The lineup for the world’s heaviest touring music festival has finally been announced. The Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival kicks off on July 5 at the San Manuel Ampitheater in San Bernardino, CA and Avenged Sevenfold and Korn are set to co-headline. Also on this year’s bill will be Trivium, Asking Alexandria, Cannibal Corpse, Body Count, Suicide Silence, Mushroomhead, Miss May I, Veil of Maya, Emmure, Upon A Burning Body, Texas Hippie Coalition, Darkest Hour, Ill Nino, Wretched, Islander, and Erimha. Many of this year’s artists are Mayhem Fest Alum, including A7X, Korn, Trivium, Suicide Silence, Asking Alexandria, Mushroomhead, and Cannibal Corpse. Body Count, Veil of Maya, and Texas Hippie Coalition are welcomed new additions. Emmure are returning this year for a back-to-back run. Body Count are a hardcore rap-metal outfit led by iconic rapper Ice-T. The band is currently working on a new album, Manslaughter, which is due out this year via Sumerian Records. Korn and Asking Alexandria toured together briefly last fall on the first leg of Korn’s Paradigm Shift Tour. Suicide Silence took part in Mayhem Festival in 2011 with late vocalist Mitch Lucker. They return this year with new vocalist Eddie Hermida. Death metal legends Cannibal Corpse return to the stage for the first time since touring on their last effort, 2012’s Torture.
In 2010, Avenged Sevenfold released Nightmare. Arguably the best effort 
of their career, the album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200, and sold over 163,000 copies in it’s first week of sales. On January 20, 2011, Avenged Sevenfold announced that Arin IIejay would be the band’s touring drummer. That summer, the band headlined the Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival, with supporting acts Three Days Grace, Seether, Bullet For My Valentine, Escape The Fate, and more. In October 2011, the band co-headlined the 48 Hours Festival in Las Vegas, NV along with Korn, Godsmack, and Five Finger Death Punch. In November, they embarked on a brief headlining tour, The Buried Alive Tour, with special guests Asking Alexandria, Hollywood Undead, and Black Veil Brides. The band took a break from touring in 2012 to relax and write.
In April 2012, they took to the stage again, touring through Asia, and played Metallica’s Orion Music + More Festival in Atlantic City, NJ in June. On September 24, they released a new single, “Carry On”, which was featured in the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and is nominated for the award for Best Song at this year’s Revolver Golden God Awards on May 2. In late 2013, Avenged Sevenfold headlined Musikfest in Bethlehem,PA, performed at Rock in Rio in Brazil, and went on a brief U.S. arena tour with Deftones and Ghost B.C. The band’s new album, Hail To The King, debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 and was one of the top rock albums of 2013. With two Top 10 Billboard 200 albums, 7 Revolver Golden God Awards, 1 Kerrang! Award, and over 8 million albums sold worldwide, Avenged Sevenfold are one of the definitive bands of their generation. They are currently on their Shepherd of Fire North American Tour, and are headline Rock On The Range 2014 on Saturday, May 17 in Columbus, OH.
In 1994, Korn released their self-titled debut album, revolutionizing metal and music
as whole. They created a whole new sub-genre, “nu-metal”, that fused traditional heavy metal with elements of alternative rock, grunge, and hip-hop. In the following decade, Korn would rule the airwaves. Topping the Billboard charts, garnering massive radio play, and consistently owning the #1 spot on MTV’s TRL, Korn became the biggest band in the world. The band has sold over 35 million records world-wide.
The band has released ten studio albums, 8 of which have gone Top 10 on the Billboard Top 200 (five of them hit the Top 5). Eight of their albums have gone multi-platinum. They have been nominated for 7 Grammy’s, winning two of them, and 11 MTV Video Music Awards, winning 2 of them. Korn hit their peak when they released back-to-back masterpieces: 1998′s Follow The Leader and 1999′s Issues. Both albums hit #1 on the Billboard Top 200. Their last album, 2010′s Korn III: Remember Who You Are, hit #2. Korn got back near top of the music game with The Path of Totality, which hit #10 in Billboard in 2011. The band’s latest effort, The Paradigm Shift, debuted at #8 on the Billboard Top 200 last fall.
Asking Alexandria formed in 2008 in in the UK. Throughout 2008 and some of 2009,
the band toured hard to spread their music to the masses. In May 2009, the band journeyed to Connersville, IN to record their debut album, Stand Up and Scream, at The Foundation Recording Studios. Shortly after the recording process concluded, the band signed with Sumerian Records and released the LP on September 15, 2009. They spent the rest of the year touring the states. Throughout 2010, AA toured North America and Europe hard with the likes of Attack Attack!, Breathe Carolina, Dance Gavin Dance, We Came As Romans, Born of Osiris, and more. The band also appeared at Bamboozle Festival in New Jersey.
In April 2011, the band releasd their sophomore effort, Reckless & Relentless, which hit #9 on the Billboard Top 200. Thanks to three hit singles – “Closure”, “To The Stage”, and “Dear Insanity” – the album quickly went double-platinum. On November 17, 2011, AA opened for the legendary Guns N’ Roses at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, NJ. In November 2012, the band released a covers album, Under The Influence: A Tribute to the Legends of Hard Rock, and over the winter they headlined the Monster Energy Drink Outbreak Tour. AA have a new single out, “The Death of Me”, which they’ve been playing live and their new album, From Death to Destiny, debuted at #5 on the Billboard Top 200 last August.
Trivium are enjoying the success of their sixth studio LP, Vengeance Falls, which
debuted at #15 on the Billboard Top 200. This time around, David Draiman of Disturbed produced the album. Trivium just released the second single off the record, “No Way To Heal”. It was announced last week that the band will be playing Rock On The Range this May alongside Avenged Sevenfold, Kid Rock, Black Label Society, Chevelle, Slayer, Alter Bridge, Seether, Bring Me The Horizon, and many more. Digital Summer recently released an acoustic album, After Hours: Unplugges & Rewired, which featured two brand new tracks. In four days, the band will set sail on the Shiprocked Cruise along with Five Finger Death Punch, Papa Roach, Sevendust, Candlebox, Tremonti, Black Stone Cherry, Young Guns, and more. – by Matt Bishop (@The_MattBishop)
Jul. 5 – San Bernardino, CA – San Manuel Amphitheater
Jul. 6 – Mountain View, CA – Shoreline Amphitheater
Jul. 8 – Auburn, WA – White River Amphitheatre
Jul. 11 – Phoenix, AZ – Ak-Chin Pavilion
Jul. 12 – Albuquerque, NM – Isleta Amphitheatre
Jul. 14 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Jul. 16 – Maryland Heights, MO – Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
Jul. 17 – Clarkston, MI – DTE Energy Music Theatre
Jul. 18 – Milwaukee, WI – Eagle’s Ballroom
Jul. 19 – Noblesville, IN – Klipsch Music Center
Jul. 20 – Tinley Park, IL – First Midwest Bank Ampitheatre
Jul. 23 – Saratoga, NY – Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Jul. 24 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Cente
Jul. 25 – Toronto, ON – Molson Canadian Ampitheatre
Jul. 26 – Burgettstown, PA – First Niagara Pavilion
Jul. 27 – Hartford, CT – Xfinity Theatre
Jul. 29 – Darien Center, NY – Darien Lake
Jul. 30 – Wantagh, NY – Nikon Theater at Jones Beach
Aug. 01 – Scranton, PA – The Pavilion At Montage Mountain
Aug. 02 – Camden, NJ – Susquehanna Bank Center
Aug. 03 – Bristow, VA – Jiffy Lube Live
Aug. 05 – Atlanta, GA – Lakewood Amphitheatre
Aug. 07 – Oklahoma City, OK – Oklahoma Zoo Amphitheatre
Aug. 09 – Dallas, TX – Gexa Energy Pavilion
Aug. 10 – The Woodlands, TX – Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion