Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category

Local band Sicarii opened this show at the newly adapted Bogarts in Cincinnati, of course I missed them, but they are to record a new release in the upcoming weeks, prior to them hitting the road as an opening act for Exhorder (contact TME Productions for more info. on this).
www.reverbnation.com/sicarii666

Sicarii – “The Omega Tyrant”

The Devastated on Century Media Records hits the stage first, going into the show the only thing I knew about this band was they had ex-members of Oblige and Impending Doom, which makes them from California. The guitars were pretty good by Cory Johnson-(ex-Impending Doom), mostly the rhythms were repetitive though, and the singer, Greg Wilburn-(ex-Immortal Dominion), had this almost a rap thing getting ready to happen, didn’t like it at all totally turned me off. Sound was good and for the type of music their representing which I would place into the metal-core zone, it was kool,
www.myspace.com/thedevastated

Allegaeon from Colorado, are just fuckin bad-ass, tight as hell, and the guitars by Ryan Glisan and Greg Burgess are extreme and very technical. I appreciate how they add in some jazz influence into the guitars, I know the dude is working hard on the guitar riffing because he barely moved throughout the entire show-kinda like Jack Owens (ex-Cannibal/Deicide), which is a little boring ’cause it is a live show. The drummer, Jordan Belfast, is spot on, his set may not be the biggest, but if you know how to use one, it doesn’t have to be. If you haven’t checked out their new release on Metal Blade Records you should give it a try-”Fragments of Form and Function”. Some tunez they played: “The God Partical”. “Atrophy of Hippocrates”, “The Renewal,” “Cower Before Me”, & a couple others, overall very pleased to see them, liked the dual guitars, great melodic-death metal.
www.myspace.com/allegaeon

Allegaeon – “Biomech”

The Browning, from Texas, haven’t heard them before either, they were basically metal-core with an industrial/techno edge, really good vocals from As Blood Runs Black vocalist Jonny McBee. Their on Earache Records they released an ep called, “Time Will Tell” at the beginning of 2011. For something different check them out at.
www.myspace.com/thebrowningproject

Note: Newly Adapted Bogarts, they halved the venue with a curtain for shows with lesser attendance, running sound for these shows from a small area where the merch. is sold from-it is odd seeing a place that can hold 1500 people cut into a third of it’s size to accomodate smaller shows-but if that means the venue won’t close I’m for it-sound was better than a couple other bars/venues in the area-so all is good with me.

SkullCrusher/Angela

Louisville’s Headliners Musick Hall is where we caught the ‘To Hell with God Tour’-featuring of course, Deicide, Belphegor, Neuraxis, Black Guard, & Pathology. Pretty good crowd for a Monday in KY I would say at least 300. Headliner’s Musick Hall is a really kool place to have a show sound is usually really good there and the workers are kool.

First up Pathology from San Diego, supporting their release on Victory Recs. ‘Legacy of the Ancients’-really good release-they played in total no more than six tunez, took um a while to get their groove on put when they did Pathology killed! Black Guard-I can not tell a lie, can’t remember them at all, nothing too exciting about them.

Neuraxis from Canada, supporting their release on Prosthetic Records-’Asylon’ did a fuckin great job, the lead singer-Alex Leblanc-is a fuckin beast on stage his presence is overhelming. The Musick fuckin killed it-tight, great melodies, & technical guitarwork. They will soon be touring with Sepultura/Hate/Keep of Kalessin-looking forward to seeing them on that tour also.

Belphegor signed to Nuclear Blast Records-is touring in support of ‘Blood Magick Necromance’. So, I lucked out and got a complete set list-Intro in Blood-Devour this Sanctity, Hells Ambassador, Angeli Mortis De Profundis, Impaled Upon the Tongue of Sathan, Outro, Lucifer Incestus, In Blood Intro, Rise to Fall & Fall to Rise. I do wish they would have played ‘Justine Soaked in Blood’ but they did play it last time around so I can see why they didn’t maybe on their upcoming tour with Sepultura. Overall, Belphegor from Austria always a treat.

Last but never least, Deicide-’To Hell With God’ released on Century Media Records, always powerful & terrifically technical. They jammed out for over an hour, they had the whole place rockin’ to ‘Homage for Satan’, & more. Deicide has an awesome interview in the latest Decibel Magazine-chek it out if you get a chance. Til then keep killin, To the Death!

SkullCrusher/Angela

Columbus, Ohio has really shitty parking around the Newport Music Hall, so one must be very careful on where to park your car, so that is just a warning-cause you know how pigs (cops) are they see an out of state license plate and their all over it. Anywayz, it’s basically located in a college type area, with lots of youngsters about. The venue itself has been around for years, and is one of the best venues in Columbus, it is rather smallish I would say not more than 2000 max. Darkness Reborn Tour seemed to have about 400-450-in attendance.

Dawn of Ashes comes out all decked in the sickest customs, felt like I was on the set of a new Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie. Touring in support of their new release ‘Genocide Chapters’ on Metal Blade I’m not very familiar with their songs-their set was very theatrical they were not as industrial as this video shows them. Overall, they had a ghoulish appearance with a tinge of the metal core side thrown in, but were very entertaining.

Blood Red Throne
This was Blood Red Throne’s first tour in America, they are touring in support of their latest on Earache Records-’Souls of Damnation’. I was very excited to see them, they were excellent. Here are some of the trax they played: ‘Smite’, ‘The Light, The Hate’, ‘Taste of God’, ‘Chaos Rising’, ‘Arterial Lust’, & ‘Mephitication’. They played a very strong set guitars were brutal, great death metal! Look forward to seeing them again.

Enslaved
They were on fuckin fire that nite-I have seen Enslaved probably three or four times, but they were totally on cue and played extremely well. The only thing I didn’t like is the clear vox that were shall I say, sampled through-dude looks like he is singing it but I seen him move from the mic too many times with the vox still coming through-honestly I don’t like the clear vox so I would suggest totally dropping um live. Here are some trax they played:
‘Ethica Odini’, ‘Raidho’, ‘Fusion of Sense And Earth’, ‘Axioma’, ‘The Beacon’ & ‘Isa’. Chek out their latest on Nuclear Blast Recs-’Axioma Ethica Odini’.

Dimmu Borgir now hits the stage, they are touring in support of their latest on Nuclear Blast ‘Abrahadabra’ (which is a stupid name for a release) They were all decked out in their latest shamanistic attire, they always put on a good show, the strobe lights were the only real main factor that bothered me about their set-it is so irritating to watch a band when they are trying to blind you. Some of the trax they played were: ‘Xibir’, ‘Spellbound’, ‘The Chosen Legacy’, ‘IndoctriNation’, ‘Dimmu Borgir’, ‘Gateways’, ‘Born Treacherous, ‘A Jewel Traced Through Coal’, ‘The Blazing Monoliths of Defiance’, ‘Vredesbyrd’, ‘The Serpentine Offering’, ‘Puritania’, ‘Progenies of the Great Apocalypse’, & ‘Perfection Or Vanity’-I do wish they would have played more from “Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia” because that is my favorite release from them-but you can’t have everything.

SkullCrusher/Angela

Never been to the Phoenix Hill tavern before, it was huge, lots of different things going on karaoke, dj spot, nice tiki bar had local thrash bands playing, it was kool, so you go through some little gates to get to where Forbidden/Bonded by blood are playing-nice long bar against the wall, kind of a little stage in the front of the stage a little place for people to stand, and a larger area surrounded the stage with seats.

Evile & Gamma Bomb who were also on this tour didn’t show up cause they had a flat tire so it was just Forbidden and Bonded by blood. Bonded by Blood are touring in support of their thrash attack ‘Exiled to Earth’ on Earache Records. They played a lot of tunez from that release and they added in a Teenage Mutant Ninja cover and Bonded by Blood cover, which I was disappointed with because the singer didn’t know the words-why rip off another bands shit if you can’t even play the song-get it together boys.
Forbidden, it has been years, I was excited to see um, the singer has excellent vocals especially in studio on ‘Omega Wave’ their latest on Nuclear Blast, but they were a little weak live, missing some of the high notes, in my opinion ‘Omega Wave’ only has 3 good songs on it-’Omega Wave’, ‘Adapt or die’, & ‘Forsaken at the Gates’-they played all those songs, and a shorter version of ‘Chalice of Blood’ guitars were really good. Overall, I think once they get back into the swing of things they will get their mojo back.

SkullCrusher/Angela

Lecherous Nocturne kicked off this Saturday Nite Tour Package. Lecherous Nocturne is from South Carolina & are one bad ass live band-playing death metal with tinges of black metal on the guitars-the guitars reign supreme and driven by the thunderous blasts of a fuckin great drummer. Their latest release is “The Age of Miracles Has Passed” released on Unique Leader Records. Lecherous Nocturne is also scheduled to go with Rotting Christ/Melechesh/Hate/Abigail Williams March 2011. Sounds like an awesome tour package and a show I will be driven to see. You can’t pass up a chance to see these guys live, they put their all into their show.

Lecherous Nocturne Video-’Just War Theory’

www.myspace.com/lecherousnocturne

Abigail Williams was up next, the guitars & vox were set up on the floor of the venue, rendering it impossible to see them play. The stage is small at Uncle Pleasant’s and maybe they did this to have more room to play, the drummer was the only one you could see clearly-cause he was on the stage. They played 3 songs-which were mid to slow paced black metal. They gave me a couple of reasons why they don’t have a keyboard player on tour with them at the moment, so I tend to believe the version that when they were scheduled to play Europe last as an opening act for Arch Enemy, the last chic they had on keyboards bailed on it, so they play on without one & have samples patched through of the keyboards. I do wish they still had the female keyboardist in the band just to give them more appeal live than a sample, I really don’t like keyboards in my black metal at all-that is part of Abigail Williams sound though. They are set to do an awesome tour package in the USA next yr beginning in Virginia at Jaxx Niteclub (March 9th, 2011) with Rotting Christ/Melechesh/Hate/Lecherous Nocturne. Abigail Williams has a new release out called ‘In the Absence of Light’ on Candlelight Recs.

www.myspace.com/abigailwilliams

Vader one of the best bands in the underground scene, established ’89-always play their heart out and give you a show to remember. The sound at Uncle Pleasant’s is questionable at times, Vader seemed to be on the lower end of the volume to me-they could’ve been louder, it is METAL! Uncle Pleasant’s is set in a residential neighborhood & is just a small venue/bar with a stage about 2 feet off the floor, and a shitty sound guy-though he wasn’t that bad last nite. Vader played; ‘Sothis’, ‘Black to the Blind’, ‘Reborn in Flames’, ‘Vision & the Voice’, ‘Wings’, ‘Devilzer’ & more. Vader will be ending their USA tour soon then it’s the South American tour in November. Vader also has plans to start recording another full length release, which has the working title of ‘Return to the Morbid Reich’ currently.

www.myspace.com/vader

Immolation New York’s finest death metal band. Immolation is like so incredible live, the energy they bring into a room once they start playing is overpowering. Ross Dolan was right on mark & got the crowd into the set. Robert Vigna definitely one of the most talented guitarist’s the scene has to offer, was as evil as ever. Watching Immolation live is entrancing, their sound is eminent and awesome. Some of the tunes, Immolation played was; ‘Father, You’re Not a Father’, ‘Immolation’, ‘World Agony’, ‘A Thunderous Consequence’, ‘The Comfort of Cowards’. Their latest release ‘Majesty & Decay’ is in my top ten of 2010-if you haven’t cheked it out yet you should get on it. Looks like they will start their Euorpean tour on November 5th at a Metalfest in Denmark-chek out all their tour dates at: www.myspace.com/immolation

SkullCrusher/Angela

Immolation ‘Harnessing Ruin’

Mobile Death Camp from Toledo, OH very kool thrash band, former member of GWAR is in their band-Beefcake-guitars-Boe was very kool and gave me a cd and I will fer sure be getting that on. Their was a problem with the sound guy getting the vocals loud enough for a couple of bands so by the end of their set that was fixed. Overall, pretty kool to hear them play.

Infernaeon from Florida was up next, killer guys love their attitude, their latest is out on Prosthetic Recs. I know I have played it but most likely not enough-death/black mix with tinges of keyboards thrown in-I thought by the time they had reached their third song-’Creeping Death’ that they had gotten warmed up, and their last song was really good-once again the vocals were screwed up by the soundguy at bogarts-so maybe they should think about another soundguy there. Love their new release, you should chek it out.

The Casualities-punk, they did a Ramones cover that I liked a lot ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ other than that I thought they would have been a little better, but they were pretty repeatous, I was very excitied to see them,excitede hair they have been rockin’ to forever, I didn’t get into them too much-I can not tell a lie.

GWAR driven by blood and the murder of all the human race, had arrived to the stage, they were awesome as usual. I have probably seen GWAR 8-10 times. Love the Lady GaGa skit, Sarah Palin skit, most of all I love the machine gun of blood, oh and how could I forget the penis of blood-I love how he so generously sprays you with his penis blood, (just hope he doesn’t have a communicable diease-haha).
Overall, it was disease time for all, enough blood spread around for everyone. ‘Bloody Pit of Horror’ will be released soon, so be on the look out for their release, and this tour they are out on now is a three month long tour so chek out their dates you fer sure want to see um and have a bloody good time!

SkullCrusher/Angela