THE FUNERAL PYRE have posted an in-depth update at the band's official blog, which includes touring plans for November with fellow Californians EARLY GRAVES on the Manifest Blasphemy Tour, as well as two new recordings of material to supplement the recent release of Wounds, the band's latest full-length album, which saw a late May release through Prosthetic Records. For details on the band's upcoming recording plans, visit THE FUNERAL PYRE's blog.
Meanwhile, the tentative routing for the upcoming West Coast tour is as follows. Anyone that can assist in booking can contact the band via forestmoonproducts@hotmail.com.

THE FUNERAL PYRE on tour
(Manifest Blasphemy Tour with The Funeral Pyre, Early Graves)
11/06 San Francisco/Oakland, CA
11/07 Chico, CA
11/08 Medford/Eugene, OR
11/09 Portland, OR
11/10 Seattle, WA
11/11 Boise, ID
11/12 Salt Lake City, UT
11/13 Cheyenne, WY
11/14 Denver, CO
11/15 Colorado Springs, CO
11/16 Albuquerque, NM
11/17 El Paso, TX
11/18 Tucson, AZ
11/19 Phoenix, AZ
11/20 Las Vegas, NV
11/21 Los Angeles, CA

Massachusetts' heavy hitters THE ACACIA STRAIN have cracked into the Billboard charts at 2 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and 107 on the Billboard Top 200 chart with the first week sales of the band's new album, Continent, which saw an August 19 release through Prosthetic Records. Scanning nearly 5,600 copies its first week, Continent is the follow-up to 2006's The Dead Walk, and was recorded with producer Zeuss (Hatebreed, Shadows Fall) and features in-depth artwork from Paul Romano (Trivium, The Red Chord, Mastodon) on both CD and vinyl platforms.

"We're not really sure how to feel," frontman Vincent Bennett said. "Obviously, we're really excited we made charts and very appreciative to everyone that bought the record this first week, but at same time it's really hard to sell records with all the people downloading nowadays. We're really happy that people still went out and bought it and we hope they enjoy it. To the people that downloaded it, we hope you come out to one the shows and at least sing along and have a good time."

France's heaviest metal export, GOJIRA, have launched a new song online at the band's official MySpace page.
The track, titled "Vacuity," comes from the forthcoming album, The Way of All Flesh, which is the eagerly-anticipated follow-up to From Mars To Sirius. The record is scheduled for an Oct. 14 release in North America through Prosthetic Records and release a day prior in Europe through Listenable.

"We are super excited to put up this new song, "Vacuity," from The Way of All Flesh," the band says. "We're also proud to announce – in addition to the European dates with In Flames – GOJIRA will come back to America with them too. It's good to be back! Get ready..."

ALL THAT REMAINS has unveiled the band’s new video for the track “Chiron,” from the forthcoming album Overcome exclusively online as Buzznet.com’s video of the day. The clip was shot earlier this summer while the band was in Los Angeles with director Brian Thompson (As I Lay Dying, Killswitch Engage) and a behind the scenes clip is also available here.

Meanwhile, ALL THAT REMAINS has also unveiled the track listing for Overcome, which marks the first time the band has covered a song, Nevermore’s “Believe In Nothing.” “We decided to do a cover on this disc and we didn't want to do what every other band is doing these days and take a pop or rock song from the 80s,” frontman Phil Labonte says. “We figured a song by a band with real metal cred would do best for us. This song never got the attention it deserved. It's an amazingly well written song and even though it's not the most complex song Nevermore has done it is, in my opinion, one of their best. We ran the idea by Nevermore and they gave us their blessing so we were very happy to have the original artists behind it. I couldn't be happier with the way it came out!”

Overcome will see a Sept. 16 release through Prosthetic Records, while ALL THAT REMAINS just finished their run on Vans Warped Tour last weekend in Los Angeles. The band is now at home and gearing up for a co-headlining tour with Trivium, which will also feature 36 Crazy Fists and The Human Abstract, after which ALL THAT REMAINS will be direct support in major markets to In Flames, which will also see the band playing with Gojira and 36 Crazy Fists.

"This album is definitely darker than anything we have done in the past. It's more proper...It is our most angry release to date," says THE ACACIA STRAIN vocalist Vincent Bennett, with an ever so slight emphasis on the word ‘angry.’ The deep-rooted resentment that festers THE ACACIA STRAIN inside has darkened. "Continent is basically my absolute disgust towards everything...nihilism. The world as we know it was a fluke and there is no meaning in anything. It is about pulling yourself out of society because everything makes you sick. It is about purposefully leaving everything behind and destroying everything you think you love."

The band’s sound is undeniably darker on Continent, yet THE ACACIA STRAIN manages to hold true to the established identity, retaining a signature sound while combining more speed, brutality, and atypical song construction. That said, THE ACACIA STRAIN has effectively established themselves at the front of a pack of ever-expanding – and equally evolving – extreme music contenders.