already. We’ve been working non-stop on the material for EVILE‘s third album since early last year, and the past few months saw the workload pile up drastically. We’re on top of it though.’”

FALLUJAH: “Unique Leader Records has announced the signing of northern California act FALLUJAH. The band will enter the studio later this month to begin recording the follow-up to 2009 s Leper Colony EP, entitled The Harvest Wombs.”

THE GATES OF SLUMBER: “Doom lords THE GATES OF SLUMBER will unleash their hotly-anticipated fifth full-length album, The Wretch, on May 10 via Rise Above Records/Metal Blade. Featuring eight slabs of punishing metal, the CD boils doom down to its purest form, resulting in the Indianapolis trio’s finest work to date.”

GIGAN: “GIGAN, the Chicago-based band formed by guitarist Eric Hersemann (ex-DIABOLIC, HATE ETERNAL), will release its sophomore album, Quasi-Hallucinogenic Sonic Landscapes, on June 7 via Willowtip Records.”

GRAVEYARD: “Hisingen Blues, the second full-length album from the Gothenburg, Sweden-based psychedelic doom rock band GRAVEYARD, will be released in Europe on March 25 and in North America on April 19 via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD was produced, recorded, and mixed in 100 percent analog by Don Alsterberg (JOSÉ GONZALES, JUNIP, SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES, THE INTERNATIONAL NOISE CONSPIRACY) at Don Pierre Studios in Gothenburg, Sweden.”

HACKNEYED: “After releasing two albums on the Nuclear Blast label, German death metal lunatics HACKNEYED have inked a new deal with Lifeforce Records. The band is currently in the studio working on its third album for an August release.”

IMPENDING DOOM: “California-based Christian death metallers IMPENDING DOOM have inked a worldwide deal with eOne Music. The band is currently working on new material, to be released later this year.”

INFESTUS: “German black metal heathens INFESTUS will release their new album, E x | I s t, on May 19 in North America (one day earlier internationally) via Debemur Morti Productions. The impressive front cover drawing was executed by French artist Eric Lacombe.”

IN FLAMES: “Swedish metallers IN FLAMES have inked a deal with Century Media Records. The band’s tenth album, Sounds Of A Playground Fading, will be released on the following dates: Sweden – June 15; Germany – June 17; Rest Of Europe – June 20; North America – June 21″

IN SOLITUDE: “Swedish occult heavy metallers IN SOLITUDE will release their new album,The World. The Flesh. The Devil, in Europe on May 23 via Metal Blade Records. The eight-song, 58-minute CD was recorded in Nicke Andersson‘s (HELLACOPTERS, ENTOMBED, IMPERIAL STATE ELECTRIC) brand new studio Gutterview Recorders in Stockholm, Sweden with producer Fred Estby (DISMEMBER, DEATH BREATH).”

INSOMNIUM: “Finnish melodic death metallers INSOMNIUM have issued the following update: ‘The fifth INSOMNIUM studio album is beginning to take shape. We had a three-day training and songwriting session last week and we can now say that we have about eight songs more or less ready. We are entering the studio in April so we should have enough time to finish everything.’”

INTENSUS: “Metal Blade Records has announced the signing of INTENSUS, an exciting and unique recording project masterminded by multi-instrumentalist Eli Litwin, drummer of KNIFE THE GLITTER, BURDEN, NORMAL LOVE and others. . . . The first, self-titled INTENSUS album features vocals from Tommy Rogers (BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME), Robert Meadows (A LIFE ONCE LOST), Jesse Korman (THE NUMBER TWELVE LOOKS LIKE YOU),Chris Alfano (EAST OF THE WALL, POSTMAN SYNDROME), Jerry Jones(TROPHY SCARS), Travis Weinand (BURDEN, TETSUO), Evan Moore(GYPSY WIG, BIRTH SCREAMS), and Ruston Grosse. Also featured on the album, Alex Nagle (SATANIZED, ex-NORMAL LOVE) and Jason Herrmann (BURDEN, TETSUO) lend their guitar shredding skills for two incredible solos.”

IWRESTLEDABEARONCE: “IWRESTLEDABEARONCE — the Shreveport, Louisiana quintet now transplanted to Los Angeles, California — recently completed work on its second album at the band’s former house in Birmingham, Alabama. IWRESTLEDABEARONCE’s new album is due this summer via Century Media Records.”

JUNIUS: “Prosthetic Records has announced the signing of Boston’s JUNIUS, described by Rolling Stone magazine as “a perfect hybrid of NEUROSIS and THE SMITHS.” The band, formed in 2003, has previously released material on Radar Recordings and The Mylene Sheath, amongst others, and will begin work on its third full-length this spring.”

KILL DEVIL HILL: “KILL DEVIL HILL, the new band featuring Vinny Appice (HEAVEN & HELL, BLACK SABBATH, DIO) on drums, Rex Brown (DOWN, PANTERA) on bass, Mark Zavon (RATT, W.A.S.P., 40 CYCLE HUM) on guitar and Dewey Bragg on vocals, recently finished demoed around 10 songs, which, according to Appice, sound ‘like a cross between BLACK SABBATH, ALICE IN CHAINS and a little bit of LED ZEPPELIN thrown in. It’s heavy, but with a lot of cool hooks and melodic overtones, too.’”

LAKE OF TEARS: “Swedish metallers LAKE Of TEARS will release their new album, Illwill, on April 29 via AFM Records.”

LOST DREAMS: “Austria-based melodic death/dark metallers LOST DREAMS have set Blinded By Rage as the title of their fifth album, tentatively due late spring.”

MALFEITOR: “Reactivated Swedish death metallers MALFEITOR have issued the following update: ’17 years of waiting is finally over! MALFEITOR are finally working on new material for release during 2011!’”

MARDUK: “Swedish black metallers MARDUK have finished recording three songs for a new EP, Iron Dawn, that will be released in North America on the same day as the band’s appearance at the Maryland Deathfest on May 27 (May 30 in the rest of the world via Regain Records).”

MAYLENE AND THE SONS OF DISASTER: “MAYLENE & THE SONS OF DISASTER spent much of the last couple of months in the studio working on a new album. Due out this summer on Ferret, the CD was produced by Brian Virtue (ALL THAT REMAINS, 30 SECONDS TO MARS, CHEVELLE) and Rob Graves (RED, PILLAR, ALL THAT REMAINS).”

MEMORIAL: “Danish metallers MEMORIAL will release their sophomore album, Shatter The Art, on April 25 via the British label Copro Records/Casket Music. According to a press release, the new CD “shows MEMORIAL taking on a more groove-heavy sound, as well as keeping their passion for brutal and speedy metal intact.’”

MORBID ANGEL: “Florida-based death metal veterans MORBID ANGEL have set Illud Divinum Insanus as the title of their eagerly awaited new album, due on June 7 (one day earlier internationally) via Season Of Mist. Prior to the release of the album, a single for the song “Nevermore” will be out on May 16 as seven-inch vinyl and digital download. The B side will be another song from the album, remixed by COMBICHRIST.”

NECROPHAGIA: “Legendary gore metal pioneers NECROPHAGIA will release their new album, Deathtrip 69, on May 17 (one day earlier internationally) via Season Of Mist.”

NIGHTRAGE: “Multi-national thrashers NIGHTRAGE have completed work on 15 songs during the pre-production phase for their as-yet-untitled fifth album, which the band plans to start recording in June. ”

NORTHER: NORTHER‘s new album, Circle Regenerated, will be released globally on staggered dates, beginning March 30 in Japan and ending with the album’s April 19 release in the U.S.

REVOCATION: “REVOCATION are also putting the finishing touches on their new as-yet-untitled full-length album. The band recently recorded tracks at Damage Studios in Southbridge, Massachusetts with engineer Pete Rutcho. The follow-up to the band’s break-through Relapse debut Existence Is Futile is expected to see its release in summer 2011. REVOCATION (David Davidson: guitar / vocals, Anthony Buda: bass / vocals, Phil Dubois: drums, Dan Gargiulo: guitar / vocals) began the tracking process after their fall tour with DESPISED ICON and MISERY INDEX.”

SEPULTURA: “Brazilian/American thrashers SEPULTURA have set Kairos (an ancient Greek word signifying a time in between, a moment of undetermined period of time in which something special happens) as the title of their new album, tentatively due late spring/early summer via Nuclear Blast Records.”

SHEAR: “SHEAR, the new Helsinki, Finland-based six-piece metal act featuring former/current members of AMORAL, OMNIUM GATHERUM, IMPERANON, ELENIUM and CRYSTAL BLAZE, has entered Sonic Pump studios to begin recording its debut album for a late 2011 release.”

SHINING: “SHINING‘s seventh album, VII / Född Förlorare (English translation: “Born Loser”), will be released later in the year via Indie Recordings. . . . Making guest appearances on the album are Erik Danielsson (WATAIN), Peter Bjargo (ARCANA) and NORDMAN.”

SKINDRED: “Welsh ‘ragga metal’ act SKINDRED will release its fourth album, Union Black, on April 25 via BMG/7pm Records. The CD was recorded at Britannia Row Studios in London with producer James Loughrey.”

STORM CORROSION: “The much-anticipated collaboration project between OPETH‘s Mikael Åkerfeldt and PORCUPINE TREE‘s Steven Wilson, tentatively dubbed ‘Storm Corrosion’, has completed writing material for its debut album.Wilson says, ‘There’s still a lot of recording work to do, but this should definitely be out in early 2012.’”

TESSERACT: “”Eden”, brand new song from U.K. progressive metal hopefuls TESSERACT, is available for streaming on the band’s Facebook page. The track comes off the group’s debut album, One, which is scheduled for release on March 22 via Century Media Records.”

TOMBS: “Brooklyn, New York trio TOMBS has completed work on its brand new album, Path Of Totality, for a June 7 North American release via Relapse Records. The follow-up to Winter Hours“ was recorded atElmwood Recording studios in Dallas, Texas with engineer John Congleton (BARONESS, EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY, BLACK MOUNTAIN, ST. VINCENT).”

TORNADO: “TORNADO (formerly NEMESIS DIVINA), the American, Dutch and Finnish metal band featuring members of AMORAL and FUELBLOODED, is preparing to enter Abyss Studio in Pärlby, Sweden under the watchful eye of Swedish producer and HYPOCRISY/PAIN mainman Peter Tägtgren to record its debut album, Amsterdamn, Hellsinki, for release via the French label Listenable Records.”

T.R.A.M.: “T.R.A.M., the new band featuring Adrian Terrazas (THE MARS VOLTA) on saxophone, flute, bass clarinet and percussion, Javier Reyes (ANIMALS AS LEADERS) on guitar, Tosin Abasi (ANIMALS AS LEADERS) on guitar and Eric Moore (SUICIDAL TENDENCIES) on drums, will release its debut album, “Lingua Franca”, in May through Sumerian Records.”

TYR: “Faroese Viking metallers TÝR have set The Lay Of Thrym as the title of their sixth full-length album, due on May 27 via Napalm Records.”

VENOM: “British black metal pioneers VENOM are currently mixing their new album with producer Tom Belton at his London studio. An official release date for the effort has not yet been announced.”

VILE: “Californian brutal death metallers VILE have completed work on their fourth full-length album, Metamorphosis, for a fall 2011 release. According to the band, the CD is “a concept album which contains a wide variety of styles, tempos and lyrical topics with an interlocking philosophical and lyrical concept.”"

VOIVOD: “Canadian metal innovators VOIVOD will release a new live album, Warriors Of Ice, on April 5 via Indica Records. The CD was recorded on December 12, 2009 during the band’s first headlining show in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in ten years.”

VOMITORY: “Swedish death metal veterans VOMITORY will release their eighth studio album, Opus Mortis VIII, in Europe on April 26 via Metal Blade Records. The CD was produced, engineered and mixed by Rikard Löfgren at his Leon Music Studios and is said to be ‘the best-sounding VOMITORY album ever!’”

WINTERUS: “Michigan-based black metallers WINTERUS have set an April 26 release date for their Lifeforce Records debut, “In Carbon Mysticism”. According to a press release, the band is hoping the CD “will push the boundaries of black metal further than ever before, by creating a genre-defying psychedelic landscape built upon pummeling metal textures.”

THE WOLVES OF AVALON: “British pagan metal band THE WOLVES OF AVALON will release its new album, Carrion Crows Over Camlan, in April via Godreah Records. Featuring Metatron (THE MEADS OF ASPHODEL), THE WOLVES OF AVALON is an embodiment of ancient British spirit and pride and not to be confused with any modern interpretation of things long since buried by time and dust. By drafting in JM to create the music and traditional instrumentalist from other bands, Metatron’s vision has finally come to life.”

YGGDRASIL: “Swedish folk metal masters YGGDRASIL will release their new album,Irrbloss (English translation: “Will-o-wisps”) on April 25 via Grand Master Music. The long-awaited follow up to 2008′s Vedergällning was recorded, mixed and mastered at Grand Master Audio in Sweden.”