As alerted by DJ Martian, Umeå-based noisecore act Cult of Luna will be embarking on their first Rock Sound-sponsored headlining tour of the UK in October in support of their forthcoming album "Salvation". Dates:

10/04 - Zodiac, Oxford
10/05 - Garage, London
10/06 - Rios, Bradford
10/07 - The Charlotte, Leicester
10/08 - Josephs Well, Leeds
10/09 - Corporation, Sheffield
10/10 - King Tuts, Glasgow
10/11 - Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
10/12 - Academy 3, Manchester
10/13 - Academy, Liverpool
10/14 - Academy 2, Birmingham

The new Cult of Luna album "The Salvation" has been confirmed for an October 4 release date and you can check out the lyrics right here: http://www.cultofluna.com/lyrics.htm

Cult of Luna has announced that they'll be releasing their new album "Salvation" on October 4 via Earache Records. Recorded as usual at Tonteknik in Umeå by member and staff engineer Magnus Lindberg, the record is described by guitarist/songwriter Johannes Persson as "a natural progression for the band, but we hope it will appeal to a much broader audience than the previous two releases, as the tracks are much more melody-based." The band plans to do a headlining tour of the UK and will announce dates soon.

Happy midsummer! Alas, no three-day weekend for me. However, I am still being friendly and posting the rest of those Cult of Luna mp3s for download.

In keeping with the theme set by the album of the month, I have posted some live tracks from Umeå's Cult of Luna. As mentioned numerous times, the current album of the month from Koma features two members from CoL. Enjoy!

What kind of webmaster would I be if I didn't provide an mp3 from my selected album of the month? Download a track from Koma on the right. As mentioned way too many times before, the band features members from The Perishers and Cult of Luna and play epic, heavy, melodic rock. Check it out.

Staffan Hellstrand, Cult of Luna, Dan Viktor, Captain Murphy, The Perishers, C.Aarmé, Rundfunk and Ulf Stureson have been added to the Trästock Festival lineup.

Not only are there two new radio playlists added on the right, but there's also a new album of the month. Koma is a great band that manages to strike the perfect balance between heaviness and melody. Members of The Perishers and Cult of Luna and totally worth checking out. As for the radio stuff, take your pic between some sweet, summer pop tunes, both new and old. Or chill out with a selection of instrumental music, from noisy electronics a la Pan Sonic, to gentle jazz from Tord Gustavsen to epic post-rock from Magyar Posse. Or listen to both - the choice is yours.

Check out some photos from the recent Cult of Luna studio sessions: http://www.cultofluna.com/photos.htm
The band reports that they've laid down the tracks for five of the songs on their next album and only need to layer on the electronics stuff to finish them off. Until they go back into Tonteknik to take of that, they plan to "put the final touches" on the last couple songs in rehearsal so that they're fully ready for recording.

New bands confirmed for Augustibuller: Cult of Luna, Division Of Laura Lee, Her Majesty, Krymplings and Jettie. More info: http://www.augustibuller.com/

Cult of Luna will enter Tonteknik Studios in Umeå, Sweden on April 22 to begin work on their new album. They say they are "highly focused and determined to make our contribution to rock-history noticable" and should probably finish up around June and will see it released in the fall. As usual, the band will produce themselves.

Logh's drummer Fredrik has decided to step down and only play with the band as a touring guitarist. New old drummer Marco Hildén (Cult of Luna) will once again take over the throne of honor. The band is currently hard at work on their third album and has plans to do a European tour in May/June as well as some more shows around Scandinavia in April/May.

Koma will be having an official release party for their new album "Tsunami" in Umeå on April 2 with US punk legends Poision Idea, Regulations and Miscounduct. It will actually be the band's very first home-town show, believe it or not. After that, they're off on tour around Northern Sweden and Finland with pals Cult of Luna or maybe Totalt Jävla Mörker. I wasn't too impressed with the band's old demo recordings, but I'm actually enjoying the new album quite a bit. They play heavy mid-tempo melodic rock akin to the Deftones, Dredg and any other similar bands that Roadrunner seems to put out these days. Not totally my thing, but not bad at all.

Some new dates for Cult of Luna:

04/06 - tba, Åbo (FIN)
04/07 - Lutakko, Jyväskylä (FIN)
04/08 - Nosturi, Helsinki (FIN)
04/09 - Club 25, Wasa (FIN)
04/10 - tba, Piteå (SWE)

Representing Scandinavia on the (extremely late) Terrorizer Magazine best-of 2003 writer's poll:

02. Enslaved - Below The Lights
03. Darkthrone - Hate Them
09. Opeth - Damnation
11. Cult of Luna - The Beyond
20. Katatonia - Viva Emptiness

Read the rest (via DJ Martian): http://djmartian.blogspot.com/2004_03_01_djmartian_archive.html#107836349697629256