BAND OF THE WEEK - TYR
Welcome to the first week of our newest feature: Band of the Week! 
Each week Metal Price Watch will highlight one band we feel is deserving of a little more attention and place a link to their music on our front page! If you wish to recommend a band for this feature, visit us on our forums and let us know!
This week we feature Faroese folk/progressive metal band Tyr. A new album is currently scheduled to be released in May of this year (2008) and will "contain mostly Faeroese, but also Icelandic and Norwegian traditionals, re-arranged into Heavy Metal, as well as new compositions containing traditional elements." The name of the new album is 'Land'.
Listen to Tyr HERE
BAND OF THE WEEK - Diamond Plate
The week's band hails from the Chicago Bay area,
playing a blistering assault of old-school thrash, reminiscent of early Slayer. Listening to the aural assault, one would imagine this music being belted out by a grizzled veteren of the scene, however their average age is a mere 15 years!
These youngsters have one hell of a career ahead of them if this is how they are starting out. It reminds of a young and determined Decapitated Winds of Creation era. Listen HERE and view a cut from their forthcoming DVD HERE
BAND OF THE WEEK - Sculptured
Most of you know Don Anderson from his wildly acclaimed band Agalloch. 
For fans of this and other projects, it would be a shame to miss out on the latest release by Sculptured, a Don Anderson project we have not heard from since 2000. Featuring keyboardist Andy Winter (Winds, Age Of Silence), bassist Jason Walton (Agalloch), vocalist Tom Wailing and drummer Dave Murray (Estradasphere), the new album is entitled Embodiment, and is quite possibly the most complex, brutal, and insane collection of tracks we at MPW have heard in ages!
Listen HERE
BAND OF THE WEEK - Testament
Now I'll admit, this space is usualy reserved for lesser known bands to help with exposure. 
However, having lain dormant since their phenominal album 'The Gathering' in 1999, Testament has made one of the most fantastic "We're back!" albums in recent history. 'The Formation of Damnation' is a delicious thrashy mix that harkens back to the album 'Low' together with tinges of 'The Gathering'. If you like thrash with a death metal sensability, do yourself a favor and pick this one up. You won't be dissapointed.
Listen HERE
BAND SPOTLIGHT - Equilibrium
Equilibrium have not only avoided the sophomore slump with their brilliant second album 'Sagas', they've produced quite possibly the best album thus far in 2008. 
If you like epic viking/folk metal in the vein of Moonsorrow, Finntroll, and Turisas; you MUST hear this album. The production is full and rich, capturing folk instruments as clear and strong as the more traditional guitar, bass, and drums. The album runs the gamut from seething blackened metal runs to calm and flowing folk interludes, to bombastic Finntroll-esq romps through the Trollshaws.
Listen: HERE