SONATA ARCTICA To Support NIGHTWISH On Fall 2008 U.S. Tour

can reveal that Finnish melodic metallers

will support

on the third U.S. leg of the Finnish/Swedish symphonic metal band's tour to promote the

album. The trek, which will include a September 20 date at the House of Blues in New Orleans, Louisiana and a September 24 stop at the Tremont Music Hall in Charlotte, North Carolina, is tentatively scheduled to begin at the end of August and run through the end of September. Final details, including on-sale dates, will be officially announced in early April. Discussions have also started to bring

back to North America in early 2009 for additional touring. Those plans should be finalized by the summer.

In other news,

's May 17 concert in Calgary is now officially sold out and it is suggested that anyone looking for tickets to that concert to go to the Edmonton gig on May 16 as there are still some tickets available.

's latest album,

, has been certified quadruple-platium in Finland for sales in excess of 120,000 copies. The CD has also been certified platinum in Switzerland, and gold in Germany, Sweden, Austria and Poland.

was honored with an

award in the "Rock/Alternative (International)" category lon February 15 in Berlin, Germany. The other nominees in that category were

,

,

and

.

As previously reported,

will play a

festival warm-up show on June 26 at the Kaisaniemi Park in Helsinki, Finland, the day before the official start of the festival. They will play the main stage along with

and

. Tickets go on sale on March 3. It should be noted, however, that the

concert is not part of

festival and will require separate tickets to attend.

has been nominated in the following categories at the

(Finnish

equivalent):

* Band Of The Year

* Best Metal Album ("Dark Passion Play")

* Best Album" ("Dark Passion Play")

* Song Of The Year ("Amaranth")

* Best Finnish Artist

will be held on Saturday March 8, 2008 at Kulttuuritalo in Helsinki.