The 2013 Carolina Rebellion took place in Charlotte Motor Speedway Rock City Campground in Concord, NC on May 4 & 5, 2013. This is the third location in the festival's three year history and the best layout yet.

 [click on picture for Carolina Stage slideshow]

The two main stages were far apart this time, with food and merchandise vending in between, as well as off to the sides. This allowed plenty of room to move between main stages and the side stage. The weather on Saturday was cool and cloudy, which was a sharp contrast to the scorching heat of the prior two years. 16 bands played over 12 hours and all put on a tremendous show.

 [click on picture for Rebellion Stage slideshow]

Sunday was another story. The temperature stayed around 50 degrees and the rain that had started the night before never let up. There was a lot of confusion, schedule changes, misinformation, and ultimately most of the highly anticipated artists were forced to cancel due to the conditions of the stage. The fans that did stick it out were treated to some great shows by the bands that did perform, most notably Pop Evil, Sevendust, Steel Panther, Hollywood Undead and Buckcherry. Hopefully next time the weather cooperates and the stages are better prepared for whatever comes.

[click on picture for Jagermeister Stage slideshow]

[click on picture for slideshow]

Sevendust was a late addition to the 2013 Carolina Rebellion, rescheduling their tour plans to replace 3 Doors Down. Despite the cold and rain and numerous band cancellations, the band rocked on, giving the freezing fans the show of the day on Sunday May 5, 2013. Sevendust is a band that continues to write killer songs and play incredible live shows. Do yourself a favor and check them out.

Five Finger Death Punch has announced the band will release their fourth studio record as a double album in two installments with Vol. 1 hitting stores on July 23 and Vol. 2 scheduled for later this fall. Prospect Park will release the albums in North America, Eleven Seven in all other territories. Five Finger Death Punch guitarist Zoltan Bathory reveals, "We came off the road after a couple of great years of touring and were really amped up to write the 4th record. Everybody was in the right headspace and the band tighter than ever so it was a perfect storm. We jumped in head first and found ourselves 12-13 songs deep fairly quick but were still coming up with better and better material so we looked at each other and said.... ok why stop there ?... let's keep going. Once we passed the 24th song we knew we're going to have to do a double album. We had this massive amount of music that's very dear to us, possibly the best material this band has ever created. At that point there was no way to decide which songs to leave off the album. So we made the decision to release them all."

The band will be kicking off the new album cycle by introducing the first single, "Lift Me Up" with a live performance featuring a very special surprise guest at Revolver Magazine's Golden Gods Awards ceremony in Los Angeles this Thursday where the band will appear live alongside Metallica, Stone Sour and Halestorm amongst others. The show will be streaming live on AXS TV and Xbox LIVE: http://t.ymlp257.net/ywbaiaqyjwapauysadausjjy/click.php. The studio version of the song will premiere in the U.S. on radio on May 13 and will be available for purchase online May 14.

In June, Five Finger Death Punch will return to Europe for a tour of major festivals including Sweden Rock (6/06), Germany's Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park (6/08 and 6/09) and the U.K.'s Download Festival at Donington Park (6/16) (see full schedule below) concluding the run with a performance at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Ceremony in London.

Upon the band's return to the U.S., the band will co-headline the 2013 Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival alongside Rob Zombie kicking off in San Bernadino, CA at the San Manuel Amphitheatre on June 29. The travelling festival will stage appearances in 26 markets, and the full itinerary can be viewed here: www.fivefingerdeathpunch.com/tour/

Five Finger Death Punch has released three consecutive RIAA gold certified albums for sales exceeding 500,000 copies. The success of The Way of The Fist (2007), War Is The Answer (2009) and American Capitalist (2011), which debuted at number 3 on the Billboard charts in October, 2011, exhibit the band as one of the few in the rock genre to consistently see significant sales both digitally and physically. The band's ten consecutive Top 10 radio hits - including 2012's #1 hit "Coming Down - have spawned cumulative single sales of over 4.2 million. Going back to "The Bleeding" in the spring of 2008, Five Finger Death Punch has consistently been one of the most heavily played bands at rock radio.