Finnish black metal band Catamenia will be releasing a new album called VIII on September 12th. As you might have guessed, this is the eighth studio album from the band which has been around since 1995. It will be released in 2 different versions, though the details of each are unknown so far, on Massacre Records.

Over the years, Catamenia has endured many lineup changes, the most recent of which was a change in May when their old lead singer Olli-Jukka Mustonen left the band just before a small Canadian tour. I’m not sure how this affected the work on VIII, we will just have to wait and see. You can listen to Catamenia on their MySpace page.

Consorting with the Black

Norwegian symphonic black-metal masters Dimmu Borgir are joining American bands Danzig, Winds of Plague and Skeletonwitch along with Portuguese Moonspell on the North American Blackest of the Black Tour in October and November. Dimmu Borgir’s eighth studio album, In Sorte Diaboli, was released last April and managed to be the first black metal album to hit number one in their native Norway and also made it to number 43 in the US Billboard 200.

(Tour dates listed on the next page.)

Vreid in the studio

Another Norwegian black metal band, Vreid, recently announced on myspace that they have been making good progress on a fourth, as yet unnamed, album continuing their focus on the Norwegian resistance during World War II. They expect work on the album to be finished by October for a January release.

Grim Tales from Sweden

One Man Army and the Undead Quartet, a death/thrash metal band from Sweden, is set to release their third album, Grim Tales in October or November 2008. Samples can be heard at myspace.

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Paul already told us about Amon Amarth’s new album, Twilight of the Thunder God. Now the tracklist and the cover have been released, along with the information that a limited edition “Deluxe Collector’s” release will be available including an extra live CD and DVD of Amon Amarth’s 2007 appearance at Germany’s Summer Breeze festival. If a 3-disc set is not enough for you, try the even more limited (only 2000 pieces made) “Limited Bubblehead” release including the 2CD+1DVD collector’s edition plus bobble-head dolls of the band members and a 36-page comic. (No, I’m not making this up.)

Twilight of the Thunder God will be released September 17 in Sweden, shortly thereafter in the rest of Europe, and finally Sept 30 in North America.

They also have a North American tour planned for October supported by Ensiferum (FI), Belphegor (AT) and The Absence (US).

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This was the headline last week on Maj Karma’s website. Previously the band was expecting to release their 9th studio album this August, but drummer Janne Savolainen’s dog Brutus destroyed the hard drive containing the bass and drum tracks. Some of the material was salvageable, but enough was lost that the band chose to delay the release. They are now expecting the album to be ready for March 28, 2009 with a single in January, but they are continuing with their summer tour plans. (Unfortunately for me, all dates are in their native Finland.) Some samples of works-in-progress are available in their “Studio Journal” (see section Studiopäiväkirjaa).

Maj Karma, formerly known as Maj Karman kauniit kuvat (Maj Karma’s pretty pictures), play punk-, industrial- and metal-infused hard rock with Finnish lyrics. Their 8th album, Ukkonen, was certified gold in Finland.

Finnish extreme metal giants Children of Bodom released their sixth studio album, entitled Blooddrunk, this past April, to largely positive reviews and excellent sales. Apparently the band were feeling especially aggressive during the writing of the album, and they ended up with something that is quite heavy as a result.

The album was released in both a standard jewel edition, as well as a digipack with several additional bonus tracks. Due to the band’s fame, both should be fairly readily available from any retailers.

For those who enjoy their metal with a touch of power and a healthy dose of thrash, Children of Bodom are worth checking out for sure.

Blooddrunk (April 9, 2008)

1. “Hellhounds On My Trail” – 3:58
2. “Blooddrunk” – 4:05
3. “LoBodomy” – 4:24
4. “One Day You Will Cry” – 4:05
5. “Smile Pretty for the Devil” – 3:55
6. “Tie My Rope” – 4:14
7. “Done with Everything, Die for Nothing” – 3:30
8. “Banned from Heaven” – 5:05
9. “Roadkill Morning” – 3:32

Bonus Tracks:

1. “Ghostriders in the Sky” (Stan Jones cover) – 3:39
2. “Lookin’ Out My Back Door” (Creedence Clearwater Revival cover) – 2:08
3. “Just Dropped In” (Kenny Rogers cover) – 2:38
4. “War Inside My Head” (Suicidal Tendencies cover)

Meshuggah are well known among extreme metal circles for their innovative use of jarring rhythms and atonal chord changes. They are very definitely not a band for everyone, but if you have any appreciation for the experimental jazz influenced style known as technical or math metal, Meshuggah are a definite must have. Meshuggah released their 6th full length studio album a few months back entitled obZen, which has gone on to become fairly succesfull in both their native Sweden and the greater Nordic circle as a whole. It has also been receiving exceptionally good critical reviews. For those familiar with the band’s older work, it might be a bit different from expectations, but overall it is worth checking out.

obZen (released March 07, 2008)

1. “Combustion” – 4:11
2. “Electric Red” – 5:53
3. “Bleed” – 7:22
4. “Lethargica” – 5:49
5. “obZen” – 4:27
6. “This Spiteful Snake” – 4:55
7. “Pineal Gland Optics” – 5:14
8. “Pravus” – 5:13
9. “Dancers to a Discordant System” – 9:36

Norwegian/American aggrotech group Combrichrist are set to release a new EP entitled Frost: Sent to Destroy in just a few weeks time. Currently set for a July 8th release, we know quite a bit about the EP already. It looks to contain 3 songs and a variety of remixes for each, and we can assume it is a teaser EP for the next full length album, which is still officially unannounced (though it is known that the group is working on new material)

For those unfamiliar with Combichrist’s aggressive form of techno, I’d highly recommend last year’s What the Fuck is Wrong with you People? The new EP will likely be widely available, as Combichrist have become fairly well known in North America, but when in doubt Amazon.com is always a good bet, or one of it’s myriad of local sister sites.

Frost EP tracklisting:

1. Sent To Destroy [5:25]
2. The Kill (Instru-Mental Version) [5:22]
3. Prince of E-Ville [4:49]
4. Sent To Destroy (Reworked By Rotersand) [6:06]
5. Sent To Destroy (Northborne Remix) [6:24]
6. Sent To Destroy (Sacrifice Remix By Suicide Commando) [5:57]
7. Prince of E-Ville (Princess Mix By Babyland) [4:15]
8. Prince of E-Ville (Chicago Club Mix By Accessory) [4:05]
9. Prince of E-Ville (Caustic Remix) [4:00]

Viking Metal is a subgenre that arose primarily in Sweden during the early 1990s, but has since spread throughout Europe and North America. While there are is huge variety within the subgenre, ranging from language to even the base style, the unifying factor between these bands is the use of Viking influenced themes in the lyrics. Amon Amarth are not the most famous of the myriad of bands occupying this genre, but I personally think that they are one of the best. Admittedly, I’m not a huge fan of their earlier work, but their last album (2006’s With Oden on our Side) is one of the best in the genre. Lots of bloody lyrics suitable for the bloodiest of Viking sagas along with an excellent melodic death metal base make a great combination, and what’s even better is that you can actually understand about 95% of Johan Hegg’s death growl vocals, which is definitely a rarety.

Now that I’ve (hopefully) got your interest, Amon Amarth have announed that they will be releasing a new album aimed at late summer of this year. Unfortunately there isn’t a lot of information released yet, but we do know it will be called Twilight of the Thundergod, that there will be 10 tracks, that the band entered the studio on the first of May, and the names of 3 of the songs: Guardians of Asgaard, Live for the Kill, Tattered Banners and Bloody Flags. Based on the excellence of the band’s last abum I’m expecting great things from Twilight, and eagerly anticipate its release!

Amon Amarth’s back catalogue should be available from most retailers (I know Futureshop in Canada carries at least some of their albums, A&B Sound will order them in for you, and of course Amazon carries all the albums) and naturally once Twilight is released it will be available from these sources as well.

OK, so I can only speak from hearsay and what I have read, but it seems to me that the Finns fill their long, glorious summer days with music — with tours, of course, and huge annual festivals like Ruisrock and Ankkarock, but also with a flurry of album releases. Paul has already mentioned Turmion Kätilöt’s U.S.C.H.! but here are a few more points of interest from the land of the thousand lakes.

Apulanta are celebrating summer with their 4-track Kesä-EP released June 11 2008. This is sure to please fans of their previous album, Eikä vielä ole edes ilta, and indeed, like most of Apulanta’s recent releases, it debuted at number 1 in the Finnish music charts.

Still on June 11, heavy-metal veterans Tarot released Undead Indeed, their first live DVD (available in a 2DVD or 2CD set), including material from their recent Crows Fly Black tour, interviews with the band and a couple of videos.

Last but far from least, June 11 gave us Marraskuun singlet, a collection of the seven singles with their accompanying B-sides from Viikate’s 2007 releases Marraskuun lauluja I and II. Including gems such as their cover of the Leevi and the Leavings classic “Teuvo, maanteidan kuningas”, this is a must for any fan, or an inexpensive way for the casual listener to get a hold of highlights of two powerful albums.

But more is yet to come! Kotiteollisuus have been in the studio working on a cover-EP Sotakoira to be released August 13 and pop-rock ensemble Egotrippi are releasing their seventh full-length album for which single Hyvästi naiset is due out in July. Finally, I’ve also read something about yet another release from Apulanta planned for August, but I must admit, I have not yet pinned this down (my Finnish is poor and it makes digging for facts a little bit slow).

EDIT: I forgot to mention where you can find these albums. Unfortunately, I have not found any good North American source for Finnish music, so I recommend ordering direct from Finland. Record Shop X has the June releases already in stock (and Sotakoira available for pre-orders) and will certainly carry the others as soon as they come out.

One of the best known bands to have come out of the Scandinavian metal scene is revered Swedish band Opeth. While originally a death metal band, in the past decade Opeth have begun to incorporate a variety of other influences into their sound, including most noticeably acoustic guitars and clean vocals in addition to the more brutal death metal sections. While this is a little bit late, Opeth released their seventh and most recent album, Watershed, this past May. Due to Opeth’s huge worldwide success, the album should be available at both your local record store as well as from major online retailers such as Amazon.

1. “Coil” – 3:10
2. “Heir Apparent” – 8:50
3. “The Lotus Eater” – 8:50
4. “Burden” – 7:41
5. “Porcelain Heart” – 8:00
6. “Hessian Peel” – 11:25
7. “Hex Omega” – 7:00