I pull up to the parking lot of the Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts. It’s been two years and a couple of months since the last time I was at one of these things. One 40 ounce of malt liquor is disposed of while sitting in a warm car as ice and rain pounds away on the roof. Must make my way inside and show no weakness. My body has been in a state of mosh retirement for too long and there’s no telling how I’ll fare in a sea of savage longhairs.Continue reading
Thrash metal veterans Overkill have announced a headline tour for the USA, starting in March of 2022. Direct support on the trek will come from Prong. All tour dates can be seen below. The band has been working on a new album for release next year and just released a boxed set of their Atlantic Records output in the 1980s and 1990s.
2021 has not been a good year for Power Metal. Whether that is genre-leaders Gloryhammer undertaking significant acts of self-sabotage and unforgivable prickery, or just the product itself – only Beast In Black‘s Eurovision bops came anywhere near denting our Album of the Year chart, causing a light scratch in the outer realms, with perhaps a dead cat bouncing Rhapsody of Fire with any legitimate claim to unfair treatment. Continue reading
Whenever the question of “who else deserved to be included in The Big Four?” raises its ugly head, New Jersey’s Overkill never find themselves too far from the conversation. Formed before the term thrash metal was even coined and named after the seminal second album by English noisy bastards Motörhead, Overkill began life as a covers band formed from the remnants of punk act, The Lubricunts. Having quickly gained a name for themselves with their self titled 1985 EP and full length debut Feel the Fire (Megaforce Records), it didn’t take Atlantic Records long to come calling, making Overkill one of the first thrash acts to sign to a major label.
There’s a line in 1982 science fiction movie Blade Runner which goes: “The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long”. While this might be true, every rule has its exception and Bay Area thrashers Exodus are exactly that. Since dishing out their first full-length lesson in violence way back in 1985, the San Franciscan legends have seen off opposition from virtually everywhere. Even with an extended hiatus during the nineties the band’s absence never felt terminal, more like they were simply lying in wait to strike again.
Northeastern Indiana may not be the first area that would come to mind when considering a hotspot for art and culture. Yet Fort Wayne’s Clyde Theatre is a state-of-the-art facility that presents and celebrates some of the world’s greatest artists. Originally a movie house from the fifties, this recently renovated theatre carries a vibrant vintage vibe making it a local gem to the surrounding area. The place was lit with life last Sunday evening when hundreds of metal lovers swarmed through the venue’s historic doors. The French Extreme Metal act, Gojira was in town. These modern metallers have been on US soil for the last couple of months promoting their new album, Fortitude (Roadrunner Records, read our review here), which came out this past Spring. Fort Wayne was their third to last stop on this run, yet they made it clear they would be back state-side very soon. Over the last few years, Gojira is a group that has heated things up for the scene. They brought two new budding bands on tour to complement their fire. Alien Weaponry and Knocked Loose have their own high temperatures to give off, which ignited an evening of feverish and fantastic excitement. Continue reading
Bullet For My Valentine have released their new self-titled! Launched on the Spinefarm/ Search and Destroy label, their seventh studio album is a return to their heavy Neo-Thrash roots after a few releases that veered more into active rock. Jam out to the new album now and watch the visualizer below!
When Brazilian thrash legends Sepultura parted ways with frontman Max Cavalera in 1996, many thought that would be the end of the road. An acrimonious divorce that seemed to favour neither party, the remaining members auditioned several well known musicians before eventually choosing Ohio born Derrick Green as the man to replace the outgoing Cavalera brother.
By the time Floridian thrashers Trivium released their second album, Ascendancy (Roadrunner Records) in 2005, the band were locked firmly into an upward trajectory which promised nothing short of global domination. Unfortunately, things didn’t quite work out as planned but the four-piece still remain one of the most successful metal acts around today despite having to constantly push against an unrelenting tide of haters who decided sometime during the mid-late ’00s that Trivium just weren’t metal enough any more or something.
It had been 511 days, 16 hours, and 42 minutes, and 57 seconds since my last show, but who’s counting? I had fseen one local show, filled with riffs, crowd surfers, headbanging, booze, but mostly stress and trepidation. Still, I needed to see shows again, and see this tour in particular. The Metal Tour of The Year with Megadeth – Lamb of God – Trivium, and Hatebreed was coming and I was excited for it. Not just because this was the first major metal of this scope tour since the abyss that was the last year and a half, but because of the greatness of the bands, We are by no means out of the water with regards to the pandemic, but for a few hours we could forget about our troubles and enjoy some metal for a while.