TOURISM: SOILWORK, JEFF LOOMIS, BLACKGUARD, THE BROWNING, WRETCHED

Sweden’s Soilwork have been working with producer Jens Bogren on a new double-CD album, The Living Infinite, which will be released sometime next year by Nuclear Blast. Today, they announced the first North American tour in support of the album — and it’s a mammoth one. It will begin on March 12, 2013, in West Springfield, Virginia, and finish on May 7 in Worcester, Massachusetts.

I’m sure I’ll see this tour, especially because it’s coming to a relatively compact venue in Seattle, but also because I still have a warm spot in my heart for Soilwork despite a musical trajectory over time that’s been less than completely satisfactory, given my tastes. With a new double-CD worth of new music to promote, I suspect there won’t be much room for the really good, hard, older stuff, but we’ll see.

Also, Jeff Loomis is along for this ride, and I’d see this show even if he were the only name on the bill.

The line-up on the whole is curious — you certainly can’t accuse the organizers of lacking a taste for musical variety. In addition to Soilwork and Loomis, the tour will include Blackguard, The Browning, and Wretched. As for me, I’ve never been able to get into Blackguard, The Browning are a guilty pleasure, and Wretched — they kick ass. And what do you think?

General admission tickets and VIP meet-and-greet packages are available at EnterTheVault.com now and will go on sale through all normal ticketing systems on November 17.

Here’s the schedule:

03/12/13 Empire – West Springfield, VA
03/13/13 The Trocadero – Philadelphia, PA
03/14/13 Bogie’s – Albany, NY
03/15/13 The Gramercy Theater – New York, NY
03/16/13 Webster Theater – Hartford, CT
03/17/13 Petit Campus – Montreal, QC – CANADA
03/18/13 Union Commerciale – Quebec City, QC – CANADA
03/19/13 Mavericks – Ottawa, ON – CANADA
03/20/13 The Opera House – Toronto, ON – CANADA
03/21/13 Altar Bar – Pittsburgh, PA
03/22/13 Peabody’s – Cleveland, OH
03/23/13 Blondie’s – Detroit, MI
03/24/13 The Rave – Milwaukee, WI
03/25/13 Mojoes – Joliet, IL
03/26/13 Wooly’s – Des Moines, IA
03/27/13 Station 4 – St. Paul, MN
03/28/13 Park Theatre – Winnipeg, MB – CANADA
03/29/13 The Exchange – Regina, SK – CANADA
03/30/13 The Distillery – Calgary, AB – CANADA
03/31/13 Starlite Room – Edmonton, AB – CANADA
04/01/13 The Generator – Prince George, B.C. – CANADA
04/02/13 Rickshaw Theater – Vancouver, B.C. – CANADA
04/03/13 El Corazon – Seattle, WA
04/04/13 Hawthorne Theatre – Portland, OR
04/05/13 Slim’s – San Francisco, CA
04/06/13 House of Blues – Hollywood, CA
04/07/13 Rocky Point Cantina – Tempe, AZ
04/08/13 The Rock – Tucson, AZ
04/09/13 Las Vegas Country Saloon – Las Vegas, NV
04/11/13 In The Venue – Salt Lake City, UT
04/12/13 Gothic Theater – Englewood, CO
04/13/13 The Beaumont Club – Kansas City, MO
04/14/13 The Firebird – St. Louis, MO
04/15/13 Trees – Dallas, TX
04/16/13 Backstage Live – San Antonio, TX
04/17/13 Jake’s – Lubbock, TX
04/18/13 Lucky Mule – Abilene, TX
04/19/13 Dos Amigos – Odessa, TX
04/20/13 Tricky Falls – El Paso, TX
04/22/13 House of Rock – Corpus Christi, TX
04/23/13 Geo’s – McAllen, TX
04/24/13 Scout Bar – Houston, TX
04/26/13 State Theater – St. Petersburg, FL
04/27/13 Freebird Live – Jacksonville, FL
04/28/13 The Casbah – Charlotte, NC
04/29/13 Kingdom – Richmond, VA
04/30/13 Soundstage – Baltimore, MD
05/01/13 Mexicali Live – Teaneck, NJ
05/02/13 The Chance Theater – Poughkeepsie, NY
05/03/13 Broadway Joes – Buffalo, NY
05/04/13 Al Rosa Villa – Columbus, OH
05/05/13 Music Hall – London, ON – CANADA
05/06/13 Station 58 – Syracuse, NY
05/07/13 The Palladium – Worcester, MA