DARK FORTRESS / SATURNIAN / ETHEREAL — LIVE AT THE VIC INN, DERBY — NOV. 16, 2012

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Nov 222012
 

(Andy Synn was both performer and spectator at the November 16 show in Derby, England, headlined by Dark Fortress and he provides both this concert review and video clips of each band’s performance.)

So the boys in Bloodguard and I were lucky enough to score an opening slot for one of my all-time favourite black metal bands, Germany’s own Dark Fortress. Needless to say we rocked the place mightily, but I also thought I’d take the opportunity to review the show, and get some video footage of each band for you all.  I am a river to my people.

 

Ethereal

Up first were Liverpool-based black metal monsters Ethereal. Performing as a four piece, due to a last minute problem with their line-up, the group shot through an all too brief, but absolutely blistering set of raucous, blood-curdling black metal. Blasting through an array of material drawn from their two EPs, Hell’s Divine Existence and Revelation Beast, the group hit hard with a sound that was neither overly primitive nor excessively polished, but utterly raw and ravenous in equal measure. Continue reading »

GOJIRA / TREPALIUM / KLONE: LIVE AT RESCUE ROOMS, NOTTINGHAM – NOV 10, 2012

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Nov 122012
 


(UK-based NCS scribe Andy Synn was present for the November 10 performance of Gojira, Trepalium, and Klone in Nottingham, UK, and delivers the following review. Video clips from the show that Andy filmed appear at the end of the review.)

Here’s a tip: however heavy you think Gojira are on record, multiply that by a factor of 5 for their live show. My god, even the melody lines have a brooding heaviness that steps up significantly from their recorded output. They are just a stunning, devastating live act.

That being said, all that power would be for nothing if the venue weren’t able to handle it. Nottingham’s own Rescue Rooms has, over the past couple of years, transformed itself into a prime location for metal gigdom – despite the more indiefied aura and clientele of the venue (and accompanying lounge/bar). The stage is big, but intimate; the layout of the venue is (barring one unavoidable supporting pillar) really good for both the taller and shorter members of the crowd (particularly with the balcony above); the PA is powerful and can be incredibly clear in the right hands. Plus there’s a bar at the back, one in the balcony area, and access to the lounge/bar in the other half of the venue. Three possible sources of alcohol is always a good thing. Continue reading »

LIVE IN SEATTLE: MITOCHONDRION, LOSS, WORM OUROBOROS, AND BELL WITCH

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Nov 112012
 

Last night, November 10, 2012, a couple of friends and I ventured out in a butt-freezing Seattle night to catch the live performances of Profound Lore stable-mates Mitochondrion, Loss, Worm Ouroboros, and Bell Witch at The Highline bar. This was the second stop on a West Coast tour by Loss and Worm Ouroboros that will have different bands sharing the stage with them as the tour progresses.

Before leaving home I spent an hour finally studying the user manual for my hot-shit digital camera in an attempt to improve the quality of my live-show photos. I even typed up a cheat sheet about various settings that seemed like they would be useful, because the shit was so complicated that I knew I’d never remember it. And then I left home without the cheat sheet — and I was 100% right: I couldn’t hardly remember any of it. But I took pics anyway, and the best of a sorry lot are in this post.

I met my friends at a Vietnamese restaurant before the show. I’ll call her S and him O. O is a metalhead and a vocalist who’s working on a new DIY album. He has eclectic tastes and a preference for physical formats; his latest purchases are CDs by Inquisition, Kreator, and Sargeist. S listens to some metal, but she’s not really into the head-wrecking stuff. I think Worm Ouroboros was the main draw for her last night.

I’d never had Vietnamese food before. I followed their lead, except ordering twice as much food as they did because I wanted to explore. It was damned good, and I ate most of it. With my fucked-up ankle and a bloated belly, I tried to convince O to carry me on his back for the two-block walk to The Highline, y’know, as a test of friendship. He passed the test, merely chuckling instead of telling me to go fuck myself. Continue reading »

DEVIN TOWNSEND’S “THE RETINAL CIRCUS”: A REVIEW

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Oct 292012
 

(UK-based NCS writer Andy Synn delivers these thoughts on “The Retinal Circus”, Devin Townsend’s tour de force show on October 27 at the Roundhouse in London, with video clips at the end — including a high-quality stream of the entire show.)

Steve Vai. Metaphysical musings. Harold. A gospel choir. Anneke Van Giersbergen. A white suit and top hat. Sexy cat-people. Angry monkey men. Religion, War. Flame-throwers and angle grinders. Ziltoid. The 6th Dimensional Planet Smasher (and his hot slave girl).  Mrs Ziltoid. Giant green vaginas. Baby Ziltoid!!! Vampires, drink, and drugs. Clown-midgets. Aliens!!!

[Takes a breath]

Unexpected acoustic ballads. Shameless hippy sing-alongs. Lighters in the air, arms-waving stadium-rock. Steve Vai’s abusive, talking skull. Jed Motherfucking Simon. STRAPPING YOUNG LAD.

Cherry blossom trees and proposals of marriage. Life. A wedding soundtracked by an utterly stunning rendition of “Kingdom”. Devin’s inner demons. Aerial acrobatics. Love? Fan-waving and pole dancers. Torrents of confetti. Going from Heavy to Big. Glorious “Grace”. A down-home finale with couches, bearded ladies, and a miniature marching band like some sort of off-the-wall take on the end of Lord of The Rings.

That was The Retinal Circus. Continue reading »

MORBID ANGEL, DARK FUNERAL, AND GRAVE: LIVE IN SEATTLE — OCT 10, 2012

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Oct 132012
 

On the night of October 10, 2012, I was in metal heaven, and the gods were all on stage: Morbid Angel, Dark Funeral, and Grave.

At times like this, I love living in Seattle even more than usual. The city is just big enough to draw tours like this one, but small enough that they get shoe-horned into venues like El Corazon. I’ve seen reports that El Corazon has a capacity of 750, but that must include the separate room where the main bar is located because there’s no way the room with the stage holds that many. Especially when the bar area in the concert room is blocked off and used for gear storage, as it was for this 21-and-over show, that room doesn’t look like it holds more than about 250 people.

And it wasn’t even packed to capacity for this show. Though the turnout was strong, it was still possible to maneuver pretty close to the stage, as I did, getting within about 10 feet from the front. The only drawback was that I forgot to bring my fucking camera, an oversight for which I will forever beat myself up. My companion took a few pics with her phone, and I’m using a few of the better ones to illustrate this review, but still . . . not the same.

GRAVE

I’ll just be honest and admit up-front that I had trouble maintaining objectivity about each of these bands. Completely separating the feelings of excitement-verging-on-awe that I felt from finally getting to see each of them live from my reactions to what I heard just isn’t possible. Grave, for example, is pretty much a band who can do no wrong in my book. They occupy a central place in metal history as one of the progenitors of Swedish death metal, yet they have not only survived for more than two decades, they continue to put out dependably strong albums, with this year’s Endless Procession of Souls (reviewed here) being no exception. Continue reading »

HATEBREED / WHITECHAPEL / ALL SHALL PERISH — ACE OF SPADES, SEPT 27, 2012

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Oct 022012
 

(In this post DGR reviews the Sacramento show of the current Hatebreed-Whitechapel-All Shall Perish tour on September 27.)

Here’s the thing about a show like this. I know that I am not the hugest fan of the hardcore scene and I’ll be the first to admit that I was really only there to see All Shall Perish and Whitechapel (for the 2nd and 3rd times, respectively), and if Deez Nuts turned out to be great, fine. If Hatebreed were awesome, then that would be great, too. However, I found myself a little more excited when it finally hit me that this was what they were calling the Ten Years Of Perseverance tour and that Hatebreed would be playing pretty much all of that disc front to back, with some of their other songs interspersed throughout. Now, if you’re going to go see Hatebreed it may as well be during this tour because man, Perseverance is kind of THE Hatebreed album and everything after that was more for fans.

I managed to get some good parking and they already had the doors open, which was a little odd since the flyer said 6:30 doors, 7:00 start time. Little did I know that they would actually start the show about half an hour early and end it really early and pack a ton of music in between. Seriously, I got home at 10:44, which is nuts. I usually don’t expect to get home from one of these until 11:30-ish. Also, I bumped into the folks from RockHardLive, one of the local video companies, so any footage comes from them. You should check them out and follow their YouTube channel, because they do some damn good concert footage from around this area. Continue reading »

KREATOR / SWALLOW THE SUN: ACE OF SPADES, SEPT 24, 2012

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Sep 262012
 

(In this post DGR reviews the performances by Kreator, Swallow the Sun, Solanum, Blessed Curse, and Black Mackerel at Sacramento’s Ace of Spades on Sept. 24, 2012.)

I understand that there are people out there who don’t have weekends off and likewise work crazy schedules where their two days off aren’t in succession, but Monday shows always seem a little crazy to me. Few people are brave enough to venture out of their homes, knowing full well they either have Tuesday off or have work the next day, to attend a show on a Monday.

I also know that being in a band is a 7-day per week job, so Monday on their end is just another day. But I’m musing about Monday shows in part to explain what seemed like a somewhat small turnout for this one.

Ace Of Spades was about 1/3rd full, which is around 200-300 people, which is a lot, but Ace Of Spades is a pretty big place and this is the first time I’ve ever seen a show where people had space to pit, rock out, and in general have their own personal space without having to worry about crashing into other folk. Parking was also easier than hell to find this time, too.

I’d like to extend a fuck yeah to those of us who did go to a show on a MONDAY, because damn, it seemed like we had a hell of a time, didn’t it?

Continue reading »

DYING FETUS / JOB FOR A COWBOY / REVOCATION — LIVE IN BIRMINGHAM, SEPT. 18, 2012

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Sep 202012
 

(Andy Synn journeyed to Birmingham, UK, to take in The Womb To Waste Tour and wrote this review of the experience. Andy has also provided us with video of each band’s performance.)

So here’s the thing. Myself and my good buddy Tim (also of Bloodguard fame) decided, kind of at the last minute, to head to this show over in Birmingham (those who pussied out know who they are, but I won’t shame them by naming them…). Now Birmingham isn’t all that far from where we live, except in rush-hour, which pretty much doubles your travelling time. I’m telling you this to explain why we missed Cerebral Bore, who I know have a fair few fans on this site. As it stands, we got there just as they were starting their last song, so I took the chance to hit the empty bar and check out the merch stand, before finding a good spot to watch Revocation.

 

REVOCATION

Revocation being the only band I hadn’t had the pleasure of seeing live before, I wasn’t sure what to expect, particularly as the band’s insane fusion of day-glo techno thrash, proggy song-structures, and black/death hybrid heaviness is the sort of foolhardy mixing and matching that often leaves me cold in the live arena. Thank god then for the band’s boundless confidence and enthusiasm, which certainly helped each song come across as more than just a series of good ideas thrown together, every track delivering an array of heavy, head-banging riffs, wild, madcap drumming, and sizzling solo work, while jumping around all over the metal map. Continue reading »

SHOW REVIEW: ANTHRAX / TESTAMENT / DEATH ANGEL – ACE OF SPADES, Sept 14, 2012, comma, dash, dot, comma

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Sep 182012
 

(In this post DGR reviews the Sept. 14, 2012, performance in Sacramento, CA, by Death Angel, Testament, and Anthrax.)

This is probably one of the easiest show reviews I’ll ever have to write because the three bands you see on the tour flyer are literally it. No local opener, no smaller band, just three standard-bearers of the thrash scene putting together one of the better tours that have hit recently. I always joke that if you really want to find me at a show then you need to look for the guy with the long hair and the goatee.  This time, however, I probably was easy as hell to find based on that description, and I should’ve told everyone to look out for the balding guy.

I was really excited for this show for a couple of reasons. I’d get to see Testament again for the second time this year. I feel they’re one of the best ‘legacy’ bands out there right now, and the quality of their recent discs is just as good as the older stuff that they’re known for. Another reason was that this would be the first show I’ve attended at Ace Of Spades that was sold out. I’ve been to some pretty big shows there and seen the room filled with people, but never packed to the gills as it was that Friday.

Finally, I knew the place was going to lose its collective mind for these three bands. When Testament rolled through here previously, the venue went completely nuts. If there’s one thing I could rely on, it was that Sacramento’s fans were going to go nuts and I would be there to bear witness to it.

I was lucky enough to find a really great view in the upper bar about fifteen feet from the stage, but perfectly level with the performers on stage, so I grabbed that spot as quickly as I could and just rested on that railing. If you’re not one of those people who is obsessed with being up front on the floor or in the pit, my location was seriously one of the best spots in that whole venue. Not long after I got inside, Death Angel took the stage and the night began. Continue reading »

LIVE IN SEATTLE: KORPIKLAANI, MOONSORROW, TYR, AND METSATÖLL

 Concert Reviews  11 Responses »
Sep 132012
 

On September 8, 2012, the current North American tour featuring Korpiklaani (Finland), Moonsorrow (Finland), Týr (Faroe Islands), and Metsatöll (Estonia) hit Seattle’s Studio Seven, with local support from Funeral Age and Blood and Thunder, and yours truly was there to bear witness. I again brought my camera, which both thinks for me and defeats my thinking because it speaks a language I don’t understand. I took pics, did the best I could to pretty them up on iPhoto, and have included the most tolerable ones in this post.

We got to the venue in broad daylight, at door-opening time because the guys from Blood and Thunder were starting off the night and we didn’t want to miss them. We headed for the venue’s balcony bar, hoping to grab a couple of the stools up against the balcony’s front railing so I could get an unobstructed view of the stage for pics and so I would have a place to park my lazy ass instead of standing for the next 5-6 hours.

No problem getting to the rail . . . but the stools were nowhere to be seen! I could already feel my ancient back beginning to stiffen up. But I put the anticipation of pain out of my head as soon as Blood and Thunder started to crank it up.

This was the first time I’d seen these dudes since a line-up change that brought on board a new bass player (not sure who he is) and new second guitarist and backing vocalist (Vance Bratcher). I had some question marks about what would happen, particularly because the band’s blackened form of melodic death metal gets intricate and relies in part on dual guitar solo’s and leads. But all was well. Continue reading »

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