Metal Assault: Gig Reviews

By Avinash Mittur

August 24th 2012, The Fillmore, San Francisco CA: For the last few years or so, the Summer Slaughter tour has been offering heavy metal fans a full day of music supplied by many young bands and usually a veteran act or two. This year the tour was no different, offering a great time to fans of death metal full of technical proficiency and instrumental talent. For me, a metalhead who has spent the last five years listening to just about every subgenre of metal not represented at Summer Slaughter, the show really wasn’t a whole lot of fun, but for the other one thousand attendees, the concert was a full day of consistent and quality death metal. For what was advertised, the Summer Slaughter tour’s stop in San Francisco was a huge success, and I’m sure many fans will be happy to once again patronize the show in 2013. Continue reading “Summer Slaughter Tour Storms Through San Francisco”

By Avinash Mittur

August 11th 2012, The Great American Music Hall, San Francisco CA: Black metal has always been a style of metal music that I haven’t been able to completely appreciate. While there are a great number of bands that I love in this genre, I find myself in disagreement with some of black metal’s ideals- the big ones being the significance of the bands’ religious and political affiliations and the preference for lo-fi production. Agalloch’s 2006 album, “Ashes Against the Grain,” was the black metal album that I had wanted for the longest time. This album sounded glorious, contained amazing songs, and I didn’t have to worry about whether the band would sport white power paraphernalia at their shows. Despite faltering slightly with 2010’s “Marrow of the Spirit,” Agalloch have returned in prime form with their latest studio creation, the “Faustian Echoes” EP. This summer Agalloch has been touring across the country to support this release, and I managed to catch them at the last date of this tour at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. Despite my reservations about their ability to translate their studio material to the live setting, Agalloch put on a fantastic set, and I absolutely intend on seeing the band once more as soon as I can. Continue reading “Agalloch Concludes Summer Tour In San Francisco”

By Avinash Mittur

August 10th 2012, The Red House, Walnut Creek CA: During my time in the bay area I’ve had the opportunity of seeing many small shows featuring local acts. For the most part, these shows have been fun events. However, these kinds of shows can be prone to mismatched lineups, terrible turnouts, and short sets by the bands. Sadly, this seemed to be the case at this concert last Friday night at the Red House in Walnut Creek. This show saw a truly random lineup, nearly no fans in attendance, extremely short sets, some performances that left a bit to be desired and a set that might have caused me permanent brain damage. Not every show can be a great one, and unfortunately my luck seemed to have finally run its course with this one. Continue reading “Bay Area Youth Show Their Skills In Walnut Creek – Bay Area Reviewer Scarred For Life”

By Avinash Mittur

August 3rd 2012, Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View CA: An Iron Maiden show isn’t any ordinary heavy metal concert- for hundreds of thousands of fans all over the world, it’s the live event of the year. I’ve been lucky enough to see the band on the last two times they came by before this Maiden England tour, and I’m happy to report that Iron Maiden has once again reasserted their status as the greatest live act in metal. Shoreline Amphitheater was the setting for this go around, and twelve thousand metal fans along with myself were treated to a spectacular live experience. Maiden England is a tour that is not to be missed, and any music fan with even a passing interest in heavy metal can expect a phenomenal show from Iron Maiden in 2012. Continue reading “Iron Maiden: An Unparalleled Live Experience”

By Avinash Mittur

July 15th 2012, Jerry Garcia Amphitheater, San Francisco CA: Nearly every dedicated heavy metal fan has dreamed of visiting Europe to attend one of the legendary summer festivals like Wacken, Download or Sweden Rock. For over a decade, the Tidal Wave Festival has annually provided the Bay Area with the closest thing to those European festivals that we’ll probably ever get. For thirteen years, Tidal Wave has provided the Bay Area with two days of free world class heavy metal. That’s right, not only does California have an annual open-air metal festival, but it costs nothing to attend. This year, the show has once again proven itself as one of the best experiences a metalhead can have here in the Bay Area, and I for one, am already excited for the next edition of Tidal Wave. Continue reading “Tidal Wave Festival Crashes On San Francisco”

By Avinash Mittur

July 12th 2012, The Regency Ballroom, San Francisco CA: Having been born in 1993, I’ve never had the opportunity to see a genuine hair metal concert. Many of the original bands are well past their prime and no longer deliver the spectacle that they put on night after night in the late eighties. A lot of those old “hair metal” bands don’t even have much hair anymore! Steel Panther are the closest thing to having that musical void filled, and ever since “Feel the Steel” was released in 2009, I’ve always wanted to experience the band live. Despite this desire, I had truly taken Steel Panther for granted throughout my time living in Los Angeles. Even though the band has played weekly shows at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip, I had never gone out to see the band until now. This show at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco has shown me what an amazingly fun time I have been missing however. Steel Panther put on an insanely fun show, one that featured astonishingly tight musicianship, great songs, and some of the most over the top and entertaining stage antics I have ever had the pleasure of witnessing. Continue reading “Steel Panther Sleaze Up The Regency”