Swedish hardcore label Busted Heads is giving up! They'll be repressing the Regulations "Destroy" 7" because "the record is too good, the band too active and the demand too big to let it end with just the first press," but the long awaited Trapdoor Fucking Exit 7" has been scrapped by the band. Boo! Read the full statement: http://www.bustedheads.com/

Havoc Records hopes to have new releases from Swedish hardcore/punk acts Martyr Dod and Skitsystem in 2005 as well as a US release for Regulations.

The July edition of Aversionline is now up and features 120 new reviews of all sorts of punk/hardcore/metal stuff from around the globe such as 7th Legion, Abnormi, After Forever, Atrox, Bloodshed, Face Tomorrow, Helion, Hollydrift, Katatonia, Lähdön Aika, Manes, MindGrinder, Morning After, Razor Crusade, Regulations, Sunday Morning Einsteins, Susperia, Under Her Black Wings, Unmoored and tons more. There's also a new spin-off site called Fall of Because dedicated solely to experimental noise. Tons of reviews, a few interviews and the promise of much more to come.

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.

The master and the artwork for the upcoming Regulations "Destroy" 7" on Busted Heads has been set to press, so it should be available soon. In the meantime, check out some preview tracks: "Destroy" / "Blank"

Dennis Lyxzén (ex-Refused, (International) Noise Conspiracy) is taking solo project Lost Patrol on the road for a few dates up in Norrland, Sweden. Joining him as a backing band will be Andre Sandström (drums; The Nervous Minds, Trisstess, ex DS-13), Robert Pettersson (bass, vox; Regulations, Dead Ones), Anders Stenberg (guitar, vox; ex-Bittersweet), and Jonas Lidström (organ, vox; ex-Bittersweet). The dates:

08/08 - Café 23, Piteå
08/09 - Unf-lokalen - buskis, Luleå
08/10 - tba, Gällivare
08/11 - Snabelhuset, Boden
08/12 - Hagakollektivet, Umeå

Magnet's new album "On Your Side" comes out June 30 in Norway and July 7 in UK. They'll be heading over to the latter to support Bebel Gilberto on the following dates:

07/19 - Manchester Bridgewater Hall
07/22 - London Shepherds Bush Empire
07/30 - Bristol Academy

The band also has a feature in the June issue of The Fly magazine along with a four-star review of the new album. They also received quite a nice write-up in Q who describe them as "blissed out electronic pop that sounds like Simon & Garfunkel restructuring Radiohead's most fragile moments." Head over to their website for more details.

Madrugada has added two new festivals to their summer tour plans:

06/29 - Nel Nome Del Rock, Palestrina ,Italy
08/30 - Bizarre Festival, Flughafen Niederrhein, Germany

Check this link out to view and listen to performances and interviews from Spain's Sonar Festival including Bjorn Torske, Jaga Jazzist and much much more.

Here's the schedule for the Uppsala Summer Hardcore Fest. Doors open at 17:00 both days.

06/23
22:30 - Tear it Up (New Jersey, US)
21:45 - Between Us (Stockholm)
21:00 - Regulations (Umeå)
20:15 - Last Hope (Linköping)
19:30 - The 21st Impact (Uppsala)
18:45 - Labour (Cästerås)
18:00 - Rabid Grannies (meå)
06/24
22:30 - What Happens Next? ("Canada", acutally from the SF Bay Area, CA)
21:45 - Second Thought (Stockholm)
21:00 - Victims (Nyköping)
20:15 - The Jam Session (Mjölby)
19:30 - Bruce Banner (Stockholm)
18:45 - One Step Ahead (Nyköping)

Sleeping arrangements at the fest can be booked for 20sek along with your ticket purchase. For more info go here: http://uahc.diskonto.org/festival

Here's some information on the new "Autovision" CD single from CDOASS by way of Dolores Recordings. There will also be a 7" version with a remix of the title track on the b-side as part of the Dolores Singles Club.

Check out the video for "B.L.O.S.S.O.M.", the new track from Komeda right here.

The Barbarella garage/rock'n'roll festival is now set for August 27-28. Bands confirmed so far include Dixie Buzzards, Sons of Cyrus, and Finland's Flaming Sideburns.

Word on the street is that Parasol is currently in negotiations to release the upcoming Moonbabies album "The Orange Billboard" in the US. Details when they're confirmed.

The Haunted have their new website up and running.

Moneybrother has been added to the Roskilde lineup.

Speaking of Roskilde, any of you Swedes thinking of going might consider taking the train where they'll have even more bands playing on the way to the fest. Seriously. So far Como and Little Miss Swede are booked for the occasion. Read more: http://www.tuborg.se/roskilde/taget.html

Isolation Years have been confirmed for the Västrahamnsfesten/Woody West in Malmö on June 13 along with Woodrock in Bern, Switzerland on August 8.

Via Unioncarbideproductions.com comes word that the upcoming Hultsfred-fest single will indeed be released commercially in Sweden, but no dates have been revealed as of yet. View the cover art here. In related news, Björn Olsson made a few contradictory comments to P3 Musikjounalen about his participation in the upcoming reunion gig. Will he or won't see? No one's saying for sure. Go to the UCP site to read the translated transcript.

The first group of bands have been announced for the upcoming Uppsala Summer Hardcore Festival: Between Us, Regulations, Victims, The Jam Session, Bruce Banner, The 21st Impact, Labour, Second Thought, Rabid Grannies, and One Step Ahead. The event takes place June 23-24 at Ungdomens Hus. More info here: http://uahc.diskonto.org/festival/

Webzine Samson & Rourke has posted another slew of demo reviews, this time featuring the likes of Hospital, The Clarks Royale, and Autumn Swing. (in Swedish)

Abba has gone gold yet again in America, this time with the "20th Century Masters - The Best Of ABBA" collection.

Service Records reports that Franke will have a new single "Drunknandets Färg" from their album "Optimismens Hån" out sometime by the end of summer. They also say that The Embassy is currently working on a video as weather permits and Studio is uh, in the studio working on a new album. They also hint that they have signed some new acts, but no details have been revealed yet. I'll let you know.

DigitalMetal.com reviews "Trigger", the new EP from In Flames.

It's kinda silly, but here's a contest for the best photoshopped picture featuring someone from Immortal, found via Musique Machine.

Download the mp3 for the song "Dominate" from Project Hate's forthcoming album "Hate, Dominate, Congregate, Eliminate", due out in August from Threeman Recordings.

Via Blabbermouth, comes this amazing commercial for Coop Prix, a Norweigan food store. Why is it relevant? Well, that's Masterplan and ex-Yngwie frontman Jorn Lande.

Internet-only label Monotonik's latest release is "Oll Tolk'n' no Ding atcheev'd" from Ernesto Aeroflot aka Teemu Kiiskilä of Raahe, Finland. Their description:

Mr. Aeroflot is a mysterious fellow who's released on net.label Commie and a host of smaller labels under names/groups such as TranceYlvania, Sky Wide Jazz, Oodi & Elegia, High Grade Multi Purpose Intelligent Terminal (!), and more. This 10-track album showcases his unpredictable but riveting style excellently, as '80s bleep sounds and stuttering electro mix up with distorted unrest, sweeping electronica, and a wholly surprising bonus cut to create something truly different.

Read more and download from here: http://www.mono211.com/content/releases/mtkmp111.html

Thy Primordial has parted ways with vocalist Isidor due to "lack of interest and inspiration" and has already been replaced by Nicke Holstensson of Nominon. The band says "his voice are of course a bit different compared with Isidor's but fits the new material really well!" They are scheduled to go into Abyss Studios later this month to commence work on their sixth album "Pestilence Upon Mankind". Look for it late 2003 from Blackend Records.