Metal Reviews

Meh, par for the course (up here at least). The Garage in Glasgow is one of my favourite venues, even if it is a studenty shag market 6 nights a week.

WTF... I just found out that since I last checked, Skunk Anansie have reformed, released two new tracks, been booked to play in Leeds, and sold the venue out so I can't go see them

Just bought TSO tickets.

Behemoth is touring with Shining and Septic Flesh.

Jan. 07 - Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of the Living Arts
Jan. 08 - W. Springfield, VA - Jaxx
Jan. 09 - Raleigh, NC - Volume 11
Jan. 10 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade
Jan. 11 - Tampa, FL - State Theatre
Jan. 13 - Austin, TX - Emo's
Jan. 15 - Tucson, AZ - The Rock
Jan. 16 - Los Angeles, CA - House of Blues
Jan. 17 - San Francisco, CA - Slims
Jan. 18 - Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theater
Jan. 19 - Seattle, WA - El Corazon
Jan. 21 - Calgary, AB - Republik
Jan. 22 - Edmonton, AB - The Starlite Room
Jan. 23 - Regina, SK - The District
Jan. 24 - Winnipeg, MB - WECC
Jan. 25 - St. Paul, MN - Station 4
Jan. 26 - Chicago, IL - House of Blues
Jan. 27 - Cleveland, OH - Peabody's
Jan. 28 - Pittsburgh, PA - Mr. Smalls
Jan. 30 - New York, NY - Gramercy Theatre

Back to our regularly scheduled forum topic ..


Last night @ the Underground in Calgary

Augury
The Amenta
Warbringer
Decrepit Birth
Vader

Augury - Only caught half of these guys, but they seemed interesting. More progressive/melodic.

The Amenta - Industrial blastbeat with apocalyptic galactic siren synths droning over top. Add shoe polish make-up and grim evil facial expressions. I found them somewhat difficult to listen to, but they may not be my cup of tea. Tight.

Warbringer - Apparently their drummer was stopped at the border, so a guitarist had to fill in. They were energetic, the circle pit was going, but I found their delivery somewhat wanting. Still a few notches from A-list.

Decrepit Birth - Incredibly talented band. Super tight and technical, understood every note. Picked up their CD, had a brief chat with the singer who is a really nice enthusiastic guy. Highly enjoyable.

Vader - Holy shitballs, these guys are good live. Regardless of whether you think they are unoriginal, some serious headbanging and moshing was going on. At one point the singer got pissed off at a stage light and smashed the bulb with his guitar. Crowd was into it, doing several "Vader!" chants. Worth it.

Might be seeing that tour on Sunday.

SO

Last night I was supposed to see Motorhead, but I was a fool and left buying the ticket too late.

Tomorrow, I was supposed to see Dio, but Ronnie is in hospital and the tour is cancelled.

Sunday I was supposed to see Slayer, but the tour has been postponed because of Araya's back surgery.

Total gig fail.

At least there's some good local (and local-ish) bands playing tonight.

Wondering if I should go see Vader, Decrepit Birth and Augury tonight.

Reasons why you wouldn't?

No real reason. I stayed at home and played guitar and watched hockey instead. Didn't feel like interacting with people today.

Next week Shining, Satyricon and Dark Fortress in Antwerp.

Seeing Protest The Hero and Propagandhi tonight. Hoping Propagandhi keep the militant vegan beer-spilling rants to a minimum.

So Protest The Hero had to cut their set down and Propagandhi came on so late I had to leave before they even came on. Fail.

why did that all happen? that sucks...

Last week @The Warehouse in Calgary

Lazarus
Blackguard
Ensiferum

Lazarus was a fairly straightforward thrash outfit, with mostly generic riffs although some stood out. They were tight and enthusiastic, which makes a big difference.

Blackguard is an extreme outfit from Montreal who claim to play folk metal. Although the keyboards followed a folk melodic structure, nothing else about the band is very folkish, mostly sounding like epic black metal to me. The members are talented, the singer has a great scream, and the drummer is hot. I enjoyed watching them live, although their recordings somehow don't live up to their live performance.

Hypocrisy didn't make it because of issues at the border (again). This is getting ridiculous. Fuck the Canadian border police.

Last was Ensiferum, who were a bit of a letdown. I suppose when you have that much production going on in a CD a letdown live is inevitable, but there were some specific problems. The main problem is the snare sounds like a tin can and the constant tinny whack-whack-whack is annoying. Secondly, the singer was average. Sorry, his black/death/whatever vox aren't up to snuff. I'm guessing Jari was better. Thirdly, their new material doesn't measure up to the old stuff. And finally, the 2 guys singing the viking choruses were kind of uneven, sometimes out of tune. The guitar playing was top-notch however, so I did enjoy the riffing. And they had a hot keyboard player lol.

Still need to get my Marduk ticket, plus Mastodon are playing Bristol so I need to get down there for that.

TSO last night. Guitar wankery for petty bourgeoisie. Alex Skolnick needs to do something better with his time. Playing Prelude to Madness without jumping into Hall of the Mountain King saddens me every year. The choreographed dancing needs to go too.

Eyehategod are coming through, not that familiar with them but I'm guessing they'll be worth a watch.

Saw the Karl Schwonik quartet, some dudes from Alberta, and they were awesome.

Gonna see Darkspace tonight, pretty cool!