Into Eternity Track Listing For Upcoming Concept Album

Canadian progressive metal titans INTO ETERNITY have have finalized the track listing for their first conceptual offering, "The Incurable Tragedy", which will be released in North America on September 2 via Century Media Records (August 25 in Europe).
"The Incurable Tragedy", marks the band's first recording effort with Justin Bender (guitars) and Steve Bolognese (drums), who came aboard shortly after the group finished Gigantour '06. This CD was inspired by the deaths of Tim Roth's (guitar, vocals) two best friends, brothers Dave and Danny Stephenson, who succumbed to cancer within two months of one another. To make matters worse, Roth's father was diagnosed with cancer as well. Showing no mercy, the disease claimed his life last year, just 10 days before Christmas. Roth channeled his emotions into a moving and riveting album which is sure to propel the band to new heights within the genre. "The Incurable Tragedy" features a slew of tracks with the band's trademarked heavy grooves, stop-on-a-dime time changes, reflective lyrics, memorable choruses, shredding solos, and vocals that range from guttural growls to soaring harmonies.
"The Incurable Tragedy" track listing:
01. Prelude to Woe
02. Tides of Blood
03. Spent Years of Regret
04. Symptoms
05. Diagnosis Terminal
06. The Incurable Tragedy I (Sept. 21, 2006)
07. Indignation
08. Time Immemorial
09. The Incurable Tragedy II (Nov. 10, 2006)
10. A Black Light Ending
11. One Funeral Hymn for Three
12. The Incurable Tragedy III (Dec. 15, 2007)
Roth commented on the album's conceptual inspirations: "The color green is the theme of the album. The new site runs with the green theme as well. Before Dave died, he got a killer green IE icon tattoo on his forearm. Since then, fans from all over have got this same tattoo, but different colors of course. Dave and I had talked about this fifth release back in 2006 and we agreed to go with the color green and then he got his cool tattoo. Dave never got to see it all come to life, but here it is done today for you all to see."The album version of the track "Diagnosis Terminal" is available for streaming on the band's MySpace page. "Diagnosis Terminal" is described "classic INTO ETERNITY, featuring a heavy groove, stop-on-a-dime time changes, reflective lyrics, a memorable chorus, a string-shredding solo, and vocals that range from guttural growls to soaring harmonies."
"'Diagnosis Terminal' is one of the heaviest songs on the new record," Roth says. "The song started with a chorus I had written. Justin (Bender, guitars) then sent me a MP3 demo of a few killer riffs he had, and the song was born. The key I had my chorus in didn't match the pitch of his new riffs, so that's how we came up with the idea of having the same chorus, but in two different keys. I think it sounds clever now, but it was actually just a mistake! "The whole song has some whacked-out time changes, but we tried to make it all sound as smooth as we could," he continues. "It's tough to make off-time riffs sound natural, but that is the fun of playing in a progressive metal band. I really enjoy the interlude in the middle and the end of the song. On the new record, we have a few riffs in 9/8 and the main solo in 'Diagnosis' is a good example of that. "After we finished up the music, Stu (Block, vocals) came in and wrote all the melodies and lyrics, and the song 'Diagnosis Terminal' was born. The whole band was involved in this song, and I'm really happy with the way it all turned out."

Secret Oyster To Close Out Progday 2008

ProgDay announces SECRET OYSTER, the legendary fusion group from Denmark, as their closing band on Sunday. The band was formed in 1972 by KARSTEN VOGEL (saxophones, keyboards) of BURNIN' RED IVANHOE who had a vision of a new band featuring long improvisational instrumental passages pushed along by a driving rhythm section. Joined by Claus Bøhling (guitar), Kenneth Knudsen (keyboards), Bo Anderson (drums) and Mads Vinding (bass), that vision birthed what would eventually be one of the foremost fusion ensembles to arise out of Europe in the 1970s. SECRET OYSTER was incredibly active in the 70s, releasing four studio albums to great commercial and critical success and performing over 500 concerts (including a 30,000 sellout in Paris) with the likes of WEATHER REPORT, SHAKTI, GEORGE DUKE and HERBIE HANCOCK. They were poised by Columbia Records to be their next big thing after Weather Report, but when CBS changed direction and withdrew their support, the band began to unravel, ultimately playing what everyone thought was their final show in December, 1977.
Then in 2006, THE LASER'S EDGE made SECRET OYSTER's 70s recordings available for the first time on CD. The renewed interest in the band prompted an invitation to perform at NEARfest. After 30 years of not performing, the band reunited and played their first show in America at NEARfest 2007.
ProgDay, the world’s longest running progressive rock festival, takes place this year on August 30th and 31st at Storybook Farm near Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Other bands this year are Ain Soph (Japan), Canvas Solaris (US), CHEER-ACCIDENT (US), Holding Pattern (US), VonFrickle (US), Abigail's Ghost (US), Mirthrandir (US) and Pinnacle (US). To hear music and get information about all the bands, please visit their website at www.progday.com

Rush Performs On Colbert Report

By JAKE COYLE, AP Entertainment Writer

NEW YORK - Rush will be appearing on "The Colbert Report," and it's not Limbaugh.
The Canadian band Rush, which hasn't performed on U.S. television in more than three decades, will play their classic "Tom Sawyer" on the Comedy Central show Wednesday (11:30 p.m. EST). The Geddy Lee-led trio, which is currently on tour, hasn't played on U.S. television since 1975.
Rush is only the latest act to perform on "The Report," which has steadily edged closer to "Ed Sullivan Show" territory. With increasingly frequent musical performances, "The Report" has grown a variety-show impulse, evident in other upcoming bookings.
The rapper Nas will perform on July 23, Toby Keith will return for a second performance on July 28 and Crosby, Stills and Nash will play on July 30.
The Stephen Colbert-hosted comedy show was originally launched as a parody of conservative political punditry — and shows like "The O'Reilly Factor" do not make a habit of hosting music performances.
But "The Report" circus has expanded into musical realms, often with its sonorous host joining in. John Legend, Neil Young, R.E.M., Tony Bennett, Peter Frampton, Willie Nelson, Barry Manilow, John Mellencamp, the Roots and Carole King have all performed on the show.
Colbert's enthusiasm for the music has been easily apparent. He's sung the Star Spangled Banner (in two-part harmony) with Legend, and mocked the MTV-style band interview by questioning .E.M. from a stool twice the size of those the band sat on.

On the Net:
http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport

Neil Peart Voted Drummer Of The Year By DRUM! Magazine

San Jose, Calif – He's done it again: Neil Peart has been selected “Drummer Of The Year” in DRUM! Magazine's Drummies 2008, a prestigious reader survey contest comprised of 42 categories, conducted by Enter Music Publishing, publishers of hip/drum percussion magazines worldwide. More than 5000 drummers nominated Peart; the runners-up were Stanton Moore, Mike Portnoy and Jimmy Sullivan.Additionally, Peart won “Best Live Performer.”“Peart has definitely shown his influence on drummers of all ages and walks of life,” said Phil Hood, publisher of Enter Music Publishing. “At the same time, the runners-up demonstrate the diversity of taste that our readers have. All of the winners have clearly proven their commitment to the drumming arts.”Stanton Moore is a good example of a drummer, as Hood aptly notates, who is so obsessed with forwarding traditional New Orleans drumming in the spirit of stuttin' drummers, such as Zig Modeliste, Russell Batiste and Johnny Vidacovich. He was the cover of DRUM! in January of this year.The winners of this year's Drummies will be published in DRUM!'s August issue andannounced publicly on over 500 web sites and media outlets beginning July 1 in a comprehensive campaign. The August Issue of DRUM! Magazine hits newsstands officially on July 14.
http://www.drummagazine.com/