Concert Report: Deicide, Abigail Williams, Jungle Rot, Lecherous Nocturne

I first read about the "March of Death" tour last year and was equal parts instantly excited and impressed with the line up including the legendary Deicide as well as quality younger American black metal act Abigail Williams.

This past Wednesday the 28th was the New Orleans date, the second to last show of the tour. Prior to leaving, I had heard some rumblings that Glenn Benton would not be appearing at the upcoming show, but I scoured the web and even checked the website for the venue before we left and show was still a go. Despite the meager money in our pockets, my friend and I embarked on our trip.

As my friend was fueling up up at a gas station in Gulfport, Mississippi he was approached by a young hispanic couple both appearing in their early twenties carrying a cardboard sign that read "Headed West." Being the stand up individual my friend is, he takes them back to our car where we agree to take them to New Orleans. This couple was from Miami, Florida and had decided to see the country just for the hell of it.

After dropping off the couple near the historic French Quarter in downtown New Orleans, we head to the Hangar with about 15 minutes until doors open. We arrive at the venue and notice that the usually filled street is practically barren. Approaching the venue, I saw four individuals standing in front of the front door.

They informed us that Deicide had cancelled the show. We were devastated. Cancelled? But Why? Curse you Jehovah!!!!! All of the people standing outside were fans, so this next part could be entirely untrue or totally true. Of the two explanations that I was given, the most plausible was that Glenn Benton had gotten food poisoning and since there were only three shows left on the tour(apparently the last show was cancelled too) they decided to cancel the few remaining dates. Bummer, but understandable. The second explanation was that Decide had arrived at the venue and was not impressed and refused to play and left. I was unable to speak to anyone who works at the Hangar to confirm any of these claims.

Dejected, broke and with a long car ride home, we did the only thing two bummed out metal heads could do, HEAD TO BOURBON STREET!!

With the fans of the teams playing in the Final Four in town, Bourbon was quite busy for a Wednesday night and provided lots of entertainment the way only New Orleans can deliver. So, sorry, no real concert report here, just one massive wrong made right with whiskey and Bourbon (St.).

Watch a piano cover of Mastodon's "Leviathan" album

So. usually when we get a cover of something, it's usually one song. So imagine my surprise when I was browsing through the internet and lo and behold I stumble upon a link to youtube user jsabbott0's piano cover of an entire album, Mastodon's "Leviathan. This album being covered also happens to be one of the most popular and critically acclaimed metal records of the past 10-15 years which helped launch the career of  Mastodon, a band who also happens to be one of the most popular and critically lauded metal groups to come out in a long time, even mainstream mags like Rolling Stone dig Mastodon.

So check out the incredible work done by this man whose genius is made even more apparent by the fact that he did this whole cover in one take. Nice!

Concert Report:Trivium w/ Parabellum Pensacola, Fl

Following up on their 2009 promise to return to Pensacola(after Trivium was well received as part of Slipknot's "All Hope is Gone Tour" 2009),Trivium headlined a one-off show with local self dubbed swamp metal outfit Parabellum providing opening support for what was to be a raucous night of entertainment for all present.



There was a local band Rainey's Revenge, but being the judgmental prick that I can be sometimes, I looked at their name and decided they weren't worth my time(Sorry RR). Parabellum kicked things off for all intents and purposes and despite being a band that I have seen play on NUMEROUS occasions, they delivered a set list packed with riffs reminiscent of Sabbath. Parabellum is capable of trudging along with the signature doom funeral march pace while at the same time having the ability to play some catchy southern rock and blues influenced stylings which keeps them from getting boring. The local crowd was quite receptive to their local brothers just as they should always be, because Pensacola can do alot worse than Parabellum(not that parabellum is bad, at all) and they usually do(the scene kids run rampant, skinny jeans and bandannas hanging out of pockets galore) so it was quite nice to seem such a nice crowd for the opening act as well and not just for the headliner. (7/10)

Trivium then took the stage much to the delight of the couple of hundred people who gathered at the Vinyl music hall that night in downtown Pensacola. Opening with the title track from their latest release "In Waves," Trivium clearly played a show to appease the die hard fans fans, filling their set list with a ton of tracks from their fan favorite "Ascendancy." "Pull Harder" and "Gunshot" have never sounded better thanks to Matt's vastly improved screaming and gutterals in the live setting giving these songs extra gusto that they have never had before. The new single "Black" was also a highlight of the night as the band clearly enjoyed themselves the whole night and expressed as much throughout the evening. Trivium truly get's better every time that I see them live and with this being my 4th time seeing them and also considering their immense talent to begin with they truly are a must-see every time for me, this is a band that you should make an effort to catch next time around.(9/10)



If you would like to check out the other pictures that I took that evening, you can go here.

Concert Report:Metal Alliance Tour 2012

As I wrote about in my first post on this blog, there are alot of awesome tours happening right now. I also wrote about in my first post that many of those awesome tours were happening near my area which could only mean one thing, SHOW TIME!! This past Friday I caravaned over to the fabled city of drunken debauchery New Orleans, not only to take in the sights and drinks(lots of drinks) on Bourbon st. or along the riverwalk, but to check out the 2012 edition of the Metal Alliance Tour at one of my favorite venues, The Hangar.

This year's Metal Alliance Tour features Devildriver, The Faceless, Dying Fetus, Job For a Cowboy, 3 Inches of Blood, Impending Doom, and Wretched in one jam-packed bill comprised of old death metal favorites as well as the new breed of death, among power metallers 3 Inches of Blood.

I have to be honest, I missed both Wretched and Impending Doom(somehow I lived) due to an intensely important situation in the French quarter that required my(wallets) urgent attention. So for me, the first band to hit the stage was 3 Inches of Blood. They played a couple of impressive tracks from their upcoming album "Long Live Heavy Metal," as well as their signature hit "Deadly Sinners"that was featured in Tim Schaffer's "Brutal Legend."(Which as a side note, I highly recommend you play if you are a gamer, especially since it can be picked up on the cheap nowadays) I have always appreciated 3 Inches of Blood but I could never say I loved their music, however they were more than entertaining and the promising sound of the upcoming album has me intrigued to hear more[7/10]

Job For A Cowboy hit the stage next and returned us to metal of a slightly faster and distorted variety. Their fan favorite "Entombment of a Machine" opened their set much to the delight of those in attendance. JFAC followed with a few offerings from their upcoming album "Demonocracy," as well as two songs from "Ruination." JFAC wasn't at their best, but they were far from dull to watch. The band was certainly capable of a better show, but the fact that they can not be totally at the top of their live game and still be entertaining is a testament to them as musicians.[7/10](As a side note, JFAC's new bassist Nick is quite a find and a pretty cool dude I have concluded upon meeting him and discussing many subjects from Decrepit Birth to music venues in Mobile,Al)

JFAC is one of the newer bands, evolving from the deathcore movement into a more straightforward death metal sound. Dying Fetus however, is one of the bands that taught and continues to teach everyone what badass death metal sounds like. The instant classic "Your Treachery Will Die With You" off of the "Descend Into Depravity" albums leads off what was to be the beginning of an unrelentingly brutal assault of the eardrums of everyone present. This three piece(crazy right?) for 45 minutes committed what basically amounted to prolonged auditory rape, you know what brutal death metal "SHOULD"(lol) sound like. Simply put, Fetus rules and the new album has a 99.99 % chance of being awesome.(8.5/10)

The Faceless faces a tough challenge following Dying Fetus but they proved themselves up to the task. The technical proficiency of this group is still top knotch despite the fact that only one founding member remains in the band. Although I remain not fully a believer in The Faceless, I think that I know talent when I see it and this group of men are talented, at least the group that wrote "Planetary Duality" was, it remains to be seen what the new blood will do to the sound of the Faceless. Until judgement day comes, I say that The Faceless while not necessarily being the easiest thing to headbang to in the world deserved and sometimes demanded my attention.[7.5/10]

Devildriver took the stage last and unfortuantely seemed anticlimactic. After a night of super heavy metal it was seemingly a step below in the intensity level(for me anyway, the couple hundred people around me seemed to disagree). Nonetheless, Dez and crew put on an entertaining show. Devildriver was once described to me by one of my friends as producing "the best circle pit music in the world," and while I think a few bands might have something to say about that, Ddriver spawned quite a few pits while playing songs across their library ranging from "Fury of Our Maker's Hand" to multiple tracks from the new release "Beast." While not the most technical, brutal, fastest, or heaviest band on the bill, Devildriver proves to be the most popular of the night and are a entertaining bunch to watch to boot.[7/10]

Cattle Decapitation Release New Track and Reveal Album Artwork!!!!

Three years can feel like a really long time sometimes, especially when you are waiting for the next release from one of your favorite groups. It will have been over three years since Cattle Decapitation has released an album when their latest release "Monolith of Inhumanity" hits store shelves May 8. In order to entice us(And we really should need no more enticing with this band)into excitement for the album, Metal Blade has released the album artwork(Which is pretty awesome) and a full track from the new album "A Living, Breathing Piece of Defacating Meat."You can listen to the new track above, SO DO SO! Afterwards, leave a comment and let me know what you all think of the new track(The chorus is quite creepy is it not, with the melody being done in Travis's signature style).

I now just have to hope that Cattle Decapitation can some how find their way out into my neck of the woods, or at least close by(NOLA or Atlanta).

Oh...Yea, The artwork...Behold.

Bands You Should Love: Beast In The Field

So every now and then there is a band that I just feel compelled to tell other's about. Bands like Beast In The Field are the reason that live heavy metal will always be a part of my life. I was recently introduced to BITF when they opened for Black Dahlia Murder in Mobile, Al last year. This two piece doom metal band from Michigan creates one of the heaviest(and quite possibly the loudest) live sets that I have ever seen. After the show they gave away posters and stickers and signed their outstanding release "World Ending" that I was thrilled to pick up on vinyl. Watch the video, be converted.

Charlie Sheen After a Guns N' Roses Show

Ok, so this video is what it is. TMZ caught Charlie Sheen after he was leaving a Guns N' Roses show and even though the clip is only 1:04 long, Sheen does a good job of packing some funny stuff into 64 seconds.

My favorites:

Charlie Sheen:"Where's Slash? Where's Slash?"

and
(as Charlie Sheen in pulling off in his Limo)
Reporter: "I party like Charlie Sheen."

(Quickly leaning out the window as his vehicle pulls away)

Charlie Sheen: "And you are still alive?"