STARKWEATHER WELCOMES BACK GUITARIST BILL MOLCHINOW

Philadelphia-based hardcore/metal act STARKWEATHER has announced the return of guitarist Bill Molchinow to the group's ranks. Molchinow played all the solos on the band's version of 'Hushabye', which appeared on the 'Definitely Not the Majors' compilation in 1996.

Commented guitartist Todd Forkin, 'After e-mailing back and forth with Bill over the last couple of months and sharing files of the new songs, we asked Bill if he would be interested in recording some of his guitarwork in his hometown of San Diego. After hearing his rough solo ideas it became obvious to us that we needed to get Bill back to the East Coast and into Deadverse Studio with Alap. On November 10 and 11 we loaded all of my guitar gear back into Deadverse, Bill warmed up, and in the next 7 or 8 hours he proceeded to blow our fucking minds. Imagine an odd mix of Holdsworth, Thordendal, Azagthoth, and Jeff Loomis and you have some idea of where Bill is coming from. Being a more traditional shred guitarist, it was amazing to watch Bill adapt to the dissonant racket we've created and add not only technically mind-blowing solos, but scraping textures, and chaotic arpeggiation as well. As a guitar player it was a humbling experience.

'Far from being a one off performance, Bill will be playing on our next full length as well. We just completed the final song for the next album and it looks like the thing is gonna clock in at about 75 minutes. I believe there are 8 songs for the next album, each with an average running time of about 10 minutes. It's difficult to say at this point what the stuff sounds like, but I like to think of it as a sick mixture of GORGUTS, KING CRIMSON, THOUGHT INDUSTRY, RADIOHEAD, and all the other bands listed as our favorites on our MySpace page.'

Candlelight Records has set a January 23 North American release date for STARKWEATHER's 'Crossbearer/Into the Wire'. This two-CD reworking of STARKWEATHER's early albums additionally features bonus material previously limited to rare singles, compilations, outtakes and hidden-away tapes from the band's numerous recording sessions.