god damnit!!!! i was just about to post this!!!!! grr!!!!! but great news overall!!! they should head over to the us though...=(

Pacific Northwest band AGALLOCH will finally release "The White EP" through Vendlus Records in early 2008. It is the follow-up to 2004's "The Grey EP" and completes a dichotomy of releases for the label. "The White EP" contains seven dark folk and ambient works written and recorded over the past three years. "The White EP" track listing: 01. The Isle Of Summer 02. Birch Black 03. Hollow Stone 04. Pantheist 05. Birch White 06. Sowilo Rune 07. Summerisle Reprise In other news, AGALLOCH has two European gigs confirmed for next year. The band says, "We will be playing the fifth edition of the annual Ragnarök Festival in Germany alongside NEGURA BUNGET, SKYFORGER, MENHIR, HAGGARD, SEAR BLISS, UNLEASHED, and several others. This will be followed by a headlining gig in Belgium with MOURNING BELOVETH (UK) and IN AGE AND SADNESS (Holland). Of course, a couple gigs in our native Pacific Northwest will be played before we head off to Europe. More info regarding that will be forthcoming." Also on the AGALLOCH front, the band parted ways with drummer Chris Greene and has replaced him with Aesop from LUDICRA.

Napalm Records have issued the following update: "Finally, six years after With Vilest Of Worms To Dwell, HOLLENTHON returns. Currently, the band, centered around vocalist/guitarist Martin Schirenc, is recording the new tracks in Schirenc's very own studio. The new material is much heavier, but on the other hand, also contains bombastic orchestral and ethnic elements for which Hollenthon is known. A cover version of THE TEA PARTY and artwork by Ralph Manfreda (BELPHEGOR) complete this exciting and long-overdue package. A release and European tour is scheduled for March/April 08." More album details will be revealed soon.

Southern California death metallers DEEDS OF FLESH will enter the studio on November 2 to begin recording their new album, "Of What's to Come", tentatively due late spring via Unique Leader Records. Artwork will once again be handled by the master of creativity, Raymond Swanland. "Expect many added new elements of musicianship along with the classic sound that is DEEDS!" reads a posting on the Unique Leader web site. DEEDS OF FLESH previously stated that the new CD would be "over-the-top technical" and would include a re-recorded version of 'Infecting Them With Falsehood' from 1998's "Inbreeding the Anthropophagi".

The MySpace page of the long-running British metallers BENEDICTION has been updated with the following message: "OK, they've talked and talked about it for long enough. The boys will be going into the studio on November 21 (booked and confirmed!) to actually record the fucking album at long last. It will be released at the end of March 2008 and a full tour will commence in April 2008 for God knows how long followed by as many festivals that will allow them to play!!! There will be at least 12 tracks on the final mix, maybe more, if the studio can keep them out of the bar for long enough. Let's hope they manage to stay alive long enough to get in the studio considering the mayhem they cause by just popping out for a few drinks together!!! Get the ambulances ready, it's gonna get messy." "Killing Music" will mark the recording debut with the group of drummer Nick Barker, who was a member of DIMMU BORGIR, CRADLE OF FILTH and BRUJERIA, and who played with ex-FEAR FACTORY guitarist Dino Cazares in the short-lived DRIVEN BY SUFFERING (which evolved into DIVINE HERESY).

The most notorious pack of degenerates from Belgium EMETH, which features in its ranks ex-ABORTED guitarist Matty Dupont and BLOOD RED THRONE bassist Erlend Caspersen, has set "Telesis" as the title of its highly anticipated sophomore album, due early 2008 via Brutal Bands. The band recently finished recording their new album at Hertz Studios with the Wieslawscy brothers as producers and is currently mixing eleven tracks for this new effort. It features the following track listing: 1. Silence Goes Unheard 2. Anochi Kofer 3. Telesis 4. Soul Storming Echoes 5. Folly and Weakness 6. Monolith 7. Existence Beyond Being 8. The Doer Alone Learneth 9. Aquarian 10. Will To Power 11. Aum EMETH is know as a band which has its roots in death metal, but at the same time, as one that has never been afraid to experiment. This third opus shows the band progressing into a heavier, tighter and more technically advanced direction with memorable and inventive song structures and a natural yet modern production.

Funniest Metal new I've read in ages :lol: : ENSLAVED Members Steal Politician's Sheep In Pro-*test*-('") Over Illegal Music Downloading - Oct. 22, 2007 G4's The Feed reports: In a recent televised stunt, two members of Norwegian black metal band ENSLAVED stole a free-grazing sheep that were the property of politician/Liberal Party leader/farmer Lars Sponheim. It seems Sponheim's Liberal Party has been advocating the legalization of all illicit Internet downloading. They say the business is already freely accessible and downloading should be legalized. ENSLAVED think that argument is weak and decided to prove it via stealing his sheep. They counter that that bands are just small businesses and legalizing free downloading is against everything the party claims to stand for. So you guys wanna steal our music, we'll steal your sheep. That's fair, right? Turns out the stunt was staged as a part of the larger campaign against downloading called Piracy Kills Music that is being waged by Norwegian bands and other music industry members. Oh, despite what you might assume, ENSLAVED did not eat the sheep. They set it free into the mountains. See, even black metal bands have hearts… Video footage of ENSLAVED stealing sheep: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRY3baFA-S4 Norwegian TV report on ENSLAVED's sheep-stealing stunt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhD2zhG1Zis

New Emperor DVD.... Oh Hell Yeah!!! Must Buy !! ZYKLON 'Taking A Break', EMPEROR DVD On The Way - Oct. 23, 2007 Guitarist Samoth of the Norwegian extreme metal bands ZYKLON and EMPEROR has issued the following update: "Returning from Japan marks the end of ZYKLON's touring activities for 'Disintegrate'. "Japan is always an awesome experience. We had amazing crowds, hospitality and, of course, lots of sake. "Looking back on the general touring activities for 'Disintegrate', we've seen many of the same clubs and people, but also some new places and a lot of new faces, which has been great. We made it back to the States, even if only for a one-off festival, we played the Roskilde festival, which was really cool opportunity for an extreme metal band like ZYKLON, and we did a bunch of other European festivals, some smaller tours, etc. It's been a good run, and a particularly interesting one as Trym, Secthdamon and myself have also done a bunch of big EMPEROR shows during the same timeline. There have been both pros and cons to that situation, but all in all it's been very cool. "As for future plans, I guess one could say that it's a bit 'up in the air' at the moment. "Looking back, there have been ups and downs during the years with ZYKLON. We're not always an easy band to manage, as all members live in different cities and have multiple commitments on different fronts, thus it's often hard for all the logistic and practical things to work. This situation has especially come more into focus in the last year or so, where it has become harder and harder to get the band together when needed, with the spirit and excitement that one expects from a band like this. "Basically, I don't feel that we as a band have the fire needed to start working on a new album right now. Therefore ZYKLON are taking a break. This is a good time for us to do so. We have completed a good run of shows around the world for our la-*test*-('") album; we have completed all our contractual obligations with Candlelight Records (with success I must add, as Candlelight have treated us well, cheers mates!). "Also, the 'terror-twins,' Destructhor and Secthdamon, have plans to go for it with MYRKSKOG, and will hopefully finally take the actions needed to complete their new, long-delayed, album. I truly hope they will, because this is the time to do it and I know the fans have been waiting for years, and judging from the pre-production material I have heard, it will be massive statement of intricate and brutal death metal. Trym is also working on a new album with his other band, PAGANIZE, at the moment. "Personally, I have a bunch of material written and will keep on working on that over the winter, and basically take it from there. What the future will bring I cannot say at this point. All I know is that we're all active musicians and have no intentions what so ever to stop our mission of METAL!!! "On other fronts, there are plans for an official EMPEROR DVD release. There's a lot of cool material to be reviewed, mixed and edited. There are also things happening on my label, Nocturnal Art, this fall with new releases from MANNGARD, IN BATTLE and LIMBONIC ART."

Ex-MAYHEM Vocalist MANIAC To Perform With SHINING At Oslo Gig SKITLIV/ex-MAYHEM frontman Maniac will join SHINING on stage during the band's forthcoming gig at Oslo, Norway's Club Maiden on Saturday, November 10. His appearance at the gig will mark the continued collaboration between Maniac and SHINING's Kvarforth, who recently became a full-time member of SKTILIV — both recording and performing live with the band. Kvarforth will play both with SKITLIV and SHINING during December, when the two bands will be undertaking a 19-date tour in Europe together with Austrian black metallers HELLSAW. Supporting SHINING at Club Maiden will be two Norwegian bands: ENDEZZMA, the black metal band that features members of URGEHAL, RAGNAROK and VULTURE LORD, and psychopunkers HAUST, who will open the evening. This will be the only date that SHINING will play in Norway until March of 2008, when the band is scheduled to appear at the Inferno Festival. Rehearsal tracks from SKITLIV, together with the video for "Virescit Volnere Virtus", can be found on the band's MySpace page.