Steel Panther Say Final Goodbye To Sunset Strip Residency
Review & photos by Andrew Bansal, April 21st 2014, House Of Blues Sunset Strip, West Hollywood CA: Having started out as Danger Kitty and then changing to call themselves Metal Shop, Metal Skool and finally in 2008 arriving at a name that would stick, Steel Panther have been reigning supreme on the Sunset Strip in the West Hollywood area of Los Angeles for the past 14 years. Initially only a parody/comedy live metal act, they began writing their own music and once they started releasing studio albums, their fame and popularity outgrew the Strip and they went on to become an internationally touring band. Read more

AXS TV "World's Greatest Tribute Bands" Season 3 Ends With Mr. Speed's KISS Tribute
Review & photos by Andrew Bansal, April 21st 2014, The Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood CA: Season 3 of AXS TV's "World's Greatest Tribute Bands" series of live broadcasts found its home at the Whisky-A-Go-Go and treated LA locals and national television-viewing audiences with some mighty fine tribute acts, not only from Los Angeles but from various other parts of the country as well. To bring the season to an aptly emphatic finish, Cleveland, Ohio-based KISS tribute band Mr. Speed descended upon the Sunset Strip. Read more

Los Angeles Gets Treated To An Evening With Dream Theater
Review by Andrew Bansal [photos by Carsten Steinhausen], April 19th 2014, Orpheum Theatre, Los Angeles CA: American progressive metal titans Dream Theater embarked on the 'Along For The Ride' world tour in January, and after an extensive European run, they began the North American leg in March and made their way to downtown Los Angeles to play at a sold-out Orpheum Theatre last night. This time they were revisiting the 'evening with' format, wherein paying fans were promised a three-hour Dream Theater show with no opening acts whatsoever. Read more

Kataklysm & Aborted Shine At Mirror Image Studios Anaheim
By Jason Williams, April 18th 2014, Mirror Image Studios, Anaheim CA: The term 'legends' can sometimes be thrown around loosely. In the death metal scene however, Canada's very own Kataklysm can be put in that category. Long reigning Quebec since 1991, Kataklysm have provided and honored us with their style of "Northern Hyperblast", fast paced, groovy, melodic death metal. Their style has been honed down into a more 'accessible' form of death metal, as their earlier material was considered to be extremely chaotic. Promoting their six-month old album 'Waiting for The End to Come' ... Read more

King Parrot, Vattnet Viskar & Drop Tank Perform At The Satellite
By Andrew Bansal, April 18th 2014, The Satellite, Los Angeles CA: Australian thrash/grind quintet King Parrot landed in North America about six weeks ago, began their trek in California and after crisscrossing the continent through this period, they are now back here for the final few shows of this long run with tour mates Vattnet Viskar. The touring duo played at the Satellite in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles along with local opener Drop Tank. Read more

The Return Of Bonded By Blood Thrashes Pasadena
By Christian Redelsperger, April 17th 2014, The Terrace, Pasadena CA: For many metalheads, the question of “Where the hell is Bonded By Blood?” has come up more than once. The band played a free show last August for the Century Media Showcase and seemed to fall off the radar shortly after. Fortunately for fans, the band returned this week for a headlining show to warm up for their month-long European tour with the legendary thrashers in Hirax. Read more