The "Unholy Alliance: Chapter 3" tour just got a whole lot more... unholier? Swedish viking death-metallers Amon Amarth are adding their pagan brand of metal to a tour that already includes the almighty Slayer (fuck yea!), Trivium (eh), and Mastodon (boo). Some new dates have been announced as well.

Job for a Cowboy ran into a fine spot of trouble over the weekend in Europe. Vocalist Jonny Davy came down with a crippling throat infection that forced him to miss a gig at the prestigious Tuska Festival in Helsinki, Finland. Rather than pack up and head for home with their tails tucked between their legs, the mighty metal warriors sucked it up and performed their first-ever instrumental set. HEAR! The heavy licks of Job for a Cowboy. SEE! An unmanned mic stand. FEEL! The raw emotion of the crowd. Ladies and gentleman, Job for a Cowboy (almost) unplugged.

Twilight of the Thunder Gods. Yea, I like it too. The Swedish Viking-influenced melodic death-metallers - who will be touring with The Absence this fall - will thrust their sixth full-length album upon the world on... well, we don't know when yet. But it will almost certainly be sometime before the end of the year, as the band is done recording, and currently working on mixing the album. In fact, you should check out these studio diaries documenting the recording process - they're not bad as far as studio diaries go.

Mikael Åkerfeldt, frontman of Swedish progressive death-metallers Opeth - who recently released Watershed, their ninth studio album - has fallen ill. Due to an acute case of varicella, Åkerfeldt and co. have been forced to cancel all of their scheduled performances this weekend. The following dates have been cancelled:

Everyone's favorite Swedish Vikings, Amon Amarth, are going to be making the long trek across the pond on their Viking ship to entertain the masses in the U.S. and Canada this summer. Somewhere along the way they'll pick up The Absence from Florida to contribute to the destruction. The tour begins October 1 in SoCal (nice!) and will run until October 21 in West Springfield, MA. Venues have not yet been announced, but the following dates have been confirmed: