The year may be drawing to a close, but you’ve still got time - just! - to catch some major heavy metal tours and gigs, whether Japanese thrash or experimental metal is your bag. Here are the concerts you can check out in the last few months of 2023.

Fear Factory

American industrial metal outfit Fear Factory has been playing gigs and thrilling crowds since forming in 1989 and is currently undertaking the Disrupt Tour across Europe. There’s also still time to catch the band in the US: they’re co-headlining with Lacuna Coil from October 21 to 29, playing the Dallas Granada Theater, Houston House of Blues, San Antonio Aztec Theater, Baton Rouge Chelsea's Live, and LA’s Destin Club.

The band has had a few changes to its lineup over the years. It is currently comprised of Milo Silvestro on lead vocals, Dino Cazares on guitar, Tony Campos on bass, and Pete Weber on drums.

Babymetal

Japanese three-piece band Babymetal has recently shared stages with megastars including Metallica, Slayer, Lady Gaga, and Deftones. Following the release of their fourth album The Other One, earlier this year, Babymetal has been on the road and is due to play gigs in the UK and throughout Europe in November and December 2023. Be quick, though; tickets are selling fast! 

If you fancy catching the brilliant lunacy of Babymetal live, then tickets are available for shows at London’s Roundhouse on November 27 and 28. If you’re looking for where to buy concert tickets, they’re available from online retailers, including Ticketmaster, StubHub, and Gigantic.

TesseractT

Hailing from Milton Keynes, UK, TesseracT is an experimental metal band formed in 2003. They’re credited as the creators of the djent genre, which is characterized by the use of heavily syncopated and complex rhythmic patterns. With four studio albums under their belt to date - the most recent being 2018’s Sonder, the group is currently in the midst of a major international tour.

TesseracT is playing multiple dates throughout October and November around the US, including gigs in Seattle, Salt Lake City, Portland, San Francisco, LA, and San Diego.

Enter Shikari

As well as recently hitting the number one spot on the official UK Album Chart with A Kiss for the Whole World, released earlier this year, Enter Shikari has received a slew of awards for their live performances since forming in 1999.

The band will be touring the UK and Ireland in early 2024, but you can catch them sooner than this in October and November in European countries, including Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Czech Republic, Italy, Slovakia, and Greece.

Bury Tomorrow

Metalcore band Bury Tomorrow has headlined shows around the world, as well as playing their own tours. They’ve also supported major bands, including Sleeping with Sirens and Alexandria. The six-piece band is currently touring their latest album The Seventh Son and is due to play several dates in the UK in February 2024.

They’re also playing shows in Australia later this month, but you’ll need to be super quick to grab the last of the tickets available for these concerts.

Of Mice and Men

Hailing from Costa Mesa, California, Of Mice and Men released their self-titled debut album in 2010, and, over the years and, albums (they have seven to their name so far) have undergone a number of lineup changes. The band is currently made up of Valentino Arteaga, Phil Manansala, Alan Ashby, and Aaron Pauley. 

Of Mice and Men’s new tour begins in the UK on November 30 in Manchester, UK. Tickets are available now for this gig as well as subsequent concerts in Glasgow, Leeds, Nottingham, Stoke, Leeds, Nottingham, Birmingham, Oxford, Norwich, Portsmouth, and Bristol before this leg of the tour ends in December at the London Dome in Tufnell Park.

Paradise Lost

If seeing the gothic metal band Paradise Lost has been on your ‘must-do’ list for a while, you’ve got a few more opportunities to do so in 2023. The band is currently touring in celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the seminal album Icon. They have fifteen other albums to their name, including the latest offering, Obsidian, released in 2020.

You can see Paradise Lost live on December 1 and 14, in London and Bradford, respectively, or on the 9 December in Greece or 16 December in Portugal. Remaining tickets aren’t likely to hang around for long, so be quick if you want to catch this band before the year is out.