German thrash legends Kreator are coming back to North America for the Hordes Of Chaos Part II tour in the spring of 2010. Evile and Lazarus AD will be on all dates, with other bands including Voivod, Nachtmystium, Lightning Swords Of Death and Kataklysm. Kreator's last CD Hordes Of Chaos was released in early 2009.

Hordes Of Chaos Part II Lineups:
March 3-12 Kreator, Voivod, Nachtmystium, Evile, Lazarus AD
March 13 Kreator, Nachtmystium, Evile, Lazarus AD
March 14 Kreator, Voivod, Nachtmystium, Evile, Lazarus AD
March 16 Kreator, Evile, Lightning Swords of Death, Lazarus AD
March 18 - 31 Kreator, Kataklysm, Evile, Lightning Swords of Death, Lazarus AD

Hordes Of Chaos Part II Tour Dates:
Mar 3 2010 Jaxx,West Springfield VA
Mar 4 2010 The Trocadero, Philadelphia PA
Mar 5 2010 The Palladium (MA), Worcester MA
Mar 6 2010 Nokia Theater, Times Square NY
Mar 7 2010 Club Soda, Montreal QUE
Mar 8 2010 Imperial de Quebec, Quebec City QUE
Mar 9 2010 Opera House, Toronto ONT
Mar 10 2010 Peabody's Cleveland OH
Mar 11 2010 Blondie's, Detroit MI
Mar 12 2010 The Bottom Lounge, Chicago IL
Mar 13 2010 Rave, Milwaukee WI
Mar 14 2010 Block Station 4, St Paul MN
Mar 16 2010 Bluebird Theater, Denver CO
Mar 18 2010 Corazon, Seattle WA
Mar 19 2010 Rickshaw Theater, Vancouver BC
Mar 20 2010 Hawthorne Theatre, Portland OR
Mar 21 2010 Slim's, San Francisco CA
Mar 23 2010 House of Blues, West Hollywood CA
Mar 24 2010 House of Blues, San Diego CA
Mar 25 2010 The Rock, Tucson AZ
Mar 27 2010 Emo's Alternative Lounging, Austin TX
Mar 28 2010 Meridian, Houston TX
Mar 30 2010 The Club at Firestone, Orlando FL
Mar 31 2010 The Masquerade, Atlanta GA

Tour Dates For Other Heavy Metal Artists

There are studio bands, and there are road bands, and Machine Head is definitely a road band. They've been touring extensively since their 2007 CD The Blackening was released. They've played all over the world, and opened for some legendary bands including Metallica and Slayer. They have a few months left on this touring cycle, and are currently on the road with Megadeth. I caught up with Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn before their show in Charlotte, North Carolina. He talked about some of the highlights of this tour, the timetable for the next album, their upcoming DVD release, and we reminisced about the early days of Bay Area thrash. Flynn is a musician who appreciates those who paved the way and shows them the utmost respect, but is also confident about his band and their extremely bright future.

Chad Bowar: You've been on the road for nearly three years supporting The Blackening. When you look back, what are some of the things you'll remember about this touring cycle?
Robb Flynn: We got to tour with a lot of our idols. We did Slayer and Megadeth, we did six months with Metallica. We headlined Wacken, we headlined the side stage on the Mayhem Festival. There were some huge moments for us. It's the most amount of touring we've ever done. It will be three years when it's all said and done.

During the middle of this touring cycle, the worldwide economy went in the toilet. Have you noticed an effect on your shows and merch sales?
We all thought this was the one area that the economy wouldn't really hit, but this year in particular has just crushed some metal tours. It's been rough. This tour is doing really solid business. It's sold out pretty much every night. What you do notice is that the presales are abysmal. If you were going to gauge the success of this tour by the presales, they are horrible. It's all day of show and walkup sales. I understand. People are struggling. Things are hard everywhere. The fact that anybody wants to come out and see heavy music and that it means that much to them, we are totally stoked about it. It makes us really proud.

Read the complete Machine Head Interview
Machine Head Concert Photos

(photo courtesy Chad Bowar/About.com)

Heavy metal isn't a big part of the Grammys. There are only a couple of categories that include metal artists, and those awards aren't given on the main telecast. Here are the nominees in the metal related categories for the 62nd annual Grammys. The awards ceremony is January 31, 2010 in Los Angeles.

Best Metal Performance
Dissident Aggressor - Judas Priest from A Touch Of Evil -- Live
Set To Fail - Lamb Of God from Wrath
Head Crusher - Megadeth from Endgame
Señor Peligro - Ministry from Adios...
Hate Worldwide - Slayer from World Painted Blood

Best Hard Rock Performance
War Machine - AC/DC from Black Ice
Check My Brain - Alice In Chains from Black Gives Way To Blue
What I've Done - Linkin Park from Road To Revolution: Live At Milton Keynes
The Unforgiven III - Metallica from Death Magnetic
Burn It To The Ground - Nickelback from Dark Horse

If I had to predict the winners, I'd guess Slayer in the Best Metal Performance category, since they have won before. For Hard Rock Performance I think it'll come down to AC/DC and Metallica, with Metallica winning.

Complete List of Grammy Nominations

Everything in music is cyclical, with styles and genres moving in and out of vogue. Thrash metal began in the early '80s, but saw a strong resurgence in the late '00s. Fans of today's modern thrash bands may not have even been born when the first wave of thrash was happening. Here's are some recommended thrash metal albums from the earlier days of the genre. At the bottom of the list, post your suggestions of other essential thrash releases in the "Readers Respond" section.

Essential Thrash Metal Albums