Sonic Temple 2025 Lineup Has Limp Bizkit, Korn, Two Nights Of Metallica, Another Acid Bath Reunion, More

Ohio’s Sonic Temple, one of America’s biggest racetrack-friendly active-rock festivals, has announced its lineup for next year’s edition, which goes down 5/8-11 at Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus. As with so many of these festivals, this one is especially reliant on its all-star headliners. For next year’s affair, Metallica will play two sets, headlining both the second and fourth nights. They’ll share that honor with two veteran nü metal acts, Korn and the newly revived Linkin Park.

The upper lines of the Sonic Temple bill feature plenty of other familiar names, including Rob Zombie, Incubus, Alice In Chains, Alice Cooper, Mastodon, Suicidal Tendencies, Cannibal Corpse, Hatebreed, Gwar, Ministry, and the revived Power Trip. It was genuinely shocking to see that Louisiana sludge-metal legends Acid Bath are reuniting to play Sick New World, and it’s a bit less shocking to see that they’re also playing Sonic Temple. It’s cool that the Acid Bath reunion will be more than just one show; you have to imagine that there’s more on the way.

Amidst all those names, Sonic Temple also features the usual racetrack-fest suspects like Chevelle, I Prevail, Three Days Grace, and Motionless In White. I had no idea that Richmond metalcore band Bad Omens were big enough to play direct support on a fest like this, but you learn something new every day. These fests always have a lot of cool names when you dig deeper into the lineup, and this one features the usual mix of ascendant hardcore heroes and cult-favorite acts, including Deafheaven, Converge, Quicksand, Municipal Waste, Obituary, Gatecreeper, Nails, Sunami, Speed, Jesus Piece, Pain Of Truth, Candy, Gridiron, Filter, HEALTH, 200 Stab Wounds, Sanguisugabogg, Dead Heat, Nitzer Ebb, Cavalera, Corrosion Of Conformity, Frozen Soul, and PeelingFlesh.

On one of the days that Metallica headline, the main-stage bill also features their fellow ’80s-thrash veterans Testament, Exodus, and Overkill, which is cool. It was nice of the bookers to put most of the best shit on day two. You can find all the crucial details here.