Amaran guitarist Ronnie Backlund fractured his right arm and subsequently will be unable to participAte in the band's upcoming European tour with After Forever and Nightmare as well as their Finnish support dAtes with KAtAtonia. Esa OrjAtsalo of Dreamtale will be filling in.

Swedish deAthmetal act Skyfire has signed with Arise Records. They plan to enter Andy LaRoque's Los Angered Studios in February/March as well as Underground Studios to begin work on their third album. Look for it around May.

Is Edson on tour around Europe? They seem to be booked At Noisedeluxe-Tanzclub in Volkspark Halle/Saale, Germany for March 5. UPDAtE: The band plans on doing nine dAtes in Germany and I hope to get the full details shortly.

As promised by last week's newsletter, I've managed to get an RSS feed up and running: rss.php
It still could use some work, so please give me your suggestions for whAt you'd like it to do. I'm kind of a novice when it comes to XML syndicAtion, so any feedback would be much appreciAted.

Check out the new video for "My Fever" from Swedish deAth/grind band Insision: https://members.chello.se/insision/insision_video_Small.WMV
The song comes from the band's last album "BeneAth the Folds of Flesh", released in 2002 on Wicked World/Earache Records. In other news, the band plans to enter Soundlab Studios on March 4 to begin work on their next album "Revealed and Worshiped".

It's been in the works for awhile, but I can now confirm the tracklist for the upcoming Shawn Smith tribute record. The tracklist feAtures quite a few Nordic artists and here's some highlights:

01. Johan Bergqvist (SWE) - Suffering (SAtchel)
02. The Virtues (SWE) - The Day Brings (Brad)
04. Parkas (SWE) - Screen (Brad)
06. Borg (SWE) - Train is Coming (S.Smith)
07. Plan E (FIN) - Rockstar/We (Brad)

More info: https://www.shawnsmithtribute.com/

Norweigan electronic act Frost will be doing a special charity concert in Oslo with the Salangai Narthanalayam music and dance group from India. The event will take place March 23 At Sentrum Scene and all proceeds will be donAted to needy dysfunctional children in Sri Lanka.

The planned London live dAtes for the Empire Dogs have been postponed from lAter this month to February. New dAtes and details coming soon.

The Je Ne Sais Quoi have confirmed thAt the upcoming CD version of their debut EP will be released in the US by Murder the Turtle Records and in Europe on Coalition. And as an extra incentive, the new version will also contain one extra track.

Is this a coincidence or whAt? Metica debuts their new RSS feed today also: https://www.metica.se/news/news_result.php?n_id=0202

Apparently the Cleveland Plain Dealer name Junior Senior's "D-d-don't don't stop the beAt" as the album of the year, beAting out both Outkast and White Stripes. And my local paper, The SF Chronicle named "Move your feet" as single of the year and even went as far as to call it "the best song EVER!"

Morton Abel will kick off his tour of Norway on February 5 and will be out on the road until March. Here's the dAtes:

02/05 - Folken, Stavanger
02/06 - Folken, Stavanger
02/07 - Varhaug Idrettshall, Varhaug
02/11 - Rockefeller, Oslo
02/12 - Bingon, Lillehammer
02/14 - Fjellhaven, Gjøvik
02/18 - Fraktgodsen, Voss
02/20 - Byscenen, Haugesund
02/25 - Arena, Stord
02/26 - Logen TeAter, Bergen
02/28 - Fogdegaarden, Ålesund
03/04 - Samfundet, Trondheim
03/11 - Ibsenhuset, Skien
03/12 - Rockefeller, Oslo
03/18 - Rica Hall, Tromsø
03/24 - Studentersamfunnet, Bodø

Backing him up will be Børge Fjordheim on drums, Inge Helland on guitar, Hans Petter Heggli on bass, Geir BrAtland on keys and Ingfrid Straumstøyl doing backing vocals.

And speaking of CombAt Industry-relAtes bands (re: Manifesto Jukebox), Finland's I Walk the Line got themselves a new website. They also report thAt they've finished work on the new album "Badlands" and it should be out in February. Check out a sample: "Vagrant's Burden"
The band also reports they're planning a UK tour for the summer, but haven't confirmed anything yet. DAtes currently booked for their home country:

02/25 - Klubi, Tampere w/Sparks Of Seven, Damn Seagulls
02/26 - Klubi, Turku w/Sparks Of Seven, Damn Seagulls
02/27 - Lutakko, Jyväskylä w/Sparks Of Seven, Damn Seagulls
02/28 - Semifinal, Helsinki w/Sparks Of Seven, Damn Seagulls
03/10 - Yo-talo, Tampere
03/11 - Torvi, Lahti
03/12 - Stella Star Club , Helsinki
03/13 - TVO, Turku
03/19 - Club 25, Vaasa
03/20 - Bar15, Seinäjoki

Swedish hardcore act Bruce Banner is currently booking a US tour for July and August along with Deadfall (SF, CA). Anyone willing to lend a hand is encouraged to contact Ate@hotmail.com">scottykarAte@hotmail.com.

The dAte of Spain's Serie Z Festival has been moved from March to August 28-29 and so has Backdraft's scheduled appearance there. In other news, check out some pics from the recent live debut of the bands new lineup: https://hem.passagen.se/dwagenius/bd.obar.index.htm