Metal Monday: Trespass America Festival invades Cleveland this August
Since we like to do the footwork to keep you in the loop about the best shows coming to Northeast Ohio, it would’ve been a travesty to overlook this one: the 2012 Metal Hammer Trespass America Festival. This two-month summer tour features an interesting array of bands ranging from heavy to hardcore to poppy and it all kicks off in Colorado just over two weeks from now. The festival makes its way through the Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica in Cleveland on Sunday, Aug. 5.
The lineup includes:
- Five Finger Death Punch
- Killswitch Engage
- Emmure
- Trivium
- Pop Evil
- God Forbid
- Battlecross
If you’re like me, you may be wondering how bands like FFDP and Pop Evil fit on the same bill. Full disclosure — I’m not a huge fan of either group. FFDP‘s music has never impressed me that much and is not near as heavy as what I’d expect from a group with “death punch” in its name. It sounds more like a name of a special move in Dragonball Z than a metal band. And after looking up a video from Pop Evil … all I can say is no thanks. However, don’t let my cynicism drive you away because the lineup shows an effort to diversify its audience, and you can’t hate on that.
The bands I’m stoked for include just about everyone else. Killswitch Engage has been a favorite of mine for years, and I’m excited to see how they will perform with original vocalist Jesse Leach at the helm (who replaced nine-year frontman Howard Jones early this year). Emmure released their new chart-topper this year Slave to the Game — which captures their characteristically simple-yet-heavy-as-fuck sound — and Trivium has been on my radar since their release of Ascendency in 2005. God Forbid and Battlecross just add to the metal sweetness and are two other bands totally worth seeing. All in all, this promises to be a good show with plenty of attention-grabbing headliners and a good mix of heavy music.
