Opeth's Tour Dates Updates

Swedish progressive metallers OPETH have scheduled the following dates in their home country:

Feb. 12 - Close-Up Båten's Metal Cruise 2009
Feb. 18 - Malmö, Sweden - KB
Feb. 19 - Linköping, Sweden - Platens Bar
Feb. 25 - Örebro, Sweden - Club 700
Feb. 26 - Falun, Sweden - Arena
Feb. 27 - Gävle, Sweden - O Learys
Feb. 28 - Umeå, Sweden - House of Metal Fest

Deathstars has a new song called "Death Dies Hard"

Swedish industrial goth metal band DEATHSTARS has posted a new song called "Death Dies Hard" on its MySpace page. The track comes off the group's third album, "Night Electric Night", which will be released on January 30, 2009 via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD, which was mixed atToytown studios in Stockholm, Sweden with Stefan Glaumann, will be released in a deluxe package called "Gold Edition" featuring bonus tracks as well as a bonus DVD featuring six video clips, "making-of" footage and more. The "Gold Edition" will be released as a digibook with new cover artwork (see below).

Commented guitarist, songwriter and producer Emil "Nightmare Industries" Nödtveidt: "This album is the very mirror of our last years and our struggle through this time up until now. It deals with a whole spectrum of emotions, but without losing that straightforward nerve of raw dark feverish rock music a la DEATHSTARS. Even though the songs vary more now, from the ripping 'Night Electric Night' to the seriousness in 'Via the End', which I wrote the very night I found out about my brother's suicide [Emil's brother was DISSECTION frontman Jon Nödtveidt — Ed.], it holds an honest consequence right through the album."

According to a press release, "Night Electric Night" is about DEATHSTARS' "lives and their experiences, their personal issues and the action/horror drama which represents the manic environment that the band exists within. It deals a lot with reflections of situations right then and there."

"Night Electric Night" track listing:

CD:

01. Chertograd
02. Night Electric Night
03. Death Dies Hard
04. Mark Of The Gun
05. Via The End
06. Blood Stains Blondes
07. Babylon
08. The Fuel Ignites
09. Arclight
10. Venus In Arms
11. Opium

Bonus Tracks: (only on limited gold edition)

12. Night Electric Night (Skinny remix)
13. Via The End (piano version)
14. Night Electric Night (feat. Adrian Erlandsson)

DVD:

Clip Selection:

* Death Dies Hard
* Virtue To Vice
* Blitzkrieg
* Cyanide
* Syndrome
* Synthetic Generation

Bonus Material:

* Making of "Death Dies Hard"
* Making of "Virtue to Vice"
* Making of "Blitzkrieg"
* Making of "Cyanide"

Includes screensaver and wallpapers

Picture LP in gatefold:

Side A:

01. Chertograd
02. Night Electric Night
03. Death Dies Hard
04. The Mark Of The Gun
05. Via The End
06. Blood Stains Blondes

Side B:

01. Babylon
02. The Fuel Ignites
03. Arclight
04. Venus In Arms
05. Opium

The first single, "Death Dies Hard", will be released as a digital download only on January 2.

GUNS N' ROSES' new album, "Chinese Democracy" Updates

GUNS N' ROSES' new album, "Chinese Democracy", has registered the following first-week chart positions so far (Note: The album wasn't available a full week in most of these territories when the charts were compiled):

Finland: #1
Ireland: #3
Netherlands: #4
Sweden: #4

Early U.S. sales reports suggest that "Chinese Democracy", which was released through an exclusive deal with the Best Buy chain, might not be the blockbuster the industry had hoped for, according to The New York Times. Sales figures will not be available until next week, but early estimates put the first-week total at 300,000 copies (including a reported 25,000 downloads at iTunes on November 23 not counted towards the opening week for the Sunday release) — roughly 50,000 more than the opening number registered by "Contraband", the 2004 debut from VELVET REVOLVER, which features in its ranks Rose's former GUNS N' ROSESbandmates Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum. KANYE WEST's new album, "808s and Heartbreak", will be No. 1 on next week's Billboard chart with a total that looks to be between 450,000 and 500,000.

Mastodon - Crack The Skye (coming soon...)

MASTODON have set "Crack the Skye" as the title of their new album, due in early 2009. The seven-song, 50-minute effort was recorded at Southern Tracks Studios in Atlanta and was produced and mixed by Brendan O'Brien....

"Crack the Skye" track listing:

01. Oblivion
02. Divinations
03. Quintessence
04. The Czar
I. Usurper
II. Escape
III. Martyr
IV. Spiral
05. Ghost of Karelia
06. Crack The Skye
07. The Last Baron

Read a couple articles about the new album:
http://spin.com/articles/mastodon-unveil-new-album-details

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=107875
http://www.revolvermag.com/content/mastodon-reveal-new-album-title-and-track-list-metallica-tourdates

Nigel Sia's Music Video of Estrella's Stay

Estrella - Stay (2008) from nigelais on Vimeo.

This is a fun and cute video of Estrella's Stay. More info about the director here...

Estrella here...

Mastodon will be touring with Metallica

Mastodon are extremely honored to announce that they will be supporting the great Metallica next summer in Europe. Here are the confirmed dates so far....

06/14/2009 Helsinki, FIN Hartwall Arena
06/15/2009 Helsinki, FIN Hartwall Arena
06/17/2009 Oslo, NOR Spektrum
06/22/2009 Milan, ITA Datch Forum
06/24/2009 Rome, ITA Palalottomatica
07/13/2009 Madrid, ESP Palacio de Deportes
07/16/2009 Zurich, CHE Hallenstadion
07/20/2009 Copenhagen, DEN Copenhagen Forum
07/22/2009 Copenhagen, DEN Copenhagen Forum
07/23/2009 Copenhagen, DEN Copenhagen Forum
07/27/2009 Copenhagen, DEN Copenhagen Forum

Noah Martin of Arsis Quits!!!

Noah Martin has issued the following statement in regards to stepping down from his bass-playing duties in ARSIS:

"Well, I don't know where to start. When you're in a band, you're nothing but at the will of the group you're in. At some point, after lots of nights laying awake in a bunk after a show in the middle of the country, you really start to wonder where your life is headed. I know there's a big difference between what's smart and what you really want to do. I really need to do the smart thing and finish college, though I'd also like to do what I love, and continue playing with ARSIS. Unfortunately, I can't do them both. Thus, I've decided to leave the band.

I've had such a phenomenal time with Jim [Malone], Ryan [Knight] , and Shawn [Priest], as we'll always be friends. I'll miss working with Gerardo, Loana, and bugging Mike at Nuclear Blast, who've made working with them the most enjoyable experience. Thanks to anyone and everyone we've ever worked with, including the bands with which we've toured.

I would like to personally thank all ours friends and fans, since you've always been one in the same in my eyes. Leaving something you love is the most difficult thing to do, though leaving it doesn't mean you'll never come back to it. I most likely will - after I finish school. If I wind up pursuing something else in the meantime, I'll probably do so, but that's another story.

My last two shows with ARSIS will be September 26th in Indianapolis, Indiana and September 27th in Covington, Kentucky. Cheers and good times, good times.”