Rockstar Mayhem Fest at The Comcast Center – July 16, 2013

In 2008, Vans Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman created the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, filling the void for a traveling metal festival left by Ozzfest. This year, Mayhem Fest has a main stage featuring Rob Zombie, Five Finger Death Punch, Mastodon and Amon Amarth, as well as three other stages with more than a dozen other bands performing, including one of my personal live favorites, Machine Head.

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Butcher Babies

Butcher Babies are touring in support of their just released debut album, Goliath. Female fronted bands aren’t very common in the metal scene, never mind a band with two female vocalists. Heidi and Carla blend clear, singing vocals with growling metal vocals, giving themselves a distinct sound, heavily influenced by Wendy O. Williams and the Plasmatics.

I had a chance to spend a few minutes talking with Butcher Babies, click here to check out that interview!

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Battlecross

Hailing from the Detroit, MI area, Battlecross is touring in support of their new album, War of Will.

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Machine Head

Machine Head recently parted ways with bass player Adam Duce. They conducted a search for a new bass player through YouTube (which I submitted a video for). Just before the tour started, they announced former Sanctity bass player Jared MacEachern got the gig.

Setlist
Davidian
Struck a Nerve
Imperium
Locust
Halo

Unlike most bands on Mayhem Fest, Machine Head is not touring in support of a new album currently. Their latest studio album, Unto the Locust, was released in 2011, and in late 2012, they released their first live album in nearly ten years, Machine Fucking Head Live. They plan to enter the studio later this year, and hope to release a new studio album in 2014.

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Amon Amarth

Kicking off the main stage is another one of my favorites, Amon Amarth, from Sweden. The last time I shot them was at the 900 person capacity Boston club, The Paradise, so it was fantastic to see them commanding a large stage. They frequently play huge shows in Europe, but the metal scene is much different over there. Their stage show contained a large Viking ship, that doubled as a drum riser, which itself is probably larger than the stage at The Paradise.

Setlist
Destroyer of the Universe
The Pursuit of Vikings
War of the Gods
Deceiver of the Gods
Death in Fire
Twilight of the Thunder God

While it’s great to see them on the festival, it’s a shame to only see them play a half hour set. They tore through it with some of their live staples such as “The Pursuit of Vikings” and “Twilight of the Thunder Gods,” as well as the title track off their new album, Deceiver of the Gods.

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Mastodon

For whatever reason, Mastodon is a band I’ve never been able to get into. They’re super talented, and have a loyal following, but having seen them 3 or 4 times, I’ve never quite “gotten it” with them. Maybe I will someday?

Setlist
Black Tongue
Crystal Skull
Dry Bone Valley
Megalodon
Blasteroid
Stargasm
All the Heavy Lifting
Spectrelight
Bedazzled Fingernails
The Sparrow

For as much as they don’t do anything for me, the crowd loved them, and they definitely deserve their spot on the main stage.

 

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Five Finger Death Punch

Five Finger Death Punch is a band I haven’t had much exposure to until recently. They played early on the lineup of Mayhem 2008, but I can’t say for certain if I got there in time for their set or not. The only song I’ve ever heard on the radio is their cover of “Bad Company.” (Wait, who wrote that song? I can’t remember their name…) I’ve been aware of them for a long time, I’ve just never heard much material.

I watched FFDP’s performance at this year’s Revolver Golden God Awards, and saw the performance of their new song, “Lift Me Up,” which features a guest appearance by the Metal God himself, Rob Halford. It’s a great song, although I must say Halford’s vocals are my favorite part of it.

They’re in the process of recording two albums, The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, Volumes 1 & 2, which will both be released later this year.

Setlist
Under and Over It
Burn It Down
Hard To See
Bad Company
White Knuckles
Drum Solo
Lift Me Up
Coming Down
Never Enough
Far from Home
The Bleeding

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Rob Zombie

My first heavy metal show was Ozzfest 2002, and Rob Zombie was one of the main stage acts. He completely blew me away that night. In recent years, I haven’t been as big of a fan, but his show still is just as amazing. They had a huge stage show, full of pyro, costume changes, and giant stage props.

Setlist
Teenage Nosferatu Pussy
Superbeast
Meet the Creeper
Living Dead Girl
We’re an American Band
More Human Than Human
Drum Solo
Ging Gang Gong De Do Gong De Laga Raga
Sick Bubble-Gum
House of 1000 Corpses
Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Supertown
Thunder Kiss ’65
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Dragula

Zombie recently released a new album Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor, and they included four songs from the album in their set, including their cover of Grand Funk Railroad’s “We’re an American Band.” Mixed in with the newer songs were plenty of classics off the earlier Rob Zombie albums, as well as a few White Zombie tunes.