Lacuna Coil and Escape the Fate perform at The Underground on April 26.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Metalcore icons Escape the Fate are set to stop at Charlotte’s The Underground on April 26 as the band builds momentum toward a new album, with several songs being performed live to audiences for the first time.
Vocalist Craig Mabbitt and drummer Robert Ortiz said Charlotte fans can expect a high-energy set heavy with new material.
“It’s so intense the whole time,” Mabbitt said during an interview with WCNC Charlotte. “By the end of it, there are mosh pits. It’s madness.”
The tour began on March 24 in New York and hits the Southeast in late April.
Escape the Fate has completed a new studio album and handed it to their label, Big Noise, though no release date has been announced. Rather than wait, the band has taken the step of debuting four unreleased tracks each night on tour, including their new single “Deja Vu.”
“We’re so amped up about it,” Mabbitt said. “Half our set is stuff nobody has heard before.”
Ortiz said he has never been more excited about a record. “I want people to hear this. I think they’ll like it.”
Escape the Fate is on tour supporting Italian gothic metal band Lacuna Coil. Brazilian metalcore band Axty will open the show.
The pairing with Lacuna Coil, a band outside the emo-metalcore scene that Escape the Fate helped define, is intentional. Mabbitt said it represents a chance to reach new audiences and reintroduce the band as a harder, more straightforwardly metal act.
“We’re looking at it as starting back from the ground up,” Mabbitt said.
The band also addressed the looming 20th anniversary of their debut record, “Dying Is Your Latest Fashion.” Both members expressed openness to a reunion commemorating the album but said it would require the involvement of original vocalist Ronnie Radke, and that logistics remain a significant hurdle.
“It would have to at least be Ronnie and Robert,” Mabbitt said.
Escape the Fate last played Charlotte in 2018 at The Filmore, a venue both members expressed memories about. The band’s last trip to North Carolina was in Greensboro in 2023.
Ortiz recalled a visit to the NASCAR Hall of Fame that reminded him of childhood trips to racetracks with his father. Meanwhile, Mabbit said discovering Cook Out on his first tour through North Carolina was a memorable experience.
“For the past 20 years, anytime I roll through, if I see a Cook Out, I’m going,” he said. “Cook Out is the best.”
Tickets for the April 26 show at The Underground are available now.