IRON MAIDEN have announced their most ambitious and extraordinary touring plans ever — and are very pleased to announce that this will include Australia for the first time in 15 years!

The Somewhere Back In Time World Tour 2008 will be in three sections, starting in February and March 2008 with the first leg encompassing major concerts in 20 selected cities on five continents in seven weeks including India, Japan, North America, Central and South America, and, of course, Australia, opening in Perth on February 4 and continuing through Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane:

Somewhere Back In Time, Australia 2008 dates:

Feb. 04 - Burswood Dome - Perth

We are pleased to announce the addition of Zadok to the MetalReviews.com staff this week! Many of you know him as Zad on the forums. Please join us in welcoming him to the staff. We are pleased to have him aboard, and hope that he enjoys being part of this site!

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Finnish folk metallers KORPIKLAANI have inked a new worldwide deal with Nuclear Blast Records. The band has issued the following statement on the matter:

"Once upon a time were the merry men of KORPIKLAANI on a tour somewhere in Europe, drinking beer in the bus on the road from here to there. Between the beers there was also some talk about our future.

"On the small bus table, half hidden under the dog-eared deck of cards, coins and empty bottles, there was a Blast! magazine. This catalogue of Nuclear Blast had seen better days. It had already served as a beermat, ashtray and toilet

Although releasing the amazing concert DVD A night under the Dam earlier this year, the band felt drained of energy after the miserable organized USA tour put together by The End Records and their booking agent. The End Records being one of the main supporters of the band the last years, bringing hope back to Green Carnation's view on the music business, left the band with broken promises, huge debts, theft of license money and a poor organized tour draining the band for energy. The band doesn’t blame The End Records for all of its problems, but they made a bad situation worse by first giving the tour a green light when the conditions for the tour were doomed from the beginning and then la ...

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Italian folk metallers ELVENKING have announced the worldwide release dates for their new album, "The Scythe":

Europe: September 14 (AFM Records)
USA: November 6 (Candlelight Records)
Japan: November 21 (Soundholic Records)

The European limited digipack version will include one bonus audio track ("Horns Ablaze") and one bonus video track ("The Divided Heart").
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Timo Tolkki (STRATOVARIUS), Alexi Laiho (CHILDREN OF BODOM), Roope Latvala (CHILDREN OF BODOM), Emppu Vuorinen (NIGHTWISH), and Esa Holopainen (AMORPHIS) are among the

British black metal pioneers VENOM have decided to re-record some of the already completed tracks for their upcoming album and push back the CD's projected release date to early 2008. Drummer Antony "Antton" Lant (brother of VENOM frontman Conrad "Cronos" Lant) explains: "During the Scandinavian tour [which took place in May 2007] we played through some of the new tracks in the soundchecks. There's something about the energy you deliver when playing on a stage that differs greatly from recording in a studio. All fired up, we tore the tracks to shreds. We tried to organize a mobile studio to get to the next shows, but it was way too late notice, so on our return ...

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OPETH's "The Roundhouse Tapes" will be released as a high-definition-filmed DVD in early 2008. This will also feature lots of fan interviews, band interviews, soundcheck footage and live photos, along with exclusive menu music written by mainman Mikael Åkerfeldt and keyboardist Per Wiberg.

The cover artwork for OPETH's upcoming "The Roundhouse Tapes" double CD has been posted at

Backed by the impetus of their successful "Keeper Of The Seven Keys – The Legacy" world tour which saw the band perform 93 shows in 34 countries around the globe — impressively documented on the double live DVD "Live On 3 Continents" — German metallers HELLOWEEN are about to release their twelfth studio album, "Gambling With The Devil". The new offering is scheduled to arrive at the stores on October 23, 2007 (USA), October 26, 2007 (Germany) and October 29, 2007 (rest of Europe) and will see the five musicians — Andi Deris (vocals), Michael Weikath (guitar), Sascha Gerstner (guitar), Markus Großkopf (bass) and Dani Löbl ...

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Clubplanet.com recently conducted an interview with MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer Tommy Lee. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Clubplanet.com: Tommy, was there a moment where you first fell in love with electronic music, and is there a split between rock and dance fans who come to see you DJ?

Tommy Lee: At our L.A. Forum gig, there were 6,000 people, and everyone was dancing their asses off! I've always loved