Mayhem Competition Returns in 2024 with a Southern California Throwdown!
Get able to unharness your internal headbanger, metalheads! The mythical Mayhem Competition is roaring again to lifestyles in 2024, however with a twist. This yr, it’ll be a one-day, single-destination match going down on October twelfth in sunny Southern California. Mark your calendars and get ready for a monstrous steel mosh pit as 23 bands descend upon the scene, able to ship a sonic onslaught. The total lineup will likely be unveiled on Tuesday, June 4th, so keep tuned for a headbanging bonanza!
This isn’t Mayhem Competition’s first rodeo. Based in 2008 through Vehicles Warped Excursion veterans Kevin Lyman and John Reese, the pageant briefly become a haven for metalheads. Over time, it’s observed iconic acts like SLIPKNOT, SLAYER, MOTIONLESS IN WHITE, ASKING ALEXANDRIA and UNDEROATH grace its phases, solidifying its position as a pillar of the steel scene.
Alternatively, after the 2015 version of the Mayhem Competition, which was once headlined through thrash titans SLAYER, the development went silent. Hypothesis swirled about declining attendance and feedback from SLAYER guitarist Kerry King that forged a shadow at the match. John Reese, in a 2015 social media submit, introduced the pageant’s closure, highlighting their willpower to supporting artists and fostering the steel group.
In the meantime, Kevin Lyman pointed in opposition to a possible shift within the steel scene as a reason why for the pageant’s struggles. He lamented the decrease attendance and urged that established steel bands weren’t keen to regulate their charges for the sake of the total scene’s enlargement.
Whilst some, like Kerry King, disagreed and positioned blame at the reserving technique, the pageant took a hiatus.
King went on to inform the Houston Press that the issue with that summer time’s Mayhem Competition wasn’t with the steel bands themselves however with the best way the real pageant was once booked.
“I didn’t take what [Lyman] stated for my part,” Kerry stated. “He simply certainly had a mike installed entrance of him and stated some shit that’s negative to this excursion and any excursions he has sooner or later — now not simply Mayhem, however no matter else he promotes. As a result of, to me, he dedicated trade suicide.

“On the finish of the day, what I feel came about to Mayhem was once that they waited too overdue within the recreation to get the ability they had to pull it off as it should be,” Kerry persevered. “As a result of what occurs is, other folks get booked up so early at the present time that it sort of feels like the entire bands that may have made this extra of a good fortune are enjoying in Europe now as a substitute of being on a U.S. pageant. It simply made the ability pool lower than it might be.”
However concern now not, steel warriors! Mayhem Competition is again, and with a single-day Southern California match, it guarantees an intense and unforgettable revel in.
With the lineup announcement coming quickly, anticipation is development. Can we see a go back of the titans who as soon as ruled Mayhem? Will there be a contemporary wave of steel acts able to take the reins? Something’s needless to say – on October twelfth, Southern California is set to get a significant dose of headbanging mayhem!
