Symphony X will be joining Dream Theater later in the year for the European leg of their Chaos In Motion World Tour 2007/2008. The tour schedule has been updated to include shows in Great Britain.

Here is the full list of dates:

26 September, 2007 - Helsinki, Finland - Ice Hall
28 September, 2007 - Stockholm, Sweden - Hovet
29 September, 2007 - Oslo, Norway - Spectrum
04 October, 2007 - Antwerp, Belgium - Lotto Arena
05 October, 2007 - Paris, France - Zenith
11 October, 2007 - Glasgow, Scotland - TBA
12 October, 2007 - Manchester, England - Apollo
13 October, 2007 - London, England - Wembley Arena
09 November, 2007 - Newport, Wales - Newport Centre
10 November, 2007 - Wolverhampton, England - Civic Hall
11 November, 2007 - Blackburn, England - King George's Hall

Source:	symphonyx.com
Band profile:	Symphony X
Event:	Chaos In Motion World Tour

According to their official website, the Swedish band is looking for a new bass player. And you can be the new Evergrey bass player by sending your bio, pic and samples (either video or mp3) of your playing to tom@evergrey.net

Applicants should be either living in Sweden or be able to move there.

Click here for further details.

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Source:	evergrey.net
Band profile:	Evergrey

Psycroptic have issued an update on their website:

"Psycroptic have just returned from a short Australian tour and are now currently hard at work writing material for the as yet untitled new album. Live shows have been put on hold as the writing process is now the main priority and all energy is focused on this. It is hoped the band will enter the studio in late 2007 to record, with an early to mid 2008 release planned."

Source:	psycroptic.com
Band profile:	Psycroptic

The cover artwork for upcoming Obituary album "Xecutioner's Return" has been posted at this location. The band once again worked with artist Andreas Marshall, who has previously created the art for "The End Complete" and the group's most recent record, "Frozen in Time".

"Xecutioner's Return" was mixed at Redroom Recorders and was mastered at Morrisound Studios in Tampa. The album will be released on August 28 via Candlelight Records (Europe and USA).

In other Obituary news, the band have announced the routing for their upcoming North American tour, which is scheduled to kick off early September. The dates are as follows:

07 September 2007 - Ft. Lauerdale, FL
08 September 2007 - Jacksonville, FL
09 September 2007 - Atlanta, GA
11 September 2007 - Springfield, VA
12 September 2007 - Richmond, VA
14 September 2007 - New York, NY
15 September 2007 - Sayerville, NY
16 September 2007 - Southbridge, MA
18 September 2007 - Cleveland, OH
21 September 2007 - Detroit, MI
22 September 2007 - Indianapolis, IN
23 September 2007 - Chicago, IL
25 September 2007 - Denver, CO
27 September 2007 - Las Vegas, NV
28 September 2007 - Orange County, CA
29 September 2007 - Los Angeles, CA
30 September 2007 - San Diego, CA
02 October 2007 - Phoenix, AZ
03 October 2007 - Tucson, AZ
05 October 2007 - San Antonio, TX
06 October 2007 - Dallas, TX
07 October 2007 - Houston, TX

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Source:	obituary.cc
Band profile:	Obituary

The following is part of a posting on Primordial's official website:

"...Primordial will enter the studio in July and August to record the new album. We are travelling across the water to Wales to the middle of nowhere to an old analog studio. There isn't a working title yet for the album and in typical Primordial style there is a lot of work to be done on the songs but with a bit of luck and the Gods blessing we will pull the Iron out of the Fire once more. And with the blessing of Metal Blade it should be out in 2007?

And to record for the first time in Summer is going to be a totally different environment, we always without exception have recorded in Winter. Stepping outside after a take into blazing sunshine instead of lashing rain and freezing cold is in all honesty something I'm looking forward to. The Irish Winter surely isn't a beautiful thing, in the city it's a bleak grey monotonous washed out few months?

The themes have moved on the from the last album and right now I'm beginning to piece together some ideas for the artwork with Paul from Scald who made The Gathering Wilderness look so special. It will look incredible I can guarantee that and will be an absolutely pure artistic statement in this day and age of hollow, plastic meaningless Metal covers. This of course goes for the music as well without saying!"

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Source:	primordialweb.com
Band profile:	Primordial

The following message was posted on Impaled Nazarene's official website:

"Greetings Suckers.

Tuomio has decided to step aside from Impaled Nazarene. His decision is personal and we thank him for everything he did with us the last four years and wish him the best of luck for his future adventures. Tomi UG Ullgren is our new lead guitarist, many of you have already witnessed him with us on stage as he has been a session member of this band since 2000, done various tours with us etc. This change will not affect any of our forth-coming shows.

We have now finished recording vocals of our new album Manifest. Sounds fucking killer. "Manifest" will be mixed at Sonic Pump studio by Tapio Pennanen at late July and mastered at Finnvox studio by Mika Jussila mid August. We also decided with Osmose that "Manifest" will be put out as double 10" vinyl instead of normal 12". We will now start working on cover and lay-out with our house artist Ritual".

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Source:	campnazarene.com
Band profile:	Impaled Nazarene

The following message was posted on Mayhem's official website:

"Season of Mist, Thunderdome Booking and Decibel Magazine regret to inform you of the cancellation of Mayhem's "Deconsecrate the States" 2007 US Tour that was scheduled to hit this coming July. During his recent stint across the US with fellow countrymen Dimmu Borgir, elder Mayhem member and battery, Hellhammer, has suffered an unfortunate and serious injury to his right limb. It is impossible for him to play any time soon as he is currently scheduling surgery and will need rest and rehabilitation in order to heal his impaired arm. Being such an indispensable part of the band, fellow members Necrobutcher, Blasphemer and Attila realized that they are not complete without him and had no choice but to cancel this current US jaunt.
The band have issued this statement, the power of Mayhem must come at full force and without Hellhammer, it is impossible for us to accomplish this feat. We deeply regret having to cancel the tour but we feel that there truly was no other option. We shall however return stronger than ever to deconsecrate your shores as soon as humanly possible!"

For the good news, the official Mayhem Myspace is up and running. You can find it at this location.

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Source:	thetruemayhem.com
Band profile:	Mayhem

Belgian grinders Leng Tch'e have made the following announcement:

"Last week's tour was awesome and therefore we'd like to give mad props to all the guys in Immolation, Krisiun and Dawn Of Azazel plus the whole Massive Music crew for being excellent professionals and genuinely nice people.

On a lesser note, the drama continues as Svencho decided to quit the band in order to focus on Aborted and other musical projects. We thank him for the years invested in Leng Tch'e and wish him luck in his future endeavors. However, this will definitely not be the end of the band since we feel that "Marasmus" is our strongest record to date and therefore we will continue on our path of mayhem and destruction. Interested drummers can send their applications to nicolas@razorgrind.com."

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Source:	razorgrind.com
Band profile:	Leng Tch'e

The following message was posted on Ayreon's official website:

"The very first vocalist for the seventh Ayreon album was recorded in the Electric Castle Studio last week. We're not revealing the name of the vocalist just yet, but you can listen to a sample of the voice (without instruments) here.

During the time leading up to the official announcement of each of the vocalists participating on the new Ayreon album, we'll be giving acapella previews of every vocalist. Currently 12 vocalists have been confirmed, and a few more will be added.

Discuss the sample, and all things Ayreon, on our messageboard or on Arjen's official MySpace site".

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Source:	ayreon.com
Band profile:	Ayreon

The following message was posted on Metal Mind Production website:

"On the 9th July (on 31st July in US via MVD) Metal Mind Productions will release a live DVD of the icon of extreme death metal - Vital Remains.

Release entitled "Evil Death Live" brings us one hour of gloom and ultrafast massacre recorded during the band's performance at the Metalmania Festival 2007 (Katowice, Poland). The track list is comprised of songs from a very well received album "Dechristianized" as also from the band's latest outstanding release "Icons of Evil". The DVD is enhanced with the interview with Tony Lazaro (one of the band's founders) and Dave Suzuki, live bootleg footage and many other surprises. Also available in a limited DVD+CD swing case edition, including a bonus CD with songs recorded at the gig".

Artwork was done by Graal and you can see it here.

DVD
1. Intro I - Where Is Your God Now
2. Icons of Evil
3. Scorned
4. Born to Rape the World
5. Hammer Down the Nails
6. Intro II - Let the Killing Begin
7. Dechristianized
8. Infidel
9. Devoured Elysium

Bonus video:
Tba

CD (only available with a limited DVD+CD edition)
1. Intro I - Where Is Your God Now
2. Icons of Evil
3. Scorned
4. Born to Rape the World
5. Hammer Down the Nails
6. Intro II - Let the Killing Begin
7. Dechristianized
8. Infidel
9. Devoured Elysium

Also includes:
- Interview with Tony Lazaro and Dave Suzuki
- Photo gallery
- Biography
- Discography
- Desktop images
- Weblinks
- Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Read more ››

Source:	metalmind.com.pl
Band profile:	Vital Remains

The following message was posted on Helloween's official website:

"As already rumoured during the last couple of weeks, it is now confirmed that Gamma Ray will team up with Helloween on their upcoming European tour! The tour will kick off mid of November this year, and the line up will be completed by 1-2 additional acts.

Apart from very few festival appearances, this will be the first time ever both bands touring together and bears the possibility of Kai Hansen -Gamma Ray leader and ex- Helloween member- entering the stage to jam one or the other classic Helloween-song with his former band mates!

"This is going to be a historical event for all Helloween fans, we are looking forward to have Kai and his band on our tour with us" states Helloween guitarist Michael Weikath.

It is also planned -but not confirmed- to expand this promising package to the territories of South East Asia, North and South America".

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Source:	helloween.org
Band profile:	Helloween

Sad news for Black Metal fans? Hellhammer, drummer of Mayhem, broke an arm.

Therefore, Mayhem will not be able to play at Hellfest this year. In order to stay consistent, we decided that the Norwegian band Enslaved will take over their time slot! We hope that you will understand this last minute change and that this replacement of choice will comfort you!

Some news about the Sin Cession battle of the bands now. "End.", a band from Toulouse (France) http://www.myspace.com/end1freefr won the contest that took place last week in Lyon. Their music is powerful with some dark, loud and oppressive atmopheres. "End." is really loud and crushing on stage and can be considered one of the most promising band from France. Don't miss them on Sunday 24 at 2:15 PM on the discover Stage!

Read more ››

Source:	hellfest.fr
Event:	Hellfest Summer Open Air 2007

Estonian folk band Metsatöll has re-mastered their two albums "Hiiekoda" and "Terast mis hangund me hinge 10218" which are now available as vinyl records. As the band announces, both albums bear excellent natural sound, high-quality print and postcards and a poster are included as bonuses.

There are 500 pressed copies of "Hiiekoda" available. Record sleeve includes lyrics both in Estonian and English languages.
"Terast mis hangund me hinge 10218" is also released as 500 pressed copies. The record sleeve of this album includes a poster and a wolf-postcard(suitable for sending to grandmother on her birthday as the band suggests) as well as lyrics both in Estonian and English.

Kristo Kotkas has arranged the sound on both albums in 2007. All records ordered through the homepage of the band www.metsatöll.ee will come signed by the members of Metsatöll.

The albums are available in Estonia since the end of May. Those who wish to obtain one or even both of those releases should order them hastily for the copies are limited.

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Source:	metsatoll.ee
Band profile:	Metsatöll

The following message was posted on Skyfire's Myspace page:

"We've gotten many e-mails and questions over the last few years regarding the status of Skyfire and now it's time to give you an official update.

As some of you may know, our brother Henrik, who has been with us for all 3 albums and has contributed so much to the band, has chosen to leave Skyfire and concentrate on his own project Favilla. We want to stress that there are no hard feelings on either side and wish Henrik the best of luck in all his future endeavors. The band will always look back on the great times with him when he was with Skyfire.

The good news however, is that we have found an amazing replacement for Henrik in Elohim vocalist Joakim Karlsson!

We are very excited to hear his voice in Skyfire on both future recordings and on all the old classics which we are itching to play live. We're also excited to announce that Andromeda's Johan Reinholdz is officially a member of Skyfire now. Johan helped us out big-time on our tour in Spain when Jonas left and Martin had to take over on bass, so we are all extremely excited that he is now a fulltime member of the band.

Speaking of the new record, we've all been hard at work writing and demoing new material to release on a new, up and coming label and has proven to be perfect for Skyfire. We've been given the go-ahead to announce our new home soon!

We´ll start officially recording the new album as soon as possible and it will probably be mixed later this year by someone who many of you should be familiar with by now in the metal scene.

To all our fans who have been loyal and patient: Keep it up guys, it will be worth the wait. We can assure each and every one of you that this next release will be the strongest in Skyfire's history!".

The permanent lineup now stands as the following:

Joakim Karlsson (Vocals)
Martin Hanner (Bass, Keyboards)
Andreas Edlund (Guitars, Keyboards)
Johan Reinholdz (Guitars)
Joakim Jonsson (Drums)

Read more ››

Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Skyfire

Click on http://www.thevarangianway.com for in depth information about Turisas' acclaimed album "The Varangian Way"! Not only does this special website offer an exclusive competition where you can win some cool and rare stuff, but also audio excerpts from the album, profiles introducing the individual band-members, international press-clips and most importantly the Warlord himself explaining the concept of the album as well as video-commentary for every song on the album.

Don't miss the chance to learn what "The Varangian Way" is really about and take a tour down the Eastern European rivers, from Finland straight down to the Black Sea.

While "The Varangian Way" hit UK Rock Album Charts at 11, their Finland only single "To Holmgard And Beyond" climbed to position 12, so it was high time for the album finally being out Wednesday, June 6th.

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Source:	turisas.com
Band profile:	Turisas