This year’s edition of the Scion Rock Fest is shaping up to be way better than last year’s… and only a few bands have been announced so far.

Last year’s event wasn’t slouchy; with appearances by Cannibal Corpse, Shrinebuilder, Yob, Voivod, Hate Eternal, Magrudergrind, Ludicra and a number of others, the lineup was pretty sweet. But the layout — four venues, two of them about a mile away from the other two — and the locale — freakin’ cold-ass, drab Columbus, OH — were major downers, especially compared to the free festival’s inaugural year at the Masquerade in Atlana (which hosted four stages in the same venue).

The festival’s organizers seem to have taken note, opting to move the festival to the West Coast for the first time ever in its third year. According to The PRP, the event will take place on March 5th in Pomona, CA (about 30 miles due east of Los Angeles — view a map here) at the Fox Theater and the Glass House, each of which will host two stages.

Oh, you want to know about the lineup instead of my overly verbose introduction??? Read on:

The rumored headliners are none other than MORBID FUCKING ANGEL, making me reget already having decided not to go. Adding fuel my jealousy fire is a rumor also reported on The PRP that Agalloch will be performing; I’m sure I’ll get to see Morbid Angel soon enough, but the chances of Agalloch coming east are a lot more remote [UPDATE: While I was away for the holidays I missed the announcement that Agalloch have an NYC show scheduled for March 22nd at Le Poisson Rouge on Bleecker St. Thanks to all of you for pointing this out! Going to purchase tickets right this second. -Ed.]. Furthermore, apparently Kvelertak are going to be appearing too! Axl is surely shitting his pants right this moment. The good news there is that it’s highly unlikely Kvelertak would come to the U.S. for just one show, so it’s likely we’ll get to see them on the East Coast (and in other parts of the country) too; if they’re already gonna be here on Scion’s dime (Scion usually covers bands’ travel costs to and from their fests) they may as well take advantage of the situation by doing a full tour. Other rumored bands reported by The PRP:

Obituary
Death Angel
Municipal Waste
Integrity
Bastard Noise
Atheist
Floor
Black Breath
Nails
Primate
Crom
Wormrot
Necrite
Woe
Fuck The Facts
Bonded By Blood
Christian Mistress

The full lineup of 26 bands will be officially announced tomorrow, January 13th, via Facebook.

Most of these rumored bands are ones that we get to see back East all the time, so, other than Agalloch [or not -- see above. -Ed.], I don’t really see a reason to travel across the country for this fest. But man, if you live in our near L.A. I can’t think of any reason NOT to go to this festival. Especially seeing as the whole thing comes at the whopping cost of FREE. For anyone living on the West Coast or nearby, now’s probably the time to lock in those hotels in Pomona. Get on it before they start to fill up and prices rise.

-VN