Following the October release of its critically acclaimed album Empros, Chicago post-metal trio Russian Circles will head to Europe this spring for a 38-city tour. Beginning in Prague on 4/5, the band tours across Europe and the UK before wrapping up in Barcelona on 5/15. If you haven't heard it already, you can stream Empros in its entirety here. And if you like what you hear (and you will), check out the full list of dates here.

Dallas symph-pop ensemble The Polyphonic Spree has just released a video that includes its new single, "What Would You Do?", via its own Good Records Recordings. This February, the Spree will don its robes for the first time since 2007, touring the Southeastern part of the US from February 6 to the 16th (dates on either coast this spring are to be announced). View the dates for the "You + Me" tour here.

In support of upcoming album The Fatal Feast, thrash-metal band Municipal Waste will support GWAR this spring on the "Return of the World Maggot" tour. The tour will begin in Municipal Waste's hometown of Richmond, VA on March 16, where they'll play a benefit show for the Smoot Family Fund. Also slated on the bill are Ghoul and Legacy of Disorder. Track official tour dates here.

This spring, Egyptian-tinged technical death-metal band Nile will hit the road for a month-long US tour. The band will headline two shows on 3/22 and 3/23 in Pittsburgh and Cleveland before heading to Grand Rapids on 3/24 to begin touring as main support for melodic death-metal outfit The Black Dahlia Murder. The tour will conclude on 4/20 at the New England Metal & Hardcore Fest in Worcester, MA. Check out Nile's website for official tour dates.

Seminal Swedish metal band Meshuggah has revealed that its new album will be titled Koloss. The long-awaited followup to ObZen is set for North American release on 3/27/12.

NYC noise-metal band Unsane is set to release its new album, Wreck, on 3/20/12 — just in time to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its self-titled debut. In support of the album, the band will kick off a month-long US tour with sludge veterans Melvins on 4/11 in San Jose, California. Check out the tour dates here.

In light of her upcoming release, Radio Music Society (Concord, 3/20/12), Grammy Award-winning jazz vocalist/bassist/composer Esperanza Spalding announced a world tour to begin this spring. Following the first show on 4/18 in Buffalo, New York, Spalding will tour parts of North America before heading to Paris, London, and back. Check her website in the coming weeks for official tour dates.

Earlier this month, San Diego-based deathgrind band Cattle Decapitation entered the studio to begin recording the follow-up to its acclaimed 2009 release The Harvest Floor. You can follow the band's recording process — as well as album and tour announcements — via its official YouTube channel.

In honor of his birthday, electronic madman Aaron Funk has released four new tracks as Venetian Snares. The EP is called Affectionate and can be heard/purchased here.

Post-metal quartet Pelican is releasing a new EP, Ataraxia/Taraxis, via Southern Lord on April 10. Pieced together with the members in different cities, the new material expands the band's reach while retaining its sludgy, epic trademark.

In case you missed it amid yesterday's news, the Swedish pioneering hardcore group Refused confirmed its reunion rumors. Like At the Drive-In, it will be performing at this year's Coachella festival, but the group also will be playing the Way Out West Festival in Gothenburg as well as other unannounced dates.

The seemingly impossible At the Drive-In reunion has been confirmed. The five-piece will be playing some series of shows (plural) to be announced later.

The one and only Mike Patton is scoring the soundtrack for The Place Beyond the Pines, a new drama by writer/director Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine). The film stars Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, and Eva Mendes, and the soundtrack marks Patton's fourth film score.

Heavy-metal legend Tony Iommi has been diagnosed with the early stages of lymphoma. Though he hopes to make a full recovery, the other original members of Black Sabbath will travel from LA to the UK to continue writing and recording the first Sabbath album in 33 years. Produced by Rick Rubin, the album is slated for a fall release.

African blues-rock band Tinariwen performed on NPR's "Tiny Desk Concert" series this week to perform an unplugged version of its special brand of guitar-based desert trance music. The set includes a song off its latest release, Tassili, as well as two new tracks. You can watch the video or download the audio from this set here.

Chicago-based hardcore band Weekend Nachos will spend the latter half of January touring the Eastern US. Beginning in Cleveland on 1/16, the band will head east for a special show in Baltimore on 1/21 with Eyehategod, Integrity, and Pulling Teeth. The tour will conclude, amazingly, at Peoria Pizza Works in Peoria Heights, IL on 1/31. See a full list of dates here.

January 19 marks the posthumous launch of legendary jazz poet/musician Gil Scott-Heron's memoir, The Last Holiday. Wilton's Music Hall in East London will host a celebration that night, featuring musical tributes from DJs Jamie XX and Gilles Peterson as well as screenings of rare interviews and film footage of the poet. Tickets for the event go on sale on 1/5.

Check out the new Funny or Die video for "48 Roses," from mariachi punks Mariachi El Bronx to see how one man deals with one too many lovers. The Bronx's Mexican-influenced alter-ego will also perform its latest single, "Revolution Girls," on The Late Show with David Letterman on 12/20 and will perform again on Jimmy Kimmel Live on 1/3.

If you live in Europe, you recently had the chance to catch the spoken-word stylings of Saul Williams on his Volcanic Sunlight Tour. And if you live in North America, you can see the lyricist backed by a full band, starting February 17 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg.

LA-based ensemble Dengue Fever and San Francisco-based instrumental rock group Secret Chiefs 3 will join forces to co-headline a tour of the Western US in January. The two bands have a long, intertwined history, which includes SC3 founder Trey Spruance's release of Dengue Fever’s first studio album in 2003.

Italian prog-metal band Ephel Duath has announced its newly reformulated lineup. Founding member Davide Tiso is joined by Steve DiGiorgio (Death, Testament), Karyn Crisis (Crisis), and Marco Minemann (Necrophagist, Kreator). The band is set to release a new EP in the spring.

In February, video director The Druid Beat will premiere an interactive film project and installation at Space 15 Twenty in Los Angeles. The film, titled “One Thousand Chemical Hypotheses Concerning the Subterranean Realms,” will be shown along with a live soundscape one night each week throughout its three-week residency. Watch the trailer for the film here, and check out the Druid Beat-directed music video for Yawn’s “Kind of Guy,” featured in Chromatic.

In support of its latest release, No Kings, Minneapolis rap collective Doomtree has announced a North American tour of 30+ dates to kick off 2012. The group will travel stateside from 1/19 to 2/25, making a few pit stops north of the border before wrapping it up in Milwaukee. Check out the full list of dates here, and watch its latest video for “Bolt Cutter” here.

Guitar whiz Victor Villarreal (Cap'n Jazz, Owls, Ghosts & Vodka, Joan of Arc) has announced the release of his first solo full-length on Joyful Noise. The record, Invisible Cinema, is due January 24 and will be limited to 250 copies of clear vinyl. Listen to the track "Enters" below.

Victor Villarreal: "Enters"

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Check out this killer cover of Roy Orbison's "Crying" by Canadian electro-pop trio Austra.

Today, Neurosis/Shrinebuilder front-man Scott Kelly kicks off his acoustic tour in Seattle. He’ll tour the Western USA with alternative country artists Bob Wayne and Jay Munly before wrapping up in Santa Cruz on 12/16. In 2012, he’ll be back for a free show (by RSVP only) at Chicago’s Empty Bottle on 1/4 where he’ll be joined by multi-instrumentalist Bruce Lamont (Yakuza). View the full list of 2011 and 2012 dates here.

Italian avant-garde metal group Ephel Duath has an EP and two full-length releases on the horizon after signing a worldwide record deal with Agonia Records. On the forthcoming releases, expect to hear collaborations between front-man Davide Tiso and a company of noteworthy session musicians (roster soon to be announced). Preparation for the forthcoming EP will take place stateside in January 2012 for its spring release.

Prolific guitarist Kevin Hufnagel (of Dysrhythmia, Gorguts, and more) will release his second solo album, Transparencies, in January on his Nightfloat Recordings imprint. The album, which takes a highly melodic ambient/drone route, can be pre-ordered here. Watch the album trailer here.

In support of its fourth studio album, Veritas, the Alex Skolnick Trio — featuring Alex Skolnick of Testament fame in a jazz-fusion three-piece — will launch a six-city tour of the Northeast from 12/5 to 12/10. Check out the tour dates here.

Legendary singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen is set to release his first studio album in eight years, Old Ideas, on Columbia Records on 1/31/12. The album is available for pre-order now, and you can stream “Show Me the Place” here.