Metal Assault: Gig Reviews

Review & photos by Andrew Bansal

March 30th 2014, The Roxy, West Hollywood CA: Modern progressive metal band Animals As Leaders embarked upon a month-long North American headline tour to coincide with the release of their third studio album ‘The Joy Of Motion’ which came out on March 24th via Sumerian Records. On this tour, their support acts were label mates After The Burial along with former Animals As Leaders drummer Navene K with his solo act, and CHON. The last show of the tour took place at the Roxy in West Hollywood, a show that was sold out in advance, and starting as early as 5 PM, the queue of people starting forming outside the venue in anticipation of an eclectic evening of heavy music. Continue reading “Animals As Leaders Headline The Roxy”

Review & photos by Andrew Bansal
[Videos by Arturo Gallegos] 

March 25th 2014, The Observatory, Santa Ana CA: After giving their Southern California faithful a small taste of their new incarnation by playing two intimate shows at the Troubadour last September, British extreme metal legends Carcass are back, this time on a full North American run as headliners of the Decibel Magazine 2014 tour with support acts The Black Dahlia Murder, Gorguts and Noisem. Given the disproportion between Carcass’ LA fan-following and the size of the Troubadour, many fans missed out on attending the shows last year and last night at the Observatory in Santa Ana was their chance to see Carcass in flesh, presenting material from their comeback studio effort ‘Surgical Steel’ along with a collection of older tunes dating back to their early years. The show was sold out and not long after the doors opened at 6 PM, the venue was packed to capacity and all was in readiness for a brutastic extreme metal extravaganza. Continue reading “Carcass Turns Back The Clock At Decibel Tour Orange County Show”

By Andrew Bansal
[Photos by Joe Dolan]

March 24th 2014, The Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood CA: Continuing to unearth talented tribute bands in the ongoing third season of their World’s Greatest Tribute Bands series, AXS TV and host Katie Daryl once again took over the Whisky last night, this time to present ‘Born In The USA’, a Las-Vegas based tribute to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, for a 90-minute special that was broadcast live on AXS TV and was free of cost to the in-house audience, as always.  Continue reading “‘Bruce In The USA’ Pay Tribute To Springsteen At The Whisky For AXS TV 90-Minute Special”

Review & photos by Joe Dolan

March 21st 2014, The Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood CA: They’ve been the talk of the town since NAMM 2014 as more and more patrons are becoming witness to just how great they sound. Unlike a variety of tribute acts circulating on the scene today, the all-star band known as Moby Dicks don’t rely on wigs and elaborate stage setups to pay homage to the lords of rock – Led Zeppelin, they simply play the tunes, and they play them well. Continue reading “Moby Dicks Play The Whisky With Special Guest Frankie Banali”

By Andrew Bansal
[Photos by Brad Worsham] 

March 21st 2014, House Of Blues, Anaheim CA: Austin, TX riff worshippers The Sword are coming to the home stretch of their six-week headline North American headline tour, wherein they’ve been presenting a hefty dosage of material from their stellar latest album ‘Apocryphon’ along with a selection of tunes from the previous three albums. They played at the House Of Blues Sunset Strip as main support to Clutch last November and this time they visited the House Of Blues Anaheim in Downtown Disney with support acts Big Business and O’Brother. Continue reading “The Sword Headlines House Of Blues Anaheim”

By Andrew Bansal

March 20th 2014, The Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood CA: Following the release of their comeback studio album ‘Omen Of Disease’ via Century Media Records last fall, Chicago death metal veterans Broken Hope did a support run with Deicide across North America and with Immolation in Europe, and are now on a co-headline trek with Oceano for ‘The Best In Brutality’ tour, along with Fallujah, Rivers Of Nihil and Kublai Khan as part of this all-out extreme package. The tour began in Tempe AZ last Tuesday March 18th and visited Pomona CA on Wednesday before making a stop at the Whisky in West Hollywood last night. Continue reading “Broken Hope Brings ‘The Best In Brutality’ Tour To The Whisky”