Nuclear Blast Records USA will be releasing the "Monsters Of Metal Vol. 1" DVD on January 27.

Described as the "ultimate metal DVD compilation," the two-disc set will contain the following track listing:

DVD 1:

01. MANOWAR - "Warriors Of The World United"
02. HAMMERFALL - "Hearts On Fire"
03. HELLOWEEN - "Just A Little Sign"
04. ANTHRAX - "Safe Home"
05. SOILWORK - "Rejection Role"
06. BLIND GUARDIAN - "The Bard's Song"
07. FARMER BOYS - "Here Comes The Pain"
08. PRIMAL FEAR - "Armageddon"
09. TIAMAT - "Vote For Love"
10. IN FLAMES - "Trigger"
11. STRAT ...

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DREAM THEATER have announced the first three dates for the North American leg of their "An Evening With Dream Theater - Train of Thought 2004 World Tour". They are as follows:

Mar. 05 - San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
Mar. 06 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Pantages Theater
Apr. 01 - Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theater

There will be no opening act, and DREAM THEATER will perform two sets with an intermission. More dates will be announced soon.

In other news, DREAM THEATER guitarist John Petrucci has posted the following message on his official web site:

"Hello everyone. Hope you all had a great New Year. I certainly did! Lately, I've b ...

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John Henderson of Naples Daily News is reporting that RUSH guitarist Alex Lifeson faces criminal charges after a scuffle with Collier County sheriff's deputies at The Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Florida on New Year's Eve.

Lifeson, a.k.a. Alex Zivojinovich, a founding member of RUSH, was arrested after what deputies describe as a drunken, violent outbreak at the posh hotel.

Zivojinovich (mug shot), 50, faces six charges that include aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer with violence, and disorderly intoxicatio ...

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NIGHTWISH bassist Marco Hietala has posted the following studio update on the band's official web site:

"Good evening from the southern seacoast of Finland. In this case 'southern' is just the geological location compared to the rest of the country. The wind is at the speed of storm, and the sea swells with the melting snow and rain. I stay inside. In here there's warmth and a twinkling Christmas tree. Our twins are playing with their present toycars and I, at least, have a bloated belly from all the senseless eating during the holidays.

"A week before Christmas I was in Kitee playing my bass parts for the upcoming album. We had a quite nice session over there. On ...

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Multi-talented Swedish musician/producer DAN SWANÖ (EDGE OF SANITY) has commenced work on the fifth NIGHTINGALE album, tentatively due at the end of 2004 through Black Mark Records. "I am in the first stages of demoing new tracks right now and [guitarist/keyboardist Tom] Nouga [has] a bunch of new stuff ready," Dan writes on his official web site. "This far it sounds very promising. Most of my ideas are hard-rocking stuff in the vein of 'Shadowman' and 'Steal The Moon', Nouga's stuff is a bit more varied. This time we will try to take the production more in a '70s direction, the Canadian way!! The album will be recorded by Pelle Saether at Studio Underground in May and mixed there in August."

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Veteran Swiss hard rockers KROKUS have lined up the following tour dates in February/March:

Feb. 25 - Vienna, AUT - Planet Music
Feb. 26 - Augsburg, GER - Spectrum
Feb. 27 - Worms, GER - Krone
Feb. 28 - Wuppertal, GER - Live Club
Feb. 29 - Osnabrueck, GER - Hyde Park
Mar. 04 - Luzern, SWI - ABC Mixx
Mar. 06 - Frauenfeld, SWI - Festhalle Ruegerholz
Mar. 13 - Bern, SWI - Reithalle

As previously reported, KROKUS recently finished production on their double live album, "Fire & Gasoline". A DVD, entitled "Live at Montreux", will be included with the album as a special bonus. "Fire & Gasoline" is due January 23, 2004 i ...

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SIRENIA, the Norwegian band featuring former TRISTANIA guitarist/vocalist Morten Veland, have posted a brand new track, titled "Voices Within", in MP3 format at this location.

"Voices Within" comes off the group's sophomore album, "An Elixir for Existence" (view cover here), due on February 23, 2004 through Austria's Napalm Records.

The follow-up to 2002's "At Sixes and Sevens" reportedly contains 54 minutes of brand new music and features artwork by Joachim Luetke (Image Eye-Luetke Prod.

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Justin Prager, director of music and programming for MTV and MTV2, recently spoke to the Boston Globe about the cable channel's decision to revive "Headbanger's Ball" this past spring after eight years. "We brought it back because there was a demand for it," Prager said. "Metal has always been here, but there seems to be a resurgence of it. The following continues to grow. Metal is the most exciting music out there right now. It seems like a faceless period for mainstream rock, but the headbangers follow every move of every band they like."

"Headbanger's Ball", which airs Saturday nights on MTV2, is hosted by Jamey Jasta o ...

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BBC Radio 2 (U.K.) will broadcast a one-hour DEEP PURPLE special on New Year's Day (January 1) at 21.00 - 22.00 (local time). The program, dubbed "Masters Of Rock", will be hosted by Bruce Dickinson (IRON MAIDEN) and can be heard online at this location.

In other news, DEEP PURPLE fan site The Highway Star recently spoke to the band's bassist Roger Glover about t ...

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Former OZZY OSBOURNE guitarist Randy Rhoads will be inducted into Hollywood's RockWalk of Fame on Thursday, March 18, 2004. The induction will be held in front of Guitar Center Hollywood on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood, California. The exact time will for the induction will be announced at a later date.

Randy Rhoads died tragically in a plane crash on March 19, 1982, one day after performing his final show with OZZY OSBOURNE at the Civic Coliseum in Knoxville, Tennessee. He was 25 years old.

Although Randy only recorded two studio albums with Ozzy (1980's "Blizzard of Ozz" and 1981's "Diary of a Madman"), the impact h ...

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