Live Music Preview: Sick New World Texas – Tons of Bands, One Day, No Mercy
For three years, Sick New World Festival belonged to Las Vegas. The one-day heavy music festival debuted there in 2023, came back bigger in 2024, then canceled in 2025 when a Metallica and Linkin Park-led bill didn’t happen. It came back this year anyway, and it brought a second date. On Saturday, Oct. 24, the inaugural Sick New World Texas takes over Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
The festival is produced by Live Nation, Redrock Entertainment and Velvet Hammer Music and Management Group, the firm that manages System of a Down, and it shows: SOAD has headlined every edition that’s actually happened. Deftones co-headline. Below them sits a lineup that runs from thrash to darkwave to big beat to the full 2002 nu-metal yearbook, spread across the Blue, Gold, Spiral and Diablo stages from 11 a.m. to midnight.
The undercard is stacked. Slayer will play their 1986 thrash classic Reign in Blood front to back for its 40th anniversary. Dallas’ own Power Trip bring the hometown thrash, nearly three years into the Seth Gilmore era after the death of singer Riley Gale in 2020. They just released “Precinct 3” and “Scavenger,” their first new music in eight years, recorded in Carrollton, Texas, with a new album due in 2027.
Sludge and riff fans get Washington’s Melvins, New Orleans’ Down and Maryland’s Clutch. Atlanta act Mastodon arrives two months removed from Marrow Deep, their first album since founding guitarist Brent Hinds left the band in March 2025 and died five months later. Hardcore kids have Kentucky’s Knocked Loose, Sydney group Speed, Los Angeles lifers Terror, Boston newcomers Haywire and genre architects Poison the Well.
Darkwave fans have their own route in Boy Harsher, Twin Tribes and She Wants Revenge. The alternative side runs through Marilyn Manson, AFI and Evanescence, the most radio-friendly stretch before the headliners. Ministry are close to essential. Al Jourgensen says Hate to Go (Take Out or Delivery), out Oct. 30, is the band’s last album, with a farewell tour to follow in 2027.
Deeper cuts: Oklahoma slam outfit Peelingflesh, who lace their breakdowns with hip-hop; ’90s space-rock lifers Failure; Filter, led by former Nine Inch Nails touring guitarist Richard Patrick; post-hardcore touchstones Glassjaw; and blackgaze experimentalists Deafheaven.
Sick New World Texas is sold out, with an expected 75,000 in attendance. Join the waitlist or buy resale at your own risk. Get there early, drink water and check the festival website for set times and day-of logistics.
Featured photo of Serge Tarkanian of SOAD by Clemente Ruiz courtesy of SOAD
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