Beyond Purgatory

In addition to the awesome announcement about their Southern Discomfort tour with Kylesa and Skeletonwitch, Blacktusk just dropped some sweet news for those of us fiending for more of their sludgecore goodness on wax (or digital format of your choice)- They're halfway through writing the follow-up to their crushing debut Passage Through Purgatory. Word is it's scheduled to be unleashed by Hyperrealist later this year.

Additionally, they've got a bunch of cool splits and a compilation track dropping soon. Here are the details from their latest blog entry-

"Our upcoming releases are as follows:

Blacktusk / Holy Mountain split 7" on No Idea Records (http://www.noidearecords.com/). It is currently available on itunes, look for the vinyl soon! It features cover art by John Baizley (Baroness) and was produced by Philip Cope (Kylesa).

Blacktusk / ASG split 10" on Hyperrealist records (www.hyperrealist.com). Both bands head up to the Jam Room in Columbia, SC to record this in the beginning of March with Philip Cope (Kylesa) producing. There will be a cd version of this also, details on that are still being worked out. It will also feature cover art and layout by John Baizley (Baroness)

Blacktusk / Fight Amputation split 7" on Brutal Panda Records (http://www.brutalpandarecords.com/). We are also recording this material at the beginning of March at the Jam room with Philip Cope (Kylesa) producing. This release will also sport artwork from John Baizley (Baroness).

We are also contributing a song to a Buzzov-en tribute album on Sleepy Village Records (www.myspace.com/buzzoventributealbum) We are doing Toe Fry. Not sure when this is going to come out. I'll keep this site updated with news about it."

A lot of sweet stuff on the way from these guys. Pretty damn cool.

UPDATE- Blacktusk's song from their Holy Mountain split is up on their MySpace now. It's called Beneath and is pretty F'in sweet. Especially digging the drums on this one.

Looks like our friends in Early Man are making some progress on their long awaited sophomore effort as well. Here's some live footage of a new album track from a recent west coast date-



More on both these releases as things develop.

Finally, if you wanted tix to the Scion Rock Fest, hope you got them already, because according to the offcial website, they're not giving out any more.