Multi-million selling, often derided Canadian band Nickelback have announced UK dates for October 2012.

As part of their ‘Here & Now’ tour, Nickelback begin their run of UK appearances on October 1st.

The confirmed dates are:
London O2 Arena (October 1)
Birmingham National Indoor Arena (2)
Manchester Evening News Arena (4)
Newcastle Metro Arena (5)
Sheffield Motorpoint Arena (7)

Read a review of Nickelback’s 2011 release ‘Here & Now’ here.
Read a review of Nickelback’s 2008 release ‘Dark Horse’ here.

Earlier in 2012, US metal heroes Lamb of God visit Autralia and New Zealand as part of the Soundwave travelling festival. Soundwave TV presenter Christina Rowatt interviewed vocalist Randy Blythe and drummer Chris Adler during the tour, and you can now view their chat below.

The 2012 Soundwave featured arguably the best line up of any rock-based festival of the past year, hosting Lamb of God, the reformed Soundgarden, Marilyn Manson, System of a Down, Machine Head, Alter Bridge, Slipknot, Devin Townsend, Chimaira, Black Label Society, Jack’s Mannequin, Sisters of Mercy and 90s nu-metallers Coal Chamber who reformed especially for the festival.

Bonus interview clip: Lamb of God bassist John Campbell interviewed by Metalship in February 2012:

It has been announced that ex-Dixie Dregs/current Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse will be appearing on the European leg of the 2012 G3 tour.

G3 is somewhat of an institution among Joe Satriani fans. The Chickenfoot guitarist founded the “G3” tour many years ago as a vehicle to appear in a live setting alongside other world-class guitarists. Previous tours have often also featured Steve Vai, who is also set to appear on the upcoming tour. Other notable previous G3 participants have included Eric Johnson, Yngwie Malmsteen and Paul Gilbert.

So far, these dates have been confirmed for the 2012 tour:

Jul. 21 – Offenbach, Germany
Jul. 23 – München, Germany
Jul. 24 – Hamburg, Germany
Aug. 01 – Budapest, Hungary
Aug. 05 – Moscow, Russia

More dates to be announced later.

The artwork and tracklisting for the upcoming Marilyn Manson album has been unveiled.

Manson’s eighth studio record – entitled ‘Born Villain’ – presents the first new music from the Rev. Marilyn Manson and his crew since 2009’s ‘High End of Low’. It contains the following tracks:

01. Hey Cruel World…
02. No Reflection
03. Pistol Whipped
04. Overneath The Path Of Misery
05. Slo Mo Tion
06. The Gardener
07. The Flowers Of Evil
08. Children Of Cain
09. Disengaged
10. Lay Down Your Goddamn Arms
11. Murders Are Getting Prettier Every Day
12. Born Villain
13. Breaking The Same Old Ground

The first music from the album was heard as far back as September 2011, when the title track was released, along with a NSFW video clip (directed by Shia LeBoeuf), which you can view by clicking the link on this page [embedding has been disabled to protect those of a sensitive nature].

The album is scheduled for release on May 1st in the US (and one day earlier elsewhere) and will be preceded by a US tour (dates to follow).

It has been announced that the current line-up of Thin Lizzy – featuring classic members Scott Gorham and Brian Downey, fronted by The Almighty’s Ricky Warwick – are to support Guns N’ Roses on their upcoming UK tour.

The confirmed May/June dates are as follows:

May 19th Nottingham – Capital FM Arena
May 20th Liverpool – Echo Arena
May 23rd Newcastle – Metro Radio Arena
May 25th Glasgow – SECC
May 26th Birmingham – LG Arena
May 29th Manchester – MEN Arena
May 31st London – 02 Arena
June 1st London – 02 Arena

Since Lizzy already had tour commitments of their own in May, six of the eight original Thin Lizzy shows have been shifted to November/December.

The new dates are as follows:

Bournemouth Academy – November 30th
Norwich UEA – December 3rd
Middlesborough Empire – December 5th
Liverpool Academy – December 7th
Edinburgh Picture House – December 8th
Nottingham Rock City – December 9th