INTO ETERNITY Mainman Issues Post-Japanese Tour Update

Founding guitarist/principal songwriter Tim Roth of Canadian extreme progressive metallers INTO ETERNITY has issued the following update:

"The band is back home now in Canada (Steve [Bolognese, drums] lives in Boston) after another couple of successful tours. The SYMPHONY X /EPICA / INTO ETERNITY U.S. tour was one of the best we have ever had. The U.S. crowds are killer and we love playing south of our border! After the tour was over, we played a headlining gig and then a sold-out show in Pittsburgh with CHILDREN OF BODOM. I have never seen such a brutal pit and stage diving! It was an insane crowd, so thanks to COB for letting us play the show with them. They are a great band.

"Next up was a 25-hour plane ride to Osaka, Japan. A big hello to all of the crew and bands we played with on the Extreme The Dojo Vol. 20! Also thank you to Toys Factory and Smash West for bringing us to Japan for the very first time.

"Some people were saying that the Japanese crowd would be more quiet than we were used to. The crowds we played for were great! They were chanting, starting pits and clapping before we even entered the stage.

"This is a tour that we will never forget. I could not believe how cool all the fans were. They would be waiting at the hotel lobby for pictures and autographs and some were at the bullet train as well! The band got treated like real professionals on that tour and we hope to come to come back for our new album, 'The Incurable Tragedy'.

"The Osaka show was great. I had no idea that the fans would know the words to our songs in every city, but I guess that is the power of the Internet nowadays.

"In Nagoya we played in a shopping mall and at the top was a cool rock venue called Club Quattro.

"Playing Tokyo was also a dream come true. We got there a day early, so half of the band went sightseeing, but Stu [Block, vocals] and I went to Toys Factory and did some interviews with some big Japan mags like Burrn!, Eat and my favorite, Young Guitar!

"I remember as a kid ordering the Young Guitar Yngwie Malmsteen instructional VHS tapes. They changed my playing style from that day forward.

"Yngwie is my favourite guitar player of all time. I'm glad to see him on the cover of the new Guitar World as well. Shred guitar is finally is back in!!

"Thanks to all the fans who came out on all of our recent shows. Next up is Summer Slaughter in Canada. We'll be back out soon."

INTO ETERNITY has set "The Incurable Tragedy" as the title of its new album, due later in the year via Century Media Records. The band's first concept album, "The Incurable Tragedy" was inspired by the deaths of Roth's two best friends, brothers who succumbed to cancer within two months of one another. To make matters worse, when the band began demoing new material shortly after the completion of the "Scattering" tour a star-making year of shows that saw the band perform alongside such internationally renowned acts as DREAM THEATER, LAMB OF GOD, MEGADETH, OPETH, ARCH ENEMY, THE HAUNTED and DARK TRANQUILLITYRoth's father was diagnosed with cancer as well. Showing no mercy, the disease claimed his life last year, just 10 days before Christmas.

To tide fans over until the release of "The Incurable Tragedy", the band has posted on its MySpace an unmastered rough mix of a brand new song, "Diagnosis Terminal", which it will perform live at each of their spring concerts. The track is classic INTO ETERNITY, featuring a heavy groove, stop-on-a-dime time changes, reflective lyrics, a memorable chorus, a string-shredding solo, and vocals that range from guttural growls to soaring harmonies.

Metal Mark from Local Productions conducted an interview with INTO ETERNITY on May 1 at the Masquerade in Atlanta, Georgia. The nine-minute clip, which contains footage of the band's concert at the venue, can be viewed below.