ROCK ON THE RANGE 2012 REVEALS MASSIVE LINEUP FOR SIXTH ANNUAL PREMIER DESTINATION ROCK FESTIVAL
PERFORMERS INCLUDE INCUBUS, ROB ZOMBIE, SHINEDOWN, MARILYN MANSON, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, SLASH, MEGADETH, CHEVELLE, CYPRESS HILL, MASTODON AND MORE
ROCK ON THE RANGE returns for its sixth year boasting a massive lineup covering the rock spectrum. America’s premier destination rock festival will be held May 18-20 at Columbus Crew Stadium in Columbus, OH featuring performances from Incubus, Rob Zombie, Shinedown, Marilyn Manson, Five Finger Death Punch, Slash, Megadeth, Chevelle, Cypress Hill, Mastodon and many more. Read more
Mayhem Festival Live!
August 12, 2009 by Publisher
Filed under arccon2009
August 7, 2009 at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, NJ
by Steve trager
Staff Writer
Fans of pure metal have found themselves with the newest edition of summer festivals simply called Mayhem Festival. It is similar to one the greatest tours ever to roam across America, which is “Ozzfest.” Mayhem Festival certainly has kept the doors opened to one of the best-known genres in music, which is Heavy Metal. Last year’s initial run with Mayhem was an indication that we can still rock out in the hardest way with some of the greatest bands on three stages for one decent priced ticket.
This year’s Mayhem Festival definitely cranked up the word “Heavy” with a brutal line-up that turned most pits into total chaos during such sets like Cannibal Corpse, Behemoth, Trivium and God Forbid.
The nice feature about Mayhem Festival is that you have three stages, loads of music, and rockstar bling for those who always want to make a fashion statement to the rest of the world. Last year’s festival had a great line-up that could have very well been just a one-time slot of Mayhem. But the response from last year brings us to the second annual Mayhem festival. It featured great sets from well-known artists like veteran thrashers Slayer and the rock shock anti-Christ himself, Marilyn Manson, who closed out the main stage.
For most of us who endure the heavier side of metal, there were bands like Job for A Cowboy, WhiteChapel and Behemoth that can grab your attention once the music kicks in. Everyone likes something different when it comes to music in general. While I might dislike some of the bands that played on the Hot Topic stage, it still was an incredible experience to see a long list of bands that certainly hold the record for mosh mayhem.
Perhaps each set could have been longer for bands like God Forbid, Trivium, All that Remains, and Bullet for My Valentine, which opened the main stage, the fans still get the packing punch we have always come to expect at a metal show.
I still have to give props to Killswitch Engage for their stage attire at a metal show. Even dressed slightly unusual for head bangers delight, front man Howard Jones still has that voice that can go through you like a lighting bolt. I especially enjoyed Dio’s “Holy Diver“ cover, which was filled with anger and great guitar work and the balls-to-the-wall vocals makes that ‘80s classic truly come alive as only Killswitch can do so well live.
Slayer also out did a great show, captivating their finest works as an old-school thrash band that they are. Slayer is a true metal band that has never changed its sound and never has sold out for radio success but has kept a cult following all these years in the true genre of pure metal. Even Manson played a great quick set; however, I am not much of a big fan. Music fans always like something different, and that makes them unique. This is an indication that Mayhem Festival will be around for a long time (we can all hope).
The Great: Bullet for My Valentine, All That Remains, Killswitch Engage, Trivium, God Forbid, and Slayer.
Hot Topic / Extreme Metal Stage:
WhiteChapel
Black Dahlia Murder
Job for A Cowboy
Behemoth
Cannibal Corpse
Jagermeister Music Stage:
Beyond The Star
God Forbid
All That Remains
Trivium
Rockstar Energy Drink Main Stage
Bullet For My Valentine
Killswitch Engage
Slayer
Marilyn Manson
Mayhem Festival 2009 Photo Gallery
Mayhem Festival Live!
August 12, 2009 by Publisher
Filed under arccon2009
August 4, 2009 at the Comcast Center in Mansfield, Mass.
by Deb Rao
Staff Writer
The 2009 Rockstar Energy Drink invaded the Comcast Center in Mansfield, Mass., on Aug. 4. As temperatures soared into the high 80s, fans gathered early in the parking lot to witness the most cutting edge event of the summer. 2009 Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival is a modern day festival designed for today’s music fan with many diverse booths that included merchandise booths and tattoo booths. 2009 Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival showcased the top talent in the music industry today, and also featured one of the most iconic bands in metal history Slayer.
The Boston 2009 Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival featured three stages: Main Stage, Hot Topic and Jagermeister Stage. What was clearly exciting to witness was the wide age span of fans that gathered for the event. The bill featured a vast array of musical talent and styles, which included on the main stage Marilyn Manson, Slayer, Boston’s Killswitch Engage, and Bullet For My Valentine.
The Hot Topic and Jagermeister stages featured cutting-edge bands that are truly making an impact in music today. One of the first bands I checked out was Behemoth at 3 p.m. Behemoth hit the Hot Topic stage for an energetic 30-minute set and capped their performance with “I Got Erection.”
Behemoth Set List:
Slaves Shall Serve
At The Left Hand Of God
Conquer All
Demigod
Ov Fire And The Void
Chant For Exhaton 2000
I Got Erection
The Boston Mayhem Festival featured a special Boston homegrown ambiance appeal this year with the homecoming of two New England bands that are making an impact in the music industry today, All That Remains and Killswitch Engage. Also while checking out the All That Remains set, I ran into Shadows fall vocalist Brian Fair, who informed us that the new Shadows Fall release Retribution will be out on Sept. 15. ” Shadows Fall will be doing a special signing at the Mayhem Festival at 3 p.m. on Aug. 8 in Hartford, Conn., at the Comcast Theatre. I can’t wait for the release of Retribution. It is aggressive and awesome. After the album is released, we will be setting up some New England dates,” Fair said.
All That Remains is a band that hails from the Springfield, Mass., area. ATR hit the Jagermeister Stage at 4:30 p.m. and performed an exhilarating 30-minute set to a huge crowd of Boston fans that featured three new songs off of their latest release, Overcome including “Chiron,” “Forever In Your Hands,” and “Two Weeks.” Lead singer Phillip Labonte cheered the crowd on, as he yelled,”We are from the area.”
Bassist Jeanne Sagan commented to me,”It is always bittersweet to play Boston and come home. I have been on the road most of the year. It is pretty amazing playing at the Mayhem Festival this year. We are from the Springfield area.
“Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall are all around the same area also. We just put out a second single ‘Forever In Your Hands’ that is being added to radio now. We are going to shoot a video for it during this tour actually in a few days. On Overcome, we concentrated more on writing songs rather than parts. We kind of put stuff together and took a step back and looked at it and how does this make this song catchy for people so people can grasp onto to rather than a lot of just filler in the song. So that is pretty much how we went about it.”
All That Remains Set List:
This Calling
Chiron
Forever In Your Hands
Six
The Air That I Breathe
Undone
Two Weeks
Killswitch Engage hit the stage at 7:25 p.m. and managed to the get crowd pumped up for Slayer. Singer Adam Dutkiewicz, wearing a Red Sox cap, gave reference to the band’s heritage in Boston through out the entire set and joked as he commented, “Our drummer is a Yankees fan,” and inspired the Yankees chant to begin. Killswitch Engage took the stage amidst a blast of pyrotechnic opening with “My Last Serenade.” The highlight of the set was “Rose Of Sharyn.”
Killswitch Engage Set List:
My Last Serenade
Reckoning
Fixation On The Darkness
Rose Of Sharyn
Starting Over
A Bid Farewell
My Curse
The End Of Heartache
At 8:30 p.m., one of the first bands that put metal on the map, Slayer took the stage in true metallic thunder. Anticipation filled the air, as the crowd waited patiently all day to witness the legendary metal band.
Opening with “Darkness Of Christ” the Slayer set spanned their extensive career and also showcased some of their older classic songs. Slayer will be releasing a new album later this year entitled, World Painted Blood, and they performed a new song off of the upcoming album entitled, “Psychopathy Red,” which re-enforced the old-school metal roots of the band.
Singer Tom Araya belted out the songs with much passion. It was clear to see that Slayer was there to destroy and inflict their powerful fury onto the masses as guitarist Kerry King relentlessly unleashed skull-crushing riffs. Highlights of the Slayer set included “Ghosts Of War” and “South Of Heaven.”
When I asked Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo about the rehearsal preparation of the Mayhem Tour and his thoughts on the challenge of performing live versus recording in the studio and the upcoming release World Painted Blood, drummer Dave Lombardo said to me,” It is only challenging like the first maybe two or three days in rehearsal, where you are shedding all of the cobwebs that you have accumulated probably in six months of not touring. But then we were in the studio but that is not the same.
“So the hardest part is the first couple days of rehearsal. There really is no challenge. World Painted Blood is absolutely amazing. I have never been behind a record as much as I have been for this one. I am very proud of it and very happy. It’s all good. Hope everyone’s goes out and gets it,” Lombardo said.
Slayer Set List:
Darkness Of Christ
Disciple
War Ensemble
Jihad
Psychopathy Red
Born Of Fire
Mandatory Suicide
Chemical Warfare
Ghosts Of War
Dead Skin Mask
Hell Awaits
Angel Of Death
South Of Heaven
Raining Blood
Marilyn Manson capped the evening performance. It was great to see a lot of Marilyn’s fans show up early for the concert. It was a long day for them. I spoke to two young fans who braved the heat and traveled an hour and arrived when the gates opened to see the performer. Marilyn’s set included three new songs off his latest release The High End Of Low, as he opened the set with “We’re From America” and capped his performance with “The Beautiful Creatures.”
Marilyn Manson Set List:
We’re From America
Disposable Teens
Little Horn
Irresponsible Hate Anthem
Four Rusted Horses
Arma-Goddamn-Motherfuckin-Geddon
The Dope Show
Rock Is Dead
Tourniquet
Sweet Dreams
The Beautiful People
Marilyn Manson The High End Of Low
by Jay Villain
Staff Writer
One word that can be used to describe Marilyn Manson’s latest release, The High End Of Low, is ambitious. It is a good CD; however, it’s not his best work. Ambitious comes to mind because it’s clear he is still committed and cares about the product he’s producing. Marilyn Manson hasn’t sold out by aborting his musical style, but it’s obvious that he is experimenting with some different elements within the disc.
The High End Of Low offers a semi-diverse selection of 15 songs. Having too many songs on one disc sometimes can be detrimental. Whenever an artist releases that many songs on one CD, it’s not likely all of them will be hits, although there are some that stand out. The CD doesn’t start off very strong at all. “Devour” gets the ball rolling and seems to crawl to a climax. Guitar with distortion and drums don’t kick in until two minutes and 35 seconds into the song and only lasts for about a minute before going back to the crawling intro. Luckily, things start looking up with “Pretty as a ($),” which musters all the hatred one would expect from Marilyn Manson. “Leave A Scar” is a groove-oriented song with a catchy and very memorable chorus.
For something completely different, there is the very unique “Four Rusted Horses.” The use of acoustic guitar throughout gives this song the feel of a gothic western. Maybe Manson is onto something here. “Arma-Godd**N-Motherf**kin-Geddon” is perhaps the peak of this CD. This song is written with all the elements that we’ve come to expect from Manson. Reflecting back to his classics, “Arma-Godd**N-Motherf**kin-Geddon” has a nice hook, and it’s heavy and full of groove.
“Blank And White” maintains the aggression and brings us to something unexpected: “Running To The Edge Of The World.” This is a song that takes the listener back to the great power ballads of the ‘70s, not the ‘80s. With an acoustic guitar, “Running To The Edge Of The World” is mood setting and nicely structured. Unfortunately, things start going downhill from here.
“I Want To Kill You Like They Do In The Movies” starts off with a very attractive bass line, but the song seems to be a bit droning, especially after nine minutes. When, in fact, the point could have been made in half the time. “Wow” is definitely the lowest point on this CD. It comes across like a pseudo-rap song with a hideous programmed disco clap throughout. “Wight Spider” and “Unkillable Monster” aren’t nearly as questionable, but they still don’t make you want to go back and hear them again and again.
What saves the end of this CD is the punk-influenced “We’re From America.” This track maintains its energy from start to finish and sounds even better when played loud. “I Have To Look Up Just To See Hell,” “Into The Fire” and “15″ aren’t very strong following “We’re From America.” Overall, The High End Of Low isn’t very shocking coming from someone who’s known for shock rock. Diehard fans will embrace this CD, but it’s not likely Marilyn Manson will gain any new fans from this effort.
Track listing:
1. Devour
2. Pretty As A ($)
3. Leave A Scar
4. Four Rusted Horses
5. Arma-Godd**N-Motherf**kin-Geddon
6. Blank And White
7. Running To The Edge Of The World
8. I Want To Kill You Like They Do In The Movies
9. Wow
10. Wight Spider
11. Unkillable Monster
12. We’re From America
13 I Have To Look Up Just To See Hell
14. Into The Fire
15. 15
Hardrock Haven rating 5/10
