LORNA SHORE, CANNIBAL CORPSE, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, Others Confirmed For 2025 NEW ENGLAND METAL & HARDCORE FESTIVAL

Hold onto your battle jackets, folks – the NEW ENGLAND METAL & HARDCORE FESTIVAL is crashing back into existence on Saturday, September 20, 2025 at the Palladium Outdoors in Worcester, MA. Consider this your mandatory pit summons.

This face-melting shindig has been terrorizing eardrums since 1999, hosting legends like MEGADETH (Dave Mustaine’s hair deserves its own rider), LAMB OF GOD (the only acceptable church in town), and MESHUGGAH (math class you’ll actually want to attend). This year’s lineup? Oh, just LORNA SHORE headlining with their symphonic apocalypse vibes, CANNIBAL CORPSE (still deadlier than your grandma’s meatloaf), and BURY YOUR DEAD reuniting their classic lineup for one last round of chest-thumping anthems. Fun fact: BURY YOUR DEAD’s 2004 album Cover Your Tracks was basically the soundtrack to every Myspace profile circa 2006.

Fest co-founder Scott Lee ain’t messing around: “We’ve done this fest over a bunch of formats through the years — two days, three days, you name it. This time, it’s one day, but we didn’t cut corners. This lineup is stacked from top to bottom. All gas, no brakes. Weeeeeee.” (Yes, he really said “weeeeeee.” No, we don’t know why either.)

🔥 FULL LINEUP 🔥
LORNA SHORE 🎻💀
ALL OUT WAR
BAYWAY
BIG ASS TRUCK (No, not the 90s alt-rock band – but respect)
BURY YOUR DEAD (Final show! Stock up on white belts!)
CANNIBAL CORPSE 🩸
DRAIN (Pool party mosh pit, anyone?)
MUNICIPAL WASTE 🍺 (Thrash + beer = yes)
…plus 12 more bands that’ll leave your neck sore for weeks.

📜 HISTORY LESSON 📜
The first fest in ‘99 featured MANOWAR (leather loincloths optional), MORBID ANGEL, and GWAR – who somehow found time to officiate a wedding mid-set. Because why not?

Lee once told the Telegram & Gazette: “[The festival] isn’t just about the bands. It’s the whole aura… the Palladium. It’s this street. It’s the sausage vendor.” Never underestimate the power of a good festival wurst, folks.

He also threw shade at BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD for making metal “a joke,” then casually noted that doctors and lawyers headbang here too. Your orthodontist? Total DRAIN stan.