Ohio metal heathens SKELETONWITCH have announced plans to demolish North America this summer on a headlining tour, which will also feature classic rockers Barnburner (Metal Blade Records). The tour, which includes two weeks’ worth of dates in Canada, will commence July 17 in York, Pennsylvania soon after the band return from a European tour during which they will play festivals alongside the likes of Slayer, Megadeth, and Behemoth. Complete dates are listed below.  

Taproot began their tour with Hurt in Hartford’s Webster Theater last night in support of their latest release, ‘The Episodes’. Drummer Nick Fredell sat down with us before the show to discuss the new album and touring. Check out the interview below as well as shots from openers, Hurt, and Taproot’s awesome sets.  

Earache Records is celebrating 25 years of bringing extreme metal to the masses and, as part of the celebrations, has released the World’s Shortest Album, striking fear into the hearts of radio DJs everywhere.  

Nonpoint are offering fans an exclusive first-listen advance mix of “I Said It,” a brand-new studio track they’ve recently been working on with Grammy Nominated Producer, Johnny K (Disturbed, Staind, Megadeth).  

Marvel is pleased to present your first look at the hotly anticipated wedding of the year in Astonishing X-Men #51! From New York Times best-sellers Marjorie Liu and Mike Perkins, Astonishing X-Men #51 features a who’s who of the Marvel Universe including some guests that may surprise you! Not only does this unforgettable issue feature covers by Dustin Weaver and Marko Djurdjevic, along with a special “Create Your Own Wedding” blank variant cover by Phil Noto, but select comic book retailers nationwide will host wedding parties at their stores to celebrate this joyous occasion! It’s the story that has everyone talking, and this June – witness Northstar and Kyle tie the knot, in Astonishing X-Men #51!  

Mythological occult metal artisans ABSU regretfully announce the cancellation of their set at this weekend’s Chaos In Tejas festivities, where they were confirmed to headline the show at Red 7 this Saturday with support from Terrorism, Loss, Morbosidad, Ares Kingdom and Black Witchery.  

Doctor Veritas, the third album from Ukraine’s Experimental Death/Black Metal act SVYATOGOR, is out now via Svarga Music. Along with melodic fragments and penetrating vocals, the solos smack of classical Heavy Metal and the saxophone gives the music Jazz and Art-rock tendencies, all of which is rooted in Black Metal.  

Following a near month-long stretch of European live dates, currently underway, stoner metal icons SLEEP will play four special U.S. shows next month in Florida, Washington and California. The performances come in celebration of the epic deluxe reissue of Dopesmoker released via Southern Lord Recordings earlier this month. Entirely remastered from the original smoke-encrusted Ampex reels, the reissue features an unreleased live recording of one their greatest live performances — “Holy Mountain” from San Francisco’s I-Beam in 1994 — as well as a brand new artwork by long time SLEEP artist Arik Roper.  

Portland, OR metallers STONECREEP have added a handful of new dates to their recently announced Storm of the Deathmarch U.S. Tour 2012. The band is touring in support of the 2011 Old-School Metal Records re-release of their album, The Deathmarch Crushes On… The tour is set to get underway on June 16th at Ash St. Saloon in Portland. Dates are as follows:  

Swedish apocalyptic death metallers DIABOLICAL are set to enter the studio to record their as-of-yet untitled fifth album. The band has already started pre-production and will begin recording in June. “We have more than enough material written and pre-produced already, and we are confident that this album will be a milestone for DIABOLICAL as a band and for Metal as a genre.”  

Hard rock supergroup HELLYEAH has debuted the new music video for their title track “Band of Brothers” today on Vevo. To view the video, which was Directed and Produced by David Brodsky (Video of the Year for Devin Townsend’s “Juular,” As I Lay Dying, All That Remains, In This Moment, etc.) and My Good Eye Visuals.  

The first band signed to Disurbed’s Intoxication Records, Art of Dying, have been on the road since the release of their debut album “Vices and Virtues”. They stopped by the Starland Ballroom in Jersey last night for 95.9 WRAT’s Low Dough Summer Kick off Show. Metal Machine caught up with guitarist Greg Bradley before the show for a quick interview: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX2m84Zc1fs[/youtube] Local openers Scarlet Carson started the night off on a good note; a huge local following showed up to support them as they played a short set of hard rock, similar to Seether and Breaking Benjamin. After the crowd was warmed up, Art of Dying were ready to take the Starland stage for their...