Metal News.

For the last week or so, locals The Rivalry have been doing a national tour with a Japanese group called Palm. That tour will end here, with an all-ages show at the Enigma Bar on Sat 2 Jun; also featuring at this will be Edge of Spirit, another Japanese outfit, and Victoria's Brisk. To get an idea of what Palm sound like, go to www.myspace.com/palmjp

Tues 5 Jun will see the premiere of Channel [V]'s new metal show, [Metal on V], which will screen every Tuesday and Thursday at 1:30am. Metal clips old and new will appear on the show, which will also include interviews, live performances and documentaries. For more info (and to make requests), go to www.channelv.com.au

In an announcement that's not strictly metal news, but which is likely to be of interest to metal people anyway, the Queen's Birthday Long Weekend (Sat 9 Jun to Mon 11 Jun) will see The Giant Music and Book Sale return to the Wayville Showgrounds. The event will run from 10am to 5pm each day, with a small entry fee applying (children under 12 get in for free). New stallholders are welcome; for more info, go to either www.giantmusicsales.com or www.myspace.com/giantmusicsales

On Sat 16 Jun, there'll be a big, licensed all-ages show happening down south called Total Metal Mayhem. Taking place at the South Adelaide Football Club (1 Lovelock Dr, Noarlunga), the event will feature local metal veterans Stigmartyr and Skintilla, as well as newcomers Alleyway Rape, Fatality Cries, Hesitate & Die, Asphyxia and Burial. Doors open at 5pm.

To promote their new album, 'The Warning' (out now through Faultline Records/Stomp), Sydney's Daysend will be doing a show at the Enigma Bar on Thurs 21 Jun. Supporting the band will be Double Dragon, Truth Corroded and another as-yet-unnamed group.

On Fri 22 Jun, there'll be a gig at the Enigma Bar featuring extreme local acts Murder Hill, Hatred Slave, One Step Beyond and Beyond Mortal Dreams. Doors open at 9pm.

On Sat 30 Jun, there'll be a massive show at the Lizard Lounge headlined by Defiled, a death metal group from Japan. Also playing will be locals Omnium, Sarsekim, Juggermath, Quasar, Obsidian Aspect, Treachery, Obdurate Seduction and Tzun Tzu, the last act making their live debut. Doors open at 7:30pm.

Also on the 30th, locals Hekyl will be launching their long-awaited debut recording - the four-track 'Stochastic Ruminations Of The Babirusa' - at the Crown and Anchor Hotel, with support from Tony Font Show.

After doing an "Australian" tour that encompassed only Sydney and Melbourne (cue much booing, hissing and throwing of rancid offal), Sweden's Evergrey have seen their long-serving bassist Fredrik Larsson defect to compatriots Hammerfall. Of course, things were absolutely, positively 100% tickety-boo among all concerned, with Larsson's departure accompanied by a massive outpouring of love and the exchange of many hugs and big sugary kisses (um... not quite, but you get the idea).

Regular readers of this column may recall me mentioning some months back a group called Acrassicauda, who hold the distinction of being the only metal band from Iraq. Well, after assorted dramas (that included the building where they used to rehearse being demolished by a missile attack), this outfit have wisely decided to relocate, and now reside in neighbouring Syria, along with most of their country's now-exiled artistic community. A magazine called Vice has created a fascinating, often funny, and also very sad online documentary about the band (as well as life in Iraq and Syria in general), which can be viewed by going to http://vbs.tv/shows/index.php?show=Heavy%20Metal%20In%20Baghdad. A reminder that the group have some material posted up at www.myspace.com/wwwacrassicaudas5com

Strapping Young Lad are no more! While it's not clear if the band have broken up for good (frontman Devin Townsend and drummer Gene Hoglan have offered conflicting statements regarding this matter), it seems it'll be a long time before they record or tour again, Townsend having stated that he's become "burnt out" from all his work with the group, and needs to take a lengthy break. Townsend's decision has meant that the other main outlet for his creative energies, The Devin Townsend Band, has also ceased to be for the time being, although the artist still plans to work on solo projects. The latest of these, an offering called 'Ziltoid: The Omniscient', is out now on Inside Out/Riot.

For this fortnight's obscure band plug, I've decided to take a look at a couple of outfits from the former Soviet Republic of Armenia. Both hail from the national capital, Yerevan, with the first a progressive melodic death act called Sworn, who have a collection of songs from their latest album 'Tended High' up for people's listening pleasure at www.myspace.com/sworne The second band go by the name of Aramazd and play a very unusual style of metal that incorporates industrial and traditional folk elements. To listen to some of their (hauntingly beautiful) compositions, go to www.myspace.com/aramazdmusic


James Brazel (jbr09171@bigpond.net.au)