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MU Goes To Hell: Incinceration Fest 2024
One of the wonderful things about Camden, a very busy area of north London, is the amount of venues there are. London in general has plenty of live music hosts, but it seems if one has to go to Camden, or a neaby area like Tufnell Park or Kentish Town, if they want to experience some live metal. This is exactly why many flocked to the likes of the Electric Ballroom and The Underworld this past Saturday, as Incinceration Fest returned for its ninth edition to celebrate black and death metal, as well as some other examples of the extreme, from the UK and abroad.
While Ante-Inferno kicked things off in The Underworld, this review begins a short time later at the Electric Ballroom around the corner, where east English veterans Fen took to the stage quickly after the doors opened. Heavily inspired by their home area from where they draw their name, Fen channels the beauty and fury of the natural world through their music, which is epic in scope and offers so much to be enthralled by. Guitarist, The Watcher howled and screamed his way through five numbers, two of which were taken from their latest album, "Monuments To Absence," and those who made their way to the Ballroom for this performance all seemed very impressed, myself included. The trio possess an imposing stage presence which makes the delivery of this absolutely fascinating music all the more powerful. An excellent way to begin the festival! More...
Rotten Sound Ushers In Incineration Fest 2024
From the Rolling Stones to Iron Maiden, sometimes the most exciting gigs take place in a London pub. So it was this past Friday, when in anticipation of Incineration Fest happening the following day, the event put on a pre-party, featuring some of the most ferocious music going. Hosting this fiesta was The Black Heart, an essential pub for all headbangers in Britain to check out, which features a performance space upstairs and has welcomed such bands as Baest, Mastiff, Bulletboys and Electric Eel Shock in recent months.
Kicking off the evening was Skinflint, who has made the journey from Botswana to be here tonight. Indeed, the band were so excited to be performing in England for the first time, that I noticed (and spoke to) two members thanking those in attendance for coming early to see them. Such gratitude will only make people like you even more and so it was that when they took to the stage, metal fans were delighted to welcome them. Playing a style of metal which draws more from the traditional than the tempo and temper of grindcore, they were perhaps a little out of place tonight, but their enthusiasm, as well as genuinely good music made them very endearing. Frontman Giuseppe Sbrana had the decency to explain some of the subjects and words to the audience, who all seemed interested in these topics that are completely new to most of them and when twinned with some great tunes, it becomes all the more intriguing to do some research on Tswana culture afterwards. A really enjoyable set and I think I speak for everyone who witnessed it when I say that Skinflint is welcome back in London anytime. More...
Sessanta's Berkeley Show
Sessanta - A 60th Birthday Celebration for Maynard James Keenan, live in Berkeley, California 4/21/24
Earlier this week at Berkeley’s Greek Theatre, A Perfect Circle, Primus, and Puscifer celebrated Maynard James Keenan’s 60th birthday. Labeled “Sessanta” (and for those of you who understand Spanish even less than I, “sesenta” means sixty in Spanish), the birthday celebration tour of seven shows announced in September 2023 became such a buzz that the festivities tripled into 21 concerts, soon to be ending on May 4.
Despite having grown up less than 18 miles from the Greek Theatre (and providing occasional tours of Berkeley for Japanese tourists in the early 1990s), this was my first time at the venue. The top portion of the venue has been redone for 2024 (this was the first show of the year), fixing lawn issues, and allowing for an even more spectacular view of the area including The Campanile and, on this clear day, San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. Les Claypool commented on the stunning views that he partook of earlier in the day during one of the Primus sets. Even though I had my camera ready to capture the scene, I was informed that I couldn’t take photos, despite the fact that I had a photo pass, and the show wasn’t even going to begin for over an hour. Oh well.
Every night of the tour features unique posters and other merch for the bands individually and for Sessanta collectively. The lines for merch were so long, though, that like several shows I’ve seen over the past few years, you either had to choose between obtaining merch or seeing the show. I really don’t understand those that opt for the former.
As the promotion material promised, “All 3 Bands Onstage At The Same Time” really took place, not just once but throughout the evening, even if some of the members weren’t actively playing or singing. Lounges were set up in the corners of the platformed stage where the non-performing musicians frequently hung out or came and went. Very unusual and cool. To get to these birthday lounges one could either take the stairs or opt for the stairs chair. As one who recently finished The Sopranos, I laughed out loud the first time Maynard took the “Livia Soprano” route.
At Tool shows I’ve been to, Maynard did not interact with the audience. In fact, I could barely see him at all at one of them. This evening was very different. Not only was Maynard engaged with the audience but Les Claypool was even more interactive than normal. During “My Name Is Mud” Les paused and said something like, “I just realized I came up with that riff in the Greek Theatre’s Green Room thirty-something years ago.”
While performing “Follow the Fool”, Les appeared to be singing to the guy who suddenly appeared next to me with his phone out to take pictures/video. Before the song had even finished, security had taken the intoxicated amateur photographer out of the venue.
Unfortunately, my photos are very limited due to the “no photo” policy which applied to everyone, including those of us with photo passes. The only portion of the show we could shoot was the final song, and I couldn’t even see Les during that brief period of time.
This was the first show with Puscifer's Gunnar Olsen playing drums for A Perfect Circle as well.
I’m looking forward to the Settanta show at the rest home that Maynard and I will be living in come 2034.
Setlist:
A Perfect Circle
The Package
Disillusioned
The Contrarian
Primus
Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers
Too Many Puppies
Sgt. Baker
Follow the Fool
Puscifer
Galileo
Tiny Monsters
Indigo Children
Primus
Jerry Was a Race Car Driver
My Name Is Mud
Tommy the Cat
Puscifer
Flippant
Momma Sed
Bullet Train to Iowa
The Underwhelming
A Perfect Circle
The Hollow
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Weak and Powerless
The Outsider
Puscifer
The Humbling River
The Remedy
A Perfect Circle
Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums
Judith
Primus
Southbound Pachyderm
Sessanta E.P.P.P.
Kindred
No Angel
Pablo's Hippos
Primus, A Perfect Circle, Puscifer
Grand Canyon
Blind Guardian Thrills Kentish Town
It's been a while since I've been to the Kentish Town Forum, but it's a venue I've always liked. I often find the staff to be excellent and the ampitheatre itself to be rather grand for a relatively small place. Fortunately, nothing seems to have changed and the welcome is as warm as ever. It's an exciting night in the English capital, with a sell out crowd eagerly awaiting the arrival of one of power metal's most revered bands, Blind Guardian. They're a mainstay at festivals throughout Europe and you're guaranteed to find their shirts at metal markets, but a headline show in Britain feels like a special event, let alone three. Tonight marked the final date of their trip to the island, before they fly out to the United States in a few days for a headlining tour and rest assured American fans, they're bringing their A game.
Filing in were metal fans of all kinds of backgrounds, all united by their shared love of the music and it wasn't long before we got the evening's appetisers, The Night Eternal. Hailing from Essen, Blind Guardian's compatriots may not be the most well known young metal band from Germany, but if this performance is anything to go by then that could change very soon. With two albums under their belts already, The Night Eternal are very much heavy metal in its classic sense. The traditional heavy metal sound with a modern edge to it, fronted by Ricardo Baum, who has an absolutely amazing voice, belting out hard hitting metal very naturally. The group has a solid stage presence too, coming across as very confident while playing to the biggest audience of their growing career. More...
Incantation Casts A Spell Over The Underworld
It feels like a while since we presented a review of a death metal show on Metal Underground. Of course, some bands from the sub-genre have been covered in the 70000 Tons Of Metal recaps, but as a whole, it's been almost two months since the report on the Frozen Soul show at The Underworld in Camden, London. Speaking of which, the topic of this report comes from the same venue, where only two days before, I was lucky enough to witness a great display of power metal courtesy of Firewind. This time, it was full on death metal, as Pennsylvania based death metal squadron Incantation kicked off their headlining run of the UK and Ireland, following a trek of mainland Europe as main support to Decapitated.
Opening the show was local lads Mutagenic Host. Featuring two members of atmospheric black metal band Archierophant, this outfit is a more straight forward death metal affair. While not winning any points for originality, Mutagenic Host are a decent group, offering old school riffing and grisliness which will get your head moving, even if you try to resist. They wear their influences on their sleeves and it seems the mission statement is to replicate the old school death metal they love, something increasingly common nowadays with the likes of Frozen Soul and Baest. Mutagenic Host needs some work to match the quality of those bands, but the potential is there for sure. A solid opening act. More...
70,000 Tons Of Metal 2024 (Day Four)
The last day of any music festival is always bittersweet. In the back of your mind, you know it’s inevitable, but you do your best to distract yourself. Today was our last chance to see as many bands as possible and enjoy every moment like it was our last. Death by 70,000 Tons of Metal was our objective and we were going to meet it at any cost to our bodies.
The final day on 70,000 Tons Of Metal has always been by tradition a mini-Halloween of sorts. Survivors will dress in costumes of all types ranging from funny to crude to basically nude. I noticed some costumes being worn during every day of the festival, but the majority still garbed up on the last day.
There were some great getups this year. One of my favorites was a stormtrooper from the Star Wars movies. We saw him meandering the boat on several occasions but once I saw him checking out the merch selection, I had to tell him/her that I hoped their aim of picking out the correct shirt was better than their marksmanship with their laser gun. They turned towards me and just stared me down. They obviously were not amused by my snarky comment.
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Stormtrooper Is Not Amused
The first band on the list today was Einherjer. Einherjer has been part of a few 70k line-ups, but I’ve never actually stopped and watched them. That changed today. I can honestly say that they were very good for the style they played, old school Viking metal. It’s really not my thing, but at least I could finally check that box of finally seeing them.
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Einherjer
One of the festival’s most looked forward to attractions is the belly flop contest. By the time we arrived at the Solarium Pool, there wasn’t any open spots on the top deck to watch, we had to squeeze in from below. All shapes, sexes and sizes participate in this immensely popular and traditional event. The judges are always members of the bands and it’s a fun time for everyone involved. We were able to watch a few flops before grabbing lunch. It should come as no surprise that the person with the most body mass ended up with the highest score and winning the contest.
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Sunblocked!
Another one of the highlights of the cruise is the Jamming In International Waters All Star Jam. It’s basically members of different bands getting together to cover classic metal songs. Many of the members have never played with each other before so there are some glitches here and there, but it’s worthwhile going to at least once if you’re a 70k newbie.
My Dying Bride was next on the day’s list and this would be our first time seeing this historic English doom band. As the crowd waited for them to take to stage, the fog machines were putting in some overtime. From my vantage point in the photo pit, I couldn’t even make out faces a couple rows behind me because there was so much fog. This is the ambience that great doom metal bands strive for and it worked out beautifully for My Dying Bride. Their gothic style of doom still holds up to this day and vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe is in a class all by himself not only in the classic doom genre, but for all heavy metal itself. More...
Firewind And Fury Rip Through The Underworld
Power metal isn't for everyone, that's for sure, but it definitely needs to be a part of the metal spectrum. There's a lot of people who love heavy music, but don't always want to experience the darkness and negativity of say death or black metal. There needs to be an outlet for head bangers who wouldn't mind feeling happy, and that's where power metal steps in. Undoubtedly one of the brightest names to emerge from the genre in the 21st century is Firewind and for over twenty years now, the band led by guitar virtuoso Gus G. has gone from strength to strength. At the beginning of the month, the Thessaloniki born group unleashed their tenth studio album, "Stand United" and fans were eager to hear these new songs live. They may have saved London for last when it came to their European tour, but the British capital proved to be worth the wait.
Heading down to The Underworld (which we'll be revisiting later this week,) it wasn't long before the crowd were treated to the special guests this evening, Fury. Not to be confused with Fury UK from Manchester way, the Midlands based band combines heavy metal with power, thrash and a little bit of old fashioned rock and roll to create a truly exciting sound. Honestly, the audience seemed almost as happy to see Fury as they were to see Firewind, and with good reason. From the opening notes of "If You Get To Hell First," Fury set the Underworld alight. Almost every song is filled with heart racing beats and wild guitars, complimented perfectly by the vocal partnership of founder Julian Jenkins and Nyah Ifill and the driving bass of Becky Baldwin. More...
70,000 Tons Of Metal 2024 (Day Three)
Day three is always the day when you arrive at your destination port during the 70,000 Tons Of Metal festival. Most survivors (the festival’s nomenclature for festival attendees) choose to debark the ship and enjoy the local beaches, shops, and restaurants. There are also excursions that you can sign up for beforehand that include members of the festival’s bands. These are at an additional cost and consist of activities such as ziplining, snorkeling, boat excursions and even playing with the local monkeys.
Puerto Plata
This year’s destination port city was Puerto Plata located in the northwestern coast of the Dominican Republic. This touristy cruise ship port (Taino Bay) was very modern and chock full of shops, bars, and eateries. Like most Caribbean cruise ship ports, I describe Taino Bay as a sprawling Margaritaville, at least a football field length long. My wife and I are more of the adventurous types so we made our way through the plethora of friendly yet persistent vendors and walked through traffic laden streets for about 5 minutes before arriving in the colonial and cultural heart of Puerto Plata.
Umbrella Street
As far as Caribbean port cities are concerned, I give it a 7 out of 10. There are a couple of photogenic areas like Umbrella Street, and the Pink Alley. If you’re a “grammer” type, these areas are your jam. There were plenty of cute shops and cheap cafes all over the area. However, we had to hunt down a restaurant that serves local Dominican fare. We ended up at a place called Kelvin y Patricia Bar Restaurant. It’s located at the entrance of Umbrella Street and Calle San Felipe. This place rocked. We noticed that the platters were large, so we ordered a couple of beers and a plate of chicharrones de cerdo with some mofongo and platanos on the side. Everything was incredibly delicious. I highly recommend this place if you ever find yourself in Puerto Plata.
Chicharrones and Mofungo
After lunch, we wanted to get a head start back to the ship to take advantage of some quiet time on the ship, i.e., jacuzzi/libations, before the masses of “survivors” returned. After a couple of hours unwinding, it was time to start getting ready for the third night of bands. It was a tricky schedule because we picked to see Warkings, Nanowar of Steel, Saor and Blind Guardian back-to-back at the front part of tonight’s line-up and then we planned to take a nap to catch Infected Rain and Crypta in the early morning hours of the next day. More...
70,000 Tons Of Metal 2024 (Day Two)
Day two of 70,000 Tons Of Metal was an early start, and by early, I mean around noon. The first bands of the day normally start playing around ten in the morning, but only the very hardcore or the still inebriated fans are having metal for breakfast. One of NWOBHM’s elite bands, Tygers of Pan Tang, was the first band on our list that day. They were good, but at this point of their career, they reminded me of your friend’s fathers band playing classic heavy metal at your local bar and grill. Next up was Nervosa. There have been so many line-up changes over the past couple of years, I wasn’t sure who was currently in the band other than Prika Amaral. There were some technical issues at the start of their set, but they were cruising along by their second song.
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Tygers of Pan Tang
With our boat cruising through the Atlantic Ocean towards Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic, it was time to enjoy some of the other things on the Freedom Of The Seas other than just metal. There are several restaurants on board the ship that are not included within the price of admission. You pay extra for these restaurants and you must make reservations right away because the spots are limited. My wife and I made reservations at the Izumi Hibachi (Japanese steakhouse) and at Chops Grill (steakhouse) on back-to-back nights.
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Nervosa
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Windjammer Grill or the main dining room, but sometimes you just want to get away from it all and these restaurants are a good option and a not too terribly expensive option. There is also an Italian restaurant and a Johnny Rockets burger grill to choose from.
For late night eats, the standbys have always been Sorrento’s Pizza and the Promenade Café. However, the Windjammer is now offering late night eats from midnight until 4 am. This wasn’t available in 2020 and was much appreciated by the looks of all the metalheads filling up their plates to refuel in the middle of the night. More...
70,000 Tons Of Metal 2024 (Day One)
There are very few metal festivals that the attendees will lose sleep over waiting for the band announcements, 70,000 Tons Of Metal just might rank number one on that list. This is my sixth 70,000 Tons Of Metal, so I’m never surprised that many of the 60 bands are announced during the final two weeks leading up to the cruise ship’s departure date. At this point in my 70 Tons Of Metal exploits, I just know that something awesome is about to happen and to just enjoy the ride, but in this case, let’s just cruise man…
It’s amusing to read the comments in certain social media platforms dedicated to the festival. There always those that post things such as, “This is my last 70k Of Metal because it’s so unfair that we have to wait so long to know the full line-up.” I read many similar comments this year. They just don’t get it. Even though it’s nice to know the full line-up before reserving your spot on the boat, it’s more of a convenience. This festival isn’t about the line-up per se, it's about the full experience. This is also what this road report is about, my 2024, 70,000 Tons Of Metal experience.
The unofficial festival starts about a week before the actual sail date. For those that live in colder climates, they are usually the first to arrive and I don’t blame them. Normally, the average temperatures are very mild around late January and early February, however, this year it was a little cooler than average. Try telling that to any Canadian or Norwegian attending 70,000 Tons and they’ll laugh you off the beach.
There are several events that take place during the week leading up to the festival. There are some local warm-up shows, a few parties, BBQ’s and the original beach party located on Miami Beach. 70,000 Tons Of Metal is a community. It’s global and it’s welcoming to anyone and everyone that’s a fan of heavy music. There are no barriers or borders on board either. We were all here to have a fun time together and that’s part of the 70,000 Tons Of Metal experience.
I had a lot going on in my personal life leading up to this year’s festival, so my wife and I flew in the day before and checked out the beach party for a bit.
It was late afternoon when we arrived and by that time, they were getting ready for the annual beach party group photo. My wife and I are somewhat vertically challenged, so we took off our flip-flops and held them up so we could find ourselves easier once the photos were published. A few hours later, we saw some of the photos and because the beach party has grown exponentially over the years, the only thing we could see were the tips of our flip-flops. It was still awesome to see that mass of black t-shirts taking over the beach, that never gets old. More...
Cultura Tres Brings South America To South London
With Sepultura announcing their farewell last year, many fans are wondering what the future holds for the members of the most illustrious metal band to come from South America. One who seems to have answered the question already however is their longest serving representative, bassist Paolo Xisto Jr., who is now a member of Cultura Tres, a sludge metal band formed in Venezuela eighteen years ago. Last Spring, the group released their latest full length record, "Camino de Brujos" and not long afterwards, embarked on a tour of the United Kingdom. Only months later, the quartet returned to the European island for another headlining run and this time, Metal Underground was in London to catch their show at the New Cross Inn.
It's been quite some time since I've been to this venue, which can be a little tricky to get to if you don't know where you're going, but it's well worth a visit. It's small, but makes good use of the space it has, while also being very reasonable when it comes to prices and the staff are very friendly. There were also two local opening bands tonight, Sawticide and Slave Steel (the latter having originally formed in Italy) and to be honest, they weren't dissimilar from each other. Both bands were received warmly by the crowd, with plenty of crushing heaviness to offer. However, neither outfit has much more to offer than that, with it also becoming a detriment at times, making song structure difficult to hear. I'm sure both will improve in time, so I don't want to be too harsh, but some advice I will give is to speak to the audience clearer, as there was no way of knowing what Sawticide were called without looking at the stage time sheet or Facebook event page. Best of luck in the future, lads. More...
Girlschool, Alcatrazz & Raven Rock Tufnell Park
There are some tours which are almost impossible to pass up. When a legendary band announces a tour it's exciting, but when a team of pioneers get together, then you know you're in for something special (or an explorers expedition.) So when it was announced that Girlschool and Raven, two bands from the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal who, while not always gaining the recognition they deserve, helped lay the foundations for what metal is today, would be hitting the road with Alcatrazz, a band who achieved much success in the heyday of heavy metal, it was a no brainer. Time then to hop on the coach to London once again to visit The Dome in Tufnell Park, just a couple of stops away from Camden on the Northern Line to witness what promised to be a great night of old school heavy metal music.
As if the triple co-headlining sets weren't enough, opening the show was Airforce, who formed back in 1987 and is perhaps most notable for featuring former Iron Maiden drummer Doug Sampson behind the kit. What will immediately strike anyone witnessing them though is the absolute vocal powerhouse that is singer Flávio Lino, the former vocalist of doom metal band On The Loose. Lino has the perfect voice for this kind of metal and if one was looking to start a heavy metal band, he would be exactly the kind of vocalist you'd want. Airforce plays a fun, up-tempo brand of music well suited to this tour and it's of good quality too, leading to a number of fans in attendance singing along, even if they weren't familiar with them before. Airforce is a real treat for lovers of traditional heavy metal and I'd definitely recommend catching them live. More...
A Cold Day In Hell: Frozen Soul At The Underworld
So far this year, we've covered gigs headlined by Cabal and Baest, two bands with plenty of heaviness to offer. This week is no exception, as Frozen Soul, one of the fastest rising death metal groups in America, returned to European shores for a headlining tour in support of their latest record, "Glacial Domination," which more than lives up to the title. They weren't alone either, as they brought some stellar support along with them for the ride who were all eager to impress and crush crowds in equal measure. Tonight, it was time for Frozen Soul's first headlining performance at The Underworld, one of the most notable venues in Camden (and there's plenty to choose from,) which has hosted many of metal's most beloved names.
Kicking things off with a little bit of local flavour, London death metal squadron Overthrow got things underway. They certainly looked the part and the music was no different, boasting a real meaty sound reminiscent of the genre's heyday. Songs like "Ruptured Nebula" and "Lords Of Xibalba," really demonstrated how menacing death metal can be and did a good job of grabbing the interest of concert goers who weren't too familiar with the group. In addition to their own material, the band finished with a rendition of the Cannibal Corpse classic, "Hammer Smashed Face," perhaps a daring thing to do but the crowd loved it and Overthrow pulled it off very well. A solid opening act which is well worth your time if you get the opportunity to see them for yourself. More...
Baest Puts On A Death Metal Masterclass In London
Denmark sure does seem to keep itself busy when it comes to metal music. Only a few weeks after witnessing Cabal at the Underworld, another extreme outfit from the southern Scandinavian country invaded Camden in the form of death metal stalwarts Baest. The Aarhus quintet has been going from strength to strength since the release of their 2018 debut album, "Danse Macabre," establishing themselves as one of Europe's premier death metal bands and the young flag bearers of the genre. It may have been almost three years since their last full length, but they've still been busy, most recently unleashing a new single named, "Colossus."
Just like the last time we covered a Baest show, the Danes were headlining The Black Heart, just across the road from the Camden underground station, round the corner from The Underworld. It's a reasonably priced venue and a must visit for metal fans in the English capital, where you'll be met by some very friendly staff and be treated to a superb selection of metal and hardcore playing over the speakers, all while surrounded by a plethora of gig posters, the perfect place to get in the mood for a show. Just by the toilets is the staircase which leads up to the performance area itself, featuring a small stage, a tiny bar and a merch stand, where members of Baest were waiting to chat away to fans as soon as the doors opened. More...
Cabal Delivers Deathcore Decimation In London
Live music is something which is almost essential to the lives of most people who read this site, or stumble across articles like this one. It's where we get to experience the music which played an important part of our lives, discover new favourites, meet new and old friends or simply let out our frustrations, aggression and negativity. This seems especially true for metal fans. So after going without a live show for over two months, I was itching to get to any kind of metal gig that I could, which is a growing problem in post-Brexit Britain, with many bands omitting it from their tour schedule. Fortunately, Danish quintet Cabal were kind enough to include a number of shows in the UK on their current tour and had some very intriguing support joining them, so it was off to London for my first show of 2024.
Though they had their fans, opening band Lifesick weren't who I was thinking of in the "intriguing support" statement. Having signed with Metal Blade Records recently, there's some buzz around the Fredericia natives. Being totally unfamiliar with a band is usually a good place to be when seeing them live, as one can't compare them to their studio output or previous gig experiences. For die hard fans of metalcore, and there were some in the Underworld tonight, there's enough to enjoy, which is to say, a lot of breakdowns. Breakdowns and jumping around like an early 2000s pop punk band seemed to be all Lifesick had to offer though. Not the worst band ever, but no different from every other local metalcore band you've ever seen and thus, not much to write about. More...
Igorrr Downgrade The Arizona Desert
I’ve seen the electric and eclectic Igorrr once before when I covered one of my favorite metal festivals, the severely underrated Mystic Festival (Gdansk, Poland) in 2022. I was only able to catch three songs before I had to move on to my next band on my “must see” list for that day. Igorrr fits the mold of one of those bands that are on the, “Hey, you should check out this band!” list that your music loving friends are always blabbering about. I clearly remember that after I edited their photo set from the festival, I wished that I could have caught their full set because I was blown away with only three songs that day. Well, my wish came true and after catching the full set in Mesa, Arizona recently, I knew that I wasn’t the only one blown away that night.
Igorrr isn’t your traditional heavy metal band. They skate the blurred and fractured lines of several different sub-genres within the heavy metal cosmos. For those that know nothing about Igorrr, here is the band line-up. There’s a DJ/turntable frontman, one guitarist, two vocalists, and a drummer. While this set-up isn’t completely out of the ordinary, it’s not something you see often for an extreme metal band. Every member in this band is fully utilized and showcased at some point during their set. There is not a weak link in this band as far as musicianship is concerned. Their live sound is almost identical to their releases and much of their set this night consisted of material from their most recent release, “Spirituality and Distortion.”
Kicking off their set with “Paranoid Bulldozer Italiano,” Igorrr proceeded to rip through an impressive 17 song set. Throughout the show, we witnessed the genius behind Igorrr, Gautier Serre, switch back and forth between his turntables and a six-string axe. The amount of creativity in Igorrr’s songwriting is better understood when focusing on Serre during his time behind his setup. Serre is the brainiac behind the musical juggernaut that is Igorrr, but without his bandmates to put his musical genius in motion, I’m guessing it wouldn’t be anywhere near a captivating live experience as it stands currently. More...
KK's Priest Brings Their Sermon To London
Some lineups just can't be missed. With the recent release of their sophomore album, "The Sinner Rides Again" (you can find our review here,) it was inevitable that KK's Priest would be hitting the road in support of the record. The legendary guitarist of Judas Priest fame wasn't alone with his highly skilled band however, as joining the group on their European tour are the superb Swiss traditional metal outfit Burning Witches, and for the UK dates only, former Iron Maiden vocalist Paul Di'anno. With these three names on one bill, it was essential to get to one of these gigs. But could the show deliver on such a promising night of metal? I think we all know the answer to that.
The Shepherds Bush Empire, located a very short walk from the tube station, is a wonderful venue, it must be said. It's relatively small with a capacity of 2000 and has hosted acts from Charlie Chaplin to the Rolling Stones to Amy Winehouse (and Kid Rock, but we don't talk about that) and feels quite grand upon entry, while the staff were particularly friendly and helpful. This all helps put the attendee at ease as they prepare for the evening, which tonight was kicked off by the heavy metal flag bearers Burning Witches.
With five albums under their belts now, the band appropriately chose one song from each album to represent them in their short set. Burning Witches can work in any environment it seems, from smaller venues like The Dome or The Underworld to the bigger stages such as these, they put in a hell of a performance. Vocalist Laura Guldemond was not only in fine voice, but she understood the audience perfectly and did a great job of getting everyone excited, winning over fans who hadn't heard of them before and delighted those who were already anticipating their set. The quintet tore through the likes of "Wings Of Steel" and "We Stand As One," as well as the brilliant "Hexenhammer," before closing with their eponymous song. Burning Witches continues to be one of the premier young heavy metal bands in the world today with such electric live shows. More...
Victorius Lets Dinos And Dragons Loose In Swindon
It's so rare that a tour comes to Swindon these days. Where once there was a decent metal scene and bands like Napalm Death, 3 Inches Of Blood and even the likes of Motorhead and Alice Cooper would pass through, now it seems that it's a bit of a ghost town, and not just because of the decimated town centre which now only hosts charity shops, bookies and crazed Christian preachers. So when the announcement came that German power metal warriors Victorius would be coming to the recently rechristened Underground (formerly known as Level III or The Furnace,) it was an opportunity that couldn't be passed up, if only to find out why of all the places the band could have chosen for their only southern England show, they picked a town where culture begins and ends with a roundabout.
Those who came out this Sunday were in for a real treat of a lineup, which was kicked off in wonderful fashion by Southampton's Toledo Steel. For those unfamiliar, the south coast unit are staunch flag bearers of traditional heavy metal and they're good at it, bringing the old NWOBHM sound into the modern era, instead of just replicating it. It was a special night for the group too as this was the first gig with new guitarist Michael Lewis, who fits Toledo Steel like a glove. Despite the small crowd, who took a little while to get going, the band put their all into their set and soon there were more heads banging and horns raised. Songs like "Writing's On The Wall" and "Rock Nights" sounded superb as Toledo Steel forged ahead, determined to win new fans with their live show, which they almost certainly did. More...
Brutal Assault 2023 - Seven Most Memorable Bands
Sometimes as a writer, you must mix things up from time to time. I normally write up festival reports, day by day, band by band, blah, blah, blah…it gets mundane for the writer and more importantly, the reader. Brutal Assault 2023 took place in early August of this year and we’re already in mid-September as of this writing.
I took plenty of notes after each day so I know most of the details of each day. However, I’m going to write up Brutal Assault 2023 in such a way where I’m going to list my top seven most memorable bands of the festival and why I remembered them. I’ll refer to my notes only to confirm what I remembered, but the meat of it will be from my own personal, gray matter hard drive.
For reference, here are some personal stats regarding my Brutal Assault band viewing numbers. I saw at least 30 bands over 4 days and I photographed 28 of them. Most bands were headliner type bands you would see on tour or that put out releases through well-known metal labels. Most of these bands are in the extreme metal genre.
Without further ado, and not ranked in any particular order, my top seven: More...
Sabertooth 2023 Part 3
Sabertooth Portland 2023 – Part 3 (of 3)
Before moving on to the final three bands of the evening, I need to clarify a few things from Part 1 and Part 2 of this report.
Some of my questions in those parts were answered via email. Will was booked for 2020 Sabertooth (which obviously didn’t happen) so they were given a good slot for their patience. Rhododendron draw large crowds at all-ages events. The audience probably seemed less familiar because Sabertooth was 21+. Again, both bands were great; I was just wondering why they were given better time slots and stages than Cloak and Ghost Bath.
Speaking of which, both Cloak and Ghost Bath were “along for the ride” due to their tour with UADA, who was up next as one of the last three bands on the Crystal Ballroom stage.
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