To celebrate the beginning of 2007, we have compiled a list of our favourite albums from 2006. CLICK HERE to see what Roadrunner UK and our artists thought the musical highlights of the year were.

The awesome Stone Sour will be releasing the next single from ‘Come What(ever) May‘ on March 12th 2007. The new single will be ‘Sillyworld‘ Don’t forget you can buy ‘Come What(ever) May‘ here

The rock god himself Dani Filth is appearing this Saturday 23rd November on a Channel 4 documentary ‘God Gave Rock and Roll to You‘, it will be showing at 18.30 on Channel 4.

DragonForce bassist Frederick talks to metalpigeon.com about the revival of the keytar, Disturbed, learning to play the bass, plastic swords and Sharon and Ozzy, To view the entire interview click here!

An awful tragedy struck 17-year-old Adam Riaz earlier this year. Adam who had been suffering leukaemia died following the deaths of his mother, father and four sisters in a fire at his home in Accrington, in November. Adam died three days before getting the chance to meet his idols Trivium, who have said they were humbled to know one of Adams dying wishes was to meet them backstage on their latest tour. Matt Heafy said they had dedicated their set to him and added: “In some way, we know that Adam was there with us, rocking out in the sky. His personal story was really quite amazing. “Learning that someone’s highest wish is to meet you is really humbling. To know that someone was touched by your music is a band’s ultimate goal – it’s all you can strive for. So of course we wanted to meet him too.” The trip to the meet Trivium had been arranged through the Willow Foundation, a charity that organises special days for young adults with life threatening conditions. When the guys heard that Adam was too ill to go, they decided to visit Adam the hospital on the morning of the concert, they were devastated to learn Adam had passed away before they could visit him. Matt said: “Naturally, we were all very upset. All I could think was, Did he at least know we were coming?’ We had been so looking forward to meeting him, so we were pleased to hear that he did know, and was as excited as us. “So when it came to our show in his arena, we wanted to dedicate our set to him, and hoped also that maybe some of his friends or family might be there. And if not, they might hear about it and know we were thinking of Adam too.” The band have made a donation to the Young Oncology Unit’ at The Christie Hospital and are urging their fans to do so too.’ l For more information visit www.willowfoundation.org.uk

Machine Head have received praise from the amazing mixer himself Colin Richardson, “Thanks for all the messages about the new MACHINE HEAD album, ‘The Blackening‘. We are all happy with how the mix turned out and can’t wait for you to hear it. I’d have to say my favourite tracks are ‘Beautiful Mourning’ (great chorus) and ‘Slanderous Love Song’, which is an amazing groove track with cool dynamics. Of course the entire album features the most underrated drummer in metal ? Dave McClain. He has really raised the bar on this album. “The Blackening” is scheduled for release next year but in the meantime, you can watch the next instalment from Machine Head‘s ‘making of ‘The Blackening‘ album video.

OPETH mainman Mikael í€äó_kerfeldt has issued the following update: “OK, just a brief note to say thanks to everyone that came and saw us during the Ghost Reveries world tour 2005/2006. 19 months of touring, pretty much. We’re gonna post all the dates on Opeth.com soon and it will look insane! What the hell are we doing? “Anyways, I have enjoyed myself quite a lot even though I’ve been away from my family. Now I’ll have a lot of down time to make it up to them. I will also practice my playing like an idiot and try to write material for more than one record. Studio is set up and running. Just gotta finish ‘Scarface’ for the PS2 and then I’m on it!

Roadrunner Records is pleased to announce brand new TRIVIUM headline shows for April 2007, as part of the European headline leg of The Crusade World Tour 2007. These dates follow up the band’s historic support slot as very special guests to Iron Maiden on Maiden’s largest European tour to date, which ends this Friday & Saturday December 22nd & 23rd at London’s Earls Court. The headline tour will see Trivium play 44 shows in two months in 17 countries across Europe. Main support for all dates comes from Canada’s legendary Annihilator. Here are the confirmed UK dates: Sun 8th Apr – Dublin Ambassador Mon 9th Apr – Dublin Ambassador Wed 11th Apr – Bradford St Georges Hall Thu 12th Apr – Manchester Apollo Fri 13th Apr – Glasgow Academy Sat 14th Apr – Newcastle City Hall Sun 15th Apr – Liverpool University Tue 17th Apr – Nottingham Rock City Wed 18th Apr – Cambridge Corn Exchange Thu 19th Apr – Portsmouth Guild Hall Fri 20th Apr – Plymouth Pavilions Mon 23rd Apr – Wolves Civic Hall Tue 24th Apr – Ipswich Regent Wed 25th Apr – London Hammersmith Apollo As to the band’s plans after the holidays? Vocalist Matt Heafy says, “We wrap with Iron Maiden on December 23rd then we head right back to the states for a couple of weeks of vacation before we head to the Land of The Rising Sun and the Land Down Under. Our Japan headline shows have already sold out and we also have a string of headline shows we will be playing in Australia and New Zealand in between Big Day Out shows and from what we hear these shows are also selling out nicely so we know heading to Japan, Australia and New Zealand will be a great way to kick off 2007.” The band will follow those shows by spending February – April on the road in the USA with Lamb Of God, Machine Head, and Gojira. Matt continues, “On behalf of Travis, Corey, Paolo and our management we want to extend to all our family, friends, fans, website members, moderators, admins and supporters our best wishes for a happy and safe holiday season and we hope you get or find whatever it is you are looking for. 2006 was a great year for Trivium thanks to all of you and as we continue to grow and develop we look forward to even bigger and better things to come in 2007 and beyond. Have a safe and happy holiday season and have a Happy New Year.”

The first PORCUPINE TREE 2007 tour dates to coincide with the release of the band’s new album in April 2007 have been announced. The tour will commence with the longest string of UK dates the band have undertaken for several years: 18th April – GLASGOW, ABC 19th April – NEWCASTLE, Academy 20th April – PRESTON, 53 Degrees 22nd April – NOTTINGHAM, Rock City 23rd April – WOLVERHAMPTON, Wulfren 24th April – BRISTOL, Academy 25th April – CAMBRIDGE, Junction 26th April – LONDON, Forum Tickets will go on sale shortly for 퉌£16 excluding Glasgow (퉌£15) and London (퉌£17.50). As many of the band’s recent shows have been selling out, booking tickets in advance is definitely advisable. The as-yet-untitled new album, due out April 16th, features two very special guests – RUSH guitarist Alex Lifeson and KING CRIMSON’s Robert Fripp. Porcupine Tree will be available in the studio for interview in mid-January.

Make sure you tune in to the recently launched Rockworld TV to catch them interviewing Stone Sour. 6pm every Saturday 9pm every Sunday 5pm every Tuesday 8pm every Wednesday INFO: Sky channel 368 or now streamed live on the internet at www.rockworld.tv