The Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival is a touring heavy metal festival that has been going strong each summer since 2008. Each year, the Mayhem Festival features amazing main stage headliners; this year includes Slayer, King Diamond, HELLYEAH, and The Devil Wears Prada. Even though those bands are the main draw of Mayhem, there is an amazing subculture where you can see a great lineup of up and coming metal bands on the festival's side stage earlier on in the day.
This year the side stage is curated by Victory Records and includes such bands as Whitechapel, Thy Art Is Murder, Jungle Rot, Sister Sin, Sworn In, Shattered Sun, Feed Her to the Sharks, Code Orange, and Kissing Candice. Mayhem is like a past, present, and future of metal when it comes to the bands that are booked of it, offering a little something for everyone and giving a glimpse to what is really going in the world of metal these days.
Recently, I was able to get some words with Andy Marsh, the guitarist from Australian metal band Thy Art Is Murder, about the band's new album Holy War and the general principles that go behind the making of their music.
Over the past few years, it seems like more and more metal bands are starting to push the boundaries much more and getting a bit looser creativity with their sound, while seemingly pushing back towards the stale norms of music and society. How do you feel Thy Art Is Murder has progressed as a band?
We just do what we do really. There has been the most amazing heavy music available to us all now for over 20 years and we stand on the shoulders of giants doing what we do now.
How important is it for Thy Art Is Murder to stand up and express all the craziness going in both personally and going on in society in your music? What do you want your audience to take away from it all?
It's most important, we believe in the power of change through music. We can only hope that our lyrics inspire change and intelligent discussion on the topics we write about, and we are already seeing it on our social media as we engage with our fans and discuss what they are taking away from our music.
Do you find that the topics on the new album Holy War have a worldly universal theme to them? How so?
Of course we do, we wanted to create a relevant album. We write about things from different parts of the world and issues that affect us all globally as they affect our home, the earth.
Ultimately, what would you like the legacy of Thy Art Is Murder to be?
To be seen in the same light as bands like Behemoth, Cannibal Corpse and Decapitated. Bands that did their own thing and made a difference in the genre and in the world of heavy music.
On the Mayhem Festival, who are you guys excited to be able to tour with?
Code Orange, we've been waiting to see that band for a while now.
The Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival headlined by Slayer and King Diamond goes on Saturday, July 11th at DTE Energy Theatre in Clarkston, Michigan. Performances start at 1pm. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit rockstarmayhemfest.com.