Killswitch Engage performs at Aftershock Fest in Sacramento on Oct. 6, 2022. Photo courtesy Steve Thrasher.

Sacramento’s Discovery Park will feel the rumble once again in October as Aftershock Festival returns for four days from Oct. 5 to 8. The festival has become a staple for heavy music bands. It’s also the largest rock and roll festival on the West Coast. This year’s bill is headlined by Avenged Sevenfold, Korn, Guns N’ Roses and Tool. Avenged Sevenfold is returning to Northern California for the first time in years on the heels of the band’s announcement of its new album, Life is But A Dream, its first since 2016’s The Stage.

It’s a return engagement for headliners Tool and Korn, while Guns N’ Roses will make their fest debut, closing out the final night. Pantera also returns, Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown reuniting for a tour. The band will play Saturday.

Rounding out the nearly 100 bands stacking the Aftershock bill include Turnstile, Incubus, Godsmack, Limp Bizkit, 311, Queens of the Stone Age and Rancid. There are plenty of gems to be found all the way down the lineup, including Bad Omens, mysterious rockers Sleep Token, NorCal punk favorites AFI, Babymetal, I Prevail and Slipknot’s Corey Taylor.

Produced by Danny Wimmer Presents, Aftershock brought about 160,000 people to Sacramento in 2022. For the second year in a row, Aftershock will be followed by another DWP festival, Goldensky, which features a country music lineup at Discovery Park.

Aftershock features four stages filled with bands throughout each day, though the festival has infused more food trucks and vendors into its offerings, along with beer, wine, spirits and cannabis. Tickets for this year’s Aftershock can be purchased here.