The Rockstar Mayhem Festival

This appropriately titled tour brings a canny cross-section of metal's toughest acts, headlined by a couple of legends in different states of decomposition. Marilyn Manson welcomed bassist Twiggy Ramirez back into the fold for The High End of Low, brewing up a nostalgic batch of tuneful industrial metal with (ineffectually) shocking lyrics. But Marilyn's gothic cast feels painted on, and the mechanical motions — while still catchy — sound rote. Slayer, closing in on 30 years of existence, occupies the other extreme. Slayer's seismic thrash got re-energized with a return to the original lineup on 2006's Christ Illusion, and members have suggested that their new album, World Painted Blood (due later this year), with producer-slash-resurrectionist Rick Rubin offers their most diverse set since 1990's Seasons in the Abyss. Elsewhere in the lineup, death metal receives noteworthy representation, from brutal (Cannibal Corpse) to melodic (God Forbid) to chunky (Behemoth), alongside contemporary metal-core charters Killswitch Engage and All That Remains.