Metal Assault: Gig Reviews

By Rosie Walker
(photos by Brian Wyner)

May 20th 2017, Mercury Ballroom, Louisville KY: It might surprise you how many treasures there are in the historic business district of Louisville, Kentucky. It’s on 4th street where you’ll find the magnetizing Mercury Ballroom. The seasoned building is a bright light for Louisville’s downtown with its key role in the South’s story. Built in 1928 for a Bourbon distribution company, you can really feel the history when you walk through its doors. This Kentucky gem now hosts some of the best heavy metal tours in the US. It was vacant for many years till Live Nation snatched up and reopened it as a venue in 2014. This piece of the past and its now first-class stage, is an ideal place to host the almighty Amon Amarth. Continue reading “All-Destroying Metal: Amon Amarth & Goatwhore bring US Tour to Louisville KY”

By Lisa Burke

May 20th 2017, The Regent, Los Angeles CA: Sometimes even the most peaceful types of people let their hair down and the venom shoot out of their souls. Sometimes this unnecessary rage is brought about from hearsay and past experiences that have little to no bearing on current or future events. Welcome to 2017 where we have the Politically Correct bystanders staring us down in whatever we do from presidential  beliefs to rockstar and heavy metal beliefs. In the land of black metal there have always been some odd tales in its history that range from slaughter to church burnings to other odds and ends, and so far this year I have seen two serious bands of this era get absolutely shit on in other towns for not a proven or factual reason when all they intended was to play a great show for their fans. Portland excels at jumping to premature conclusions and while you may or may not agree with what I’m about to say, both Marduk and Shining suffered their wrath due to their preconceived beliefs that may or may not have any bearing in reality.  As you may have already guessed, I attended the Regent Theater on Saturday May 20th 2017 to see a primarily black metal line-up with Sweden’s controversial headliner Shining, on tour with support from Revenge and Wolvhammer, with local openers Icon Of Phobos and Empyrean Throne. Continue reading “Black Metal Safe Space: Shining, Revenge & Wolvhammer perform at The Regent”

By Lisa Burke
(photos by Matt Nielson)

May 18th 2017, The Echoplex, Los Angeles CA: With some of Los Angeles’ more intimate venues closing as of late, where can you expect to find the best heavy metal shows these days? Well, there is always downtown and the sunset strip that seem to be holding stable ground, but also there is a very cool spot in Echo Park that has two venues attached to it along with serving some of the finest pizza around if you are into Two Boots southern style. The venue of course, if you are familiar, is the Echo and even larger Echoplex which have been taking on more metal shows recently. On Thursday May 18th 2017 I visited the Echoplex for headliners Pallbearer, along with support from Gatecreeper, and late add-ons Grand Lord High Master, replacing Venomous Maximus who had to drop off the tour last-minute. This was still a good line-up in its diversity which absolutely worked well as a unit. In my mind a metal show should be approached as a fashion runway collection where all the parts not only speak volumes for themselves, but also speak together as a cohesive unit despite the differences set in the individual pieces and parts. Continue reading “Worlds Apart: Pallbearer, Gatecreeper & Grand Lord High Master perform at Echoplex”

By Andrew Bansal
(photos by Robert De Anda)

May 18th 2017, House Of Blues, Anaheim CA: In a world where several aging metal bands are plying their trade solely because of the nostalgia factor they bring to attract people who used to listen to them “back in the day” and just want to hear the “classics”, it’s rare and refreshing to come across bands that have been in existence for three decades or more, yet are willing and daring enough to focus their effort and energy into writing and performing new music that does justice to their legacy and holds its own when compared to any of their best work of the past. Testament, Sepultura and Prong, without doubt, come under this category, each of them with latest releases that are beyond excellent. The three metal greats joined forces to translate the sheer strength of their new material into crushing live performances through an extensive 6-week North American tour in April-May 2017. In the final week of this run, they arrived at the new House Of Blues at the Anaheim Gardenwalk last Thursday May 18th, and packed the place to put on a concert to remember for a long time. Continue reading “Brotherhood of the Greats: Testament, Sepultura & Prong rock new House Of Blues Anaheim”

By Andrew Bansal
(photos by Chris Loomis)

May 10th 2017, City National Grove of Anaheim, Anaheim CA: March 27 2010 was the last time Swedish power metal kings HammerFall played a show in Southern California, at the House Of Blues Sunset Strip. Seven years have passed, the said venue no longer exists, and HammerFall have released three new albums in the interim. In 2017, diehard fans of the band were overflowing with unstoppable, uncontrollable excitement when a co-headline North American tour with Dutch symphonic metal band Delain was announced. The two bands brought their tour to the Grove of Anaheim last Wednesday May 10th, and metalheads from Orange County and surrounding areas gathered in large numbers to let the hammer fall on them. Continue reading “Hammer High: Anaheim Metalheads rejoice in Triumphant Return of HammerFall”

By Sebastian Vazquez

May 5th 2017, The Merrow, San Diego CA: It was the ending of a busy work week for many. On top of all, Cinco De Mayo fell on a Friday evening, and with that inspired some local metal folks to venture out and imbibe in San Diego’s finest. For this particular evening, one would have had to pick between two heavy metal outings, Soulfy at the Brick By Brick in Linda Vista or a local metal showcasing featuring top talent at The Merrow in Hillcrest. 

Fortunately for me and the 50-plus others that decided to take the gamble on the locals, we were treated with delight to discover that the lineup was stacked with quality bands. The No Name Gang, a metalcore band based locally, headlined the night with support from Los Angeles hard rockers Void Vator, San Diego’s speed metallers Vanguard, and Long Beach grungers The Unit. Continue reading “A Heavy Metal Cinco De Mayo with Void Vator”