Album

EPICA Announces Special Album-Release Show

Dutch symphonic metallers EPICA will return to the stage on April 30, 2014 for an album-release show at 013 in Tilburg, The Netherlands. After taking a break from the road due the pregnancy of lead singer Simone Simons, the release of a new concert DVD, "Retrospect", as well as the writing and recording of the band's upcoming CD, the sextet will put on a memorable show, with plans to perform both old and new songs. EPICA is currently finishing up the pre-production of the follow-up to "Requiem For The Indifferent", with plans to enter the studio in October with producer Joost Van Den Broek (the former AFTER FOREVER and AYREON keyboard player who has previously worked with REVAMP and STREAM OF PASSION). To make the album-release show even more special, EPICA's fans will not only be able to purchase regular tickets, but there will be two exclusive bundles available for this event. The first bundle contains a signed version of the upcoming album and the second, larger bundle will consist of a goodie bag, containing a signed copy of the upcoming album, an exclusive T-shirt, flag, lanyard, VIP laminate and a limited-edition poster. Tickets and bundle for this show will go on sale Saturday, September 14, 2013 at 10:00 CET through Ticketmaster.nl. There will be special "early-bird" tickets available at reduced price. This offer is valid until September 28, 2013. EPICA celebrated its 10th anniversary with a one-night-only event, dubbed "Retrospect", on March 23 in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The band was accompanied by the seventy-piece Reményi Ede Chamber Orchestra and the Miskolc National Theatre Choir, playing an unforgettable three-hour best-of set.

DEICIDE: New Album Title, Track Listing Revealed

Florida death metal veterans DEICIDE will release their new album, "In The Minds Of Evil", this fall via Century Media Records. The CD is being recorded at AudioHammer Studios in Sanford, Florida with producer Jason Suecof (TRIVIUM, AUGUST BURNS RED, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, ALL THAT REMAINS, WHITECHAPEL,DEVILDRIVER). "In The Minds Of Evil" track listing: 01. In The Minds Of Evil 02. Thou Begone 03. Godkill 04. Beyond Salvation 05. Misery Of One 06. Between The Flesh And The Void 07. Even The Gods Can Bleed 08. Trample The Cross 09. Banished By Evil 10. Kill The Light Of Christ 11. End The Wrath Of God DEICIDE drummer Steve Asheim recently told Decibel magazine about the band's working relationship with Suecof: "It's awesome! I've known Jason since '08. I had been going out to do the ORDER OF ENNEAD records with him. The last DEICIDE record we did with Mark [Lewis], but I've known Jason a long time, so I asked him if he was into it. He said, 'Absolutely!' I wanted to get one done ovith him before something happens. You never know."

ICED EARTH Completes Recording New Album

North American metallers ICED EARTH have finished recording their new album, "Plagues Of Babylon", for a January 2014 via Century Media Records. Says ICED EARTH guitarist/mainman Jon Schaffer: "There's quite a selection of epic heaviness on your way, for release early next year. "We arrived in Sweden and are heading on to Portugal for a few festivals, and then on Monday, we start the mix!" Speaking to Metal4 magazine at last month's Rockharz open-air festival in Germany, Schaffer said about the upcoming CD: "It's a bit of a different thing for us, because it's half of a concept and the other half is [standalone] tracks. Musically, I think it's just another step in the right direction. It's really heavy, it's very melodic. It has a really epic feeling. Even

OBITUARY To Record New Album In November

David E. Gehlke of DeadRhetoric.com recently conducted an interview with singer John Tardy of Florida death metal veterans OBITUARY. A few excerpts from the chat follow below. DeadRhetoric.com: What was the tipping point in terms of you doing something like this? Your relationship was Roadrunner wasn't always so rosy, but with Candlelight you were a priority, at least. John Tardy: Yeah, we thought about it back then. It was one of those things where we talk about it and talk about [it], but don't really do anything. When it came time to get an album done, we were always like, "Okay, let's sign." Obviously, because of those contracts we signed withRoadrunner early on, that music is just gone. I couldn't print up a copy of"Slowly We Rot" if I wanted to and start selling them. That's a sad thing. And to think back then as teenagers signing those contracts, we had no idea to ask attorneys to look them over to see that it was a pretty standard contract. Come to find that signing something away from an entire lifetime doesn't seem "standard" to me. But, new

ONSLAUGHT To Release ‘VI’ In September

British thrashers ONSLAUGHT will release their sixth album, "VI", on September 20 via AFM Records. The follow-up to 2011's "Sounds Of Violence" was mixed by Thomas "Plec" Johansson (TIAMAT, SCAR SYMMETRY) at Panic Room studios in Skara, Sweden. Comments ONSLAUGHT guitarist Nige Rockett: "Well, the new album,'VI', is finally complete and ready to roll on September 20th, and man, it has exceeded all our expectations, by a long long way!! We really pushed ourselves to the limits in making this record and I think that truly shines through in the final results. "'VI' is the most brutal and technical album ONSLAUGHT has ever made, no question. It's old school, it's contemporary and it's fucking aggressive in the extreme, with a few big surprises thrown in for good measure! "We've gone about the whole album-making process with a completely different approach and mindset this time around, ranging from the artwork (by Pär Olofsson) through to the final mixes with Thomas Johansson, who I must single out for mention along with our drummer Michael Hourihan for really upping the ante in the ass-kicking stakes! "We're feeling kind of proud right now and pretty confident the fans are gonna dig it too!"

OVERKILL To Release New Album In March

New Jersey thrash metal veterans OVERKILL are working on their new studio album for a March 2014 release. In a recent interview with Radiosuicide Photography's RSPTV,OVERKILL vocalist Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth stated about the band's plans for the coming months: "There's six songs done [for the next record so far]. What we're gonna do in the interim is we're gonna come over while recording and do European festivals. After that, we do a U.S. tour with the German band called KREATOR. It's gonna be a flip-flop headline; we'll close the shows on the East Coast in those theaters and they'll close on the West Coast in theaters, or big clubs. After that, we drop the record in March, it hits the street. They even gave me the date as March 7 already, so we're that far planned ahead for those type of activities. And after that, I'm sure that what we're gonna do is just start rolling these tours again. And I think that as we've gotten older, one of the things that we like is that we actually do more tours, but we do less touring; we're not away from home for three months or sixty days, we're away from home for three or four weeks. Three weeks is a great tour for a guy my age. Because then you don't have to recover for a month when you come home. [laughs]"

PHILIP ANSELMO: Entire ‘Walk Through Exits Only’ Album Available For Streaming

"Walk Through Exits Only", the his career-first solo album from Philip Anselmo, legendary frontman of PANTERA and DOWN, is available for streaming in its entirety below. Due on July 16 via Anselmo's ownHousecore Records (MRI/Megaforce), "Walk Through Exits Only" will be available digitally, on CD and on vinyl. Produced by Anselmo and Michael Thompson, and recorded over the past couple of years at Philip's New Orleans studio, Nodferatu's Lair, with his band THE ILLEGALS — guitarist Marzi Montazeri(ex-SUPERJOINT RITUAL) and drummer José Manuel Gonzales(WARBEAST) — "Walk Through Exits Only" is abrasive, aggressive, anthemic and 100% Anselmo. The album's eight songs are as unstrained as it gets, from "Battalion Of Zero" to "Usurper's Bastard Rant", to the album's title track that goes against the grain and right through the exits. Brash, brutal guitars cut through punishing percussion as Anselmoscreams with uncompromising ferocity and uncontainable fire. "Walk Through Exits Only" track listing:

FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE: New Album Details Revealed

Italian symphonic death metallers FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE will release their new album, "Labyrinth", on August 16 in Europe and August 20 in North America via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD was mixed and mastered by Stefano "Saul" Morabito. The cover artwork was once again created by Colin Marks, who was also responsible for several neoclassical pieces of art in the massive inlay. Comments FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE's Francesco Paoli: "'Labyrinth' is going to be THE album for FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE. It's the perfect combination of all our strong points with the best production we've ever had. It's definitely the most FLESHGOD thing we've ever thought with the most FLESHGOD riffs, lyrics, melodies, drumparts, solos, etc. We went deep inside the core of this music, we broke it, and we finally unleashed these eleven songs.

RUNNING WILD: New Album Due In October

German metallers RUNNING WILD will release their as-yet-untitled new studio album on the following dates: Germany: October 4 Rest of Europe: October 7 U.S./Canada: To be announced RUNNING WILD's latest album, "Shadowmaker", registered the following first-week chart positions: Germany: #12 Sweden: #43 Austria: #61 Finland: #90 The CD was released in April 2012 via SPV/Steamhammer. The effort was issued as a limited first edition in a black jewel case with silver printing and slipcase plus a 40-minute bonus DVD with a "making-of" documentary and a track-by-track commentary by RUNNING WILDmainman Rock 'N' Rolf. The double gatefold LP comes with printed innersleeves and clear vinyl. There is also a boxset limited to 1,000 copies worldwide. It contains 2 LPs, the black jewel case with the DVD, a poster, a sticker, a postcard and a 30-page book in LP size about the history of the band. The cover of "Shadowmaker" is the most unusual in the history of the band, but when you listen to the title track and read the lyrics, you will understand the meaning of it. It was created by Rock 'N' Rolf and Jens Reinhold (EVERGREY, FREEDOM CALL, VIRGIN STEELE), who also handled artwork for all configurations.