After embarking on their first Australian tour in 2006, Dragonforce have decided to return to Australian shores again in 2007. The following message was posted on their official website:

"Dragonforce will return to Australia in May 2007 as part of their Inhuman Rampage World Tour. This is will be Dragonforce's second time in Australia touring in support of their latest album. Tickets go on sale 16th Feb 2007 nationally in Australia."

The tour dates are as follows:

May 09 2007 - Australia, Sydney - The Forum (all ages)
May 10 2007 - Australia, Brisbane - The Arena (all ages)
May 12 2007 - Australia, Adelaide - Fowlers Live (all ages)
May 13 2007 - Australia, Perth - The Capitol (18+)
May 15 2007 - Australia, Melbourne - The Hi-Fi (18+)
May 16 2007 - Australia, Melbourne - The Hi-Fi (all ages)

Source:	dragonforce.com
Band profile:	DragonForce
Event:	DragonForce: Australian Tour

Swedish melodic metallers Hammerfall have added dates in U.K. and Ireland to their "At The Threshold Of...Europe 2007" tour. Hammerfall will bring Krokus and the Poodles for the band's first U.K. tour on the following dates:

February 20 - The Electric Ballroom, London
February 21 - The Garage, Glasgow
February 22 - Temple Bar Music Centre, Dublin
February 23 - Bradford Rio, Bradford
February 24 - JB's, Dudley

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Source:	hammerfall.net
Band profile:	HammerFall
Event:	Hammerfall: At The Threshold Of... Europe Tour

As posted on the band's official website on Dec 1th:

It has come to our attention that someone is trying to falsely impersonate Glenn Tipton on a Myspace site. Please note that this site is totally unauthorised, unofficial and not legitimate and absolutely nothing at all to do with Glenn Tipton or Judas Priest. The only official sites relating to Glenn Tipton and Judas Priest are JudasPriest.com and GlennTipton.co.uk.

Jayne Andrews
Management for Glenn Tipton/Judas Priest

Source:	judaspriest.com
Band profile:	Judas Priest

Vanishing Point bassist Steve Cox has posted the following message on the official Vanishing Point forum, announcing his departure from the band:

"Hey guys... just thought I'd put a post up letting you know that I've left VP. It's nothing personal (or even musical) but just what's best for the band. I've been in VP for a year now and a lotta stuff has happened in my personal life which has required me to remove myself from the band. I've loved being a part of VP, and I will continue to be a fan - you will see me up the front at all their shows! - but I'm pleased to hand the bass duties over to my good friend Adrian Alimic... who is an absolute monster of a bass player. Wait til you see this guy!

Chris, Silvio, Tom, Jack and Lennard are like brothers to me and I hold them all in such high esteem, it's been a great experience for me, and I thank them all from the bottom of my heart.

I truly believe that the next Vanishing Point album will be their best, just wait til you hear it!"

Vanishing Point are currently recording their follow-up album to Embrace The Silence which is expected to be released in early 2007.

Source:	sinister.com.au
Band profile:	Vanishing Point

Iron Maiden have announced that they will be headlining the Desert Rock Festival in Dubai on Friday 9th March 2007. The supporting bill for this day is currently The Prodigy as Special Guests plus Stone Sour, In Flames, Mastodon, Children of Bodom, Lauren Harris and Junkyard Groove.

This will be the fourth Desert Rock Festival in Dubai since it started in 2004 and it will take place at the Dubai Country Club. Tickets will be made available and details can be seen at the official Desert Rock Festival website -
www.desertrockfestival.com

Manager Rod Smallwood comments: "Maiden have always enjoyed and been prepared to visit and play in new parts of the World and this is certainly no exception. We expect to take the full European stage Production and as its our first time there. We will adjust the set to include more of the favourites these fans wont have heard live before along with selected tracks from our new album 'A Matter of Life and Death' which has been very successful in Arabia with a Top 5 Chart entry. As this tour has been so much fun we may even add a couple more special shows in mid-March..."

Iron Maiden vocallist Bruce Dickinson comments: "This is certainly something new to us as I don't believe anyone from the band has ever played here at all so we're all really looking forward to this. We all enjoy touring where we've always had fantastic support but there is something always a bit special about playing to new fans in a part of the world you'd never really expected to play. It certainly looks and sounds like a great festival and line up and I'm already planning a special BruceAir trip out for this one which will be amazing I'm sure."

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Source:	ironmaiden.com
Band profile:	Iron Maiden
Event:	Desert Rock Festival

'Vedic' Metal band Rudra have severed ties with record label Demonzed Records. Copyright of the Demonzed Records released latest album and the re-release of their self-titled first album have now fallen to Rudra. The band is now looking for a replacement record company and is looking forward to working with their next label.

Source:	rudraonline.org
Band profile:	Rudra

Destruction's record label Candlelight Records USA have posted a new remake version of Destruction song 'Mad Butcher' online. This new version of the song will appear on the upcoming Destruction compilation album 'Thrash Anthems' which will be released on the 22nd January next year.

The song can be heard at Candlelight Records USA's myspace page.

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Destruction

Rehearsals have begun and some songs have been written for the next Arch Enemy album. The band has announced that they will be entering the studio in March/April next year to start recordings.

Here is a posting by guitarist Michael Amott taken from the band's official website: "We will be continuing to rehearse through the next few weeks, working on the new songs. We have already written some 7-8 life changing and ridiculously huge metal hymns, this is all in my own (not so) humble opinion of course! You'll see... :-) This stuff is SADISTIC!

Totally looking forward to 2007 and all that it will bring, some things are planned like the South American tour (which is going to be so much fun I'm sure!) and the studio time we have booked for March/April. I'm aching to get in the studio and lay these tunes down..."

More updates and news will be posted soon.

Source:	archenemy.net
Band profile:	Arch Enemy

Sirenia's video for the song 'My Mind's Eye' has been posted online at YouTube.com. The track comes off the Norwegian/Danish group's upcoming CD, "Nine Destinies and a Downfall", due on February 26 via Nuclear Blast Records.

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Source:	sirenia.no
Band profile:	Sirenia

French metallers Scarve, who recently enlisted former Darkane singer Lawrence Mackrory, are putting the final touches to their upcoming album, "The Undercurrent", which is set for an April 2007 release via Listenable Records.
According to a press release, "this album marks a grandiose return of the band marking them as pioneers and way ahead of their time. This is beyond any doubt the most sophisticated, intricate, unconventional Scarve recording ever to date and will impress and annihilate both friend and foe!"
The follow-up to their critically acclaimed "Irradiant" album (2004) was recorded in part at the Dug-Out facility in Uppsala, Sweden with renowned Swedish producer Daniel Bergstrand, whose previous credits include Meshuggah, In Flames, Strapping Young Lad and Stuck Mojo.

"The Undercurrent" track listing:

01. Endangered
02. Imperceptible Armageddon
03. Senseless
04. The Plundered
05. Assuming Self
06. Fathomless Descent
07. A Few Scraps Of Memories
08. Rebirth

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Source:	bravewords.com
Band profile:	Scarve

Finnish cello-rockers Apocalyptica will release their double-DVD set, "The Life Burns Tour", in the U.S. on February 6, 2007. The DVD was already released elsewhere in the world on 26 May 2006. The complete track listing for the set can be found at this location.

The band are currently working on their new album, so far with the working title "Apocalyptica6".

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Source:	apocalyptica.com
Band profile:	Apocalyptica

According to a post on shop.relapse.com, Death metal powerhouse Dying Fetus return with their long-awaited new record "War of Attrition" this summer.
Masterminded by guitarist/vocalist John Gallagher and his hand picked kill-team, "War of Attrition" advances the band's devastating assault and destroys everything in its path. From the first song to the last, the patented 'Fetus combination of punishing slam riffs, frenzied guitar work, and utterly savage dual-vocal assault and overpowers the listener. "War of Attrition" reaches an altogether new and focused level of brutality for Dying Fetus, and expands and cements the legendary status of this renowned US metal institution.
A US release date is set on 3 June 2007

Source:	shop.relapse.com
Band profile:	Dying Fetus

Poland's Antigama has recently completed work on their Relapse Records debut album, "Resonance."

The effort was recorded in December at Studio X in Olsztyn, Poland by engineer Szymon Czech. The 18 song album is set for a May 2007 release. Advance song titles for Resonance include: "Seismic Report", "Ecstasy", "Pursuit", "Neutral Balance", "Order", "Pending", "Remembering Nothing", "By And By", "Shymrok", and "Stars."

"It's certainly the best sounding and most mature album of Antigama" says guitarist Sebastian Rokicki, "In short it's the most brutal, wild, astonishing, uncommon and experimental piece of music we've ever made."

Antigama vocalist Lukasz Myszkowski adds: "It was the first time we had so much time for the recording session. We freed ourselves of the inhibitions and discharged all of the animal emotions and toxic waste. Resonance is coming!"

Source:	antigama.net
Band profile:	Antigama

The year 2006 was a very successful year for AXXIS and now we got bad news :-(

Guido wanted to leave AXXIS.

The band did know his decision since september 2006 and wanted to say thanxx for the great time, the great productions and the wonderful gigs with him. For AXXIS it's not an easy situation but everybody accepted Guido's plan for his own future.

In Karlsruhe/Germany was the last gig with him and AXXIS presented a large cake for their long-time colleague during their private party. The goodbye was not easy...

Here you can read Guido's statement =>

"Hello my dear friends and fans!!

As you probably know by now I have left Axxis! The reasons for my decision are very personal and I would like you not to speculate too much about them. More imortant to me is that you respect my decision and hold on to Axxis. Please give a heartly and warm welcome to my follow up. Just like you welcomed me as i followed Walter in 1998. Hopefully I will show up on stage again soon and I would be very happy to see familiar faces. You'll soon be able to find and contact me on MySpace.

All the best for the future to you all and Axxis

Sincerly yours Guido"

The band is trying to find a good alternative and if someone thinks that he's able to do this job, he can send and mail with bio and fotos to axxisworld@aol.com

Source:	axxis.de
Band profile:	Axxis

You can check out a new song from Aborted entitled 'The Chondrin Enigma,' off their upcoming new album "Slaughter & Apparatus: A Methodical Overture", over at their official MySpace page.

"Slaughter & Apparatus: A Methodical Overture" will be released on 20 February 2007. The album is recorded at Denmark's Antfarm Studios with producer/engineer Tue Madsen (Himsa, The Haunted), and including guest vocal performances by Jeff Walker (ex-Carcass) and Jacob Bredahl (Hatesphere)

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Source:	myspace.com
Band profile:	Aborted