Culture
Sonic Temple 2027 Preview: Iron Maiden, Blink-182 Lead an Eclectic Lineup
By: Nicholas Kobe
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WOUB) – Sonic Temple, one of the nation’s largest rock and metal festivals, returns to Historic Crew Stadium for four days, May 13-16, 2027. Since returning in 2019 under a new name after previously operating as Rock on the Range, the festival has continued to grow in both attendance capacity and the number of bands on its lineup. There seems to be no ceiling for Sonic Temple, as the organizers at Danny Wimmer Presents continue to demonstrate their ability to curate strong, diverse lineups. Arguably, though, outside of a few major headliners, Sonic Temple 2027 lacks many of the big names the festival has leaned on in recent years.
Blink-182 is a “best-case scenario” headliner for Sonic Temple. After My Chemical Romance’s massive success at Sonic Temple 2026, it makes sense to keep a high-profile pop-punk presence, but shift away from the harder edge of MCR, The Used, or Pierce the Veil in favor of the genre’s lighter, fun side. DWP nailed the bands you’d expect to see join Blink on a lineup like this. All-American Rejects, Weatus, Jimmy Eat World, and The Offspring are great picks, especially when the latter two have been highlights of DWP festivals in the past. In particular, I’m glad to see Bowling for Soup here, the only band with the lyrical genius to both write the Phineas and Ferb theme song and rhyme “Texas” and “breasts.”
I also like seeing Sonic Temple making an effort to secure hot, younger talent in punk and hardcore. Turnstile and Knocked Loose are the two biggest hardcore bands of the past decade. Turnstile in particular has penetrated the mainstream in a way a punk band hasn’t since the heyday of Blink-182 and Green Day. Their genre-expansive sound has made them incredibly accessible, and it’s earned them love from the likes of Elton John, Slayyyter, and Hayley Williams. While seeing more younger pop-punk in the lower parts of this bill (aside from The Paradox, another great pick) would’ve been appreciated, DWP made an interesting move by shifting into their strongest metal lineup of the year.
It’s the strongest, but also odd. Messugah, Testament, Green Lung, Castle Rat, Black Dahlia Murder, Fit for an Autopsy, and Blood Incantation are all excellent picks. Still, the list spans thrash, doom, deathcore, progressive, and almost everything in between. The deathcore section, headlined by the aforementioned Fit for an Autopsy and alongside bands like Impending Doom and Spite, is pretty fleshed out, but some of the other acts feel a little more disparate. Mastodon, Messhugah, and Blood Incantation lean more “progressive.” While their takes on progressive metal are very different, they’re unified by being just so damn good. At the same time, Testament is probably the best active 80s thrash band and holds up well on their own, even without much other subgenre support. Green Lung’s Necropolitan is my favorite album of the year so far, and Castle Rat merges Red Sonja camp, resonant emotion, and Sabbath-influenced doom, rightfully earning their rapid rise in popularity. Having these more classic metal bands on Thursday was certainly a puzzling move. It’s odd to see these very “old school metal” bands, divorced from Sonic Temple’s day-two headliner and the biggest classic metal band on earth, Iron Maiden.
Now, normally I’m the first person to call out rock festivals for leaning too hard on their ol reliables instead of branching out and giving new bands their rightful chance to headline. However, there’s no world where I’d call the inclusion of Iron Maiden anything other than an absolute home run. Iron Maiden is in my top two metal bands ever, yes, but what makes Maiden deserving of this bill-topping spot is not just the legacy; it’s the now. With very few exceptions, Iron Maiden still plays every single band in rock under the table (including Saturday and Sunday’s headliners). Over 50 years later, the group still has not only the technical skill but the showmanship that most bands couldn’t dream of. Seeing some of the frustration about Maiden’s Sonic Temple headlining slot in Instagram comments may have set off my inner musical boomer, but I think it’s for good reason. Bands like Guns N’ Roses or Mötley Crüe set a standard for 80s arena rock titans to make millions as pale imitations of their true selves. Iron Maiden is anything but that.
Alongside Maiden, Friday is the festival’s “hard rock” day. This yields mixed results. Steel Panther is a fun, irreverent, throwback hair metal act. I’m curious to see if their “shtick” gets old fast live, or if their humor-focused personas actually translate. Speaking of funny, Dirty Honey is here because I guess the other shameless Led Zeppelin rip-offs, Greta Van Fleet, were busy.
On the other hand, Saturday’s female-led stage continues DWPs recent push to highlight women in rock. While many of the women on this stage have very little in common musically, acts like The Pretty Reckless, The Warning, and Hannabie are generally great picks for a festival like this. Alice in Chains, A Perfect Circle and Bullet for My Valentine are also safe calls, and will undeniably be highlights, even if, once again, they have very little to do with Iron Maiden. Bear McCreary is one of the more off-the-wall choices here, as he’s best known as a composer for films, TV and video games, such as Godzilla: King of Monsters (2019), The Walking Dead (2010) and God of War (2018). While he’s recently dipped into releasing standalone metal albums, his unique background and sheer talent will make him a must-watch on Friday.
Falling In Reverse is Saturday’s headliner, which is a great call for Sonic Temple. Falling In Reverse has played two Sonic Temples I’ve attended, and though they haven’t headlined, they draw massive crowds and energize fans. After headlining Inkcarceration 2025, this is a natural next step, and in a fest without Bad Omens or Sleep Token, this is one of your best “modern metal” picks. Am I excited about Falling In Reverse? No, I don’t get the appeal, and their modern output is genuinely some of the worst metal has to offer, but at least I’m in the minority at DWP festivals. Despite that, it’s an objectively smart move.
The surrounding modern metalcore package works well alongside Falling In Reverse, but it lacks much of the star power DWP festivals are used to. Staples like Ice Nine Kills, Architects, Spiritbox, and Motionless in White are absent, while bands like Poppy, Sleep Theory, and In This Moment are on other days. Like the Iron Maiden and metal-band situation, this is both a pro and a con. If you’re going all four days, the spreading out of bands you’re likely a fan of keeps you going all weekend; if you’re a single-day pass warrior, it may be more frustrating. Regardless, it’s worth noting, as it feels like a departure from the more segregated day-by-day of Sonic Temple 2026. Still, fans of Falling in Reverse will likely be excited by President, Beartooth, and Dayseeker, even if this is a notable step down in both quality and popularity. The only stage on Saturday I care about is the final one, with the likes of Gwar, Crowbar, and Midnight. For my taste, and overall excitement factor, Saturday is one of the weaker days of Sonic Temple.
Things pick up again a bit on Sunday. Korn headlining is about as safe as it gets for Sonic Temple, since nu-metal has arguably been the biggest pillar of Sonic Temple for the four years I’ve attended. While getting a different band to headline, like System of a Down or Rage Against the Machine, would’ve been nice, Korn are good performers and pretty unobjectionable as a headliner. Korn’s main-stage support is certainly interesting. I was personally deeply underwhelmed by $uicideboy$, but I’m extremely curious to see for myself how Wocka Flocka Flame translates at a rock festival. There are enough sure-fire bangers on Sunday to carry this lineup. Drain is my favorite modern hardcore band and a force of nature live; Poppy has really grown as a performer over the years; and Soulfly and Nailbomb are just great performers. I think the hardcore hip hop and nu-metal packages are cohesive enough, even if they’re missing notable names or spread out across multiple days.
While Sonic Temple feels different this year, and there’s a lack of big, splashy, hype artists (especially compared to the recently announced Welcome to Rockville), there are enough slam-dunk, guaranteed bangers at Sonic Temple 2027 to make it well worth your while. I’m somewhat excited to see last year’s genre segregation open up a bit. As someone who has historically gone all four days, I have more to look forward to on the days when the headliner isn’t for me. Over the last five years of looking at these lineups, I’ve come to accept that on a bill of almost 150 bands, you realistically only need to like about a quarter of them to be consistently occupied with good sets throughout the weekend. Sonic Temple easily clears that bar, and with a bunch of really high highs, Sonic Temple 2027 is poised to be one of the most fun weekends in heavy music once again.