This spring marks the Century Family’s inaugural Metal For The Masses tour, which will be co-headlined by Swedish titans THE HAUNTED and DARK TRANQUILLITY with INTO ETERNITY and Scar Symmetry rounding out the stellar bill. The trek will be sponsored by Decibel magazine, Draven and Lambgoat.com, and the tour’s moniker is derived from The Century Family’s annual Metal For The Masses compilation series, which is available exclusively through Hot Topic. See below for the tour’s complete itinerary.

THE HAUNTED’s dynamic new offering, The Dead Eye, sees the band effectively combine elements of their previous efforts while exploring new ideas to continuously challenge themselves. The new effort was recorded in Denmark at Antfarm Studios with renowned producer Tue Madsen (Himsa, Sick Of It All) and is being hailed as their most accomplished work yet. The group shot a new video for “The Flood” with renowned director Roger Johansson (Arch Enemy, In Flames), and it is definitely a clip that stands out from the pack.

Peter Dolving (vocals) of THE HAUNTED further describes his excitement over the upcoming tour: “Hitting the U.S. with Dark Tranquillity feels fucking immense. You’ll be facing a remorseless monster, a sonic violation machine. I think we’re hitting a level of crushing groove and intensity that we’ve never been close to. We’re all slowly losing our minds. It’s one of those things - with this many people coming out to these shows, there’s nothing else to do than play ‘til you’re within an inch of your life. The body screams for mercy, but that shit rocks! This tour will blow you away.”

DARK TRANQUILLITY triumphantly returns with Fiction, a scorching effort that will undoubtedly add an exhilarating new chapter to the genre’s storied history. They hold the esteemed distinction as being one of the bands responsible for founding an entirely new genre of death metal in the early ’90s, which came to be known as “The Gothenburg Sound.” With Fiction, they revitalize the genre they helped to create and further cement their status as one of the scene’s most influential metal bands. Be sure to visit www.darktranquillity.com to check out the blistering new track “Focus Shift.”

Mikael Stanne (vocals) of DARK TRANQUILLITY states: “We can’t imagine a cooler tour than this. The Haunted, one of my favorite Swedish bands and long time friends are coming with Into Eternity, whom we have briefly hung out with and looking forward to seeing again. It will be great to come to the U.S. once again and to finally bring the complete Dark Tranquillity experience to you all. Expect tons of tunes from different albums as well as some brand new stuff from Fiction. We look forward to seeing you all again real soon.”

INTO ETERNITY had a phenomenal 2006, which saw the release of a new album and a high-profile run on Gigantour alongside such genre titans as Megadeth, Lamb of God and Opeth. They emerged as one of the fest’s most talked-about acts and quickly developed a die-hard legion of fans along the way. Their critically acclaimed new album, The Scattering of Ashes, draws from all aspects of heavy music and is the perfect blend of technicality, memorable songwriting and traditional heavy metal. The group’s stunning new video for the track “Severe Emotional Distress” can be viewed here.

Tim Roth (guitars) of INTO ETERNITY states: “This will be a perfect tour for us. All the guys in the band dig these bands, so we are excited by this killer metal package. I remember playing the Rock Hard Festival 2004 with Dark Tranquillity. They blew me away and I went up to them after a few beers and asked them to take us on tour. Now, three years later it is happening. It will be great to see the legendary Haunted every night. I think this will be an amazing package for the fans. We hope to see everyone on the road very soon.”

Sweden’s SCAR SYMMETRY - called “masters of melody, complexity, and aggression” by Kerrang! Magazine – are touring in support of their 2006 sophomore album, Pitch Black Progress. The album climbed as high as #4 on the CMJ Loud Rock and #9 on FMQB charts. Their video for “The Illusionist,” debuted on MTV2’s Headbangers Ball in July 2006.

Per Nilsson (lead guitars) comments: “We’ve all been playing in bands for years, but we’ve never experienced or had this level of support before. We’re really glad and excited to be a part of this great package, as well as getting the chance to play on American soil for the first time. We’ve unfortunately been forced to cancel our performance at this year’s edition of Progpower U.K. in March, but when it comes to choosing between doing one gig in England and touring North America for almost a month, the decision isn’t really that hard to make.”

Having first debuted on Hot Topic counters across America during the 2001 holiday season, Metal For The Masses has gone on to become Hot Topic’s most successful and longest-running annual compilation series. Now on its fifth volume in the series, the latest installment is the best yet with two CDs packed full of all the latest from Century Media, Nuclear Blast and Liquor And Poker Music, plus a bonus DVD packed with 28 music videos. All together, the low-priced compilation offers up over five hours of headbanging mania.

THE HAUNTED
w/Dark Tranquillity, Into Eternity, Scar Symmetry
03/19 The Social – Orlando, FL
03/20 State Theatre – St. Petersburg, FL
03/21 The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
03/23 The Palladium – Worcester, MA
03/24 The Trocadero – Philadelphia, PA
03/25 Jaxx – Springfield, VA
03/26 Gramercy Theatre – New York, NY
03/28 Le Medley – Montreal, QC
03/29 Opera House – Toronto, ON
03/30 Mr. Small’s Theatre – Pittsburgh, PA
03/31 Harpo’s – Detroit, MI
04/02 Headliner’s Music Hall – Louisville, KY
04/03 Pop’s – Sauget, IL
04/04 Metro – Chicago, IL
04/06 Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom – Denver, CO
04/07 Country Club Theatre – Ogden, UT
04/09 Croatian Cultural Centre – Vancouver, BC
04/10 El Corazon – Seattle, WA
04/11 Hawthorne Theatre – Portland, OR
04/12 Slim’s – San Francisco, CA
04/13 House of Blues – Anaheim, CA
04/14 The Avalon – Hollywood, CA