ARTISTS OF THE MONTH -|- APRIL 2008

HELLHAMMER

From the vaults of the mighty dead godz springs forth Hellhammer! No they're not back, but Tom and company have finally unleashed their official "Demon Entrails" compilation upon the world! Now you and all your poser friends can buy it and act like you were in on it from day one! If you thought Celtic Frost was too sophisticated, try Hellhammer to get your dose of caveman black/death brutality! Oooough!

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ANTI CIMEX

It's time to put the spotlight on a classic band this month, and you don't really get more classic than Anti Cimex from Sweden. The band's second 7" "Raped Ass" is a defining moment in the whole world of d-beat and crust as they took what Discharge did over in Stoke-on-Trent and made it their own. Today the crust/d-beat in Sweden is among the most wellknown in the world and it has a lot to thank Anti Cimex for that. So, tune in during April and you will hear a whole bunch of Cimex classics!

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DESTINITY

A great band merely known outside its country, Destinity started 12 years ago as a Cradle of Filth-inspired act and evolved, years after years, into a brilliant Extreme yet melodic Metal band. Their latest to come called "The Inside" definitely worths a check.

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AVERSE SEFIRA

The Texan Black Metal vanguard returns with their fourth album,
"Advent Parallax"! These caustic cowboys go for broke with more
aggression and metaphysical madness than ever before, and you will suffer the consequences. Prepare! Beware!

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VICTIMS

With their unique blend of d-beat, 80s hardcore and dirty rock the swedish band Victims show how it's really done on their brand new album "Killer". The album has 16 tracks and they are all killers .. and so you can rest assured that you will hear most of them during March. So, tune in to Mondo Kaos and Victims will kick your ass!

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INFERNO FESTIVAL

Aural Onslaught takes you to Oslo, with features from this year's Inferno Festival. The final line-up this year includes: Destruction, Satyricon, Gorgoroth, Overkill, Gorefest, Behemoth, Tristania, 1349, Tulus, Krux, Unleashed, Onslaught, Shining, Gallhammer, Cult of Luna, Sahg, Vreig, Negura Bunget, Den Saakaldte, Urgehal, The Batallion, Skitliv, Mortal Sin, In Vain, Benighted, Ramesses, Burst, Goat the Head, Cor Scorpii, Insense, Iskald, Desecration, Obsidian Throne, Diskord, Axegressor, Whip, Deject, Slagmark, Drone, Kathe Kollwitz, Karoke from Hell, and my personal favorite... Dead to this World! So break out the PAAS and tune in!


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HAIL TO RUSSIA, HAIL TO FINLAND

Outside of Brazil, you'd be hard-pressed to find any metal scenes
weirder than Finland or Russia. And they're right next to each other
so that doesn't help matters at all! However, their weirdness also
gives rise to some genuinely cool bands that sound unlike anything
else on the planet too. Think you can handle it? Tune in and we'll
see!
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Visit the official Metalenema Myspace site for more information

ZOROASTER

Zoroaster are self-described as sounding like "a dinosaur taking a shit"
A more technical analysis would be that these boys have a great sound synthesis of good old-fashioned in your face southern sludge with plenty of heavy groove and ambient droning redundancy and including just the right amount of spaced-out sound effects and tribal black metal chanting to keep you in a favorable discomfort zone.

This group from Atlanta, GA is the definition of a power trio, and they tell their story in their own words as being formed in late 2003 "out of the need for sedation by high volumes and low frequencies." The band released their first demo in 2006 on Battle Kommand, and published a live DVD and live album that same year with Terminal Doom. In '07 they did a split CD with the stoner rock band Christine and on Sept. 11 Zoroaster released their first full-length, "Dog Magic" with the help of Southern Lord distribution.

"Dog Magic" together with the '06 demo are being sold as part of a "Killer deal" package on stonerrock.com this month, and the band are also kicking off a North American tour with bands such as Sourvein, Minsk and Nachtmystium. Expect to hear several samples of Zoroaster this month on The Dark Battalions as well.
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VALDUR

VALDUR is coming from Mammoth Lakes, California, and plays ULTIMATE, STRAIGHTFORWARD, BRUTAL and OBSCURE BLACK METAL! Check out the first full-length album of this band in INFERNAL WAVES RADIO during February. One more hidden-jewel from the US Underground !

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DISFEAR

With their brand new album "Live the Storm" Disfear shows everyone that the years that have passed since their latest album "Misanthropic Generation" have been spent well. The sound is more rock'n'roll oriented nowadays, but the d-beat is as always there as well. In February you will hear so damn much Disfear on Mondo Kaos your ears might start to bleed... so tune in!

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MOLESTED

Before Øystein Brun ceded into the accessible drek known as Borknagar, he was the mastermind of one of Norway's most skull-melting death metal bands ever- Molested! Put Incantation on (even more) crystal meth and mix it with obscure lyricism based on Norse legends and you'll get "Blod-draum" and "Stormvold"! Norway codified Black Metal but this stuff would make the most ardent church-burner pee his pants! Underrated and essential! Tune in and find out why!
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THE DEAD

Yeah, these four young gentlemen from Brisbane, Australia are Obsidian Records' new thunder from down under, yada, yada -- whatever. You can believe the hype or don't, but The Dead are seriously relentlessly heavy, death metal in the tradition of Deicide but a bit more emphasis on catchy riffs and tribal chanting -- which means I should include another like who? Sepultura maybe? The Dead just came out with their self-titled debut album Dec. 21st and have recently played in a supporting role for Behemoth as well as The Festival Of The Dead with Akercocke and The Berzerker, and are set for gigs in Australia this Spring including the Anzac festival in April.
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ASSASSINATION

Assassination have been around spreading their swedish d-beat madness since 2005, and with every new release they get better and better. And with their latest album, "Decivilize", which was released right before the summer of 2007 they took a big step closer to the top level of Swedish crust/d-beat. In december you will get to hear songs from that album as well as tracks from their old "Snipercrust" EP as well as the split they did in 2006 with Alternate System. December will be a month filled with the best this band has done up until now...

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FORGOTTEN HORROR

This self-titled four-track demo, featuring ex-Flame Tuomas Karhunen and Deathchain's Corpse and Kassara, landed in the AO hellpit with impellent force. Both potent and pivotal in a time of stagnation, it is Aural Onslaught's record of the year. With only 200 hand-numbered copies, it is a must have. Lucifer is waiting...

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MARTIN VAN DRUNEN

Carving a trademark into Death Metal with his hellhound wails, Martin
Van Drunen's lasting contribution to the underground through Pestilence
and later Asphyx is undeniable indeed. As he has become active again
with a revived Asphyx lineup, we reach back into the vault of iniquity
to let his voice vomit out of your speakers once more! Thoughts of
vermin, insects, and unpleasant ways to die will roil in your mind all
month long, so tune in and beware!
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WEVERIN

Weverin are a trio of Satanic spooks calling themselves Buer, The Harp and Lord Sxuperion, and they've come to stuff a real lump of blackened death coal in yer Xmas stockings this year.

These guys have been busy over the past year putting out 2 full-lengths
and even recording a special tune for Infernal Waves Radio. Members of Weverin are involved in side projects such as Valdur and Gorlock and they are recently signed to War Flagellation Productions out of Portugal.

The latest EP by Weverin, "Lanrete Era Ev" is a melancholic nightmare soundscape,rockin' with an air of intangible creepiness that has to be heard to be understood. In addition to the two epic originals are covers of Mercyful Fate and Queen that are truly wicked even by BM standards. Not enough shit like this in the death metalrealms.
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SVARTSYN

These Swedish fiends have been quietly going about adding their own brand of even-handed blackness into the underground for years, and they keep getting deadlier with each release. Their latest, "Timeless Reign" is no-frills, knife-in-the-back Black Metal that will keep you believing in the Beast. Less hyped-up than Shining, less obtrustive than Watain, Svartsyn holds high the ragged flag of Sweden's most evil music and then kicks you in the stomach!
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DESASTER

The latest album of the band, "666 - Satan's Soldiers Syndicate", is a Black / Thrash must-have ! Come on and discover such Old-School gems as "Angel Extermination" and "Hellbangers" - Come on to celebrate the Heavy Metal Cult !"

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BOMBSTRIKE

With the new album "Born into This" Bombstrike again takes up the fight of the swedish crust/d-beat throne. If you're into other Swedish band like Disfear and Skitsystem this should be right up your alley... Listen to Mondo Kaos and you will hear a shitload of songs from the new album during November.

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GORE GROWLERS BALL

Influenced by the chance to bring back music that is dying here in San Antonio, TX! To Prove to those locally who say it can not be done!!! This fest will put a huge dent into the underground music scene locally, statewide and countrywide. Be one of the chosen few who believe, and come out to this fest for total support of our brutal genre!!!"

The Adversary will be recorded live during the weekend of November 3rd and 4th at the Goregrowler's Ball.

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ZONDERHOOF

When you're ready for an ambient cerebral pounding to your aching cabesa -- not the kind of listening pleasure I would recommend for you who are trying to recover from last night's hangover --but mood music all the same -- that is if the mood is sci-fi horror -- this could be the band for you. All you doom hounds on your epic quest for whatever it is that's worth questing about -- you have become predictable in the way you cling to your big fat greasy riffs and your penchant for punishing percussion, always jonesing for a fix from that that great lumbering beast that is doom as it trundles ever forward from one ironic fiasco to the next and notgiving a good goddamn about any stinking vocals!!!

This band is Doom in the vein of some big behemoth of a doom band that we could compare them to -- closest I can come up with is Khanate meets Neurosis -- kind of experimentally noisy but more coherently anthemic than you might expect.

These guys have been known to hang out at clubs in the Cardiff area of South Wales with the likes of Big Business and The Abominable Iron Sloth and rumor has it they even bring their instruments and amplifiers to these same clubs and play that god-awful racket they are known for making!!!

Zonderhoof have just released their debut EP and they are known for being most generous with the tracks of said EP all over the Internet, and so it is that this very same EP has made its way into the hands of the Dark Battalions Extreme Metal Internet Radio Show, and we will be featuring it during the month of November on Solarfall!!
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SVARTAHRID

13 years of existence for this damned band! The new album "Sadness and Wrath" (recorded in 2003) is finally released through Soulseller Records...
Do you know why? In June 2003, Ilvastar, among others, broke into a crematory, and desecrated several corpses. Ilvastar then cut the head of one of the corpses, and brought it with him. He was sentenced to prison after that event. Enough said..."

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SPLITTER

If you are looking for some great and tight grindcore, look no further! Splitter have together with bands like Gadget and Sayyadina proved that the swedish grindscene is alive and kicking. With their new album "Avskräckande Exemplar" they have taken a step further from last year's album "En Sorglig Historia" and delivers a grindcore with even more intense metal influences... and in this case it's not bad at all!

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AMONG THE DECAYED

If you're looking for a gastrointestinal disaster of a band that is utterly macabre, look no further. Among The Decayed is grindcore done the way it should be -- tight as fuck and full of catchy rhythmic chants of guttural devastation, and I don't care if you think you've heard it all before, there is narry a dull moment with these guys.

Among The Decayed have been busy the last couple of years doing EP's, splits, comps, tributes, but "Dead Rising" which is due out this month on Wormblud Records is their first full-length CD. Among The Decayed are from Portland and they will no doubt put some gore into the state of "Goregon." Their brand of oldschool grindcore is flying in the face of tree-hugging peaceniks everywhere. The nightmare is real, they go by the name Among The Decayed and after listening to them you will fear Freaky Jesus!.
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S:T ERIK

S:t Erik started as a big party scene where members of Douglas Fir and Deviant hooked up and formed a new project. What has resulted is the sound of big, fat monolithic riffs with early Sabbath nuance so as to earn a listing in the dark domain of Doom.

The band's first EP - Upsala is earth rattling, joy-killing devastation that will roll you over and rape you of your will to live.

The month of September the Dark Battalions extreme metal Internet radio show will be playing music from this EP, more than likely we'll play the whole damn thing!!!.
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WOLFBRIGADE

When Wolfbrigade called it quits back in 2004 they left a big empty space at the top of the Swedish d-beat/crust punk scene... Most of the members went on together and formed the band Today's Overdose which was more in the hardcore vein. But, the need to play d-beat was too strong and after having played some old Wolfpack/Wolfbrigade tracks live the guys decided in january 2007 to start up Wolfbrigade again with the same line-up as in Today's Overdose. They entered the studio in early 2007 and the end result was the new album "Prey to the World" which showed the band being back in good form and back at the top of the swedish scene... So, expect a shitload of tracks from that record being played on Mondo Kaos in the month of September... and many, many months after that!

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TOXIC HOLOCAUST

Just out of the trenches of WW-IV thrash fest, Joel Grind hits the road for an oll out assault of raw thrashing metal. Toxic Holocaust, along with Municipal Waste & Skeletonwitch, are storming the states this month. And don't miss the most unholy gathering, when Toxic Holocaust joins the infernal hordes at this year's Sacrifice of the Nazerene Child Fest. Hear the sounds of the wasteland on Aural Assault with Spar. Thrash Metal or Die!!

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DEATHSPELL OMEGA

Do you enjoy listening to music that feels like an ordeal? Does the idea of needing Ritalin to understand an album appeal to you? Then brace yourself for the white-knuckle hayride that is Deathspell Omega's newest confrontation, Fas - Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum! Upheaval! Chaos! Introspection! Denial of YHWH! Weird chord structures! It's all here! The French Revolution isn't over yet, folks, and Deathspell Omega is here to let you eat cake (assuming the cake is made of human flesh with a frosting of ground-up Cherubim eyes)! Bon Appétit!
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Visit NOEVDIA (label site) or ANJA for more information

LIVING CORPSE

"Living Corpse" are heavy and melodic, but yet not too melodic if ya know what i'm sayin!!! This up and coming band from Torino, Italy is a death thrash assault force to be reckoned with. They list The Haunted and In Flames as influences as well as Slayer and At The Gates, and they emulate these bands well in the gritty performances of their music.

LC have been together since 2000, hitting the road on the "Hellbound Revenge" tour in 2005 and also releasing their first demo "The Red Line" that year. Now they have finished up a new album"6th Race of the Aquarius Age" and judging from the title track, something to get excited about!! Exciting enough to reanimate non-living tissue? Maybe not. Exciting enough to wake you out of your pathetic placid consumer culture-induced slumber? Definitely. And definitely exciting enough to be heard on the Dark Battalions the first week of August, with more tracks from LC to be heard each subsequent week this month.
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PARTY SAN METAL OPEN AIR

Party San is here! Aural Onslaught takes you to Bad Berka, for the sounds of some of AO's favorites Merciless, Interment, Immolation and Grave! This year's Party San Open Air also includes: Primordial, Pentacle, Secrets of the Moon, Kreator, F.U.C.K., Red Harvest, Korpiklaani, Deicide, Gorgoroth, Driller Killer, Korades, Vader, Belphegor, Bewitched, Meleschesh, Haemorrhage, Disaster KFW and more! This is sure to be a wild event, so tune in!

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MORTUUS

If you think Dödfödd and Ondskapt are state-of-the-art in Black Metal, then prepare to drink deep of Mortuus' debut full-length "De Contemplanda Morte". This Swedish band drifts and wails in hypnotic repetitions and brooding asides within six hymns to the darkness beyond. These tracks may not rip your face off but they might take you to an eerie part of your subconscious best left unvisited! It's time to get morbid so get your noose and chair ready and tune in!
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LIGHTNING SWORDS OF DEATH

Lightning Swords Of Death are the rampaging fury of the north, storming out of the southland, Los Angeles, california. Not unlike fellow L.A. bands Sothis and Origin, The Lightning Swords of Death are Black Metal in the brutal tradition of Darkthrone blended with the industrial entropy of 1349 and mixed with death-doom Celtic Frost heaviness.

This band are the new darlings of BlackMetal.com and they are the musical equivalent of a disgruntled samurai bearing down on you with his Bushido blade drawn! The Dark Battalions will feature songs off their new "Golden Plague" release during the month of July.
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LUST

So, what's worse than Black Metal that totally fucking sucks? LUST from Canada, baby! And still, yours truly has a hard time deciding whether or not we're confronted with plain shit or misunderstood, unfathomable genius - or both, perhaps? They can't play, but they kick fucking ass. Let's face it: LUST = flower sex with a Panzerfaust. So, go fuck yourself!

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MORSTICE

Morstice was a UK death metal band that existed in the early to mid 90s and delivered three demo tapes (which I will concentrate on the first two only on the show). The band started out brutal and downtuned, with a clearly british sound, on their first demo, but with the release of their second demo they had already started to flirt with a more melodic (and some might say "swedish") sound. The band were in talks with Deaf/Peaceville about a record deal, but sadly nothing came out of it... And in 1995 (after the release of a third demo, without the original vocalist) the band decided to split up..
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IMMOLATION

After a tenative near-misstep with 2005's "Harnessing Ruin", death metal stalwarts Immolation have gotten back to their trademark riffcraft with the brand new "Shadows in the Light". Once again you will crumple as bottomless vocals, bone-machine drums, and lightening strike chords and solos assault you in ways that will cause health problems in years to come. With dipshit recent output from contemporaries like Morbid Angel, Immolation is poised to rise to a position they rightfully earned ages ago - they're the best death metal band around, goddamn you! The best!

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SIX FEET UNDER

Many years from now, this band's picture will be in Webster's Dictionary under theentry for "Death Metal." This band is the pure simple heavy shit. Like a hatchet to the base of your skull, they just simply affect you, and the ghoulish venom of Chris Barnes and company will infect you, getting into your veins and filling you with homicidal visions of fiendish delight. Their new Metal Blade release "Commandment" is fit for you to blast at high volumes to horrify your neighbors and is sure to be a big hit in Dark Necropoli all over the globe. You'll hear a lot of these guys this month on the Dark Battalions.
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FESTUNG OPEN AIR

Hessians worldwide will converge in Bitterfeld Germany this month for the Festung Open Air. Aural Onslaught will bring you the music featured in this year's event! The 2007 line up features Archgoat, Victimizer, Unpure, Black Witchery, Forgotten Tomb, Bullet, Horned Almighty just to name a few ... So be sure to tune in with the rest us Metal Maniacs as we unite for Festung!
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MAYHEM

The legend is back! Almost 14 years and numerous meaningless releases later, (The True!!!) MAYHEM return to kick some serious poser ass. What happened? "Ordo Ad Chao" reinvents Black Metal, pulls hair and teeth, strips the fat off your sorry idea of what it's all about... Sounding "necro as fuck"™ - let's celebrate the band that finally decided to live up to its legend!

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WATAIN

ARRRRRRGH! Watain crawl up from the underground with their diabolical new LP, "Sworn to the Dark". These heir apparents to the throne of Dissection seem bent on setting the world on fire with a slew of anthemic new hymns of blackness. Everything you expect from these Scandi scumbags is intact with a few high-concept surprises for good measure. Blood, fire, death, and doom await you, so don't miss out!

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TOTALITÄR

Totalitär is one of Sweden's oldest (if not THE oldest) crust punk bands that are still around delivering some of the best crust that has ever come out of Sweden... and that says a lot. The band was formed back in 1985 and with their first 7" "Multinationella Mördare" (released in 1987) they immediately placed themselves among the top bands in the swedish crust scene. Now, more than 20 years after their formation the band is here with what they call their last album, "Vi Är Eliten". The album contains 17 relentless tracks of the trademark sound that has inspired so many, and if this is their last release... what a way to go!

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SECRETS SHE KEPT

Don't get fooled by the gothic / cof outlook of this US band. The name Secrets She Kept was meant to be deceiving and meant NOT to reflect the sound of the music, as this music is so powerful and strong. One of the most promising BM acts from the USA

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DRUGS OF FAITH

Faith -- is it the anti-drug or are drugs the anti-faith? Perhaps the whole thing just a bunch of money for dopes? Are you a short-haired, pig-headed, son of tricky-Dicky?

Anyhow listen to Drugs Of Faith, the Dark Battalions band of the month. This hardcore band from Sterling, Virginia in the U.S. has been around since 2002, done a couple of demos, been on the Terrorizer compilation CD, they put out a self-titled mini-album in '06 and just finished a split CD with the Polish band Antigamma on Selfmadegod Records.

They list influences as diverse as Agoraphobic Nosebleed and Bionic Man, but their sound is really beyond describing, so if you're gonna have faith in someone, it may as well be this band!!! Check 'em out.
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BLACK HOLE GENERATOR

Post-apocalyptic black metal featuring members of Taake, Vulture Industries, Aeternus, Grimfist, and Deathcon... Black Karma will haunt you with it's unhallowed atmosphere.

"When hell is full the dead shall walk the earth..."
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THE FUROR

Hailing from Perth, Western Australia, The Furor has unleashed waves of hate driven metal on the local shores with the releases of Invert Absolute (2004) and Advance Australia Warfare (2005). Best described as a hyperactively vicious, bombastic fusion of extreme metal styles - high calibre chaos on chaos forged from years of Death/Black/Thrash worship and indulgence. The trio of Kill Machine, Kingslayer and Disaster are hell bent on annihilating your senses and have entrusted The World Destroyers to bring you previews of their new material from their upcoming full length release.

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UNHOLY

On the heights of early 90s Black Metal frenzy, one band withstood the trend and redefined the genre with an unique musical style, years ahead of its time: Finland's UNHOLY, a band that unfortunately never received the fame they rightfully deserved. Terra Incognita celebrates the secret Kings of Avantgarde Black-Doom!

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LEADERSHIT

Leadershit is a relatively new band, but have proven with their self titled first album, released in 2006, that they are one of the best in the great spanish crust punk scene. With members coming from bands like Cop on Fire, Caos OK, Ekkaia you know that you can expect brutal crust, and the band truly delivers all the way from the first to the last track on the album... In 2007 a split LP with fellow Spaniards Derrota will be released and with that release they should get the attention they deserve as if you are into straight up crust/d-beat this is a band for you.

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SONIC REIGN

Is their album 'Raw Dark Pure' the best Black Metal release of 2007 ?

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DROIDS ATTACK

Droids Attack hail from Madison, Wisconsin and represent the Mid-west vanguard of stoner rock bands. Rhythmically charged and with and elements of punk, Droids Attack are in your face with their fat riffs and lyrics that are clever and often downright humorous.

Since forming in 2002 they have come out with a couple of full-length releases including their award-winning "All Your Chicks Belong To Us" in 2004 as well as appearing on several compilations. Droids Attack have shared the stage with such bands as Nashville Pussy and Weedeater, and look for Droids Attack in 2007 with "Fatal Error" coming out on
Crustacean Records.

Unless you are one of those unfortunate souls who had their website ate by R2-D2 last month in the "Zombie PC" attack on all major Internet DSN's (I was one of them but have gotten over it) and if you enjoy bands such as Clutch and Helmet, you will absolutely shit the bed over Droids Attack!!!
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CIRITH GORGOR

Their brand new fourth album, titled "Cirith Gorgor", is a pure Violent but yet melodic Black Metal treasure. Certainly one of the most important album of the genre for 2007. Discover it in Infernal Waves

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ARCHGOAT

After recently laying out an evil slab of live awesomeness at their appearance in Texas, Finland's Archgoat have managed to elbow their way past many other contenders for our March band of the month. Frozen in time since 1993, their latest album "Whore of Bethlehem" picks up where they prematurely left off all those years ago. No compromises, no style changes, and no hope in Hell that you will avoid ensorcellment when you tune in and listen to the best "Goat" band ever!

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CEREMONIAL CASTINGS

Ceremonial Castings is probably one of the best Symphonic Black Metal bands on the planet today, certainly in the US. With their 2005 release Immortal Black Art and last year's Barbaric is the Beast they continue to deliver intensely brutal yet very melodic tunes. Staying true to the blackest of paths this insanely creative trio is led by the Superchi brothers and is one of the most requested bands on The World Destroyers.

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CATAMENIA

Without doubt, the Melodic Black Metal is one of the more popular metal genres making waves around the world today. However, with so much filth out there its hard to find bands with melodies that don't suck. One of the few credible bands in that bunch is Catamenia from Finland. Playing usual low key and unassuming style we've come to expect from the Fins, Catamenia regularly delivers intense but extremely melodic tunes exemplified with their excellent 2006 release, Location: Cold.

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GERMANY

Quality cars, weapons, nazis, and wars are usually made in Deutschland... Quality music is no exception! That's why Terra Incognita dedicates the entire month of March to music from Germany. Can you handle it?

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EMBRACE MY RUIN

"A Lullaby For A Dying" by Embrace My Ruin is an excellent gothic doom-metal EP with growling and singing, not unlike Swedish goth-metal band Draconian, except that all vocals are female, and the music is more doom, less goth.

Comparisons to Embrace My Ruin's sound could also be drawn to My Dying Bride or maybe November's Doom. Walls of tragical guitar with some piano embellishments and dramatic string samples and solid drums keep the tragic vehicle trundling along at a lumbering pace.

The lyrical themes are dealing with the struggles and resignation to bitter loss, conveying emotions of melancholy and numbness that accompany the severing of a relationship.

This, the debut demo CD of Embrace My Ruin was recorded last November and released in January 2007. "A Lullaby For A Dying" sounds very professional, especially considering it is an independent production."
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BEHIND ENEMY LINES

Pittsburg's Behind Enemy Lines have belted out anarcho crust since late 2000. The band's sound draws heavily from bands like Crass, Conflict, Icons of Filth and Discharge, but with a modern touch that is all their own. In 2002 they released their first album "Know Your Enemy" and in 2003 they released the follow up "Global Cannibal", which is a call to arms for those who are disgusted by the current political travesty inflicted upon the nation by George W. Bush and his cohorts. Early 2007 saw the release of their third album "One Nation Under The Iron Fist Of God", which is an an ugly yet realistic soundtrack to a self-inflicted apocalypse.

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PROFUNDI

Profundi is the most vicious encarnation of the former Naglfar's frontman Jens Ryden's brutal solo project where he's playing all guitars, keys and bass, as well as programming drums, doing artwork and of course singing. This amazing top shelf effort has culminated with one of the best releases of 2006, immaculate The Omega Rising. Although comparisons with Naglfar are inascapable, Profundi stands and delivers on its own terms. Ryden was one of the founding members and helped shape the bands sound into what it was at the time of him leaving around "Sheol" so of course the similarities will be there. However, seldom will you come accross an individual effort as briliant as this, the quality is fucken unreal... did I mention the guitar solos?

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EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY

Hailing from the sultry metropolitan landscape of Austin, TX, Explosions In The Sky are some of the most sincere folks you will ever meet. Aside from being nice guys,they play some of the most passionate, powerful instrumental music you will ever hear. Equal parts romance and tragedy, their beautiful melodies have the tendency to ignite into head-spinning walls of noise. Easily one of the most intense live bands ever, their sound proves to be every bit as triumphant as their name implies.

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WEVERIN

Weverin plays Visceral Satanic Black Metal. Don't expect melodies. Don't expect songs. Don't expect music. Weverin is a ritual. An incantation. A Black Mass.

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CRIMINAL ELEMENT

Criminal Element are high energy thrash death grind that will grab you by the throat and choke the life out of you. Based in Long Island, New York area of the U.S., CE are a supergroup with band members from Dying Fetus, Suffocation, Vital Remains, Catastrohpic and Pyrexia. So yeah, with a resume like that they are expected to kick ass -- and they do not disappoint. This February The Dark Battalions Extreme Metal Show will prominently feature "Career Criminal," the first full-length CD from Criminal Element released this past December. Some of the romantical-type song titles from "Career Criminal" that our listeners can expect to hear this month will be "Waking The Corpses" and "Bitch slapped" -- ah yes, just in time for Valentine's Day. And as an as an odyssey into authoritative posturing, for our Washington's birthday show we will be featuring the tune "Kirking out"
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WINTER

In a freezing cold blast from the past comes the criminally underrated band Winter! More crushing than Celtic Frost on Jupiter, more doom-laden than Black Sabbath on barbituates, Winter lurches forth and takes its sweet time pounding your skull into powder. Check out painfully cold cuts from their full-length "Into Darkness" LP and the "Eternal Frost" EP. You'll be so depressed you'll forget to kill yourself!

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ANATOMI-71

Anatomi-71 is a d-beat hardcore band in the vein of the old rawpunk masters. The band was formed back in 1999 by Limpan, Pärra and Ulf as a not-that-serious noisecore band, using a drummachine. After a couple of demos with this lineup, they decided to make it more of a "real" band and they recruited Patrik Hultin (Putte) from Burst/The Kolony to play the drums, and the music naturally progressed into what they play now, harsh and agressive d-beat hardcore, influenced by the bands from the early eighties. With their latest release "Mot Nya Höjder" the band shows that they are among the best in the swedish crust scene, and that says a lot...

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STORMCROW

Stormcrow is an Italian Black Metal band mixing fast and violent music with pagan lyrics. In the vein of 1349, early Dark Funeral and Satyricon. Their first EP has been issued on the American label Dwell Records. Currently, they are writing their first full-length. You can discover this really promising act on Infernal Waves

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ENVY

Since 1992, Envy has become a dominant band in the independent hardcore scene in Japan. Their music, through their own evolution, encompasses a sound where intensity and beauty coexists. They have recorded a number of singles and albums in Japan, including split albums with bands like This Machine Kills, Endeavor, Six Pence and Yaphet Kotto. Since their beginning, Envy has toured all throughout Japan with Mogwai, Isis and many more. They have labored and toured their songs relentlessly for over a decade, and will continue to do so well into the next decade.

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DÖDSDÖMD

The Swedish crust/d-beat scene has always been one of the most influential in the world with bands like Anti Cimex, Wolfpack/Wolfbrigade, Skitsystem to name just a few and today's scene is as vital as ever before. One of the bands that are at the front of the scene today are Dödsdömd which comes from the north of Sweden...As the Swedish crust scene is like the Norwegian black metal scene the members are also involved in a whole bunch other bands, like Totalt Jävla Mörker, Ambulance, Human Waste etc etc. Dödsdömd released their first demo in 2003 and later that same year they released their only album "Samhällets Fiender #1". Not long after the release of the album the band changed their name to 365 Dagar Av Synd and released two 7" before changing back to Dödsdömd again. The first release under their old name was a 7" that was released in two versions... one in english ("Seven Deadly Sins") and one in swedish ("De Sju Dödssynderna"). This double attack from the band was released in December 2006.

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NILE

An unrelenting Death Metal machine from South Carolina, Nile play their own brand of innovative Death metal with Egyptian/middle-Eastern vibe. They have a distinctive style marked by intricate songwriting, lots of tempo changes, low guttural growls, brilliant guitar and drum works, epic songs and brutal in-your-face delivery. With four full-length albums under their belt and numerous tours and concerts throughout North America and Europe, Nile have established themselves as one of the tightest bands in the Death Metal genre.
Check out Guttural Mayhem during the month of January for Nile tunes spanning their entire career.

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EVOCATION

Evocation was formed in the fall of 1991 and by 1992 they had already recorded two demos which fast became classic in the swedish death metal underground. The first, "The Ancient Gate", was recorded at the famous Studio Sunlight. The band had a whole bunch of labels being interested in them, but before anything happened with that the band decided to call it quits in the fall of 1993 because of musical differences. In 2001 the band was contacted by Breath of Night Records about releasing their old demo tapes as a CD and with the success of that release the band decided to get together again. During 2006 the band recorded their first real full length album called "Tales from the Tomb" which will hit the stores in early 2007.
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PLANETSTRUCK

If you like guitar riffs, big fat greasy dinosaur-sized riffs that kick you right in your behind and then trample all over your back like ow man and everything then you will love Planetstruck because this band -- changing metaphorical
reference-type devices here -- this band is like getting sucked into the gravitational pull of a gas-giant sized planet say like Jupiter -- and having your skull crushed into tiny fragments that form a mini-ring that orbits around the MF-er. Yeah, coming atcha from Chicago, Illinois, home of many great sludge and doom bands are Planetstruck, a three-piece band that makes more big noise than you would think a three-piece could. They describe their own selves as "a swarm of bees spraying out of a vacuum cleaner," and are influenced by as diversely differentiating musical acts as Unsane, The Melvins and Lisa Loeb.
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MORDICHRIST

There are no female fronted black metal bands in the world today as brutal as Sweden's Mordichrist, with Nenia's vocals sounding like a true witch from hell, they are the followers of the blackest of paths. The band became more or less well known to a wider audience in the summer of 2003 when their guitarist Chaq Mol joined the Swedish black metal legends Dark Funeral. With their new seven inch release Dressed In Menace out now and a full length due out sometime this year through Regain Records, they are well set to deliver evil en masse and establish themselves as the premium black metal act.

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NEFASTÜS DIÈS

TABARNAK! Nefastüs Dies has come to hurt you, and "Urban Cancer" is their weapon. Formed in 2002, this quintet is an incendiary device masquerading as a hyperblast Black Metal band and you are guaranteed a face full of shrapnel if you get too close! Québec has been one of North America's best-kept metal secrets for too long, and Nefastüs Dies is here to blow the whole operation wide open! Tune in and be prepared to lose a limb or two!

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COLDWORKER

Sweden's Coldworker may be referred to as the upstart band of 2006, but they are hardly new to any scene. Anders Jakobson (Nasum, Krigshot) along with former and present members of such bands as Relentless, Carnal Grief, Ruin and Phobos make up this metal mix. Having released their debut album on Relapse in Europe late 2006, the rest of you need not fret, for this blasting collection of death metal will be hitting the US shores this month. Hear more of "The Contaminated Void" on Aural Onslaught.
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