In the musical heyday of late 00’s and 2010’s, touring music festivals was something many music fans have grown to love and look forward to every year. Probably the biggest one had to be the Vans Warped Tour. But one that metal fans specifically looked forward to was the Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival. Sadly, the tour retired with their final show taking place in 2015. But after nine long awaited years, Mayhem Festival has returned with a vengeance, ready to take over the Glen Helen Amphitheatre in San Bernardino, CA for a one day event. Mayhem booked 22 bands to play this day with headliners like Architects, Parkway Drive, and Bad Omens. As well as having three stages for fans to enjoy non-stop music from. Though the festival took place in October, we were blessed with sunny skies and warm weather. The perfect day to unleash the mosh pits and roar with the bands.

The doors opened at Noon and fans were already lining up to run into the venue and save their spots on the barricade for our headliners. Hours before they would ever hit the stage, our very first band Holy Wars kicked off this momentous event on the Back to Black Stage. Holy Wars was the perfect opener as vocalist Kat Leon brought the energy and bravado to entice fans over to the side stages. Even running into the crowd to embrace all the early attendees. The Back in Black Stage traded off bands with its counterpart the Blood Runs Red Stage, giving fans a never ending momentum of ear piercing music. As one band would finish their set, the next band would hit their opening song moments later. These two stages hosted two thirds of the overall bands playing including the likes of Roman Candle, Brutus, Escuela Grind, It Dies Today, Born of Osiris, Unearth, Hanabie, Darkest Hour, Throwdown, After the Burial, Suicide Silence, and We Came as Romans. Both stages culminated with their own headlining bands with Kittie on the Red Stage, and August Burns Red setting fire to the Black Stage.

While all this chaos was going on on the side stages, halfway through the day the Hot Topic Main Stage opened with Peyton Parrish kicking festivities off over there. But it was Seven Hours After Violet that really kicked things off on the main stage. This new band features Shavo Odadjian of System of a Down and Taylor Barber of Left to Suffer. This was the band's live performance debut, and they chose to do it at Mayhem Fest. Though fans may not have been familiar with the songs, the fans were still excited to see this supergroup live on stage and ate up every moment we got with them. We then got the one-two punch of Poppy and Jinjer who carried the flag for women in metal that can rock harder than some of the boys. With Poppy bringing a blend of sultry seductive songs, and then releasing her true fury and power in her voice. Where with Jinjer, you get the beautifully melodic cleans of Tatiana Shmayluk, who then can pivot on a dime into some of the nastiest gutturals any singer is bringing to the table this day.

As the sun was setting for the day, we got the first of our big names for Mayhem Fest with Architects. The last time this band played California was in 2019, and I have eagerly been waiting for them to get back here. So, it was very fortuitous that they were booked for Mayhem Fest. Kicking off their set with “Seeing Red,” vocalist Sam Carter hit the screaming fans with one of the filthiest “BLEGH’S” he could unleash, and this sent the crowd into a frenzy. With probably the second biggest stage setup of the night, Architects brought a headlining set, but we were still left with more to come. Following them was Parkway Drive who were the first to ignite the flames across the stage of Glen Helen. Parkway had a very stripped down stage setup, but made up for it with the 20ft tall pyro blasts, and some of the best breakdowns of the night. No other band could touch the intensity of the pit when Parkway went into their fan favorite song “Bottom Feeder.” It was when the band ended with “Wild Eyes” and vocalist Winston McCall guided everyone in the crowd to sing along with the guitar line that the world felt in harmony.

Finally, it was time for our ultimate headliner with Bad Omens. If there was a top band t-shirt people were wearing, it would be for this band. So, when Bad Omens hit the stage with their opening song “CONCRETE JUNGLE,” the fans were all too eager to start singing along. Vocalist Noah Sebastian dawned a new version of his traditional black ski mask, now with part of it torn away showing burnt skin. Guitarist Joakim Karlsson, bassist Nicholas Ruffilo, and drummer Nick Folio were still wearing their traditional black ski masks. If there was one thing the band set out to do with this performance at Mayhem Fest was show the evolution of the band and the grandeur that they can perform with, and they brought that aspect tenfold. With a 30ft+ LCD screen and LCD pillars placed on the floor and dangling from the ceiling. Bad Omens transformed the stage with every new song. From an urban cityscape to a futuristic world, through a forest, down the red door, into the inner workings of a machine shop, and more. Not only was this visual spectacle beyond captivating, the addition of pyro and cryo blasts amplified the presence of the band. Even setting the front line of the stage on fire for their song “Dethrone.” A personal favorite moment was when Poppy joined the band for their song “V.A.N.” Even after nearly 10 hours and 21 other bands, Bad Omens still managed to re-awaken the crowd and have them rocking out with songs like “ARTIFICIAL SUICIDE,” “THE DRAIN,” “ANYTHING > HUMAN,” “What Do You Want From Me?,” “What It Costs,” “Like a Villain,” “Take Me First,” “IDWT$,” “Glass Houses,” “The Grey,” “Nowhere to Go,” “Limits,” “THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND,” and an acoustic performance of “Just Pretend.”

Mayhem Festival got some backlash online for booking Bad Omens as the ultimate headliner, as some gatekeepers don’t feel they have earned that spot yet. To them I say, you missed a hell of a festival headlining show. Bad Omens put together a headlining show that could rival any other band out there right now. Mayhem wanted to make a statement that they were back after nine years with this show, and they certainly made one. Fans were knocked back by music that varied from metal, progressive, deathcore, hardcore, metalcore, and many other facets of the genre. Mayhem has announced plans for a full returning touring show in 2025, and I can only hope that this comes to fruition as I would love to attend this festival again and see what other bands they can bring together.