Metal Assault: Gig Reviews

By Andrew Bansal

August 27th 2016, The Troubadour, West Hollywood CA: Swedish metal heartthrobs Tribulation are currently on a US headline tour, and after starting this short two-week run with an appearance on this year’s Psycho Las Vegas festival, they arrived in the Los Angeles area, to a packed house at the Troubadour in West Hollywood last Saturday August 27th. Since their 2004 inception, Tribulation have released three full-length albums and opened for the likes of Watain, Behemoth, Cannibal Corpse, Deafheaven and Abbath in the United States to make a mark playing their brand of progressive/melodic black/death metal. This time, they have returned as headliners and have brought with them Youth Code and Horrendous as support acts. Tribulation have garnered a strong and rapidly growing fan-base in Los Angeles, and a majority of them congregated at the Troubadour in anticipation of a great performance from the Swedish quartet. Continue reading “Dreams Of The Dead Come Alive: Tribulation Headlines The Troubadour”

Review & photos by Andrew Bansal

August 24th 2016, Greek Theatre, Los Angeles CA: Sacramento, California experimental rock/art metal group Deftones released their eighth full-length studio album ‘Gore’ this year, a darker, angrier, trippier, moodier set of tunes than some of their past releases. Because of their early-years sound, they often get roped in with the nu-metal gamut of bands, but they’ve always been more than that, with proggy, post-hardcore tendencies, and have in fact influenced a lot of good modern metal in existence today. While their music over the years has made a huge impact on the younger generation and still does so, they continue to strive for newer creative ground, at times battling their own past. They embarked on a North American tour this summer, and landed in Los Angeles last Wednesday August 24th, to attempt what would perhaps be their biggest ever coup in this town, a headline show at the 6000-capacity Greek Theatre. A venue normally hosting classic rock acts and music outside the rock/metal realm, the Greek was in for a pleasant surprise from this highly influential and adventurous modern metal band. Continue reading “Modern Metal At The Greek: Deftones Bring Theatrical Summer Tour To Los Angeles”

By Andrew Bansal

August 23rd 2016, The Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood CA: The 75th edition of the Ultimate Jam Night event, held weekly at the Whisky-A-Go-Go in West Hollywood, was announced to be a special tribute to recently rock n’ roll legend and Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister, and took place last Tuesday August 23rd 2016 to serve as a precursor to the unveiling of the Lemmy statue at the Rainbow Bar & Grill on August 24th. On Metal Assault’s previous visits to Ultimate Jam Night, these events have served high-quality musicianship and fun-filled evenings for attendees, in turn receiving glowing positive reviews, and readers were strongly recommended to attend this edition. But, on an occasion that demanded the absolute best, Ultimate Jam Night #75 came across as a majorly half-hearted attempt to pay tribute to a fallen great, and left a whole lot to be desired. Continue reading “The Ultimate Disaster: All-Star Lemmy Tribute Jam Fails To Deliver”

By Andrew Bansal

August 22nd 2016, Union, Los Angeles CA: The world of heavy music has seen collaborations between bands and musicians, mainly in the form of supergroups, but one can state with certainty that there has never been a joint effort wherein two complete bands combine all their talents and musicalities to form a unified force. Portland, Oregon experimental sludge/doom/drone duo The Body and Ocean City, Maryland death metal/noisegrind outfit Full Of Hell orchestrated one such collaboration, having come together in 2015 and released their joint full-length debut ‘One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache’ via Neurot Recordings earlier this year. Now, The Body and Full Of Hell are on a three-week North American tour to perform this new compositions as well as re-worked versions of selections from their respective discographies. They visited the Los Angeles for a gig at Union (in the small room) last Monday August 22nd, with local support from Authority Figure, Whelm and Body Fluid. The event was put together by Crash The Clubs, and attracted a sizable congregation of the LA music underground. Continue reading “Caught In A Deathly Trance: The Body & Full Of Hell Bring Collaborative Tour To Los Angeles”

By Andrew Bansal

August 20th 2016, Complex, Glendale CA: San Francisco stoner/doom trio Castle released their fourth full-length album ‘Welcome To The Graveyard’ earlier this year, and embarked on an extensive, exhaustive US headline tour, which started on June 15th, had nearly no off-days, and came to an end nine weeks later, last Saturday August 20th at Complex in Glendale CA. Headlining an event put together by Church Of The 8th Day, Castle played this show with support acts Caustic Casanova, Trapped Within Burning Machinery and Taarkus. For those in LA well-versed in underground heavy music, this was an all-killer, no-filler lineup, and an eagerly awaited event, and as it turned out, far above and beyond just another stoner doom show. Continue reading “Riff Overdose: Castle Ends Extensive US Tour In Glendale”

Review by Andrew Bansal, Guns N’ Roses photos by Katarina Benzova

August 18th 2016, Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles CA: Welcoming the return of original members Slash and Duff McKagan, hard rock icons Guns N’ Roses have been going strong with their ‘Not In This Lifetime’ reunion tour in 2016, and having started out with an intimate secret show at the Troubadour in West Hollywood on April 1st, they brought it home to Los Angeles four months later for two nights at the Dodger Stadium. The Cult were chosen as the opening act for these shows, which have undoubtedly been among the most highly anticipated and eagerly awaited events in the Los Angeles concert calendar ever since they were announced. The first show was a sold-out affair and took place on Thursday August 18th. Fans grabbed any tickets they could afford as soon as they went on sale months ago, but even the most diehard Guns N’ Roses faithful perhaps would not have expected the kind of show they witnessed last night, and as for the haters, they were about to be proven very, very wrong. Continue reading “Appetite For Domination: Guns N’ Roses Play Triumphant Homecoming Show At Dodger Stadium”