Symphonic metal outfit Kamelot have officially announced the appointment of a new vocalist.

Joining the band as frontman is Tommy Karevik, previously of AOR band Seventh Wonder.  Karevik replaces previous vocalist Roy Khan, who left Kamelot in 2011 for “personal reasons”. Although he’s taken on duties as Kamelot’s vocalist, Karevik says he has no plans to leave Seventh Wonder.

In addition to being a member of Seventh Wonder, Karevik previously performed as vocalist with hard rock band Firecracker, on their sole release, 2010’s ‘Born of Fire’.   [read a Firecracker review here]

Australian trio (the) Dirty Three have announced a run of UK dates scheduled for November 2012.

The band – featuring ex-Grinderman and sometime Bad Seeds member Warren Ellis – released their eighth album, ‘Toward The Low Sun’ in February.  The short run of dates finishes with an appearance at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire.

Dirty Three UK tour dates, November 2012:

Birmingham Glee Club (20th)
Manchester Cathedral (21st)
Dublin Button Factory (23rd)
Glasgow Oran Mor (25th)
Gateshead The Sage Theatre (26th)
Bristol Trinity (27th)
O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire (28th) 

August Christopher are a hard working unsigned band from Nashville.  They’ve already release a few self-financed albums [read a review of ‘A New Day’ here] and had music featured on MTV Undressed and WCW Wrestling, but it’s time to get their story heard.

The band are going to be the subjects of a documentary film ’10 Years With An Unsigned Rock Band’, but it can only happen with a little help.

To make the project a reality, the band and documentary maker Ed Scott need a little funding.  They’ve currently raised $285 of their $1000 goal.

You can be involved in the project by making a donation (however small or large) to their cause via Kickstarter at the below link.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/crisscheatham/10-years-with-an-unsigned-rock-band

A full clip of The Devin Townsend Project’s ‘Ghost’ recorded live at London’s Union Chapel has been posted on YouTube.

The clip is the second to surface from Townsend’s lavish DVD set’By A Thread: Live In London’, which documents four complete Devin Townsend Project shows recorded over a four night period.

The DVD set not only includes complete performances of the ‘Ki’, ‘Addicted!’, ‘Deconstructed’ and ‘Ghost’ albums, but also includes 5 bonus CDs featuring audio recordings of each complete show.

‘By a Thread’ was released in the UK on 18th June 2012.

Progressive metallers Opeth have announced a handful of dates for the end of 2012. Dubbed ‘Swedish Heritage’, the run of nine dates takes in six different Swedish cities.

The confirmed dates in full:

Nov. 29 – KB – Malmo, Sweden
Nov. 30 – Katalin – Stockholm, Sweden
Dec. 01 – Club 700 – Örebro, Sweden
Dec. 02 – Nefertiti – Gothenburg, Sweden
Dec. 03 – Nefertiti – Gothenburg, Sweden
Dec. 04 – Sodra Teatern – Stockholm, Sweden
Dec. 05 – Sodra Teatern – Stockholm, Sweden
Dec. 06 – Maxim – Gävle, Sweden
Dec. 07 – Skandiateatern – Norrköping, Sweden

Opeth’s tenth studio album ‘Heritage’ fully explores a more commercial side to the band, which resulted in the release being a top ten hit in Denmark, The Netherlands, Germany, Finland and Norway. The album peaked at #19 on the US Billboard 200.