Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, the world’s biggest hard and heavy music touring festival announces its electrifying sixth-year lineup. Artists performing on the 2013 thunderous fest include main stage metal and horror legend, festival closer, Rob Zombie, plus, the triple gold certified Five Finger Death Punch and a monster lineup that includes additional main stage bands Mastodon & Amon Amarth. The festival area is led by stage closers Children of Bodom and Machine Head as well as Behemoth, Job For A Cowboy, Emmure, Born of Osiris, Motionless In White, Butcher Babies, Battlecross, Huntress, Thrown Into Exile and City In The Sea. Four stages will be presented this year for the first time ever and the stages include the Rockstar Energy Drink Main Stage, The Jagermeister Stage, Musician’s Institute Stage, as well as the Sumerian Records/Headbang for the Highway Concourse Stage (local bands performing on the Sumerian Records/Headbang for the Highway Stage will be announced in June).

All tickets go on sale March 22nd at 12:00 Noon local venue time via www.rockstarmayhemfest.com or www.livenation.com.  The tour will stop in 26 cities across the United States and Canada as it makes its way to the Gexa Energy Pavilion in Dallas, Texas on August 4th, 2013. Dates and venues are listed below.

The 2013 Golden God Award recipient, a rock icon and auteur filmmaker with insight and unlimited vision, Rob Zombie has continuously challenged audiences as he stretches the boundaries of music, film, and publishing. Now, the seven-time Grammy nominated recording artist releases his fifth solo album, Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor, which streets April 23, and includes the first single, “ Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Super Town,” along with such tracks as “Ging Gang Gong De Do Gong De Laga Raga,” “Lucifer Rising,” “Behold! The Pretty Filthy Creatures” and a heavy-duty cover of Grand Funk Railroad’s “We’re an American Band.” Rob Zombie’s Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor is the first release on his new label, Zodiac Swan, through T-Boy Records/UME. Zombie’s also written and directed his 6^th feature film, “The Lords of Salem”, in theaters April 19^th (Anchor Bay).

After three gold albums in a row and ten consecutive top ten radio singles, Five Finger Death Punch continue their evolution in 2013 by releasing a new single in early May, followed by their fourth studio album in June.  FFDP are set to perform live at this year’s Revolver Golden Gods Awards show in Los Angeles on May 2 and will warm up for Mayhem playing this summer’s most prestigious European festivals, amongst them UK’s Download Festival and Germany’s Rock am Ring and Rock im Park.

The World’s Greatest Freestyle Motocross team The Metal Mulisha is also confirmed to perform on most dates.

Sponsors for the 2013 Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival include title sponsor Rockstar Energy Drink and stage sponsors Jagermeister, Musicians Institute, and Sumerian Records. Festival sponsors include Ibanez Guitars, Zippo, Metal Blade Records, Napalm Records, Squatch Snack Sticks, Fuck Cancer and Keep A Breast. Media partners include Revolver Magazine and Zuus Media.

In addition to catching their favorite bands live, fans can take part in a number of festival activities, including playing the newest video games, perusing vendors, attending autograph signing sessions and a slew of various interactive activities that will only add to the festival experience.

Rockstar Energy Drink will be sampling their products and providing awesome surprises for all attendees.  Rockstar will also present the VIP/Contest winner area designated as The Rockstar Lounge and the festival area Party Like A Rockstar Tent where fans can sample ice cold Rockstar and get autographs from their favorite bands.

Addition to the festival’s music and arts, Musicians Institute and the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival have partnered to create the Rockstar Mayhem Independent Artist Scholarship! This scholarship fully covers tuition and material fees for a two quarter IAP certificate (Room, Boarding and Travel are not included.) The application period runs from March 18 until June 1, 2013. Applicants must visit www.mi.edu/mayhem-rock-festivalscholarship to enter.

Fans can go to www.rockstarmayhemfest.com to keep up with additional details as they are released.

Make sure to check out this brand new video (below) announcing the official 2013 Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival line up and stay tuned to Mayhem TV for more video updates and features coming soon!

Tour dates are as follows:

6/29 San Bernardino, CA San Manuel Amphitheater

6/30 Mountain View, CA Shoreline Amphitheatre

7/2 Boise, ID Idaho Center Amphitheatre

7/3 Auburn, WA White River Amphitheater

7/5 Phoenix, AZ Desert Sky Pavilion

7/6 Albuquerque, NM Isleta Amphitheatre

7/7 Denver, CO Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre

7/10 Toronto, ON Molson Canadian Amphitheatre

7/12 Burgettstown, PA First Niagara Pavilion

7/13 Scranton, PA Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain

7/14 Darien Center, NY Darien Lake PAC

7/16 Mansfield, MA Comcast Center

7/17 Bangor, ME Bangor Waterfront

7/19 Camden, NJ Susquehanna Bank Center

7/20 Saratoga Springs, NY SPAC

7/21 Hartford, CT The Comcast Theatre

7/23 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center

7/24 Bristow, VA Jiffy Lube Live

7/26 Noblesville, IN Klipsch Music Center

7/27 Tinley Park, IL First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre

7/28 Clarkston, MI DTE Energy Music Theatre

7/30 Atlanta, GA Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood

7/31 Tampa, FL Live Nation Amphitheatre at the Florida State Fairgrounds

8/2 Austin, TX Austin360 Amphitheater

8/3 The Woodlands, TX Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

8/4 Dallas, TX Gexa Energy Pavilion

Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Stages and Artists:

Rockstar Energy Drink Main Stage

Rob Zombie

Five Finger Death Punch

Mastodon

Amon Amarth

Musicians Institute Stage               Jagermeister Stage

Children Of Bodom                                Machine Head

Behemoth                                                   Job For A Cowboy

Emmure                                                        Butcher Babies

Born Of Osiris                                           Battlecross

Motionless In White                               Huntress

Thrown Into Exile

Sumerian Records/Headbang For The Highway Stage

City In The Sea

3 Local Openers

As we reported last week, Machine Head recently announced that bassist Adam Duce had left the band.

Vocalist/guitarist Robb Flynn, a founding member along with Duce, has written more about the situation on Machine Head’s Facebook page:

“It was hard. One of the hardest moments of my life. It was also a long time coming. We may have fired Adam on 2-11-13, but Adam quit Machine Head well over a decade ago. He just never bothered to tell anyone… but we all knew it,” Flynn wrote.

“Contrary to popular belief, being in a band is tough. Really fucking tough. It’s the toughest sonofabitch you’ll ever come across in your life and it will beat the living shit out of you 80% of the time. Many times it feels like one big rollercoaster, the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. There are wins and losses seemingly every single day. Being in a band is one of life’s strangest gambles.”

Flynn added, “I’ve cried every day since. I’ve been an emotional wreck. I cried writing this. I was sick the day that we announced it, walking around about to vomit for hours.”

The extended statement can be read here.

Machine Head have parted ways with bassist Adam Duce (pictured at far left).

Duce has been a member of the band since its formation in 1991, along with vocalist/guitarist Robb Flynn.

The band released a brief statement on its website, saying, “The split is amicable, and Machine Head would like to wish Adam the best with his current and future endeavors. The band will continue on for the time being as a three-piece.”

Machine Head have begun writing the follow-up to Unto The Locust, and the new album is expected to be released later this year.

5. Spineshank, Anger Denial Acceptance
“It’s the best thing that I have ever been a part of and it’s as real as it gets.”

4. All Hail The Yeti, All Hail The Yeti
“Dirty, heavy, melodic, dark, real–did I mention heavy? Not to mention, it sounds nothing like these cookie-cutter metal bands that have been coming out the past few years.”

3. Machine Head, Machine Fucking Head Live
“As far as metal is concerned, it doesn’t get better. These dudes can school most metal bands out there.”

2. Muse, The 2nd Law
“This band just keeps pushing the envelope. It’s a very experimental record but has hooks for days and is very well produced.”

1. Deftones, Koi No Yokan
“Because it’s Deftones, and it’s heavy, melodic, emotional, moving, and powerful.”

UPDATE: The poll is closed. You can see the result right here.

12. Machine Head, “Darkness Within”
Blood, worms, tight claustrophobic spaces, and perhaps most frightening of all, considering Lamb of God frontman Randy Blythe’s legal problems there, the city of Prague, Czech Republic, all feature largely in this dark, disturbing clip for the standout centerpiece song off Machine Head’s Unto the Locust.

11. Asking Alexandria, “Through Sin and Self-Destruction”
No one music video could capture the nonstop sin and insanity that is a day in the life of Asking Alexandria. So the band released three videos this year, making for the epic “Through Sin and Self-Destruction” trilogy, a cinematic roller-coaster ride full of sex, drugs, violence, rock and roll, and more drugs.

10. Lamb of God, “Ghost Walking”
Saying that Lamb of God had quite the year (in both good and bad terms) would be an understatement–from the release their great album Resolution to the arrest of vocalist Randy Blythe in the Czech Republic. A highlight from LOG’s 2012, the band’s video for the single “Ghost Walking” uses first-class animation as it follows a shady-looking character as he seeks to protect top-secret information.

9. Slash, “Bad Rain”
This single from Slash’s second solo album Apocalyptic Love, features the rock god’s top hat and all in an animated video of a strip-tease show gone horribly wrong.

8. In This Moment, “Blood”
The title track of In This Moment’s record features a video that ties together all the spooky and fairy tale-esque imagery of the album’s art. Vocalist Maria Brink isn’t shy about her own sexuality and she just doesn’t care what you think anymore.

7. Black Veil Brides, “Coffin”
Though this song comes of the band’s 2011 EP, Rebels, this candlelit video was released this year. The Black Veil Brides’ glam-metal-tinged hard rock goes grim as they play with fire and snakes.

6. Down, “Witchtripper”
It’s been a while since we heard from Down and even though the Down IV Part I- The Purple EP isn’t a full-length, it packs more high-quality sludge then most bands do in their careers. The video for “Witchtripper” features one of the more bizarre storylines of the Top 10 chosen videos–but what else would we expect from vocalist Phil Anselmo anyway? After some eyeball stew and satanic ceremonies, Down teaches us that metal actually is the devil’s music.

5. Pig Destroyer, “The Diplomat”
This is the first of two videos on this list directed by Phil Mucci (see also No. 1), whose work seems to have distinct editing choices and layers of vibrant colors. After a five-year break between albums, Pig Destroyer dropped this new video that delivers a surefire message: When a jittery diplomat gives AK-47s to monkeys on an alternate planet, it can only lead to a smattering of green guts.

4. Motionless In White, “Devil’s Night”
Fight scenes are pretty much always memorable, and terror scenes are even harder to forget. Motionless In White deliver both here, constantly increasing the numbers of their gang with the use of a straight razor in this twisted West Side Story-like video directed by Cody Blue Snider, son of Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider.

3. Dethklok, “I Ejaculate Fire”
As with most things Dethklok-related, the band’s mere presence brings about a disaster. Is that a Spinx ejaculating fire? Yes. Is this video NSFW? Yes. Is it absurd yet totally funny? Absolutely.

2. Revocation, “The Grip Tightens”
The tech-thrash band comes out of “retirement” to play for the senior-citizen crowd in this hilarious video. Forget about age, they still partake in rock-and-roll debauchery–grandma panties and all.

1. High on Fire, “Fertile Green”
The plot of this visually stunning video may be about as complicated to understand as the concept behind High on Fire’s most recent album, De Vermis Mysteriis. But we’re guessing that if you watch the clip after puffing on a bong a few times, it makes perfect sense. We’re guessing.

Vote for your favorite video on this list in our poll right here.

Check out this photo gallery from a rocking November 27 Hollywood Palladium show featuring Dethklok, Machine Head, All That Remains and The Black Dahlia Murder.

All the photos — and there a lot of them — are courtesy of Revolver photographer Stephanie Cabral, who was on hand to capture the mayhem as it went down.

1. Deftones – Koi No Yokan
2. Motionless In White – Infamous
3. Soundgarden – King Animal
4. Skeletal Remains – Beyond the Flesh
5. Machine Head – Machine Fucking Head Live

Stay tuned for this week’s poll, which will be live on RevolverMag.com Wednesday, November 21. Until then, you can check out the Deftones’ “Tempest” off Koi No Yokan below: