Pictured: The Dillinger Escape Plan.

The juggernaut that is Soundwave is here yet again, returning to Sydney's Showgrounds for the second year running. With a year to get themselves ready (you may recall the festival's move from Blacktown to Olympic Park was a rather last minute affair in 2011), the festival provided punters with an inspired new layout, jam packed lineup and a day that seemed to go off without hitch.

We have a pile of new live show announcements for you on this Friday, and we kick things off with three hotly anticipated Soundwave sideshows... for more details about these shows, head to the Soundwave Official Website.

Featuring a few of the cancelled Soundwave Revolution refugees and a slew of metal and rock bands (as well as one well-past-their-prime rap-rock band), the lineup for Soundwave 2012 has dropped and boy, it's a big one.