The soundtrack for the upcoming Christian Slater film "Alone in the dark" contains quite a few Swedish metal acts. Check out the full tracklist here: http://www.swedishmetal.net/scripts/news1.asp?ID=714
I guess Eskobar was awarded 'Best Swedish Act' at the year-end MTVe UpNorth awards. No one seems to be updating the website, but maybe if you check back later the results will be posted for all of the categories: http://www.mtve.com/article.php?ArticleId=4753
View Magazine recommends eight overlooked records from 2004 including stuff from Cult of Luna and Nasum: http://www.viewmag.com/viewstory.php?storyid=2597
The En Ljummen i Gräset festival website has posted a bunch of live tracks from last year's show, including stuff from Richard Reagh, Britta Persson, Loney, Dear, Plod, Ef, Fire Fox and more: http://www.ljummen.com/index.php?page=tidigare
Nasum has posted an update concerning singer/guitarist Mieszko's disappearance in Thailand: http://www.nasum.com/
There's nothing new to report, but they are trying their best to remain optimistic and hope that everyone else is doing the same.
New top 10 from Andreas Nilsson of Silverbullit. Be sure to check it out. Don't forget to listen to the live set I have posted from them, too.
It's a slow week, so what the heck - here's a new mp3 today from singer/songwriter Anna Ternheim. Overall, I think her album "Somebody Outside" is a bit too safe and "nice" for my tastes, but it does have a few exceptional tracks that make it worthwhile. One of those being this Broder Daniel cover that closes the record. I've been going back and listening to BD's "Cruel town" quite a bit recently, but this version of "Shoreline" is truly revelatory. It should be common knowledge that BD has written some of the best teenage disenfranchment anthems ever, but Anna shows that when you strip away the layers of bombast, you get something even more special and affecting. The emptiness, alienation and hopelessness of the lyrics is magnified and made so much more potent with the simple piano and vocals arrangement. Take a listen for yourself.
The new Håkan Hellström single "En Midsommarnatts Dröm" will be released on January 19 and will include two b-sides.
Check out a live video clip of Finnish rock n' rollers Soulstab from the Helsinki Rumble: http://koti.welho.com/pmuurin2/soulstab/media.htm
Chalksound's tentative release schedule for 2005:
01/28 - Ellis The Vacuumchild - Peace by extermination CD
02/21 - TEWBK - The end will be kicks CD
03/26 - Anna Leong - Fever 7"
03/?? - Moonbabies - TBA CDS
04/06 - Convoj - TBA CDEP
09/?? - Moonbabies - TBA CD
10/?? - Anna Leong - TBA CD
Listen to a stream of the brand new Pain single "Same old song": http://qstream-rm.qbrick.com/ramgen/00307/Pain/Pain-SameOldSong-Broadband.rm
Check out some streaming tunes from OrionMusic, a side project from two of the guys in Ikaros: http://www.purevolume.com/orionmusic