‘The Crusade’ has blasted its way into the charts around the world. Not content with being officially certified silver in the UK, Trivium’s new release has achieved success in the following countries: Australia: #14 Austria: #44 Canada: #23 Germany: #23 Ireland: #12 Italy: #86 Japan: #46 Norway: #61 Sweden: #41 Switzerland: #92 The Netherlands: #64 U.K.: #7 U.S.: #25 “We are thrilled with how well ‘The Crusade’ is being embraced around the world. We are very proud of the album and can’t wait to play it for you when our tour comes to your town.” Commented lead singer/guitarist Matthew Heafy . Don’t Forget: Trivium – ‘The Crusade’ is OUT NOW CLICK HERE to buy online.

Yes, there are a few, very small bugs still being worked on, but we didn&#39t want to delay any further before unveiling Hatebreed&#39s new and improved website at www.hatebreed.com. In there, you&#39ll find all of the latest news about Hatebreed and their new album, Supremacy, as well as tour info, band merch, the ol&#39 bulletin board, and of course music, videos, photos, and everything&nbspelse pertaining to their long, long history at the forefront of metal and hardcore. Enjoy!

OPETH frontman Mikael í€äó_kerfeldt has issued the following update:

“Back home finally!

“We had a great time in North America [on the Gigantour]… did some nice shows, especially Philadelphia, since that was our only headline gig. It felt good to sweat a little and parts of the show was like… magic!

“Got to know Dave [Mustaine, MEGADETH mainman and Gigantour organizer] a little, and I don’t care what anyone says about the guy, he’s great! He always treated us and myself with great respect. I specifically enjoyed sipping Guinness with him in Tokyo. I also got to meet Ronnie Dio, there which was a BIG moment for me. We talked for hours and as he went back to his room he hugged me and said ‘You’re great, kid!’ I still can’t believe I’ve hung out with the guy who sang ‘Stargazer’ and ‘Temple of the King’…insane!

“Japan overall was fantastic! It was our first trip there, and I was a little nervous that we wouldn’t be up to the task. But we did really well…one of my favourite ‘short’ shows ever… The crowd was fantastic, all 12,000 of them! Had some great sushi and bough a nice bottle of Sake with me for home.

“Now I’m back home in Stockholm and it’s great, to say the least. The house is a mess and I need to unpack so much stuff and fix the roof! Do the whole ‘man’ type stuff you know…

“We only have two short tours to go until the big hiatus. South America, unfortunately, got cancelled which is a drag (when will it fukkin’ happen for us there???). Oh, the London/U.K. show [November 9] will be filmed for a possible DVD so make sure to be there!”

As previously reported, the special-edition deluxe version of OPETH‘s “Ghost Reveries” CD will be released on October 30. Bonus material on the set will include the band’s cover of DEEP PURPLE‘s “Soldier of Fortune”, a 40-minute documentary about the making of the record complete with the band’s own private tour footage, the video for “The Grand Conjuration”, liner notes, photos, an enhanced 24-page booklet, deluxe sleeve, and 5.1 surround exclusive mix of the record made by original mixed/engineer Jens Bogren. SOURCE: BLABBERMOUTH

As cited on BLABBERMOUTH.NET Blasting-Zone.com recently conducted an in-depth interview with TRIVIUM drummer Travis Smith. Several excerpts follow:

Blasting-Zone.com: What can you tell us about the new record?

Travis Smith: “Well, it’s a lot different than ‘Ascendancy’ as far as that goes. The music is better just from us being on the road touring and playing so much, us getting to know each other better and us learning our instruments. It’s better in that aspect. We’ve also changed up the way the vocals sound. It’s something that we’ve always wanted to do and we got the opportunity to do it. Matt‘s [Heafy] vocals have come a long way from two or three years ago. We ended up creating this new thing with him practicing his vocals all the time and we wanted to put it to use and try something different. We were getting sick of the same sound, ya know? There are so many bands out there right now that sound almost exactly alike. It’s getting really old, so we wanted to come out of the chute with a new album and say ‘We’re not anything like thatí¢ä‰åŒ_’ We’re gonna do what we wanna do, play the music that we wanna play regardless of what the outside opinion thinks. We’re just gonna do what we wanna do.”

Blasting-Zone.com: So touring extensively is a lot like being able to rehearse every day?

Travis: “Yeahí¢ä‰åŒ_ you get to practice in a way. Even though tour after tour you’re playing the same song, you can try and put a different spin on ’em. I don’t mean playing the songs differently, I mean playing the same thing differently. Trying to get the same effect from a part by playing it a different way. You just practice and practice it and you just get better by playing together as four musicians. In a way it’s like practicing, but in way it’s also not like it because you’re just playing the same damn thing all the time. We warm up for like an hour before we go on and that’s when we get our real practice in with different warm up techniques that we do, rudiments. It’s not like we’re writing any new material or anything.”

Blasting-Zone.com: Did you find the songwriting process for “The Crusade” to be easier because of the success of “Ascendancy” or more difficult because you wanted it to be that much better?

Travis: “Well, it was little different than the last album because we had to write this one on the road and we’d never done that before in our career. With us touring so much, we didn’t have any time where we could just say, ‘Okay, let’s take a month and write a new recordí¢ä‰åŒ_’ But that’s not who we like to work anyway. We’re always on the go working and working. We wrote it on the road and it actually worked out really great for all of us. We got to stay out and play and we got to write our new record, so it was like the best of both worlds. ‘The Crusade’ came out of it and we’re really, really proud of it.”

Blasting-Zone.com: Do you think “The Crusade” is capable of going gold?

Travis: “We always hope because it good for us. But you never know. You just gotta take it one day at a time and see what happens. We’ve got a really good feeling about this album. We’re really proud of it and we’re really stoked about the songs. There’s not one song on there that we’re not happy with. We can hope that it will do very well because obviously we want it to do well. The reaction that we’ve gotten from peopleí¢ä‰åŒ_.has been very positive, so we’re gonna be very positive and think positive about it.”

Blasting-Zone.com: Do you consider the music TRIVIUM creates thrash metal? Does it drive you crazy when people insist on referring to your music as emo or mallcore?

Travis: “Yes, we do. I’ve always considered this band, from day one, a melodic thrash metal band. We’re totally thrash metal guys. That’s what we grew up listening to. It’s what we listen toí¢ä‰åŒ_ it’s our influence. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, that’s great, but it doesn’t mean we have to sit there and react to it or give it any of our attention. We know we’re not and a lot of our fans know it as well. You just gotta kinda go with it and not spend too much time worrying about it or dreading it because everyone’s gonna put labels on everything. You just gotta let it roll off your back.”

Read the entire interview at Blasting-Zone.com. SOURCE: BLABBERMOUTH.NET

We’re pleased to announce that the mighty KILLSWITCH ENGAGE have confirmed shows for January 2007 in support of their behemoth new album ‘As Daylight Dies’, due out November 20th. 퉌æFollowing several festival appearances, KsE are looking forward to getting up close and personal with fans during their upcoming headlining run. Jokes guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz, í¢ä‰åñAt the festivals, we needed binoculars to see the front row. These [more intimate] gigs are where we really come alive. We love being right up there in kids’ faces, where we can just reach out and kick ’em. We love connecting and a making a difference in their lives.í¢ä‰åŒ 퉌æ Join Killswitch Engage at: Sun 7th Jan í¢ä‰åäóì Nottingham Rock City Mon 8th Jan í¢ä‰åäóì Glasgow Barrowlands Wed 10th Jan í¢ä‰åäóì Dublin Ambassador Theatre Thu 11th Jan í¢ä‰åäóì Manchester Academy Fri 12th Jan í¢ä‰åäóì Birmingham Academy Sat 13th Jan í¢ä‰åäóì Brixton Academy Sun 14th Jan í¢ä‰åäóì Bristol Academy 퉌æ Tickets cost 퉌£15 for regional dates / 퉌£16.50 for London and go on sale imminently.

As featured in full by our sister site Blabbermouth, Dave Mustaine weighed in about several subjects from Japan, where Megadeth are performing a few festival shows, including the following nugget, dear to our hearts: “…and just know that I am so in love with my new record company Roadrunner that I can’t see straight. Here’s to the best years ahead.” HEAR! HEAR!퉌æ Everyone at퉌æRR HQ are also thrilled to be working with Dave and the legendary band so many of us grew up idolizing – especially&nbspbased on the stunning work-in-progress tracks due for next year’s United Abominations album. We’ll begin sharing music and additional info about said opus with you all&nbspvery soon but until then stay tuned to RR.co.uk and www.megadeth.com

If you missed Trivium’s exclusive series of shows aired last week on Total Rock, don’t worry. Tune in from noon to 3pm today, to hear them all in sequence. DETAILS: TOTALROCK.COM