Yes folks....it's time to think about that time of the year again. Trans-Siberian Orchestra is hitting the road for their annual Christmas tour beginning Nov. 1st in Youngstown, Ohio and continuing through to January 6th in Green Bay WI. Besides the U.S. dates, confirmed shows in Canada include Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Vancouver. As usual, 2 versions of the band will cover East and West coast dates simultaneously. The complete list of tour dates can be found here.

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Finnish folk-influenced melodic death metal band ENSIFERUM has parted ways with keyboardist Meiju Enho. Meiju's statement regarding his decision to leave the group can be found at this location.

Emmi Silvennoinen from the band EXSECRATUS has filling in for Meiju since the beginning of this year and will continue to act as the live/session

Swedish metallers OPETH have issued the following update:

"A memorable evening for any OPETH fan took place on September 8th and 9th at the notorious Anchor Bar in central Stockholm, Sweden. Martin Mendez (bass), Axe [Martin Axenrot; drums] and Fredrik Åkesson [guitar] played a full-on heavy metal cover set fronted by Mats Levén [KRUX, ex-YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, TH ...

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VADER's video for the song "Sword of the Witcher", which was recorded exclusively for a video game called The Wicher, has been posted online at the Polish web site Wirtualna Polska.

Commented the band: "The story of The Witcher is set to realm of best-selling fantasy saga by the same title, conjured to life by < ...

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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