This promotion comes direct from the station’s Facebook page:

Unhallowed Nation supports WSOU.

-Dan M McGarry Jr//Stay Metal

-Dan M McGarry Jr//Stay Metal

Vocalist Mark Hunter issued the following statement:

“I would like to start off by thanking our fans for a great tour. This last run was a blast, and truly the most fun we’ve had in a long while. The energy from the audience was exactly what we needed, and a welcoming return. Thank you, guys!”

“Unfortunately, as much fun as we were having, behind the scenes we were aware of some unfortunate realities that prevented us from ‘living the dream’ and having the time of our lives. We had another bomb to drop on the fans.”

“Early in July, we were informed that Rob Arnold [guitar] and Matt DeVries [guitar] would be leaving CHIMAIRA at the end of 2011. Of course, this was a huge blow, but there were no hard feelings. We understand that life invades art, everything runs its course, and we have to take different paths. We respect their decision and wish them only the best. We made heavy metal history together and that is all that matters at the end of the day. ‘Chimaira Christmas 12′ will be their last show, and we’ve been preparing to make it one that you’ll never forget.”

“I would personally like to thank Rob and Matt for all of their hard work, years of service to CHIMAIRA, amazing songs, and for their friendship. Together we built something special that will remain for generations to come. “

“I’m looking forward to spending another five weeks on the road with two of the best (and criminally underrated) guitarists in modern metal.”

“What’s next for CHIMAIRA in 2012? More on that very soon.”

“Rather than try and make light of unpleasant news, or downplay this by hyping up a new lineup, let’s take a few to honor Rob and Matt. My favorite solo of Rob’s is on ‘The Heart Of It All’ and my favorite riff of Matt’s is ‘The Dehumanizing Process’. I’ll be cranking those today. What about you?”

-Dan M McGarry Jr//Stay Metal

The Arizona metal machine Job For A Cowboy has announced the band has completed work on a brand new album. The album is expected to be released next year via Metal Blade Records. The band had this to say about the release:

“The new full length is officially done. Waiting for mixing and mastering within a month. Now… what to call it? Expect big news.”

Stay posted for more details about the album.

-Dan M McGarry Jr//Stay Metal

Hello citizens of the Unhallowed Nation, I am Atleastimhousebroken, or otherwise known to the rest of the world as Matt, and I write and moderate for the awesome metal blog A Metal State of Mind(we’re awesome, you should read, listen to, and comment on everything we have, and a subscribe would be righteous too). Today I will be teaming up with Dan here to bring you some metal bands you may not have heard. I’ll be honest and say I’m not too huge into the underground scene, so the bands I will bring up are quite big within the circles they belong to so there is the possibility that you may have heard of them. If you’re not particularly familiar with these different areas in metal, well here’s a great chance to broaden your horizons. After all, it’s all metal and metal is fucking awesome. Enjoy!!! I had fun bringing you some great metal to check out and hope you will have me back in the future! Peace Love and Metal!!!

Throes Of Dawn-melody, melody, melody, wrapped in black elements with prog overtones. This band is absolutely sick and deserves all the tribute that many fans never gave, requiting in the indefinite decision to disband. However, despite the creative or otherwise decisions that caused the band to stop making music they remain as one of my all time favorite melodic metal bands.-Dan

First up we have Moonsorrow. I would consider these guys one of my all time favorite band,definitely in the top 5. They come from Finland and draw from their county’s history and folk music as a major inspiration for their sound. Along with those inspirations they also incorporate Black Metal, Symphonic Metal, and Battle Metal(?). Listening to their music is akin to storming the gates of Mordor. They have 6 full length albums available with each one being a masterpiece unto itself. If you have a couple of minutes check out my review of their latest album Varjoina kuljemme kuolleiden maassa(As Shadows We Walk in the Land of the Dead).-Matt

Not Above Evil- coming down from the UK Not Above Evil is fucking heavy. Transending the boundaries of where genres fit into the grand scheme of things, they blend styles of black and death metal to create a truly unified sound that will blow your earpussies away. The video above features the song “Into The Mist”.-Dan

Sticking with the Folk Metal area a bit longer(I’ll make this the last one for today because I could go on all day about this genre , let me introduce you to Folkstone from Bergamo, Italy. They take traditional heavy metal and infuse it with themes and music from the Celts of Northern Italy. For those that don’t understand Italian,their themes revolve around both modern problems in their society as well as songs about the history of their area. But in the end what really matters is that they create some awesome metal melodies and some damn catchy songs, check em out.-Matt

Minsk-this is one of those bands that I wish had remained more prevalent beyond their medoricic rise to semi-stardom years ago. However, they feature psychodelic undertones masked over waves of groove metal and jamcore, and long before Mastodon and Red Fang took note of it. This one is “White Wings” coming off of the 2007 album “The Ritual Fires Of Abandonment”.-Dan

Power metal gets a lot of flak from “trve” metal fans for being pussy or nerd metal. I concur. What else am I supposed to listen to while playing D&D? In all seriousness though, Power metal is awesome and takes mad skill to perform and write, and the vast majorities of the bands within the genre do an awesome job of pulling these awesome songs off live, that’s bad ass in my opinion. Here’s a great band that is climbing the ranks in the Power metal world, Stormzone are a balls-to-the-wall awesome power metal band with a sound heavily inspired by Iron Maiden(my #1 favorite band). They take a heavier edge and sing of darker subject matter compared to many bands within the genre, and are well worth your time checking out, I promise you head will start banging almost instantly. Check out their album Death Dealer, it’s f’n awesome.-Matt

Orthon-sticking to the black metal theme comes another symphonic black metal gem coming from China(I know right?). The main difference you will notice when listening to Orthon is they are a female vocal led band, which to some may conflict with popular bias or indifference. Nonetheless this band gets down and shreads, the video above features “Unholy Silence” coming from their 2011 release “Transmigrate”.-Dan

The Atlas Moth are a great band from the realm of sludge, doom, and post-metal and they are incredible. The music is very atmospheric and haunting as well as melodic and beautiful. Listening to them is like contemplating the meaning of life while getting bludgeoned with a club, it’s pretty neat, you should do it one day soon. Their latest album An Ache for the Distance is absolutely mind-blowing and you should go check it out.-Matt

Advent Sorrow- one of the best up and coming black metal bands to come out of Australia. Following a symphonic cacophony in ode to bands such as Dimmu Borgir, Advent Sorrow blasts your ass with collective dark riffs and sombering overtones of pure unadulterated evil. Be on the lookout for their upcoming EP which has yet to be titled.-Dan

If you’re into Black Metal, especially American Black Metal, or post-metal chances are you already know about Wolves in the Throne Room. For those of you who don’t know about these guys, time to start paying attention. Eschewing the typical Black Metal themes of Satanism, evil, etc. they take a more spiritual and nature filled walk through metal. These guys have a great knack for building a mystical atmosphere but don’t hold back on the brutality. Unfortunately, their latest release Celestial Lineage (my review here) is slated to be their final release, but that shouldn’t stop you from checking it out along with their entire back catalog.-Matt

Misanthropic Inoculation comes out of fucking nowhere with such a brutal and visceral dissection of classic death metal that just listening to some of their intros make my balls implode. The bands greatest strength is the simplistic transition from melody to all out brutality. Their sound, which seems to be greatly defined, leaves me wanting a full release as soon as humanly possible. If Metallica, Cannibal Corpse, and Six Feet Under had a three-way then Misanthropic Inoculation would most certainly be their bastard offspring.

So stop being such a pussbag and head on over to some of their sites, such as on Myspace ,Reverb Nation ,or Facebook ,Check em out, pass the word around and support local artists everywhere.

-Dan M McGarry Jr//Stay Metal

Swallow The Sun released details from their site that the band would be releasing their fifth studio album titled “Emerald Forest And The Blackbird”. The track listing for the upcoming album is as follows:

1. EMERALD FOREST AND THE BLACKBIRD
2. THIS CUT IS THE DEEPEST
3. HATE, LEAD THE WAY
4. CATHEDRAL WALLS
5. HEARTS WIDE SHUT
6. SILENT TOWERS
7. LABYRINTH OF LONDON
8. OF DEATH AND CORRUPTION
9. APRIL 14th
10. NIGHT WILL FORGIVE US

Juha Ravio had this to say: “I found myself listening to an old Finnish lullaby called ‘Sininen Uni’ over and over again, and suddenly images started pouring into my mind of a dad reading a tale to his dying child, trying to explain where the child is going that night, the tale of Emerald Forest and the Blackbird,”

“Finally this image lead me into a long journey through this night and got me trapped in the limbo between the dusk and the dawn. The place where you face your demons and angels, meet the souls of the ones you loved and lost. Will we walk the night forever, or let the night forgive us and let us say a last goodbye? These are songs from the limbo, notes of sorrow, hate, love, darkness and light. The tale of Emerald Forest and the Blackbird.”

Anette Olzon makes a guest appearance on vocals for the song “Cathedral Walls” and had this to say:

“When I got to listen to the rough demo of ‘Cathedral Walls’ I fell in love with the song immediately and I was so honored to be asked to sing on this song. The melody and lyrics are truly beautiful.”

The album is set for release February 1st, 2011 via Spinefarm Records, you can stalk Swallow The Sun on any of the links posted after the jump.

www.facebook.com/swallowthesun
twitter.com/swallowthesunfi
www.myspace.com/swallowthesundoom
www.swallowthesun.net
www.swallowthesunfans.com
www.spinefarm.fi

-Dan M McGarry Jr//Stay Metal

Come one, come all, Esoteric is streaming their entire new album “Paragon Of Dissonance” for one week only! Earlier last week we spoke about this upcoming album and how spectacular it would be, now find out for yourself. You can check it out on the Finnish website www.kaaoszine.fi. Streaming starts today, so what the fuck are you waiting for? Get to it!

California metalers All Shall Perish team up with noisecreep.com  for the bands newest video for the track “Royalty Into Exile”. “Royalty Into Exile” Comes from the bands fourth studio album “This Is Where It Ends” which debuted last summer, check it out here.