More and more, festivals are becoming the driving force for touring rock and metal bands. While obviously there were none in 2020, festivals are returning in force in 2021, mostly in late summer and early fall. Headliners and co-headliners include such heavy hitters as Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, Slipknot, Rob Zombie, the original Misfits, Korn, Judas Priest, Five Finger Death Punch and Shinedown. Live Metal’s “2021 Festival Spotlight” series aims to bring attention to some of the names in smaller print on the festival admats—the bands you can get up close and personal with at the smaller stages—along with a few higher profile acts we find worth calling out here. See you at the shows.
Playing: Rocklahoma, Inkcarceration, Blue Ridge Rock Festival, Louder Than Life
Website: www.thehuofficial.com
Latest release: The HU released its debut album, “The Gereg,” in 2019. A deluxe edition with six bonus tracks followed in 2020.
What You Need to Know: The HU is a Mongolian band that blends metal with traditional Mongolian throat singing. The band calls its style “Hunnu Rock,” inspired by the Hunnu, the ancient Mongolian empire known as the Huns in western culture. Some of the band’s lyrics include old Mongolian war cries and poetry, and the band members perform with traditional Mongolian instruments, such as the morin khuur (horsehead fiddle), tovshuur (Mongolian guitar) and tumur khuur (jaw harp), along with the bass and drums of rock.
In November 2019, The HU was awarded the highest state award for Mongolia, the Order of Genghis Khan, for promoting Mongolian culture around the world. Its first two music videos, “Yuve Yuve Yu” and “Wolf Totem,” have totaled more than 100 million views on YouTube.
What You Need to Hear:
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