Israeli progressive folk metal masters ORPHANED LAND celebrated the release of their new album, “The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR”, with a special “launch party” on February 4 at the Theatre Club in Tel-Aviv, Israel.

Check out photos of the event at Orphaned-Land.com.

Fan-filmed footage of the performance can be viewed below.

ORPHANED LAND will return to North America this March as direct support to SUIDAKRA. This tour is not to be missed as it’s only hitting the following four cities:

March 08 - B.B. King Blues Club & Grill - New York, NY
March 10 - Les Foufounes Electriques - Montreal, QC
March 13 - Wreck Room - Toronto, ON
March 14 - Bottom Lounge - Chicago, IL

Commented ORPHANED LAND vocalist Kobi Farhi: “Shalom to our warriors of light in America! We are so excited to finally meet you, because we will tour the U.S. for the first time. We sure hope that more dates will be added to this tour and we can’t wait to meet you all!”

ORPHANED LAND’s fourth album, “The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR”, was released in Europe on January 25. Mixed by Steven Wilson (PORCUPINE TREE, OPETH), who is also responsible for several keyboard parts on the new CD, the effort — which is due in the U.S. on February 9 via Century Media Records — is a sophisticated concept album which takes ORPHANED LAND’s unique brand of exotic, heavy music to soaring new heights in terms of complexity and catchiness.

The CD’s artwork was created by Zen Two and Native.

Toronto’s WARMACHINE will support W.A.S.P. on the following dates:

March 04 - Lincolnshire, IL - The Cubby Bear
March 05 - Columbus, OH - Alrosa Villa
March 06 - Detroit, MI - Harpos
March 07 - Middleton, WI - Scatz Nightclub
March 09 - Foxboro, MA - Showcase Live
March 10 - Wantagh, NY - Mulcahys
March 11 - New York, NY - Gramercy Theater
March 12 - Sayreville, NJ - Starland Ballroom
March 14 - Poughkeepsie, NY - The Chance
March 15 - Allentown, PA - Crocodile Rock

WARMACHINE recently completed work on its new album, “Left For Dead”, for a 2010 release. The CD was once again produced by Murray Daigle and was recorded in Canada.

The track listing is as follows:

01. Moving On
02. We’re The Chemical
03. Chalk Lines and Bones
04. Alive
05. Fallacy
06. Too Late
07. Inevitable Crash
08. Loved and Lost
09. Forgive and Forget You
10. Left for Dead
11. A New Beginning

Several of the songs are now available for streaming on the band’s MySpace page.

WARMACHINE’s “Raw in the Hammer” DVD contains footage from the band’s January 20, 2007 concert at The Underground in Hamilton, a documentary on the band’s history, behind-the-scenes footage and more.

WARMACHINE’s debut album, “The Beginning of the End”, was released in 2006 in North America via Nightmare Records.

“The Beginning of the End” features a guest appearance on three tracks (“Betrayed”, “Empty” and “Taunted Souls”) by MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson.

For more information, visit www.warmachineonline.com.

Ohio’s WOE OF TYRANTS will release its third album, “Threnody”, on April 13 via Metal Blade Records. According to a press release from the label, “This time around, the guys have seriously turned up the shred-knob and churned out some of the most exciting songs we’ve heard swirling around the Metal Blade offices in quite some time. On this record, you’ll find equal parts speed, groove and over-the-top guitar soloing. Headbanging will be mandatory.”

Commented vocalist Chris Catanzaro: “We have a brand-baby-spankin’-new record that we finished recording at the end of 2009 with Jamie King producing, and to embrace the cliché, ‘This is the most epic brutal stuff we’ve ever done and we’re stoked on it!’

“For those of us who do not know what [the] word ['threnody'] means right off hand (I had to look it up as I was reading a passage from Ralph Waldo Emerson long ago), a threnody is a song or hymn inspired by the grief of losing someone you love.

“The album tells a story of a non-specific individual traveling between planets searching for answers, while paralleling Satan’s fall from grace to damnation at the same time.

“We all experience a change at some point as we travel through life, albeit not of the same magnitude as Lucifer, that will render us either content, or disgusted. When disgust is the feeling, then we begin to miss our former self as if they were an entirely different person.

“I’d like to be clear that I’m not referring specifically to Christians, or Muslims, or Amish or whatever else the kids are doing these days. ‘Threnody’, as we are using it, is a story of grief over losing oneself.

“This album will surprise those familiar with our band, and hopefully surpass any preconceived notions of those who are listening to us for the first time.

“If you have expectations for this record to sound like our last two albums, it doesn’t. Well, a little like the others, as we still prefer playing leads over doing breakdowns, and we still wish we were WINTERSUN or DECAPITATED. But, for the most part, this record is new territory for us and we are excited to unleash it.”

“Threnody” track listing:

01. Tetelestai
02. Creatures Of The Mire
03. Venom Eye
04. Tempting The Wretch
05. Threnody
06. Bloodsmear
07. The Venus Orbit
08. Lightning Over Atlantis
09. Singing The Surrender
10. Descendit Ad Inferos (The Harrowing Of Hell)

WOE OF TYRANTS will support OVERKILL on the band’s 25th anniversary North American tour, dubbed Killfest 2010, in April/May 2010. The trek will span the length of the U.S., hitting spots in Canada, with one final show at New York City’s Nokia Theater. Additional support on the tour will come from VADER, GOD DETHRONED, WARBRINGER and EVILE.

WOE OF TYRANTS‘ second album, “Kingdom Of Might”, was released in January 2009 via Metal Blade Records. The CD was engineered in its entirety by Joey Sturgis of Foundation Studios (THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, GWEN STACY, BROTHER VON DOOM).

For more information, visit www.myspace.com/wot.

Progressive/power metal band KATAGORY V has set “Resurrect The Insurgence” as the working title of its fifth album, which is tentatively due before the end of the year. According to bassist/songwriter Dustin Mitchell, the group is scheduled to enter the studio in early April to begin tracking the CD, which will mark the recording debut of the new KATAGORY V lineup:

Dustin Mitchell - Bass
Albert Rybka - Vocals
Matthew Bizzaro Lefevre - Drums
Marc Hanson - Guitar
Kris Krompel - Guitar

A few short clips of songs that were recorded during the pre-production sessions for the new album can be streamed on the band’s MySpace page. Also available is a personal video message from Mitchell (see below) introducing these clips.

KATAGORY V’s most recent album, “Hymns Of Dissension”, was released in September 2007 in Europe through Burning Star Records and in October 2007 in the U.S. on Nightmare Records.

Despised Youth Records is pleased to announce the signing of Southern California punk band THE HOAX.

The Hoax started as the brain child of bassist and lead singer Tyler Dunagan and guitarist Ricky “Johnny Hoax” Madson. They started with the idea of making a Christian punk band inspired by bands like Officer Negative, The Havoc, and Headnoise.

They soon got local drummer Daniel “Danimal” Cathers to join, finishing the three-piece, in January ‘05. Starting with a cover of J.C.H.C. the band was soon writing music and found their first show in Fall ‘05 with other local bands The M.O.P.I.C., D.S.B., and Dead Theory. The Hoax continued to play shows, being grateful to play with such bands as Headnoise and The Havoc.  In October ‘07, The Hoax made a mission’s trip to Russia where they put on free Outreach concerts in Kirov for the local college students.

In the summer of 2008, the band experimented with moving Tyler to full-time lead vocals and adding another bass player. Matt “Navajo Joe” Dreer played bass for The Hoax for two song recordings and one show at the Stronghold. Sadly other matters lead him to choose to leave the band, but he will still join in as a special guest at several live shows.

In January 2009, The Hoax recorded their first studio EP. At nine songs, fourteen minutes, “Fight To Be Free” was released in April ‘09.

The Hoax is a Christian punk band with the goal of doing the Lord’s ministry wherever he puts them within the punk community.

The Hoax will begin recording their debut album for Despised Youth in the near future with a planned Summer time release. Their EP, “Fight To Be Free” will soon be digitally released via Despised Youth Records and will be available at all major online digital stores.

You can check out a few tracks from the band’s EP, “Fight To Be Free” on the bands myspace page.

BLABBERJESUS RADIO, which is part of our BLABBERJESUS NETWORK has launched a brand new website. The new website will make it easier to tune in and stay connected with all of the happenings at BLABBERJESUS RADIO.

Stop by and check it out, and tune in!

www.blabberjesusradio.com

California-based Christian death metallers IMPENDING DOOM have confirmed the departures of guitarist Manny Contreras and drummer Isaac Bueno. Bassist David Sittig states, “Both of them felt like this was not for them anymore. It happened a while back before we entered the studio [to record the new IMPENDING DOOM album].

He adds, “Not everyone can maintain the amount of passion that IMPENDING DOOM requires. That being said, we are still great friends with both Manny and Isaac and wish them both nothing but the best.

“Our good friend Brandon Trahan (ex-MIRROR OF DEAD FACES) has stepped in on drums and just recently finished tracking on our upcoming record, which will be released this summer. As for rhythm guitar, we have someone stepping in for our upcoming tours and summer festivals.”

“The Serpent Servant”, the latest album from IMPENDING DOOM, sold 4,300 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 144 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD landed at No. 3 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

“The Serpent Servant” was recorded at Lambesis Studios in San Diego with Tim Lambesis and Daniel Castleman (AS I LAY DYING, WAR OF AGES, WINDS OF PLAGUE) and was released today (March 31) through Facedown Records. It was mixed and mastered by Zeuss (HATEBREED, SHADOWS FALL, TERROR).

IMPENDING DOOM refers to its style of Christian metal as “gorship” — a portmanteau of gore and worship. The band also clarify on their MySpace blog that “gorship” is their way of worshipping God through their gore-sounding music; not worshipping “gore” as some are led to believe.

Capital Chaos has posted video footage of California-based Christian death metallers IMPENDING DOOM performing on July 23, 2009 at The Boardwalk in Orangevale, California. Watch the clip below.