The sixth (6th) year of the Metal Mayhem Festival, presented by Rockstar Energy Drink, made its way through Darien Lake for one of the hottest shows I have ever personally attended. The scorching 90 degree plus day saw four (4) stages of music with both the Musician’s Institute Stage and the Jägermeister Stage rotating acts all day long.
With 19 total bands, including two “Headbang for the Highway” winners, it was a test of will for metal heads to endure the day’s long worth of music. Were they up to the challenge? Some of the side bands were impressed by the reaction of the crowd and the bands willed their way through their sets. Finland’s own Children of Bodom headlined the Jägermeister Stage and, in my opinion, should have been billed as one of the main stage acts. A solid band led by guitarist and vocalist Alexi Laiho, they are supporting their latest release titled “Halo of Blood.”
Machinehead headlined the Musician’s Institute Stage and guitarist and vocalist Rob Flynn made jokes about the weather that kept the crowd laughing. Besides the comic relief, Machinehead are a powerful and no frills bullsh*t type of band and that’s exactly what the fans got.
One band who caught everyone’s eye was the Butcher Babies. Led by two beautiful women in Heidi Shepherd and Carla Harvey, the 30 minute plus set featured songs from their recent release “Goliath.” This album was released a few days prior and already garnered the top spot on Billboard’s new artists/heatseekers chart. With forceful vocals and a brand of music they like to define as “slutmetal,” Butcher Babies could be the band to watch for the rest of 2013.
What got lost in the shuffle was the Sumerian Records Stage. It was almost like a makeshift stage of some sort. One of my new favorite bands headlined that stage in Scorpion Child. The band or stage really got lost in the shuffle as less than 25 people witnessed a great set by the Texas band.
Off to the mainstage, which Sweden’s Amon Amarth, with a massive stage set up, started it off. The stage included a Viking ship that the band somewhat got lost in. You couldn’t see drummer Fredrik Andersson at all. They didn’t get much of a crowd reaction, leading me to believe they may have been better suited to be on one of the side stages. Progressive metal band Mastodon were up and delivered a solid one hour performance. Drummer Brann Dailor and guitarist Bill Kelliher used to live in Victor, NY (outside of Rochester), before they moved to Atlanta, GA, to help form the group a handful of years ago. The band members share vocal duties but the songs are primarily sung by bassist Troy Sanders. Guitarist Brent Hinds is as underrated as they come and the fans gave them a great response. A really solid set by Mastodon all around.
Next up was Las Vegas’ Five Finger Death Punch. The band is gearing up for their third release “The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 1” on July 30, 2013. They will be releasing Volume 2 at a later date, but in the meantime, the band took the stage and owned it. Vocalist Ivan Moody paid his respects to the armed forces by stopping the show at one point and asking who served in the military. He then asked people around them to shake their hands and give them love for what they do to make our lives possible. He also brought some kids with cancer up on stage to get some recognition and I think the kids loved it. Ivan knows what’s important and talks about the subjects that touch each and every one of us every day. They only played the first single “Lift Me Up” during the set, but nonetheless, it was a strong set as well.
The ever so colorful and inventing Rob Zombie was the headliner and took to the stage high atop a podium. The podium lit up with his name as he used it strictly for the first song. Bassist Piggy D and guitarist John 5 were also decked out in elaborate costumes that made it very interesting, to say the least, for the first song “Teenage Nosferatu Pussy” off of their latest effort “Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor.” The 14 song set lasted an hour and 15 minutes and consisted of mostly Rob zombie songs with a few White Zombie and cover songs sprinkled in. Zombie decked himself out in an Uncle Sam outfit and balloons were then thrown into the audience for the Grand Funk Railroad cover “We’re an American Band.” I liked this version as it was different but didn’t take away from the original too much.
For the theatrical concert goer, Zombie has always provided a pretty spectacular live show. Even though I felt the lineup of bands may have not been as strong as in years past, it is still a top notch festival and it ran without any issues. It was nice to see that they are adding various other tents so attendees can take refuge from the music, even if it’s for a short time. This would include a huge Rockstar Energy area tent that included free drinks. On this day, it was well needed!
Rob Zombie Set List:
Teenage Nosferatu Pussy
Superbeast
Meet the Creeper
Living Dead Girl
We’re an American Band (Grand Funk Railroad cover)
More Human Than Human (White Zombie song)
Scum of the Earth
Drum Solo
Ging Gang Gong De Do Gong De Laga Raga
House of 1000 Corpses
Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Supertown
Thunder Kiss ’65 (White Zombie song)
School’s Out (Alice Cooper cover)
Encore:
Dragula
Five Finger Death Punch Set List:
Under and Over It
Burn It Down
Hard To See
Bad Company (Bad Company cover)
White Knuckles
Drum Solo
Lift Me Up
Coming Down
Far from Home
The Bleeding
Mastodon Set List:
Black Tongue
Crystal Skull
Dry Bone Valley
Stargasm
Blasteroid
All the Heavy Lifting
Bedazzled Fingernails
Curl of the Burl
Spectrelight
Blood and Thunder
Amon Amarth Set List:
Destroyer of the Universe
The Pursuit of Vikings
War of the Gods
Deceiver of the Gods
Death in Fire
Twilight of the Thunder God
We would like to thank Rikki Namm from Adrenaline PR for the credentials to cover the festival.
