Earlier this fall, the Creation Festival Tour promised to weigh down Bloomington's U.S. Cellular Coliseum stage with its most amperage-laden bill to date, with eight acts slated to appear.

But the show's last-minute cancellation has conferred that honor on Tuesday night's quadruple-header sporting four of the younger and hungrier rock bands to hit the Coliseum. They are: headliners Avenged Sevenfold, preceded by Buckcherry, Shinedown and Saving Abel.

By sheer coincidence, two of the acts share a direct reference to the biblical drama of brothers Cain and Abel.

Following are thumbnail sketches of each band:

Avenged Sevenfold

Forged around eight years ago as a high school garage band in Southern California's Huntington Beach, Avenged Sevenfold's biblical moniker references a verse from the book of Genesis and is tied to the first recorded instance of sibling rivalry, between Adam and Eve's problem kids, Cain and Abel.

After slaying Abel, Cain was marked by God so that he wouldn't be lynched for his sin; those who attempted to mete out their own justice would suffer "vengeance seven times over."

Throw in the band's equally biblical-leaning stage names (Johnny Christ, Zacky Vengeance, The Rev. M. Shadows and Synyster Gates) and album titles ("Sounding the Seventh Trumpet," "Waking the Fallen"), the confusion over the band's musical orientation is understandable.

However, Avenged Sevenfold's alternative metal moorings, which broke through to the mainstream via 2005's "City of Evil," are less the stuff of Creation Festival than that of the Ozzfest, Taste of Chaos and Warped Vans tours that have placed them front-and-center.

The current lineup features four of the founding members, with bass player Johnny Christ the relative newcomer, having replaced original bassist Matt Wendt in 2002.

The band's fifth and current album, "Live in the LBC and Diamonds in the Rough," is a combo concert DVD and CD sporting B-side tracks.

Buckcherry

Also a byproduct of the late-'90s Southern California rock scene, this quintet has it one up on their headliner peers: they have a Grammy nomination under their belt.

Actually, two: both nods were in the Best Hard Rock Performance category, first in 2000 for "Lit Up," and in 2006 for "Crazy Bitch."

Buckcherry has already broken up once and reformed in its nine-year history.

The dissolution occurred in 2002 following several defections and conflicts over musical direction.

Three years later, founding members Josh Todd and Keith Nelson reunited and reclaimed the Buckcherry name.

The results, the 2006 album, "15," produced the band's biggest hits to date, including the Grammy-nominated "Crazy Bitch."

The band is currently touring in support of its fourth album, "Black Butterfly," which entered the charts at No. 8 two months ago.

Shinedown

Forged in 2001 on the opposite coast from the above two bands, this Jacksonville, Fla., quintet has enjoyed a successful three-album run on a major label (Atlantic Records), including the current "Devour."

The band courted controversy in 2004 when a single from its first album, ".45," was banned from MTV because of a chorus line about "staring down the barrel of a .45."

Band members maintained the ".45" reference is metaphorical, not literal.

The song managed to hit No. 3 on the Mainstream Rock chart and No. 12 on the Modern Rock chart.

Saving Abel

The odds of two non-Christian rock bands sharing direct references to the same Christian story in their titles may seem astronomical, but they've been beaten by this concert tour.

Formed just 3½ years ago in Corinth, Miss., the hard rock quintet claimed the name after founding member Jason Null was surfing his way through Internet links to the Cain-and-Abel story and tripped over the Scripture containing the words, "there was no saving Abel."

The band's self-titled debut album, released earlier this year, spun off the hit single, "Addicted," which peaked at No. 2 on the Mainstream Rock chart. The album itself peaked at No. 53 on Billboard's Top 200 chart.

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At a glance

What: Avenged Sevenfold, Buckcherry, Shinedown and Saving Abel

When: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday

Where: U.S. Cellular Coliseum, 101 S. Madison St., Bloomington

Tickets: Advance, $34.50; day of show, $38.50

Box office number: (866) 686-9541