1) Originating from USA, one of the earliest Doom bands around, having been around in one form or another since the early 70s, it's safe to say that Pentagram had a big impact on Sabbath inspired Doom-metal that was to follow over the next decade. The band also strongly intertwines with the band Bedemon and is sometimes seen as one and the same. Pentagram are considered to be one of the all time classics by many older fans for understandable reasons. Their music can perhaps best be described as "proto-Doom" with a strong resemblance to the first Black Sabbath releases. The unique vocals of Bobby Leibling make sure they have a very unique sound. The first 7" was released under the name Macabre - guitarist Victor Griffin now has a new band called Place of Skulls. - the 1974 7" ep was never officially released and was only released in 100 copies on a test pressing.
2) Pentagram (internationally known as Mezarkabul) is one of the most famous and spectacular heavy metal bands in Turkey. Their first album, the self titled "Pentagram" was released in 1990 and consisted of speed/thrash metal songs. Murat Net, who would later be replaced by Demir Demirkan, played lead guitar for their first record.
Two years later, the band released their second album, "Trail Blazer", and for the first time gained the attention of heavy metal authorities in the world. Especially Ogün Sanlısoy's excellent vocals played a great part in this success. Additionally this album contained the very first bits of traditional Turkish music in Mezarkabul songs (No One Wins the Fight).
Five years after Trail Blazer had been released, in 1997, the band released another album called "Anatolia" which was, for many, the climax of the band's musical career. In Anatolia, the anatolian/turkish sound took so vast a place in the music that the band would be almost associated with this sound. The band also covered a "türkü" (turkish folk song) called "Gündüz Gece" by Aşık Veysel. With this album Ogün Sanlısoy was replaced by Murat İlkan who had a unique and metal-friendly vocal technique. After the release of Anatolia in 1998, the band recorded a gig performed in İstanbul and released a live album called "Popçular Dışarı" which also contained a cover of "Black Magic" of Slayer.
In 2001, the band released two great albums called "Unspoken" which consisted of Mezarkabul songs with English lyrics, and "Bir" containing songs with Turkish lyrics. Demir Demirkan was replaced by the lead guitarist Metin Türkcan with this album. Recorded and mastered in Sierra Studios in Greece, "Unspoken" was a masterpiece full of anatolian tunes and philosophical lyrics. Prepared especially for the Turkish audience, "Bir" contained two more "türkü" covers which are "Şeytan Bunun Neresinde" by Aşık Dertli and "Bu Alemi Gören Sensin" by Aşık Veysel.
The band caught so much attention with the excellent "Unspoken" that they performed in Wacken Open Air, Germany in 2002.
The current line-up of the band is;
Murat İlkan : Vocals
Hakan Utangaç : Rhythm Guitar
Metin Türkcan : Lead Guitar
Tarkan Gözübüyük: Bass
Cenk Ünnü : Drums
Pentagram is considered to be the greatest band in Turkey to combine the traditional elements of Turkish music into the metal genre creating a distinctive sound which other bands would follow in the future for years to come.
last.fm artist connection: Mezarkabul
3) Pentagram also is a Death Metal band from Chile, which was active in the mid/late eighties. Possessed is clearly one of their main influences, along with Sodom, Master, Sepultura and other Metal bands from South America. Still they maintain their own brand of Metal, probably the rawest out of the South American scene.
After two demos and one single in 1987 the band disbanded, mainly because no label wanted to sign them. Thirteen years later their demos were again made accessible by Picoroco Records.
The band reunited in 2001 to play one final gig, which also was recorded and released as a live album under the name "Reborn 2001"
4) Pentagram is also an electronica-rock fusion band from Mumbai, India. The band has been active for quite some time and has released two albums. The latter, Up! was a seminal electronica album in the scene. They are working on a new album due for a release early this year.
THe Band consist of Randolph, Shiraz, Papal and Vishal. They came together in 1994, with a strong need to play individual, original, unique music. This was as much a reaction to the stagnating Indian Rock scene, populated by bands playing mostly cover music, as it was a primal instinct. They did the rounds of college festivals, almost immediately becoming well known and popular, by winning three major rock competitions at the Kanpur, Delhi and Bombay IIT's. They signed a record deal and put out their first album ('We Are Not Listening') in 1996. It was listed by Rhythm House (India's premier record store) as the fastest selling rock album. They released two videos ("The Ignorant 1" and "Yoo") which were frequently played by all the music channels.
Pentagram were MTV India's 'Artist of the Month' in 1997. They also won the Channel [V] awards for Best Live Band and Best Indian Band in 1997 & 1998. They were featured on Channel [V]'s Big Gig show, a showcase of an hour-long live performance.
They played gigs in the Seychelles and all across Indian Campuses, while figuring out their sound When they put out their second album ('Up', 2002), their audiences were taken by surprise. The alternative rock band they had known had added a huge electronic edge to their sound. Pentagram have always maintained that the new sound came out of a burning need to find a way to make music that was uniquely and solely theirs. During the Kargil war, Pentagram recorded and released India's first exclusive-to-internet song, 'The Price of Bullets', which featured famous poet Javed Akhtar and popular Indian Classical artist Shankar Mahadevan. The video, directed by Farhan Akhtar, one of India's most successful young film-makers, was blacked out by channels across the board for being "too politically loaded". It was added as a bonus track on their second album 'Up'.
They became the first Indian Band to top Asian mp3.com charts with six songs going to No. 1 for over two weeks each. ("Drive", "Strange", "Think of Me", "Don't Care", "Is there a Light?", "The Price of Bullets" all featured on 'Up'). Their single, "Think of Me", went to no. 5 in the world on Billboard's talent hunt site. 'Up' was later released and published by their self owned music label, 'Pentagrammusic', produced and distributed by Sony Music (India). It went on to become one of India's highest selling rock albums with more then 15,000 copies sold. A string of awards followed including Best Live Act at the June Rock Out awards in 2003, winning the readers poll for 'Best Indian Band' by Rock Street Journal twice.
Their new edge brought them international recognition, in that the doors of several festivals were flung open to them. They headlined the Sundance Music Festival in Estonia in 2003, a first for any Indian band. They were also invited to, and played at the Glastonbury Music Festival in 2005. This was a real high point, as they not only became the first Indian Act to play there, but also became aware of the real possibilities of their music. They were able to share the stage with contemporary giants like Coldplay, Chemical Brothers, Tori Amos, Fat Boy Slim, White Stripes. Seeing how they stood up to huge acts, and how positive the audiences were, knee-jerked Pentagram into producing their current album. 'It's OK, It's All Good', released by Counter Culture Records in March 2007, has been very well received. The first single off this album, "Voice", won the Song Of The Year at the recent Jack Daniel's Annual Indian Rock Awards the same night Vishal was awarded Vocalist Of The Year. Self assured, more mature, and yet, as edgy as ever, they hope to release this latest effort internationally, as well as tour the festival circuit far more aggressively.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Pentagram
Pantera
Pantera was a popular metal band from Arlington, Texas that formed in 1981. Specifically, some fans consider them power metal, groove metal (post-thrash), or an amalgamation of both (so called "power groove", a term the band devised themselves). Emerging alongside influential classic thrash metal acts such as Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax, Pantera was a key formulator of the post-thrash subgenre of heavy metal music.
At the start of the career the style of Pantera's image and sound was heavily influenced by bands like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Kiss, Black Sabbath and Van Halen. At certain stages, specifcally fashionably, Pantera drew more on the popular LA glam scene. The extent to how far Pantera took the glam image is one of many disputes among fans of heavy metal and those who discredit the band's popularity to the 90s; however most of the material on the albums themselves were a contrast to typical glam metal formula. They released three albums during this stage before acquiring Razor White vocalist, Philip Anselmo from New Orleans. As soon as Anselmo joined the band the group took a noticable change in style and image with their Power Metal. The album shifted away from most of the glam image and focused mostly on the more respectable speed metal genre. This style would continue evolving for two years as Pantera drew on many more sources of influence within the metal scene.
As they began their transformation into post-thrash/groove metal they began to absorb a lot more from the underground extreme metal scene of the late 80s which included bands such as Slayer, Sepultura, Cro-Mags, and Exhorder. The later band to this day causes much controversy and dispute between fans despite the fact that Exhorder lead singer Kyle Thomas himself stated that many of these claims are over-exaderated and unfair for a band that "worked a hell-of-alot harder" than Exhorder did to get where they did.
On VH1's list of 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock, Pantera ranked forty-fifth. Legendary guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott has won numerous awards from Metal Edge, Hit Parader, Circus, Kerrang, Guitar One, Guitar World, & Guitar For The Practicing Musician magazines for his brutal, lighting fast solos, and unmatchable grooves.
Pantera played a major role in the "resurrection" of American Metal in the 90's and influence can be seen to this day in a broad range of metal bands. Glam was rapidly dying out, and grunge was taking over. In February and July 1992, Pantera then Megadeth both released albums, Vulgar Display of Power, and Countdown to Extinction, the latter reaching #2 on the billboard album charts. Together, the two albums began a resurgence in American metal music. In 1994 Pantera's third major label album Far Beyond Driven debuted on the charts at number one, astonishing those is the music industry who were unaware of the bands growing legion of fans. This proved to be the bands commercial peak. In 1996 Pantera released The Great Southern Trendkill. The album debuted at number four on the charts. The band toured in the summer of 1996 with White Zombie and the Deftones. In 1997 the band coheadlined the USA Ozzfest with Black Sabbath and Marilyn Manson. Soon after the band released their first and only live album, Official Live: 101 Proof. The album debuted at number four on the billboard album charts. The band toured alongside Anthrax, Coal Chamber, and Machine Head to support the album. In 2000 the band released their final album, Reinventing the Steel. The band headlined Ozzfest 2000 then toured overseas before coming back to the USA to headline the Extreme Steel Tour, playing after the legendary Slayer and Soulfly, Static-X, and Morbid Angel.
Pantera also acquired an official drink, called Black Tooth Grin after the lyrics in the song Sweating Bullets by Megadeth.
Pantera had all of their major label albums and home videos sell to either gold or platinum status with virtually no support from MTV or radio.
In 2002 vocalist Philip Anselmo focused on his side projects Down and Superjoint Ritual. After no communication between the Abbott brothers and Anselmo, the band officially broke up in 2003. The Abbott brothers formed Damageplan in 2003 and released the album New Found Power. While touring for the album, deranged fan Nathan Gale shot and killed legendary guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott on stage on December 8th, 2004, along with 3 other people.
Even though Pantera's fans are still distraught over the tragic murder of Dimebag Darrell, they have finally heard music from often talked about Rebel Meets Rebel project featuring Pantera members Dimebag Darrell, Vinnie Paul, Rex Brown and outlaw country artist David Allan Coe. A DVD entitled DIMEvision was released by Vinnie Paul's record label, Big Vin Records. Rebel Meets Rebel's self titled album was released on May 2nd, 2006, and entered the billboard charts at number 39. The DIMEvision DVD, released the same day as Rebel Meets Rebel, entered the billboard DVD charts at number one and has already sold enough copies to be certified gold. VH1 also produced a Behind The Music episode for Pantera, which resulted in many fans getting the answers they wanted regarding the final days of the band straight from the band and their friends and associates.
P.O.D
Discography:
* P.O.D. (demo tape) (1992)
* Snuff the Punk (1994)
* Brown (1996)
* Live at TomFest (1997)
* The Warriors EP (1999)
* Limited Edition Bonus EP (1999)
* The Fundamental Elements of Southtown (1999) #51 US (RIAA certification: Platinum)
* Satellite (2001) #6 US (RIAA certification: 3x Platinum), #16 UK
* Payable on Death (2003) #9 US (RIAA certification: Gold)
* The Warriors EP, Volume 2 (2005)
* Testify (2006) #9 US
* Greatest Hits: The Atlantic Years (2006)
* When Angels and Serpents Dance (2007)
Current line-up:
Marcos Curiel (guitar)
Noah 'Wuv' Bernardo (drums)
Traa Daniels (bass)
Sonny Sandoval (vocals)
Friday, August 17, 2007
Nirvana
1) Nirvana was a popular American grunge rock band from Seattle. With the lead single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from the band's 1991 album Nevermind, Nirvana exploded into the mainstream, bringing along with it an offshoot of punk and alternative rock that the mainstream media of the time referred to as grunge. Other Seattle grunge bands such as Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden also gained in popularity, and, as a result, alternative rock became a dominant genre on American and Canadian radio and music television during the early-to-mid '90s.
As Nirvana's frontman, Kurt Cobain found himself referred to in the media as the "spokesman of a generation", with Nirvana the "flagship band" of "Generation X". Cobain was uncomfortable with the attention, and placed his focus on the band's music, challenging the band's audience with their much more abrasive third studio album In Utero, cosidered to be a conscious attempt to shed their audience. While Nirvana's mainstream popularity waned in the months following its release, their core audience cherished the band's dark interior, particularly after their 1993 performance on MTV Unplugged with the Meat Puppets, a band that Cobain had always idolised, performing with them the songs Oh, Me, Plateau and Lake of Fire. It was later released and topped the charts in 1994.
Nirvana's brief run ended with the suicide of Cobain in 1994, but the band's popularity expanded in the years that followed. Eight years after Cobain's death, "You Know You're Right", an unfinished demo that the band recorded two months prior to Cobain's death, topped radio playlists around the world. Since their debut, the band has sold more than fifty million albums worldwide, including more than ten million copies of Nevermind in the US alone. Nirvana remains a consistent presence on radio stations worldwide.
In 2004, the box set "With the Lights Out", a collection of radio sessions, home demos, studio demos and outtakes, was released. A year later, "Sliver: The Best of the Box" was released, a compilation of selected "WTLO" tracks, but with 3 new tracks including a track from the famous "Fecal Matter" demo.
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2) Nirvana is a UK-based progressive rock band formed in 1967, primarily active in the late 1960s and early 1970s - and still sporadically active to the present day.
The band was formed in the summer of 1967 in an era when melodic pop/rock music with baroque and chamber arrangements and instrumentation was highly-prized. The band, consisted of two songwriter/performers - Greek-born Alex Spyropoulos and Irish-born Patrick Campbell-Lyons who met in London. They produced a number of singles (notably "Rainbow Chaser", "Pentecost Hotel", and "Tiny Goddess") for the fledgling Island Records label.
The band was signed by Island Records' founder Chris Blackwell in the era when he also signed the bands Traffic and Free.
In October 1967 the band released its first album - a concept album produced by Blackwell titled The Story of Simon Simopath. The album was probably the first narrative concept album ever released - predating story-driven concept albums such as the Pretty Things' S.F. Sorrow (December 1968), the Who's Tommy (April 1969) and the Kinks'Arthur (September 1969).
Musically, the group blended myriad musical styles including rock, pop, folk, jazz, Latin rhythms and classical music - primarily augmented by baroque chamber-style arrangements to create a unique entity.
The next year 1968 their follow-up album, All Of Us, featured a similar broad range of musical styles. Their third album To Markos III was released on the Pye label in 1969.
In 1971 the duo amicably separated for a while, with Campbell-Lyons the primary contributor to the next two Nirvana albums, Local Anaesthetic 1971, and Songs Of Love And Praise 1972. Campbell-Lyons subsequently worked as a solo artist and issued further albums: Me And My Friend 1973, Electric Plough 1981, and The Hero I Might Have Been 1983 though these did not enjoy commercial success.
The band reunited in 1985, successfully touring Europe and releasing a compilation album Black Flower 1987 containing some new material. (Black Flower had been the provisional title of their third album.) In the 1990s two further albums were released. Secret Theatre 1994 compiled rare tracks and demos, while Orange And Blue 1996 contained previously unreleased material including a tongue-in-cheek cover of the song "Lithium" originally recorded by the American grunge band Nirvana who released its first album in 1989, and who the band had successfully sued over use of the name Nirvana. The undisclosed terms of the settlement has apparently allowed the original Nirvana to continue using its name and issuing new recordings.
In 1999 the band released a three-disc CD anthology titled "Chemistry" including several previously-unreleased tracks and some new material.
Top musicians who played on Nirvana sessions include: Lesley Duncan, Herbie Flowers, Billy Bremner (later of Rockpile/Dave Edmunds fame), Luther Grosvenor, Wynder K. Frogg, Clem Cattini and the full lineup of rock band Spooky Tooth
The group was in the school of baroque-flavored, melodic pop-rock music typified by the Beatles of "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver", the Beach Boys of Pet Sounds and God Only Knows, the Zombies of Odessey and Oracle and Time Of The Season, the Procol Harum of A Whiter Shade Of Pale, the Moody Blues of Days of Future Passed and Nights In White Satin and the Kinks of Waterloo Sunset. The majority of the tracks on Nirvana's albums fall into that broad genre of contemporary popular music - not easily categorized - but perhaps best described as the baroque or chamber strand of "progressive rock, soft rock or "orchestral pop".
Their first three albums were reissued on CD by Universal in 2003 and received critical acclaim. In 2005 Universal (Japan) reissued Local Anaesthetic and Songs Of Love And Praise.
As of late 2005 the founding members Alex Spyropoulos and Patrick Campbell-Lyons are still sporadically writing and recording.
3) Nirvana was a short-lived Finnish punk band formed in 1980, whose sole release was a 7" vinyl with tracks "Kielletyt leikit" and "Kuljen kaupungilla" with 200 pressings.
4) Nirvana 2002 (being converted to just "Nirvana" due to old last.fm moderation system) was a demo-only Swedish death metal band active from 1988 - 1991.
5) Nirvana was a Dutch pop group, formed in 1985 by producers Bernard Oattes and Rob van Schaik. The group consisted of Anthony Moendir, Frits Broekrits and Annie Alberti and have released one single, "Say When", which became a big hit. The group split up in 1987.
My Dying Bride
The initial formation numbered vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe, guitarists Andrew Craighan and Calvin Robertshaw plus drummer Rick Miah, who founded the band in 1990. The band released the 'Towards The Sinister' demo, noted for its complete absence of bass, recorded over two days in late November at Revolver Studios with Tim Walker manning the production desk. They followed this with the 'God Is Alone' 7" single, restricted to 1000 copies, on the French Listenable label, again utilising both Tim Walker and Revolver Studios in May 1991. The band signed to budding Yorkshire label Peaceville Records to release the 'Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrum' EP in 1992, debuting new bassist Ade Jackson in the process.
My Dying Bride's first full-length album ,'As The Flower Withers' arriving in May 1992, established the band among press and fans alike. Jointly produced by label mentor Hammy and the band, the record stunned many critics, who struggled to find suitable descriptives to capture the radical nature of this work. In the midst of this confusion, few would disagree that My Dying Bride had, in one fell swoop, turned the Doom genre on its head.
The group had driven deep into the core essence of doom, drastically overhauling every aspect of its composition. The album opened somewhat coyly with an orchestral exercise in deceit before the Latin lyricised 'Sear Me' challenged immediately. Songs were drawn out into near unbearable dirges, capped by the twin violin imbued colossi of 'The Bitterness and the Bereavement' and 'The Return of the Beautiful', Stainthorpe's prose held closer to the great British poets than standard rock n' roll and their deliberately infantile daubed logo logo also challenged convention. 'As The Flower Withers' was boldly offered up as a cornerstone of a new approach, undoubtedly spawning the successive drone movement.
'As The Flower Withers' provided the opportunity for their first tour of Europe. The progress gained by another EP, 1993's 'The Thrash Of Naked Limbs', was marred by drummer Rick badly damaging his hand, thus canceling a projected tour with G.G.F.H. Prior to the groundbreaking 1993 'Turn Loose The Swans' album, which came in three different sleeves, the band added violinist / keyboardist Martin to the band and toured Europe once more. 'Turn Loose The Swans', incepting with the piano and violin lament of 'Sear Me MCMXC III' and hinged on the utterly woeful 'The Crown Of Sympathy', slowed the pace even further and plunged ever deeper into slug like doom. Another set of EPs, 'Sexuality Of Bereavement' and 'I Am The Bloody Earth', kept the momentum going during 1994.
'The Angel And The Dark River' was delivered during May 1995 and, in a rare high profile moment of mainstream activity, My Dying Bride gigged as support to Iron Maiden across Europe. 'The Angel And The Dark River', six slabs of morose melancholy, marked a shift in the band's strategy, for the first time dropping the Death growl of Stainthorpe in favor of a "clean" vocal delivery. Fans were quick to hail opener 'Cry Of Mankind' as a classic, even though the mind numbing repeat keyboard mantra of the outro dragged on for a full five minutes. Limited editions of this record included a second disc of live material recorded at the Dynamo in Holland.
My Dying Bride's fourth full-length endeavour, 'Like Gods Of The Sun', hit home in October 1996 in similar bleak fashion to its predecessor. Touring in Europe during March 1997 saw the band forming up a package billing alongside Therion, Sentenced, Orphanage and Dark for the 'Out Of The Dark III' festivals. However, drummer Rick departed and for their 1998 album sessions My Dying Bride pulled in the services of Year Zero and Valle Crusis drummer Mike Unsworth in order to fill the gap. Acquired to handle keyboards would be Yasmine Ahmid of Ebony Lake.
October 1998 saw My Dying Bride issuing the experimental '34.788%... Complete' album with yet another new drummer ex-Dominion man Bill Law. The record witnessed a deliberate break from the expected Gothic imagery associated with the band and provided a challenge for their existing fan base. A sharp division of opinion branded the album either as a somnambulistic, self indulgent failure or a richly rewarding diversion. Stainthorpe's vocals on '34.788%... Complete' took on a heavily distorted air, keyboards and samples usurped guitars and song structures ebbed and flowed without formal structure. Undoubtedly the most adventurous assay of the band's entire catalogue came with 'Heroin Chic', a mechanical, expletive infested industrial male / vocal rap duet with a guesting Michelle Richfield of Dominion.
The band remained strangely inactive on the touring front though as guitarist Calvin Robertshaw departed. He would swiftly be replaced by erstwhile Solstice, Serenity and Khang member Lee Baines. The 'Light At The End Of The World' album would be viewed not just as a welcome return to form, including a reprise for Stainthorpe's early growling, after the side step braved by '34.788%... Complete' but even as being one of the finests outings of the genre. For touring commitments in 1999 the band pulled in Bal-Sagoth's Jonny Maudling for live keyboards. The band's more permanent line up was completed with the addition of erstwhile Anathema and Solstice drummer Shaun Taylor-Steels and former Solstice guitarist Hamish Glencross.
An ex-My Dying Bride keyboard player Mark Newby Robson joined Cradle of Filth rebilling himself Mark De Sade.
The 2002 offering 'The Dreadful Hours' included a re-make of 'The Return Of The Beautiful' from the debut record, re-billed as 'Return To The Beautiful'. My Dying Bride themselves witnessed a change of keyboard players in April 2002 when Sarah Stanton took over from Yasmine Ahmed. My Dying Bride also announced the release of their first live album, 'Voice Of The Wretched', the same month. Hamish Glencross and Andrew Craighan launched their BlackDoom Record label in 2003. My Dying Bride put in a short burst of European dates in October of 2003, supported by UK act The Prophecy, the first signing to the BlackDoom label.
The band returned in March of 2004 with the album 'Songs Of Darkness, Words Of Light', warning fans in advance that change was in the air and that the track 'My Wine In Silence' was their most commercial effort to date. In late December Shaun Steels injured his ankle in a canoeing accident. The band drafted John Bennett from The Prophecy as stand in whilst Steels recovered.
Releases announced in early 2005 included the retrospective box set 'Anti-Diluvian Chronicles', which included new remixes of 'The Wreckage Of My Flesh', 'My Wine In Silence' and 'The Raven And The Rose', plus the live DVD 'Sinamorata', recorded in Antwerp, Belgium during October 2003. This latter release also featured two video shorts made by My Dying Bride fans, 'Hope The Destroyer' and 'My Wine In Silence'.
In September 2005 it was learned that erstwhile keyboard player Martin Powell and his ex-Cradle Of Filth colleague guitarist James McIlroy had united with ex-Himsa guitarist Matt Wicklund in a brand new band project called PREY. Meantime, My Dying Bride returned to live action in the UK during November.
The album 'A Line Of Deathless Kings' was recorded during mid 2006 at Academy Studios in Dewsbury and mixed at Chapel Studios in Lincolnshire. The accompanying single, 'Deeper Down', hitting number 15 on the Finnish charts, was issued as an "Uberdoom" edit with exclusive studio track 'The Child Of Eternity'.
5th January 2007 bassist Adrian Jackson left the band. Long term stand in drummer John Bennet was also reported to have parted ways. New bassist is called Lena and the new drummer is Dan Mullins (formerly of Thine, Bal Sagoth and Sermon Of Hypocrisy).
Various european dates have been confirmed.
Note: Abiosis isn't old name of My Dying Bride's. Abiosis's line-up contained Andrew Craighan, Rick Miah, Paul Evans and Darren Dickinson, not Aaron Stainthorpe and Calvin Robertshaw. Thus, only Miah and Craighan of My Dying Bride's initial line-up had been in Abiosis.