White Noise: News on Dimmu Borgir, Blood Has Been Shed, Demon Hunter, Deicide and More

Summer is almost over. All the big summer tours are winding down. Bummer. This year, at least in New York, we got an extended spring, then a month of summer. I mean, over the weekend, we noticed the leaves are already starting to change color. What a crock! It was warm for, like, three whole weeks this summer, and now we're about to enter fall? The kids are all about to go back to school, colleges are reopening their doors, and Halloween crap is showing up in department stores? For us, there's only one upside to the fall: albums. A lot of great metal albums are scheduled for releases in the next few months, so at least there's that to look forward to. We hope you used this past weekend wisely, and we thank you for stopping by Noisecreep. Today's White Noise leads off with a little turmoil within one of metal's biggest bands.

+ Norwegian black metallers Dimmu Borgir have parted ways with bassist Vortex and keyboardist Mustis. In a statement, the band assures fans that "the creative force in the band is highly intact, perhaps even more so than ever." The band is currently working on new material, and "are excited to start a new chapter in the legacy that is Dimmu Borgir." In his own statement, Mustis claims he was let go in a text, because of his efforts to "address the fact that many songs written by me had not been registered properly under my name in their credits. Without naming every single track, let us just say that a good majority of albums like 'Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia' and 'In Sorte Diaobli' would have been vastly different had I not composed and created as much as I actually did." Mustis says this issue has been plaguing the band for years, and he plans on resolving matters legally.

+ The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Van Halen took home an extra $1 million in the fall of 2007, when up to 500 of the best seats to each of about 20 of the band's reunion concerts were pulled from the Ticketmaster system and passed directly to ticket scalpers. The report claims brokers allegedly kept 30 percent of the marked-up sale price for themselves, and the remaining 70 percent was divided among Ticketmaster, the band and its handlers.

+ According to Zakk Wylde's wife, Barbaranne, the Black Label Society frontman is back home in Los Angeles, dealing with his health. She says Wylde is listed in "stable" condition after being diagnosed with blood clots in his lungs and leg. "We are following up with his [doctors] in L.A. with hopes of beginning a slow recovery. Apparently, this is a long process."

+ With all the trash talk that's gone on between the members of Van Halen and the ex-members of Van Halen over the years, it's no surprise that Sammy Hagar thinks his new guitarist in Chickenfoot is better than Eddie Van Halen. "As a writer, Joe [Satriani] is faster. That makes him easier for me to work with, because I come up with things really fast as well. As soon as I hear a chord structure, I have a melody, instantly. And then five seconds later, I'm writing lyrics. Working with Joe is great. If I say to him, 'Hey, let's do something funky,' next thing I know he's saying, 'How about this?' [Eddie is] just not as prolific, and not as fast. So that's the difference between them as far as writing. As just a straight-up player, who can play anything, and plays perfect every time, there's no one better than Joe."

+ 36 Crazyfists bassist Brett 'Buzzard' Makowski has joined Skinlab as their new second guitarist, and he's already made his live debut with the band. "Buzz has been a longtime friend and was actually in Skinlab during the first album's touring cycle, and has always been a metal brother who we all knew would be jamming with Skinlab again," the band says in a statement.

+ Demon Hunter has undergone some lineup shifts. Guitarist Don Clark has left the band because of his "increasing priorities with both his home life" and "his constant workload" with his design firm, Invisible Creature. Guitarist Ethan Luck is also out, to devote all of his focus to Relient K. Joining the band in their place is Patrick Judge and Randy Torres. The band plans to start recording new material this October.

+ Deicide, Jungle Rot and Desolation will be teaming up for an October tour. The trek kicks off in Dallas on Oct. 7 and runs through Oct. 24 in Detroit. + Fridge metal?



+ Korn bassist Reginald 'Fieldy' Arvizu has enlisted several musicians to collaborate on a benefit track for Deftones bassist Chi Cheng. The song is now available for purchase, and features Slipknot's Jim Root and Sid Wilson, Dave McClain from Machine Head, Metallica's Robert Trujillo, Killswitch Engage's Adam Dutkiewicz, as well as members of P.O.D., Disturbed, Hatebreed and Korn.

+ Blood Has Been Shed will begin recording drums for their new album starting today. More sessions are planned for the coming months, as the band finishes its much-anticipated new disc.