Queensrÿche brought their Digital Noise Alliance tour to The Marquee Theatre in Tempe, with fellow metal legends shredder Marty Friedman, and Bay Area thrash/heavy metallers Trauma (the original band Cliff Burton was in before he joined Metallica). Locals Show N Tell and Spiritual Suicide opened. Continue reading
The anonymous one-man progressive metal act Sermon has been around creating transgressive sounds since 2014. Sermon’s music mainly revolves around progressive metal, and it might be a perfect fit for enthusiasts of bands like Tool, Opeth, Porcupine Tree, and Katatonia. The music that Sermon plays appears to have dark and heavy nuances while keeping it aggressive and immaculate at the same time.
There is nothing – nothing – clean about Allfather.
Not the production or tuning; not the various vocal methods; not the atmosphere or tone.Continue reading
Brighton (UK)’s LibraLibra has become a staple within the queer punk music scene. They gained even more traction within their fanbase during COVID by playing four consecutive Saturday night live shows at the Dome, which highlighted new and emerging artists. Fervent and magnetic on stage, they raised their voices and used it to address sexism and trauma in their latest work. The DIY punk artists snipped tethers with their EP, Cut.
After a long five years, Finland’s very own grindcore titans, Rotten Sound, make their triumphant return with their own brand of chaos in the form of Apocalypse (Season of Mist).
To be a gatekeeper in metal is generally frowned upon as elitist these days, to the point where my favorite Awenden / Feminazgul shirt has the phrase “impale the gatekeepers on spears and leave them posted alongside your path as a warning to others” on the back.
With a queue that looks like it possibly stretches into a different time zone, anyone who thought LA legends W.A.S.P. would struggle to attract decent-sized crowds these days is very much mistaken. With a tour postponed due to the Covid pandemic three years ago, Blackie Lawless and co land on English shores once again, the natives turning out in full force to celebrate. And where better in the West Midlands to play than KK’s Steel Mill, the venue owned by former Judas Priest axeman KK Downing?
Linkin Park exploded on the scene with their debut album Hybrid Theory (Reprise Records), immediately becoming a chart topping leader of a new generation of fans. After a tour consulate with their sales and success, the stakes were impossibly high for the sequel. The true meaning of success as a popular act is making another album as good as the first, as well as more sales. Many bands fail at this, but Linkin Park rose to the occasion on 2003’s Meteora.
The band spent nearly a year workshoppibg 80 song ideas with producer Don Gilmore. Songs that they had amassed on several world tours. The result of the wealth of ideas was a willingness from the band members to push each other and perfect the tracks so everyone in the band could be happy with them.
While they didn’t break much new ground artistically, the made an album of fire rap-rock songs. The record had five singles, including some of their signature songs such as “Faint” and “Numb.” The rock cuts rocked harder, and the Hip-Hop influences were much more pronounced than on the debut. There are also some quality deep cuts showing off the chops of the band, such as “From the Inside” or the instrumental “Session” which might be a nod to 1990s hit movies like Fight Club and The Matrix.
While every member of the group brought their A-game, you have to shout out the blend of vocals from the late Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda. The alternating rap verses with sweeping chorus parts were just made for the early aughts playlists and MTV’s TRL crowd. Chester also screamed his guts out on a lot of tracks, which showed growth from him. Credit also to DJ Joe Hahn as this is one of his best efforts.
Thematically, the album delves deeper into insecurity, loneliness, anxiety, ennui, and coming back from the abyss within and existentially. One of the reasons that Nu-Metal resonates hard with fans is it has the groove and swag of rap, but a lot more real, raw emotions than many other bands.
Meteora cemented LP as a leader, not a follower in their genre. They surpassed their heros in Korn and Limp Bizkit in just a few years.
Buy the Meteora 20 anniversary edition here:
WORDS BY KEEFY
As I approached The Observatory in Santa Ana, California, people were still hanging in the parking lot, talking about bands and shows. But one group that caught my attention, was a group of people putting on corpse paint on their faces. Such admiration for them to be able to get dressed up for shows.
For forty uncertain, eerie and downright unsettling minutes, black metal project Lamp Of Murmuur grips the listener with a sturdy hand and refuses to let go until fear, disgust and melancholy take over.