Veteran heavy-metal acts Judas Priest [ tickets ] and Anthrax [ tickets ] have rescheduled their extensive U.S. tour for January and February. The outing, now dubbed Operation Enduring Metal, was originally due to kick off on Sept. 14, but was postponed due to the terrorist attacks on America.

Judas Priest is touring behind its July release, "Demolition" (Atlantic). The album is Priest's first collection of new material in three years, and is the group's second with frontman Tim "Ripper" Owens, who replaced original frontman Rob Halford in the mid-'90s.

An episode of VH1's "Behind the Music" dedicated to Judas Priest--including its split with Halford and recruitment of Owens--premiered last month, and is scheduled to air again on Nov. 5, according to VH1.com.

Next month, the group plans to release expanded versions of 1977's "Sin After Sin," 1978's "Stained Class" and "Killing Machine," and the 1979 live set "Unleashed in the East," according to Legacy Records. Each album will contain bonus tracks not included on the original release.

The band released expanded editions of four of its '80s-era albums earlier this year.

Anthrax has also retooled some of its earlier works; the group released remastered editions of 1993's "Sound of White Noise" and 1995's "Stomp 442"--each with four tracks not found on the original versions--on Beyond Music in August.

On Oct. 10, in the wake of the recent spate of anthrax scares, illnesses and deaths, Anthrax--"the band," as the new splash page on its official website points out--issued a press release that addresses the group's name:

In light of current events, we are changing the name of the band to something more friendly, 'Basket Full Of Puppies.' Actually, just the fact that we are making jokes about our name sucks. … Before the tragedy of September 11th the only thing scary about Anthrax was our bad hair in the 80's and the 'Fistful Of Metal' album cover. … Suddenly our name is not so cool.

The release goes on to say that the group has no plans to change its name, a fact guitarist Scott Ian reiterated during an Oct. 17 appearance on "The Howard Stern Show."