Articles by "North American"
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Following up a hugely successful U.S. headlining tour that found the band touring without support and instead performing two separate sets each night, melodic death metal legends AMON AMARTH will return to North America for the second leg of the “An Evening With AMON AMARTH” tour.

Scheduled to kick off in Vancouver on August 4, the trek will ravage its way through 22 cities, including several Canadian venues, and come to a close in Boise on September 3. The first set will again feature the band performing the recently-released, critically-acclaimed Surtur Rising album in its entirety while the second will offer up mixed bag of tunes from their extensive catalog of Norse-inspired awesomeness.

Commented the band in a collective statement: “Yes, it is true! We are coming back to tour North America. The Spring tour turned out to be so successful, and we had such a great time playing the double sets each night, that we decided to bring ‘An evening With AMON AMARTH' to the rest of the continent, including Canada! We will perform the new album in its entirety, and after that we're doing a revised second set with all the classics as well as some ‘wild-cards.’”

An Evening With AMON AMARTH:

8/04/2011 Commodore Ballroom – Vancouver, BC
8/06/2011 Macewan Hall – Calgary, AB
8/07/2011 Edmonton Events Centre – Edmonton, AB
8/08/2011 Odeon – Saskatoon, SK
8/09/2011 The Garrick Centre – Winnipeg, MB
8/12/2011 The Phoenix Theatre – Toronto, ON
8/13/2011  Metropolis – Montreal, QC
8/14/2011 Imperial de Quebec – Quebec City, QC
8/16/2011 Mr. Small’s – Millvale, PA
8/17/2011 St. Andrew’s Hall – Detroit, MI
8/19/2011 Ram’s Head Live – Baltimore, MD
8/20/2011 Starland Ballroom – Sayerville, NJ
8/21/2011 Water Street Music Hall – Rochester, NY
8/23/2011 Expo Five – Louisville, KY
8/24/2011 The Rave – Milwaukee, WI
8/26/2011 House Of Blues – Houston, TX
8/27/2011 House Of Blues – Dallas, TX
8/29/2011 Sunshine Theatre – Albuquerque, NM
8/31/2011 House Of Blues – Anaheim, CA
9/01/2011 House Of Blues – Las Vegas, NV
9/02/2011 The Complex – Salt Lake City, UT
9/03/2011 The Knitting Factory - Boise, ID

Tickets go on sale through all local ticket outlets on Thursday, May 19, 2011.

The eighth studio offering from one of Sweden’s finest death metal exports, Surtur Rising was released in North America on March 29, 2011 via Metal Blade Records and continues to reap praise from fans and critics alike. AMON AMARTH nailed a cover spot of the April 2011 issue of Decibel Magazine and earned a 9/10 rating from Outburn who commended the band for delivering “a collection that is brimming with beefy riffs, insidious melodies, and a truly epic sense of scale.” Fearnet.com agreed saying AMON AMARTH is now “at the head of the class,” Metal Review gave it a 9.2/10 score calling it “one of the band's very best releases,” while Metal Army America offered up a grade “A” review noting, “from the Stockholm-bred riff style to frontman Johan Hegg’s Cimmerian-esque performance as growler du jour, AMON AMARTH’s Surtur Rising proves to be an essential and defining listen for band and fans alike.”

In a recap of the band’s live performance, Concertconfessions.com opined: "What is most beautiful about AMON AMARTH's triumph of America is that it’s as pure as the music itself... Friends sharing with friends the magic of the music, that is a true token of success and judging on the reaction from Southern California on Easter Sunday 2011 – AMON AMARTH will have success for a very long time." The Washington Times applauded the band for leaving, “the sold-out crowd awestruck by [their] mastery of melodic death metal," About.com boasted, “I was highly impressed by AMON AMARTH’s stage presentation, which easily rivals that of bands that normally fill arenas," while Skullsnbones.com put it simply: "One band came and conquered Atlanta and their name is AMON AMARTH. Hailz!"

http://www.surturrising.com
http://www.facebook.com/OfficialAmonAmarth
http://www.myspace.com/amonamarth
http://www.amonamarth.com
http://www.facebook.com/OfficialAmonAmarth
http://twitter.com/amonamarthband
11:10 AM
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SKELETONWITCH Announce "North American Skullsplitter Tour 2010" 
Band To Tour With Labelmates WITHERED and LANDMINE MARATHON



On the heels of their show-stealing performances last month on Ozzfest's second stage, Ohio's SKELETONWITCH have announced a fall headlining tour. The "North American Skullsplitter Tour 2010" will see the blackened-thrash animals supported by labelmates WITHERED and LANDMINE MARATHON.

SKELETONWITCH's Scott Hedrick commented, "We live for the road, so after six weeks of writing the next record, it's going to be great to get back on the stage, basement floor, your mother's house... whatever! Perhaps we'll break out some new tunes. We'll definitely break out some beers! It's also killer to tour with two other Prosthetic bands. Keeping it in the family!"

Singer/guitarist Mike Thompson from WITHERED, who will be joining the run late due to touring commitments with DANZIG, added, "We are really looking forward to the dates we're doing with our friends SKELETONWITCH. It's been a few years since we've gone out with them, so we've got a lot of ridiculousness to make up for. Life never ceases to surprise."

LANDMINE MARATHON's Ryan Butler commented, "We're ecstatic to be touring with our friends in SKELETONWITCH. It's gonna be an absolute blast. We're also extremely excited to be hitting a lot of cities that LANDMINE has never played before and looking forward to gaining fans and friends in those areas. A very metal time will be had by all!"

In addition, SKELETONWITCH has been confirmed as the headliner of the 4th Annual All Hallows Eve Fest, taking place at The Backstage in Chillicothe, Ohio on Oct. 23. The band, currently wrapping up their "European Bangover Tour," also recently posted the first installment of a video tour diary at Metal Injection. Check it out now!

NORTH AMERICAN SKULLSPLITTER TOUR 2010 (SKELETONWITCH with special guests WITHERED and LANDMINE MARATHON, except *)

11/19    Columbus, OH- Ruby Tuesday*
11/20    Toledo, OH- Frankies*
11/21    Dekalb, IL- Otto's Nightclub*
11/22    Lansing, MI- Mac's Bar
11/23    Windsor, ON- Chubby Pickle
11/24    London, ON- London Music Hall
11/25    Hamilton, ON- Absinthe
11/26    Kingston, ON- The Mansion (Wine Cellar)
11/27    Rochester, NY- Montage Music Hall
11/28    New Haven, CT- Lily's Pad at Toad's Place
11/29    Frederick, MD- Krug's Place
11/30    Greensboro, NC- Legitimate Business
12/2      Oklahoma City, OK- Conservatory
12/3      Denton, TX- Rubbergloves Rehearsal
12/4      Austin, TX- Red 7
* No Withered

SKELETONWITCH continue to supporting their latest album "Breathing the Fire," which was recorded in Seattle with legendary producer Jack Endino (Nirvana, High On Fire, Soundgarden). The record debuted at #151 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart and  #2 on the magazine's Heatseekers' Chart.
5:27 PM
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They've sold 30-million records and DVDs, filled the 55,000-seat Tokyo Dome a record-breaking 18 times, they pioneered "Visual-Kei," the Japanese music movement that helped spark the current world-wide Anime craze, and their leader has been referred to as "the Bono of Japan."  But the one thing this Guns-N'-Roses-meets-Queen-meets-'The-Matrix' rock group has wanted to do for years but has never done, is tour America.  That's about to change, as on September 25, X Japan will kick off a seven-city North American trek at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, with subsequent stops in Oakland, Seattle, Vancouver, Chicago, Toronto, and New York.  Tickets go on sale today (8/16) and most can be purchased through ticketmaster[dot]com (go to etix[dot]com for the Chicago date) or at the venues' box office.

"We feel like a new band now, like we are going back to the beginning," said X Japan's leader/drummer/pianist/composer Yoshiki about the upcoming U.S. concerts, "and it's very, very exciting.  We are looking forward to playing smaller venues here in the U.S., something we haven't been able to do in Japan since the very early days."

In Asia, X Japan plays arenas and stadiums, bringing in elaborate production including lasers, catwalks, and holograms.  Comparably, the North American dates will be "back to basics," with pyrotechnics and some production, but with the band focusing primarily on the music.  As Yoshiki told one reporter, "You don't see good rock shows anymore.  Rock doesn't have enough drama now, rap, R&B, and dance music have taken care of that.  We want to be part of bringing the drama back to rock."

While this will be X Japan's first U.S. tour, the band made its American concert debut on August 8, 2010 playing the Main Stage at Lollapalooza in Chicago in front of some 10,000 people.  The Chicago Sun-Times called the band's set "a spectacular, almost operatic performance of big ballads and speed metal..." with new song "Jade," "...a rumbling guitar attack that would make Metallica take notice."  Time Out Chicago's review thanked Lollapalooza co-founder Perry Farrell for booking "the coup of the festival," and pointed out Toshi's "Steve-Perry-eat-your-heart-out-vocals," while USA Today wrote, "The metal-pop-punk was fast and furious," and described Yoshiki's drumming as "Keith-Moon-on-Red-Bull."

Clustered down front-and-center were some 1,000 staunch X Japan fans who had flown in from all over the world to witness this historic first.  While these fans were decked out in full X Japan glam-Anime regalia, most in the audience were unfamiliar with the band when they first took the stage. But by the end of the 50-minute set, X Japan had converted them.  As the Chicago Sun-Times reviewer noted, "Even the mildly curious were won over by the infectious rock drama.  Fists were pumping, guys were playing air guitar, people were making the X Japan sign by crossing forearms in the air."

The members of X Japan have been writing and recording what will be their first album to be released in North America and to contain English lyrics. According to Yoshiki, about half of the album will feature some of the band's most popular songs from throughout their career, with all lyrics re-recorded in English, and the other half all brand-new songs.  The album's first single will be "Jade," which was performed at Lollapalooza and will be on the North American dates' set list.

X Japan - Yoshiki (drums, piano), Toshi (vocals), Pata and Sugizo (guitars) and Heath (bass) - has its roots in the life-long friendship of Yoshiki and Toshi who met when they were four years old.  While still in high school, they formed the band, known at the time simply as "X," and over the next 13 years, X Japan released five studio albums as well as six live albums, 10 compilation albums and 15 video albums, and attained iconic status in Japan.  With the late-90s breakdown of Yoshiki and Toshi's friendship, combined by the sudden death of then-guitarist Hide, the band called it quits.  It wasn't until 2007 that Toshi and Yoshiki reunited, that X Japan was reformed, and that the band put America back in its sights.

"While we are confident about coming to America," Yoshiki added, "I don't know if we are going to end up being successful or not.  But what I do know is that music breaks down barriers, and it doesn't matter what country the music comes from.  Good music is universal."

Dates for X Japan's North American concert tour debut are:

SEPTEMBER
25 Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
28 Fox Theatre, Oakland, CA

OCTOBER
 1 Paramount Theatre, Seattle, WA
 3 Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver, BC  CANADA
 6 Riviera, Chicago, IL
 7 Massey Hall, Toronto, ON  CANADA
10 Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY
5:15 PM

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