Some people told me I was crazy when I decided I was going to go to the Sick New World Fest, a debut Metal and Rock Festival in Las Vegas. In the month of May. I hate to sound like a boomer and complain about the heat in Las Vegas, which is an actual desert, but the bottom line is I knew in advance it was going to be hot as hell, and it certainly lived up to that prediction. That being said I was really excited to come to the festival enjoy a day with my metal community and see some incredible bands; some I had never seen ever, and some I had not seen in a long time.
System Of A Down, Incubus, Korn, Evanescence and Deftones will headline Sick New World Festival this weekend, a new music festival featuring some of the biggest names in Nu-Metal, Goth Rock, Industrial Metal, and some modern bands as well! Among the dozens of bands on the bill, it will mark the reunions of both Flyleaf with Lacey Sturm and Coal Chamber. Other bands are promising some surprise sets as well as Ice-T’s Body Count might be joined by Ice’s daughter, Chanel Nicole! Tickets are totally sold-out, but you can join the wait list at this link here. The event will be held on Saturday, May 13, 2023 at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds in Las Vegas, Nevada. Check out the stage spits and set times below!
System Of A Down, Incubus, Korn, Evanescence and Deftones will headline Sick New World Festival, a new music festival in 2023 featuring some of the biggest names in nu-metal. Among the dozens of bands on the bill, it will mark the reunions of both Flyleaf with lacey Sturm and Coal Chamber. The event will be held on Saturday, May 13, 2023 at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds in Las Vegas, Nevada. This was the site of the recent When We Were Young Festival, that was forced to cancel one day of the fest due to high winds.
Industrial band Skold, the namesake group of producer, former member of Marilyn Manson’s band, ex-KMFDM member, Motionless In White producer, and co-founder of Swedish metal act Shotgun Messiah Tim Skold has released a brand new album today, Dias Irae, today via Cleopatra Records. The patently heavy approach is the throwback to Skold’s penchant for musical aggression of his earliest work as an artist. The band also shared a new music video for “Dirty Horizon,” another collaboration between Skold and filmmaker/award-winning music video director Vicente Cordero. The two had collaborated previously on the sweeping, cinematic video for “Small World” from Skold’s 2019 album Never Is Now as well as other past work. The “Dirty Horizon” video finds Skold paying homage to the legendary film by fellow Swede Ingmar Bergman, the 1957 epic “The Seventh Seal.” Shot in the stone dungeon of the stunning Abbey Arroyo. Watch the video:
Bill Rieflin, who had a four-decade career as a drummer across Punk, Alternative Rock, Industrial Metal, and Progressive Rock has died. He was 59. Initial reports of his passing made no mention of a cause of death, but his Wikipedia page reported a battle with cancer, confirmed by his friend, session drummer Kevin Chamberlin. Most recently Bill was the drummer for King Crimson and the news was reported by KC founder Robert Fripp in a very sad and touching memorial via Facebook. Fripp wrote that Rieflin’s wife, Tracy, called him with the news. “Tracy told Toyah (Fripp’s wife) and me that the day was grey, and as Bill flew away the clouds opened, and the skies were blue for about fifteen minutes. Fly well, Brother Bill! My life is immeasurably richer for knowing you.” Rieflin’s career began in his hometown of Seattle, where he drummed with a variety of local acts, notably the punk rock group The Blackouts. The band’s final EP was produced by Ministry’s Al Jourgensen, with whom Rieflin became friends with. Jourgensen recruited the Rieflin to join Ministry when Blackouts broke up, and Rieflin played on the band’s 1988 album The Land of Rape and Honey, an industrial music iconic album in the genre. He continued as a member of the group through the mid-90s, contributing to five of the band’s LPs. Following his departure from Ministry in 1996, he played with KMFDM, New York experimental band Swans and folk group Angels of Light. Rieflin also played on Nine Inch Nails’ 1999 double album The Fragile. Also that year, he released his debut solo album, Birth of a Giant. It was during this time that a publicist introduced him to R.E.M.’s Peter Buck. The drummer would then join and contribute to R.E.M.’s final three albums — 2004’s Around the Sun, 2008’s Accelerate and 2011’s Collapse Into Now. Rieflin had previously collaborated and remained friends, announced that the drummer had joined King Crimson in 2013. Rieflin would tour with the group and appear on five of their ensuing live albums, released between 2015-18. He had been absent from the group since taking an indefinite sabbatical in 2019. Bill was an incredible drummer and kind soul. Not many artists can say they wrote and performed with three Rock and Roll Hall of Fame acts (King Crimson, R.E.M., and Nine Inch Nails) as Bill did. Many artists paid tribute to Bill, including fellow Seattle musician Krist Novoselic of Nirvana. We send out condolences to Bill’s family, friends and many fans at this time.Continue reading →
KMFDM has two big announcements for their loyal fan base today. The legendary pioneers of industrial rock will, not only be releasing new music this year, but they’ve also revealed new tour dates here in the United States. Continue reading →
First up were Glasgow based Seraph Sin who it must be said were bloody good. A slightly hesitant start but they very quickly broke into their stride. The crowd this evening were kind of small but they didn’t half bounce. Seraphs Sin’s sound is weighted a little bit more towards the metal side than industrial and the mix works well, with a gritty guitar sound and some meaty thrash riffs in the mix they were greeted with a good crowd response. Continue reading →
Rammstein fans have reason to be optimistic. Frontman Till Lindemannconfirmed this year that they have started work on a new album (anticipated to arrive in 2017) which will no doubt prompt a world tour. I’m already exited by the prospect.
In the meantime, you can whet your appetite with In Amerika (Spinefarm Records), a concert film of their triumphant 2010 show in Madison Square Garden and features two extras – a 21-minute short showing the making of Liebe Ist Für Alle Da and the star of the show: Rammstein In Amerika – a 2-hour rockumentary chronicling the career of this famously private band.
Following the a well-established rockumentary formula, the most surprising thing about it is its duration. It genuinely doesn’t feel like 2 hours and never once gets boring. This suggests some serious skill on the part of the director, and quick check on IMDB shows that Austrian Hannes Rossacher is an old hand at documentary and working with bands. Indeed, he has worked with Rammstein before (in 2003, on Lichspielhaus – a collection of videos, gig footage, featurettes & TV ads) and deftly delivers a story that’s true to the band’s culture and endearing in its portrayal.
The story starts with the band members in East Berlin, covers their meeting and formation of the band that was to become the Rammstein that has remained unchanged (in terms of members) since 1994 and takes us through the apprenticeship of their early German shows and the release of Herzleid.
The origin story, however, (this is “In Amerika” after all) is treated as preamble. The film’s meat begins with the recording of Sensucht and the band’s first US tour in 1997 with fellow Germans KMFDM, follows their journeyman phase, explains their 10-year absence from the Land of The Free and culminates with their masterful return where they sold out The Garden in less than 30 minutes of pre-sale.
The outstanding quality of the engaging film-making provides extra colour and depth to the band for existing fans and serves to expose some of the cerebral and emotional qualities of Rammstein that’s hidden from those less familiar behind the shock-rock stories and stage hype. It’s not all about the pyromania.
Wisely avoiding overuse of purpose-shot band footage, Rossacher relies heavily on the band’s own archive footage and interviews from an array of well-known (and not so well-known) faces. This serves to keep the piece grounded and prevents it from becoming the self-parodying fluff that many music DVDs become. Excellent.
In Amerika is available on DVD or Blu-Ray and has the following tracks:
