Metal Assault: Gig Reviews

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. The band has always played great venues in the Los Angeles area and their show here is usually a highly anticipated event. Judging by how quickly the show sold out and the pre-show hype outside the Orpheum Theater on the day of, one had a feeling this crowd was in for something special. Continue reading “Los Angeles Gets Treated To An Evening With Dream Theater”

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’, this tour of theirs also has Belgium’s brutal death metal standouts Aborted as main support, with their new album ‘The Necrotic Manifesto’, out on April 29th. These two veteran extreme metal bands coming together to support their new albums was going to be a real treat for Southern California, and this event took at Mirror Image Studios in Anaheim, CA on Friday April 18th, the only LA/OC date for this tour. Continue reading “Kataklysm & Aborted Shine At Mirror Image Studios Anaheim”

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. Both King Parrot and Vattnet Viskar are young in their career but have developed a reputation solely based on the strength of their live shows, and having never seen either of them before, I went into this show with much anticipation. Continue reading “King Parrot, Vattnet Viskar & Drop Tank Perform At The Satellite”

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. Continue reading “The Return Of Bonded By Blood Thrashes Pasadena”

By Andrew Bansal
[Photos by Carsten Steinhausen] 

April 15th 2014, The Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood CA: Lesser Key, the new Los Angeles-based rock group featuring the talents of founding Tool bassist Paul D’Amour along with Andrew Zamudio (vocals+samples), Brett Fanger (guitar) and Justin Hanson (drums), released their self-titled debut EP on April 1st via Sumerian Records, and played a hometown headline show at the Whisky last night to present all six tunes on the EP in the live setting. The EP itself comes across as an excellently composed and produced 26-minute slab of atmospheric/progressive rock that highlights the musical skills of D’Amour and his band mates in a manner anyone familiar with their background would expect, and I was very much looking forward to its live rendition here. Continue reading “Lesser Key Featuring Ex-Tool Bassist Perform At The Whisky”

By Andrew Bansal

April 14th 2014, Down & Out Bar, Los Angeles CA: Kentucky-based extreme metal band Voyage Of Slaves embarked on a US tour a couple of weeks ago with San Diego’s classic metal outfit Monolith, with whom they’ve put out the ‘Beard Splitter’ split 7-inch, joining them for the California leg of the itinerary. Last night at the Down & Out bar in downtown LA was Voyage Of Slaves’ first ever Los Angeles gig, and providing local support for this show, brought to us by underground promoters Church Of The 8th Day and Thee Static Age, were San Gabriel Valley metal quartet Livin Alive. The show was absolutely free of cost and began at 10:30 PM. For the people who showed up at this cozy sports bar last night to enjoy some drinks and live music, it turned out to be quite an entertaining evening. Continue reading “Voyage Of Slaves, Monolith & Livin Alive Play At Down & Out Bar”