After the large success of the first 70,000 Tons Of Metal Cruise this past year, it was pretty inevitable that it would return for a second run. And after only 3 months since the first one came to an end, plans have already been revealed for 2012. The “world’s biggest floating heavy metal festival” will once again hit the seas, this time heading from Miami to George Town, Cayman Islands, from January 23 to January 27.

In addition to already allowing fans to book the cruise, 70,000 Tons Of Metal Cruise has also revealed seven out of the 40 bands scheduled to perform. Here are the band’s confirmed for the cruise so far:

Eluveitie
Grave Digger
My Dying Bride
Pestilence
Stratovarius
Therion
Tristania

Keep in mind that there are still 33 bands left to be announced, and last time around there were bands that didn’t get announced until weeks prior to the cruise’s cast off. But we can already tell how different the 70,000 Tons Of Metal Cruise will be from ShipRocked 2011 just by looking at those seven bands. Let the battle between hard rock/metal themed cruises continue!

We will keep you posted when more bands are added to the 70,000 Tons Of Metal Cruise, while you can go to the cruise’s official website for information on how to book your spot at this year’s floating metal festival.

[pic via Metal Injection]