FESTIVAL RECAP: Blue Ridge Rock Fest – Blue Ridge Amphitheater – Danville, Virginia


Massive music festivals are commonplace now, but they were far and few between fifty years ago. They are hard to produce well, but can be great moments in time for fans and musical artists. For every Lollapalooza, Wacken, and Ozzfest, we have Altamont, Woodstock 1999, and Fyre Fest as well. No festival sets out to fail or do harm and hurt the trust of fans, but sometimes that happens. Blue Ridge Rock Fest, as it turns out, became a perfect storm of too many fans, too small a town, to support those fans. Purpose Driven events had put on severa

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CONCERT REVIEW: Avatar – Magic Sword – Tallah – Live at Irving Plaza


The King welcomed fans back to concerts, at the great Irving Plaza, Avatar kicked off the fall season of tours with the Going Hunting Tour with Magic Sword and Tallah! The band spent 2020 not being able to tour as much, behind their incredible album Hunter Gatherer (eOne Music) and build off of the huge success of Avatar Country. As a band and brand they have really built a tremendous culture and following around the band, not unlike fellow Swedes Ghost have done for the last decade.

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Avatar Shares Two New Songs “Going Hunting” and “Barren Cloth Mother” and Signs New Record Deal


Swedish Metal giants Avatar have shared two new singles on the even of what promises to be an epic run of tour dates in North America. The band has released “Going Hunting” and “Barren Cloth Mother” to all DSPs, and has a video for each song too, The band also announced their signing with Nashville label/distro Thirty Tigers and the co-launches of its own Black Waltz Records label. Check out the new tracks now!

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Five Finger Death Punch, Rob Zombie, Shinedown, Breaking Benjamin, Limp Bizkit, and More Confirmed for Blue Ridge Rock Festival


Quickly shaping up to be the biggest music festival in the USA this year, Blue Ridge Rock festival has announced their full line-up of 180 bands. Headlining the massive 4 day festival are Five Finger Death Punch, Rob Zombie, Shinedown, Breaking Benjamin, and Limp Bizkit. There is a special club warm up show which includes headliner Ludacris, T-Pain, and Lil Jon. Also on tap: the Hellzapoppin Circus Sideshow Revue, a vaudeville freak show of wonder by Hellzapoppin’s Ringleader and Producer, Mr. Bryce “The Govna” Graves. In addition, excitingly, the festival will be hosted by Steve-O (MTV’s Jackass); and special guest Lou Brutus (SiriusXM). The fest takes place September 9th – 12th at Blue Ridge Amphitheater, a long-awaited large-scale concert venue in Southwest Virginia. Tickets are on sale now at the link below and here is the full lineup:

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LIVESTREAM REVIEW: Avatar – Age Of Memories


In a time when the world must take a break from live concerts and events to keep our peers safe, there are few ways for bands to keep their connection with the fans alive. Melodic Death Metal quintet Avatar, however, have found an effective way around that – one in which they not only perform multiple livestreams of full shows but have their fans select the songs they play. Thus, Avatar Ages was born.

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LIVESTREAM REVIEW: Avatar Ages- Age of Madness Livestream



Avatar took my live stream “virginity” away in this concert Ages|Madness from their series of Livestream concerts titled Ages, which has been running since January 9th and will end this upcoming weekend on January 30th. The Swedish band demonstrated why they are one of the most popular and entertaining bands in the genre right now by giving a performance that very well is worth the “price of admission” that COVID normalcy has given us for these types of events since we cannot go to live shows for the time being. Avatar was able to set a tone and ambiance like no other with this performance which was concentrated on tracks from the albums Black Waltz (Gain Music Entertainment) and Hail the Apocalypse (eOne Music).

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LIVESTREAM REVIEW: Avatar Ages Review – Chapter 2: Illusions


 

Avatar is not your ordinary metal band. Melding crushing melodic groove metal with humor and mysticism, Avatar creates something new and intriguing that breaks the mold. For the second performance of their epic 4-part “Avatar Ages” livestream event, dubbed “Illusions”, the band performed fan-voted tracks off their records Feathers and Flesh (2016) and Avatar Country (2018).

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ALBUM REVIEW: Avatar – Hunter Gatherer


The pride of Sweden’s elite metal scene, Avatar has returned to open a new chapter in their storybook. After bidding a final goodbye to Avatar Country, guitarist Jonas Jarlsby hung up his crown in exchange for leather gauntlets. And so, the Hunter Gatherer (eOne Records) era has begun. Continue reading


EXCLUSIVE VIDEO PREMIERE: Imonolith – “Breathe [The Quarantine Sessions]”


Ghost Cult is psyched to bring you an exclusive video from supergroup Imonlith today! The band has been productive during the pandemic, releasing a series of clips curating socially distanced tracks from their debut album! Today we are here to share ‘Breathe [The Quarantine Sessions]’ The group will release a new video in the series every Monday for the entire albums’ tracklist. The band just released their acclaimed debut album, State of Being, and features a veritable who’s who of tremendous talents, such as drummer Ryan Van Poederooyen (Devin Townsend Project), guitarist Brian ‘Beav’ Wadell (Devin Townsend Project), Jon Howard (Threat Signal), guitarist Kai Huppunen (Methods of Mayhem, Noise Therapy) and Scott Whalen (Econoline Crush). State of Being also features special guest appearances from Jens Kidman (Meshuggah) and Avatar vocalist Johannes Eckerström. Watch the clip now!

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Rock USA Festival Has Been Forced to Cancel Their 2020 Event Due To COVID-19


Rock USA and its sister festival Country USA has been forced to cancel their 2020 events due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The festival, one of the biggest in the US, was to have celebrated its 10th-anniversary edition this summer, and was going to take place July 16-18 at Ford Festival Park in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Of the 40 bands and headliners and support acts included Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, Rob Zombie (headlining for a 3rd straight year), Halestorm, Ice Cube, Papa Roach, Anthrax, Chevelle, Avtar, Feever333, Hellyeah, Steel Panther, Knocked Loose, Bad Wolves, Attila and more. Hypervibe, Inc. is the festival promoter and has vowed to attempt to rebook the fest. Continue reading