Earlier this week, the organizers behind Virginia’s annual United Blood festival announced a preliminary list of the bands scheduled to perform at its fourth installment, which runs once again at Alleykatz in Richmond from March 26th through the 27th. For lovers of hardcore young and old, the lineup should seem damn impressive.

In no apparent order: Madball / Dry Spell / Backtrack / True Colors / Donnybrook / Mother of Mercy / Rise and Fall / Blacklisted / Cruel Hand / Naysayer / Harms Way / Steel Nation / Alpha and Omega / Maximum Penalty / Bracewar

And apparently that’s only half of the full lineup, which will likely be announced sometime next week. The latest albums from Blacklisted and Rise And Fall both made the cut in my Best Albums of 2009 post, and Madball are ideal headliners for either the Friday or Saturday night. The fest has a strong showing of some of today’s most prominent peformaersas well as some promising up-and-coming acts, though I’m keeping my fingers crossed that a few more classic acts (Agnostic Front? 7 Seconds?) end up on the bill. Cro-Mags played last year’s fest (and they killed at the show I caught the other week at New York’s Santos Party House), but I doubt anyone would bemoan a reprise appearance.

A limited amount of $50 weekend passes can be purchased online (visit the United Blood site for details) or in person with cash at Vinyl Conflict in Richmond. Single day tickets are not yet available. Last year’s fest sold out, FYI.

-GS

[Gary Suarez helps manage the Shadows FAIL blog. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]