Amon Amarth with Enslaved, Skeletonwitch

Not many bands can claim their ninth album, Deceiver of the Gods, as the most powerful, dynamic, and downright aggressive of their career, but then Amon Amarth have consistently upped their game with every successive release. Having exploded onto the Swedish melodic death metal scene with Once Sent From The Golden Hall every album has arrived bursting at the seams with power, melody and immersive storytelling centered around the richness of Norse mythology. With 2013 marking Amon Amarth’s twenty-first year, as well as the fifteenth anniversary of their debut full-length, their longevity and reputation for releasing killer album after killer album places them on a similar trajectory to the likes of Slayer and Cannibal Corpse, which is rarified company to be in. Likewise, having seen many younger faces flocking to their shows alongside their longtime faithful, the band are enjoying themselves now as much as they ever have.

The Devil Wears Prada with The Ghost Inside, Volumes, and Texas in July

With Dead Throne, the groups fourth studio album due out mid August, he technically proficient, guitar-driven American metal band The Devil Wears Prada has turned a corner, by turning up the aggression and turning on the emotions. Dead Throne is the product of hard work and The Devil Wears Prada’s inevitable musical evolution, which tends to focus more on the band’s unique, punishing dual-vocal assault this time around.  “We aim to give listeners and fans something they can enjoy, but we’ll also always make songs we personally stand behind,” says frontman Mike Hranica. “We’d write differently if we were purely trying to sell albums: that’s just not how it works for us. No compromises.”  Dead Throne finally takes hold of what the band has merely hinted at in the past, and fans both old and new will quickly see this album for what it is — a brilliant, emotional, captivating and brutal journey brought forth from the heart of a band that won’t conform to the latest trends. Ultimately, Dead Throne tackles issues of failed relationships and perseverance of faith.

NOFX with Dillinger Four, Masked Intruder, The Implants

If someone were to walk into a store and pick up their very first punk record today, they could do much worse than NOFX, This quartet, fronted by Fat Mike, plays fast-paced pop punk, mixed with elements of ska and hardcore. The overall attitude of the band dwells heavily on traditional punk and DIY ideologies. Fat Mike is a very charismatic frontman for a band – depending on your definition of charisma, that is.  He is bold and often snarky and sarcastic, as well as often blatantly political. They are great qualities for a punk rock band that is out to make people think and push a few buttons.  NOFX has been a testament to the potential of a punk band on an independent label to enjoy popularity and success.

Formed in Berkeley, California and relocating to Los Angeles, NOFX steered clear of major labels and commercial exposure over the course of their career, recording an impressive number of full-length albums plus an assortment of EPs and singles. They have made a few videos, but have not given permission for them to be played on mainstream channels like MTV or VH1. In addition to the blatantly political nature of the band’s lyrics, Fat Mike is also politically active. He launched Punk Voter, a collection of punk labels, bands and fans that seeks to educate and inform America’s youth and get them to vote. Specifically, their goal at one time was to vote George W Bush out of office, but even after his reelection, Punk Voter still continued to actively educating young voters about issues that affect them.

August Burns Red with Bless The Fall, Defeater, Beartooth

Since launching out of Manheim, PA, the industrious outfit has successfully transitioned from shake-up-the-field upstarts to one of the biggest names worldwide in the genre. On stages across the U.S. to Europe, Japan, Australia, South America and more, from renowned fests such as UK’s Download Festival to the Warped Tour, which they join again in 2013 as a mainstage act, AUGUST BURNS RED have spent years taking their music and message directly to fans, and in the process have grown into one of the leading forces in the modern metal scene, a fact bolstered by their 1.4 million Facebook fans and more than half- million albums sold.  With so many bands in the heavy music scene seemingly intent on madness, AUGUST BURNS RED aren’t afraid to branch out, weaving in elements of other influences from punk to indie to rock.  The band artfully blend piano, cello, violin, trumpet, various percussive elements and more into their sonic arsenal, taking their music to new aesthetic heights and contorting the boundaries of heavy music.  “At the end of the day we are still a very heavy band,” explains guitarist and principal songwriter JB Brubaker. “We still have plenty of really heavy stuff, techy odd meter riffs, and all the stuff that people have come to expect from us, it just has a lot more surprises along the way.”  Even if some people don’t realize that music needs to be saved from falling neatly into easily digestible boxes, this band is doing its part anyhow without a hint of cynicism. There’s an earnest sincerity behind AUGUST BURNS RED’s desire to continue to warp the constraints of what it means to be a metal band.  “With every album we want to get better as musicians, as songwriters, as performers. We all genuinely love what we are doing and that is great motivation to always try to improve and expand,” Brubaker says. “I think our best days are still ahead.”

Mayday Parade with Cartel, Stages + Stereos

House of Blues celebrates its 20th Anniversary with a tour featuring Mayday Parade.

For the past six years, the members of Tallahassee, Florida’s Mayday Parade–vocalist/keyboardist Derek Sanders, bassist Jeremy Lezno, guitarists Alex Garciaand Brooks Betts and drummer Jake Bundrick–have been perfecting their unique brand of pop-inflected punk rock. It doesn’t happen very often, but every once in a while a band comes along who have crafted a sound that’s so unique it’s hard to believe they haven’t been playing together for decades.  After playing the 2006 Vans Warped Tour, Mayday Parade made 10,000 new fans before playing a single show. In July of 2007 their full-length album debut, the critically acclaimed A Lesson In Romantics, was received with enthusiasm. Dubbed “the best album to come out this year” by the MTV GirlsGonePunk Blog, A Lesson in Romantics has gone on to sell nearly 170,000 copies.  The band recently released their self-titled third album, the follow up to their hit second album Anywhere But Here.  Their next new album is scheduled for a Fall 2013 release.

Infected Mushroom

To pioneer your own sub genre of electronic music in the music industry today is no simple task, it is essentially equivalent to Chuck Berry inventing Rock music in 1955 or Massive Attack effectively originating Trip Hop in 1983.  Electronic music, mega-revolutionaries Infected Mushroom are renowned for being the sonic innovators of crafting hypnotic arrangements, complex layered melodies and synthetic rhythms known as “Psychedelic Trance,” leaving behind all their dying “Trance” cousins in the mainstream.  Twice ranked as the world’s “10 Best DJ’s” by the Bible of the Scene (U.K.’s DJ Magazine), the Israel-bred, L.A. based duo Amit “Duvdev” Duvdevani and Erez Eisen have established their self- invented genre among the highest in the scene.  One could easily scour pages of the Internet in vain to find the epic level of music history defining the Infected Mushroom “kingdom.”  Their critically acclaimed and highest-grossing album Vicious Delicious, catapulted the duo onto new levels. The success of that album was met with high anticipation for another The Legend of the Black Shawrama. The album hit #8 on the Billboard charts.  If that’s not impressive enough—there is the band’s average 120 live performances a year.  What the guys “do best” is invent, experiment, create, re-arrange, flip-up, bend-over, twist-sideways while staying true to their electronic roots diced with their own and of course, always trippy and psychedelic.  Infected Mushroom, the world’s greatest Psy-Trance band of the decade.

Bro Safari with Torro Torro

Bro Safari is the alter-ego of DJ and producer, Knick. He’s already well-known and deeply established in the music scene as a result of his work with leading American Drum & Bass group Evol Intent. Not to mention, his wildly popular output as 1/2 of the genre-bending mash-up duo, Ludachrist.  While his production work spans the entire spectrum of bass music, Bro Safari has been relentless at pushing his unique take on the burgeoning Moombahton movement. As a result, Bro Safari is currently ushering in a new wave of listeners to the genre and he is set to be an early champion of this new scene. With support from artists like Diplo, DJ Craze, Knife Party and more, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that Bro Safari is someone to keep an eye on.

Twenty One Pilots with Robert Delong, Sirah

The duo that is Twenty One Pilots – Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun – has earned widespread applause for their energetic live sets and distinctive fusion of piano-driven schizoid pop and lyrical uplift. No strangers to the road, Twenty One Pilots has built a fervent national following via their electrifying live performances at innumerable headline shows and tours. The band made its Fueled By Ramen debut with a new EP titled Three Songs released Summer 2012 and was followed by a full-length album titled Vessel available now.

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