Friday January 25th 2002

On March 2nd the Dutch record label Fear Dark will celebrate its fifth anniversary with the Fear Dark Festival entitled 5 Years Of Total Darkness. Four bands will be on stage. Headliner Seventh Avenue is probably a new name to many people. This German band plays melodic power metal in the vein of Helloween and Gamma Ray and released four CD's with a fifth being on its way. Their upcoming album called Between The Worlds is currently in production. The second band is the Dutch band Morphia. This is doom metal like My Dying Bride. Morphia will present their new album on the festival. Noiz is the third band. This German death metal band played in the Netherlands before. Natan is a band from Belgium. This black metal band will be opening the festival. 5 Years Of Total Darkness will open its doors at 19:00 and the entrance is € 7,00. Location: De Kei, Peppelensteeg, Ede, Holland.

The Bob Fest will take place from Friday March 8th through Sunday March 10th. Only on the first two days there will be concerts. On Friday these bands can be seen on stage: Veni Domine, Oblivion, Umbrella, Soniferous. For Saturday you can expect this line-up: Extol, Seventh Avenue, Selfmindead, Immortal Souls, Sanctifica. Interestingly, two bands will present their new albums on the Bobfest. Oblivion will introduce the crowd to their debut album entitled Renewal. And Sanctifica will release their new album Negative B.

Mortification will, despite rumors, be continuing. The band has a new guitarist. They hope to record a new album in April/May. More news will follow.

Solid State Records will release the This Is Solid State #3 compilation on February 26th. The compilation will feature seventeen songs from albums released over the past year including Stretch Arm Strong, Norma Jean and more. Interestingly, the album will have five new tracks never released before by Project 86, Demon Hunter, Zao, Still Breathing and Underoath.

Solid State Records also added four new bands to their roster: Underoath, Few Left Standing, Still Breathing and Demon Hunter.

Underoath will release their Solid State debut on February 26th. Title is The Changing Of Times. Underoath had two releases out on Takehold Records. Musically you can expect metal influenced hardcore.

There are always lots of rumors about Zao. The band is still alive. In fact, they are writing a new record that will feature vocals by Dan Weyandt. The band won't tour before late Spring. The live line-up will feature Dan on vocals and Russ Cogdell on guitar.

On January 21st, MTV signed a deal with Gryp to play their music on some of MTV USA's 2002 programming including Road Rules, Extreme Challenge, and Battle of the Seasons. Gryp is also featured in this month's Metal Edge Magazine. Gryp has been picked as one of "The Bands To Watch in 2002" by Metal Edge Magazine. This issue hit the stands last Wednesday January 23rd. Gryp is on page 114.

Bride will release the video Welcome To The Show. This video includes all of the professionally shot videos such as The Worm, Under The Blood, Everybody Knows My Name, Trouble Times, Mamma, Tomorrow Makes No Sense, God Gave Rock n' Roll To You, The Psychedelic Super Jesus Remix plus live footage from the Vintage Rock Stage at Cornerstone. Other songs included are War, Beginning Of The End, Too
Tired, and Soul Winner from Fist Full of Bees. In addition, there are some
surprises on the tape also. This is the entire Bride Video collection all on
one videocassette. This video is $16.00 (people outside of the USA add $3.00 per tape
for postage).

Dead E-zine has started a record label called Sounds Of The Dead. The first release is a split album between Life In Your Way, Tortured Conscience and a possible third band. Each band will have at least three songs on the split.

If you live in The Netherlands you can help POD to get their video for Alive on TMF. Send an E-mail to clipparade@tmf.nl

Friday January 18th 2002

Inversion is working on new songs. Four have been completed and two are being worked on. If all goes well, the band hopes to record a new album late summer 2002. Inversion had some line-up changes as well. Soon they hope to have a line-up that will be able to tour.

Sad news for the Stryper fans across the globe. There won't be a third annual Stryper Expo. Due largely in part to logistical reasons, some of the band members were unable to make the commitment this year. The Stryper Expo team maybe will revisit this format sometime in the future.

The Juliana Theory are working hard on their new songs of their next record. Fifteen songs are done. They will head back into the studio in February with Jerry Harrison (who also worked with Talking Heads, No Doubt & Live) as a producer. The album will be engineered by David Schiffman (who worked with System Of A Down, Rage Against The Machine and others). Possible release date will be in July/August.

The Finnish death metal band Tinnitus will be recording some promotional material in the near future. Janne Löf: " I'm happy to say that I myself believe that the strongest Tinnitus-songs ever are about to be released as soon as we've booked a fine studio to do the final work in."

The third album from Eternal Decision is long overdue. The band's still in the mixing process. Only one song is finished and rumors say it sounds really good.

But rumors can be deceptive. Silence The Foe can confirm this. Rumors said the band had quit. However, some members did leave the band but now Silence The Foe has a renewed line-up. New are drummer Peter and vocalist Andreas. The band rehearses twice a week. The rest of the line-up is Arnbjørn on bass and Roland on guitar.

Side Walk Slam will be recording their second album for Tooth & Nail Records from February 6 through 16th at the Blasting Room with Bill Stevenson and Stephen Egerton.

The Dutch alternative rock band Swirl will be recording a new single in February. They found a professional studio and arranged a budget. And there's hope to ink a record deal. More news will follow.

Point Of Recognition are currently working on writing their new full length which is scheduled for a summer release.

Dodgin' Bullets finished recording four new tracks that will appear on the upcoming full length Earn Your Respect this spring. Also on the CD will be four tracks from the out of print World Wide War EP and four tracks from Soundtrack To The End Of The World EP.

The third annual Facedown Festival is booked for 2 nights on March 8th & 9th at the Showcase Theatre in Corona, USA. Bands that will be playing are: xDisciplex AD, Dogwood, Figure Four, One 21, Point Of Recognition, The Deal, Torn In Two, Falling Cycle, Dodgin' Bullets.

The new EP from Shiloh, King, will be released on Accidental Sirens on February 4th.

Friday January 11th 2002

There are rumors saying that Troy Thompson has left Bride. These rumors originate from the fact that Troy wasn't with the band on their recent Brazilian tour. He was replaced by substitute player Martin Bowling. Dale Thompson: "I am not touring as Bride with hired musicians. Lawrence Bishop our bassist has been with us for almost four years now. Michael Loy our drummer has been with us for over two years. Troy has not left the band. Matter of fact I will see Him tonight to write on the new Bride project." Dale will begin working on his latest solo project tentatively titled Unbridled on February 6th.

It's possible to help Beam get on the Pinkpop Festival. You can E-mail your five favorite bands (including Beam!) to the organisation of this famous Dutch festival. Do it before January 15th!! Send your E-mail to: depinkpopgoudentip@wanadoo.nl . Other possible bands: POD, This Beautiful Mess.

Threshold are currently writing material for their forthcoming studio album. The band plan to record during March and April for a late Spring release, and should be back on the road playing a few European festivals over the summer. Six songs have already been written for the currently untitled album, which Karl and Richard have described as a natural step forward from the sound and style of Hypothetical.

The Belgian black metal band Natan has opened its website. There are also a few concerts coming up.

Friday January 4th 2002

Well, first of all I want to wish you all a very fine 2002. I hope 2002 will bring you what's beyond hope!

_______

Marcus Colon has completed the latest Betrayal project. Title for this album is In Remembrance Of Me. According to his website the music is heavy, dark and rocks in a vein of Gothic Metal. You can hear music driven by the classic Betrayal guitar tone.

Crimson Moonlight has one of its newly recorded songs on the Power From The Sky compilation that CL Music & Publishing released. The song is called The Touch Of Emptiness. Along with the compilation the band also shot a video for the song Blood Covered My Needs.

Jacks Of All Trades did their thirteen day studio session last fall. They hope to release their next full length album early this year.

Narnia has replaced Jakob Persson who left the band some months ago. The new bassplayer is Andreas Olsson.

On March 9th the new Sanctifica album will be released. Title is Negative B.

Jacobs Dream guitarist John Berry put his two guitars on ebay.com. First bid was $ 250.00 each and the auctions last 7 days. For one guitar go here, and for the other go here. If the buyer wants to, the guitar will be signed by the band.

Dead Poetic is currently in Little Rock, Arkansas recording their Tooth and Nail debut
album. Title is Four Wall Blackmail.

The debut from Perpetual Flame is currently in production. The cover art for Perpetual Flame's debut CD, Subculture Process is almost done. The artwork was done by none other than Travis Smith (who worked with Opeth, Iced Earth, Death and others).

Tourniquet is writing music for the next album. They hope to start recording in April 2002 with Bill Metoyer as producer. Look for release late 2002 through Metal Blade Records.

Friday December 28th 2001

A few weeks ago Art For The Ears started its German Forum. If you want to discuss the Christmas Rock Night, the upcoming tour with POD, or any other interesting stuff, go to the German Forum. You're more than welcome! Auf Deutsch gesagt! Willkommen!

After the recording of the new self-titled album of Slick Shoes, bassist Jeremiah Brown left the band. After many auditions he's finally replaced by Kevin Clark. He'll be in the new Slick Shoes video.

Living Sacrifice is currently writing songs for the follow-up to The Hammering Process. Reports from the band state that the new material is the band's heaviest yet.

The German band Crushead presented their new album Explicit Content. More than 450 people were witnesses to the CD presentation show in the German town Glems.

The Dutch rapcore formation Dr. Bigfoot put two of their songs as MP3's on their site. You can download Touch The Heart Of People and the new song Blasphemy.

Friday December 21st 2001

The organization of the Brainwave Festival in The Netherlands announced the cancellation of their fest in January 2002. After the break up of Silence The Foe they had one headliner less. But now the other headliner, NIV, cancelled their European tour. This led to a painful conclusion: "We can't get the festival financially together with the rest of the line-up as a majority of the public won't come. Considering that the bands don't fix the entrance price we can't lower the entrance fee to the festivals after the cancellation of NIV and Silence The Foe. This led us to the unpleasant, but inevitable decision that Brainwave 2002 can't go on. We understand that this is a disappointment for you as a music fan...If things change then we will bring you up to date."

Shiloh has completed its album King. The mix was done by Joe Sidoti (who worked for bands as POD and Alien Ant Farm). The official release date is set for February 4th.

A cocktail party is being held in honor of Ken Tamplin at The House Of Blues, Sunset Strip, on January 17^th, 2002, acknowledging Ken’s recent humanitarian efforts in providing aid for countries like Sudan & Afghanistan against extreme human rights violations from Islamic terrorism in these countries.

Ken has produced a music CD titled Make Me Your Voice which was released on Spring Hill/EMI and went to #6 on the Inspirational charts this past year. It featured artists like Mr. Tamplin as well as performers such as gospel legend Andrae Crouch, Charlie Peacock and a host of others whereby 100% of all artist's and producer's royalties were donated to various human rights organizations to provide aid  to these countries. This has generated a considerable amount of money and awareness regarding the terrorism that has been taking place in Sudan and Afghanistan. Over 2,000,000 people have been killed and another 5,000,000 have been displaced in Sudan alone.

Its relevance is even more significant since the aftermath of September 11th.

The cocktail party is being put on by Michael Levine of Levine Communications (who worked as PR person for Michael Jackson, Barbara Streisand and others) in conjunction with Howard and Roberta Ahmanson, Hugh Hewitt, MJM Entertainment, as well as gospel legend Andrae Crouch.

The event will be broadcast live on The Hugh Hewitt Show on KRLA in Los Angeles as well as the show’s national syndication. In addition, quite a cast of performers has been assembled and will be performing on the private Foundation Room stage. The artist line-up are as follows: Coolio, Tariqh Akoni (guitarist for the Backstreet Boys), Bernard Fowler (singer for the Rolling Stones), Edward Harris Roth (keyboardist with Maya), Daniel Pearson (formerly with Jennifer Lopez now bassist for Coolio), Rock Deadrick (drummer for Tracy Chapman also percussionist for Kenny Loggins), Ross Bolton (guitarist for Al Jarreau), Stu Goldberg, Philip and Habib Bardowell (former singers for the Beach Boys) as well as a host of others.

Jerusalem is doing concerts once again. In November the band played five concerts in Sweden. And in March/April the band hopes to tour Sweden and Norway.

Do you remember the Altar Boys? This Californian band started in the early eighties as a punk band but moved on into an alternative rock direction. They released six studio albums from 1984-1990. Well, the band is back in the studio.

The now defunct Bad Little Duck band from Switzerland is offering you a Christmas present. The band is giving you the ten songs of their unreleased album for free. The album is called Thanx and thus the band and their record company Ugly Records wants to thank you for ten years support!

It's almost Christmas, so here's a special Christmas wish from none other then Benny Majabacka, singer and guitarist for Dust Eater Dogs! "I wish everybody a peaceful mind during Christmas time. Take time to relax and think of the message of Christmas: Jesus coming to bring us hope. It's not a cliché but life changing truth... Be blessed and heavy..."

Friday December 14th 2001

From today, Friday December 14th through Wednesday December 19th, you can meet the Australian band Virgin Black on the Interview Message-Board. Feel free to ask the band some intelligent questions. Welcome!

There are rumors on the internet saying that Mortification is finished and that Rowe Productions has been put on a hold. An official statement from Steve Rowe is expected in HM Magazine early next year. However, Kathy Zappin from Rowe Productions USA indicates that Steve Rowe wanted to take the Rowe Productions name back to Australia to use it for his own band. How things will develop exactly, is still up in the air.

Kathy herself is in the process of setting up a new label, yet unnamed. More details will follow.

Former Crestfall guitarist Jan Wisselink has launched his new project entitled Verbum Mentis. While his old band played melodic metal, Verbum Mentis takes a completely different direction. Expect dark ambient/noise/industrial. Right now there are three songs to download from the Verbum Mentis MP3 site. This is the first MP3 demo from his current labors.

Squad Five-O will be shooting a video on January 12th 2002. This will happen at the 2428 Club at 2428 Bull Street in Savannah, Georgia. The show starts at 6:00 PM and costs $5. The song they will be shooting a video for is called I Don't Want To Change The World, I Just Want To Change Your Mind. This is one of the songs from the upcoming self-titled Squad Five-O album that's scheduled for release on March 12th. An MP3 is expected to be put on the band's website.

Tooth & Nail Records have signed a new band! The band Two Thirty Eight has joined the roster. They have already three albums out through Take Hold Records and Tooth & Nail Records will be re-releasing Regulate The Chemicals. Two Thirty Eight will also return to the studio to record with James Wisner (Further Seems Forever) their new album.

The sales for the latest POD album Satellite are going well. The album is expected to be certified Double Platinum in the USA before year's end. The album has gone Gold in Canada.

POD will be looking forward to support for their next video entitled Youth Of The Nation. They hope to get the video to #1 on Total Request Live on MTV USA. You can vote on the internet via MTV.

The South African hardcore band Neshamah has put two brand new songs from the upcoming EP on their MP3 site. It's not sure yet when the EP will be released.

The Deadlines have added a new guitarist to their line-up. His name is Gerrit Lovesick and he's been a friend of the band for a long time. Actually, the band practices at his house.

Friday December 7th 2001

Important for everyone who uses the German language! Art For The Ears has now a German Forum. If you want to discuss the Christmas Rock Night, the upcoming tour with POD, or any other interesting stuff, go to the German Forum. You're more than welcome!

The new CD from The Deal will be in stores on January 8th. This punk band will release their album entitled Who's Pulling Your Strings through Facedown Records.

Extol is currently finishing their European tour. Recently they brought out a new EP entitled Paralysis, but only in Scandinavia. However, there are plans for a possible release in America.

Guardian releases a new CD in the Spanish language this month. The album is called Dime. Interestingly, the CD also contains one English song called Angelena.

The OC Supertones will release a live album on March 26th.  Title? Supertones Live Volume 1!

Tooth & Nail Records signed two new bands to their roster. First of all Me Without You. This rock band is currently writing songs for a 2002 release in the vein of Fugazi, The Blamed and At The Drive-in.

The second band to sign with Tooth & Nail Records is Ded Poetic (formerly known as Mindset). This band will be recording an album in January with Barry Poynter in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.

Pop punk band Side Walk Slam will be returning to the Blasting Room Studio with Bill Stevenson. The band will record their follow up to Past Remains.

Here's a current list of upcoming releases on Tooth & Nail Records and Solid State Records: