MORE 2011 SICKNESS (Part 12)

November is done, and the countdown begins to the end of 2011 and he beginning of the New Year. We’ve been so focused this week on the year behind us, since 2011 Listmania is now in full swing, that we almost forgot that there is a future, and it will be filled with metal.

So, here’s the deal:  In these METAL IN THE FORGE posts, we collect news blurbs and press releases we’ve seen over the last month (November) about forthcoming new albums from bands we know and like (including occasional updates about releases we’ve included in previous installments of this series), or from bands that look interesting, even though we don’t know their music yet. In this series, we cut and paste those announcements and compile them in alphabetical order.

Remember — THIS ISN’T A CUMULATIVE LIST. If we found out about a new forthcoming album before November, we wrote about it in previous installments of this series. So, be sure to check the Category link called “Forthcoming Albums” on the right side of this page to see forecasted releases we reported earlier.

This month’s list begins right after the jump. As usual, this list is half-assed rather than comprehensive. So, feel free to leave Comments and tell all of us what we missed when we put this list together. Let us know about albums on the way that  you’re stoked about!

A BAND OF ORCS: “A BAND OF ORCS, the fantasy-themed heavy metal band from Santa Cruz, California, has entered Trident Studios in Pacheco, California with producer Juan Urteaga (MACHINE HEAD) to begin recording their new concept album about killing giants. The artwork is being created by Chuck Lukacs.”

ABIGAIL WILLIAMS: “American black metal outfit ABIGAIL WILLIAMS has put the finishing touches on its new album, “Becoming”, for a January 24, 2012 release via Candlelight Records. Mixed by vocalist/guitarist Ken Sorceron with Michael Keene (The Faceless), “Becoming” contains over 60 minutes of new material and features art by Metastazis (Morbid Angel, Watain, Ulver).”

AUTOPSY: “Legendary San Francisco Bay Area gore grind act AUTOPSY has completed work on its new collection, “All Tomorrow’s Funerals”, for a February 28 release via Peaceville Records. This monstrous 22-track effort will contain all of AUTOPSY‘s EPs remastered by the bandmembers themselves, as well as new cuts.”

BLEEDING THROUGH: “Bleeding Through is currently wrapping up the recording process for their next album, now titled “The Great Fire.” The effort is expected to hit stores in early-2012 via Rise Records.”

BONE5: “Drummer Pasi Pasanen (ex-SWALLOW THE SUN, PLUTONIUM ORANGE) has joined the Jyväskylä, Finland-based rock/metal band BONE5. The group’s new album, “From The Ashes”, will be released on December 7.”

CALIBAN: “German modern metal force Caliban is proud to announce the release of their eighth studio album, I Am Nemesis on February 28, 2012 via Century Media Records. After spending 10 months writing new material, the band is very excited to get the record out to fans. ‘It was important to us to have an elaborate album without any fillers,’ says lead guitarist Marc Görtz. ‘Additionally, the sound of the album is the best we’ve ever had by far: it is heavy and brutal without being chaotic.'”

CATTLE DECAPITATION: “In November 2010, Cattle Decapitation returned home from headlining The California Blood Tour and decided to take the next year off and immediately began writing the follow up to their critically-acclaimed 2009 release The Harvest Floor.The band has been holed up in the confines of their rehearsal studio in National City, California ever since and are preparing to unleash a new slab of human-dissecting carnage for a Spring 2012 release via Metal Blade Records. The band will be recording in January/February in Denver, Colorado”

DEATH: “The next chapter in Relapse Records’s Death reissue campaign is Vivus!, a deluxe 2CD collection compiling two separate Death concerts. Each recorded in 1998, Disc One features the band at the height of their prowess tearing the roof off of the infamous Whisky A Go-Go in Los Angeles while Disc Two is a brilliant recording of the band on the festival stage at Dynamo Open Air.
Vivus! is set for a February 28th North American release date, March 2nd in the Benelux / Germany, and March 5th in the UK and rest of Europe.”

EMMURE: “Emmure has spent a good portion of November in New York City writing material for their next album. The band will enter the studio in January with producer/engineer Joey Sturgis (We Came As Romans, The Devil Wears Prada) to begin tracking the effort. Sturgis also recorded the band’s last release, Speaker of the Dead.”

EPHEL DUATH: “Formerly Italian, currently US based band EPHEL DUATH, known as a modern mixture of avant-garde metal and progressive rock with jazz-fusion and hardcore punk elements, has inked a worldwide deal with Agonia Records for the release of an EP and two full-length albums. Under the leading role of talented guitarist and songwriter Davide Tiso, the machine of EPHEL DUATH is ready to send out a new musical impulse, with the artistic contribution of a new line-up of well-known special session musicians, soon to be announced. The upcoming spring release EP is going to be recorded in January 2012 at Sharkbyte Studios (Machine Head, Exodus, High On Fire) in Oakland, California. Erik Rutan will do the mixing at his Mana Recording Studio (Cannibal Corpse, Hate Eternal, Goatwhore, Agnostic Front) in San Petersburg, Florida. Alan Douches will master the material at West West Side Music (Death, Swans, Mastodon, Converge, Baroness, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Clutch) in New York.”

GOD OF ATHEISTS: “Former DIMMU BORGIR and current BORKNAGAR member ICS Vortex(real name: Simen Hestnæs) will handle the lead vocals on the upcoming debut album from GOD OF ATHEISTS, the Norwegian extreme metal project led by Asgeir Mickelson (SARKE, SPIRAL ARCHITECT, BORKNAGAR, TESTAMENT). Drums on the CD were recorded by Trym (EMPEROR, ZYKLON, ENSLAVED), while the rhythm guitars were laid down by Mickelson.”

KING GIANT: “Taking the dark tales of their Appalachian folk forefathers to contemporary Southern doom territory, Northern Virgina-based quintet KING GIANT have wrapped up the final details on their sophomore full-length release, Dismal Hollow, and are preparing to self-release it just after the kickoff of the new year. Dismal Hollow will be available worldwide on January 31, 2012 — a split release between KING GIANT’s band-operated imprint Graveyard Hill Records and The Path Less Traveled Records, part of the MRI Group, with distribution by RED, Code 7 and Plastichead — and will be available in CD, LP and digital download formats.”

LIBERTEER: “Relapse Records is extremely proud to announce the signing of California anarcho-grinders Liberteer. The creation of Matthew Widener (Cretin, Citizen), Liberteer is a manifestation of total anarchy, driven by an incendiary lyrical message designed to burn the system down! The band’s debut album, entitled Better To Die on Your Feet Than Live On Your Knees, will see it’s release on January 31st of 2012.”

LIFELESS: “German traditional death metal machine LIFELESS has signed with FDA Rekotz for the release of the band’s as-yet-untitled follow-up to 2010’s“Beyond The Threshold Of Death” (Ibex Moon Records). The new album is currently slated for a spring 2012 release.”

MISERY SIGNALS: “Fans of Misery Signals know that the group hasn’t released a new album in several years. Said fans shouldn’t have to wait too much longer though, as the group is currently working on material for their next full-length. Misery Signals tentatively plans to enter the studio in early-2012 to commence tracking, though neither a studio nor producer have been selected thus far. Notably, this will be the band’s final album under their current contract with Ferret Music.”

NAGLFAR: “Fans of Swedish black metal take heed: five years have passed since the release of mighty Naglfar’s last album Harvest, but now the band is back in the studio again, finishing-up their sixth album, Téras! Expect nothing less than another prime example of infernal, melodic black metal from the vanguards of the scene. Diehard Naglfar fans will also be pleased to hear that prior to the release of Téras, the band will release a very limited-edition 7″ EP featuring one track from the upcoming album and an exclusive second track that will only be available on this vinyl. Téras will ascend from hell’s blackest voids in spring/summer 2012.”

NAPALM DEATH: “As leaders of extreme music and one of the hardest working bands around, the legendary Napalm Death is currently putting the final touches on their 14th studio album (excluding the cover album Leaders Not Followers). This new piece of brutality is entitled Utilitarian, and it will hit stores on February 27th in Europe and February 28th in North America via the band’s long time partner, Century Media Records.”

NORMA JEAN: “Following their just-announced “Pizza Riot 2011″ Tour, Norma Jean will be hitting the studio to record their sixth full-length album. The band is currently writing material for the effort and will head into the studio with producer Jeremy Griffith in January 2012.”

NOTHNEGAL: “Maldives-based death/black metallers NOTHNEGAL will release their full-length debut, “Decadence”, on January 20, 2012 (January 24 in the U.S.) via Season Of Mist. The CD was mixed by Greg Reely (FEAR FACTORY, MACHINE HEAD, DEVIN TOWNSEND) and Ahti Kortelainen (SENTENCED, SONATA ARCTICA).”

NUFUTIC: “Drummer Romain Goulon (NECROPHAGIST) and vocalist Trevor Sadist (SADIST) have joined NUFUTIC, the fusion-metal project founded by Dutch bassist Jeroen Paul Thesseling (PESTILENCE, ex-OBSCURA) and Italian guitarist/keyboardist Tommy Talamanca (SADIST).”

OBITUARY: “OBITUARY is currently writing material for the follow-up to the “Darkest Day” full-length CD, released in 2009 via Candlelight Records. “Our goal is to be in the studio by January or February and to release the album in May or June of 2012,” said guitarist Trevor Peres.”

OBSCURA: “The wildly-progressive German metal quartet OBSCURA has announced their first ever demo collection, entitled ‘Illegimitation‘ and set to be released independently by the band this March.  The collection will include ten never-before-heard tracks, including the band’s earliest recordings from 2003, unreleased songs from the Cosmogenesis sessions of 2006, and brand new cover songs with the newest line-up from 2011.”

OPERA IX: ““Strix Maledictae In Aeternum”, the new album from the Italian symphonic black metal band OPERA IX, will be released on January 24, 2012 in Europe and February 28, 2012 in North America via Agonia Records.”

PARADISE LOST: “British gothic metal pioneers PARADISE LOST have entered The Chapel studios in Lincolnshire, England to begin recording their new album,“Tragic Idol”, for an April 24, 2012 release via Century Media Records. Commented Gregor Mackintosh: “The [new CD] will again be produced by Jens Bogren and is influenced by classic doom metal and classic metal. I would say it is more melodic than the last record whilst retaining the heaviness.”

PERIPHERY: “Maryland progressive metal outfit Periphery enters the studio today to begin tracking a new full-length. Recording will take place with engineer Taylor Larson (I The Breather) and a spring release via Sumerian Records is expected.”

PRIMER 55: “Atlanta-based band PRIMER 55 — featuring Bobby Burns (guitar, bass, vocals), The DRP (vocals), Heath Shaw (drums), and Mattytime (bass) — has signed a worldwide distribution deal with THC:Music/Rocket Science Ventures. The group’s’s self-titled LP will be released on March 13. The effort will be preceded on February 14 by “The Big F.U.”, a retrospective B-sides and rarities collection, featuring nearly 20 tracks from PRIMER 55‘s classic lineup.”

PSYCROPTIC: “Aussie technical death metal outfit, Psycroptic, has announced that its fifth studio album, The Inherited Repression, will hit stores on February 7 in North America and February 10 in Europe. The upcoming nine-track full-length will mark the band’s second release on Nuclear Blast Records. Commented Psycroptic guitarist, Joe Haley, “The Inherited Repression is far and away my favorite Psycroptic album thus far – all of us in the band think this. It’s the age-old cliché from bands when they talk about their current album as being the best of their career, blah, blah, but I have to say it because it’s true.”

SLAYER: “Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo has revealed that the band is currently writing material for a new album. Details are sparse, with Lombardo offering only the following: “Slayer is writing a new record.”

SPAWN OF POSSESSION: “Swedish tech-death assassins SPAWN OF POSSESSION have completed their highly anticipated third full-length album, Incurso, and are preparing it for release upon the helpless masses this Spring (on Relapse records).”

3 INCHES OF BLOOD: “Metal veterans 3 Inches Of Blood will soon be entering the studio to begin tracking their fifth full-length album, planned for release in 2012 via Century Media Records. The band will be working out of Vogville Studios and Profile Studios in Vancouver with engineer and producer Terry Sho Murray, who also worked on the band’s last 7”.

UNLEASHED: “The legendary Swedish Viking Death Metal outfit UNLEASHED have started the recordings of their 11th studio album. The album name is still a secret – but you’d better get ready for another classic album. With their blend of melody and brutality UNLEASHED includes to the founder of the Viking death metal. Their riffs are pure shrapnel, but their choruses are epic, melting uncompromising brutality with anthemic odes to the Odin. The new album will be released in spring 2012 via Nuclear Blast.”

WORMED: “Willowtip Records is excited to announce the official signing of Madrid, Spain’s “Sci-Fi Death Metal” band Wormed. The group is currently in the writing stage of a new full-length album that will be released in the spring of 2012. Prior to the new album, Willowtip will be reissuing Wormed’s previous two releases: 2010’s Quasineutrality EP and 2003’s Planisphaerium CD. Both reissues will be released in early 2012.”