Metal News

· In addition to releasing their debut full-length album 'Devastator' on Sat 5 Jul at Fowler's Live, Double Dragon are giving fans the opportunity to download their debut release, the 2005 EP 'Have Them Destroyed', for free! To take advantage of this magnanimous offer, simply go to www.myspace.com/havethemdestroyed.

· In news of one of the metal world's more short-lived band reunions, Florida death metal band Brutality's latest attempt to get back together has fizzled out only a few months after it was first announced. The group, which originally broke up in 1996 and re-formed in 2001 (only to dissolve again in 2004), broke up for the third time after vocalist Scott Reigel and guitarist Jay Fernandez (both of whom had previously been involved with the band) decided to leave for "personal reasons."

· There've been quite a few band comings and goings during the last few weeks, many of them involving, curiously enough, bass players. Polish death metal band, Vader, for example, have bidden farewell to bassist Marcin Nowak (aka Novy), who left the group after being a part of it for five years. Filling in for him will be ex-Decapitated member Marcin Rygiel (aka Martin), who's now living in California and who'll be playing with the group when they embark upon this year's Summer Slaughter Tour across the US - the group are still looking for a more permanent replacement, however. Also adding a new bassist to their ranks are New York State's Every Time I Die, who've recently welcomed ex-From Autumn To Ashes member Josh Newton on board, and Melbourne's The Eternal who've found a new bass player in the form of Dave Langlands, a New Zealander who moved to the Victorian capital to "work on various musical projects."

· And on the subject of lineup changes in Melbourne bands, power metal outfit Pegazus have bidden farewell to vocalist Rob Thompson, who joined the group in 2000. Thompson's reasons for leaving the band were not given; instead, a press statement issued by his bandmates alluded merely to "unfortunate and ongoing personal issues" which made it difficult for him to "meet the demands of the band." A replacement has yet to be announced.

· In a move sure to disappoint fans, UK death metal band Bolt Thrower have announced they've shelved plans for an anticipated new album "indefinitely." Recording of the new album, which would have been the follow-up to 2006's 'Honour, Valour, Pride', was to have commenced in the near future, but the band elected not to go ahead with it after deciding the new material they'd written would not have been up to the standard of that on previous releases.

· A massive North American tour that was to have been headlined by Cinderella and a recently-re-formed Warrant has had to be postponed after the former band's vocalist, Tom Keifer, suffered haemorrhaging in his vocal cords during a recent rehearsal session. According to a press statement, Keifer must wait several weeks just to see if his injury will require surgery; his "vocal doctor" has told him it'll take that long for the swelling to go down. Ewwww.

· Also unlikely to be feeling very happy right now is Burzum's Varg Vikernes (aka Count Grishnackh), who's had his latest attempt to get parole denied by the Norwegian Ministry of Justice. Vikernes was sentenced to 21 years imprisonment for the murder, in August 1993, of Mayhem guitarist Euronymous, and has so far served two-thirds of his sentence. Reasons he was deemed unfit for parole include an escape he made in 2003, connections he allegedly has to neo-Nazi groups, and a general belief he's too dangerous to be released.

· In my last column, I gave a little plug for an Iranian extreme metal outfit called Arsames. One of their guitarists, Ali Azhari, is also in a progressive death metal band called Arthimoth, which is based in the national capital, Tehran; to listen to some of their material, go to www.myspace.com/arthimoth.



James Brazel (jbr09171@bigpond.net.au)