photos by Taylor Keahey and Sarah Coulter, words by BBG

"Pentagram was very solid last night. Too bad the crowd was a bunch of hipsters with no respect." -graveyarns

"A lot of dudes with a Hipster Metal Parking Lot look at the Pentagram show. Might need to trip some of them." -Mr. Dave Hill

Pentagram @ Mezzanine (by Taylor Keahey)

"The headliners for the Power of the Riff fest were none other than doom legends Pentagram. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from them as Victor Griffin hasn't been in the band for a long long time and they've had a revolving door of musicians for quite some time now. Also, I wasn't very into their latest comeback album Last Rites, so I was a tad skeptical I would enjoy their performance. The one thing I did know was that I was more than ready for Victor to lay down some serious doom riffage. They opened with new song Treat Me Right off their latest and right away sounded fantastic. Bobby Liebling's voice has certainly held up over the years and he was belting out classics like Relentless, Forever My Queen and All Your Sins like they were going out of style. Victor's evil riffs rained down upon the crowd who eagerly lapped them up and were thirsting for more after each song. For the encore they came out with The Ghoul before finishing with two more before letting the audience catch their breath. As for my skepticism, it was smashed to bits and a serious appreciation for what they've meant to doom and metal in general was cemented in me with their performance. I hope Pentagram continues on down the dark path for a while more...." [ILSYDHT]

The Power of The Riff "tour" has now come to a close after a pair of dates in Seattle at Neumo's on 8/18 and The Highline on 8/20. You saw pictures from the Los Angeles show and from Elbo Room in San Francisco. Now here is a set of pics from the third west coast date which took place at the Mezzanine in San Francisco on August 16th with Aeges, Baptists, Early Graves, Masakari, John Cobbett, Alpinist, Pelican, and Pentagram. They continue below.

Pentagram is now touring the East Coast with Jeff The Brotherhood and Valient Thorr. That tour hit Le Poisson Rouge last night with ELKS. Pictures from that NYC show are on the way. Meanwhile check out Power of the Riff below...

Continue reading "Power of the Riff in San Francisco in pics (Pentagram, Pelican, Early Graves, Masakari & more)"

by BBG

John Cobbett, always METAL.

Ludicra's current tour (which impacts NYC on 4/18 at Europa with Krallice, Castevet, and Atakke - tix) is dubbed the Decancellation Tour in honor of their desire to soldier on post Mayhem's cancellation. And even though adversity has again reared it's ugly head, Ludicra is soldiering on...

As the tour began, the second day in the tour, guitarist John Cobbett (also the mastermind in HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE of course) felt a pain in his stomach/abdominal area and it was revealed he had appendicitis and that his appendix had burst, along with having an abscess growing inside his body which, in a weird twist of fate, actually helped him. Prior to the tour, before the Pentagram show in SF which LUDICRA recently played, Cobbett felt the symptoms of such a sickness and went to get checked out. Even though he went to get checked out though, the ever reliable and helpful (sarcasm) doctors at San Francisco General Hospital simply dismissed it and told Cobbett there was nothing wrong with him.

So in Olympia WA, Cobbett had to be rushed to the emergency room to be tendered to. He is currently still in the hospital in Olympia and is awaiting word on the doctors of when he can re-join his band mates and is recovering really quickly. - Ludicra

The band's message continued below...

Continue reading "John Cobbett is in the hospital, but the Ludicra tour goes on (and Hammers of Misfortune sign to Metal Blade)"

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Hammers Of Misfortune - "Rats Assembly" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Hammers Of Misfortune - "Church of Broken Glass" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Ludicra - "One Thousand Wolves" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Ludicra - "In The Greeenest Maze" (MP3)

Hammers of Misfortune

Bay Area metal staples and two sides of the John Cobbett coin, prog-power-metal gods Hammers of Misfortune and blackened killers Ludicra, are hitting the road in August. On the EAST COAST. That's right, the pair have lined up an East Coast tour in August including an NYC date, August 11th, at Santos Party House! Ticket info is forthcoming, as well as (we hear) more dates as well.

Hammers of Misfortune dropped their double LP, Fields / Church Of Broken Glass, via Profound Lore/20 Buck Spin in the tail end of 2008. Ludicra's last release was 2006's Fex Urbis, Lex Orbis on Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles imprint.

John Cobbett, formerly of Slough Feg, has also contributed to Amber Asylum. Ampber Asylum has a new LP and recently dropped a new MP3.

Dates below....

Continue reading "Hammers of Misfortune & Ludicra - 2009 Tour Dates & MP3s"