Metal Assault: Gig Reviews

By Lisa Burke

March 24th 2016, The Viper Room, West Hollywood CA: Last Thursday March 24th 2016, I attended the Viper room for yet another quality line up at this venue featuring four great bands Black Tusk, Holy Grail, The Well and Ironaut. Black Tusk, Holy Grail and The Well were on tour together and with me prior to this night not really familiar with Black Tusk, I have to say I was super impressed and couldn’t imagine a more perfect pairing of bands, combining them and Holy Grail in a room together. Continue reading “Black Tusk & Holy Grail Melt Faces At The Viper Room”

Review & photos by Andrew Bansal

March 23rd 2016, The El Rey Theatre, Los Angeles CA: Austin, Texas stoner rock quartet The Sword released their adventurous fifth full-length studio album ‘High Country’ in 2015, an effort that sees them push their creative and stylistic boundaries like never before. While it isn’t the kind of record that captured fans’ imagination straightaway, the band’s incredible live performance of this material has played a major part in eventually winning fans over. This was evident at the Southern California stop on the first North American headline tour in support of ‘High Country’ tour last fall, at the Glass House in Pomona. Now, the band is touring North America again for an extensive run to further promote their latest endeavor, with support on the first part of the tour provided by Royal Thunder, and by Purson on the second part. The Sword and Royal Thunder arrived in Los Angeles for a gig at the El Rey Theatre on Wednesday March 23rd, and it promised to be a memorable event for the city’s stoner rock faithful that had turned up in good numbers. Continue reading “The Sword & Royal Thunder Mesmerize Los Angeles”

Review & photos by Andrew Bansal

March 22nd 2016, The Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood CA: While not exactly heavy metal by any means, Dallas, Texas psychobilly trio Reverend Horton Heat have found themselves on Metal Assault and its readers’ radar, and over the three decades of their existence, have created quite the crossover, attracting metalheads to their gigs and instigating metal-like mosh pits with their fast-paced, thrashy brand of rock ‘n roll with touches of punk, R&B and country. Their tour as main support to Motörhead in 2009 was this writer’s first exposure to Reverend Horton Heat, and all attempts have been made to not miss a single gig of theirs since then. On Tuesday March 22nd 2016, on a US headline tour in support of their eleventh studio album ‘Rev’ (2014), Reverend Horton Heat visited Los Angeles to play in front of a packed house at the Whisky-A-Go-Go. Continue reading “Psychobilly Freakout: Reverend Horton Heat Pack The Whisky”

Review & photos by Andrew Bansal

March 21st 2016, Blacklight District Lounge, Long Beach CA: The vibrant and diverse live music scene in Long Beach presents locals with various options of all kinds of music on a nightly basis, and often treats metalheads with top-notch underground shows. March 21st 2016 proved to be one such occasion, as Southern California bands Red River Massacre, Ironaut, Malison, Grand Lord High Master and Atala came together for a free Metal Monday event at the Blacklight District Lounge, put on by ADHD Entertainment. As is typically the case, locals were drawn to the gig because of familiarity with one or more bands in the lineup, and hoped to discover other good new bands in the process. Continue reading “Ironaut, Grand Lord High Master & Malison Light Up Metal Monday In Long Beach”

Review & photos by Andrew Bansal

March 20th 2016, Complex, Glendale CA: Doom metal and Sundays go hand in hand at Complex in Glendale, and on March 20th, the Los Angeles area underground/stoner/doom metal faithful got their eardrums shattered by a show that featured UK trio Conan, with Seattle-based Serial Hawk as support, and Yidhra as the local opener. Complex regulars have attended their fair share of loud shows, but none louder than this one. Continue reading “Sunday Doom: Conan, Serial Hawk & Yidhra Perform At Complex”

Review & photos by Andrew Bansal

March 19th 2016, The Roxy, West Hollywood CA: Raleigh, North Carolina modern prog masters Between The Buried And Me released their eighth full-length studio album ‘Coma Ecliptic’ in 2015, a concept piece in the style of a rock opera, pushing their boundaries even further than they’ve so successfully done on previous records. The band did two North American headline tours last year, and have set foot for another run in this part of the world this March-April, with support acts August Burns Red and Good Tiger, to present new material as well as to delve into the back catalog, deeper than they have on recent tours. Between The Buried And Me and Good Tiger visited Los Angeles for a gig at the Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood on Saturday March 19th, for an incredibly intimate evening enjoyed to the fullest by all in attendance. Continue reading “Between The Buried And Me & Good Tiger Perform At The Roxy”