Linkin Park, System Of A Down, The Offspring, Slayer, Deftones, etc Confirmed For Amnesia Rockfest 2015


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The 10th edition of Amnesia Rockfest has announced Linkin Park and System of a Down will be headlining the Friday and Saturday nights of the event respectively. Tim Armstrong (Rancid) and Fat Mike (NOFX) are curators of the 10th anniversary edition.

The Offspring will be doing their album Americana in its entirety; Deftones performing their Around The Fur album in its entirety; and Rancid will be doing their And Out Come The Wolves set.

Some of this year’s new features include having several comedians such as Tom Green, Steve-O from Jackass (first Quebec appearance in 10 years, since the 2004 riot at the Metropolis) and Mike Ward. Several other surprises and secret performances are in store for festival-goers.

The rest of the lineup consists of:

Linkin Park (Headline Friday Night)
System Of A Down (Headline Saturday Night)
The Offspring (performing Americana album)
Slayer
Snoop Dogg
Rob Zombie
Tenacious D (featuring Jack Black – first Quebec appearance)
Pixies
Sublime with Rome
Deftones (performing Around The Fur)
Rancid (performing And Out Come The Wolves)
Bad Religion
Refused (reunion)
Bad Religion
Thrice (reunion)
Coheed And Cambria
Story Of The Year
Flogging Molly
Gogol Bordello
Propagandhi
Goldfinger
Less Than Jake
Good Riddance
Ten Foot Pole
The Bouncing Souls
Satanic Surfers (reunion)
Buzzcocks
Descendents
ALL
The Exploited
GBH
Michale Graves (of the Misfits)
Ministry
Skinny Puppy (first show since 1988)
Parkway Drive
Down
Fear Factory
Atreyu (reunion)
Carcass
Bolt Thrower (rare Canadian appearance)
The Melvins

Quebec Stage
Les Cowboys Frintgants
Banlieue Rouge (one night reunion)
Groovy Aardvark (one night reunion)
Subb (one night reunion)
MAP (one night reunion)
Penelope (one night reunion)
Blind Witness (one night reunion)
Bald Vulture (one night reunion)
Overbass (one night reunion)
Les Ékorchés (one night reunion)
Capitaine Révolte (one night reunion)
Mononc’ Serge
The Planet Smashers

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Sleeping Giant – Finished People


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Christian Metal is a marginalised genre at the best of times. Is it all a marketing ploy? Hardcore is a good medium for faith-based metal. It’s easy to convey the passion you have, and they have that in spades, but recent claims from As I Lay Dying frontman Tim Lambesis that “maybe one in ten Christian bands” are genuine have not done the scene any favours.  Sleeping Giant seem to mean it though. Finished People (Century Media) is the fourth album from the trio (Tom Green – Vocals, Geoff Brouillette – Guitar, Matt Weir – Drums).

Opener ‘Clutches’ builds from a slow start to a high octane crusher; Green doesn’t take long to start singing about spreading Christian love, but his vocal range is impressive nonetheless and he maintains a positive vibe throughout. Repeated breakdowns are to be expected and are delivered on a regular basis and as is often the case, their constant appearances can become fatiguing. But there are also melodic passages on the likes of ‘Overthrow’ or ‘Finished People’ reminiscent of Jamey Jasta’s solo album as well as thrashy elements on ‘Death Knell’ and ‘Brother’s Keeper.’

Overall there’s a good balance between the usual hardcore genre expectations and melody, but there’s plenty of bite in their sound. ‘Son of God, Son of Man’ is a highlight, as are ‘Christus Victor’ and ‘Victory.’ However there are plenty of overly generic, anonymous moments where it’s mostly shouting and breakdowns. The only outright bad song is ‘Violence’; an overblown and pretentious spoken word passage.

Whether they “mean it” or not, Sleeping Giant have made a respectable album full of energy and zeal with a positive message. They’ve also made an album lacking any new ideas and occasionally straying into pretentiousness or generic breakdowns. There a lot worse albums out there, but it’s a decent effort.

 

6.5/10

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DAN SWINHOE