Legendarily influential heavy music act Zao are in the studio working on a brand new album, the follow up to their 2006 record, The Fear Is What Keeps Us Here. As I Lay Dying frontman Tim Lambesis and Daniel Castleman are heading up the proceedings, together with Zao's Scott Mellinger, for what is shaping up to be another monumental Zao album.  "We simply can not wait for everyone to hear these new songs," says long time guitarist Mellinger. "We have not been on the road since the Demon Hunter and Throwdown tours in 2006, which has given us plenty of time to get our wits about us and to really concentrate on creating the best batch of material we possibly can."

Zao's Where Blood & Fire Bring Rest was recently hailed as "one of the most the most influential albums of 1998" by Alternative Press magazine. That album, which introduced frontman Dan Weyandt to the heavy music scene, and follow up Liberate Te Ex Inferis, which introduced guitarist and songwriter Mellinger, continue to be cornerstone albums to a new generation of bands drawing influence from Zao's dark, passionate and creative music.  "Zao are a band that has influenced all types of bands in the heavy music genre, from the Deftones and to my band," offers Lambesis. "I'm very excited be a part of bringing them the production their band has always deserved. This record will be the Zao sound that fans and musicians like myself have been waiting to hear for a long time."

The line up for this Zao album is the same as The Fear...: Long time co-conspirators Weyandt and Mellinger alongside bass player Martin Lunn and drummer Jeff Gretz (From Autumn to Ashes). "Recording Jeff Gretz's drums was the most relaxing and professional studio experience I've ever been a part of," boasts Lambesis. "That guy is a true pro and the standard by which I will judge every other drummer I record at Lambesis Studios in the future."

Zao's new album will be released in 2009 via Ferret Music.

London’s Hellfire Festival Exit 10, Dan P Carter and Katie P Added

London’s inaugural Hellfire Festival has confirmed the final band added to the line up will be Exit 10. The five piece metal band from Reading released their first full-length album 'Remember the Day this year which was the follow up to 2006's 'This World They'll Drown' and have been touring extensively this year playing with acts like 36Crazyfists and Kill Hannah as well as playing at the Download festival.

Also Hellfire can announce that Dan P Carter from Radio 1’s rock show and Katie P from XFM’s rock show will be comparing the event on the Saturday! Rob Ferguson Promoter of the Hellfire event said “It is great to be able to add Exit 10 to the line up as they are such an exciting live band and to be able to have both Dan and Katie from the 2 biggest rock shows in the UK comparing is going to be a lot of fun. Welcome to the Hellfire Festival 2008 where we celebrate the best of British underground and breaking Metal like nobody else does. This festival is all about people who have a passion for the music they love and an eye on safeguarding the future of British Metal".

Acts confirmed for the Friday are: Trigger the Bloodshed, Burning Skies, Ted Maul, RSJ and Annotations of an Autopsy

The Saturday lineup is so far:  Exit Ten, Malefice, Anterior, Outcry Fire, Romeo Must Die, Cinders Fall, Idiom, Sacred Mother Tongue, Fell Silent, Machine Made God and Sylosis.

For more details or tickets for the Hellfire festival go to www.hellfirefestival.com or www.myspace.com/hellfirefestival or ring 0870 264 3333.

Psyopus are long overdue, and happy, to welcome new vocalist Brian Woodruff into the band. If you've seen Psyopus at all since the beginning of their Grinding Into Cataclysm tour that began in August, you may have noticed the new face on the stage. Well, here is the explanation.

”After Harrison Christie's announced replacement, Matt Duckbirth, flaked out shortly after our press release of his joining the band, we replaced him with Brian. Brian was known as the vocalist from the Binghamton/Rochester, NY band As This Body, I Exist. We worked with him intensely, brought him into the studio and recorded the new album. This album was recorded with Brian. VERY shortly there after we jumped in the van and headed out for tour with War From a Harlots Mouth, Fuck the Facts and Left to Vanish. Again, after the premature press release that Matt was joining our band, we wanted to make sure that Brian was indeed the kat for the band before we made it "official". We are now here to say that he is indeed the kat for the job. Be prepared for a notch up in the vocal brutality of Psyopus!”

Escape Music have announced the release of the new album from Hope, entitled All Of My Days.

 

 

Hope are a an exciting new Swedish band with members who have a strong pedigree in the rock music industry, and lead vocalist Henrik Thomsen has kept his best songs till now. Thomsen is the principal songwriter of the band and he certainly knows how to pen a song with plenty of melody. The structure is what you would expect from a Swedish rock band with a background such as theirs, and the sound just flows effortlessly. Strangely, in places they have a leaning towards early Bryan Adams (Reckless period) which is no bad thing and the addition of respected musician Jim Jidhead (solo, Alien) in the song writing department especially makes “Bring down the Stars” a song to remember.

 

Hope should definitely live up to their name as there is plenty of it nestling in their undeniable talent. A band to watch out for.

 

The full track listing for All Of My Days, which is scheduled to be released on November 14th is as follows:

 

I Want You, Why Don't We Talk About It, All Of My Days, Bring Down The Stars, You Could Be Mine, See The Sign, Come Alive, I'm Free, Somebody, Baby Don't Cry and Saving All My Love.

Anglo-Chilean thrash masters CRIMINAL are proud to announce their signing of a new recording deal with Germany's Massacre Records. The band will enter the studio in September to record its sixth studio album for an early 2009 release. The follow-up to 2005's "Sicario" will be released in a limited edition package including a bonus DVD.

Vocalist/guitarist Anton Reisenegger states: "It's great to be on a label like Massacre, that has carved its niche in today's overcrowded market through hard work and dedication. We are looking forward to a long and productive collaboration.

"I have nothing but good things to say about the staff at Metal Blade Europe," the frontman comments on the band's former label, "but the company's priorities were clearly somewhere else, so it made no sense for us to continue working together. I honestly wish them all the best for the future."

Formed in the early 90s in Santiago de Chile by ex-Pentagram mastermind Reisenegger and guitar virtuoso Rodrigo Contreras, CRIMINAL were combining elements of thrash, hardcore and death metal long before the term "metalcore" was even thought of. The band enjoyed a meteoric rise to the forefront of the South American metal scene, including five-digit album sales, shows with the likes of Kreator, Sepultura and Slayer and a nomination for Best Rock Video at the MTV Latino Video Music Awards, but was faced with severe personal and business problems around the turn of the decade. Reisenegger and Contreras then decided to relocate to the UK, regrouping in a half-Chilean, half-British line-up. Since then, the band has played on major European festivals such as Wacken and Summer Breeze, as well as support shows with bands such as Chimaira, Six Feet Under, Brujeria and Lamb of God.

CRIMINAL's latest studio offering, "Sicario", was hailed by the press as one of the finest thrash metal releases of 2005 and was voted into the Top Ten Albums of the Year by the readers of Terrorizer magazine. At the same time, the band's status in their home country remains unbroken, as evidenced by a four-page feature in the Chilean edition of Rolling Stone magazine and a recent show supporting Megadeth in front of over 14,000 metalheads.

Dazzling Spanish melodic hard rockers Airless led by the soulful vocals of Ińaki Lazkano and the fleeting tapping fingers of guitarist Robert Rodrigo return with their new album "Fight" , released through Lion Music on December 5th 2008. The album delivers what long-time fans have come to know and love and sees the four piece deliver even stronger songs and musicianship than those heard on "2nd Round". "Fight" is sure to please anyone that appreciates classy melodic rock in the vein of Hagar era Van Halen or classic White Lion - in short big hooks, great guitar work and bags of melody.