It seems like just a few weeks ago that I was bemoaning the fact that Chicago dual-guitar madmen Bible of the Devil hadn’t had a new album in over three years. Because it was! Now, I don’t want to say that the members of Bible of the Devil read that post and were so struck by my plea for new material that they immediately wrote an album’s worth of songs and set to recording them, but I’m pretty sure we all know that’s exactly what went down. So, Bible of the Devil — thank you, and you’re welcome.

And on the off-chance Bible of the Devil didn’t put For the Love of Thugs and Fools to tape purely because I asked them too — impossible as it sounds, we should at least entertain the notion that they didn’t — we can still be glad the record has two songs with “night” in the title, as did its predecessor. Anything less would be unacceptable. For the Love of Thugs and Fools will be out May 8. The sooner the better.

Here’s the news off the PR wire:

Veteran Chicago rock ‘n’ roll band Bible of the Devil have announced the completion of their sixth full-length album and third for Rome, Italy-based label Cruz Del Sur Music. Entitled For the Love of Thugs and Fools, Bible of the Devil‘s eagerly anticipated follow-up to their 2008 release, Freedom Metal, is an assembly of raging rock ‘n’ roll songs that encapsulate the band’s saga musically and personally over the years since the last full-length. Returning to Phantom Manor studios in Chicago to work with engineer Mike Lust, who has engineered numerous BOTD recordings in the past, the band sought to emphasize their trademark bludgeoning two-guitar attack and mammoth hooks with an increased attention to soaring, anthemic vocals.

For the Love of Thugs and Fools is viewed by the band as a document of the many characters they have encountered through the life of the band, whether it be in love, loss, friendship, or hatred. Having toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe since the band’s inception in late 1999 and living in the volatile urban environment of Chicago, where encounters with crime, violence, and “street justice” are unavoidable, there has been much subject matter for the band to draw from. Embracing the philosophy that a bottle of whiskey and some loud guitar is often the best cure available for these challenges and ordeals, Bible of the Devil have chosen to document their grievances in the form of one devastating rock ‘n’ roll platter. Said singer/guitarist Mark Hoffmann, “The few years since the last full-length have been like a dare. A dare to create a soaring, punishing rock ‘n’ roll record of this magnitude. It is a dare that we have been forced to answer ourselves.” Fans of Bible of the Devil can expect yet another collection of fist-pumping heavy guitar classics-in-the-making, For the Love of Thugs and Fools.

Track Listing:
1. Sexual Overture/While You Were Away 6:02
2. Out for Blood 5:28
3. Anytime 4:20
4. The Parcher 5:28
5. (I Know What is Right) In the Night 5:16
6. Raw & Order 4:31
7. Can’t Turn off the Sun 5:14
8. Yer Boy 4:52
9. Night Street 5:07
Running Time 46:08

Their sound might be more appropriate for a frosty Pennsylvanian winter, but Key State merchants Argus will nonetheless be releasing their sophomore album, Boldly Stride the Doomed, in May via Cruz Del Sur. Below, the always-trusty PR wire comes through with the release date, album art, tracklisting, and a bit of biographical info on the band. Oh, PR wire. Always so courteous.

Dig it:

Italian heavy metal label Cruz Del Sur Music confirms May 3, 2011, as the official release date for the sophomore album from Pennsylvania-based Argus! Titled Boldly Stride the Doomed, this is the first release from Argus via Cruz Del Sur.

Boldly Stride The Doomed track listing:
1. Abandoning the Gates of Byzantium
2. A Curse on the World
3. Wolves of Dusk
4. The Ladder
5. Durendal
6. 42-7-29
7. Boldly Stride the Doomed
8. Fading Silver Light
9. Pieces of Your Smile
10. The Ruins of Ouroboros

Argus stormed onto the underground metal scene with their twin guitar-driven, doom-tinged, working class metal sound with a self-recorded demo in early 2007, on John Brenner’s (Revelation/Against the Nature) DIY label, Bland Hand Records. The band was roundly welcomed by the metal community at home as well as abroad and established its foundation amongst friends/fans within the scene. With this initial momentum, the band created a buzz that was only solidified by their punishing live performances. Their self-titled debut album was released on Shadow Kingdom Records in 2009 receiving praise from media outlets worldwide. The band continued to gain notoriety attracting like-minded fans who celebrate the genre and its core values of hard work, discipline and integrity.

Though they’re about half a day’s ride from me and I’m as able to go to one of their shows as I am to make an appearance in Georgia to catch Kylesa, it’s always good to hear from the dudes in Bible of the Devil and see what they’re up to, when their next gigs with Slough Feg are (April), and maybe get some news on when the follow-up to 2008’s spectacular Freedom Metal.

No word on the latter (though they do mention recording), but the band still has plenty of updates, so check it out:

There’s a few items of note from the Bible of the Devil camp as we approach 2011…

Looking for a rowdy, rad way to spend New Year’s Eve? Bible of the Devil will be playing Quenchers Saloon (Western & Fullerton) in Chicago with Tight Phantomz and Lovers. The cover on this one is $10 and is 21 and over.

Yes, you will actually have to pay a cover, but what are your other choices? Spend $100 to get in somewhere else? Who needs a crappy champagne toast when there’s plenty of PBR? BOTD will take the stage at the strike of 2011. Get there by 9pm or else you probably won’t get in! We also have our prized pint glasses now available for sale!

BOTD will be returning to Phantom Manor in two weeks to record new material for two forthcoming 7″ releases. Details to come.

Saturday, Jan. 29, sees Bible of the Devil‘s return to the Red Line Tap in Chicago for another edition of “Metal up Your Tap.” The lineup is absolutely ferocious and is not to be missed:

Bible of the Devil
Winterhawk
Wolfbait
High Spirits

Saturday, Jan. 29
Red Line Tap (7006 N. Glenwood, Chicago)
9PM. 21 and over. $7 cover.

I won’t be there to drink it, but for anyone in and around the Chicago area tomorrow, Obelisk favorites Bible of the Devil are playing a release show for their new microbrew, The Devil’s Handshake. Made in conjunction with the local 3 Floyds Brewery, I can only imagine it tastes like burnt rubber and guitar harmonics. In other words: delicious.

If you miss them there, they’ll also be at RADfest this weekend. Here’s the info direct from the band, courtesy of the PR wire:

As you know, Bible of the Devil joined forces a few weeks back with our allies at 3 Floyds Brewery in Munster, Indiana, to create what is believed to be the world’s first street metal ale, The Devil’s Handshake. This malicious and crucial brew will be available in limited quantities at selected worthy taverns and gin-joints around the Chicago area this month, most notably Map Room, Longman & Eagle, Small Bar, Piece and of course Quenchers. Tomorrow will be a most brewtal party to celebrate its release:

June 2nd, 2010, 9pm $5 donation
Quenchers Saloon
2401 N. Western Avenue, Chicago
The Devil’s Handshake : 3 Floyds / Bible of the Devil
collaboration street metal ale release party with:

Bible of the Devil: 12am
Broken Teeth (Austin, TX, feat. Jason McMaster of Dangerous Toys): 11pm
The Vibrolas (Waynesburg, KY, ex-Hookers): 10pm

For those of you worried about getting in to the show, please show up at 8pm as Quenchers is limited in capacity. This event also marks Bible of the Devil‘s 600th show in its illustrious career. Come out and get parched!

With intricate metallic composition and power/prog tendencies, While Heaven Wept’s third album, Vast Oceans Lacrymose (Cruz Del Sur), blends the high drama of European doom à la Paradise Lost with the technical savvy of American prog acts like Dream Theater. The Dale City, Virginia, six-piece (that’s two trios!), led by chief songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist Tom Phillips, weave practically a whole album into 15-minute opening track, “The Furthest Shore,” which sets a tone of conflict and triumph for the rest of Vast Oceans Lacrymose to follow.

Harmonies abound on keyboards, guitars and vocals, with Phillips, lead vocalist Rain Irving and keyboardist Michelle Schrotz all contributing. Of course, as a double-guitar unit with a singer and keymaster, there is plenty of room for such things, provided the players are talented to pull it off, which in the case of While Heaven Wept, they are. One imagines that it’s Phillips’ role as main songwriter that keeps things together – difficult as it is to get five people other than yourself on the same page about anything (try it sometime if you never have) – but that’s conjecture on my part that only seems to make sense because of the complexity of the material, the amount of changes in the songs and the carefully hewn theater of a song like “Vessel.” In the context of many other albums, it might just be power metal, but While Heaven Wept keep too progressive a mindset for such simple labeling.

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I know I’ve certainly hoisted a mug (or at least a party cup) in the direction of Chicago rockers Bible of the Devil on more than one occasion, and now, thanks to Three Floyds Brew Pub, the band will have their own beer with which to do the toasting. If you think about it, it’s a perfect fit. Rock and roll and beer! Who’d have thought?

Bible of the Devil‘s West Coast Parched in the Western World tour starts tomorrow, Thursday, April 1, in their hometown. Drummer Greg Spalding checked in with this update:

Bible of the Devil‘s mammoth West Coast tour kicks off this Thursday, April 1st @ Cobra Lounge in Chicago with Slough Feg. Joining the bill will be Chicago‘s own Hay Perro. Show starts at 10pm and there is no cover. Plenty of new merch and new songs for you all. We are in the midst of unseasonably warm weather here in Chicago so come on out and get demolished by this bill. After this the mayhem begins…

Parched in the Western World April US tour 2010:
April 1st Chicago, IL @ Cobra Lounge w/Slough Feg, Hay Perro
April 2nd Madison, WI @ The Frequency w/Slough Feg, Imperial Battlesnake
April 3rd Louisville, KY @ Third Street Dive w/Slough Feg, The Vibrolas
April 4th Carbondale, IL @ PK’s w/Slough Feg, Zuul
April 5th Memphis, TN @ Hi Tone Café w/Slough Feg, Dead-I-On
April 6th Austin, TX @ Emo’s w/Slough Feg, Radio Moscow, Naam
April 7th San Antonio, TX @ Nightrocker Live w/Slough Feg
April 8th Albuquerque, NM @ Launchpad w/Slough Feg, Leeches of Lore
April 9th Scottsdale, AZ @ The Rogue w/Slough Feg, Vektor, Greenhaven
April 10th Los Angeles, CA @ Spaceland w/Slough Feg, Professor
April 11th San Francisco, CA @ Thee Parkside w/Slough Feg, Orchid
April 12th Oakland, CA @ Oakland Metro w/Slough Feg, Elk, Cold Grave
April 13th Portland, OR @ Rotture w/Dark Black, Order of the Gash
April 14th Seattle, WA @ The Funhouse w/Witchburn, Hakai
April 15th Missoula, MT @ The Palace w/Rooster Sauce
April 16th Rapid City, SD @ Roman’s Pub w/Woman is the Earth
April 17th Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room w/Bloodcow, The Dinks, Desire to Destroy

Plenty more to come after this tour including news on BOTD‘s recording plans for its sixth album and who we are recording it with, plus our very own beer!! Yes, the fine folks at Three Floyd’s Brewery have agreed to make a beer in honor of BOTD. BOTD will even assist in the production of what is sure to be an absolutely punishing beer. A show will be dedicated for its release in June. More details to come.

Aside from their having been the first interview posted on The Obelisk, I have sentimental attachment to Chicago hellraisers Bible of the Devil because, uh, they rock. They rock often and they rock hard. Would be nice if we saw a new record from them this year, but one can only imagine the run of dates they’re doing with Slough Feg will produce one if not more new songs about “the night,” so on that level, it’s all for a good cause.

The band checked in with this update. Note the Chicago show with Paul Di’Anno is happening tonight, Feb. 25:

Attention BOTD fans!  Here’s what we having coming up in the next two months:

February 25th Thurs. Chicago, IL @ Reggie’s Live w/Paul Di’Anno, Icarus Witch, Desolate Sky $12 adv/$15 dos Doors 8pm BOTD plays at 9pm sharp!!!  We also will have limited edition screenprint posters available for $10 to commemorate this occasion.
March 12th Fri. Iowa City, IA @ The Picador w/Snow Demon, Bloodcow
March 13th Sat. Chicago, IL @ Quenchers w/American Draft

Parched in the Western World US Tour April 2010:
April 1st Chicago, IL @ Cobra Lounge w/Slough Feg, Hay Perro
April 2nd Madison, WI @ The Frequency w/Slough Feg
April 3rd Louisville, KY @ Third Street Dive w/Slough Feg, The Vibrolas
April 4th Carbondale, IL @ PK’s w/Slough Feg, Zuul
April 5th Memphis, TN @ Hi Tone Café w/Slough Feg
April 6th Austin, TX @ Emo’s w/Slough Feg, Radio Moscow, Naam
April 7th San Antonio, TX @ Nightrocker Live w/Slough Feg
April 8th Albuquerque, NM @ Launchpad w/Slough Feg, Leeches of Lore
April 9th Scottsdale, AZ @ The Rogue w/Slough Feg
April 10th Los Angeles, CA @ TBA w/Slough Feg
April 11th San Francisco, CA @ Thee Parkside w/Slough Feg, Orchid
April 13th Portland, OR @ Rotture w/Dark Black
April 14th Seattle, WA @ The Funhouse
April 15th Missoula, MT @ The Palace w/Rooster Sauce
April 16th Rapid City, SD @ Roman’s Pub w/Woman is the Earth
April 17th Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room w/Bloodcow, The Dinks, Desire to Destroy

Check out our new video for “Warrior Fugue” from our 10 year anniversary show!!  The video was shot and edited by Derek Ashbaugh and friends who also did “The Turning Stone” video. You can see the video here:

Cult (as opposed to kvlt) Virginian doom six-pack While Heaven Wept, who are headed to Deutschland early next year for the Hammer of Doom fest, have announced reissues of their first two albums via Cruz Del Sur. Nifty reissues at that. The PR wire has details:

We have heard your calls! After the incredible response to While Heaven Wept‘s brand new album Vast Oceans Lachrymose — which continues to receive the very highest of accolades worldwide — Cruz Del Sur Music, as well as the continued demands from their audience, have finally convinced the band to reissue their long out-of-print past albums Sorrow of the Angels and Of Empires Forlorn, each in limited-editions of 1000 hand-numbered CDs!

This is a rare opportunity for everyone who missed these masterpieces of epic doom metal history the first time around to buy these at new-release prices (as opposed to the outrageous amounts these albums sometimes fetch on eBay). Both albums feature updated cover art, new pictures, and new liner notes from main man Tom Phillips. The audio content is identical to the original Eibon Records (Sorrow of the Angels) and Rage of Achilles Records (Of Empires Forlorn) releases so as to preserve the integrity of the original albums.

These reissues will be strictly limited to 1000 copies, with absolutely no repressing whatsoever at the request of While Heaven Wept themselves. Both albums will be released simultaneously on the 29th of January 2010, just in time for the bands’ appearance at the Hammer of Doom III festival in Wurzburg, Germany on February 6th.

More album specifics (and a video) after the jump…

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