In Flames out, Hatebreed in, on 'The Metal Tour Of The Year'

Due to international visa issues, Swedish metallers IN FLAMES have pulled out of "The Metal Tour Of The Year", co-headlined by MEGADETH and LAMB OF GOD and featuring special guests TRIVIUM. Replacing them on the bill will be HATEBREED.

Earlier today (Tuesday, July 13), IN FLAMES released the following statement: "In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we had to make the difficult decision to not join 'The Metal Tour Of The Year'. We were looking forward to playing for you all and this was an unbelievably hard choice to make.

"Thank you for understanding and your support as we all get through this unprecedented time. We have a lot of things in the works for 2022 - more on that shortly. Stay safe & we’ll see you on the road again soon!"

Produced by Live Nation, the rescheduled "The Metal Tour Of The Year" will now kick off on Friday, August 20 in Austin, Texas and hit a further 26 cities before wrapping in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada on Saturday, October 2.

HATEBREED's latest album, "Weight Of The False Self", was released last November via Nuclear Blast Records. The LP was produced by frequent HATEBREED collaborator Chris "Zeuss" Harris and it arrived on the heels of the sold-out anniversary shows that HATEBREED embarked upon throughout 2019 and the unprecedented success of 2016's "The Concrete Confessional". Not only did the latter tally over 42 million Spotify streams, but the single "Looking Down The Barrel of Today" also clocked 30 million-plus Spotify streams. The band also covered Revolver and The Guardian bestowed a 4-out-of-5-star rating on the album, proving that over 20 years deep into its career, this Connecticut hardcore metal institution remains as vital as ever.