Metal Assault: Gig Reviews

By Andrew Bansal

July 12th 2013, The Troubadour, West Hollywood CA: Palms, the new band featuring Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and Isis members Clifford Meyer, Aaron Harris and Jeff Claxide, are on their first ever run of live shows, visiting the Troubadour in West Hollywood last night after performing in San Diego on July 10th and Santa Ana on the 11th. Based on my past experiences here, the vibe of this venue promised to be the perfect setting for the kind of music Palms were bringing onto the stage. The pre-show excitement and anticipation amongst fans of Deftones and Isis was palpable as the show was sold out in advance and a large number of folks lined up outside the venue nice and early. I’ve been an admirer of Isis’ style of musicianship. Upon listening to Palms’ recently released self-titled debut album I found it to be an interesting listen at home, but was curious to find out how well the three Isis guys and the one Deftones guy bring it in the live setting. Continue reading “Palms Play First Ever LA Show At The Troubadour”

By Andrew Bansal

July 10th 2013, The Whisky, West Hollywood CA: North Carolina sludgelords Weedeater and ASG brought their summer North American tour to West Hollywood last night, making a stop at the Whisky A Go Go. Weedeater is a band I thoroughly enjoyed watching the last time they were in the area for a headline show back in 2011 at the Key Club, and this promised to be another great evening of loud sludge. Aside from that, I had heard a lot of good things about ASG in recent times and having never seen them, I was very much looking forward to doing that. I got to the venue at 8 PM, and judging by the atmosphere I could sense that it wasn’t going to get anywhere close to sold out, but nonetheless, those in attendance anticipated a worthwhile gig. Continue reading “Weedeater & ASG Perform At The Whisky”

By Andrew Bansal

July 9th 2013, The Roxy, West Hollywood CA: Despite having been a follower and admirer of the band’s music over the past four years or so, I never got a chance to see White Wizzard play their own headline show. It wasn’t completely my fault either, as they never really did a proper LA headline show during this period. But all that was about to change last night, as White Wizzard were set to take the stage as a headline act at West Hollywood’s Roxy Theatre to perform at the release party for their latest album ‘The Devils Cut’. Throughout their six years as a band, they’ve always put out great and memorable music, music that’s criminally underrated and went suspiciously unnoticed for reasons I’m still not able to comprehend. Having come out with a fantastic new release in ‘The Devils Cut, it was high time they got their moment in the spotlight, and it finally happened last night. Continue reading “White Wizzard & Death Dealer Bring Old School Metal To The Roxy”

By Avinash Mittur

July 5th 2013, Eli’s Mile High Club, Oakland CA: “True metal” is a somewhat vague phrase, so I’ll let Urban Dictionary define it: “True metal- Metal that stays true to the original tenets of the genre. Metal that is about integrity and not getting your music video on MTV or Fuse. Metal that is about staying true to yourself and not following whatever is popular at the moment. Metal that is about the music and not the money. Metal that the makers have put effort and time into, not little effort righteous preaching and teen angst. Metal that you mosh to, not fight invisible ninjas to. Metal that stands the test of time because true metal will never die.” By this definition, Eli’s Mile High Club in Oakland was host to a night of the truest of heavy metal music. San Francisco’s Slough Feg and Midnight Chaser joined forces with Portland, OR’s Spellcaster for a couple hours of heavy metal music in the old school tradition. No growls, no blast beats, and perhaps most importantly, no invisible ninjas.

Continue reading “Slough Feg Raises Hell In Oakland”

By Andrew Bansal

June 29th 2013, San Manuel Amphitheater, San Bernardino CA: Mayhem Festival is back with its sixth annual summer touring party, which kicked off yesterday in San Bernardino and will be running across North America for the next five weeks. They really outdid their first four editions with the kind of lineup they had last year, and it was going to take something special to top that. On paper, this year’s lineup didn’t induce any kind of excitement in me, save for a few bands, but I still made the trek to the venue, keeping an open mind about the whole thing and curious to find out how it was going to turn out. Continue reading “Mayhem Festival Kicks Off In Sweltering San Bernardino”

By Avinash Mittur

June 27th 2013, The Whisky A Go Go, West Hollywood CA: Local thrash shows just seem to have no luck wherever I go, huh? On this Thursday night at the Whisky A Go Go, forty-odd people ended up seeing four very talented acts for the low price of around $12. Having the opportunity of seeing Bonded by Blood play a headline show was an intriguing one; the band has suffered a depressing amount of lineup changes, and has been forced to play shows with only one guitarist on board. The resulting sets have felt like the band was at half power. Hatchet is a far safer proposition- I’ve seen them own the stage again and again back home in the Bay Area, and their new album Dawn of the End is a blistering slab of modern thrash. With that in mind, a venture to the Whisky was in order and I hoped to have my faith in Bonded By Blood restored, and my faith in Hatchet affirmed. Continue reading “Bonded By Blood Headlines The Whisky”