DREAM THEATER’S Mike Portnoy has confirmed he will be playing on the forthcoming album from Avenged Sevenfold in light of the tragic death of their drummer, The Rev, On December 28th 2009.

June 24th and 25th sees HIGH VOLTAGE FESTIVAL hit Victoria Park, London with a plethora of legendary acts to tickle your aural ‘tastebuds’.

We are happy to announce that joining HEAVEN & HELL on the line-up are label-mates BLACK LABEL SOCIETY and DOWN, who will be hitting the Metal Hammer Stage at the event!

For a full fest line-up and for details on how to get ticket, HEAD HERE.

TAKING DAWN will hit the UK next month with labelmates Airbourne to introduce the UK to their high octane 80’s glam metal inspired rock and will then follow that up with the physical release of their debut album Time To Burn, which hits stores on April 12th.

If you place your pre-order with Play.com, for a limited time only, you will be able to get a free and exclusive keyring bottle opener with your purchase. CLICK HERE TO ORDER.

OR

CLICK HERE and order from HMV.com, where you can get a free coaster, whilst stocks last!

Of course, for those of you who are a little impatient and want the album now, ready to sing along to all the killer tracks at the shows, then the album is available NOW digitally.

Metallers MUTINY WITHIN are streaming their debut self titled album online exclusively over at Metal Sucks.

CLICK HERE to listen to the album in full now!

If you are looking for a heavy, fresh and exciting new metal band, then your prayers have been answered- and now you don’t just have to take our word for it!

The album will see a digital release in the UK of March 1st (full details HERE), with the CD hitting stores on April 26th. You can pre-order the CD online HERE.

MYSPACE UK are currently looking for the Hard Rock ‘Ones To Watch’ and inviting up and coming rock bands to submit their music into The Music Studio for a chance to win studio time and gain some recognition on the site.

Each genre has it’s own star judge and for the Hard Rock category, this is none other than our very own AIRBOURNE. The guys will be casting their eyes over the cream of the crop and selecting the winner for the category.

So, if you’re in a budding rock band, head on over HERE for more details and to submit your band- and maybe YOU will be the ones that Airbourne deem the ‘Hard Rock Ones To Watch’!

April 12th will see COHEED AND CAMBRIA release their new album ‘Year Of The Black Rainbow’ here in the UK. Dubbed a prequel to the Amory Wars series of albums, the record is eagerly anticipated by Coheed fans worldwide and so last week, the band revealed a teaser clip, shot in the studio, on BUZZNET.

If you missed the clip, fret not- we have it here now on Roadrunner UK. Check it out in the player below.

Last week, the band announced that they will play a spattering of shows over here in Blighty. Dates are as follows and tickets are on sale now:

June 22 – GLASGOW ABC
June 23 – NEWCASTLE Academy
June 24 – LONDON Forum

DOMMIN front man Kris has checked in once again from the road in Europe to let us know how things are going on the mainland Euro dates with Lacuna Coil:

With a day off prior to the show, we actually got to wake up in the city and look around a bit in Berlin. We basically got dropped off at the Reichstag and walked around. The structures were pretty impressive.

It wasn’t long before we had to be at the venue… And what a welcome we received! Within 5 minutes into our sound-check, we got yelled at by the house sound people. There’s nothing better than getting yelled at in German. A good time was had by all!

All the shows in Germany are a little later than the rest of the tour with us not hitting the stage until about 9:50 PM. It’s our first time playing in Germany, and while the sound guys weren’t our best friends, the people of Berlin gave us a very warm welcome. I hope this is the trend in Germany. We’ve got quite a few dates to go in this country…

Watch this space for further updates from Kris.

In other Dommin news, the band have announced they will play an intimate London headline show at The Borderline on Sunday 21 March. Tickets are on sale now for

In the latest of their video interviews with the man, the legend SLASH

Fresh off their support slot with Lostprophets, KIDS IN GLASS HOUSES are stoked to announce a headline UK tour in May 2010. This tour will follow the release of their brand new, second album DIRT which hits stores on March 29th.

Vocalist Aled Philips could not be happier to get out on the road with the new record:

This is probably the most excited we’ve ever been for a tour. The songs are bigger and better, and I think people will see the difference in us. We’ll be putting on more of a stage show than before and I just can’t wait to get out and play the new songs.

Tickets go on sale at 9am on Wednesday February 24th, and will be available on a 24hr Hotline: 0871 2200 260, or online at GIS&TOURS. Tickets are priced

This week saw another Download Fest announcement, and our very own and Stone Sour were amongst the bands named to appear! It will be the third Download performance for both of the bands.

Lamb of God are currently in mainland Europe on a headline run in support of current album Wrath. Stone Sour are currently in the studio working on material for a new album, pencilled for a release later this year.