By Scott McLennan

This year’s edition of Metalfest matched the fabled fests of yore – a point not lost on many of the bands that performed, many of them making note on stage that the metal world had somehow been made right again.

Killswitch Engage in action at the Metalfest. Photo: Sam McLennan

In New England, Worcester is to heavy music what Newport is to jazz and folk – namely home to a signature festival that celebrates a musical genre’s history, reports on the current state of that sound, and points respective fans toward the future.

The New England Metal and Hardcore Festival made its home at The Palladium in Worcester from 1999 to 2018, establishing itself as a barometer for what was happening in heavy music; the festival could be counted on to present break out bands, showcase architects of the various heavy metal subgenres, and bring in the biggest names from a global network of heavy metal and hardcore bands that live just beyond the borders of mainstream commercial appeal — but boast a massive following.

Following a five-year hiatus, Metalfest returned from Sept. 20 to 23 for a second consecutive year. Once again it was an event that took place on two stages set up in the parking lot outside the Palladium with a third stage inside the venue’s smaller upstairs room.

The 2024 edition of the New England Metal and Hard Core Festival surpassed any reasonable expectations. This year’s edition matched the fabled fests of yore – a point not lost on many of the bands that performed, many of them making note on stage that the metal world had somehow been made right again. Much of the credit was given to Scott Lee, a Western Mass native who is one of the country’s premier promoters of heavy metal and has been at the helm of Metalfest from its start.

Metalfest this year presented more than 60 bands, starting with a Friday night “pre party” in the Palladium followed by two long days that tapped into the three-stage set-ups. Even steady rain on Saturday could not ruin what has to be considered one of the peak days in the history of Metalfest.

All three days relied on a winning formula that consisted of appearances by bands that rarely perform returning to action; solid representation of stylistic variations within heavy music; nods to the rich contributions this region has made, and continues to make, to the genre; and the presentation of up-and-coming bands that carried the virtues of heaviness forward.

Around that framework, the Metalfest bands added a rich wealth of details that gave this edition of the festival its distinctive power.

God Forbid in action. Photo:Sam McLennan

On Friday, for instance, God Forbid headlined the pre-party with a full reading of its 2004 metal masterpiece Gone Forever. It was a surprise that landed with a much louder bang than might have been anticipated — because it unfolded without any pre-show hype.

Other highlights from Friday included sets by Death Ray Vision and Living Wreckage, newer projects by Massachusetts metal scene veterans with ties to bigger bands such as Anthrax, Shadows Falls, and Saturday’s headlining act, Killswitch Engage.

The up-and-coming Johnny Booth also played Friday, presenting itself as a leading voice in the latest iteration of the heavy metal-hardcore fusion that has been shorthanded as metalcore.

Killswitch Engage formed 25 years ago, playing countless shows in and around Worcester as it developed into a world-touring, top-selling metal act. The group’s headlining set on Saturday touched on its entire catalog and it featured both of the band’s singers – Jesse Leach, who helped start the group, left in 2002 then returned in 2012, and Howard Jones, who jumped in when Leach left and is the voice on the band’s biggest breakout albums from the early 2000s.

Leach repeatedly referenced the camaraderie and community at the heart of metal – something that may not be obvious to someone outside the scene, who just hears the music’s raw aggression and sees the manic mayhem happening on stage and out in the audience. Leach broke down that barrier between artists and audience a few times, venturing from stage to crowd, tempting the throbbing mosh pit to become a riptide and pull him in.

Better Lovers in action. Photo: Sam McLennan

Of course, metal also relies on healthy doses of anti-authoritarianism and non-conformity. Converge, another long-running Massachusetts band, has perfected a sound that is transfixing in the way it navigates precise musical twists and turns while barely containing Jacob Bannon’s explosive, emotionally charged vocals. The band stopped its set twice to make sure that fans who were injured in the mosh pit got help: this was community in action. That was followed by defiance a short time later. Nothing was going to stop Converge from performing with singer Dwid Hellion from Integrity, which is considered one of the first bands to fuse metal and hardcore and one of the “roots” acts from earlier in the day. The fest keeps a tight schedule, and had killed amplified sound on Converge in preparation for switching over to the action on the other main stage. But Converge went right on to back Hellion on a cover of Integrity’s “Vocal Test,” audible only to those closest to the historic pairing.

Nails and Better Lovers both played sets stacked with new material that represented the ongoing vitality of heavy music. Saturday dug deeper into the underground and that yielded the pure abrasion of Full of Hell’s grinding sound along with the brilliant, cathartic sets by Overcast and Since the Flood, two bands that were staples in the emergence of metalcore and now rarely perform.

While Slaughter to Prevail and Suicide Silence capped the metal action Sunday with powerful sets, hardcore punk ruled the festival’s final day.

Suicidal Tendencies in action at Metalfest. Photo: Sam McLennan

A stroke of programming genius made illuminating use of Suicidal Tendencies, pioneers from the ’80s who fused thrash metal and punk rock, giving hardcore its root. The band was a headliner on a main stage whose preceding sets were supplied by Bane, a group formed in the ’90s, and Terror, a band that started in the 2000s. That “back to the basics” lineup laid out a history of hardcore’s sonic twists that also underscored a connective thread of emotionally blunt and open-hearted lyrics. The appearance by Worcester-born Bane, a band ostensibly broken up since 2016 but given to making an occasional appearance, was yet another salient contribution to this year’s fest.

Slaughter to Prevail in action at Metalfest. Photo: Sam McLennan

While the hardcore bands inevitably pushed messages of finding the strength to overcome adversity, Slaughter to Prevail countered with a set that came off like the arrival of a tank that was ready to blow up everything and then ask questions.

Alex Terrible, the Russian-born singer and charismatic frontman of Slaughter to Prevail, jumped between extremes. He graciously accepted the crowd’s enthused support and then turned into a testosterone-fueled maniacal motivational speaker. He did this while his band — adorned in chrome-plated devil masks — unleashed a maelstrom of chugging guitar riffs that collided with manic and frantic rhythm work that left little breathing space.

Slaughter to Prevail wasn’t perfect; it needs more time to perfect its explosive execution. But the band made the most of its headlining set, busting free from its opening-act status of the past couple of years. Metalfest has a track record of picking and elevating the genre’s future stars. So, like any good story that wants you to keep coming back, this year’s installment left fans with a cliffhanger.

Scott McLennan covered music for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette from 1993 to 2008. He then contributed music reviews and features to the Boston Globe, Providence Journal, Portland Press Herald, and WGBH, as well as to the Arts Fuse. He also operated the NE Metal blog to provide in-depth coverage of the region’s heavy metal scene.