HAIL OF BULLETS Signs With METAL BLADE RECORDS

HAIL OF BULLETS, the new band featuring GOREFEST drummer Ed Warby, THANATOS guitarists Stephan Gebédi and Paul Baayens, former PESTILENCE/ASPHYX singer Martin Van Drunen and former HOUWITSER bass player Theo van Eekelen, has inked a deal with Metal Blade Records.

HAIL OF BULLETS was formed in late 2006 through a mutual love for old-school death metal bands like AUTOPSY, BOLT THROWER, MASSACRE, CELTIC FROST and DEATH. In the summer of 2007, the band entered a Rotterdam studio to record a four-song promotional CD, which was mixed by the infamous death metal guru Dan Swanö in Sweden. Swanö stated upon the CD's completion: "If this promo doesn't get you guys a good record deal, I will eat my laptop!"

Commented Martin Van Drunen: "When we heard the final Swanö mix of the promo, the question for me was not if we got signed at all, but more to whom. We're all very experienced musicians and we knew that we created an awful fucking heavy piece of molten metal. A smart and appropriate A&R man/woman at a high-quality label recognizes this immediately. So Metal Blade didn't hesitate. Important to me was that they let us free in performing in our other bands and they didn't have a problem with that at all. Of course as a young metal kid I saw this label rising from a little company 'til the standard that it has now; the name Brian Slagel always remaining in the back of my head as one of the pioneers. Always delivering quality metal bands and never a bad word in the press from whatever what signing. The pact is solid. We'll deliver our old-school death metal supreme, Metal Blade will do the rest. We're one of the best in what we do and they're in theirs. Blades meet Bullets!"

Added Stephan Gebédi: "The HAIL OF BULLETS promo was sent out to just a handful of carefully selected record labels. Metal Blade was my personal first choice, so when they actually made us an interesting offer, it was an offer I definitely could not refuse! Many classic metal albums have been released on Metal Blade Records over the past few decades, so an old-school death metal band signing to a classic metal label can be seen as the ultimate metal marriage forged in the fires of Hades!"

HAIL OF BULLETS will enter the studio in February 2008 to begin recording its as-yet-untitled debut album for a May European release. The band is planning to promote the CD with a number of live appearances during the European summer festival season.

HAIL OF BULLETS' entire four-song promotional CD is available for streaming on the band's MySpace page.