The long-running but troubled metal festival Metal Days in Slovenia has gone dark for 2024 and will not host another festival ever again under this name. Originally emerging in 2024 as Metal Camp, the festival was renamed Metal Days from 2013- 2022. After holding a truncated festival in 2023, citing catastrophic flooding canceling the last day, and blaming this years’ cancelation on fallout from the ill will of cheated fans, from the global pandemic, economic crisis, and business mistakes. They had promised to refund tickets for several past festivals, but in a lengthy farewell statement only available on their website, they blamed another company for withholding refunds. Metal Days also faced local competition from Tolminator, a smaller yet still successful festival in Tolmin, the original location of Metal Days until 2023. The statement also claimed that they “reinvested the profits from MetalDays into our other festivals: Winter Days of Metal, Headbanger’s Holiday, Bluesland, Overjam Reggae (2017-2019), and Punk Rock Holiday (2013-2016)” – all leading to losses weighing on the parent festival. The statement also states they tried to sell the festival in order to save it for fans to The statement includes details of the festival organizers’ attempts to sell the brand to major festival companies that included Live Nation, Superstruct, and Festival Republic, but failed. Further complicating things, Metal Days has wiped its socials except for YouTube, where they notoriously used to delete negative fan comments, which is a bad look considering the money owed fans, and gaslighting those fans about the whereabouts of that money. Thousands of bands played the festival, including past headliners for the event include: Amon Amarth, Anthrax, As I Lay Dying, At the Gates, Benediction, Beyond Creation, Cattle Decapitation, Clutch, Cradle of Filth, Messhuggah, and many more. At its best, it was a perfect combo of the great traditions of European-style open-air extreme metal music festivals, metalhead culture, camping, lakefront beach fun, and romping in the great outdoors in gorgeous Slovenia. We will keep tracking this story to see if fans ever get refunded, or if the promoters ever try to return. Read the full farewell statement below. Continue reading
Tag Archives: RIP
Jon Wysocki, Founding Drummer of Staind, Soil, and Lydia’s Castle, Has Died
Jon Wysocki the founding drummer of Staind, later with Soil, and recently Lydia’s Castle has died. He passed away on Saturday, May 18th, and was just 53 years old. Before his death he had reportedly been having issues with his liver that required him to be under the care of medical professionals. Wysocki’s death was confirmed by his bandmates in Lydia’s Castle on social media, which you can see below. Soil also released a statement about their former bandmate. Wysocki was the founding drummer of Staind, forming the group in 1995 with singer Aaron Lewis, guitarist Mike Mushok and bassist Johnny April. Considered the first proteges of Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit, the drummer stayed in the band until 2011 when he was fired during the making of their seventh studio album. Wysocki performed on Staind’s biggest hits from their first three major label albums Dysfunction (co-produced by Durst) (1999), Break The Cycle (2001) and 14 Shades of Grey (2003), all for Elektra Records with two Platinum and two gold certified records, boosting the band out of the Nu Metal genre and to chart topping success world-wide. RIP. Continue reading
CJ Snare, Frontman and Founder of Hard Rock Band Firehouse Has Died
Sad news as Carl “C.J.” Snare the co-founder frontman and singer of the Hard Rock/ Glam Metal band Firehouse has died. He was just 64 years old. CJ had taken a leave of absence from the band in 2023 for abdominal surgery, but passed away this weekend. The news was broken by his family, and shared by the band on their social media accounts CJ had been part of the band formed in 1984 in Richmond Virginia finally signing to Epic Records in 1989 out of North Carolina. They had huge hit songs in the genre, including “Reach For The Sky,” “Treat Me Bad,” “All She Wrote,” and of course, their signature power ballads “Love Of A Lifetime,” “I Live My Life For You,” and “When I Look Into Your Eyes.” The band hadn’t had a resurgence of popularity in recent years after placing tracks in the hit movie The Wrestler, and the recent HBO superhero television series The Peacemaker starring John Cena. We send our sympathy and support out to CJ’s family and the Firehouse family as well.Continue reading
Tony Clarkin, Guitarist and Leader of Magnum, Has Died
Tony Clarkin, guitarist, chief songwriter and leader of long running UK Hard Rock band Magnum, has died. He was 77. The news of his death comes just weeks after being diagnosed with a rare and incurable spinal condition. Magnum had already canceled its previously announced spring 2024 tour. Earlier today (Tuesday, January 9),Tony’s family released the following statement: “On behalf of the family it is with profound sadness that daughter Dionne Clarkin is sharing the news of the passing of Tony Clarkin. Following a short illness, he died peacefully surrounded by his girls on Sunday 7th January 2024…” Continue reading
A GoFundMe Has Been Launched for Jimmy Flynn, Legendary Hardcore Promoter From Boston
A GoFundMe campaign has been launched for Jimmy Flynn, the Boston Hardcore scene promoter who died suddenly this week. Under his Hardcore Stadium banner, Jimmy was well loved and respected in the scene. Donate here:Continue reading
Jimmy Flynn, Legendary Hardcore Show Booker From Boston, Has Died
Sad news as Jimmy Flynn, infamous in the Boston Hardcore scene for the many shows he booked under his Hardcore Stadium, banner, has died. No cause of death ahs been revealed but tributes started popping up on social media, yesterday, December 26th, 2023. He will missed. RIP.Continue reading
A Go Fund Me Campaign Has Been Launched by The Family of Late Twitching Tongues and Ghostemane Drummer Cayle Sain
Earlier this week,Twitching Tongues and Ghostemane drummer Cayle Sain died. No cause of death has been revealed so far. In the wake of his sudden passing his family launched a GoFundMe memorial fund
The news was originally shared in a statement from 197 Media, and confirmed by Twitching Tongues on social media. Bandmates, peers , and friends followed up by posting online tributes. With Twitching Tongues, Sain played on four recent releases including the acclaimed full-length Gaining Purpose Through Passionate Hatred (Metal Blade, 2018). In addition to his other bands, Sain was a past member of Betrayal, Downpresser, Fuming Mouth, God’s Hate, If I Die First, Mizery, and Troncale. RIP. Continue reading
Twitching Tongues and Ghostemane Drummer Cayle Sain Has Died
According to a published report on Lambgoat.com, Twitching Tongues and Ghostemane drummer Cayle Sain has died. No cause of death has been revealed so far. The news was originally shared in a statement from 197 Media, and confirmed by Twitching Tongues on social media. Bandmates, peers , and friends followed up by posting online tributes. With Twitching Tongues, Sain played on four recent releases including the acclaimed full-length Gaining Purpose Through Passionate Hatred (Metal Blade, 2018). In addition to his other bands, Sain was a past member of Betrayal, Downpresser, Fuming Mouth, God’s Hate, If I Die First, Mizery, and Troncale. RIP. Continue reading
Dimebag Darrell Abbott of Pantera Died 19 Years Ago Today
December 8th marks the anniversary of the death of Dimebag Darrell Lance Abbott of Pantera and Damageplan. Today is the 19th anniversary of his murder of while on stage at the former Alrosa Villa club in Columbus, Ohio. That venue has now been demolished. As we do every year on this date, we prefer to cherish Darrell’s memory and honor how he lived. Almost 20 years later no one can deny his impact as a player, songwriter, and major personality in metal. While controversial, the current world tour from the reformed version of Pantera is a tribute to Darrell and his late brother Vinnie Paul. Jam out to some classic Dimebag and Pantera tracks and raise a glass or smoke (or both) to the legend of legends on guitar! Getcha pull!
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Legendary X-Japan Bassist Heath Has Died
Hiroshi Morie (森江 博) a.k.a. Heath, the longtime bassist of X-Japan, has died after a battle with cancer. He was 55. The news was confirmed in an article by Yahoo Japan today, November 7th, 2023. Heath joined X-Japan in1992 and remained a vital meme we of the band until their breakup in 1997. He reunited with the group in 2007, performed at Coachella in 2018, and participated in their comeback single “Angel’ last July. Rest in peace, Heath.