GODLESS RISING guitarist Toby Knapp (ex-ONWARD) has issued the following update:

"I have uploaded the track 'Damnation Of Angelic Souls' from the forthcoming Godless Rising disc, Trumpet Of Triumph. Hope you enjoy this new direction and the album should be in stores sometime in May.

We hope to be on the road in support of this, but we are currently only the core unit of Jeff Gruslin and myself. Finding the right musicians is as tough as finding the right booking agency.

Speaking of bookings, as stated before, I nor the label that released my most recent solo album, Shredguy Records, will be participating in The Virtuosity Experience series of concerts. We were invited and upon our showing interest, the entry fee presented to us was an outrageous sum of money.

"Buy ons" in and of themselves are commonplace and can work well for a new band, I'm not a new band and I'm not paying to open for whatever headliners are selected. Judging from the past roster of artists affiliated with this, to be a support act for any of them is just an insult. Maybe insult is the wrong word, it's just I haven't heard of many of these... ahem... "high end shredders" and I'm definitely not pitching in to pay for their accomodations while I have been promised nothing (not even food or hotel- but we help pay to provide that to the other musicians) except to be in a show with an elite group of guitarists, and by my doing so my career will skyrocket overnight.

Anyway, best of luck for this decidedly non-elite event and may it be the ultimate pissing match over who can play the fastest. The mentality of the guitar as a means to display nimble fingers rather than composition I feel is not a good thing and could be detrimental to the progressive rock/metal genre.

The guitarists described on so many "package shred" tours are being advertised as the new wave of shredders, when in fact, most are older than the original kings from the Shrapnel Records roster or right behind them.

Finally, anyone who has ordered CDs from me in the last few weeks, no worries, they will ship out of here this week, thanks for your support!"

Check out the new Godless Rising track at this location. Further updates to follow.