Metal Assault: Gig Reviews

Review by Andrew Bansal
[Live photos by Karina Diane]

July 9th 2014, The Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood CA: Arizona speed metal veterans Flotsam And Jetsam embarked on a short US West Coast run with support acts Exmortus and Hatchet yesterday, starting it off with a gig at the Whisky-A-Go-Go in West Hollywood. Their longstanding association with classic American metal was built through highly revered early albums and they’ve still maintained it with compelling recent albums such as ‘Ugly Noise’ (2012) and the release of a re-recorded version of ‘No Place For Disgrace’ earlier this year. Flotsam And Jetsam looked poised to bring their repertoire to this stage and play in front of eagerly awaiting fans. I’d never previously seen them live so the prospect of rectifying that was very much exciting, to say the least. Continue reading “Flotsam And Jetsam, Exmortus & Hatchet Begin US West Coast Tour At Whisky-A-Go-Go”

By Jason Williams

July 8th 2014, House Of Blues Sunset Strip, West Hollywood CA: Sometimes when attending a show, you wish one of your favorite bands was headlining instead of in the main support slot. A 30-minute difference in set time could potentially be 5 songs or more.  Lately in the metal scene, tour packages have had co-headlining tours; the main two bands play the same amount of time, no matter who goes first or last. That was the case last Tuesday July 8th, with long time atmospheric death metallers Septicflesh and Italy’s own classical brutal death metal virtuosos Fleshgod Apocalypse. Reforming in 2007 after a 4-year hiatus, Septicflesh bring their newest record Titan to tour for while Fleshgod Apocalypse are still in the very early stages of promoting their newest release, Labyrinth.  Joining the two are death metal legends from Canada, Necronomicon, and the US’s own Black Crown Initiate, replacing Hour of Penance who dropped out due to visa problems.  Being this on a Tuesday evening, I was hopeful to see a strong showing for this grand occasion. Continue reading “Septicflesh & Fleshgod Apocalypse Play At House Of Blues Sunset Strip”

By Andrew Bansal

July 6th 2014, The Viper Room, West Hollywood CA: Edge Of Paradise is a Los Angeles-based female-fronted heavy metal band formed in 2011 and they’ve been steadily building a fan base through well-written music and impressive live shows, although their gig activity in the LA local scene hasn’t been much of late. But last Sunday July 6th at the Viper Room in West Hollywood, they played a hometown show to present tunes off of their upcoming album ‘Immortal Waltz’ along with a couple of older ones. Having been introduced to the talents of Edge Of Paradise three years ago, I’ve kept track of their progress and was looking forward to finally getting the opportunity to see what they’re like as a live band. Continue reading “Edge Of Paradise Perform At The Viper Room”

By Andrew Bansal

July 5th 2014, Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, Irvine CA: Rock giants KISS are out on the road celebrating their 40th anniversary this summer on a North American tour with co-headliners Def Leppard and opening act Kobra And The Lotus, and a promise to deliver a rock show of epic proportions. The touring caravan rolled into Southern California yesterday for a gig at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine, and fans from Los Angeles and Orange County flocked in large numbers to attend the event. The previous and only time yours truly saw KISS in concert was at the Honda Center in Anaheim on the memorable night of November 24th 2009, a performance that still remains fresh in memory nearly 700 concert experiences later, and it was about time I got to witness KISS live again. With the added prospect of my first ever time seeing Def Leppard and getting to observe fast-rising band Kobra And The Lotus out of their element in this kind of setting, the evening carried great potential, and for the most part, it delivered. Continue reading “KISS, Def Leppard & Kobra And The Lotus Bring Massive Rock Show To Irvine”

Review & photos by Andrew Bansal

July 3rd 2014, Saban Theatre, Beverly Hills CA: Ever since Joe Satriani and Steve Vai stopped doing their ‘G3’ tours which featured their guitar mastery along with a third special guest guitarist, North America hasn’t had a proper guitar extravaganza to feast upon. A past participant in a G3 tour himself, hugely admired Swedish veteran guitar virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen vowed to rectify that this year with his advent of the ‘Guitar Gods’ tour and embarked upon a North American run with Gary Hoey and Bumblefoot as the other guitarists in the lineup (originally including Uli Jon Roth as main support but he had to drop out on short notice). The touring party visited the beautiful and historic Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills last night, as Los Angeles’ guitar enthusiasts readied themselves for an overdose of notes, arpeggios and solos. Continue reading “‘Guitar Gods’ Tour Visits Los Angeles”

Review & photos by Andrew Bansal

June 30th 2014, The Dragonfly, Los Angeles CA: Owing to their mainman Chris Wyse’s ultra-busy touring schedule performing bass duties for The Cult, Los Angeles-based rock trio Owl’s live appearances have been as rare and random as the creature they’re named after, but they played a one-off headline show at the Dragonfly last night, their first hometown show since the Viper Room gig more than a year ago and for their LA fans it was a rare opportunity not to be missed. Until last night, The Dragonfly was one of the very few (if not the only) LA venue I never went to, so this Owl show was made all the more interesting by the prospect of this new, undiscovered environment. Continue reading “Owl Rocks The Dragonfly”