Los Angeles, Calif. – The second annual Mayhem Festival is back again this year and better than ever. This year’s tour is set to kick off on July 10 at the Sleep Train Amphitheatre in Sacramento, Calif. and will rip through 27 cities in the U.S. and Canada.
Rockstar's Promotional Video. Viewer Beware: Metalheads like to curse.
Using sponsorship to deliver a lower ticket price and an enhanced concert experience, tour organizers have once again joined forces with Rockstar Energy Drink. Mayhem producer John Reese promises that fans will not be disappointed. “Given the great success of last year’s festival, we knew that we needed to put together a stellar group of talent for 2009—and we have” says Reese. Slayer, Cannibal Corpse, and Trivium will be joined by Killswitch Engage, Behemoth, and many others. “This will be a blockbuster event, one that blends thrilling live performances with special music-related events and a few yet-to-be-revealed surprises. The result is a concert experience like no other. We’re extremely excited to get the show on the road” Reese said. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased here.
Not only will fans be surrounded by mind blowing music, but they will also be able to take part in a number of festival activities. Fans will be able to visit vendors, play the newest video games, attend autograph sessions, and experience the excitement of motocross team, Metal Mulisha.
The Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival is the brainchild of Kevin Lyman, John Reese and Darryl Eaton, the creative team behind some of the industry’s most successful road jaunts, including the long-running Vans Warped Tour .
Nobody knows how to combine technical brilliance, harmony and brutality quite like Chuck Schuldiner.
His band, Death, was formed in 1983 in Orlando, Fla. Over the next 15 years, Chuck and a revolving lineup of musicians produced seven increasingly varied albums beginning with their debut studio release "Scream Bloody Gore" in 1987.
Chuck Schuldiner is considered by many to be the father of death metal, though Chuck himself never felt so. In an interview with Metal-Rules, he stated "I don’t think I should take the credit for death metal stuff. I’m just a guy from a band, and I think Death is a metal band.”
Despite Schuldiner’s humble opinion, Death remains one of the most influential metal bands to ever grace a stage. Schuldiner's drive and ruthless creative vision guaranteed that Death would remain at the forefront of the genre's development. While the savagely raw aggression contained in Death's first three albums proved crucial to spearheading the first generation of death metal, and subsequent grindcore bands, the astounding musicianship and increasingly sophisticated songwriting found on their last efforts may have influenced even more groups exploring the limits of extreme metal's progressive outposts.
The culmination of this talent and sound came with their last album, "The Sound of Perseverance" which was released in 1998. The album opens with a barrage of drums on “Scavenger of Human Sorrow.” The guitars soon kick in with a vengeance and never let up. The extremely technical leads of Schuldiner remain one of the most intriguing aspects of Death. His mastery of the instrument combines heavy grooves with blistering solos. The Sound of Perseverance can only be described as refined brutality. The progressive sound is still there, but the overall feel is more aggressive in music, lyrics, and vocal performance. The lyrics traditionally remain very ambiguous, vague and with a lot of dark imagery. Lines like:
I would describe it as an invisible darkness Casting a shadow, a blinding black Guarded by hope, my soul is kept from The bloody claws
Are somehow not cheesy coming from Chuck.
“Flesh and the Power It Holds” is the longest track on the album and clocks in at eight and a half minutes. Despite its length, the song is filled with interesting leads and crushing drums and bass.
Though much of Death's discography may be too much for the casual listener, any fan of music can appreciate the beauty of the instrumental track “Voice of the Soul.” Schuldiner has an excellent ear for melody. This song opens with a beautiful acoustic guitar quickly accompanied by a distorted lead. This track is one of the best efforts that Death has ever produced, though it stands in stark contrast to many of their earlier efforts. From start to finish this song is full of intelligent phrasing, beautiful melodies and soul wrenching leads.
The album ends with an excellent cover of Judas Priest's classic “Painkiller.” Schuldiner combines the harshness of his vocals with an impressive high range. As always, the drums and guitars are absolutely jaw dropping.
Throughout his musical evolution Chuck Schuldiner was the constant, effective mastermind behind Death's continually groundbreaking career. Unfortunately, Schuldiner was diagnosed with a malignant brain-stem tumor and immediately underwent emergency surgery in early 2000 to remove it. In late 2001 Schuldiner contracted pneumonia and was placed back in the hospital. On December 13, 2001, Schuldiner was released and returned to his home. An hour later, the musical genius was dead at the age of 33.
Death is not a band for the faint of heart, but for fans of double bass grooves, harsh vocals, and guitar acrobatics, one would be hard pressed to find a band to rival Death.
