Metal Assault: Gig Reviews

By Avinash Mittur

July 1st 2012, Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View CA:  I should probably preface this piece with the following warning: one really shouldn’t consider this a review of Mayhem Festival as a whole. I arrived late to the festival, and left early. My entry into the show was not provided for by the Mayhem Festival organizers, and I ended up paying $42 for my general admission ticket. For a price of that level, I had absolutely no intention of seeing bands that I disliked. As such, the only acts that I ended up seeing were Anthrax, Motorhead and Slayer. If you would like to read my thoughts on those acts, some of the other elements of the show, and my overall experience throughout the day, feel free to continue on. If you’re already upset at me for leaving before Slipknot went on, you might want to head elsewhere. Continue reading “Mayhem Festival Brings Hell To Mountain View”

By Avinash Mittur

June 22nd, 2012, The Regency Grand Ballroom, San Francisco CA: Throughout my years of living in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, I have had the fortune of meeting dozens of people who all share my love for heavy metal music. Whenever I have a chance encounter with a fellow metalhead, one of the first topics of discussion tends to be the various subgenres of metal that we commonly enjoy. When the topic of death metal comes up, I’ve grown accustomed to hearing the following phrase: “Death metal? Nah, I’m not really a fan. I love Death though!” There is just something about the music of Chuck Schuldiner that manages to transcend the auditory confines of death metal, and reach out to any lover of heavy music. On Friday night in San Francisco, music lovers of all kinds of musical backgrounds came together to celebrate Chuck’s music and legacy, and his former bandmates and friends did a fantastic job of making this event a massive success. Continue reading “Legendary Musicians Pay Homage To The Father Of Death Metal”

By Aniruddh “Andrew” Bansal

June 24th 2012, Palace Grounds, Bangalore, India: The Indo-German Urban Mela is a celebration of 60 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries, a five-city tour that started in April this year in Mumbai, moved to Bangalore just a couple of days ago, and will be taken to Chennai, New Delhi and Pune. It’s an exhibition focussing on science, technology, business and performing arts. For metalheads, the Indo-German collaboration gave rise to the Wacken-powered Bangalore Open Air which took place nine days ago, and this Urban Mela gave us another such gig, this time featuring Bangalore-based old-school metal band Kryptos playing a set of tunes with Suidakra frontman Arkadius Antonik, along with Wacken Metal Battle India winners Zygnema as opening act. The entry for this event was free, and the venue was the hallowed Palace Grounds, host to bands such as Iron Maiden, Megadeth and Metallica in the past, and a place which is associated with great memories for every Bangalore-based metal concert goer.  Continue reading “Kryptos & Zygnema Perform At Indo-German Urban Mela”

By Avinash Mittur

June 16th 2012, The Red House, Walnut Creek, CA: It’s been a long, long time since I’ve attended a small local metal show in the Bay Area. The local groups around here are good enough to justify going to out to see them without a national headliner, and I was more than happy to spend twelve dollars on a fun night of heavy metal. I had seen many of the bands performing tonight before, but I had never been fortunate enough to see them all on the same bill. Needless to say, I was extremely excited to see some of the best young bands the bay had to offer play together in one show. Even though the classic era of Bay Area-thrash is long gone, there are still many young bands in the area playing fantastic music, and this show was proof of that fact.

Continue reading “Bay Area Thrashers Tear Down The Red House”

By Aniruddh “Andrew” Bansal

June 16th 2012, Acharya College, Bangalore, India: The much eagerly awaited inaugural Bangalore Open Air festival was finally upon us, and for me, walking through the entrance of Acharya Institute was indeed an awesome feeling. I reached the venue at around 10.30 AM, about half an hour before the first band went on, which gave me ample time to absorb the surroundings. The concert arena looked absolutely epic, and very soon, fans started lining up to enter. It promised to be just the perfect setting for a show of this kind, and I was extremely excited and curious to find out whether the actual show would live up to this promise. Continue reading “Bangalore Open Air Treats Audience To Metal Marathon”

By Aniruddh “Andrew” Bansal

June 3rd 2012, Star Rock, Chennai, India: After an enjoyable outing at the Star Rock for Albatross’ EP launch gig a little over two months ago, I was back here to attend the Bangalore Open Air Pre-Party gig featuring Bevar Sea as the headline act, along with Witchgoat and Chennai-based death metal bands Crypted and Vidyut. This gig served as a buildup to Bangalore Open Air, set to take place on June 16th, and just like the Albatross gig, this one was also a “Score Night”, presented by The Score Magazine. Having seen Bevar Sea’s killer performance at the Riff52 show earlier this year, I knew what to expect from them, but I was getting to see the other bands for the first time, and was very much curious and looking forward to finding out what they were capable of. The show turned out to be an interesting experience in the end, albeit not an entirely positive one. Continue reading “Bevar Sea Warms Up For Bangalore Open Air With Chennai Pre-Party Gig”