While the beaches and parks are packed with shiny, happy people, tomorrow the woods of Mansfield will once again be infested with black-clad worshipers kneeling at the Ozzfest altar.

The annual cavalcade of metal kicks off at the Tweeter Center with its 10th summer of mayhem, once again delivering the top names in every genre and subgenre of extreme music.

While Ozzy Osbourne's Black Sabbath is the yearly headliner, the 2005 fest is bolstered by a fully reunited Iron Maiden, which slips into the ``old school metal'' slot occupied last summer by Judas Priest. Haverhill's own Rob Zombie, meanwhile, takes a break from making slasher flicks and steps in for Slipknot as this year's headliner on the second stage.

``I have to admit I'm kind of intimidated by some of the talent on that stage every day,'' said Nick Hipa, guitarist for second-stage act As I Lay Dying. ``But I'm honored we're playing with Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden. Iron Maiden, they're one of the bands that are larger than life.''

San Diego's As I Lay Dying owes much to Maiden's speed-metal style. It's also the latest act to explode with the metalcore sound forged by Bay State bands Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall. Its latest Metal Blade Records release, ``Shadows Are Security,'' rocketed onto the Billboard charts at No. 35 two weeks ago.

``It's just very intense, brutal and melodic metal,'' Hipa said of the metalcore sound. ``We've definitely got a lot of friends in that Boston scene. That style has been getting popular and a lot of those bands are the reason for it.''

Riding a wave of critical and fan acclaim for its latest Roadrunner Records release, ``The End of Heartache,'' Killswitch Engage is on its second Ozzfest and will precede Zombie on the second stage. Shadows Fall, also on its second fest stint, makes the jump to the main stage as its latest opus, ``The War Within'' (Century Media), pushes the quarter-million sales mark.

``It's insane,'' Shadows vocalist and Somerville native Brian Fair said. ``We feel like it's cool because we had the graduation thing with Ozzfest. We had the side stage (last year) and that propelled us to the next level. For them to honor that and give us this slot, is amazing.''

Visits: 269

· Proceed to '#-------<Tribute to dimebag>--------#'

· Back to '---<(about this site):>---'

· riffking