Slayer

Heavy low-down: Metal Cats, Slayer's business years, new Behemoth, weekend shows & more

by Doug Moore

Kerry King of Slayer (more by Caroline Harrison)

Now that we’re in December’s not-terribly-icy-so-far clutches, things have finally begun to slow significantly on the heavy music front, but the newswire never goes cold! There was a lot to talk about this week, and some totally killer shows coming up this weekend — most notably, Canadian war metal horde Revenge’s two-night NYC debut at Saint Vitus, which starts tonight (12/6) with support from Abazagorath, Krieg, and Woe and which continues tomorrow (12/7) with support from Masoleum, Engorge, and Mutilation Rites. We celebrated this rare event with a war-themed East Village Radio show.

Here’s some other stuff you might’ve missed:

This was an unusually busy week for music videos in the metal world. We debuted two: a Deicide video at Invisible Oranges and a Rabbits video here at BV. High on Fire popped one out too, and Watain tried their hands at the form for the first time. (Converge posted a teaser video for their upcoming Live at the BBC 7″, if that counts.) But Behemoth won out easily, both with the quality of the video and of the accompanying song, which heralds their first new LP since 2009.

We also had some face time with big names: we interviewed Dave Vincent of Morbid Angel and Joakim Stermer of Necrophobic over at IO, plus some extensive thoughts regarding recent live performances by Slayer and Monster Magnet.

Some other odds and ends: Carcass, Gorguts and more will be on the road next year for the 2014 Decibel TourMetal Church, or what remains of them, announced a tour and a show at Vitus. Somewhat less-aged local phenoms Unlocking the Truth got their first taste of rockstar ad revenue. A ton of metal bands posed for photos with their cats at Obituary‘s behest for the benefit of feral cats in Tampa. And we ran down all the new metal releases that are fit to buy, as we do weekly.

Some other noteworthy shows this weekend: Negative Approach & the Casualties at Europa on Friday; Valkyrie with Sinister Haze & HASJ at the Acheron on Friday too; Cop Problem w/ Passage & Capacity at Acheron on Saturday (12/7); & Zevious, Hyrrokkin, and Pants Exploder at Union Pool on Sunday (12/8). Keep an eye on our snazzy NYC metal show calendar for your heavy show needs. It rules.

Anything missing?