The long-awaited Morbid Angel tribute titled "Tyrants from the Abyss" has been released on Necropolis Records in the U.S. and Hellspawn Records of Sweden and is available today!!

Tracklisting:
ZYKLON- Dominate
VADER- Immortal Rites
SOULREAPER- Fall From Grace
ANGELCORPSE- Demon Seed
CENTURIAN- Blasphemy of the Holy Ghost
LUCIFERION- Brainstorm
INFERNAL- Bleed for the Devil
DIVINE RAPTURE- World of Shit (The Promised Land)
DIABOLIC- Visions from the Darkside
IN AETERNUM- Maze of Torment
EXCOMMUNION- God of Emptiness
BEHEMOTH- Day of Suffering
KRISIUN- Unholy Blasphemies

Legendary death metallers Morbid Angel have officially announced the permanent departure of guitarist Erik Rutan.

"Being in Morbid Angel for the past nine years has been the greatest time of my life," said Rutan on the official Morbid Angel website. "To play in my favorite death metal band of all time has been a tremendous honor. I want to thank Trey and Pete for all the great years and all they have done for me, and all the fans who have supported me and will hopefully continue to support me in the future. It is now time for me to stand on my own two feet with Hate Eternal."

The guitarist joined Morbid Angel in 1993 and has performed on three of the group's most successful efforts. He formed Hate Eternal in 1996 to express his own interpretation of death metal. Hate Eternal will release their second album, King Of All Kings, on September 17th in North America on Earache.

We'll have more news on Morbid Angel and possible replacements for Rutan as it happens. Stay tuned.

The MORBID ANGEL duo of Trey Azagthoth (guitar) and Pete Sandoval (drums) have ended their collaboration with touring bassist/vocalist Jared Anderson and are currently holed up at a Louisiana jam pad writing material for the group's next studio effort, due in 2003. Anderson, who had filled the role of the band's frontman during the act's most recent touring activities, has apparently opted to focus all his attention on HATE ETERNAL and INTERNECINE and will not be contributing his services to MORBID ANGEL's upcoming CD, which is tentatively scheduled to be recorded later in the year. An official announcement regarding the identity of the group's new bassist/vocalist and the details of the forthcoming album is expected in the coming months.

Here are some of the latest sales figures for various current and catalog metal/hard rock releases in the US (in total units sold to date since the albums were issued), as reported by Soundscan for the week ending February 24th, 2002:

AMEN - Amen: 16,353
AMEN - We Have…: 15,789
ANTHRAX - Sound Of White Noise: 511,105
ANTHRAX - Stomp 442: 114,974
ANTHRAX - Volume 8: 77,858
BIOHAZARD - Urban Discipline: 204,799
BIOHAZARD - State Of The World Address: 198,663
BIOHAZARD - Mata Leao: 51,377
BIOHAZARD - New World Disorder: 50,936
BIOHAZARD - Uncivilization: 18,835
C.O.C. - Wiseblood: 141,383
C.O.C. - America's Volume…: 52,170
CANNIBAL CORPSE - Gallery…: 51,164
CANNIBAL CORPSE - Bloodthirst: 36,128
DESTRUCTION - All Hell Breaks Loose: 3,080
DESTRUCTION - The Antichrist: 1,692
DREAM THEATER - Awake: 272,044
DREAM THEATER - Falling Into Infinity: 142,167
EXODUS - Force Of Habit: 52,262
EXODUS - Another Lesson In Violence: 7,241
GLASSJAW - Everything You Ever…: 35,306
HALFORD - Resurrection: 60,275
HALFORD - Live Insurrection: 24,478
JUDAS PRIEST - Jugulator: 108,009
JUDAS PRIEST - Demolition: 40,945
ICED EARTH - Something Wicked…: 40,336
ICED EARTH - Horror Show: 29,838
IRON MAIDEN - Brave New World: 233,706
KING DIAMOND - Spider's Lullaby: 29,214
KING DIAMOND - Voodoo: 32,785
MERCYFUL FATE - Dead Again: 22,195
MERCYFUL FATE - 9: 20,729
KREATOR - Violent Revolution: 2,351
MACHINE HEAD - Burn My Eyes: 144,465
MACHINE HEAD - The More Things Change…: 114,648
MACHINE HEAD - The Burning Red: 133,421
MACHINE HEAD - Supercharger: 41,622
MEGADETH - Youthanasia: 890,015
MEGADETH - Risk: 303,472
MEGADETH - The World Needs A Hero: 191,852
MORBID ANGEL - Formulas…: 42,819
MORBID ANGEL - Gateways…: 30,372
SEPULTURA - Chaos A.D.: 450,365
SEPULTURA - Roots: 355,471
SEPULTURA - Nation: 54,160
SKINLAB - Bound, Gagged…: 14,756
SKINLAB - Disembody…: 35,324
SLAYER - God Hates Us All: 170,411
SOIL - Scars: 112,614
TESTAMENT - Low: 112,365
TESTAMENT - Gathering: 50,301
VOIVOD - Outer Limits: 21,355
VOIVOD - Negatron: 8,044
VOIVOD - Phobos: 3,687

INTERNECINE, featuring MORBID ANGEL/HATE ETERNAL frontman Jared Anderson, have completed work on their debut album, entitled The Book of Lambs. Produced by MORBID ANGEL guitarist Erik Rutan, the group's first CD is tentatively scheduled to be issued in late spring.

EXTREME MUSIC FOR EXTREME PEOPLE TOUR 2001
featuring MORBID ANGEL, Deicide, Soilent Green, Zyklon & Exhumed

November 2001
11/20/01 - CARDI'S - HOUSTON, TX
11/21/01 - VILLA REAL CONVENTION CENTER - McALLEN, TX
11/22/01 - OFF
11/23/01 - SUNSET STATION - SAN ANTONIO, TX
11/24/01 - CANYON CLUB - DALLAS, TX
11/25/01 - EL REY THEATRE - ALBUQUERQUE, NM
11/26/01 - TBA
11/27/01 - TBA
11/28/01 - GALAXY THEATRE - SANTA ANA, CA
11/29/01 - THE PALACE - HOLLYWOOD, CA
11/30/01 - THE POUND - SAN FRANCISCO, CA

December 2001
12/01/01 - THE POUND - SAN FRANCISCO, CA
12/02/01 - OFF
12/03/01 - CATWALK - SEATTLE, WA
12/04/01 - OFF
12/05/01 - OGDEN THEATRE - DENVER, CO
12/06/01 - OFF
12/07/01 - FIRST AVENUE - MINNEAPOLIS, MN
12/08/01 - VIC THEATRE - CHICAGO, IL
12/09/01 - AGORA - CLEVELAND, OH
12/10/01 - M (Formerly Metropol) - PITTSBURGH, PA
12/11/01 - TBA
12/12/01 - THE WORLD - NEW YORK, NY
12/13/01 - THE PALLADIUM - WORCESTER, MA
12/14/01 - JAXX - SPRINGFIELD, VA
12/15/01 - TBA
12/16/01 - TROCADERO - PHILADELPHIA, PA

MORBID ANGEL have announced the initial dates for their forthcoming The Holidays In Hell Tour 2001, the band’s first headlining run in support of their latest album, Gateways To Annihilation. Joining MORBID ANGEL on the bill will be DEICIDE, SOILENT GREEN, ZYKLON and another act to be announced shortly. Here are the confirmed dates so far:
Nov. 23 - Sunset Station - San Antonio, TX
Nov. 24 - Canyon Club - Dallas, TX
Nov. 25 - El Rey Theatre - Albuquerque, NM
Nov. 28 - Galaxy Theatre - Santa Ana, CA
Nov. 29 - The Palace - Hollywood, CA
Nov. 03 - Catwalk - Seattle, WA
Nov. 07 - First Avenue - Minneapolis, MN
Nov. 08 - Vic Theatre - Chicago, IL.
All shows will be all ages. Tickets for these shows will be going on sale within the next week. More shows will be added in the couple of weeks. Source: BLABBERMOUTH.NET

According to MORBID ANGEL’s management, vocalist/bassist Steve Tucker will not be appearing with MORBID ANGEL on their upcoming US and European tours due to family and personal problems. The bass and vocal duties at all upcoming dates will be handled by Jared Anderson of the Florida band HATE ETERNAL. MORBID ANGEL will be heading to Europe the week of April 9th for a five-week European tour with ZYKLON and CADAVER INC. in support. As previously reported, the band will also be taking part in the Extreme Steel tour along with PANTERA, SLAYER, STATIC-X and SKRAPE.

SLAYER are completing the recording process for their forthcoming album (possible working title: Soundtracks Of The Apocalypse) at Warehouse Studios in Vancouver with producer Matt Hyde. 17 songs have been reportedly been written for the record, with 14 due to be included in the final sequence and the remainder to be used as bonus tracks or b-sides/EP cuts. Working song titles include: 01. Threshold 02. Disciple 03. Addict 04. Exile 05. Payback 06. Seven Faces 07. Godsend Death 08. New Faith 09. Deviance 10. Scarstruck 11. Here Comes The Pain 12. Gore Point 13. Warzone The album is tentatively scheduled to be released in May, to be followed by the band's North American tour with PANTERA, STATIC-X and MORBID ANGEL (other rumored acts on the bill include C.O.C., HALFORD, and SKRAPE), which is set to start in June.