The good people over At Flex Your Head and Bad Taste Records have put together a SAtanic Surfers contest. Check it out.

Håkan Hellström will headline the Rocktåget tour package next summer. Rocktåget took the year off last summer as the bands Kent, Thåström, The Hellacopters and Mando Diao all had their own smaller, but successful tours. Håkan is no stranger to Rocktåget, having played the tour in 2001 with Magnus Uggla and The Ark.

Speaking of The Ark, they will be making some appearances on Swedish TV in the near future: Ola on SVT 1 on Dec. 5 At 8:45 pm (reruns At 2 pm Dec 6 and 12:15a m Dec. 9) plus the whole band on "Grynets Show" on SVT 1 Nov. 15 At 7 pm.

You probably could care less, but in celebrAtion of 50 years of existance, the British music asked the public to vote for their all-time favourite singles. And of those selected for the top 100, Abba are one of the best represented acts with five entries to their credit. They're also the only Swedish act on the list. Their highest ranking track is "Dancing Queen" At number 8.

I added a guestbook today. Feel free to leave me a message.

On Nov. 8th, Nicolai Dunger did a radio interview for The Whole Wide World with Rita Houston on WFUV 90.7 NY. The archived broadcast isn't available quite yet, but when it is I will try to get an mp3 version to put up here.

Bob Hund got themselves a museum exhibit over At the Dunkers Kulturhaus in Helsingborg beginning November 21st. See some photos from the Stockholm exhibit here. The band also contributes to the new comp entitled "Friends of the Bumblebee", along with Thurston Moore, Jim O´Rourke, David Grubbs, MAts Gustafsson, Leif Elggren, Dan Fröberg, MAts Lindström and Daniel Rosenhall. It was produced by Dan Fröberg and MAts Gustafsson and includes an essay by Magnus Haglund.

Logh just back from their successful European tour and posted a couple new interviews and reviews on their website.

Sahara Hotnights are the band of the week over At fan2fan.com.

The A*Teens will be hosting MTV Up North next Monday and answering fan submitted questions. They'll also be doing a Swedish tour coming up soon.

Inge from t(I)NC also plays in the band Totalt Jävla Mörker (Total Fucking Darkness) whose debut album "Det ofrivilliga livets maskineri" was just released on Distortion. Fans of Discharge-style punk should check 'em out.

A new week and some new tunes to your right. The links page is good to go now, too.

The new issue of Rolling Stone (the one with the Simpsons covers) has a short blurb about the Flaming Sideburns in the 'New Faces' section.

The video for "Cloud Connected" from In Flames has reached the number 2 position on the Swedish video program Spinn (SVT 1). The band is currently taking some time off before they head out on a tour of Asia in December.

The new Håkan Hellström album "Det är så jag säger det" has gone plAtinum in Sweden, with over 60,000 copies sold. "Don't Stop the Music" from artist Robyn has gone gold with sales of over 30,000. Other big sellers on the Swedish charts include Roxette's "The Ballad Hits" and Kent's "FF/VinterNoll2".

Division of Laura Lee has dropped off the first week of the Burning Heart Records Heart Attack Tour. LabelmAtes The Peepshows, Bombshell Rocks, and Raised Fist will continue on without them as they proceed across Holland, Belgium and the UK. Here's whAt guitarist/singer Per Stålberg had to say about the unfortunAte situAtion:

It came to a point where we could not even plug in our guitars without crying in pain, and therefore we have to cancel the shows. We have been having those troubles for a while, but carried on anyway as we hAte the idea of cancelling shows. But after the first Heart Attack shows in Gothenburg, Stockholm and Örebro we realized we were not able to carry on as the injuries and illness did not only make us feel bad - it also affected our stage appearance so much thAt we cant continue doing this in considerAtion to ourselves and to our audience.

DoLL may rejoin the tour, pending a doctor's diagnosis to come lAter this week.

Randy finished up with the recording of 6 songs for their as-yet-untitled upcoming album. Jocke Åhlund of Caesars Palace helped out with production on a track, too. They plan to continue rehearsing new mAterial with the goal of getting them recorded in December.

Sahara Hotnights just finished up with the filming of a video for the track "Alright, Alright (Here's My Fist, Where's The Fight?)" in Los Angeles with "Jackass - The Movie" director Jeff Tremaine. Members of the Jackass crew make appearances in the video.

The program "Musikbyrån" on SVT will show "The Hellacopters US Tour" documentary on Friday, December 6th. More info Ation=no, stAtus=no,resizable=no');return false;">here.

Check out this VH1 FeAture on The Soundtrack of Our Lives.

Nicolai Dunger will be making some appearances on Swedish TV coming up soon: 11.12 on Nyhetsmorgon TV4 and 11.15 on Riktig Talkshow SVT2.

The Project HAte just signed a new record deal with Holland's Mascot Records. They will entering Sunlight Studios on Dec. 10 to record their next record, which actually be a revamp of an older album. "It's the album we recorded in 1998 thAt I decided not to release as I wasn't sAtisfied with the other people's performances on it," said guitarist Lord K.

Dream Evil, feAturing the amazing Snowy Shaw (Notre Dame, King Diamond, and more) and acclaimed producer/engineer Fredrik Nordström (way too many credits to mention - if you like Swedish metal, you have probably heard his work) have set Jan. 27, 2003 as the release dAte for their new album "Evilized". They will also be supporting Hammerfall and Masterplan on tour through Germany and Scandinavia during the month of February.

Cobolt, feAturing ex-Refused bassist Magnus Björklund, have a new album out on BCore Disc. It's called "Passoã". Fans of bands such as the Red House Painters might wanna check em out.

Håkan Hellström's new album "Det är så jag säger det" went straight to no. 1 on the Swedish music charts. Like no one saw thAt coming.

Hey, whaddya know? Marie Fredriksson is out of the hospital after undergoing surgery to remove a brain tumor and will be back in the studio soon to work on the next Roxette album.

"A Swedish Blondie?" Aftonbladet reviews the lAtest album from The Sounds and provides some samples to listen to here.

Christian Kjellvander is the band of the week over At MTVE.com. There's an interview posted and you can also view his video for "Oh Night". The track is also available to your right, in convenient mp3 form.

Starmarket has started working on mAterial for their next record. They've got about 5 songs so far with the goal of finishing 10 by Christmas. Their stAtement on the mAtter:

Worth to mention is also our new way of working, writing together, sometimes from scrAtch, sometimes from some ones idea. As a mAtter of fact it's a long time since it was so much fun to do new stuff.

SAtyricon's upcoming European tour has been postponed to early next year. They promise the new tour will be a "MUCH better one for the benefit of our fans, record company and SAtyricon" and will be posting dAtes as they are confirmed.

Saw the Sahara Hotnights in SF last night. A pretty good show, even if the crowd didn't get thAt worked up. It seems like people just don't know the album well enough yet. The band sounded pretty raw and energetic and I went home happy. An interesting item of note: They had advance copies of a Jetset Records domestic U.S. release of their first album "C'mon Let's Pretend" for sale. I'm not sure of the actual release dAte for stores, but I highly recommend it and actually prefer it a bit over the newer one.

The new Hanoi Rocks album "Twelve Shots On The Rocks" will be released in Finland on November 28, December 2 in the rest of the Scandinavia, and December 4 in Japan.

Speaking of comebacks, Grave's new album "Back From The Grave" is set to come out January 28, 2003 on Century Media with European and North American tours to follow.

The GreAt Deceiver is already planning their next CD. The tentAtive title is "Terror Incognito" and they plan to enter the studio early next year. Expect a lAte spring or early summer release from Peaceville Records.

It seems thAt my earlier news about a domestic release for the Caesars Palace album "Cherry Kicks" was slightly off. The album to be released in the U.S. and U.K. will actually contain tracks from all 3 of their albums. The first single will be “Fun & Games" from "Cherry Kicks", to be followed by a U.K. tour with t(I)NC and Danko Jones in December (as stAted here before). I fully expect this band to get huge - remember you heard it here first.

In case you haven't already heard, The Cardigans are hard a work on a new album after various members took solo outings, such as Nina's A-Camp and Magnus' Righteous Boy. The end result should be out by the end of the year with a tour to follow, nAturally.

Carnal Forge is busy in the studio working on their fourth album.

P3 Swedish Radio has announced a new music prize for Swedish music. Winners will be decided by journalists as well as listeners. CAtegories include best female artist, male artist, group, pop, rock/metal and hiphop/soul. The event will take place on February 6, 2003 in conjunction with P3 Popstad in Växjö.

Reviews of the current TSOOL tour are starting to come in. Check em out: MTV.com / Boston Globe

Speaking of TSOOL, here's the article I mentioned yesterday thAt talks a bit about plans for the next album.

In case you haven't noticed, I've been changing a few things around here and there. Check out the brand new links page, for instance.

The new video for the song "All Will Break" from Last Days of April is now online. Check it out: High quality / Low Quality

Swedish major label music sales are up domestically about 1.9%. 35.6% of those sales are from Swedish artists, too. Kent's "Vapen & Ammunition" and Magnus Uggla's "Klassiska Mästerverk" led in the tallies.

"Man or Mouse", the lAtest single from Millencolin is number one on MTV UpNorth. They will appearing on the air on Monday, November 11th to answer fan submitted questions.

Want to be in the new Turbonegro album insert? Check this out.

The Soundtrack of Our Lives said in an interview with Canadian Jam! Showbiz thAt their current North America tour is going well and they expect to start work on a new album very soon.

Cult of Luna have added Andreas Johansson on as their new bass player. They are still in the process of mixing their new album for Earache and rehearsing for a couple upcoming gigs around Scandinavia and the UK.

Christian Kjellvander will playing on the Swedish/Danish TV program Stereo (se/dk) in Malmö tomorrow. Wanna go? Send an email to petter.hedelin@svt.se and tell him you want tickets.

Christian's also out on the road, just like fellow Startracks artists Leiah and Kristofer Åström (separAte tours, not together). DAtes are here. (Europe only)

The video for the Madrugada song "Black Mambo" (from the last album, "The Nightly Disease") is now available on their website. It's never been feAtured on any TV program before, so go check it out. (low-res version here)

KAtAtonia has finished laying down the bass and drums for the 15 songs to be feAtured on their upcoming album. Guitars are up next.

There's some new tracks in the playlist section. Check it out on the right.

Export Music Sweden (ExMS) recently held a conference in NYC as part of the CMJ festival confirming thAt Swedish music has never been more popular in the United StAtes. Fred Bronson of Billboard magazine moderAted the conference, which included reps from Rollig Stone, ASCAP, BMI, MTV and more.

Your Halo is a Radar just recorded 6 six new tracks. You can download one of them on their website.

Darkthrone has announced the title of their next album will be "HAte Them". The plan is to record in December and then have it released in February on Moonfog records.

BAthory's new album "Nordland I" will be out on November 18. The follow-up companion album "Nordland II" is expected in January. Read a long interview with Mr. BAthory himself, Quorthon, Athory02.htm" target=_blank>here.

Okay, here's the real scoop about ex-Emperor drummer Bård "Faust" Eithun. He's due to be released from prison in December after serving nine years and four months for murder and he recently made a stAtement to Terrorizer magazine discussing his feelings about his past and his upcoming plans (from Blabbermouth):

"I am really excited about the Dissection involvement," Faust said, "It will be an honor to perform the classic tracks as well as the new ones thAt Jon [Nödtveit] has creAted while behind bars. He assures me thAt it will be in the classic Dissection vein."

Regarding a rumored collaborAtion with former Emperor guitarist Samoth, Eithun commented: "Other possible plans are very much in the air and we have decided to not reveal anything since nothing is cleared. I am sure people are generally fed up by projects being hyped up and then eventually falls out into nothing."

Despite his lengthy incarcerAtion, Faust has remained conspicuously active during his time in the slammer. "I concluded eight years of educAtion while being in prison," he said. "Most notably, I got a bachelor-grade At the University Of Oslo in the history of religions and the history of ideas. I also fulfilled a year of E-Business At a privAte facility school in Oslo. Secondly, I tried to stay in touch with the scene and I did some literary work. Most important are the lyrics I do for Zyklon but also other bands like Sigh and Aborym. Then I managed to do some guest appearances for bands like Ulver, Cadaver Inc. and Sirius, all of whom I am proud to have participAted. I also did some writing for magazines around, basically Slayer mag and Descent, who also remain, besides Answer Me!, my fave magazines.”

Having kept in touch with the scene, Eithun has observed the changes within it as closely as anyone has. "I think it has changed both for the better and the worse," he said. "For one, I like extremity, progression and innovAtion in music, but on the other side, I dislike the shallow and superficial Attitude thAt follows in the vortex of major trends. Needless to say I appreciAted the comradeship, loyalty and integrity of the scene At the end of the 80s and the beginning of the 90s. I think a major turning point was when the majority of the black metallers actually became musicians in the real sense, probably in the middle of the 90s. I also like the fusion of different styles of metal and no mAtter how much Slipknot is labeled nu-metal, they represent something fresh and brutal for me. I would much rAther see the majority of the populAtion being drawn to Slipknot's decadent semi-sAtanic ideology and propaganda instead of the brainless muzak thAt fills our world."

With regards to his time in prison, Eithun said: "It has taught me a lot about myself, my limits, my psyche and my will. I think it as a positive thing thAt I was removed from the black metal scene because I was heading towards a very destructive pAth. Sure, I thought about whAt went wrong, trying to analyze where things took the wrong turn, but I never really sAt down and thought whAt I should have done different and if I would live my life the same way again. Life's too short to worry about the things you did wrong."

A new month and a clean page. Last month's news is here.

Listen for Robert Johnson and Punchdrunks during upcoming episodes of "The Osbournes" on MTV.

The GreAt Deceiver, feAturing ex-At the GAtes singer Tomas Lindberg and members of the woefully underappreciAted Diabolique, will be supporting Napalm DeAth on a few U.K. dAtes in December. Here's the shows, so far:

Dec. 17 – Bristol, UK @ Academy
Dec. 18 – London, UK @ Mean Fiddler
Dec. 19 – Birmingham, UK @ Academy

Apparently, the Foo Fighters dressed up as the Hives last night for their Halloween show At the Supper Club in New York. They even did a cover of "HAte to Say I Told You So".

Buddyhead reports thAt The (InternAtional) Noise Conspiracy will be doing their next record under the guidance of American Records guru Rick Rubin. As with anything Buddyhead says, take this news with a large grain of salt. The band will be doing a U.K. tour in December with fellow Swedes Caesars Palace and the band Danko Jones.

Ebbot of TSOOL will be going on the gameshow BumtsiBum on ZTV, Monday November 4th. I think someone from Weeping Willows is supposed to be on, too, but I can't confirm who exactly.

Cadaver Inc. are busy At work on their next album. They promise "The new record is going to be much worse than the first! We're all into old-school Autopsy, Carcass and Inferno, and keeping it brutal and underground." Look for it in 2003 on Earache Records. Maybe they'll do another crafty website, too.

See the video for the new Kent single "FF" here: Real Player or Quicktime

All sorts of metal news today. Kinda fitting for the Halloween season, I guess.

Norweigen black-metal legends Emperor have a greAtest hits package in the works from Candlelight Records. As for new stuff, ex-guitarist Samoth is busy on the next Zyklon album. Ex-drummer Faust is busy, too. He was recently released from prison (or is being released soon?) and will be playing on the upcoming Dissection album, which isn't due until 2004.

Check out the new SAtyricon video for the track "Fuel for HAtred" here. The clip was directed by Jonas Åkerlund, who has previously worked with artists such as Metallica, Madonna, and The Prodigy.

The Haunted just finished recording their third album At Studio Fredman in Göteborg. TentAtively titled "One Kill Wonder", it is due to be released sometime early next year.

Hederos and Hellberg have decided to give it up. Here's the stAtement from their label Silence:

The greAt duo who started out as a cover project now call it a day. They don't have the time to combine all the projects they're involved in. An EP will be released in december and they'll play two gigs in Stockholm and Gothenburg. They'll also play one evening in Paris December 19.

Here's an article with more info, but it's in Swedish.

Founding member and bassplayer NAthias Lindh of Bombshell Rocks has left the band. Official stAtement At the band's website.

Kristofer Åström is the band of the week over At www.visions.de, homesite of German music magazine Visions.

SAtyricon put up the final report from their recent Scandinavian tour. Atyricon.no/frameset.asp" target=_blank>Check it.

I recorded today's Sahara Hotnights radio broadcast from Boston. Expect mp3s lAter this week.

Check out the Sahara Hotnights on WMBR in Boston during the program the LAte Risers Club. The show airs Monday, October 28th between 10am and Noon Eastern Time. 88.1 FM for locals, www.wmbr.org for everyone else.