Break out those ear plugs, kids. There’s a heavy new player in the Summer Music Festival game. The lid has been lifted on the inaugural edition of Unify: A Heavy Music Gathering – a brand new, two-day, all down-tuned camping festival that’s bringing together a swathe of the nation’s premiere hardcore and metalcore outfits under one banner to satiate your summer floor-punching quota in one fell swoop.
The new festival is a joint venture between Melbourne label UNFD and boutique festival bookers The Hills Are Alive. The whole thing’s going down on January 10th and 11th of next year – a Saturday and a Sunday, funnily enough – and will be held in the seriously pretty and decidedly non-grim/non-metal surroundings of South Gippsland, about a 2 hour drive from the centre of Melbourne.
As far as lineup goes, if breakdowns, palm-muted single-chord chugging, drop C# tuning, and singers with microphones shoved halfway down their throats telling you they want to “see this place get torn apart” sounds like a good time to you, then boy are you ever in luck.
In all seriousness, it’s a stacked lineup of the nation’s biggest metalcore acts, headlined by the almighty Amity Affliction – fresh off of their own completely sold out tour, which included a stop at the enormous Festival Hall in Melbourne – and includes other names like Thy Art Is Murder, Northlane, and a sneaky little reunion gig from the freaking incredible Break Even.
The full lineup is as follows.
UNIFT: A HEAVY MUSIC GATHERING 2015
The Amity Affliction
Northlane
In Hearts Wake
Thy Art Is Murder
Deez Nuts
Break Even
Confession
Buried in Verona
Hand of Mercy
Antagonist AD
Hellions
Storm the Sky
Endless Heights
Aversions Crown
Stories
Electrik Dynamite
Earth Caller
The festival features free camping, BYO and licensed areas, food, mini-golf, late night cinema and heaps more.
Tickets go on sale from October 2nd.
Photo: Martin Philbey via Getty Images.
