photos by Di Lynn Ring

Cynic @ Gramercy Theater

The inaugural Metal SuckFest had its final night on Saturday at Gramercy Theater (11/4) with a headlining appearance from Cynic, and support from Obscura, The Red Chord, 3, Fight Amp, Rosetta, Scale The Summit, Last Chance To Reason, A Life Once Lost and Ultrageist. Pictures from the show (none of Ultrageist) are in this post.

Before the show (on 11/2), Cynic headed to East Village bar Idle Hands to play an intimate acoustic show in celebration of their new EP Carbon-Based Anatomy. Check out an interview taken at that appearance, their Gramercy setlist as well as more pictures from the whole Gramercy show (night one HERE), below...

Continue reading "Metal Suckfest @ Gramercy --- night 2 pics, more Cynic dates"

Red Chord/Trap Them/ Gaza photos by Brian Reilly, Kvelertak/Zoroaster by Taylor Keahey, words by BBG

Trap Them in NJ

The Red Chord, Trap Them, and Gaza played The School of Rock in South Hackensack, NJ on Friday (3/11) on the road to SXSW where each band will play a BV event, Trap Them & The Red Chord play Full Metal Texas on 3/17 and Gaza are playing Lovejoys on 3/18 with Ringworm, Wormrot, Magrudergrind, many others. Pictures from the NJ show are in this post

Also on 3/11, but on the other side of the U.S., another participant in Full Metal Texas, Kvelertak, made it into the country and played their first US show at Thee Parkside in San Francisco, CA. Pictures of them and tourmates Zoroaster (unfortunately none of Weedeater) are below.

As you can see in the pictures below, founding bassist Brent of Zoroaster is not on board as part of the current trek. Creative Loafing has more on his absence:

In February, stoner metal stalwarts Zoroaster announced that they were embarking on U.S. and European tours without bassist and founding member Brent Anderson. Although no one involved will divulge any details surrounding the temporary split, it's being characterized by the band as a case of tough love. "The future of Brent and Zoroaster is up to him," drummer Dan Scanlan says. "We felt that he needed to take some time to get his personal affairs in order."

Scanlan adds that Anderson has not been kicked out of the band, but his reinstatement depends on how things look for him when the group's schedule slows down in June.

In the meantime, Scanlan and guitarist Will Fiore have recruited Whores' drummer Travis Owen to fill in playing bass on the road.

Speaking of Full Metal Texas, we're happy to announce that Fireball Whisky is on board as a sponsor (free drinks). Another FMT sponsor, March is Metal Month, is giving away a downloadable comp from bands like Wormrot, Hour of 13, Deicide & others, and while you're there check out some records that are currently on sale as part of March is Metal Month.

Trap Them's smashing new LP, Darker Handcraft, is out now via Prosthetic. Stream the entire thingon NPR.

More pictures and all dates below...

Continue reading "Trap Them, Red Chord, Gaza, Kvelertak & Zoroaster played shows on 3/11, on way to SXSW (pics & dates)"

by BBG

It's a good thing that Nate Johnson has minty fresh breath!

Much like Shrinebuilder did, The Red Chord added a NYC show (and in their case, a date at New England Metal & Hardcore Fest) in the wake of their European tour cancellation. That show took place in Brooklyn on 4/25 at Public Assembly alongside the return of the fantastic Premonitions of War (with Nick Hale who recently toured with Burnt By The Sun), as well as sets by upstart bludgeoners Tiger Flowers and the riffy punks Descender.

Pics and some video from the 1000Knives/BrooklynVegan grind-fest, as well as current tour dates, are all below.

Continue reading "The Red Chord, Premonitions of War, Tiger Flowers & Descender @ Public Assembly in Brooklyn - pics & video"

words by BBG, photos by Samantha Marble, BBG

Jesse of Tiger Flowers sings a lovely duet (pic by BBG)

I was already beyond excited about the NYC return of Premonitions of War at Public Assembly with the unreal Tiger Flowers and Descender. That lineup alone is worth a Sunday night (4/25). But NOW, BrooklynVegan and 1000Knives present our latest addition to the show.... THE RED CHORD! Blame it on Volcanofail 2010. The Red Chord was scheduled to be in Europe with Rotten Sound, Aborted and Those who Lie Beneath but are obviously stranded(?) in the US for the time being. Their loss, our GAIN.

For Tiger Flowers it will be their second NYC show in six days. The Tiger Flowers/Khann tour hit Lit Lounge on 4/19, teaming with My America and Pharoah (ex-The Banner) for a well rounded night of dissonant hardcore, ebullition style spazzy screamo, and am-rep punk bludgeoning. Jarboe was also supposed to play the show, but she got stuck in Italy (tonight's show at Union Pool is also now cancelled).

Even though 2/3 of My America reside two states away from NYC (in Delaware), the band always seems well rehearsed and fantastic live. Start-stops are done on a dime, and My America's take on noise rock is absolutely essential for fans of Young Widows, Shellac, Black Cross, Lords, and many others. Check them out on 5/28 when the band plays Union Pool with Ken Mode, Engineer, and the newly added Rosetta (!!!) as part of a BV/1000 Knives Presentation.

Khann from Orlando have a new record on the way via Black Market Activities, and the band had some serious riffs to back their spazzy ebullition-style screamo. Vocalist Ben zigged-and-zagged around the basement, spazzing out and landing smack on the floor quite a few times - when he wasn't barreling his way through the crowd. Tons of intensity from these guys.

Tiger Flowers delivered their most brutal performance ever at Lit, absolutely pummeling the crowd with their dissonant, noise-ridden take on hardcore. Vocalist Jesse was a maniac: bleeding all over the basement, attempting to crowdsurf (Lit has some low ceilings - not a good look), swinging from ceiling pipes, screaming in audience members' faces, jumping off of tables/chairs/the kick drum, all while belting it out and not missing a beat. Behind Jesse, the instrumental portion of the band was tight as ever, showing that their recent stints on the road have made them a machine. Make sure and catch them on SUNDAY at Public Assembly (with The Red Chord - see above!).

Unfortunately, Samantha and I both missed Pharaoh, so no pictures of them, but more pictures of the other bands at LIT (warning, not for the faint of heart), below...

Continue reading "The Red Chord added to Sunday NYC show (!) w/ Premonitions of War & Tiger Flowers (who just played Lit - pics) "

NYC photos by Chris La Putt, Philly photos by Diana Zadlo

Gwar @ Irving Plaza in NYC Sunday

At most metal shows, the dress code is "none more black." At GWAR shows, however, if your shirt isn't covered in blue blood and green bile, you weren't really at a GWAR show, were you? The group of intergalactic badasses, led by vocalist and Fox News' Red Eye's interplanetary correspondent Oderus Urungus, always bring a hellishly good show with them, where no human goes unsacrificed. GWAR brought their freak show to the Gothic Theatre on November 11 in support of Lust in Space, and global destruction almost materialized.

...Most GWAR concerts and albums are based around a story, and this time, GWAR are forced to once again combat Cardinal Syn, from the Ragnarock album. Cardinal Syn is an evil Catholic robot on a quest to homogenize the universe and turn GWAR into a Christian rock band. Complicating matters was that Oderus Urungus has lost the Cuttlefish of Cthulhu, either because he left it in the ass of a transvestite or a clerical error in Tulsa, Oklahoma (crack affects your memory, you know.) As a result, he was forced to use a human penis to perform such daily tasks as raping babies and forcing members of the audience to give fellate him. In the end, however, Cardinal Syn went down and GWAR scored themselves a boulder of crack. Overall, the story wasn't as tight-knit as the stories from the Beyond Hell and election tours ("Hilary Clinton" getting her tits ripped off is still one of my favorite GWAR moments), but it was still entertaining to see a Catholic robot get his ass kicked. -[Crustcake]

The spaceship has left for parts unknown. Gwar finished up a month long tour (which included Gothic Theatre in Denver, discussed above) with a string of east coast dates which concluded at Irving Plaza in NYC on Sunday (12/13), with a show in Philly at the Electric Factory one night before that. Pictures from both shows adorn this post. Support for the dates included Job For A Cowboy and The Red Chord, who recently dropped their highly celebrated LP Fed Through the Teeth Machine.

Tons more pics and some video from the band when they hit Fuel TV are below...

Continue reading "Gwar played Irving Plaza (NYC) & the Electric Factory (Philly) - pics from both shows "

Baroness @ Bowery Ballroom - 11/20/2009 (more by Tim Griffin)

BBG will publish his own list of the best metal albums of 2009, but in the meantime here's what Decibel Magazine had to say:

Continue reading "Decibel's Top 40 Metal Albums of 2009 "

by Black Bubblegum

Both Coliseum and Baroness have announced separate tours with before they hit the road with Converge/The Red Chord/Genghis Tron. Baroness will be joined by Young Widows (who recently signed to Temporary Residence) for their new Kurt Ballou-produced LP (does he produce everything?) and will be in NYC to open the Dalek/Russian Circles show @ Mercury Lounge. Now if we can only convice Evan Patterson to persuade his brother Ryan to play a Coliseum date in NYC soon..... All dates below...

Continue reading "Converge, Red Chord, Genghis Tron, Coliseum, Baroness, Young Widows, Russian Circles... - updated 2008 Tour Dates"