The organization of the festival announced yesterday the confirmation of the pioneers of black/thrash metal Venom: "Injected With Deadly Toxin: Please Welcome Venom On Board! To travel from the North Sea into the Atlantic Ocean, they must sail around the British Isles. Before doing so they decided to visit a town in North East England that they are familiar with from last year: Newcastle, and what a welcome they got! On arrival they all got injected by a deadly toxin: Venom!"

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Source:	70000tons.com
Band profile:	Venom
Event:	70000 Tons Of Metal 2012

According to the Rolling Stone official website, Guns N' Roses are one of the bands to be inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame Class 2012, alongside Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys, the Small Faces/Faces, Donovan and Laura Nyro. Freddie King will enter the Hall Of Fame as an Early Influence, while the late producer and TV host Don Kirshner will receive the Ahmet Ertegun (nonperformer) Award and producers Cosimo Matassa, Tom Dowd and Glyn Johns will receive the Award for Musical Excellence.

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Source:	rollingstone.com
Band profile:	Guns N' Roses

The newest Opeth's release Heritage is bringing very good news for the Swedish metallers. Opeth have been nominated once again for a P3 Guld Award in the Rock/Metal category. For the first time, it is up to the public to cast their votes rather than the professional industry, which didn't happen in previous editions in the 8 year history of the awards. Opeth already won the award once in 2003 and since then have been nominated many times but never managed to win again.

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Source:	opeth.com
Band profile:	Opeth

UK's heavy metal pioneers Judas Priest have announced the first dates of their upcoming European tour, taking off on April 14th in Poland.

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Source:	judaspriest.com
Band profile:	Judas Priest
Event:	Judas Priest: Epitaph World Tour 2012 - Europe

After the release of the album Worship Music, Anthrax are back on the road in 2012 with several dates announced. Anthrax announced on their official website a new date before the HammerFest IV, now in London. Anthrax will play an intimate show at the O2 Islington Academy on Thursday, March 15th, 2012.

Anthrax will also play at the HammerFest IV, where they will be joined by other metal bands: Dream Evil, Amon Amarth, Exodus, Chimaira, Paradise Lost, Hell, Evile and many more from March 15-17 at Pontin's, Prestatyn.

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Source:	anthrax.com
Band profile:	Anthrax

Megadeth's "Public Enemy No. 1", the 2011 single from the band's latest album Th1rt3en, has been nominated for a Grammy in the Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance category for the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. Megadeth is nominated along with Dream Theater, Foo Fighters, Mastodon and Sum 41. This is Megadeth's 10th Grammy nomination. The awards will be broadcast Sunday, February 12th, 2012 on CBS.

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Source:	megadeth.com
Band profile:	Megadeth

Iced Earth's 2011-2012 World Dystopia Tour has new additions. Iced Earth announced last November 24th, 2011, that the band will perform for the first time ever in Australia. Jon Schaffer comments: "We are extremely happy to finally play in Australia for the first time. It is something that is way overdue and I am looking forward to kicking ass with one of the best metal audiences in the world!" The band will be performing in Melbourne and Sydney in April. Support acts will be announced later.

The dates are the following:

April 4th, 2012 - Billboards The Venue - Melbourne, Australia
April 5th, 2012 - The HiFi Sydney - Sydney, Australia

Source:	icedearth.com
Band profile:	Iced Earth

According to Metallica's official website, two new locations were added to the 2012 European summer vacation tour. Germany and Austria are the new additions with shows at Rock Im Park and Rock Am Ring. Metallica are veterans in these two festivals performing for the fifth time in both of them.

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Source:	metallica.com
Band profile:	Metallica

Heavy metal veterans 3 Inches Of Blood will be entering the studio to begin tracking their fifth full length album, set for release in 2012.

The band will be working out of Vogville Studios and Profile Studios in Vancouver with engineer and producer Terry Sho Murray, who also worked on the band's last 7". 3 Inches Of Blood's 2009 album, Here Wait Thy Doom showcased the band's distinct, traditional heavy metal sound and debuted on the Billboard Top 200 charts. The band promises fans they will not have to wait long for the impressive planned follow up.

The band added: "Pre-production for our next record has been fucking excellent! Our new tunes are sounding awesome, and I know all of you are in for a real fucking metal album! Get ready!"

Source:	facebook.com
Band profile:	3 Inches Of Blood

Swedish death metallers Unleashed just checked in from the Chrome Studios in Sweden where they have finished the recordings of their 11th full-length album, which is set for a spring 2012 release via Nuclear Blast Records. The production will be handled by guitarist Fredrik Folkare at his Chrome Studios in Sweden.

Johnny Hedlund (bass/vocals) commented: "We are now ready with most of the recording, final vocals were done last week and we are very satisfied so far. We will now spend some real time on mixing this and creating a crushing sound. Anders just asked me if this might be the fastest Unleashed album to date. I'm not sure but it's likely close anyhow."

Source:	nuclearblast.de
Band profile:	Unleashed

Legendary Arizona thrashers Sacred Reich are confirmed for the 2012 edition of the Sweden Rock Festival which will be held in Sölvesborg, from June 6th-9th. This is the band's debut at the festival featuring their classic line-up of vocalist/bassist Phil Rind, guitarists Wiley Arnett and Jason Rainey and drummer Greg Hall.

Confirmed bands now include: Blue Öyster Cult, Sacred Reich, Symphony X, Dimmu Borgir, Gamma Ray, Edguy, Pentagram, Hell, Mötley Crüe, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bonafide and Danko Jones. More details about the festival were previously reported over here.

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Source:	swedenrock.com
Band profile:	Sacred Reich
Event:	Sweden Rock Festival 2012

U.D.O.'s November 16th concert at Hristo Botev Hall in Sofia, Bulgaria, was professionally filmed for the band's next official live DVD, due to be released in 2012.

In their official website, the group commented: "The audience was absolutely fantastic and forced us to play for nearly 2 hours and 30 minutes. More than 2,000 fans welcomed back us after 7 years and pushed everybody over his personal limit. Sofia was absolutely great and we will never forget this show."

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Source:	udo-online.com
Band profile:	U.D.O.

German power metal band Primal Fear will release a new studio album entitled Unbreakable, which will be out in stores January 20th, 2012, in Europe and January 24th in North America. After a tour through South America in the spring of 2011, more dates in Europe plus an outstanding appearance on the 2011 edition of the Wacken Open Air, Primal Fear were ready to start recording the new album.

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Source:	primalfear.de
Band profile:	Primal Fear

The upcoming Accept album will be released on April 2012 via Nuclear Blast Records and already has a name: Stalingrad. The band is currently writing material for this new LP, which will once again be produced by Andy Sneap (Megadeth, Exodus, Nevermore, Arch Enemy). The band decided to choose the British producer, the same that produced Blood Of The Nations.

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Source:	jorzine.com
Band profile:	Accept

Brazilian metallers Sepultura have announced that their new drummer is Eloy Casagrande. Eloy will replace Jean Dolabella as the new drummer for the band.

The band posted on their official website: "Brazil's triumphant heavy metal export, Sepultura, has announced the addition of drummer, Eloy Casagrande, to its arsenal of world-class musicians, replacing Jean Dolabella as the band's full-time percussionist. The 20-year-old drum prodigy from São Paulo, Brazil, who won the Modern Drummer Undiscovered Drummer Contest as a teenager in 2006, is more than eager to begin his career with the veteran metal icon."

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Source:	sepultura.uol.com.br
Band profile:	Sepultura