FESTIVAL REVIEW: Ozzfest 2018 Live At The Forum Los Angeles


Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, Jonathan Davis, Body Count, Zakk Sabbath, DevilDriver, Wednesday 13: This was the lineup that rocked in the new year at Ozzfest New Year’s Eve 2018.

The festivities began in the parking lot of The Forum, located in (not so) sunny Los Angeles directly below one of LAX’s flight paths. The gloomy weather and high-flying airliners, however, were no match for the onslaught of heavy sounds so graciously provided by the fest’s openers: Wednesday 13 with their horror punk antics and crowd-dusting snow blower; Dez Fafara of Coal Chamber fame brought his current heavy hitting band DevilDriver and killed it as usual; and finishing out the outdoor portion of the fest was Black Sabbath cover band Zakk Sabbath, fronted by a purple-kilted Zakk Wylde.Continue reading


Days of Darkness 2018, Various Venues, Baltimore, MD


Days of Darkness, Ram’s Head Live, Baltimore, MD 10/28/18

Brought to you by the minds behind Maryland Deathfest, Days of Darkness Festival held their 2018 edition last month in the same hallowed halls that host MDF: Rams Head Live and Baltimore Soundstage. Once again, Ghost Cult was on hand with our intrepid photographer supreme Hillarie Jason on hand to capture the moods and the moments from the fest.Continue reading


Rock Allegiance Festival – BB&T Pavilion, Camden NJ


Once again it was time to convene the holy church of rock and metal that is the Rock Allegiance Festival. We have gone to ¾ of these fests, the North East’s biggest heavy music event every year. This years lineup was good, but perhaps not as stacked since the fest became a one-day affair in 2017. Still, even with the loss of Avenged Sevenfold (they canceled their entire tour due to illness), the fest was heavy on young talent, solid mid-level bands and big draws like Limp Bizkit, Papa Roach, GWAR, Insane Clown Posse, Fozzy and more. As we mentioned the early day was just packed with great young bands, maybe more than any fest Ghost Cult attended worldwide in 2018. From Blacktop Mojo’s soulful grungy metal, Badflower, Stone Broken, Bad Omens, Sylar and Knocked Loose bringing the hardcore, and even local Philly area openers Siravo are worth investigating. These bands are the bright future of music we have to look forward to.

We split the team into two so we could interview a slew of bands (check out our YouTube channel) and also see the show and take in the fest. BB&T Pavillion is a fun venue on the water with a real Naval battleship to hang out on for the VIP’s. Cool to see bands framed against the Schuylkill River, overlooking the beautiful Philadelphia skyline.

Besides seeing some of the early bands mix it up, there were impressive amounts of fans for Fozzy (in a rare American fest appearance), From Ashes To New, ICP, and the mighty GWAR who brought their “A game” and their full show to the Pavillion stage. They pulled no punches, murdered people, bled and came on fans (not really) and upstaged every other band. GWAR seemed to be playing to a brand new audience this day, which is always rad to see. ICP predictably had a ton if heads in the house, many who seemed to be there just for them. They were never my thing personally, but you have to respect what they have put down. Whoop whoop, indeed.

Expected high energy sets from Fever 333, Beartooth, Motionless In White made up that solid middle of the bill we spoke of. Bullet For My Valentine has taken a lot of flack over their new album Gravity being too far out of the box for fans. Still, they rule live and those in attendance today got the full the BFMV experience in person, and a great one at that.

Skillet is one of the hardest working bands in the world and when I ever I see them live I feel like they ought to be headlining these festivals. They have a deep catalog and frontman John Cooper is amazing!

Papa Roach had the fans amped as the crowd filled in the amphitheater for the last few bands of the day. They put on an excellent show, played some new jams, and had an amazing g light show. It was sick to hear fans sing and rap along to the band that is creeping up on 20 years I the scene. Of course, they closed with ‘Last Resort’ and of course people went apeshit.

Limp Bizkit put on their customary big show. Coming on with a tribute to Prince, complete with all purple lights and “Purple Rain” played over the speakers. Opening with ‘Full Nelson’, complete with a several minute elongated opening, so Fred Durst could pump up the crowd. And the crowd didn’t flag, they loved it, which shows the power of the band, even after all this time. Next was their short cover of Ministry classic ‘Thieves’, and this set the stage for many covers and medley breaks in the set. For the third song ‘Hot Dog’, Durst ran into the crowd and to the barricade between the pit and the seats and sang with the crowd. This was mere feet from me and it was pretty awesome how Fred touched ever hand he could, shared the microphone and seemed to make a personal connection to everyone near him. People can hate all they want, but he was awesome on this night.

The band rolled (pun intended) though some of their legit hits like ‘Rollin’. ‘Nookie’, followed by more covers like ‘Cowboys From Hell’ and ‘Creeping Death’ followed by more originals like ‘Take A look’ around’. With songs like these, the crowd was pretty hyped.

After a fast run through of their ‘Faith’ cover, the infamous “dropkick that wasn’t” happened where ICP’s Shaggy 2 Dope tried to attack Durst. It was pretty weak and dumb, although I can see why people thought it a PR stunt with all the beef between the two groups over time.

Still, LB pressed on and finished the set with even more covers like ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, and ‘Killing In The Name Of’, and before closing with ‘Break Stuff’ and ‘Take A Look Around’. It was a pretty fitting end to a fun day. See you next year Rock Allegiance!

WORDS BY KEITH CHACHKES

PHOTOS BY OMAR CORDY & PAUL COGHLAN


Quebec Deathfest – Live At Various Venues


The first ever Quebec Deathfest took place last month, from the folks that brought you Maryland Deathfest, Netherlands Deathfest, and more. Taking place across several venues in the metal capital of Canada, Quebec, the fest had many of the highlights of other festivals (multiple stages, vendors, lots of beer) that make this a worthy inclusion of your annual concert calendar. Bands on the bill included death metal greats like Autopsy, Demolition Hammer, Exhorder, Uada, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Malignancy, Unleashed, Skinless, Skeletal Remains, Outre-Tombe, Bell Witch, Dehumanized, Tomb Mold, and many more. Check out these EXCLUSIVE photos by Hillarie Jason Photography and we’ll see you next year! Saluer et tuer! Continue reading


Monster Energy Aftershock Festival 2018 Live At Discovery Park


As 2018 nears its close, Danny Wimmer Presents and crew once again graced California’s capital with the very popular (and very sold-out) Monster Energy Aftershock Festival, now in its seventh year. How sold-out, you ask? Oh, you know, just a mere 60,000 plus humans—the festival’s biggest turn-out yet.Continue reading


Descendants Of Crom Festival 2018, Various Venues, Pittsburgh PA


Sojourning to the Steel City, where the steel these days is mostly from the music, Descendants of Crom Festival enjoyed a second annual event recently and Ghost Cult was there. From the pre-fest gala and parking lot party (think of a modern “Heavy Metal Parking Lot” with stoner rock and doom fans), three nights of badassery at both Howlers and the Cattivo club, it was a rager. Shout out to the sponsors Blackseed Records and Riff Relevant among others. Highlights of the weekend included sets from Heavy Temple, Howling Giant, Doomstress, Come to Grief, Thunderbird Divine, Toke, Geezer, Duel, but really you can’t really go wrong with a deep lineup like this. We can’t wait for next year and round three! In the meantime, check out these photos by Dante Torrieri of Useless Rebel Imaging for Ghost Cult. Continue reading


Psycho Las Vegas 2018: Live From Hard Rock Hotel And Casino


Psycho Las Vegas has grown and evolved over the years and has shaken off any comparisons to niche European fests and your traditional US fest, itself having no close comparisons, and being its own beast. Having everything under one roof including your stay can lead to late and debaucherous nights for some, packed and planned diverse schedules for the devout, a little compromise of both for others, but an all around good time for all. For a journalist working the fest, it goes by in a blur but you still experience having those stand out moments as well as highlights of your own. Continue reading


Impact Music Festival 2018 Recap


Bringing together the best bands in the world and socially conscious music fans, Impact Music Festival’s debut edition was a rousing success. The successor to the Rise Above Festival by the same organizers- Music Matters, had incredible bands, thousands of rock and metal fans, the “arrest” of Marilyn Manson (not really), and the fewest complaints of a music festival in recent memory in Maine. Check out our recap with EXCLUSIVE photos by Evil Robb Photography.Continue reading


Warped Tour 2018 – The Final Run


It’s the final cross-country voyage of the Vans Warped Tour. Since 1995, the unofficial punk rock summer camp has introduced us all to iconic acts from Bad Religion to Katy Perry.Continue reading


Maryland Deathfest 2018 – Baltimore Maryland


For a metal fan, especially an underground metal fan with a cultured taste, Maryland Deathfest is the holy grail of music festivals. They are metal fans, so they understand metal fans. It has grown by leaps and bounds like a little cottage industry with California Deathfest, Quebec Deathfest, Netherlands Deathfest, Days of Darkness and more to come I’m sure. As I attended my first ever full weekend, I saw incredible bands on my bucket list, met a lot of great people from all over the world, hung out with friends and basically had more fun than I could imagine. It was basically summer camp for die-hard metal fans. No judgments, no fights, no fake kung fu in the mosh pit, just all awesomeness 24/7. Fun for families and even dogs. Plus Natty Bo’s and cheap and delicious street tacos! Continue reading