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From the mouths of those within - After more than fifteen years of meandering and stagnation the rotten fruits of our labours are almost ready to be choked on. "Further Steps to a Perfect World" will see its official release Friday November 28th 2008 through Obsidian Records. In 2006, Oracle of the Void officially released their demo from 1995 – In Darkness is Found The Greater Enlightenment' MLP. After a handful of shows in the last few years showcasing their blackened catalogue ... Read More

The soon to be released album by Tasmanian Tech Death band PSYCROPTIC will contain a bonus DVD contain studio diaries and plenty of live footage. 'Ob(Servant)' was mixed and mastered by former MACHINE HEAD and SOULFLY guitarist Logan Mader (DIVINE HERESY, GOJIRA) and was recorded once again by guitarist Joe Haley. The DVD features a studio diary as well as performance footage from a 2006 gig in Amsterdam, Netherlands and 2008 concert in Wellington, New Zealand and run for approximately 85 minutes. Listen to ... Read More

Tasmanian tech-death band Psycroptic have uploaded a new track called "Immortal Army Of One" to their Myspace. The track comes off their up and coming album titled "Ob(Servant)". This will be the bands first album released on Nuclear Blast Records and will be available in Fall 2008. You can hear the new song at http://www.myspace.com/psycroptic Drummer Dave Haley recently commented on their upcoming release: "'Ob(Servant)' is definitely our finest hour (well, finest 49 minutes and 49 seconds anyway). It's of course a cliché of ... Read More

Brisbane-based progressive death metal band Phalanx are on hiatus after two of their members decided to leave the band. It was recently announced that Nic (guitars) left the band however a replacement was found. "Nic recently decided to call it a day. We are all on very good terms and wish him the best of luck for his future musical ventures. We also sincerely thank Nic for all the hard work, time and money he has put into Phalanx to get the band where it ... Read More

Albert Productions and SonyBMG Australia announces the worldwide release of "Black Ice," the long awaited new studio album from AC/DC, on Saturday, October 18. "Black Ice," the first full-length studio album of all-new material from AC/DC since the release of "Stiff Upper Lip" in 2000, is the band's debut album for Columbia Records, (New York Based label for SonyBMG) and their 18th for Australia's Albert Productions. Produced by Brendan O'Brien at the Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, BC, "Black Ice" premieres 15 new AC/DC compositions and performances including the album's first single, ... Read More

A mere 14 months after 'neaths critically acclaimed 'The Spiders Sleep' was unleashed nationally to an unsuspecting audience outside of their home town Brisbane, this enigmatic four piece are ready to canvass the next stage of their evolution. 'The Small Untruths' will contain six tracks of Dark Progressive Metal placing them upon the top of a fractured limb of their own within the aural dark art realms. At this time of writing a dual album launch with Coffs Harbour's hybrid black/death metallers ... Read More

Epic and powerful, BANE OF ISILDUR's aural and live attack on the Australian metal scene with their brand of black metal infused 'war metal' has taken parts of the underground by storm both here and abroad. And now with a new recording due out, and headlining festival appearance on the horizon, I caught up with Ray (Bass) for a chat about the band's music, influences and future. Read More

Black metal bands ICICLAN (Tas) and WARDAEMONIC (WA) have announced a co-headlining Australia tour this August/September. The 5 gig tour takes in Adelaide (Aug 29th), Melbourne (Aug 30th), Hobart (Sept 3rd), Canberra (Sept 5th) and Sydney (Sept 6th). Also joining the bands for the Melbourne date will be Tasmanian Black Metallers MEPHISTOPHELES in their first interstate gig in 2 years. Read More

With their first Victorian live shows coming up in the near future, I spoke to Tom (guitars) from Sydney-based post rock band sleepmakeswaves about the band, the local scene and their debut EP. Metal Obsession: Can you give us a bit of an introduction to the band? Tom: Sleepmakeswaves began in two parts, on one side Kid (guitars) started up a new project in the post-rock/electronic side of things and was looking to collaborate with other artists. Simultaneously Myself and Alex (bass) had started ... Read More

Victorian rock band Electric Mary have been confirmed as the support band for Judas Priest's up and coming Australian tour. They are replacing Daysend who were removed form the tour along with Cavelera Conspiracy for being "inappropriate" support bands. Read More

Canberra-based experimental death metal band Alchemist have secured the national support slot for Meshuggah's up and coming Australian tour. Alchemist will play on all of the Australian shows, which are a follows. Sun 12th Oct Arena Brisbane 18+ Tix from www.arenaonline.com.au . all oztix outlets & www.ticketek.com.au 132 849 Mon 13th Oct Roundhouse Sydney All Ages Tix from www.ticketek.com.au 132489 Tue 14th Oct HQ Adelaide 18+ Tix from www.venuetix.com.au 08 8225 8888 Wed 15th Oct Palace Theatre (formerly Metro) Melbourne 18+ Tix from www.ticketmaster.com.au 136 100 and Missing Link 405 ... Read More

The Australian support bands for Carcass' upcoming Australian tour has been completely announced and is as follows: Thursday Oct 9th- PERTH, Capitol – Dyscord, Grotesque Friday Oct 10th – ADELAIDE, HQ Complex – Double Dragon, Tzun Tzu Saturday Oct 11th – BRISBANE, The Arena – Defamer, Limb From Limb Sunday Oct 12th – SYDNEY, The Metro Theatre – Daysend, Beyond Terror Beyond Grace Monday Oct 13th – MELBOURNE, Billboard – Terrorust, Picture The End TICKETS ON SALE now!!! Melbourne & Sydney ... Read More

Metal-experience.com recently conducted an interview with Iced Earth mainman John Schaffer. Upon asking what the bands plans are for the near future, John responded with the following: "We’ve done a lot more touring than people had expected already this summer. We’ve got several more shows planned this summer and a North-American tour coming up in September/October and then New-Zealand, Australia and Japan in November. We’ll be touring Europe probably in early 2009 as a headline tour." Of course this doesn't ... Read More

Queensland metal band TORN ASUNDER has won an award at the annual Queensland Music Awards - the Q-Awards. Nominated in the Punk/Metal category alongside Butcher Birds, bloodredskies and Alienhand, Torn Asunder won the $1000 award with their song titled 'Dearly Beloved''. Previous winners in the Punk/Metal category at the Q-Awards include Sunk Loto. After already playing festivals such as the Big Day Out and Overcranked Festival, Torn Asunder continue to gain fans across the metal/alternative scene with their 'modern metal' influenced sound. To hear ... Read More

The album art of Anarion's up and coming album "Beneath It All" has been released and can be seen below. The follow-up to 2006's "Unbroken" was mixed in Sweden by Daniel Bergstrand (Meshuggah, Strapping Young Lad, In Flames) and "sounds brutal" according to the band. The artwork was done by Travis Smith, who has worked with bands such as Nevermore, Opeth and Devin Townsend. Release dates are yet to be announced. For those unfamiliar with the band, you can hear material from their previous ... Read More

Interview with THE OCULARIS INFERNUM - 11/08/2008 MO: First of all I would like to thank you for taking part in this interview for www.metalobsession.net, and now could I please get you to quickly introduce yourself and The Ocularis Infernum to the readers of MetalObsession.net. OI: Darren, 21, Vocalist The Ocularis Infernum are essentially a four piece tech death/grind outfit with hints of groove, melody and slam; members are scattered over suburban Melbourne MO: The band has been around now for a few years in the ... Read More

Melbourne-based gothic metal band The Eternal will release their new album "Kartika" on Firebox Records in November. The Finnish release date is the 12th, and the rest of Europe shortly after. Other countries have not yet been announced as it's still being negotiated. "The artwork for Kartika was done by Italian designer Diego Maniscalco at Unspire and we are very pleased with the result. The album was mastered by John Ruberto at Crystal Mastering. The first pressing of Kartika will come with a ... Read More

Formed in Kuopio Finland 1999, Shade Empire is fast becoming one of the more creative Metal bands to come out of the country. The band signed with Dynamic Arts Records in 2006 and late 2007 saw Shade Empire join with Dynamic Arts Record and hit the studio for their third studio album "Zero Nexus". I recently interviewed vocalist Harju about their new album, the writing process and touring.... Metal Obsession: G’day. First of all, a big thanks for taking the time to complete ... Read More