Mad About Rock

  The greatest rock and metal festival of all time, Download Festival, announces 44 new names and the day splits for 2023’s mammoth line-up. New names include the blistering Halestorm, Alter Bridge, Neck Deep, Bob Vylan, Carcass, Five Finger Death Punch, Jinjer, Coheed and Cambria, Electric Callboy, Hot Milk and The Amity Affliction, who will join the celebration of Download’s 20-year legacy at the hallowed grounds of Donington Park across four days over 8-11 June 2023. They join headliners Slipknot, Bring Me The Horizon and Metallica, who will deliver two massive no-repeat performances. Weekend and day tickets are now on sale, as well as a very limited amount of camping tickets and new VIP options: www.downloadfestival.co.uk . The biggest annual gathering of the rock and metal tribes will be joined by 44 new names, including the Grammy-winning Halestorm, hard rock frontrunners Alter Bridge, heavy metal behemoths Five Finger Death Punch, MOBO’s first ever Best Alternative Music Ac...

  UK’s heaviest metal festival, Bloodstock, returned to Catton Park during a heatwave, but that didn’t stop thousands of metal heads clad in primarily black clothing. The festival keeps getting bigger and better, initially starting as an indoor event, and now it’s an open-air event with a capacity of 20,000. 2022 was hot as hell, both in terms of the impressive line-up of big well-known acts to upcoming rising stars of metal and, of course, the scorching temperatures. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it to the opening day of the festival on Thursday 11th, which saw Swedish melodic death metallers Dark Tranquility headline the Sophie Lancaster stage. Friday 12th August I Fight Bears - Photo Credit: Leigh van der Byl The first band of the day for me was the Welsh modern metalcore act I Fight Bears on the New Blood Stage, who won the South Wales Grand Final of the Metal 2 The Masses competition, earning the prestigious slot. Anticipation for this rising act was high as they had an exce...

  Photo credit: Fiona Garden British metal giants, Bullet For My Valentine, have announced a 10-date UK headline tour for Feb/ March 2023. Starting at the Cambridge Corn Exchange on February 27th, this new run of shows hits cities such as Liverpool, Glasgow & Swansea before finishing with an appearance at London’s Camden Roundhouse on March 11th 2023. Atreyu and Jinjer will join the bill across all shows, cementing the line-up as a sure-fire rager.   BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE UK HEADLINE TOUR DATES: 26th FEB – Corn Exchange, Cambridge 28th FEB – O2 Academy, Bristol 1st MAR - Mountford Hall, Liverpool 3rd MAR - O2 City Hall, Newcastle 4th MAR – Barrowland, Glasgow 6th MAR – O2 Academy, Leeds 7th MAR - O2 Academy, Birmingham 8th MAR – O2 Guildhall, Southampton 10th MAR – Arena, Swansea 11th MAR – Roundhouse, London Tickets are available now, here: https://myticket.co.uk/artists/bullet-for-my-valentine Meanwhile, the band have released “Stitches” – a song previ...

Edmonton, AB's JULIET RUIN recently released their first full-length album "Old Stardust, Love and Chaos" on September 6, 2019 to follow their 2017 debut self titled EP. The release promises to be more technical with heavy instrumentation, including some dabbling in low tuned 7 string guitars to create an original sound chock full of catchy hooks that convey a fresh and emotive feel to their heavy music. Lead vocalist Jess Ruin has added more screams, but also more clean techniques with her pop-esque power vocals. Fans of forward-thinking modern metal such as Evanescence, System of a Down, and Killswitch Engage should take special note of this powerful and emotive Canadian band. Check out their latest lyric video for the track 'Fight To Win' at the following link HERE . The band adds: "'Fight to Win' is probably one of the more unique tracks on the album. It begins softly and quickly changes pace, flowing into our most experimental v...

Edmonton, AB's JULIET RUIN have announced Western Canadian show dates that include an opening slot for Ukraine's Jinjer in Calgary on October 29th and supporting fellow Albertans Arrival of Autumn in Grande Prairie on October 19th. The band will venture out to British Columbia for dates in Kelowna and Vancouver. The band adds: "We as a band are absolutely honoured to be opening up for Jinjer, we are all fans and their meteoric rise has been a pleasure to watch." Show Dates: Sept 13 - Kelowna, BC - Fernando's Sept 14 - Vancouver, BC - Pat's Pub w/ Kosm Oct 4 - Red Deer, AB - The Krossing Oct 19 - Grande Prairie, AB - Better Than Fred's w/ Arrival of Autumn Oct 29 - Calgary, AB - Dickens w/ Jinjer, The Browning, Sumo Cyco JULIET RUIN recently released their first full-length album "Old Stardust, Love and Chaos" on September 6, 2019 to follow their 2017 debut self titled EP. The release promises to be more technical with heavy instrumentatio...

One of the hardest working bands in the heavy metal landscape at the moment, Ukrainian juggernaut JINJER have released a 4th video single “Teacher, Teacher!” taken from their critically acclaimed 5 track EP entitled Micro, released via Napalm Records in January 2019. Filmed in various concert venues throughout Europe on their last tour with Amorphis and Soilwork,“Teacher, Teacher!” is a visually stunning portrayal of JINJER's exciting and energetic live show mixed over the unique Progressive Groove Metal sound that sets them apart from the rest of the pack. The band comments on the new track & video "Teacher, Teacher!": "The idea behind the song is about people that dictate their agenda by means of their status, position, or just their internet claim to fame in order to impose their opinion onto others but those opinions aren’t based on experience nor knowledge." JINJER are currently booking more tours on their quest for world domination with dates ...

Swedish visionary metallers SOILWORK have released a video trailer in which singer Björn "Speed" Strid talks about the band's most recent single, 'Stålfågel'. See the trailer here: https://youtu.be/eB6Br1maU7w Check out the music video here: https://youtu.be/8-kcWrCX9rA The song is taken from their impatiently awaited 11th album, 'Verkligheten', which marks their first in more than three years and also the first to feature Thusgaard on drums, who replaced Dirk Verbeuren in 2016. Also watch the official music video for 'Full Moon Shoals' and pre-order the album here: http://nuclearblast.com/soilwork-verkligheten Get/listen to the song here: http://nblast.de/SoilworkFullMoonShoals ICYMI 'Arrival' visualizer: https://youtu.be/nuItul-D0PA Studio webisode #1: https://youtu.be/wc6BaYOI3h4 Studio webisode #2: https://youtu.be/9SRtzjDKnr0 Studio webisode #3: https://youtu.be/YtcATGBBHNs Album Trailer #1: https://youtu.be/8w0UdGCAY4Y Album Trai...

JINJER To Release Reissue Of 'Cloud Factory' Album JINJER are widely known in the Metal scene and are mixing up everything with their fresh sound, killer live performances and energizing voice of their supreme singer Tatiana. Following the release of their Napalm Records debut “King Of Everything” and numerous festivals and club shows, the Ukraine based band just got home from their very first and super intense UK headlining tour run. And of course, there is “No rest for the wicked”, as JINJER will be heavily touring around Europe with the mighty ARCH ENEMY for the second leg of their tour in February 2018. But for now – let’s get an exclusive look at their upcoming release of their game changing second studio album “Cloud Factory” - originally released back in 2014. Now it’s time for a Reissue with full sound, huge guitars, more boom and two exclusive live tracks! PRE-ORDER HERE! Read what the band has to say and check out album artwork, track listing incl. bonus tracks...