Lamb of God, Resolution
Release Date: January 24
Lamb of God's seventh studio album is perhaps their most eagerly anticipatedrecord to date. The Grammy-nominated metal band look to pull out all the stops on Resolution, including a full orchestra and opera singer on the album's closer, "King Me."
Van Halen, A Different Kind of Truth
Release Date: February 7
Van Halen just unleashed the first single, "Tattoo," from A Different Kind of Truth, and the world is abuzz once more about Eddie, David and Co. The band's first album with David Lee Roth in nearly three decades, expectations are unbelievably high for the new Van Halen record. Then again, if anyone can meet them, it's the guy who single-handedly revolutionized the electric guitar.
Black Sabbath, TBA
Release Date: Fall
Black Sabbath have officially started work on what will become their first album with Ozzy Osbourne since 1978's Never Say Die! With Rick Rubin at the helm, hopes are high that Sabbath will be able to capture some of the magic that cemented them as one of the most important bands of all time, metal or otherwise. Unfortunately, guitarist Tony Iommi will be battling lymphoma during the making of the album, with his bandmates flying to England to work on the album while he goes through treatment.
Rush, Clockwork Angels
Release Date: Spring
Rush's new themeatic-but-not-quite-concept album is due out in the spring of this year, and was voted by our readers as the most anticipated album of 2012. Fans are drooling over the idea of the three-song suite set to appear on the album, signalling in the minds of many a return to the prog-rock that put Rush on the map.
Primal Rock Rebellion, Awoken Broken
Release Date: Ferbuary 27
Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith teams up with SikTh frontman Mikee Goodman in a new project that sees Smith covering heavier sonic territory than Maiden allows. Check out "I See Lights" off Awoken Brokenhere.
Rodrigo y Gabriela, Area 52
Release Date: January 24
Rod and Gab team up with a full Cuban orchestra to revisit some of their most memorable tunes. The band will also be hitting the road with C.U.B.A. as their backing band, covering North American in April/May.
Periphery, TBA
Release Date: Summer
Holed up in the studio since late last year, Periphery are working on not one but two new albums, a so called "regular album" and a concept record. With a three-guitar arsenal now at their disposal, it's hard to expect anything less than prog-rock greatness out of Periphery this year.
Kiss, Monster
Release Date: Spring
Kiss once again promise no frills and no ballads on the follow-up to 2009's return to form Sonic Boom. With the recording process wrapping up last week, you can expect Monster sometime in late spring.
Slash, TBA
Release Date: Spring
It looks like an April release date is shaping up for Slash's second solo album, one which he promises to be even rawer and more rockin' than the first one. It'll be interesting to see how the new batch of tunes as compared with the last, given the time the Mad Hatter has had to gel with his live backing band.
ZZ Top, TBA
Release Date: Spring
ZZ Top's long-awaited new album is in the can. Rick Rubin oversaw production on the new album, and above all else, told the Little Old Band From Texas to just be themselves. Taking ample time to road test new songs, we can't help but be excited to hear what Billy, Dusty and Frank have come up with for their fifteenth studio album.
Shinedown, Amaryllis
Release Date: March 27
It's going to be hard work following up the mega-successful platinumn album, The Sound of Madness. Still, Shinedown seem up to the task, especially after the addition of guitarist Zach Myers and bassist Eric Bass back in 2008. As frontman Brent Smith told us in our January issue, "We're in a really, really healthy place."
DragonForce, TBA
Release Date: Spring
Shred-obsessed power metal band DragonForce look to get back to the top of the metal heap with a new album and new vocalist to boot. The band's first album with singer Marc Hudson, DragonForce look to strip back the keyboards and keep the guitars front-and-center on their as-yet-untitled album, due sometime in the spring.
Judas Priest, TBA
Release Date: Late 2012
Priest may be done on the road after their current world tour, but they've made clear that they haven't hung it up yet when it comes to writing and recording new material. The Metal Gods plan to unleash the follow-up to 2008's Nostradamus sometime in the latter half of the year. The disc will give fans the first taste of what Judas Priest sounds like without K.K. Downing.
Aerosmith, TBA
Release Date: TBA
Steven Wilson/Mikael Akerfeldt, Storm Corrosion
Release Date: April
A dream collaboration for progressive metal fans, Storm Corrosion will undoubtedly throw a curveball at anyone who's already trying to picture what it will sound like. The project was originally supposed to feature drummer Mike Portnoy (a busy man in 2012 in his own right,) but ended up being just Wilson and Akerfeldt as the album went in a direction that didn't require much in the way of traditional percussion.
Meshuggah, TBA
Release Date: March 27
"Soon you will meet this colossus that will pulverize your being." That's the sentence Meshuggah used to announce the completion of their new album. Can the results be anything short of "heavy as fuck"?
Municipal Waste, Fatal Feast
Release Date: Spring
Party thrashers Municipal Waste did something new when it came around to recording their new album, Fatal Feast, last year. They took a year off of touring and holed up in the studio to create what guitarist Ryan Waste called "the most focused record we've done."
Anti-Flag, The General Strike
Release Date: March 20
The Occupy Movement and the Arab Spring make right now as poignant a time as any for a new Anti-Flag release. If lead-off single "Neo-Liberal Anthem" is any indication, the anarcho-punks are packing any big surprises, just more great, pissed-off tunes.
Testament, The Dark Roots of Earth
Release Date: April 27
Adrenaline Mob, Omertá
Release Date: March 13
The first of two releases coming from ex-Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy this year, Adrenaline Mob follows up the group's soon-to-be-out-of-print eponymous EP from last year. Adrenaline Mob sees Portnoy teaming up with shredder Mike Orlando and Symphony X vocalist Russel Allen.
Flying Colors, Flying Colors
Release Date: March 27
Two weeks after the release of the new Adrenaline Mob albums comes the debut album from Flying Colors, another Portnoy project, this one featuring Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse, bassist Dave LaRue, keyboard player Neal Morse and vocalist/guitarist Casey McPherson.
Cannibal Corpse, Torture
Release Date: March 13
