Metal bands

We track 261 Metal bands. 137 are booked at festivals still to come, most at Sonic Temple and Welcome to Rockville. 156 have tour dates on sale, 1687 shows in all.

Metal festivals →

Who to know

Ranked by festivals still to come, then tour dates, then every booking we have on record.

On tour now

156 Metal bands with dates on sale, soonest first. From Ticketmaster, refreshed daily.

Playing festivals next

Every festival still to come with Metal bands on the bill, soonest first. The Metal festival guide ranks them by how deep they book.

Most headline slots

The names printed in the biggest type, trusted to send everyone home.

  1. 1Deftones7The band that dragged heaviness toward dream-pop: Chino Moreno's croon-to-scream over guitars tuned for atmosphere as much as impact.
  2. 2Bring Me The Horizon5Sheffield shape-shifters who went from feral deathcore to arena-sized electronic metalcore, with one of heavy music's most elaborate stage shows.
  3. 3Limp Bizkit5Nu-metal's chaos agents in their beloved victory-lap era. Fred Durst does it all for the nookie, still, and the field does it with him.
  4. 4Tool4Prog-metal's cathedral builders: polyrhythms, lasers, and total audience surrender, with Danny Carey's drumming alone worth the pilgrimage.
  5. 5Iron Maiden3Up the irons: metal's greatest live institution, Eddie included, galloping twin leads and Bruce Dickinson sprinting the stage like it's 1985.
  6. 6Korn3The band that wrote the nu metal rulebook: down-tuned seven-string grooves, slap bass and Jonathan Davis's raw, confessional howl, from 'Blind' to 'Freak on a Leash'.
  7. 7Avenged Sevenfold2Huntington Beach metal titans with prog ambition welded to arena hooks, from 'Bat Country' to Life Is But a Dream.
  8. 8Bad Omens2Noah Sebastian's project drifted from metalcore toward something moodier and far more electronic, and got much bigger for it. 'Just Pretend' made them the scene's biggest crossover story.
  9. 9Guns N' Roses2The classic-lineup reunion long outlasted anyone's expectations, and the three-hour sets still get through most of the canon, Slash solos and all.

Most places played

Whose year reads like a world tour that happened to be made of festivals.

  1. 1Die Spitz12Austin's instrument-swapping all-women punk-metal wrecking crew, where everyone plays everything and it all lands at full force.
  2. 2Showing Teeth8The Nashville project of Kentucky-born singer Addison, whose voice jumps from low growls to piercing screams to clean melody over deathcore weight, first heard in clips filmed in her car.
  3. 3Deftones7The band that dragged heaviness toward dream-pop: Chino Moreno's croon-to-scream over guitars tuned for atmosphere as much as impact.
  4. 4P.O.D.7'Alive' and 'Youth of the Nation' are the calling cards of San Diego's nu-metal survivors, whose positivity stayed intact through every scene cycle.
  5. 5A Day To Remember6The pop-punk/metalcore hybrid blueprint, with mosh-call breakdowns and sugar-rush hooks in equal measure, delivered with beach balls, confetti cannons, and total arena confidence.
  6. 6Knocked Loose6Kentucky hardcore built on the meanest two-step riffs going, with Bryan Garris's shriek cutting clean over the top: heaviness that crossed over without softening.
  7. 7Kublai Khan TX6Texas hardcore at its most punishing, with mosh calls that carry a message and a low end that treats subtlety as a character flaw.
  8. 8Motionless In White6Horror-movie theatrics welded to industrial-tinged metalcore, with corpse paint, synths, and choruses built for an arena singalong, Halloween as a year-round genre.
  9. 9Sleep Theory6New-generation alt-metal built on a soulful clean vocal and a very modern low end, and the format's next arena act in waiting.
  10. 10Sullivan King6Plays guitar and screams over his own dubstep, the metal/bass crossover taken entirely seriously, pits and drops in equal measure.

Most saved to a plan

The Metal bands people are building a Saturday around.

  1. 1DeftonesThe band that dragged heaviness toward dream-pop: Chino Moreno's croon-to-scream over guitars tuned for atmosphere as much as impact.
  2. 2KylesaSavannah sludge-psych institution (dual drummers, buzzsaw riffs, and swirling psychedelia) returned from a long hiatus with the heaviness intact.
  3. 3Coal ChamberSpooky-kid nu-metal with detuned bounce and a goth streak the genre mostly abandoned, bringing 'Loco'-era heaviness back from the grave.
  4. 4System of a DownArmenian-American art-metal that never stopped sounding unhinged, with lurching time signatures, Serj Tankian's operatic yelp, and hooks that shouldn't work but do.
  5. 5Alien Ant FarmBest known for turning 'Smooth Criminal' into an alt-metal hit, which undersells a Riverside band with a real ear for a chorus and more melodic instinct than their era usually rewarded.
  6. 6All That RemainsNew England metalcore that leaned into melody early and got a career of radio singles out of it, trading screams for choruses at exactly the right moment.
  7. 7BABYMETALJ-pop choreography welded to genuine power-metal chops, a premise that should not work and completely does, now with arena-scale production and a decade of converted skeptics.
  8. 8MelvinsForty years of deliberately difficult, punishingly slow riffs, and the band Nirvana learned from, still outweirding everyone downstream.
  9. 9OrgySynth-forward nu-metal in vinyl trousers. The New Order cover was the hit, but the originals leaned genuinely cold and chrome-plated.
  10. 10P.O.D.'Alive' and 'Youth of the Nation' are the calling cards of San Diego's nu-metal survivors, whose positivity stayed intact through every scene cycle.

All 261 Metal bands

Sized by how many of the festivals we track have booked each act.

Die SpitzShowing TeethSullivan KingDeftonesMotionless In WhiteP.O.D.South ArcadeA Day To RememberBring Me The HorizonBullet For My ValentineFrom Ashes To NewI PrevailKnocked LooseKublai Khan TXSleep TheoryUnderoathAmon AmarthFaith No MoreKillswitch EngageLimp BizkitLoatheLorna ShorePeelingFlesh

After The BurialApocalypticaAtreyuBad OmensBeartoothBlack Label SocietyBlack Veil BridesBodysnatcherBoundariesChelsea GrinCoal ChamberCorrosion of ConformityDethklokDrowning PoolEmmureEvanescenceGideonHalestormImminenceJinjerMastodonMinistryPaleface SwissSevendustSlaughter To PrevailSoulflyThe Amity AfflictionThe Devil Wears PradaThe Plot In YouThousand BelowThrownToolAlice In ChainsAll That RemainsAmira ElfekyArch EnemyArchitectsBABYMETALBehemothblessthefallBlood IncantationBloodywoodCarnifexCasketsCastle RatCatch Your BreathCavaleraChad Gray: Voice of Mudvayne & HELLYEAHCurrentsDownFalling In ReverseFit For A KingHelmetHollywood UndeadIce Nine KillsIron MaidenKornMelvinsNekrogoblikonNorma JeanOrbit CulturePapa RoachParkway DrivePolarisSepulturaSigns of the SwarmSnotSpineshankSpiteStatic-XThornhillViolent ViraWage WarWe Came As RomansZakk Sabbath

156/Silence200 Stab WoundsAlien Ant FarmAlpha WolfAustin Carlile: The Original Voice of Of Mice & MenAvatarAvenged SevenfoldBetween The Buried And MeBorn of OsirisButcher BabiesCarcassCattle DecapitationCHAD GRAYConvergeCrowbarCrown The EmpireDanzigDeafheavenDevilDriverDisembodied TyrantDragonForceDry Kill LogicDying FetusElectric CallboyFear FactoryFit For An AutopsyFleshgod ApocalypseFozzyGuns N' RosesHANABIE.In FlamesInfected RainInvent AnimateJudas PriestKim DraculaKing 810KittieKreatorKylesaLacuna CoilLamb of GodMachine HeadMake Them SufferMegadethMeshuggahNailbombNapalm DeathNothing MoreOf Mice & MenOrgyPalisadesPoison the WellPsychostickRivers of NihilShadows FallSilent PlanetSkid RowSpiritworldStick To Your GunsSuffocationSuicide SilenceSylosisTestamentThe Acacia StrainThe Black Dahlia MurderThe Ghost InsideThe HUThe ScratchTill LindemannWhitechapelWind RoseA Perfect CircleAlestormAlltAnkorAnnisokayAnthraxAs Everything UnfoldsAttilaAugust Burns RedAvianaBear McCrearyBiohazardBleeding ThroughBody CountBrujeriaCancer BatsCane HillCatïçaCiça MoreiraConjurerDeath AngelDecapitatedDeicideDistantDreamwakeDying WishEighteen VisionsEnd ItEntropiaERRAFlyleaf with Lacey SturmFull of HellGalactic EmpireGatecreeperGates To HellGhost RatGhostemaneGojiraGreen LungGreyhavenHaste The DayImmolationImpending DoomInitiateJesuKerry KingKingdom of GiantsKorzusLandmvrksLinkin ParkLowenMAKEMalevolenceMaylene and the Sons of DisasterMelt-BananaMidnightMonolordNastyNervosaNita StraussNoturnallOTEPPanteraPapanguPentagramPeripheryPizzatrampPrimusRageResolveSabatonSaltatio MortisScribeShadow of IntentSnuffed On SightSPIRITBOXSullivan King (Sunset Set)System of a DownTetrarchThe Color MoraleThe Number Twelve Looks Like YouThy Art Is MurderTorcheTriviumTwitching TonguesUnearthUpon A Burning BodyVarialsVolumesWinds of PlagueWindwakerRammstein

Other genres

EDM 529Indie 496Alternative 453Rock 390Pop 365Punk 317Hip-Hop 309Folk and Americana 287House 267Country 252R&B and Soul 226Hardcore 135Techno 134Dubstep and Bass 124Bluegrass 99Latin 96Jazz 76Emo 66Shoegaze and Dream Pop 62Trance 52Psychedelic 47Reggae and Dancehall 37Blues 32Drum & Bass 32Hardstyle and Hard Dance 22

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