By Andrew Bansal

May 18th 2013, The Troubadour, West Hollywood CA: Following the release of their sophomore album ‘Meanderthal’, Miami/Gainsville based sludge outfit Torche underwent a lineup change and after a gap of four years, came out with a new album called ‘Harmonicraft’, released on the Volcom Entertainment label. They’ve been doing plenty of touring since the release, and currently they are on their own extended headline run across the United States. The trek made a stop at West Hollywood’s famous Troubadour last night, along with touring support band KEN Mode and one-off local opening act Totimoshi. Having never seen any of these bands before, I went into the show keeping an open mind, not knowing what to expect. For such a premise, the cozy Troubadour promised to be the perfect setting. Continue reading →

By Andrew Bansal

May 17th 2013, The Vex, Los Angeles CA: After headliners Hypocrisy and direct support act Aborted dropped off, this tour appeared to be in the doldrums. But, Brazilian death metal trio Krisiun decided to go ahead with the tour and took on the headliner spot, as Viriginia-based melodic tech death metal band Arsis became the main support act. The trek began on May 1st in New York and made its way to Los Angeles, visiting the Vex last night. The local promoters Church Of The 8th Day had made every effort to ensure that the turnout still remains strong by lowering the price of the tickets and allowing the pre-sale buyers to come in with a plus 1. I arrived at the venue at around 7, waiting to check out how these remaining touring bands and the three local openers would fare at this show, what the turnout would be like, and whether the Vex made any improvement in their much-maligned sound system. Continue reading →

By Andrew Bansal

May 16th 2013, The Observatory, Santa Ana CA: Death metal mainstays Cannibal Corpse have been an actively touring band in recent times, completing the Summer Slaughter run last year and following that with a short tour of their own. Now they’re back with another headline run, this time with Napalm Death and Immolation as support acts, along with the rotating opening slot going to Cretin for this part of the tour. The caravan arrived at the Observatory, formerly the Galaxy in Santa Ana. As a venue or a promoter you can never go wrong with a Cannibal Corpse show, and the proof of that was there for all to see. The box office window said ‘Cannibal Corpse is sold out’ at least an hour before the start of the show, even as a huge line of people was still hoping to score tickets to get in. Continue reading →

By Andrew Bansal

May 15th 2013, The Viper Room, Hollywood CA: Following the release of their sophomore full-length effort ‘Ride The Void’, Los Angeles’ very own metal warriors Holy Grail have been highly active on the road lately, finishing a successful run on the mighty Metal Alliance tour alongside the likes of Anthrax, Exodus, Municipal Waste and High On Fire. They will go on their own tour next month, but in the meanwhile they are enjoying their break in LA, turning up to perform a headline show or two, like they did last night at the Viper Room. As support acts, they had with them three fellow LA bands in doomsters Behold! The Monolith, death/thrash/punk outfit Gravehill and Cliff ‘Em All, a tribute to ’81-’86 Metallica. Being as heavily involved in the LA gig circuit as I am, I look forward to these all-LA shows probably more than anyone else. I got there at around 8.30 PM, and the stage looked set for a fabulous LA metal night. Continue reading →

By Andrew Bansal

May 14th 2013, Club Nokia, Los Angeles CA: The loudest band on earth was back in town, and this time it was only a one-off show, specially for us Los Angeles folks. Yes, I’m talking about none other than Motörhead, who were here to blow eardrums at Club Nokia last night along with Canadian veterans Anvil and local metal band Kemical Kill as the support acts. Motörhead put out ‘The World Is Yours’, their latest studio album of original material, in February 2011 in the States and are currently working on a new album. So this gig had nothing riding on it in terms of promoting a new product. It was simply meant to be a treat for fans of the band’s adopted hometown before they begin their travels for the upcoming shows in Mexico and Europe, and as expected, the fans had turned up in huge numbers for this show. Continue reading →