Metal Assault: Gig Reviews

By Lisa Burke

January 28th 2017, West Hollywood CA: Out-of-body experiences are field trips through the mind and don’t necessarily have to involve any supernatural occurrences. What does this have to do with heavy metal? Well, if you ever get up and out of your comfort zone of musical taste to adventure into a new musical experience, you just might discover something amazing that you didn’t expect. As I was in attendance at the Orgy show on Saturday January 28th 2017 in West Hollywood, there were a few surprises to be had. In support of Orgy, as is usually the case at this location, there were too many opening acts with not the best order for them to be in, but I caught the final four and I lived to tell about it. Continue reading “Still Wide Awake and Dead: Orgy plays Hometown Headline Show”

Review & photos by Andrew Bansal

January 28th 2017, Union, Los Angeles CA: Touring to promote their freshly released third full-length studio album and Roadrunner Records debut ‘Forever’, fast-rising Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania metallic hardcore group Code Orange are currently on a US headline run with Youth Code as main support, plus regional and local openers differing by territory. The tour arrived in Los Angeles last night at the aptly chosen Union nightclub in the mid-Wilshire area, featured Disgrace and Momentum as opening acts, and played to a packed house to put forth quite the exemplary exhibition of extreme music that was very much up the alley for attendees that had turned up in huge numbers. Continue reading “Hardcore, Metal, EBM & more: Code Orange, Youth Code, Disgrace & Momentum destroy Los Angeles”

Photos by Chad Alexander

January 27th 2017, Marquee Theatre, Tempe AZ: Iconic rock guitarist Ace Frehley is currently on a US headline tour with support act Enuff Z’nuff. On this run, in addition to performing KISS songs, Ace is presenting selections from his recently released all-covers album ‘Origins – Vol. 1’ (2016), as well as some solo material. Our AZ based photographer Chad Alexander was in attendance for the show last Friday January 27th at the Marquee in Tempe, and captured these stills for us. Check them out below: Continue reading “Photo Gallery: Ace Frehley + Enuff Z’nuff @ The Marquee (Tempe AZ)”

Review & photos by Andrew Bansal

Note: For the sake of ticket holders for show #2 tonight (January 28th), we have avoided set list spoilers altogether in this review

January 27th 2017, Fonda Theatre, Hollywood CA: Northern California stoner doom giants Sleep recently announced two nights at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood with Melvins as the support act, and tickets were completely sold out almost instantly. The first of the two shows took place last night, Friday January 27th. Ticket holders lined up early, and for many, the biggest challenge was to time the cannabis intake so it would hit at the right moment, and Goldenvoice posting the set times on the afternoon of the show certainly helped in that regard. As it turned out, those that did line up before 8 PM can consider themselves lucky because they got to witness two bands that couldn’t have been any more different from each other. Continue reading “Chalk & Cheese: Sleep & Melvins play Sold-Out Show at Fonda Theatre”

Review by Andrew Bansal, photos by Matt Nielson

January 24th 2017, Complex, Glendale CA: A highly active and successful 2016 has paved the way for a scorching start to 2017 for Canadian metal band Striker, who as a group, nearing the end of the first decade of their career, have proved themselves time and again as one of the finest proponents of all things traditional, power, speed, shred, glam and thrash metal put together into a style they can truly call their own. Continue reading “Beyond Shred City Limits: Striker Reconquers Los Angeles”

Photos by Chris Brody

January 24th 2017, The Belasco, Los Angeles CA: Celebrating the 10-year anniversary of their 2007 sophomore full-length release ‘Messengers’, longstanding Lancaster PA metalcore group August Burns Red is currently in the midst of a North American tour wherein they are performing the album in its entirety. On this run, they have brought along Canadian modern prog outfit Protest The Hero, Australian metalcore band In Hearts Wake and Atlanta GA two-piece ’68 as support acts. Our photographer Chris Brody was in attendance at the Belasco Theater in downtown Los Angeles last night (January 24th 2017) to capture these shots for us, as the bands gave it their best in front of a packed house. Check out the photos below, along with the remaining tour dates, and fans of metalcore/modern metal/modern prog in North America are certainly encouraged to attend one of the remaining shows on this tour. Continue reading “Photo Gallery: August Burns Red, Protest The Hero, In Hearts Wake & ’68 @ The Belasco”