‘Orphaned’ No Longer
Event Date: March 8, 2010
Venue: B. B. Kings Blues Club
Bands: Orphaned Land, Suidakra, Gwynbleidd
I’ve seen a lot of bands over the course of my metal reporting years (as brief a time as it has been), and very few of them I would classify as “must-see”. I must say that Orphaned Land has turned out to be one of those must-see bands.
So, I like the Bee Gees?
Show date: April 3, 2009
Venue: B.B. King’s Blues Club and Grill, NY
Bands: Brendon Small and the School of Rock All Stars, Tragedy, Misstallica
Tragedy. Entertainment Factor -- Check!
Another Friday night spent at good old B.B. King’s, yet again hosting a night of peculiar musical stylings of combination comedy and metal.
The evening opened with a Q&A with Brendon Small. A small crowd of fervent admirers pelted him with questions which he answered informing and abusing simultaneously. Read more »
Wacken 2009 Info
I’ve got the golden tickeeeeet! And I hope you do too, because Wacken 2009 is SOLD OUT and if you still want to go you will have to deal with E-bay. This year is Wacken‘s 20th in the metal business, and also my third partaking of said metal. I wrote up some sort of an update or list every year, so I think I’ll stick to that. You can check out previous articles (links are at the bottom), but the most updated links and info will be here. Read more »
Cradle of Filth Brings Hundreds of Fans to Times Square
Show date: February 25, 2009
Venue: Nokia Theatre, NY
Bands: Cradle of Filth, Satyricon, Septic Flesh
“No, we’re not all waiting for The Lion King,” I told a little old lady clutching her husband’s arm and looking warily at an enormous line of leather clad, spike-covered, black-eyeliner-smeared Cradle of Filth fans. It took close to an hour to get into the venue, but thankfully the Nokia Theatre accommodated the huge number of attendees and started the show a half an hour later than scheduled. Good thing too, or I would have had to kick myself stupid for missing Septic Flesh.
from septicflesh.net
Music with That Human Element: How I learned of Swallow The Sun
Show date: February 15, 2009
Venue: Highline Ballroom, NY
Bands: Soilwork, Darkane, Warbringer, Swallow The Sun
Björn "Speed" Strid on vocals
I always think of bands as combinations of musical talent that create music which I love, but I never really try to get to know them or see them as regular people. This outlook can’t change overnight, but the process began when I saw Swallow the Sun, Warbringer, Darkane, and Soilwork.
d42 and I were a little late (my fault for thinking a cross town bus is in any way an effective mode of transportation) and therefore missed the beginning of the Swallow the Sun set. It only took a few songs for this Finnish melodic death metal band to become one of my favorites, however. And a few songs is all they played, because I believe I heard what must have been a part of “Losing the Sunsets / Plague of Butterflies / Evael”. This one song is technically over a half hour long. The Plague of Butterflies EP is their latest effort. Read more »
Samael Gets Your Attention But Amorphis Owns Your Soul
Tomi Joutsen of Amorphis
Show date: September 29, 2008
Venue: B.B. King’s Blues Club & Grill
Bands: Amorphis, Samael,
Lately my music cravings have been sated exclusively by men from cold harsh climes, generally famed for their inapproachability and cruel mythology. I was understandably excited about Samael and Amorphis joining up to play B.B. King’s on the 29th of September. D42 concurred and accompanied as per usual.
I have a bit of a history with Samael. They played Wacken Open Air 2007 and from the shivering depths of my tent I heard the strains of distortion and glottal fry of Vorph. I couldn’t force myself out that night and when my sudden tentmate woke me up at 3am to tell me how good a show I missed a seed of discontent was planted. Surely, seeing Samael open for Amorphis in a small venue in NY isn’t as awe inspiring an experience as seeing them on a German battleground at 2am with thousands of rabid metalheads, but I still felt a little better. There is a large portion of my music worshipping being dedicated to the industrial sound, which is why I’m still babbling about this Swiss ensemble of black, doom, and above all industrial metal.
Amorphis, hailing from icy Finland, was new to me. I knew in my heart of hearts that I blasphemed by not getting their music earlier, but somehow I just let them slip through my fingers until now. With Tomi Joutsen on vocals they offer not only the death metal screech or growl, but also clean vocals, which admittedly is manna to my ears in the usual discordant mess of music that I subject them to. Read more »
Death Angel Will Thrash You
This review is presented to you through the joint efforts of ETL and Dazvsemir, the keepers of B.B. King’s lore. Photo’s credit to Dazvsemir, excluding Death Angel pics which were shot by ETL at great peril to her life.
Mark Osegueda of Death Angel
Dazvsemir: In Thrash We Trust, June 11th, 2008 opened with Martyrd once again attempting to increase their local fan base. From what I heard, they performed just as well as I had heard them in the past. Despite this, Martyrd’s guitarist Dan Agapitos informed that they sounded “like crap” due to technical problems. The sparse crowd, on the other hand, seemed to be as entertained when Martyrd last performed at B.B. King’s.
ETL: I got Martyrd hugs and commended them on their performance without admitting that I was in no way a reliable witness since we showed up just late enough to miss them. Still, the guys seemed hyped and I saw them flying through the crowd for the rest of the show. Read more »
‘Martyrd’ at the feet of ‘Testament’
Testament greets their legions
After many months fate brought me, once again, to B.B. King’s for another evening of excitement and metal. It seems like it’s been forever since I was last at a metal show, but the night of April 6, 2008 was not to be missed for any reason. The legendary thrash metal band Testament has returned to New York City and has brought with them all the power and…oh, wait…let’s start from the beginning.
The first band of the night was a local band from Queens with a penchant for old school thrash. Martyrd blends an old school thrash sound with new school vocals and with classic extended guitar solos. Lead by the impressive guitar work of Queens native, Mike Stylianou, Martyrd has been on the scene since 2003 normally playing small venues such as The Crazy Donkey in Farmingdale or The Lion’s Den in Manhattan. This was their biggest show to date, drawing an impressive audience, even by opening band standards. The overall crowd response was positive as Martyrd supplied the thrash appetizer to what would be Testament’s entrée. “The general consensus from our guys was that it was one of our best shows…”, says Stylianou, “we were all really amped to play with Testament…We worked really hard selling our tickets, and [we] practiced a lot…In the end it paid off.” Martyrd will be playing again at B.B. King’s on June 11th with God Forbid and Death Angel on the last stop of the IN THRASH WE TRUST TOUR, and also the TMT Metal Fest in upstate New York, so head out and catch this budding group of Metallers. Read more »
‘UnexpecT’-ed Surprises at Sonata Arctica
The night of September 30th turned out to be a night of surprises at B.B. King’s Blues Club & Grill. Sonata Arctica was in town once again, and although they were the reason I attended, they weren’t the highlight of the evening. I was flying more blind than usual where general knowledge or a deep appreciation of the bands went but that turned out to be a bit of a blessing. It was the start of a night that will not be soon forgotten.
First on stage was a little-known band called UnexpecT. Hailing from Montreal, Quebec, Canada this not so little band blew me away right from the start. They have such a unique sound that my knowledge of metal wasn’t up to par in the arena of classification. The almighty Wikipedia describes them as,
”avant-garde extreme metal…with a unique amalgamation of completely different styles of music, including black metal, death metal, metalcore, progressive metal, melodic heavy metal, European Classical music, opera, medieval music, gypsy music, electro, ambient, noise, circus music, and jazz.”
Losing My Wacken Virginity (part 2 of 2)
Lots of pictures and lots of words. Part 1 is equally dangerous, so consider your browser warned. And now back to your regularly scheduled Wacken.
03.08.07 Friday At 6am I was awakened by loud death metal someone was blasting nearby. I pissed and went back to sleeping bag until 9am. Thankfully found pain pills. Unfortunately, there were only two left.
On this third morning at Wacken people seemed less interested in each other. There is really no sleeping late, although naps through the day are very doable. We were all up at about 9:30am, but we were all sullen, and I personally shook a bit with hangover. The .7 liter bottle of whiskey was grievously short of being even a 10th full.
I officially evicted Brett later in the day after he confessed to having have pissed in the tent. He used a cup, and promised that he didn’t miss at all while doing this in total darkness next to my sleeping form, but I still felt that he would be better off with his British friends. Read more »
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