In the last few weeks the metal world has had the tragic passing of Peter Steele, Ronnie James Dio and now sadly Paul Gray, Slipknot Bassist, also known as #2, at the age of 38, in the town of Urbandale, Iowa.

The Rockstar Mayhem Festival is the Shangri-La for metal heads and for many of us the concert highlight of the year. It is bigger, louder, and more freakin badass than anything else running. Mayhem is actually so freakin cool I quit my last “real” job to hop on the Mayhem wagon train for the 2008 tour as a media type dude. Rockstar Mayhem Festival is a showcase where the icons of metal come together with the brightest new stars. The Rockstar Mayhem Festival 2009 brought the legends, the brutal new metal stars, and some guaranteed crowd favorites out in force. Marilyn Manson, Slayer, Killswitch Engage and Bullet For My Valentine played on the main stage and the likes of Cannibal Corpse, Behemoth, Job for A Cowboy, Black Dahlia Murder, Trivium, All That Remains, God Forbid and White Chapel played the other 2 stages.

It takes a special quality and attitude to set yourself apart in the metal scene, especially when you are based out of the Los Angeles area. There are hundreds of bands. Some say they all sound the same; that there is nothing different about them. Well…let me introduce you to The Changing

For more than a few years, fans and some critics have drawn their own lines about what is metal and what is not. From the early years of Black Sabbath through the New Wave of British Heavy Metal with Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Motorhead it was a general consensus, “Oh that is metal!” In the decade following (1980’s) opinions started to stray.