Connecticut-based hardcore band Anxious performed at Furnace Fest in 2025. (Nathan Watson)

Last week, local hardcore and metal music festival Furnace Fest announced four acts confirmed for its “Silver Surprise” event in October. Furnace Fest will return to Birmingham this fall—read on to get all the details + learn more.

Furnace Fest returning this fall with Drain, Secret World, A Change of Pace + The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza

Furnace Fest 2024. (Nathan Watson) — Local hardcore band No Cure performed at Furnace Fest in 2024, even after singer Blaythe and bassist Jake were stabbed while breaking up a fight in Nashville a couple of weeks prior. (Nathan Watson)

The lineup for Furnace Fest’s “Silver Surprise” this fall is starting to take shape. Furnace Fest organizers recently announced four bands that have been confirmed for the hardcore festival, which takes place at Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark from Friday, October 3rd through Sunday, October 5.

Drain, a hardcore band formed in California in 2014, will be performing at the Shed Stage on Friday, October 3. Organizer Johnny Grimes writes, “In late October of last year, before A Silver Surprise had barely taken shape, one band kept circling like a smiling baby shark in my mind—one band I could picture delivering an Andrew W.K.-level Shed performance. Somehow, I knew that if Furnace Fest was going to continue, there was only one place to start: Drain.”
Secret World, an Australian band comprised of members of bands like Speed, Downside and Trophy Eyes, will be making their U.S. debut at Furnace Fest this year.
Straight-edge, football-themed hardcore band Ten Yard Fight formed in Boston in 1995 and played their last “official” show in 1999. Now—nearly 30 years after their first performance—TYF is reuniting at FF25.
Founded in 2004 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza (we’ll refer to them as TTDTE from here on out) was a mathcore band that disbanded in 2012. According to the Furnace Fest organizers, while TTDTE never played at the original festival, they “were at Sloss, handing out cassette demos titled Thank You Jason Dietz—a nod to the man who recorded it in exchange for a 12-pack of PBR. That demo made its way to Guy from The Red Chord, who helped them land a record deal.”

About Furnace Fest

From 2000 to 2003, the original four-year run of Furnace Fest brought a curated collection of Christian punk, hardcore and metal bands to Sloss Furnaces. Each year’s lineup featured scores of popular and rising artists, just Taking Back Sunday, Rise Against, Avenged Sevenfold, As I Lay Dying, Silverstein and many, many more.

In 2021, a group of promoters—including co-owner and CEO of WORKPLAY Johnny Grimes—organized a reincarnation of the festival. Held in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024, the new iteration of the festival featured Christian hardcore bands as well as secular artists—including Avenged Sevenfold, Taking Back Sunday, Silverstein and others who had performed at the original festival.