Check out some tracks from Swedish dreampop act My Mellow Venue: https://www.mymellowvenue.com/
The band plays music in the vein of acts such as Kashmir, Mew and the Motorhomes and has a four-song EP available for download.

Have I never posted anything from Notre Dame before? I feel like the answer is no and that's a damn shame because they're an excellent act and seriously underappreciated. Band leader Snowy Shaw spent some time playing drums for King Diamond and Mercyful Fate some years back before getting frustrated that he wasn't able to contribute his own musical ideas to those projects, so he started Notre Dame, among many other sideprojects such as Memento Mori, Illwill and more recently, Dream Evil. I spent a good chunk of time yesterday listening to some of my old 'Fate records, so I thought why not post a cover tune by an ex-member? Or something like that. I guess I could've posted an actual Fate original since they are actually Danish, but King Diamond has lived in Texas so long it just doesn't seem right. It's almost like considering Metallica to be a Danish act since Lars was born there and we all know that just isn't right. So anyhow, there was a time in the late 90s when everyone seemed to be gung-ho about doing metal tribute albums. The Listenable Records tribute to Mercyful Fate is definitely not the best of the bunch (that title belongs to the first "Slaytanic slaughter" tribute to Slayer), but it's not bad. Pretty much every contribution is played straight-ahead except, that is, for Notre Dame. Snowy Shaw is actually all over this damn comp - he does vocals for Luciferion and also contributes a cover of "Evil" under his own name - but it's the final track "Into the coven" that stands out most. It takes the original song into a whole new dimension of grandeur and theatrics. What's also great about Snowy is that he doesn't take his work too seriously. His comic book-meets-metal vision is often light-hearted and fun, but it's definitely not the same as ironic detachment. This is not like whats-his-name from Pinback playing with Goblin Cock. There is no question that this is true metal. No sly winks or expensive "vintage" t-shirts. Be forewarned however, this is an epic track so that means an equally epic 16mb download. Enjoy!

Magnet's latest album "The tourniquet" will be available in the US via iTunes on November 15, in stores on February 7, 2006.

Moder Jords Massiva will be releasing an exclusive 3-track EP with AGS (Africa Groups of Sweden / Afrikagrupperna) entitled "A Luta Continua" as a benefit for development projects in Angola, Moçambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. It will be released on December 1.

Finland's Endstand has signed with Lifeforce Records. The band plans to hit the studio after their upcoming European tour and should have a new record ready for a March release.

Emil Jensen is starting work on a new album. Read more: https://www.emiljensen.se/ (in Swedish)

Winners of the MTV European Music awards in the Scandinavian categories:

Best Norwegian: Turbonegro
Best Finnish: The Rasmus
Best Danish: Mew
Best Swedish: Moneybrother

The Monotonik netlabel has posted a new release from the ever-increasingly prolific Psilodump: https://www.mono211.com/content/releases/mtkmp155.html

Check out Marthe Valle's myspace page to hear her new single "Dandy": https://www.myspace.com/marthevalle
Her debut album "It's a bag of candy" comes out October 24 and was produced by Marthe along with Pål Brekkås and Lars Lien (Int'l Tussler society, ex-Motorpsycho). The record also features numerous guest stars such as Kenneth Ishak (Beezewax) who sings and plays guitar and keys on the aforementioned single and a few other tracks.

Aversionline has ceased with the review updates for now, but it's okay 'cuz they're making up for it with more regular postings on the mp3 blog. Today's pick comes from Deviant, a new young Swedish death-metal band: https://www.aversionline.com/blahg/2005/11/finally-some-new-swedish-death-metal.html

Sara Culler is now blogging: https://saraculler.webblogg.se/
For those of who don't recognize the name right away, Sara is David Fridlund's better half and appears all over his solo album "Amaterasu".

Just in time for Access All Areas, Smilodon has posted a bunch of free mp3 and video downloads in their press section: https://www.smilodon.se/PRESSMEDIA.htm
Artists featured include Martin Bentancourt, Fredrik Fagerlund, Babylon Bombs and Scoob Rock.

Finland's Pink Twins will release a new CD later this month entitled "Paint it pink" which will feature two live sets for a total of 75-minutes worth of music. Details and sound clips: https://pinktwins.com/music.html

The tracklist for Mentoroja's new album "Escaping from the artificial" has been revealed:

01. Pass me the mic
02. What is to be done?
03. The Doom Dada
04. Changes to get all that ft. Scoob Rock
05. Say no more
06. The Escape pt. II
07. Light skinned spic spitting
08. Piece of mind ft. AKEM, Crpl & Bracey Haensun
09. Strike Back
10. Revolutionize the mainstream
11. Still Breathing ft. AKEM
12. Ho Chi Minh style

Head to his website to hear samples: https://www.menteroja.net/

Swedish singer/songwriter Simon Ryman now has an official website: https://www.simonryman.com/