Aftershock 2024 Books Slayer, Slipknot, Iron Maiden, Motley Crue, Pantera, Judas Priest, FFDP, Disturbed, Biohazard, Shadows Fall and More!


Aftershock, it’s happening! Our 2024 lineup is here and holy sh*t, this one will go down in the history books. Not only do we have Iron Maiden’s only U.S. festival play and the exclusive West Coast performance of Slayer, but also Slipknot, the first Mötley Crüe appearance at Aftershock, plus Disturbed, Five Finger Death Punch, Judas Priest, Pantera, and 130 more of your favorite artists. Continue reading


FESTIVAL REVIEW: Sick New World Festival Live at Las Vegas Fairgrounds


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, meet new friends, and see some incredible bands; some I had never seen ever, and some I had not seen in a long time.

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FESTIVAL PREVIEW: Sick New World Fest in 2023 Announces Set Times for This Weekend – ft. System Of A Down, Korn, Deftones, Incubus, Evanescence, Turnstile, Chevelle, Coal Chamber, Flyleaf, Mr. Bungle and More


 

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!

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MxPx To Headline Furnace Fest 2023 with Turnstile, Bane, and Pennywise


 

MxPx is gearing up for a busy 2023! Today, the band announced they will be headlining Furnace Fest in Birmingham, AL this Fall, closing the first night on September 22, 2023. Other headliners on the fest include Turnstile, Bane, and Pennywise. With new music on the way, the band plans to be making more appearances this year, including the highly raved-about When We Were Young Festival in 2023 alongside Blink-182 and Green Day (now with an additional day).

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ALBUM REVIEW: Narrow Head – Moments Of Clarity


 

With their third outing Texas-based Narrow Head have created a body of music that if you were there, will well and truly spin you back in time to the mid-nineties. And if you weren’t there but nonetheless love the alternative rock sound of the time, then you’ll also find yourself intriguingly transported back to the era when baggy clothes and dirty scuzzy guitar riffs were the sign of the times. And on top of that Moments Of Clarity (Church Road Records) may well be considered a classic today, was it released some 25-30 years ago amongst the influences that it clearly wears on its sleeve.

 

And the record stands out today, as it lulls you into a sense of security before changing style and introducing heavier elements where the band sounds on their peak for me, before then throwing in a highly experimental closer. So the album opens with ‘The Real’ and a fuzzy grunge riff, with the vocal of Jacob Duarte sounding somewhere between an early Foo Fighters Dave Grohl, and an early Smashing Pumpkins Billy Corgan. There is a lighter nineties indie alternative rock style to the sound, which continues into ‘Moments Of Clarity’ invoking memories from the likes of Weezer, Placebo, and The Lemonheads. It’s clear from the first couple of tracks that Narrow Head can write one hell of a catchy riff with highly engaging vocal hooks, and then on ‘Sunday’ they introduce a Deftones-esq riff which more than hints at what’s to come.

 

‘Trepnation’ kicks like a mule with dirtier down-tuned guitars and a heavy chugging bass, and my attention has well and truly been captured by the change in tone. ‘Breakup Song’ is melancholic with a lovely entwine between the main riff and a rolling bass, while ‘Fine Day’ is another sweet heavy cut with crunching guitars.

 

On ‘Carline’ Narrow Head reverts back to the more melodic feel of the album’s first quarter, but from here it changes tact once again with the darker muddy sounding ‘The World Sunday’ and the explosive ‘Gearhead’, which slams into a late-nineties era Deftones style, with Duarte channeling a shoe-gaze Chino Moreno vocal. And with the first screams on the album laid down before a furious outro of impressive drumming and heavy distortion … More of this, please!

 

 

And the band delivers on ‘Flesh & Solitude’ with the further subtle use of screams in amongst the heavy intoxicating music with a beautiful outro of avant-garde percussive cacophony. The aptly titled ‘The Comedown’ follows with lush strumming and kind of a Pearl Jam flavour, which gradually builds to the climax of ‘Soft To Touch’ where a mischievous guitar line perfectly plays over electronic beats. I love the way this album twists and turns from the indie rock style into a heavier alternative beast, before turning full circle and then going completely leftfield with the use of electronica. And these changes in tone create a real album experience which should definitely be absorbed as one. This is where rock music needs to be, for me, in 2023.

 

Buy the album here:

https://www.runforcoverrecords.com/artists/narrow-head/products

 

8 / 10

ABSTRAKT_SOUL_

 


System Of A Down, Korn, Deftones, Incubus, Evanescence, Turnstile, Chevelle, Coal Chamber, Flyleaf, Mr. Bungle and More are Booked for Sick New World Fest in 2023


 

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.

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Gatecreeper Books a Spring 2022 Headline Tour with Narrow Head, 200 Stab Wounds, and Fearing


Modern Death Metal leaders Gatecreeper has announced a North American headline tour with support from Narrow Head, 200 Stab Wounds, and Fearing. The dates will kick off in Austin, TX on April 21st and will end with a hometown show in Phoenix, AZ on May 14th. Tickets go on-sale Friday, March 4th at 12:00PM Local Time at the link below. Gatecreeper’s upcoming tour supports their recent, critically acclaimed EP, An Unexpected Reality, which is available now from Closed Casket Activities.

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