The exciting new album by the Symphonic Metal masters Serenity will be released on March 25th in the UK!

Right on time for the release of "War of Ages", the band will embark on a tour with their label mates Visions Of Atlantis. Please see below for the dates! Get ready for a sweeping and bombastic new album!

March will be quite a symphonic month, as Visions of Atlantis will also be releasing their latest album! "Ethera" has all the trademarks fans of the band love, and so much more! "Ethera" will be released on March 25th in the UK

The album was produced and mixed by Frank Pitters & Jakob Grabmayr  at the Wildonemusic Studios. The mastering was done by Mika Jussila /  Finnvox.

SERENITY Official Website
VISIONS OF ATLANTIS Facebook

SERENITY & VISIONS OF ATLANTIS & Souldrinker

22.03.13 AT – Wörgl / Komma
23.03.13 DE – Köln / Underground
24.03.13 NL – Roermond / ECI
25.03.13 UK – London / Boston Music Room
26.03.13 BE – Brusseles / Magasin 4 / + SKEPTICAL MINDS
27.03.13 DE – Aschaffenburg / Colos Saal
28.03.13 FR – Paris / GlazArt
29.03.13 FR – Lyon / MJC o Totem
30.03.13 CH – Pratteln / Z7 Gallery

Blasting technical death metal ragers Gorod are confirmed for 2013 's Bonecrusher festival 2013!

JOB FOR A COWBOY
BENEATH THE MASSACRE (co-direct support)
WAR FROM A HARLOTS MOUTH (co-direct support)
GOROD
AS THEY BURN
MAKE THEM SUFFER

Presented by Metal Hammer, Metal.de and Fuze

01.03.13 Germany Köln @ Underground 
02.03.13 Holland Drachten @ Iduna 
03.03.13 UK Nottingham @ Rescue Rooms 
04.03.13 UK Glasgow @ Cathouse  
05.03.13 UK Leeds @ Uni Mine 
06.03.13 UK London @ Underworld 
07.03.13 Belgium Antwerpen @ Trix  
08.03.13 France Savigny le Temple @ Empreinte  
09.03.13 France Montauban @ Rio  
10.03.13 Spain Madrid @ Sala Caracol 
11.03.13 Spain Badalona @ Sala Estraperlo  
12.03.13    
13.03.13 Luxembourg Esch-Alzette @ Kulturfabrik 
14.03.13 Switzerland Yverdon-les-Bains @ L'Amalgame 
15.03.13 Switzerland Aarau @ Kiff 
16.03.13 Germany München @ Backstage 
17.03.13 Austria Graz @ Explosiv 
18.03.13 Germany Würzburg @ Posthalle 
19.03.13 Germany Berlin @ Lido 
20.03.13 Poland Warsaw @ Progresja  
21.03.13 Czech Rep Brno @ Melodka  
22.03.13 Germany Chemnitz @ Talschock 
23.03.13 Germany Rostock @ Alte Zuckerfabrik 
24.03.13 Day Off     
25.03.13 Finland Helsinki @ Nosturi  
26.03.13 Day Off     
27.03.13 Sweden Stockholm @ Göta Källare 
28.03.13 Sweden Gothenburg @ Brewhouse  
29.03.13 Denmark Copenhagen @ Pumpehuset 
30.03.13 Germany Bochum @ Matrix

On January 31st, 2013, Italians Midryasi will publish their new CD “Black, Blue & Violet” via Mygraveyard Productions

The band who have been active since 2002, come back on the music scene with their third full-length, maintaining a heavy sound that is inspired by doom, psychedelic rock and using improvisation as the main source of inspiration. For fans of Black Sabbath, Hawkwind and Pentagram: what’s surprising about Midryasi is their capacity to sound like these bands without being identical to them and to mix doom, psychedelic rock and extreme infuences without losing consistency and personality. To celebrate their tenth anniversary, RockWolf Records will release a vinyl edition of the album, 180 gr., in a number of 300 numbered copies "splatter" that will be available from February 15th, 2013. A preview of “Diagonal” can be seen on YouTube at this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nmp2k1at3is.

www.mygraveyardproductions.com
www.rockwolfrecords.com

Ukrainian ambient folk pagan metal outfit Munruthel have made their entire body of recorded work available for streaming at munruthel.bandcamp.com

From 1997's "Yav, Nav I Prav" to the band's widely-praised newest release "CREEDamage" (which came out last year on Svarga Music), the whole of Munruthel's discography is now streaming for free and can be purchased as a digital download.

Since the band's inception, mastermind Vladislav Redkin has experimented heavily with dark ambient and symphonic pagan metal, creating a truly unique and inspiring musical entity in the process. Now, the band's evolution can be experienced as it happened.

Munruthel just might be Ukrainian black metal's best-kept secret ... fantastical to the Nth degree, with all the pomp and circumstance of Rhapsody of Fire, Septicflesh, or even Ex Deo." - Zero Tolerance #049 (UK) [4.5/6]

"Shiningly cinematic and unapologetic in its defiance of genre."  - Terrorizer #229 (UK) [4/5]

Soundcheck #2 (out of 45)! - Parat Magazine (Czech Republic)

"Extremely rich, massive, explosive, detailed, natural, serious, intense, and, finally, melodic! If you even a bit like a well produced, played, sung and perfectly massive epic pagan folk metal, then you simply have to get this masterpiece!"  - Nocturne (Serbia) [9.5/10]

"I don't think I have heard an album, at least not in the recent past, where guitar riffs, rich orchestration and authentic Ukrainian feeling were in such perfect harmony. "
- MetalReviews (USA) [91/100] - Album of the Month!

"With CREEDamage MUNRUTHEL sits on his throne of Ukraine's Metal! Hail to the King!" - Metalland (France)

"The truth is that it is an excellent job from start to finish." - Xtreem Music (Spain) [9/10]

 
MUNRUTHEL Discography:

1997 Yav, Nav i Prav
1999 Oriana Tales
2006 Epoch of Aquarius
2011 The Dark Saga - Original Soundtrack
2012 CREEDamage

For complete biographical information on MUNRUTHEL, visit www.svarga.eu/en/munruthel .

www.facebook.com/MunruthelBand 
www.svarga.eu
www.facebook.com/SvargaMusic 

The new Summoning album is entitled "Old Mornings Dawn", Napalm Records will present a teaser consisting of brand-new material soon. In the upcoming weeks, Napalm Records will unveil the release date of the approaching Epic Black Metal masterpiece once Silenius has recorded his vocal lines.

SUMMONING Official Website 

POWERWOLF: First Live Dates for 2013

11.-13.07.13 DE - Neunkirchen-Vluyn / Dong Open Air
26.07.13 SI - Tolmin / Metal Days
27.07.13 DE - Chemnitz / Rock im Betonwerk

01.-03.08.13 DE - Wacken / Wacken Open Air
15.-17.08.13 DE - Dinkelsbühl / Summer Breeze Festival
15.-17.08.13 SE - Falun Rockstad / Falun

POWERWOLF Official Website 

MOONSPELL: North American Tour VOICES FROM THE DARK" North American Tour

MOONSPELL, MARDUK, INQUISITION, THE FORESHADOWING, DEATH WOLF

20.02.13 US - Springfield, VA @ Empire
21.02.13 US - Poughkeepsie, NY @ The Chance
22.02.13 US - Worcester, MA @ The Palladium
23.02.13 US - New York, NY @ Gramercy Theatre
24.02.13 CA - Montreal, QC @ Club Soda
25.02.13 CA - Toronto, ON @ Wreck Room
26.02.13 US - Millvale, PA @ Mr. Small's Theatre
27.02.13 US - Chicago, IL @ Reggie's
28.02.13 US - Saint Paul, MN @ Station 4

01.03.13 CA - Winnipeg, MB @ Osborne Village Inn
02.03.13 CA - Regina, SK @ The Exchange
03.03.13 CA - Edmonton, AB @ Pawn Shop
04.03.13 CA - Calgary, AB @ Dickens
05.03.13 CA - Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre
06.03.13 US - Seattle, WA @ Studio Seven
07.03.13 US - Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre
08.03.13 US - Oakland, CA @ Oakland Opera House
09.03.13 US - Los Angeles, CA @ The Vex
10.03.13 US - Tempe, AZ @ 910 Live
11.03.13 US - Albuquerque, NM @ TBC
12.03.13 US - Dallas, TX @ Tomcats West
13.03.13 US - San Antonio, TX @ Korova
15.03. 13 US - Fort Lauderdale, FL @ Culture Room
16.03.13 US - Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade
MOONSPELL Official Website

Following the interview conducted with Hellblazer of the Metal Archives (22/12/2012), we are delighted to announce the following news has been posted on the Metal Archives front page:

"Happy New Year! We have a present for you. / 2013-01-01 16:26 ### IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR ALL BAND SUBMITTERS ###

As of this new year of 2013, we have now changed our policy concerning the band approval process.

Before today, bands were required to have a physical album before being eligible. Since digital distribution is becoming more and more widespread, we have decided to now accept bands who release their music entirely through digital medium.

However, this does not mean we accept any bands with a few songs on Myspace or Youtube. Only bands with serious digital albums will be accepted. I urge all band contributors to revisit the rules and guidelines page for the details of what kind of digital albums are considered acceptable.

We apologize for the inconvenience caused to the contributors who may have recently deleted their drafts of bands which, despite having no physical album, may have had a valid digital album. If you had a very detailed draft and deleted it recently, it might be possible to restore it. Please post in this forum thread about such a matter.

Note that after much time spent rejecting a number of non-metal bands, we have also put in writing some additional examples of what kind of music we do not consider acceptable for this site (j-rock, djent, post-hardcore, etc.). This is not a change of policy, but just a matter of clarification for those confused users out there who may think these styles as metal.

To all our contributors and visitors: thank you again for all the great work, and we hope 2013 will be another great year for the Encyclopaedia as it continues to grow and prove itself to be the greatest online resource for heavy metal."

This in comes in light of certain questions we asked:

What is your opinion on the submissions in that if a band only releases online material and that it is not on the Metal Archives despite it say being from an obscure country like Grenada?

Yeah, the physical release rule can be a bit of a problem in that sense. It's clear that there will be more and more digital-only releases and the site will need to adapt. That rule was originally put in place to avoid the database being swamped with bands who put a couple poor quality mp3s on MySpace (or mp3.com way back then) and call it a demo, and then never produce anything else. Now, the difficulty comes in establishing guidelines to determine what constitutes a professional and serious digital-only band that the site should feature, and what doesn't. The moderation team is certainly aware of the issue, it has been discussed quite a bit, and we may start accepting digital bands on a case-by-case basis (chosen by the mods) and see how it goes.

Why do you not accept bands from the Nu Metal, Industrial Metal or other metal genres not listed by the website, is it that they are not 'true metal' genres?

Well, we evaluate each band individually for metal elements, and give them a chance regardless of genre. It mainly comes down to riff style; a band has to use predominantly metal-based riffs to be accepted. When it comes to fusion genres such as the ones you mentioned, often the songs have some influence from metal, but also combine other elements from hardcore, grunge, industrial, hard rock, even rap, depending on the particular sub-genre. It's up to the moderators to evaluate a band's output and determine if they have at least one album that can be considered wholly (or at least the vast majority of it) metal. It can be noted that some initially rejected bands, such as Ministry or Soulfly for instance, were later added when they released an acceptable album.

Maybe just maybe the following may also soon be implemented:

Do you have any plans for the website in the upcoming year? If yes what are they? If no what would you like to see done to it?

Well, we will continue adding new features to the site. Just recently for instance, there is a new one that allows entering date ranges for a band's periods of activity, so you can see an history of the band's name changes and periods of activity/inactivity. One future feature that we've promised for some time and that can hopefully be released in the coming year is the ability to add details about the various versions and editions of each album.

http://www.metal-archives.com/
https://www.facebook.com/metal.archives?ref=ts&fref=ts