UK progressive/melodic death metallers Betraeus have released a new video for their track ‘Towards The Sun’ via BlinkTV, which can be viewed below.

The track comes from the band’s 2011 EP of the same name, released digitally via Seige of Amida Records in 2011.

The band will be playing live dates throughout December to promote the release. You can catch Betraeus at the following venues:

Tuesday 6 – Swansea, Sin City
Thursday 8 – London, Purple Turtle (Camden)
Friday 9 – Brighton, Belushis
Sunday 11 – Glasgow, 13th Note
Thursday 15 – Leicester, Soundhouse
Saturday 17 – Manchester, Satan’s Hollow
Sunday 18 – Bury, The Towler
Monday 19 – Leeds, Escobar

New York hardcore legends Biohazard have announced their first tour dates for the new year. In support of their ‘Reborn In Defiance’ album, the band will appear at the following venues in January 2012:

Jan. 15 – Albany, NY – Bogies
Jan. 17 – New York, NY – Gramercy Theater

In February, Biohazard will be visiting the following venues, where they will be supported by Madball at all shows:

Feb. 08 – Syracuse, NY – Station 58
Feb. 09 – Portland, ME – Asylum
Feb. 10 – Worcester, MA – The Palladium
Feb. 11 – Poughkeepsie, NY – The Chance
Feb. 14 – Pittsburgh, PA – Diesel
Feb. 15 – Richmond, VA – Kingdom
Feb. 16 – Towson, MD – Recher Theatre
Feb. 17 – Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom
Feb. 18 – Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom

‘Reborn In Defiance’ will be released on 23rd January 2012 via Nuclear Blast Records.

Progressive metal/djent band Circles have announced a handful of tour dates.

In support of their current single ‘Eye Embedded’, the Australian band can be seen at the following venues early 2012:

14 January – The Corner Hotel, Melbourne
15 January – The National Hotel, Geelong
28 January – Venom Nightclub, Sydney
3rd February – The Hi-Fi Bar, Brisbane
4th February – Miami Shark Bar, Gold Coast
10th February – The Bended Elbow, Ballarat

The band’s debut EP ‘The Compass’ was released in the Spring of 2011 via Basick Records and attracted rave reviews.

2012 is hotly rumoured to be the year Van Halen make a big comeback with a new album featuring David Lee Roth back out front.

Early next year is also expected to see the release of ‘Take Your Whiskey Home: Van Halen 1977-1984’, a disc featuring some of the bands peers putting their mark on songs from the Van Halen’s formative years. The tribute is said to feature performances by members of Aerosmith and Ratt alongside ex-members of Whitesnake and ex-members of Ozzy Osbourne’s various backing bands.

On paper, this could be inessential but quite fun, rather like this year’s ZZ Top tribute disc, except there’s one thing to set the alarm bells ringing: it also features contributions from a member of Vanilla Fudge. This strongly suggests the project is masterminded by Carmine Appice – a man with several rather average tribute discs under his belt to date, including a really, really awful collection of Led Zeppelin covers recorded by Vanilla Fudge in the late 00s.

Featuring the right members of Aerosmith and Ratt, all hope is not lost, however. It’s likely to make its way into REAL GONE’s review pile when the time comes… Let’s hope for a pleasant surprise!

At this time, no formal tracklisting has been announced.

Having reformed in 2010 for a series of gigs, Britpop band Cast have announced the tracklisting for their first album in a decade.

‘Troubled Times’ reunited the original line up of the band with renowned producer John Leckie and marks the band’s first completely new work since 2001’s flop swansong ‘Beetroot’.

The album will be released on February 20th 2012, preceded by a single, ‘See That Girl’ on December 19th. The album’s release will be promoted with a full UK tour.

‘Troubled Times’ track listing:

‘Bow Down’
‘Troubled Thoughts’
‘The Sky’s Got A Gaping Hole’
‘See That Girl’
‘Not Afraid Of The World’
‘Silver And Gold’
‘Bad Waters’
‘Hold On Tight’
‘About A Girl’
‘Brother Fighting Brother’
‘Time Bomb’
‘Tear It Apart (All Over Again)’