BLACKGUARD frontman Paul Ablaze has checked in with the following update:

"Hey everyone!

Paul Ablaze here. I'm very sorry for the lack of updates, these things slip my mind sometimes. But here it is finally (better late than never I suppose) a little something to let you all know what's gone down and what's in the works!

Summer Slaughter recap (I started writing this a while ago):

This year's Summer Slaughter has come and gone. Beers were drunk, blood was shed, vomit covered jeans, didn't see anyone cry, but who knows? Point is no one came out the other end of this beast unchanged in some way, and we are without a doubt stronger than we've ever been as a band because of it.

This being only our second full North American tour we had everything to prove to both the fans and our peers, and I believe we won the respect of both along the way. I had said early on in the tour how amazed I was on how social everyone was and how much we as a tour came together and pulled for one another. I truly believe that the only reason this tour finished when it was suppose to and not four weeks earlier was because of the strength in character everyone displayed and how devoid everyone was of any kind of ego or rock star mentality.

There are certain memories that surly stick out amongst the never ending (sometimes fuzzy) memories of good times that happened over the past month and a half. Thanks again to all the bands and their crews for such an amazing time

Special THANK YOU to Bowser (WOP crew) for doing an amazing job with our lights for us! We owe you man!

And now for the next chapter...

We've got a very busy live schedule coming up, so there's no shortage of opportunities to come rock out with us. We have some Ontario/Quebec headlining dates that will be announced shortly . Dates included an appearance at the Nightmare Festival in Toronto, October 17th .

Following right after we have support dates with KATAKLYSM. For the first time EVER! We will be hitting the Maritimes and we're all very excited to see the crowds out there.

As most of you already know we've been confirmed for two amazing tour coming up. First with ENSIFERUM, HYPOCRISY, EX DEO, and a few days with our old buddies in SWASHBUCKLE from November 6th - December 5th.

We're all extremely excited for this one . Not only do we get to tour with friends, but also with such an influential band like Hypocrisy who we're all fans of . We're going to bring it harder and heavier than ever, so get your circle pit shoes on!

After that we have the Design Your Universe Tour with EPICA and DAATH (late January / February). This is going to be an interesting tour to say the least. With each band brining their own style to the table. You do not want to miss out on the one !

Europe??? ;)

We're hard at work on the next full length. We have a couple of songs demoed and they sounds amazing! We' can't wait to unveil them live.

That's it for now. We'll be sure to keep you updated more regularly as things start happening."

Paul Ablaze and Blackguard

Go to this location for the band's complete tour schedule.