After their biggest year ever this year, Hellfest 2023 has booked headliners Kiss, Mötley Crüe, Iron Maiden, and Slipknot! Set to take place June 15-18, 2023 In Clisson, France, the bill also includes Def Leppard, Pantera, Porcupine Tree, Amon Amarth, Alter Bridge And Within Temptation, and more! Headliners for the 2022 edition of Hellfest included Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, Judas Priest, Deftones, Ghost, Scorpions, and Korn over two long weekends to make up for the missed pandemic year of 2020.
Pantera, Disturbed, Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy, Architects, Behemoth, Kreator, Meshuggah, Gojira, Parkway Drive, Testament, Voivod are among the 103 artists who have been added to the 26th edition of the Graspop Metal Meeting, set to take place June 15-18, 2023 in Dessel, Belgium. Tickets are on sale tomorrow at the links below. Continue reading
Nightwish is the only band that can make me cry. More on that later on. For now, it’s great to finally have them return stateside and with Beast in Black. I have to say it was kind of nice just to have two bands on a show. I get that everybody wants to tour and play catch up but sometimes less is more.
Art and culture are on the rise in the city of Detroit because every corner of this metropolis has some exceptional humanities movement happening. Mexicantown is no exception. El Club is a cozy-sized music venue that rests in the Southwest corner of the city. This spot has made its mark by being known to graciously host an assortment of acts from all genres. Last Monday the venue welcomed Finland’s Power Metal act, Beast in Black. This was the last stop on this band’s headlining tour, so they came ready to party. Continue reading
Symphonic Metal legends Nightwish have announced a headline tour of North America next spring. The 10-date trek will kick off on May 6th, 2022 in Toronto with stops in New York, Chicago, and Denver before concluding in Los Angeles for two back-to-back shows at The Wiltern on May 20 and May 21. Opening all dates of the tour the tour will be special guests Beast In Black. Nightwish released their latest album, Human. :II: Nature. in April of 2020 (read our review here).
Another festival bites the dust due to the pandemic as Tuska Festival has been forced to cancel their 2021 event, and plan to rebook for 2022. Some rock and metal festivals worldwide are trying their best to bounce back from the last year, but in the case of Tuska, they didn’t feel like the conditions worked for hosting the fest. Tuska 2021 was to have been headlined by Korn, Deftones, Gojira, Devin Townsend, Baroness, insomnia,, Beast In Black, Eluveitie, Jinjer, Finntroll, High on Fire, Perturbator, Oranssi Pazuzu, Vltimas, Gaahls Wyrd, Korpiklaani, and many more. Information about refunds and rolling over your tickets to next year (please do this if you can) are at the link below.
Hopefully returning for 2021, Helsinki’s Tuska Festival is one of the greatest musical events in the world. Gojira has been added to the bill, joining other headliners Korn, Gojira, Deftones, Devin Townsend, Bodom After Midnight, Insomnium, Mokoma, Beast In Black, Symphony X, Eluveitie, Jinjer, Lost Society, Belzebubs, High On Fire, Perturbator, Oranssi Pazuzu, Vltimas, Gaahls Wyrd and more to be announced. Gojira returns, along with Korn and Deftones as headliners from the previously canceled 2020 event.
Sadly, the long-running and legendary ProgPower USA has been forced to cancel their 2020 weekend-long festival in September. Promoter Glenn Harveston took to social media to announce that ProgPower USA XXI, the annual Atlanta event is canceled, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and rescheduled for September 8 – 11, 2021. “We can’t social distance in the venue (Centerstage) which is sold out.” The festival has rebooked for 2021 and launched a GoFundMe campaign to try and recover the lost monies from their $14,000 lost to a one-time US Visa application. On the plus side 19 of this year’s anticipated 21 acts have reconfirmed for next year. Theyhavealreadyreceived 25K of the 14k goal. Continue reading
Released in Japan and the UK earlier in the year, other territories have had to wait until now to hear the latest album by Japanese power metallers, Lovebites. Every bit as impressive as their previous records, Electric Pentagram (Victor Records) even draws inspiration from the likes of Slayer for their latest release, the appropriately titled opening track, ‘Thunder Vengeance’ having been conceived after watching the legendary thrashers at Download Festival Japan in 2019. Not that you’d be able to tell from the chorus, which carries a hook so beefy you could eat it for Sunday lunch.Continue reading
The fifth full-length release from Delain finds the Dutch symphonic metal act looking towards the future with a combined sense of fear and optimism. Appearing to presage dark, dystopian times, the riffs and beats on the latest album Apocalypse & Chill (Napalm Records) are countered (for the most part) by the uplifting vocal melodies of singer Charlotte Wessels as they suggest a more hopeful future.Continue reading