With Gingrich’s devastating Floridian loss, once again I feel justified for naming this hardcore festival news roundup column Pit Romney. Here’s what’s new…

Don’t sell the Midwest short, as Chicago-based fest The Rumble has declared much of its 2012 lineup, with classic headline acts Negative Approach and Murphy’s Law topping a bill with scene favorites Cruel Hand, Wisdom In Chains, and Harms Way along with curveballs like Coliseum and Sweet Cobra. Other announced acts are 100 Demons, Agitator, Beware, Everything Went Black, No Regrets, The Mongoloids, Rotting Out, Empire Of Rats, FocusedXMinds, The Killer, Argonauts, Rock Bottom, Wrong Answer, and Withdrawal. 2011 included big names like 108, Madball and the reunited DYS, so the pressure was on to match or top that and raise the fest’s scene profile. Also, this year its been moved up to April 27-28, with ticket info yet to be announced.

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Newt may seemingly have Mitt on the ropes right now, but that’s no reason to hold up your Pit Romney coverage! Here’s the latest update on the hardcore festival season…

After a 2011 announcement that didn’t exactly thrill me, United Blood seems to have rebounded for 2012, if this initial lineup is any indication. Big names like Agnostic Front and Ringworm stand out, as do pleasant surprises like New Lows and Power Trip. I count five bands that were part of the 2011 initial lineup announcement: Backtrack, Bitter End, Fire and Ice, Naysayer, and Stick Together. The rest of the list is rather robust as well: Beware, Break Away, Dead End Path, Free Spirit, Harms Way, Lockdown,Outcrowd, Soul Search, Suburban Scum, Take Offense, Tough Luck, United Youth, Wisdom in Chains, and Xibalba. Weekend passes are on sale here and here, and with March 30-31 as the dates, you probably want to snag those tickets sooner rather than later.

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Look, if someone says to you, “Hey! The Acacia Strain are touring with Terror, Stray from the Path, and Harm’s Way!”, you’ll know in three seconds whether or not you’re interested in going to that tour. ‘Cause maybe you’re a fan of those bands, and maybe you ain’t. And if you are a fan, you could just go here, where we premiered an awesome live track by Terror yesterday, and see in another three seconds if the tour is coming anywhere near you. So I guess what I’m saying is, in theory, there’s really no reason for you to watch the below video of TAS front dude Vincent Bennett hyping said tour.

Except that the video is only two minutes long, and it’s funny as hell. The best part is Bennett discussing how “We might be coming to your town, we might not be coming to your town,” and going on to say “it’s really out of our hands,” because, well, TRUTH. I know every time we sponsor a tour people are like “Why isn’t it coming to [whiney reader's town here],” and they don’t realize how many different factors going into making those decisions, and how little say 98% of everyone involved in the tour had in said decision… but Bennett’s explanation is way more entertaining.

BONUS: Here’s a fun drinking game — do a shot every time Bennett says the name of all four bands on the tour. You will be no longer be feeling feelings by the time the video is over.

Like I was saying, you can get dates for the God Damn tour, whatever it’s called, here.

-AR

[via Metal Injection]

I don’t really know enough about Stray from the Path and Harm’s Way to talk about them in either a positive or negative light, but I do know that The Acacia Strain and Terror are good bands who put on really fun live shows. And so I am here to tell you that all four bands will be touring together this fall, under the moniker of the “God Damn Tour.” Which isn’t the funniest name for an Acacia Strain tour ever, but is still pretty good.

ANYWAY, seriously, go check out TAS and Terror if you can. And if I need to know who Stray From the Path and Harm’s Way are, someone feel free to tell me.

Here are tour dates, courtesy of The PRP:

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Yes, we know we didn’t get to make our big announcement this week. Don’t worry — we’re just ironing out a few final details. It’s still happening. And we’re confident we’ll get to tell you next week.

In the meantime, here’s how we occupied ourselves these past five days:

• We debuted new music by Ghost Brigade.
• We spoke to Chris Reifert from Autopsy and producer Jay Ruston.
• We checked out the latest releases from Harm’s Way and Skin Like Iron.
• Vince went several rounds with Century Media over their decision to drop out of Spotify.
• We made fun of Dream Theater’s use of clip art on their new album cover.
• Sammy O’Hagar, Satan Rosenbloom, and Grim Kim counted down their favorite releases of the year thus far.
• Sergeant D. searched for the best neo-nu-metal band.
• We asked what you think of Maylene and the Sons of Disaster.
• We continued to celebrate 31 Days of Faith No More.
• ‘Merica.

Last year (and the year before) I got way too busy with this thing called life and missed out on a lot of quality music. I am here to rectify the error of my ways, month by month.

Here are the July 2011 releases that got under my skin, burrowed their way into my brain, made my ears bleed, or simply tickled my unmentionables:

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Facedown and Mediaskare are all over the new releases this week, and we have new records from Unearth, Intensus, Exhumed and Harm’s Way as well. Let’s check it out.

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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.

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