Avenged Sevenfold Pull Out Of Australia’s Soundwave Festival

Avenged Sevenfold has pulled out of the Australian festival series Soundwave, which is taking place in February/March.

Win An Alice In Chains Prize Pack!

How would you like to win an amazing Alice In Chains prize pack?? VelvetHammer.net and MetalInsider.net have partnered to give away the following pack of commemorative gear from the band’s historic BLACKDIAMONDSKYE tour to one lucky winner:

1. Alice In Chains set list from BLACKDIAMONDSKYE Vancouver, signed by the whole band
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This gear is very special and EXTREMELY limited, so be sure to enter now! Contest closes at 11:59pm PST on Thursday, 12/23.

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Haste The Day Announces Dates For Farewell Tour

Haste The Day has announced dates for their upcoming farewell tour. The Winter tour will also feature Mychildren Mybride, The Chariot and A Plea For Purging on the bill.

Preview Of New Pantera Song To Debut On Headbangers Ball

It’s being reported that the first fifteen seconds of a previously unreleased Pantera song called “Piss” will open the upcoming episode of Headbangers Ball. The special, called Headbangers Ball: The Year In Metal, will air this Saturday (December 18) at midnight on MTV2. The unreleased track is also expected to be included in the Vulgar Display Of Power 20^th anniversary reissue package due out next year.

To be honest, I’m more surprised to hear that Headbangers Ball is still around, or at least doing new exclusives. The popular metal show from the late 80’s-early 90’s (back when MTV actually played music) made a large comeback in 2003 with Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta as the host. But since 2007, the show has gone host-less (occasionally featuring a special musician “guest host”) and doesn’t have a secure time slot (going on as late as 2 am). But the new trailer for the show makes it appear that the show has gone back to its original format (at least for this one episode). In addition to the new Pantera song, the show will include Liquid Metal DJ Jose Margin interviewing members of Anthrax and Max Cavalera, a panel with Blasko, In This Moment and editors from Revolver and Decibal, and a performance from Life Of Agony. It would be great if Margin continues to host the show and make it more than just an hour of videos. Plus, new Headbangers Ball would be a nice change from pregnant teen moms, or whatever they show on MTV2 nowadays. Check out the trailer for the Headbangers Ball: The Year In Metal below.

Arson Anthem Announces Mini-Tour

Arson Anthem, the hardcore punk supergroup featuring Phil Anselmo (Pantera, Down, Superjoint Ritual), Hank Williams III (Superjoint Ritual, Assjack), Mike IX Williams (Outlaw Order, Eyehategod), and Collin Yeo (Ponykiller), has announced dates for a Southern mini-tour in January. Support on the tour will come from haarp and Warbeast.

Metal By Numbers 12/15: Give The Gift Of Music? Not So Much

Metal By Numbers is a weekly column in which we look at the top metal sellers and debuts of the week.

Continuing a trend we saw last week, there’s not a ton of metal being sold. In fact, with only five albums notching sales of over 100,000, there’s not a ton of music being sold in general. This has nothing to do with metal, but it’s pretty interesting to see Kanye West’s protege, the Joe Satriani-sampling Nicki Minaj, selling more albums than he did this week, despite his massive ego and his album being named the best of the year in many polls.

Notable Debuts:

Flyleaf, Remember to Live (Octone) #94, 11,000 sold
Enough Christian rock fans came out of the chapel and into the record store this past week to make this the top rock debut of the week.

Notable Sales:

Kid Rock, Born Free (Atlantic) #14, 66,000 sold
This album isn’t rap or rock, it’s straight up classic rock. Kid did sample Metallica, and has long hair though, so I guess we’ll let it slide.

Linkin Park, A Thousand Suns (Warner Bros.) #66, 17,000 sold
A 20% increase in sales from last week, but still a little lackluster from a band that sold 10 million copies of their debut album a decade ago.

Disturbed, Asylum (Reprise) #108, 9,300 sold
This album will have sold 400,000 by this time next week. It will eventually go gold, but might not be platinum for a while.

A Day To Remember, What Separates Me from You (Victory) #110, 9,200 sold
The band has sold 100,000 copies in four weeks, which is pretty impressive for any band, even though I couldn’t even tell you what any of their songs are like.

Avenged Sevenfold, Nightmare (Warner Bros.) #115, 8,300 sold
And the  band cross the 400,000 sold mark just about one year after the untimely departure of their drummer.

Five Finger Death Punch, War is the Answer (Prospect Park) #135, 7,000 sold
With a 36% increase over last week, this is another band that will hit 400,000 sold before Christmas.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Night Castle (Lava Records) #149, 6,000 sold
A 40% increase over last week, which might even increase more. Although it’s not a straight up Christmas album. What I want to know is where are all the metal Kwanzaa and Hanukkah bands are.

Godsmack, Oracle (Universal) #184, 4,500 sold
Who names their kid Sully?

AC/DC, AC/DC: Iron Man 2 (Columbia) #194, 4,200 sold
It’s about time these guys came out with a new album, but it’ll probably be another five years. Until then, you’ve got this greatest hits album soundtrack. Read more »

Megadeth, Hellyeah To Perform At Dean Guitar NAMM Concert

Megadeth and Hellyeah will be performing at the Dean Guitars NAMM Jam on Friday, January 14 at the Grove of Anaheim in Anaheim, California.

More Bands Added To Warped Tour Lineup

Winds Of Plague, Miss May I, and Woe, Is Me have been added to the lineup of Warped Tour 2011.

Times Of Grace Announces Debut Tour

Times Of Grace, the new group featuring Killswitch Engage’s Adam Dutkiewicz and former KSE frontman Jesse Leach, has announced plans to partake in their first ever tour. Leach had the following to say about the group’s debut tour, which kicks off in the beginning of February:

“We are excited after all of these years to see Times of Grace become a live band! We have a solid group of musicians on board and some killer bands in the works. This is shaping up to be a tour to be remembered, and the first that reunites Adam and I on one stage together again! I couldn’t be more pleased to present this band to the world.”

Dutkiewicz added:

“Jesse and I are wicked excited to be able to bring our songs to fans live…FINALLY after all these years. We hope you all get a chance to check out the record and come sing along with us when we come to a town near you. Thanks to all of those who support this project, and we hope to see you all very soon!”

The tour will be in support of their debut album The Hymn of a Broken Man, which is due out on January 18, 2011 via Roadrunner Records. The band has been releasing short audio/video teasers of songs off the album. Seven of these teasers have been posted online so far, including one for the song “Fight For Life” (which can be seen above). Dates for Times Of Grace’s debut tour can be viewed after the jump. Read more »

Lazarus A.D. Streaming New Song Online

Lazarus A.D. is streaming a new song called “The Ultimate Sacrifice” on Metal Blade Record’s official website.