Power Metallers Sonata Arctica have announced that a new album is on the way. The band has started the songwriting process, and has also been doing some rehearsals. Sonata Arctica have also launched their own rehearsal diary which details the band's progress as they create the album. No other details about the album have been announced yet.

You can see the rehearsal diary by clicking here.

UPDATED on 7 December:
Sonata Arctica have started recording their next studio album!!
The studio diary can be found here.

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Source:	sonataarctica.info
Band profile:	Sonata Arctica

A second tour of the US has been announced by Death/Grindcore band Napalm Death. The tour will be called the 'Death By Decibels' tour and Napalm Death will be the headline act. The tour will also feature A Life Once Lost, Dead To Fall and Animosity. Also Impaled will be playing at the shows between 11/29 and 12/09 and Arsis will be appearing between 12/12 and 12/21.

Here is a list of all the dates:

11/25 - Buffalo, NY @ Club Infinity
11/26 - Detroit, MI @ I-Rock Nightclub
11/28 - Omaha, NE @ Sokol Underground
11/29 - Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theatre
12/01 - Boise, ID @ The Venue
12/11 - El Paso, TX @ Chic's Bar
12/14 - New Orleans, LA @ Howlin Wolf
12/15 - Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
12/16 - Springfield, VA @ Jaxx
12/17 - Baltimore, MD @ Sonar
12/18 - Cleveland, OH @ Peabody's
12/19 - Philadelphia, PA @ Starlight Ballroom
12/20 - New York, NY @ Knitting Factory
12/21 - Asbury Park, NJ @ The Stone Pony

Source:	enemyofthemusicbusiness.com
Band profile:	Napalm Death

Canadian Death Metallers Cryptopsy have announced a tour of North America. The tour will go all through October this year, and will cover Canada and the USA. The tour will continue to be in support of Cryptopsy's latest album 'Once Was Not'.

Here is a list of dates:

04/10/06 - Ottawa, On @ Maverick's
05/10/06 - Hamilton, On @ Absinthe
06/10/06 - Rouyn Noranda, QUE @ Petit Théatre du vieux Noranda
07/10/06 - Toronto, On @The Opera House
08/10/06 - London, On @ Embassy
09/10/06 - Sudbury, On @ Jubilee Centre
11/10/06 - Thunder Bay, On @ Kilroy's
12/10/06 - Winnipeg, Man @ Royal Albert
13/10/06 - Regina, Sask @ Exchange
14/10/06 - Edmonton, Alb @ The Moad Hall
16/10/06 - Victoria, BC @ Sugar NightClub
17/10/06 - Vancouver, BC @ The Lamplighter
19/10/06 - Calgary, Alb @ The Stetson
21/10/06 - Minneapolis, MN @ Quest Club
22/10/06 - Mokena, Ill @ The Pearl Room
23/10/06 - Cleveland, OH @ Peabody's

Source:	cryptopsy.net
Band profile:	Cryptopsy

More details about Death Metal band Obituary's upcoming DVD have been announced. The DVD now has the title of 'Frozen Alive'. The band has spent the last week in The RedRoom with Mark Prator mixing the audio part of the DVD. The DVD is now also to be expected to be released around December 2006-January 2007. It's a recording of the band's show in Poland on the 24th August and it will be Obituary's first ever DVD.

Here is a comment by vocallist John Tardy:

"So far it sounds pretty heavy and I am really getting excited. I still can't believe we have waited this long to do one but, that is just the way it worked out".

Source:	obituary.cc
Band profile:	Obituary

Moonsorrow, Arch Enemy and Tankard have all just been confirmed for this years Arnhem Metal Meeting. The festival will take place on Saturday 9th December this year at Musis Sacrum in Arnhem, Holland. More bands are said to be announced soon.

Here is the list of bands announced so far:

Aeternus
Ancient Rites
Antaeus
Arch Enemy
Immolation
Melechesh
Moonsorrow
Necrophobic
Skyforger
Tankard
Thronar

Source:	arnhemmetalmeeting.nl
Band profile:	Moonsorrow

More dates for Power Metal band Edguy's South American tour have been announced. Originally, only three dates were confirmed, but a larger lineup of seven shows will now happen. Edguy have also said the even more South American appearances should happen as the booking for further dates in other countries and cities is in progress.

Here is a full list of the so far confirmed dates:

01 Nov 2006 - Estadio Chile, Santiago de Chile, Chile
03 Nov 2006 - Credicard Hall, Sao Paulo, Brazil
04 Nov 2006 - Claro Hall, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
05 Nov 2006 - Master Hall, Curitiba, Brazil
07 Nov 2006 - Opinião, Porto Alegre, Brazil
18 Nov 2006 - Monterrey Metal Fest, Monterrey, Mexico
19 Nov 2006 - TBA, Mexico City, Mexico

In other Edguy news, the band, along with Brainstorm and Mercenary have been confirmed for next year's 'Bang Your Head!!!' festival. The festival will take place on 22-23 June, 2007 at Messegelände in Balingen, Germany. More acts for the festival are said to be announced soon.

Source:	edguy.net
Band profile:	Edguy

Power Metal band Hammerfall's record company Nuclear Blast have posted the official video to Hammerfall's new song 'Natural High' online. The song 'Natural High' comes from Hammerfall's upcoming album entitled "Threshold". It's the first official video from the album as well. 'Natural High' is also the first single from the album.
Nuclear Blast's Europe division have also posted a nine minute video interview online. The interview was done during the production of the video.

Click here to watch 'Natural High' video.
Click here to watch the video interview.

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Source:	blabbermouth.net
Band profile:	HammerFall

All the dates for Australian Black/Death Metal band Destroyer 666's 'Wolves Over America' Tour have been finalised. Some venues have changed and dates have been moved, and some new shows have been added.

Destroyer 666's final list of dates for their American tour now looks like this:

Sep. 29th - NYC (NY) @ Metal Kingdom
Sep. 30th - Austin (TX) @ Room 710
Oct. 1st - St. Paul (MN) @ Station-4
Oct. 2nd - Chicago (IL) @ The Double Door
Oct. 3rd - Seattle (WA) @ The FunHouse
Oct. 4th - San Francisco (CA) @ The Elbow Room
Oct. 5th - Los Angeles (CA) @ The Westchester
Oct. 6th - Houston (TX) @ FBI ROCKS #2
Oct. 7th - Washington DC @ JAXX

Source:	destroyer666.net
Band profile:	Deströyer 666

Today (September 25) Folk Metallers Finntroll will be entering Sonic Pump studios to start recording the follow up to their 2004 album Nattfödd" and their fifth release. This album will be the first that Finntroll has done with new vocallist Vreth, as he replaced old vocallist Tapio Wilska a few months ago. Finntroll have also said that they will be touring a lot next year and they will be doing shows to support their new album.

Here is a comment from the band's website: "We will be touring heavily next year. Keep harrassing your local promoter & club owner to make sure there's going to be Finntroll performing right in your home town then".

The as yet untitled new album will be released early next year.

Source:	finntroll.net
Band profile:	Finntroll

A replacement keyboarder for Power Metal band Dreamtale has been announced. Akseli Kaasalainen will replace departed member Turkka Vuorinen. Dreamtale don't really know what happened to Vuorinen as he dissapeared some time ago.

Here is the band's comment about Kaasalainen:

"He's a young guy (17 years!!) but a really good player and a great guy. We'll add some more info on him later."

In other Dreamtale news, the band have recently been preparing material for their fourth album. The band is just about to go into their second demo session and at the moment about 15 songs are ready. Dreamtale will update with more news about the album soon.

Source:	dreamtale.net
Band profile:	Dreamtale

Doom/Death Metallers My Dying Bride have posted a new video online. The video is of their new song 'Deeper Down' which comes from the band's upcoming album "A Line Of Deathless Kings". Deeper Down was also the first single from the album. The video was directed by Charlie Granberg.

Here is a comment by Granberg about the video:

"The video is about a guy that is so filled with grief and self pity that he sees the world as totally black, even though you get a hint in the beginning of the video that it's summer and all. Then his visions and view of the world takes over. And it just gets darker and darker from there. Is he about to commit suicide or just taking a swim? That's up for you to decide. I have tried working on a subconcious level with a lot of symbolism and metaphors, but still trying to make it somewhat documentary-like and believable."

You can see view the video online at youtube by clicking here.

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Source:	blabbermouth.net
Band profile:	My Dying Bride

Veteran Heavy Metal band W.A.S.P. have posted some new tour dates online. The dates add to W.A.S.P.'s already extensive European tour. This part of the tour will happen at the end of this year. All these dates are with the band 'Jaded'.

Here are the new dates:

18/11/06 - Ireland, Dublin @ Tripod
19/11/06 - Ireland, Belfast @ Spring & Airbrake
20/11/06 - Ireland, Belfast @ Spring & Airbrake
23/11/06 - Spain, Alicante @ Nave 8
24/11/06 - Spain, Madrid @ Macumba
25/11/06 - Spain, Santiago De Compostela @ Capitol
26/11/06 - Spain, Bergara @ Jam
27/11/06 - Spain, Barcelona @ Razzmatazz
01/12/06 - Portugal, Lisbon @ T.B.A.
02/12/06 - Spain, Seville @ T.B.A.

A full list of dates can be found here.

In other W.A.S.P. news, the band have posted a recently performed live track of a new song online. The song is called 'Mercy' and is expected to appear on their upcoming album "Dominator". This live version was recorded during their Bulgaria show of their current European tour. You can download it by visiting W.A.S.P.'s offical forum.

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Source:	waspnation.com
Band profile:	W.A.S.P.

Black Metal band Dark Funeral have posted the live video to their reasonably new song 'Atrum Regina' online. The clip was filmed in Paris, France on 17th March this year at La Locomotive. It was produced by Escape Productions. The video was edited by Magnus Gillberg. The song 'Atrum Regina' comes from Dark Funeral's most recent album "Attera Totus Sanctus".

The clip can be downloaded from Dark Funeral's official website. Or you can simply view it/download it by clicking here.

Check out the band's current tour schedule at this location.

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Source:	darkfuneral.se
Band profile:	Dark Funeral

Viking/Folk Metal band Moonsorrow have announced two live shows in Estonia and The Netherlands. These are the first two announced shows of the band's 'Heathen Crusades 2006' tour. Here is a posting by Moonsorrow from their website: "If you live in Estonia or the Netherlands you might wanna swing by Tallinn and Arnhem respectively to do some serious headbanging!".

Here are the two dates:

13.10.2006 - Nõmme Cult, Tallinn, Estonia
09.12.2006 - Arnhem Metal Meeting, Arnhem, The Netherlands

Source:	moonsorrow.com
Band profile:	Moonsorrow

Heavy/Power Metal band Dream Evil's record company Century Media have posted a song off Dream Evil's upcoming album online. The song is called 'Fire! Battle! In Metal!' and is off the band's aforementioned new album called 'United'. The album is due out towards the end of this month for some countries, and in October for others.

Click here to stream 'Fire! Battle! In Metal!'.

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Source:	centurymedia.com
Band profile:	Dream Evil