Tag: metal

Slayer’s Final So-Cal Show at Five Point Amphitheater: The Most Insane Review I’ll Ever Write

Rob Shepyer May 15, 2018

Seeing Slayer from the front of the crowd is the most violent live music experience you can gamble your life on. And I’m not exaggerating, the risk is real, tangible. Most music bloggers covering this show didn’t choose to stand where I stood, inching forward with the crowd with some kind of unconscious death wish; probably because most music bloggers have more to lose. To sum up what a Slayer show that close to the band is like, I’ll make a World War II reference like the band does on the song “Angel of Death”, their closer of the night. The front row of a Slayer concert feels like being crammed into a train on its way to a death camp, only a band is playing. Everyone is squeezed so tightly into each other that they can’t move. There’s no step you can take back, forward, to the right or left, that could give your body any relief. You’re lucky if you can move your arms. Then suddenly, you’re violently pushed in every direction, colliding with the bodies beside you and falling into them but not falling over, if you’re lucky and God forbid you do, because those that fell

Morbid Angel at The Regent: A Lesson in Death

Rob Shepyer May 13, 2018

Morbid Angel is one of the longest reigning, pioneering, OG Flordia death metal bands still touring. If one were to make a list of the “Big 4” of death metal, one would have to place them in the the number 2 slot, only after Death. Having titled their records alphabetically, the band has already gotten to K with Kingdoms Disdained an album that scrapped their former lead singer and bassist David Vincent to reunite with Steve Tucker. Under the master guidance of guitarist and band leader Trey Azagthoth, this latest 2017 release is one of the most crushing and riveting albums in the entire universe of extreme music and for a first generation death metal band to have released it among all these young kids trying to reinvent the wheel of metal, is truly significant of Morbid Angel’s greatness and right to reign. related content: The Battle of The Bays: Obituary & Exodus Clash At Teragram Ballroom Church of the 8th Day hosted Morbid Angel at the Regent with three openers, each contributing to a night of ear-splitting insanity. The first of which was Voices of Ruin, strapped with spiked leather and growls of Herculean magnitude, the band’s sound was

From The Bay To L.A. Classic Metal Burns Bright: Hell Fire At Echoplex

Rob Shepyer April 20, 2018

With my recent concert-going escapades seemingly devoted to punk, in all its forms, it felt like I had forgotten my first love: heavy fucking metal. And, in attending the Echoplex’s Metal Monday showcase, it was as if the prodigal son had returned to church. In a sense, I mean this literally because the show was booked by Church of the 8th Day, Los Angeles’ most prolific metal promoter. On this, the day after the Christian sabbath, once the religious had gotten their fill of rest and ritual, it was time for the devils to come out and play; and those devils were Hell Fire. The opening band originated and hit close to home, Blade Killer, is a gem in the Los Angeles metal scene. Immediately, the frantic guitar-work of Jay Vazquez and Jonathan Rubio kicked in, backed by a pummeling flying V bass of Kelsey Wilson and the lighting fast, swagger-filled drumming of Peter Lemieux. The singer of the band, Carlos Gutierrez, harkens the greatest metal singers you can think of, both Iron Maiden singers Bruce Dickinson and Paul Dianno, at times. Seeing as the lead guitarist, Jonathan Rubio, was celebrating his birthday on this night, he didn’t hold back

When Words Fail To Describe A Band: Igorrr at the Echoplex

Rob Shepyer February 21, 2018

Intrigue is the best motivation to get your ass out and to a concert. Seeing a band you’ve been dying to see forever or being a super-fan and seeing your favorite band for the dozenth time are cool too, but never having listening to a band and only hearing a certain curious strain of hype around them, that’s the sweet-spot for a music blogger. Of all the bands I’ve ever seen, none have summoned up as many descriptors out of me as Igorrr and certainly “curiosity” is one of them. I first heard of the band from a podcast with Metal Blade Records owner Brian Slagel, the label notorious for introducing the world to a little band called Metallica. On that podcast, Slagel boasted that Igorrr was the newest band on his label that he was excited about and even he failed to describe the band with brevity. Hailing from France, a country that has only seen its biggest metal acts in the last two decades (Gojira and Alsace), what Igorrr does is combine almost every musical genre under the sun and pack it into an industrial-metal frame. As strange as that is to imagine (or maybe it isn’t these

Dusk At Midnight: Converge At The Regent Theater

Rob Shepyer January 27, 2018

Converge is not just a band to me, Converge is a concept. Fresh off the heels of one of 2017’s best releases in extreme music, the band embarked on a stacked tour with metal heavyweights Cult Leader and Sumac as openers. All three bands are worthy of headlining the Regent and the length of their sets reflected that reality. Converge is known for having some of the most violent shows of any band still playing. And to me, in regards to concerts, violence might as well be synonymous with excitement and greatness. Among the others to top the list of most violent audiences were that of Trash Talk and The Dillinger Escape Plan, each of those bands has something about their sound and presence that triggers a primal instinct within the listener. Converge’s sound encapsulates many harsh realities that their fans relate to. The crunchy guitars, bombastic machine-gun drums, and Jacob Bannon’s rabid doberman vocals all brew together to sound like emotional dysfunction, that hard knock street life, nihilism, betrayal, death, decay, and devastation. related content: Trash Talk, Ratking and Pangea: Slam Dance 101 At The Echoplex What people now know as metalcore, bands like Suicide Silence or Parkway Drive,

Ozzfest Rocks On But Can It Still Rage In 2017?

Lina Lecaro November 15, 2017

Heshers and head bangers are a loyal bunch, but metal ain’t exactly enjoying a mainstream moment in 2017, and it hasn’t for quite some time. With a few exceptions of Queens Of The Stone Age, Metallica and of course, the entirety of Europe where Metal still reigns supreme, the genre just isn’t recognized right now on U.S. radio or on U.S. charts, and this has made the current musical landscape feel really bland and wimpy and disposable to a lot of people (No, Foo Fighters are NOT metal). Heavy music still exists of course, and a lot of it feels as urgent as ever, but for the most part it’s a niche thing right now. related content: Black Sabbath And A Weeping Manboy At The Forum In L.A. I remember when things were different. When there was such a bounty of bombastic and aggressive bands on the scene, swaying the zeitgeist and stirring shit up, it was hard to keep track of them all. Their videos dominated MTV (before it was the Teen Mom channel), their records went multi-platinum (streaming didn’t exist yet) and they even graced the covers of popular music magazines (remember those?). There was so much heavy

Ministry Make Bid To Be Official ANTIFA House Band At San Diego Show

Danny Baraz August 6, 2017

It was FYF weekend in Los Angeles- a weekend in the summer in which Los Angeles is the center of the summer music festival world. Not to mention the swarming packs of virgins in San Diego for Comicon. So why then am I at the San Diego House of Blues, of all places, on the Friday of the first night of the festival in which one of my favorite musicians on the small list of all time greats that I have yet to see is performing? Well, Bjork IS a genius but seeing the Ho99o9 boys open for Ministry in one of my most cherished cities was just too good and intimate to pass up. So I hit up Eaddy, aka YetiBones a couple of weeks beforehand to see what was up and found out that it would also be his birthday on Friday, July 21st. It was so on. related content: FYF 2017 Steals Coachella’s Throne As So-Cal’s Premiere Festival related content: Ministry Make Ears Bleed at Punk Rock Bowling Club Show There were multiple story lines at play this evening. Aside from one of my well documented, favorite new bands playing with one of my favorite all time

Metallica At The Fonda: Best Thrash Band of All Time or CIA Asset?

Danny Baraz December 29, 2016

I got the text from Taylor Wong about a week prior. A text that would’ve gone without a shred of excitement or so much as a double take for as long as text messaging technology has existed. “Metallica is playing the Fonda Theater next Thursday.” But after the past few months of one new Metallica track after another being released on YouTube and jogging my consciousness and the very building blocks of my life’s history as a musician and song writer, I quickly started realizing that “Hardwired” was not a one off anomaly or lighthearted but isolated indulgence by the band that wrote “Fight Fire with Fire”, “The Thing That Should Not Be” and “The Four Horsemen.” Is the reemergence of Metallica just a part of the normal, cyclical nature of pop music or is it something more? Could it be that Metallica are covert CIA agents, penetrating the thoughts and emotions of fans to deliver into and infiltrate the sub-consciousness of fans as some type of clandestine alarm clock, coupled with fake news outlets like YourNewsWire and CNN to create a cloud of confusion and disinformation? The U.S. and U.K. both have a history of using the CIA and

Red Fang at Teragram Ballroom- Josh Allen

The Rise of Red Fang, The Hard Rock Resurgence & The Death of Nu Metal

Danny Baraz December 4, 2016

I went to see Red Fang at The Teragram Ballroom a couple of Sunday’s ago and all I can say is… Dayum! Red Fang, along with Torche and Whores lit up the best sounding venue in town like a Xmas tree. Both by inciting attendees to engage each others arms and elbows in a way that I’ve never seen at the young but formidable Teragram Ballroom and also, dialing in the sound to a miraculous display of live audio that was unprecedented to my ear holes. Every note, fret harmonic, hi hat hit and distorted gumbo of string rakes and 1/16th notes and drum rolls building to a fever pitch- a build up of sonic rhythms synonymous with that crash, chord, combo of controlled catastrophe that defines the end of every great rock song. That thing. That thing was as clear and defined to the naked ear as the most finely produced studio album I’ve ever heard. Clearer, in fact. I mean, without making this review about the sound at The Teragram Ballroom, it not only needs to be said but it needs to be over exaggerated, so as to relay just how perfect that room sounds. And… since I

Black Sabbath And A Weeping Manboy at The Forum in L.A.

Danny Baraz February 23, 2016

At a time when hippie kids were forming bands to sing about peace, love and flower power, Black Sabbath explored the occult, addiction and delivered the antithesis of popular culture. In the process, they gave so many marginalized outcasts of society a voice that spoke to their own disenfranchised existence. Freaks and misfits united under a common flag and scared the shit out of those who had always fit in. Can you imagine the bravery and despair required to write about the devil in a firmly Judeo-Christian world? Well before Kardashians wore Slayer t-shirts, skulls and black magic were a taboo topic amongst the proletariat. In the moments before Black Sabbath took the stage at The Forum in Los Angeles, I found myself fantasizing about being in my early 20’s in Birmingham in the late 60’s, resigned to a life in a factory for the next 40 years, going to a bar to drink my weight one pint at a time and seeing those neighborhood blokes Tony, Ozzy, Bill and Geezer playing a kind of music I had never heard before. Music NO ONE had heard before. Of course, once the music broke it REALLY broke and their seemingly nefarious

Mike Muir of Suicidal Tendencies by Josh Allen

No Rest ‘Till Knotfest

Alfonso Contreras November 3, 2015

It came, it went, and it fucking rocked socks off of every color. The festival brought along a roster of respectable new and old school heavy metal, rock, and hardcore bands that entertained the masses from noon into the dark hours of nightfall – and having a couple of highly popular hip hop acts thrown into the mix not only made the entire experience that much better but brought the entire festival in a direction not expected. For an old school metal/hip hop head like myself this was the absolute perfect Pre-Halloween treat! Day:1 The entrance line like at any other festival of this magnitude was as one would expect – long, dirty, drunk, and a show in it’s own right. Luckily for me, I got to stroll in right past the mob of overly excited fans and rolled on in on the Janky Smooth wagon and straight into the VIP/Press check-in area. Quick props to bossman Danny B. for the ultimate hookup. The entry gate was packed with an array of black tees, strange hairdos, and multi-oddball shave jobs. The age range stretched from youngsters and their parents to teens and seasoned heshers. The first day offered up the

High on Fire: Metal Madness at The Echoplex

Danny Baraz August 4, 2015

With a massive swell of approval around the release of their 7th studio album, Luminiferous in June, High on Fire was booked by FYF Presents at The Echoplex this past Friday. It was the second stop on a headlining tour that stretches through to the end of August- Pallbearer, Lucifer and Venomous Maximus joined them. I was torn between this show and Stiff Little Fingers playing the last ever punk show at The House of Blues on the Sunset Strip. Ultimately, I never really liked the House of Blues and it’s corporate vibes and bad parking. Since I saw Stiff Little Fingers a couple times at the end of 2014, I decided I would go see a sick Metal lineup at an independent venue that has it’s finger on the pulse of music. Bye Bye, House of Blues. Don’t let the door hit you on your way out. I made it into the Echoplex with enough time to order a drink before Pallbearer took the stage. The venue was completely sold out. There were metal heads as far as the eye could see. I cruised by the merch booth, which was moved to a space in the back of the