Metal quintet Atreyu [ tickets ] takes on a busy tour schedule this winter in support of its sophomore set, last year's "The Curse."

The Southern California outfit has lined up a two-month outing that kicks off in its home state with a pair of early February shows at the House of Blues in Anaheim, and touches down at clubs and theaters throughout the U.S. and Canada before wrapping up back on the group's home turf at the end of March. Details are shown below.

Fellow metal acts Unearth [ tickets ], Norma Jean [ tickets ] and Scars have been tapped to open.

Atreyu is currently holding a poll at its official website, through which fans can vote for the songs that the group will play on the tour.

Released in June, "The Curse" is the follow-up to Atreyu's 2002 debut, "Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses." The new album was largely shaped by the band's experience of touring behind its inaugural set, according to frontman Alex Varkatazas.

"We were in the van for two years, and it seemed like every time we left home, there would be a crisis with someone close to us, and there was nothing we could do to help," Varkatazas said in the band's record-label bio. "Eventually the van becomes like an isolation chamber in which we internalized every trauma or negative experience." Alex explains, "When we came home and started writing the album, everything came pouring out, with the intensity of something new. It was really cleansing."

According to Varkatazas, the band laid all of the groundwork for "The Curse" before selecting producer GGGarth (Rage Against the Machine, Kittie) to oversee the recording.

"We are so fanatical when it comes to our music, that we demo-ed every song and put them in the sequence that they appear on the album before we even chose a producer," Varkatazas said. "Garth really believed in us and after he heard the demos, he really wanted to help us realize our vision. When we got to the studio we were amazed--his ideas for the record were exactly the same as ours! He also has a killer studio and the technical capability to get the sound we were looking for."