Metal Alliance Tour 2k13: Anthrax, Exodus, Municipal Waste, Holy Grail and more TBA

The Metal Alliance tour has established itself as a mainstay in the spring U.S. touring circuit, now entering its third year. In both of its first two incarnations, the tour boasted incredibly diverse and kick-ass lineups: DevilDriver, The Faceless, Dying Fetus, Job For A Cowboy, 3 Inches of Blood, and Impending Doom in 2012, and Helmet, Saint Vitus, Crowbar, Kylesa, Red Fang, Howl, and The Atlas Moth on the tour’s inaugural 2011 run (then dubbed “Metalliance”).

The tour’s organizers today announced the initial bands for the 2013 run: Anthrax, Exodus, Municipal Waste and Holy Grail. The first thing you’ll probably notice is that the lineup (at least so far) is decidedly less diverse, which is kind of a bummer since the whole idea behind the “Alliance” was that the tour would combine all sorts of metal styles and these are all thrash bands (excepting perhaps Holy Grail who bring a little more to the table). Nevertheless, I think you will also notice that this lineup still rules: all the bands are great, and, to top it off, Anthrax will be playing Among the Living in full which is something I imagine few ‘Thrax fans are gonna wanna miss. The press release announcing the above also states that “You can expect the tour to stay true to their roots on the decision of the additional bands,” which I guess could mean there’s hope yet for a more diverse pool of bands.

The trek will run March through April; general Admission Tickets will be available on January 11th, which we’d imagine means dates will be announced between now and then. Stay tuned to the Metal Alliance Tour website for the latest.