Review by Lisa Burke & Brad Worsham, photos by Brad Worsham
October 24th-25th 2015, San Manuel Amphitheater, San Bernardino CA: After a successful 2014 edition, Knotfest returned to San Bernardino, California for the second consecutive year. The Metal Assault team was out in full force to capture the action for your reading and viewing pleasure. Check it out below:
Intro (by Lisa Burke):
Last weekend I spent the majority of my time at one of the many festivals raging in full force, at Knotfest with more metal than you would expect to be able to handle in two days with each day consisting of over twenty bands spanned over four stages at the San Manuel Amphitheater near the hills of San Bernardino. The festival opened Friday night for the pre-party/private show, and continued through Sunday night ending with headliners and festival creators Slipknot.
If I had to redo this again I would have arrived late friday night to be ready for the early afternoon metal on Saturday despite the extra sun and dust exposure I would have encountered at this event. The ‘Headbang For The Highway’ stage was the first to open on Saturday, the smallest stage consisting of mostly local bands and the competition winners from previous battle for Knotfest shows. Among these openers on Saturday were Grand Lord High Master and Kaustik. Saturday at this festival seemed to be the favored day for most fans, with excitement arising from bands like Khaotika, Battlecross, Inquisition, Kataklsym, Belphegor, Red Fang, Goatwhore, At The Gates, GWAR, Corrosion Of Conformity, Mastodon, and metal gods Judas Priest. I couldn’t arrive at the venue until the main stage action began, but here’s Brad’s recap of part 1 of day 1:
Day 1 (10/24), Part 1 (by Brad Worsham):
After the initial chaos of parking and navigating security, I immediately made my way to the side stage field which had already been whipped into a dusty frenzy. Stage 2/3 shared a rotating stage in order to keep the music going with very little downtime. It was hot, humid, and dusty and crowds had gotten there early for nonstop barrage of music on three stages giving you plenty of choices. The fact that I had no previous knowledge of most of the earlier bands did not hinder the experience. Festivals are a great place to experience new bands and open yourself up to finding something new you like.
Band signing tents provided opportunities to meet your favorite side stage artists. Rockstar Energy had their tent setup giving away as many drinks as you could suck down, but helping very little with the overwhelming thirst caused by the heat and dust. $4.75 water was available for purchase, $12 beer, or a long walk back to the water fountains at the entrance to the venue. The greatest revelation of the day was that the “press” is allowed water from backstage. I could get used to this.
Due to overlapping times, I was not able to catch all performances on Stages 4 and 5. Of the bands I saw, the highlights for me were Skyburial playing early on stage 5 and Abysmal Dawn’s completely frenzied crowd. Stage 2 opened strong with Battlecross and Red Fang, but kicked into a new gear for Goatwhore. Circle pits kicked dust into the air, crowd surfers made their way to the front and tossed over the barrier, the crowd loving every minute of it. Body Count’s guitar riffs were possibly only overshadowed by Ice-T’s off-colored, SVU inspired pedophilia jokes that he told during technical difficulties. As the Body Count stage rotated away, plastic tarps were spread across the front of the stage, security put on ponchos and GWAR took the stage. The decapitation occurred only one minute into the set, setting off a never ending spewing of liquid into the crowd.
Battlecross photos:
Battlecross set list:
01. Force Fed Lies
02. Not Your Slave
03. Absence
04. Spoiled
05. Never Coming Back
06. Bound by Fear
07. Flesh & Bone
08. Push Pull Destroy
09. Beast
Red Fang photos:
Red Fang set list:
01. Malverde
02. Crows in Swine
03. Blood Like Cream
04. Into the Eye
05. Wires
06. Dirt Wizard
07. Sharks
08. Prehistoric Dog
Goatwhore photos:
Goatwhore set list:
01. Poisonous Existence In Reawakening
02. Schadenfreude
03. FBS
04. In Deathless Tradition
05. Apocalyptic Havoc
05. Collapse in Eternal Worth
06. Alchemy of the Black Sun Cult
07. Baring Teeth For Revolt
Grand Lord High Master photos:
Body Count photos:
Body Count set list:
01. Body Count’s in the House
02. Body M/F Count
03. Masters of Revenge
04. Bowels of the Devil
05. Manslaughter
06. There Goes the Neighborhood
07. Voodoo
08. Disorder
09. Talk Shit, Get Shot
10. Cop Killer
GWAR photos:
GWAR set list:
01. Crush, Kill, Destroy
02. Madness at the Core of Time
03. Black and Huge
04. Saddam a Go-Go
05. Vlad the Impaler
06. The Salaminizer
07. Sick of You
Day 1, Part 2 (by Lisa Burke):
One issue with these festivals is that no matter how good and solid your line up is with three stages of bands happening simultaneously and not super close to each other, it is impossible to catch everything anyway. If I had made it to GWAR I would have had to choose between them, blackened death metal band Belphegor from Austria, and Canadian death metal band Kataklsym, all of which I have much interest in. GWAR played on the second largest stage, and in their newest incarnation which of course is lacking in David Brockie, Cory Smoot, and does not include the female character ‘Vulvatron’ either. Despite this the old bass player ‘Beefcake The Mighty’ is now the new ‘Blothar’ and lead singer. More giant monster creatures are being built for each show, blood and goo is still shot out into the audience throughout the performance, and the songs versus spectacle are on par for the future course of GWAR. There is not one other band on this planet with as much uniqueness and spectacle combined with talent than they have proven to posess year after year, and I suppose this is why when time ran short on earth David and Cory took off back to their home planets where they once came from, Scumdogia, and planet Home.
Word on the street was that another show stealer of this day was swedish death metal band At The Gates. This of course is no surprise, since having recently seen them at the Wiltern I was completely blown away and fell in love with their newest album from 2014 ‘At War With Reality’. They are as brutally brutal as brutal comes. Moving onwards to the main stage acts, Corrosion Of Conformity was first to rain their magic onto the crowd followed by Trivium. Trivium is not a first timer to this festival and while I’m unaware of their connection to Slipknot, they were sort of an odd ball out at this festival. I have respect for this band, yet the inappropriately lengthy progressive rants this band falls into during what has so much potential to be an interesting heavy song is what keeps my distance from this act.
I should also mention that at a festival like this when Judas Priest is headlining a show, that lawn ticket you bought on the cheap quickly reformulates itself as a pit ticket purely from the magic that occurs at a metal show interspersed with random rap acts and mallcore.
Corrosion Of Conformity photos:
Corrosion Of Conformity set list:
01. My Grain
02. Wiseblood
03. Heaven’s Not Overflowing
04. Seven Days
05. Paranoid Opioid
06. Vote With a Bullet
07. Albatross
08. Clean My Wounds
Trivium photos:
Trivium set list:
01. Snøfall
02. Silence in the Snow
03. Down from the Sky
04. Strife
05. Until the World Goes Cold
06. Blind Leading the Blind
07. Dying in Your Arms
08. Capsizing The Sea
09. In Waves
10. Heaven and Hell
The most controversial band of the night Mastodon took over the main stage and really stepped up their game. Whether they’re metal or not has been a debate between fans and the band themselves. At Knotfest, I believe they proved to be way more metal than some other acts which include Body Count, Snot, Mobb Deep, Ghostface Killah, and Bring Me The Horizon. Throughout the whole set there was really good riffage, heavy jams, and stellar drumming. Vocals kicked ass except, when they played newer higher-pitched melodic songs that changed the vibe for me into something more superficial. Definitely, this was the best live performance I’ve ever seen from them, and if they talk less about whether they are metal or not, stop putting out shallow videos which only backfire on selling themselves out, and just write more killer jams, I think the world would be a better place. Their biggest strength is in their roots, and staying true to that no matter how metal or what year it is.
Mastodon set list:
01. Tread Lightly
02. The Motherload
03. Chimes at Midnight
04. High Road
05. Aqua Dementia
06. Halloween
07. Bladecatcher
08. Black Tongue
09. Ember City
10. Blood and Thunder
One note on the mainstage performances is that the giant video screens they project on the walls show the band nicely to the far away audience, but that is not enough for 2015 wannabe metalheads I suppose, because they also have to announce the band by writing the name over these screens sporadically throughout the set. This seems overkill when the name of the band is written largely on the backdrop, and if you don’t know, you have a strict schedule to look it up on anyway. Basically, you really would need to be a moron to not figure out the mainstage band name even if you are unfamiliar with their tunes. Oppositely, on the other stages they aren’t in any sensical order or labeled so you are required to know at least something about the band to decipher the code, yet still opening your ears when they announce the name helps as well which all bands should always do.
Another band that is no stranger to this festival yet played the second to headlining slot that could have been filled with a more worthy band like GWAR for example, was Korn. Now, if you are a ’90s kid who loved Anthrax, you may have listened to Korn for a minute or two and then realized they were never as good. Nowadays they are making cover tracks with Skrillex etc, and their simple 90s grungy rap inspired tunes don’t hold up to the test of time in my opinion. They did at least stick to their roots, but I just kept wishing I was watching Anthrax play instead. I’m fairly certain the last best accomplishment from Korn was a cameo appearance on South Park in the style of a Scooby Doo ghost mystery where their magical powers of turning into ears of corn did not actually solve the mystery. Anyhow, had they went on in the Sunday slot before Slipknot people would have purchased less food and alcohol than they did during their set in anticipation for Judas Priest. Also, noted was the abundance of AC/DC from the DJ set between Korn and Judas Priest through the speakers as if that was an appropriate segway.
Korn photos:
Korn set list:
01. Blind
02. Ball Tongue
03. Need To
04. Clown
05. Divine
06. Faget
07. Shoots and Ladders
08. Falling Away From Me
09. Here to Stay
10. Did My Time
11. Coming Undone
12. Freak on a Leash
Fortunately, all was rectified once ‘War Pigs’ by Black Sabbath came on, and shortly thereafter, Rob Halford walked onto the stage. Upon the start of Judas Priest I was at center pit right behind the moshing, with a perfect view of one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Opening with ‘Dragonaut’ then later into British Steel with ‘Metal Gods’, ‘The Rage’, and of course the favorite time of any Judas Priest show is after ‘Breaking The Law’ when he rides his motorcycle out onto the stage in full studded-out leather gear including custom leather biker hat and trench style coat, breaking into my all-time favorite song ‘Hell Bent For Leather’.
At this show, Rob had the most energy I’d ever seen him carry in the past five or six years and he changed his outfit after every song from jacket, to vest, to jacket with way more finesse and pizzazz than you may find at any Katy Perry show. Also, if you’ve seen Rob Halford on stage before you know he does what I call his puppeteering ritual where he gets the audience copying his vocal chants until they are riled up and ready for anything. All night I anticipated ‘Painkiller’ which was appropriately the encore of the night, and with it’s prompt 11:34 PM ending to metal night number one at Knotfest, Judas Priest will remain the ultimate winner for best dressed and most memorable performance of the night.
Judas Priest photos:
Judas Priest set list:
01. Dragonaut
02. Metal Gods
03. Victim of Changes
04. Halls Of Valhalla
05. The Rage
06. Turbo Lover
07. Screaming For Vengeance
08. Breaking The Law
09. Hell Bent For Leather
10. The Hellion / Electric Eye
11. You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’
Encore:
12. Painkiller
Since the night was still young and there was time to kill getting out of the parking lot and back to the hotel, we decided to have a little adventure to the VIP lounge. Apparently pit tickets do not grant you VIP access, so we were denied entrance to any after-party fun which promptly ends at around midnight anyway. Needless to say, there will not be much Living after Midnight in San Bernardino at Knotfest even from Rob Halford himself. Regardless, shenanigans and Breaking the Law is what it’s all about so fences were hopped and lounging in VIP land happened afterall, despite its overall uneventfulness.
Day 2 (by Lisa Burke):
Day two at Knotfest started around twelve noon again with the ‘Headbang For The Highway’ bands on this day featuring Abhor, and Speaking with Ghosts. On the small Extreme Stage, Kings of Carnage played followed by Internal Bleeding, and Dying Fetus. On the second largest stage was Kyng, Helmet, followed by All That Remains, Cannibal Corpse, and Suicidal Tendencies. As I did spend most of my time at the second largest stage, I still caught a bit of Dying Fetus and Internal Bleeding which are quite the pair if you think about it. Definitely interesting moments in these sets and Dying Fetus in particular have gotten better and found more uniqueness upon age.
Kyng photos:
Green Death photos:
Dead Animal Assembly Plant photos:
Snot photos:
Snot set list:
01. Snot
02. Joy Ride
03. Snooze Button
04. Deadfall
05. I Jus’ Lie
06. My Balls
07. Hit the Lights
08. Absent
Travelling back to alternative post-hardcore band Helmet on the larger stage, this was a ’90s nostalgia that I always enjoy reliving. Page Hamilton is the creator, singer, and guitar player who never dissapoints, and always takes me back to my New York roots where they originated from.
This stage was a rotating one so there was not much lag time between bands, and all of them got 45-minute sets as they deserved. I noticed there we an abundance of young people of the teenage variety as well as a four-year old looking boy with a very real mohawk sitting on his dad’s shoulders. That’s refreshing to see that these bands can withstand the test of time and Helmet can still have a place in the modern metal world. Page raged on with ‘In The Meantime’ as the finale song, but not before he had some interesting feedback guitar jams happening as well.
Helmet photos:
All That Remains appeared on the stage as it spun them towards the audience. They definitely have a mainstream metal following and in the metalcore world they are in the top percentage of successful modern metal. However, I am not a fan of the new direction most metalcore bands are taking, as their roots lie in deathcore and metalcore which has transpired to melodic metalcore in their newest works. If you want an analogy of how this sounds in my head, it is the difference between Point Guard and Bench Sitter in a basketball game. You might as well just pack your balls in ice and call it a day if you are going to start singing melodically in a band that doesn’t play that way, since it contains blast beats and death riffs galore in most moments. The bass player trying to harmonize vocal back up did not help either in my opinion. That said, the highlight of my time at this stage was during this set when a fight broke out in the dust filled pit between a muscular short-haired man versus a big-boned long-haired man. It got a bit brutal yet no blood was flying, and of course the tough metal chick girlfriend is left breaking things up and being the voice of reason. Contrary to popular belief, metalheads are actually a gentler breed of humans consisting of compassion that far surpasses any jock head. Still, on this day and on many other occasions, it never fails to see a battle between the short and long-haired folks. Is it hair envy or just plain differences in style and attitude?
All That Remains photos:
All That Remains set list:
01. Now Let Them Tremble
02. For We Are Many
03. Victory Lap
04. Six
05. The Air That I Breathe
06. Pernicious
07. No Knock
08. This Calling
09. Two Weeks
Anyhow, back to the best band of the day about to take the rotation, other than death metal band Cannibal Corpse. George “corpsegrinder” Fisher is the hair-whipping champion of the world as he whips his neck off almost constantly throughout every song. Favorites here include: ‘Stripped, Raped, Strangled’, ‘I Cum Blood’, and ‘Hammer Smashed Face’. A wonderfully, pleasantly brutal time had by all.
Cannibal Corpse photos:
Cannibal Corpse set list:
01. Scourge of Iron
02. Demented Aggression
03. Evisceration Plague
04. Stripped, Raped and Strangled
05. Kill or Become
06. Sadistic Embodiment
07. Icepick Lobotomy
08. I Cum Blood
09. Make Them Suffer
10. A Skull Full of Maggots
11. Hammer Smashed Face
12. Devoured by Vermin
After this was the last band to take on the second largest stage was thrashy, punky funked out hardcore band Suicidal Tendencies. Totally a blast from the past and some original members still in attendance made for a technically sound show, yet I just couldn’t get excited about it with all the rest of the acts I had witnessed. Also, the dust in this area that blows in your face from the ground started really taking its toll on my sinuses at this point, and considering what kind of GWAR blood and goo was mixed into it from the day before, it’s a wonder I’m still breathing.
Suicidal Tendencies photos:
Suicidal Tendencies set list:
01. You Can’t Bring Me Down
02. Institutionalized
03. Subliminal
04. Freedumb
05. Possessed to Skate
06. Cyco Vision
07. Pledge Your Allegiance
A much-needed break was in effect upon the end of the small stages and the beginning of the main stage, which opened on this day with a randomly placed rap acts Mobb Deep and Ghostface Killah. They are fun with ridiculous lyrics and beats, and if you are into that sort of genre an entertaining watch. If it were up to me I would have put all the rap and hardcore on one day and all the heavy, alternative, and death metal on another day as these are such different styles and genres. I understand that variety sells too, but it’s like a schizophrenic DJ when you mix in the wrong vibe with completely different vibes. Also, putting Clutch on after this when the Sword who dropped off the bill for an unknown reason should have been before them was a bit odd.
Clutch, I will say has really broadened their genre vocabulary over the years including stoner, punk, alternative, funk, blues, psychedelic, and hardcore. I am an ever-growing fan of their newest album ‘Psychic Warfare’ and this performance was the best and most varied I’d ever seen them. Great drumming, solid and creatively sound riffs, and strong commendable vocals throughout.
Clutch photos:
Clutch set list:
01. X-Ray Visions
02. Firebirds
03. Crucial Velocity
04. The Soapmakers
05. Decapitation Blues
06. A Quick Death in Texas
07. Sucker for the Witch
08. Our Lady of Electric Light
09. The Elephant Riders
10. D.C. Sound Attack!
11. Noble Savage
12. The Mob Goes Wild
Of course what band could follow up the slot after Clutch into the second to headliner spot other than the worst ‘metal’ band of 2015 in my opinion, Bring Me The Horizon. I do enjoy Slipknot and was torn on staying to see them but having to sit through this painful band would have ruined the rest for me. So instead it was called bring me my car time and I high tailed it out of San Bernardino kicking up as much dust as I could on the way out. So who goes to Knotfest and doesn’t see Slipknot? Someone who doesn’t like torture from Bring Me The Horizon, that’s who. My last encounter of Slipknot was a very pleasant one, as they have a highly impressive stage show and the drums with extra added bongos on platforms on each side of the stage that raise and lower as they play with their unique style of masks and jumpsuits, is an extreme enhancement and a Slipknot signature. I’d also like to commend them for putting on this festival and headlining while playing another festival the night before at Aftershock.
Bring Me The Horizon photos:
Bring Me The Horizon set list:
01. Happy Song
02. Go to Hell, for Heaven’s Sake
03. The House of Wolves
04. Chelsea Smile
05. Can You Feel My Heart
06. Shadow Moses
07. Throne
08. Sleepwalking
09. Antivist
10. Blessed with a Curse
11. Drown
Slipknot photos:
Slipknot set list:
01. Sarcastrophe
02. The Heretic Anthem
03. Psychosocial
04. The Devil in I
05. Me Inside
06. Vermilion
07. Wait and Bleed
08. Prosthetics
09. Before I Forget
10. Eeyore
11. Duality
12. Custer
13. Spit It Out
14. Metabolic
Encore:
15. 742617000027
16. (sic)
17. People = Shit
18. Surfacing
San Bernardino is a peaceful location for a non-peaceful event such as this one, and though they could have cut down the quantity and upped the quality at this event, I do feel it was worth attending, even if just for Judas Priest who absolutely stole away the whole festival, and I’m sure doubled the number of attendees. Also, you can catch a few bands I didn’t give much mention to but feel are worth witnessing anytime you can see them live, such as Kyng and Corrosion Of Conformity within the next month in Los Angeles. Hopefully next year they will have a more sensical line up, and continue with this festival of Knotfest that was created by Slipknot in 2012.
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