Another year might have come to an end but the music from 2019 will continue on forever. Even though the year has seen many great records it is finally time for me to pick my own top 10, with some additional special albums that made my year just a touch better, and share those with you good people. So with that being said dig in and have a wonderful 2020!
After being forced into a flood-induced sabbatical last year, LOUDER THAN LIFE 2019 roared back to life the last weekend of September. Over 50 artists and nearly 130,000 fans descended on Louisville, Kentucky’s Fair and Exposition Center, making Derby City the undisputed capital of the hard rock world (for at least a couple days). Your intrepid METAL NEXUS away team braved the teeming throngs and the suffocatingly oppressive heat, chasing slivers of shade while soaking in the sights and sounds in order to bring you these dispatches from the front lines of the biggest rock festival in America. Continue reading
Following a sold-out crowd of 60,000 last year, the Aftershock Festival expanded to three full days for 2019 with attendance reaching an unheard of 97,500 this year. The eighth annual edition of the Northern California rock festival, produced by Danny Wimmer Presents, took place on Friday October 11th, Saturday, October 12th, and Sunday, October 13th at Sacramento’s Discovery Park. The massive lineup of over 50 bands was headlined by Tool, who debuted music from their chart-topping new album ‘Fear Inoculum.’ blink-182, who headlined the second night, made their Danny Wimmer Presents debut in support of their new album ‘Nine.’ Slipknot, whose new release ‘We Are Not Your Kind’ has been burning up the Billboard 200 album chart, headlined day one. Continue reading
We’re a scant week-and-a-half from the return of LOUDER THAN LIFE, one of the nation’s premiere hard rock/heavy metal events. After flooding cruelly scuttled last year’s festivities, Danny Wimmer Presents worked with the city of Louisville to find a new home for the festival, settling on the Kentucky Expo Center’s Highland Festival Grounds (with “highland” being, hopefully, the operative word). 2019’s potent lineup packs some major firepower, with headliners GUNS N’ ROSES, SLIPKNOT, and DISTURBED alongside an array of current acts like HALESTORM, A DAY TO REMEMBER, and IN THIS MOMENT, rising stars such as DIRTY HONEY and CROWN LANDS, and metal mainstays like ROB ZOMBIE, GODSMACK, and MARILYN MANSON. A lineup of this magnitude will invariably force punters to make some hard choices between this band on that stage and that band on this stage; after poring over this year’s daily schedules, here are some of the weekend’s biggest scheduling snafus and how your intrepid reporter plans to unravel them.
Louder Than Life is back with yet another star studded lineup after being forced to cancel the festival in 2018 due to flooding at Champions Park, which also caused the Bourbon & Beyond Festival to cancel the final day of that festival as well. The flooding caused immense damage to the festival grounds so the team at Danny Wimmer Presents and the city of Louisville found a new home for not only Louder Than Life and Bourbon & Beyond but also the new country music festival Hometown Rising. The new home for the 3 consecutive weekends of music and spirits will be held at the Highland Festival Grounds At the Kentucky Expo Center. Keyword being “Highland,” so the rains won’t stop us in 2019. Guns N’ Roses will be the major headliner this year along with Slipknot performing after their brand new album release that has been the talk of the metal world. Guns N’ Roses alone is enough to have Loudmouths already packing their bags in anticipation to head to Louisville or should we say “Paradise City.” Continue reading
Slipknot’s “Knotfest Roadshow” made huge news throughout the metal community when it was announced back in March. That twenty-nine cities run is now in full swing and Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska had the opportunity to host a brilliant night of music. The line-up is certainly a global affair as it featured the extreme metalists from Poland, Behemoth, the technical powerhouse Gojira from France, and the hard rocking outfit Volbeat from Denmark. Slipknot would close to the show in a fashion of chaotic perfection that only they can deliver. Continue reading
Slipknot is about to unleash their ‘Knotfest Roadshow’ in North America, which kicks off July 26 in Mountain View, California and finishes at The Woodlands, Texas on September 8. It is being billed as “A Mind-Altering Collision Of Music, Art & Culture” and judging by the line-up, it promises to be a highlight tour of the summer. As if Slipknot wasn’t enough chaos for one night, the Knotfest Roadshow also brings Volbeat, Gojira, and Behemoth to the madness. Each band brings its own unique sound and style to the stage giving fans a dynamic night of music. Continue reading
Following a sold-out crowd of 60,000 last year, Sacramento, California’s Aftershock Festival expands to three full days for 2019. The eighth annual edition of California’s rock festival, produced by Danny Wimmer Presents, will take place on Friday October 11th, Saturday, October 12th, and Sunday, October 13th at Sacramento’s Discovery Park. VIP and General Admission tickets, as well as hotel packages, for Aftershock will be available beginning on Friday, April 26th at 12:00 PM PT. Visit www.AftershockFestival.com for more details. Continue reading
After waiting for so many years Slipknot has finally released a new song and I can tell you that the wait was definitely worth it! Get right in to witness the gory music video of ”All Out Life”!
Joey Jordison is most well known as one of the founding members of Slipknot. From 1995–2013 Joey was the bands man behind the kit showing off his powerful playing style every night and most often their sets included a drum solo by the man formerly known as #1. Joey spent some of his time between Slipknot and Murderdolls who has released 2 albums the last of which released in 2010. Following Joey Jordison’s split with Slipknot in late 2013, he opted to devote his time to his side project Scar the Martyr. The band released one album before disbanding but then was resurrected with a new vocalist and rebranded Vimic. Kalen Chase would become the new vocalist and the remainder of the band would remain essentially the same until guitarist Kriss Norris left the band and was replaced by Steve Marshall. Kalen Chase has actually toured with Korn in the past as a backup vocalist. The band has released 4 singles starting since their formation. With those singles Vimic has already showcased just how diverse they can be. The band’s last single that released “Fail Me (My Temple)” features Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine. The band’s debut record ‘Open Your Omen’ is set to be released this year. In 2016 Joey has formed a heavier project Sinsaenum that consists of international artists based in America and France. The band features vocalists Sean Zatorsky (Dååth) and Attila Csihar (Sunn O))), Mayhem), guitarists Frédéric Leclercq (DragonForce, George Lynch’s Souls of We) and Stéphane Buriez (Loudblast), bassist Heimoth. The band has released 3 EP’s, one studio album ‘Echoes of the Tortured’ in 2016 and is preparing to release their newest studio album ‘Repulsion for Humanity’ on August 10th via earMUSIC. Continue reading
