Finnish metal act Nightwish has confirmed a number of upcoming US/Canada tour dates:
08/16 - Opera House, Toronto, ONT
08/17 - Metropolis, Montreal, QUE
08/20 - Palladium, Worcester, MA
08/22 – BB Kings Blues Club, New York, NY
08/23 - Phantasy Theater, Cleveland, OH
08/25 - House of Blues, Chicago, IL
08/26 - Quest Club, Minneapolis, MN
08/30 - Cajun House, Phoenix, AZ
08/31 - House of Blues, Anaheim, CA
09/02 – House of Blues, West Hollywood, CA
Look for dates in Seattle, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Washington DC, and Denver to be added soon. A more comprehensive US tour is already in the works for 2005 as well.
Norwegian black-metal band Ragnarok is seeking a new guitarist. Go here for the full details: http://www.heavymetal.no/show.article.asp?menuid=&artid=947 (in Norwegian)
Danish hardcore act Malkovich has signed with Reflections Records. Sayeth the label, "We're very proud and most and for all very happy that we're going to work together with the Malkovich jugend for their upcoming full-length! After their highly succesfull debut MCD on Coalition Records, the band seems to have taken a ride on a rollercoaster and the trip is far from being over! With their unique blend of hardcore-rockin-screamo they are one of the most original bands around today." The band plans to enter the studio in April to record their debut release for the label.
In other news, Coalition will be reissuing the band's debut vinyl-only 12", originally released by Cheerleader Productions/Transit Recordings. The CD version will be remastered and will also feature all-new artwork. Look for it around April/May.
Lastly, the band has a number of upcoming live dates:
01/25 - Factory, Wassenaar (NL) w/Gilgamesh, One PS, Soporific
02/01 - Innocent, Hengelo (NL) w/Kingpin, Zero Mentality, Icepick, Shattered, Hold My Own
02/14 - Zaal 100, Amsterdam (NL) w/Henceforth, The Shining
03/13 - JC De Bakkerij, Castricum (NL) w/De Sambora's
03/27 - Trashfest 6 / Het Podium, Hoogeveen (NL) w/Anodyne, Zann, Chainsaw, Dead Stop, The 244 GL, Shikari, Humus
03/28 - 04/04: tba (UK tour)
04/10 - De Grote Weiver, Krommenie (NL)
Swedish hardcore act Crowpath has signed with US-based label Willowtip Recordings and will release their debut full-length "Red on Chrome" on April 20. The band's odds and ends collection "Old Cuts and Blunt Knives" (also feat. two tracks from the new album) comes out on January 27 via Robotic Empire. With this much stateside attention, I'd figure a US tour is sure to follow, right?
Windir frontman Valfar (aka Terje Bakken) was found dead last Friday. The cause of death has not yet been released, but rumor speculation is saying that it was suicide. The Norwegian black-metal act recently signed with Tabu Recordings and was planning on recording in May/July, but has not yet decided whether they will carry on.
"I have received about 20 emails, where my life has been threatened directly..." I can't tell if Stratovarius leader/guitarist Timo Tolkki is just a drama queen or if power-metal really are just that crazy. Anyhow, here's a new interview with him and new vocalist Miss K.
Updated European dates for Cobolt:
02/13 - Astra Stube, Hamburg (GER)
02/14 - Schokoladen, Berlin (GER)
02/15 - Café Panama, Fulda (GER)
02/16 - Blue Shell, Köln (GER)
02/17 - Clubkeller, Frankfurt/Main (GER)
02/18 - OBW9, Stuttgart (GER)
02/19 - Prager Frühling, München (GER)
02/20 - Mikrokosmos, Magdeburg (GER)
02/21 - Scheune, Dresden (GER)
As mentioned before, KVLR is hitting the road in Europe during the month of March:
03/08 - Molotow, Hamburg (GER)
03/09 - TBA, Berlin (GER)
03/10 - Clubkeller, Frankfurt/Main (GER)
03/11 - KTS, Freiburg (GER)
03/12 - Bogen 13, Zürich (CH)
03/13 - Boa, Luzern (CH)
03/17 - Scheune, Dresden (GER)
03/19 - Le Marignan, Athus (BEL)
03/20 - Popcenter 013, Tilburg (NL)
Look for February tourdates with Last Days of April around Sweden to come soon. The new self-titled album is out over there at the end of the month, March 23 in the US.
Updated European tourdates for Seven Feet Four:
02/18 - Klubb Dodger @ Smalands, Lund (SWE)
02/19 - TBA, Hamburg (GER)
02/21 - Kulturfabrik Festival, Esch (LUX)
02/22 - TBA, Southampton (UK)
02/23 - The Social, Nottingham (UK)
02/24 - Metro, London (UK)
02/25 - Scruffy Murphy`s, Birmingham (UK)
02/26 - Yorkshire House, Lancester (UK)
Current tourdates for The Lionheart Brothers:
02/29 - Kvarteret, Bergen (NOR)
02/01 - UFFA, Trondheim (NOR)
03/02 - John Dee, Oslo (NOR)
Adrian Recordings artist Björns Vänner will be releasing a new EP called "Alexander Lukas" on February 16 featuring 4 songs exclusive to the release. Tracklist:
01. Alexander Lukas
02. Ser jag ut att må bra
03. En fiende bland oss
04. Mörkröda tomater
05. Jag önskar att du och jag hade ett annat slags förhållande
The results of the Dagensskiva readers poll for the top picks of 2003: http://www.dagensskiva.com/index.asp?datum=2004-1-17
Dark Tranquility has announced that Osmose Productions will be remastering and releasing their classic albums "The Gallery" (1995) and "The Mind's I" (1997) with new booklets and additional bonus tracks. Apparently copies of these CDs have been hard to find and the overwhelmingly positive response to the "Skydancer" rerelease made this move inevitable. I guess I better get my copies on eBay before they're not worth anything, huh? (serious offers will be entertained)
You can now preview a bit of every song from the new Gluecifer album "Automatic Thrill" via their website. The album hits stores next week on January 26.
Updated dates for the Misconduct 'United as One' European tour:
03/04 - BOX, Davos (CH)
03/05 - Leoncavallo, Milano (ITA)
03/06 - TNT, Perugia (ITA)
03/07 - Kofmehl/Kulturfabrik, Solothurn (CH)
03/09 - Hirscheneck, Basel (CH)
03/11 - Hellmut Saarbrücken (GER
03/13 - Café Charbon, Nevers (FRA)
03/14 - De Kelk, Bruges (BEL)
03/20 - European Hardcore Party 11 Edt, Maastricht (NL)
03/21 - Chez Heinz - Hardcore Fireball, Hannover (GER)
03/24 - Limelight, Stuttgart (GER)
03/25 - Cafe Central, Weinheim (GER)
03/26 - JUZ, Leisnig (GER)
03/27 - Wild at Heart, Berlin (GER)