Mandatory Metallica

Upcoming show: Anthrax and Testament!

2012-01-16T22:54:00.000-08:00

It's not too far away! On the 26th of January (9 days away!!!) is thrash legends Anthrax at the Midland in Kansas City! Even better: Testament and Death Angel are opening! Don't come to this show unless you're ready to thrash - old-school style!

Upcoming show: Nile!

2012-01-16T22:49:00.000-08:00

Nile will make a triumphant return to the Granada theater in Lawrence on March 28th! They'll be bringing Hour of Penance with them, all the way from Italy. Opening the show is Marasmus and Gornography!

Upcoming Tour: COC + guests!

2012-01-03T22:51:00.000-08:00

Corrosion of Conformity will be hitting the Beaumont Club in KC on March 9th! I'm not sure if this is still the Animosity line-up that they've been touring as for a while or not. Opening the show is Torche, Valient Thorr and A Storm Of Light. This will be one of the heaviest shows of the year!

Upcoming show: Hate Eternal/Goatwhore

2011-12-22T13:09:00.001-08:00

Hate Eternal returns to the Kansas City area headlining for the first time in a loooong time on February 29th at the Beaumont Club! Along with them are great blackened death metal dudes Goatwhore, which were actually the very first metal band I ever saw live! Opening the show are two bands that fit perfectly on the bill, Troglodyte and Gornography.

Upcoming show: Sabaton

2011-12-18T18:32:00.000-08:00

A pretty fun power metal band from Sweden, Sabaton will be at the Beaumont Club on April 19th! Come get your wargaming on! Opening is Ancient Creation and Obliterate The Apex.

Upcoming shows: an awesome low-dough local show and a great progressive band!

2011-12-17T16:02:00.001-08:00

Do you want to get the most bang for your buck? Then come to a Low-Dough show at the Riot Room! This edition takes place on February 10th, and the lineup is Troglodyte/The Roman Holiday/Marasmus/Chaos Interval. All four are amazing death metal bands from the area and you should go support them! Entry is $2 so you can spend your cash on merch or at the bar, both help out the local scene!

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A few days before at the Riot Room, on February 7th, is instrumental progressive metal band Scale The Summit. I'm not entirely sure, but this might be their first KC-area show, and they are great! Check em out!

Touche Amore -- Lawrence, KS -- December 11th, 2011

2011-12-11T23:35:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite live bands performing one of my favorite records of the year (spoiler alert) and it was amazing. A Touche Amore show is just as much a crowd participation event as it is a concert. And I mean screaming lyrics into the mic and bodies upon bodies swimming over eachother to try and get on stage.

The band themselves were great. I think they have a new rhythm guitarist, but he handled backing vocals as well and did them great. The drummer is still a beast, and Jeremy still leaves his everything on the stage, but he makes everyone in the crowd give there all as well. I screamed along to all the songs from "Parting The Sea Between Brightness And Me" as well as a few oldies like "Cadence" and everyone's favorite "Honest Sleep". What was really awesome was how the crowd was. Yes, everyone was jumping on eachother to sing into the mic, but everyone had huge smiles on their faces while they did, most of all the band themselves. Just an all-around amazing experience.

Although Touche Amore has one more date left in Las Vegas, tonight's show was the last for Baltimore's Pianos Become The Teeth. These guys probably had the most energy of the night, along with the handful of incredibly passionate fans that were right up against the stage for them. I thought the vocalist was really good as well. They definitely had the most aggression of the night.

The first touring act was Seahaven from Los Angeles. Although I liked them enough, they play a brand of indie rock with just a tinge of post-hardcore. Definitely a supremely different kind of music than the other bands on this tour. No harsh vocals at all from them, just singing. Again, not bad, but didn't belong on this tour.

Opening the show was local band Drought Years. They were pretty fun, although I thought the vocals were much too low in the mix. More of a kind of melodic hardcore band than post-hardcore, but still lots of fun!

Art Official
Cadence
The Great Repetition
Wants/Needs
And Now It's Happening in Mine
Uppers/Downers
Adieux
Throwing Copper
~
Pathfinder
Face Ghost
I'll Get My Just Deserve
I'll Deserve Just That
Method Act
Honest Sleep
Condolences
Home Away From Here
Amends

Touche Amore: 9.5/10
Pianos Become The Teeth: 8.5/10
Seahaven: 7/10
Drought Years: 7.5/10

2012 update

2011-12-07T13:56:00.000-08:00

Hey all! Thanks for sticking with the blog. I was getting some year-end stuff taken care of, so I'll try to be updating more regularly now.

I was going to attend the Rites of Darkness fest (feat. Antaeus, Zemial, etc.) in San Antonio, but that fell through. My last concert of the year will be Sunday, December 11th at the Jackpot in Lawrence: Touche Amore! Also appearing: Pianos Become The Teeth and Seahaven!

A couple last-minute 2011 shows:

As I Lay Dying returns to Kansas City to the Beaumont Club on December 8th. Opening is a whole bunch of bands, including The Ghost Inside, Of Mice And Men, iwrestledabearonce and Sylosis.

Also on the 10th (this coming Saturday) at the Beaumont Club in Kansas City is BLACK LABEL SOCIETY! I doubt you'll get a chance to see these legends in such an intimate setting ever again. Opening is Texas Hippie Coalition and Hammerlord!

Now onto 2012 concerts so far:

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The movie Slow Southern Steel is going on tour, and with them are the bands Hail!Hornet (sludge/stoner/doom supergroup) and Zoroaster (one of the loudest bands you'll ever see) and it's stopping at the Beaumont Club on February 1st! The movie plays first, then Zoroaster slays, then Hail!Hornet kills!

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Returning to the Granada theater after years of absence will be Children of Bodom! They'll be appearing on February 6th along with Eluveitie, Revocation and Threat Signal!

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Sad that In Flames and Trivium canceled their Kansas City appearance this year? Well fear not, they'll be returning to the Beaumont Club in KC on February 11th! Along with the two bands will be Veil of Maya and Kyng!

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And now for something a little different. Scott Kelly, frontman of Neurosis and frequent Mastodon collaborator, will be bringing his acoustic tour to the recordBar in Kansas City on February 21st. Eugene S. Robinson opens.

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Get ready progressive/power fans, the tour of the year is on February 26th at the Midland by AMC in Kansas City: Iced Earth & Symphony X! It looks like it's a co-headlining show with Warbringer opening. Awesome!

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And now for the show in 2012 that's been announced that I'm super excited for:

Killfest 2012 will be coming to Kansas City on April 26th! This legendary thrash band is bringing along a ton of awesome bands to open: Belphegor, Aborted, Suidakra, System Divide, and Diamond Plate! THRASH!

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And that's it! I know of a few more shows happening, but they haven't been announced just quite yet. But safe to say, when they are, they will blow your minds.

I'm back!

2011-11-08T12:12:00.000-08:00

I went on a sabbatical, but I have some great news to update this blog with in the coming hours. So stay tuned! :D

Ghoul -- Merriam, KS -- October 15th, 2011

2011-10-18T14:31:00.000-07:00

That old-school death/thrash style seriously makes for some of the best live music. You know, that Razorback sound. Along with Exhumed, Ghoul does that style fantastically and tonight was no exception. On a rare headlining date from the upcoming GWAR tour, the foursome from Creepsylvania brough all of its metal to Kansas. Literally! They brought out Killbot, a giant metal dude with a spiked fist and a pincer (or a clamp for Futurama fans) and would bonk Ghoul on the head and even "attacked" the audience. They also brought out Baron Samedi during "The Mark of Voodoo" who bit off the head of a chicken, but since the venue didn't have any plastic or anything down, no blood. And last but not least, Destructor made an appearance and also beat around Ghoul and the audience. But other than the silly costumes and stuff, Ghoul can actually rip. No filler, all killer. The sound was spot-on and the band were really on their A-Game, interacting with the crowd while they shred. If Impaled is kaput, I'm totally fine with Ghoul still being around. 10/10

Troglodyte opened and were vicious as ever. They played a few songs I hadn't heard in a while, so that was awesome! 9/10

Opening was a band called Hellevate and they surprised me. They were awesome. A thrash band but the vocalist could hit King Diamond highs. And they did when they covered "Welcome Home"! Sweet! 9/10

Ghoul:

1. The Lunatic Hour
2. Off With Their Heads
3. Transmission Zero
4. Splatterthrash
5. Rise, Killbot, Rise!
6. Brain Jerk
7. Destructor
8. Maniaxe
9. Mark of Voodoo
10. Blood Feast
11. Gutbucket Blues
----
12. As Your Casket Closes

Troglodyte included:

Don't Go In The Woods...
Skunk Ape Rape
Piece Of You
Mummified Yeti Hand
Fight For Your Life
Caught (On Super 8) (seriously one of the best songs ever)
They Walk Among Us
The Only Good Hippie...Is A Dead Hippie
Fossil

Hellevate included:

Welcome Home (King Diamond cover)

Melt-Banana -- Kansas City, MO -- October 9th, 2011

2011-10-10T18:55:00.000-07:00

Such a fun show! Melt-Banana is a legendary band and one of the pioneers for current noise rock/punk/grindcore. Seriously, if you are serious about any of those genre's, you need to know Melt-Banana.

This was the most sound I've ever heard a four-piece band make. I was most impressed by the guitarist, Ichirou. He had a ton of pedals, and each one just produced more and more noises from his amps. At points he would glitch his guitar to make it sound like it was on the verge of exploding. Totally awesome. Another great thing he did was slowly building up his guitar riffs to their climax and right as soon as he hit that note, his rig overloaded and just blasted feedback for a split second before launching back into the song. Absolutely amazing. Yasuko is also a very unique vocalist but works extremely well with Melt-Banana's crazy song structure! The bass player was also super tiny but one of the fastest bass players I've seen! I know they don't have a permanent drummer, but it amazes me that there must be multiple people who can drum Melt-Banana tracks. That takes some skills. But yeah, crazy show. Tons of moshing and everyone was having a great time. We got an encore too, which I don't think was planned because they were turning on the lights. So much fun!

Melt-Banana (extremely partial/out-of-order)

A Dreamer Who Is Too Weak To Face Up To
Spider Snipe
Screw, Loose
Cat Brain Land
Plasma Gate Quest
Monkey Man (Toots and the Maytalls)
Lost Parts Stinging Me So Cold
Shield for Your Eyes, A Beast in the Well on Your Hand
Lost Parts Stinging Me So Cold
8 Short Songs (literally, 8 songs one after the other including introductions, with each song less than a minute)
Blank Page Of The Blind (end set)
What A Wonderful World (B.B. King cover)

Melt-Banana: 9.5/10

Skeletonwitch -- Lawrence, KS -- October 8th, 2011

2011-10-08T23:52:00.001-07:00

Why is Skeletonwitch one of the best live bands ever? Is it because they have unmatched stage presence? Is it because Chance is otherworldy when he's doing his vocals? Is it the spot-on solo performances? Is it their perfect sound mix? It's every one of these, and stuff that I just can't put my thumb on.

This was my sixth time seeing Skeletonwitch, third time seeing them headline. It was the longest set I've ever seen them play, and it seemed evenly divided by their three albums. While the Beyond The Permafrost tracks were insane (including one of my personal favorite songs of all time, Within My Blood, ending the set with hellish ferocity), the songs from their new album sounded amazing. The new record is definitely a lot more melodic, but still vicious as ever. And I think my new favorite live Skeletonwitch song is Crushed Beyond Dust. The entire band was firing on all cylinders tonight. The sound was impeccable, and each member gave 110%. Absolutely the best time I've seen them, absolutely one of the best sets I've seen this year or ever. 10/10

Before the main act, Wrath and Ruin played. This show also served as their record release show. They play a brand of atmospheric/industrial/doom metal that is completely suffocating and brutal. One of the songs they played (I'll have to listen to their album, which they gave away!) was one of the most violent live songs I've heard. Not in a douchey, "let's see some blood, bro!" way, but in a serial-killing stranger-murdering way. And their drummer is still really, really good! 8.5/10

Opening the show was The Cast Pattern. It's been a while since I've seen them, but it looks like they got a new vocalist and were pretty decent! I'm not a huge fan of the type of metalcore/deathcore that they play, but they do it extremely well. No sustained/annoying breakdowns at all. 7/10

Picked up Wrath and Ruin's new album, "Mouth of Oblivion". If this combination of bands entices you: Khanate, Godflesh, Xasthur, Jesu, then I highly recommend you check them out. I also got the new Skeletonwitch album, "Infernal Damnation", on green splatter vinyl. Limited to 500 copies, you bet your sweet ass I'll be posting pics of it. Came with a free poster and digital download too!

Skeletonwitch:

The Horrifying Force (The Desire To Kill)
Reduced to the Failure of Prayer
Upon Wings Of Black
Submit to the Suffering
Crushed Beyond Dust
Beyond the Permafrost
Sacrifice for the Slaughtergod
Strangled by Unseen Hands
Infernal Damnation
Longing for Domination
Fire from the Sky
Vengeance Will be Mine
Choke Upon Betrayal
Within My Blood

Wrath and Ruin (partial/out of order):

The Bug
The Edgeless Beyond

The Cast Pattern (partial/out of order):

Set Like, Three Things On Fire
My Grandpa's A Faggot

Opeth -- Kansas City, MO -- October 6th, 2011

2011-10-08T23:46:00.000-07:00

I couldn't ask for a better performance for my first Opeth show. Going into it, I had probably heard more of Katatonia than Opeth, but I was completely floored by them. Exceptionally heavy and just overall great performances from everyone.

As soon as Opeth started The Devil's Orchard, the crowd went nuts. They actually were singing along to most every song and headbanging, moshing, crowd surfing throughout the whole show. Yeah, there was one douchebag screaming for Blackwater Park in the back of the venue, but everyone else seemed really appreciative of Opeth doing something different. The only remotely negative thing I could say is that while I definitely enjoyed their acoustic songs, it really kinda threw off the tempo of the show. Luckily, Mikael is a great frontman and engaged the crowd and even led us through a rendition of the chorus to Harvest that it all was definitely worth it in the end. Highlights were the chillingly amazing "Face of Melinda", the Rainbow-ripoff (Mikael's words) "Slither" and "Hex Omega". Definitely never missing a local Opeth show from now on. No harsh vocals = the best kind of Opeth show.

Katatonia opened the show and was warmly received. Great "doom rock" that was really quite heavy at times. "July" was probably the heaviest song from them that evening. I'm definitely going to look into them further now!

Beaumont Club was packed. I dunno if it was sold out, but there were more people there for this show than I've seen at most shows. Definitely made me feel good to see a really happy and respectful crowd, yet still huge metal fans!

Opeth:

The Devil's Orchard
I Feel the Dark
Face of Melinda
Porcelain Heart
Pyre
----
Throat of Winter (Acoustic)
Patterns in the Ivy II (Acoustic)
Harvest (just the chorus with crowd singing)
Closure (semi-Acoustic)
----
Slither
Fair Judgement
Hex Omega
----
Folklore

Katatonia

1. Ghost Of The Sun?
2. Liberation
3. Soil's Song
4. My Twin
5. The Longest Year
6. Evidence
7. July
8. Dissolving Bonds?
9. Day and then the Shade
10. Forsaker

October preview: Warbringer

2011-09-22T14:00:00.001-07:00

Ending October will be WARBRINGER on their America Torn Asunder tour! They are consistently one of the best newer thrash bands live, so this is a must-see. Opening is Lazarus A.D., Landmine Marathon, Diamond Plate, and Marasmus. Great end to the month!

October preview: The Black Dahlia Murder

2011-09-22T13:52:00.000-07:00

On October 21st, you have a decision to make between two concerts:

Second choice is the return of modern melodeath masters The Black Dahlia Murder to the Granada in Lawrence. They're bringing along All Shall Perish and Cannabis Corpse, while Marasmus will be opening. Shred!

October preview: Cavalera Conspiracy

2011-09-22T13:36:00.000-07:00

On October 21st, you have a decision to make between two concerts:

First choice is the first time (I think?) that the legendary Cavalera brothers make their triumphant mark in Kansas City. This is the closest you'll ever get to seeing the original Sepultura line-up! Along for the ride is Otep, Earth Crisis and Mold Breaker.

October preview: Helmet

2011-09-22T13:30:00.000-07:00

Helmet will be at the Riot Room on October 25th to decimate your eardrums with their heaviness. Don't miss these legends!

October preview: HAMMERWEEN 2!

2011-09-22T13:26:00.001-07:00

The fest you all know and love is back for it's second year at the Beaumont Club on October 22nd.

Line-up:

HAMMERLORD
TROGLODYTE
At the Left Hand of God
the Roman Holiday
Marasmus
Malikai
Wrath and Ruin

After-party at the Riot Room (FREE with Hammerween ticket stub, $5 without)

The Cast Pattern
Ape Hanger
Koktopus

Hammerween is $10, or $6 with a costume. Alternatively, I will be handing out free tickets to this at most of the October shows I'm posting about. You just gotta find me. ;)

October preview: Freaker's Ball

2011-09-22T13:19:00.000-07:00

I haven't really liked the past Freaker's Ball's too much, but this one is pretty good. Despite being headlined by Five Finger Death Punch, legends Anthrax along with Hatebreed, Rev Theory and one local, will play at the Independence Events Center on October 21st.

October preview: Anthrax/Testament/Death Angel

2011-09-22T12:47:00.000-07:00

A crazy thrash tour is hitting the Cotillion in Wichita on October 18th! Legendary bands Anthrax, Testament, and Death Angel will be there to rip your face off! Insane line-up.

October preview: Death Angel

2011-09-22T12:35:00.000-07:00

Death Angel will play their second show in Kansas City this year, after their magnificent performance in February, at the Riot Room on October 17th. They absolutely rip live, so don't miss them! Opening the show is Vanlade, At Your Throat and The Sybil.

October preview: Chimaira

2011-09-22T12:31:00.001-07:00

Chimaira will be returning to Kansas City on a headlining tour at the Beaumont Club on October 16th. Opening will be Impending Doom, Revocation and Rise to Remain.

October preview: Ghoul

2011-09-22T12:25:00.000-07:00

All the way from Creepsylvania, GHOUL is making a triumphant mark in Kansas City at the Aftershock on October 15th! You won't want to miss their unique take on splatterthrash and horrordeath metal! Opening is Troglodyte and Hellevate!

October preview: Melt-Banana

2011-09-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

Not necessarily metal, per se, but Melt-Banana are an undeniable influence on hardcore punk, noise rock and grindcore. One of the best live bands ever with one of the craziest live shows! They'll be making a ruckus at the recordBar in Kansas City on October 9th!

October preview: Skeletonwitch

2011-09-22T12:17:00.000-07:00

Skeletonwitch returns to the KC area and will be slaying the Jackpot Saloon in Lawrence on October 8th! Their new album, Forever Abomination, should be out by then, so go buy it! Opening the show will be Wrath and Ruin, who is using the concert as the release show for their new album, and The Cast Pattern.

October preview: Opeth

2011-09-22T12:15:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick rundown of all the metal shows happening in October. There's a ton, so I'll try and recap them all one post at a time.

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First up on October 6th is Opeth at the Beaumont Club in Kansas City. I've heard they're not playing any "growling" songs on this tour, so take that how you want. Going to be packed for sure, either way. Katatonia opens!

Ares Kingdom -- Lawrence, KS -- September 4th, 2011

2011-09-05T17:48:00.000-07:00

Ares Kingdom was really, really good. They have that old-school sound that only band members from the legendary Order From Chaos could replicate. The vocalist has the perfect live war metal vocals. And the lead guitarist, he could shred almost as good as anyone I've ever seen. The ratio of mindblowing solo's to song length was the best I've ever seen. Even when the bassist broke one of his strings and had to replace it during a song, he still did the vocals and the song still ruled! They also did a few covers which surprised me, but apparently they have a covers album coming out soon. But yeah, they ruled! Also one of the first "small" bands I've seen that used all full stacks.

1. Incendiary
2. Descent of Man
3. Destruction of Sennacherib
4. Silent Mortal Flesh
5. Ashen Glory
6. Firestorm Redemption
7. Die by Power (Slaughter Lord cover)
8. Ironclad
9. Tooth and Nail (Dokken cover)

Opening for them was Demized from New York. They played basically a version of brutal death metal that also had elements of black metal. And it was REALLY good. I was wondering if Ares Kingdom could do better. What really sealed the deal was that they covered Ov Fire And The Void by Behemoth and then ended their set with pretty much the perfect live song, Matando Gueros by Brujeria. I was grinning so big during that song. Great stuff.

set included:

Holy Wars (not a Megadeth cover)
Decay Amongst Society
Ov Fire and The Void (Behemoth cover)
Matando Gueros (Brujeria cover)

My buddy's band Elctrikchair also opened the show. The best way to describe their sound is thrash with literally elements of every other genre of metal music ever. And it's pretty good live! Andy is a great guitarist, but people were going absolutely bonkers over the drummer. One of the best drummers I've ever seen, hands down. Crazy stuff!

set included:

Dead Children
Crossroads

The first band of the night was a replacement, and really was the odd band out. El Canero is a straight-up old-school punk band. Songs about drinking and fighting and punk and what have you. Would've been awesome if they covered a cool old punk band, but they didn't. It was okay.

All in all, it was a good night.

Ares Kingdom: 8.5/10
Demized: 8/10
Elctrikchair: 7.5/10
El Canero: 7/10

Saviours -- Lawrence, KS -- September 2nd, 2011

2011-09-03T14:48:00.000-07:00

First night of Saviours and Bison B.C.'s tour before they get with Weedeater for a larger tour. Weedeater/Saviours/Bison B.C. is a tour everyone should see.

1. Heathen Eye
2. Grave (new)
3. Fire of God (new)
4. Cretin (new)
5. Holy Slaughter
6. We Roam
7. ? (I think it was Cavern of Mind)

One of the loudest shows of the year. Saviours is a lot heavier than last I saw them, but when they kick in and go fast, it rules. Cretin sounded the best of their new songs, and We Roam was mind-blowing. Excellent stoner NWOBHM worship.

Bison B.C. opened and were great. Definitely fast and heavy. They fit in perfectly with Saviours.

Opening the show was Melting Point of Bronze, who were really good. They also fit in perfectly on this bill, kick-ass rock and roll mixed with deaththrash.

Overall, real good show. Gotta be up in 7 hours now!

Saviours: 8.5/10
Bison B.C.: 8/10
Melting Point of Bronze: 7.5/10

Diamond Head -- Kansas City, MO -- August 23rd, 2011

2011-08-24T18:23:00.000-07:00

Diamond Head playing in Kansas City in 2011 on a Tuesday night. Who would've thought? Not a huge crowd, but everyone who was there made so much noise and showed so much love that it looked like Diamond Head was having the time of their lives on-stage. And honestly, it was probably the best pure rock'n'roll/old-school heavy metal live performance I've ever seen.

Firstly, the venue. It's a place called Knucklehead's. It has an inside stage (also part of a bar/restaurant) but the show was on the outside stage. It's a pretty large stage with all the lights and stuff, but rows of tables/bleachers and even an upstairs deck where people could sit and watch. The sound was, in short, impeccable. I don't think I've ever even been to an inside professional concert venue where the sound was that good.

And speaking of the sound, not only were Diamond Head crystal clear in every instrument, there's just that tone that only they can replicate. It was straight out of the 70s/80s that I doubt anyone else could pull off. It made everything so much better.

Diamond Head was really energetic, especially Eddie on bass and, of course, Brian Tatler on guitar. Brian was flawless and was shredding the entire night. Their vocalist, Nick Tart, might've only been with the band for about seven years, but he was all over the stage headbanging with people and letting them sing into the mic. He even bent down to a guy in a wheel chair and kept high-fiving him. Their attitudes transcended to the audience, everyone was just drinking, singing, clapping, headbanging and smiling. The most positive metal crowd I've ever been a part of!

Diamond Head is definitely a band known for their classics (I mean, they're the songs that Metallica based their band off of!) but even the newer stuff was great! "Skin on Skin" was really heavy, and "Nothing To Lose" had a great groove. But everyone really kicked in as soon as the first classic of the night, "The Prince", started. It was chillingly good. They played all the songs from their album "Lightning To The Nations" except one, which is pretty much a dream come true. My neck is sore from how hard I was head-banging to the immortal "Am I Evil?" which every metal fan should know by heart.

No opening band, over early. Diamond Head came on at 8:15, were off by 9:30. Totally fine by me, they crammed every second with bad-assery and just pure, unadulterated METAL.

Diamond Head: 10/10

1. Play It Loud
2. Nothing To Lose
3. The Prince
4. Give It To Me
5. In The Heat Of The Night
6. Skin on Skin
7. From Heaven to Hell
8. It's Electric
9. Pray For Me
10. Sucking My Love
11. Helpless
12. Am I Evil?
----
13. Lightning To The Nations

October: still busy for metal

2011-08-15T19:56:00.001-07:00

Just announced:

Creepsylvania's own GHOUL will bring their brand of Splatterthrash to the Aftershock in Merriam, KS on October 15th! Will Killbot make an appearance? Who knows! Opening will be Troglodyte!

October: Always busy for metal

2011-08-10T16:23:00.000-07:00

A couple of shows have just been announced for October!

First up:

The Black Dahlia Murder will be returning, YET AGAIN, to Lawrence to slay us! They'll be headlining The Granada in Lawrence on the strength of their new album, Ritual. Opening for them is All Shall Perish and Cannabis Corpse. The Black Dahlia Murder always have the best live shows, so get ready to headbang!

================================================================

The next October show is quite a doozy:

WARBRINGER comes back to KC on their headlining tour for their new albums, Worlds Torn Asunder! It'll be at the Beaumont Club on October 30th (Halloween Eve!) with LaZarus A.D., Landmine Marathon, Diamond Plate, Vanlade and Meat Shank! Spoooooooooky!

Prepare to accelerate your living!

2011-08-01T20:06:00.000-07:00

One of my personal favorite live bands, SAVIOURS, will be returning to the heartland on September 2nd at the Jackpot Saloon in Lawrence. Opening the show will be another great band, Bison BC!

Exhumed -- Merriam, KS -- July 21st, 2011

2011-07-22T11:14:00.000-07:00

Okay, so my only complaint about the night is that parking at the Aftershock completely sucks. Their lot isn't nearly big enough and we ended up parking 3 rows deep so the cars in the middle were SOL if they had to leave early. But aside from that, Aftershock's biggest show yet was absolutely awesome.

First band up was The Roman Holiday from Independence, and they were surprisingly good. I've seen them evolve and get better and better with each performance, and this was by far their best-sounding show. Too bad they weren't around 25 years ago, or they would be Cannibal Corpse. Can't wait to see them again at Hammerween II!

The only disappointing band of the night was Upon The Wake. It was their last ever show, but they were so disjointed and looked so nervous up on stage that it looked like it was their first show. Their vocalist ruled, though.

Troglodyte, fresh off their blistering (quite literally) set opening for Rob Zombie on Sunday, tore everyone in Aftershock a new face. They have a second guitarist now, and it only adds to their greatness. Caught (On Super 8) is still one of the best damn songs ever written. Long live Sasquatch Death Metal.

The band with the biggest crowd of the night, though, were hometown heroes Origin. It was the last date on their first US tour for "Entity" and they were welcomed home with insane style. The new vocalist, Jason (I got his automagraph!), was so awesome. He's every bit as good of a vocalist as James was, but his stage presence is so much better. He was physically pulling people out of the crowd to stagedive, and during The Aftermath, they had everyone on stage to headbang, and even some moshing and crowdsurfing! I haven't seen that since Suicidal Tendencies back in 2008. But I can't forget Paul, John and Mike. They all sounded fantastic and the sound itself was really clear for both the instruments and the vocals. It was really a legendary performance. It was all filmed and will be used for their music video for "Expulsion Of Fury!"

I'll admit, I wasn't entirely looking forward to Cephalic Carnage. Their last CD was really underwhelming to me, but they actually did a pretty good job. When they were straight-up grindcore, they were pretty fun. Whenever they tried to do anything else, it wasn't that great. There's some better bands that could've taken their place, but there's a LOT more worse bands that could've been there.

Exhumed was so good. Their brand of Carcass worship has more personality and original touches that probably makes them my favorite (at least live) death metal/grind/goregrind band. Matt sounded just like he does on record, and his solo's were spot-on, but Wes had some amazing solo's as well. The vocals were really clear, even for being right up next to the stage. "Casketkrusher" was so good it gave me chills, and ending the night on "The Matter Of Splatter" was just one of the highlights of my year. Hopefully they come back real, real soon!

Exhumed:

All Guts, No Glory
As Hammer To Anvil
Necrotize
Necromaniac
Casketkrusher
Through Cadaver Eyes
In The Name Of Gore
Slaughtercult
Torso
Limb From Limb
guitar solo
Forged In Fire, Formed In Flame
In My Human Slaughterhouse
Decrepit Crescendo
drum solo
Waxwork
-----------
The Matter Of Splatter

Cephalic Carnage:

Wraith
Warbot
Raped
?
Drums
Genital
Abraxas
Weed
Lucid

Origin included:

Expulsion of Fury
Wrath of Vishnu
Finite
Portal
Disease Called Man
The Aftermath
Purgatory
Swarm/Saligia

Possibly some more

Troglodyte:

Symphonies Of Sasquatch
Piece Of You
Mummified Yeti Hand
Fight For Your Life
Caught (on Super 8)
Bring Me The Head Of Bigfoot
Beaten And Eaten
Hit By The Hendersons
They Walk Among Us
The Only Good Hippie...Is A Dead Hippie

Exhumed: 9.5/10
Cephalic Carnage: 7/10
Origin: 9/10
Troglodyte: 8.5/10
Upon The Wake: 5/10
The Roman Holiday: 8/10

The rest of July!

2011-07-06T16:42:00.000-07:00

Don't forget these awesome shows in the rest of this month!

July 7th
Beaumont Club

BURY YOUR DEAD (feat. original vocalist MATT BRUSO)
Evergreen Terrace
For The Fallen Dreams
In The Midst Of Lions
Genosha

----

July 11th
recordBar

LITURGY
Dope Body

----

July 16th
Sandstone Amphitheater

ROB ZOMBIE
As I Lay Dying
All That Remains
Escape The Fate
Hammerlord

----

July 18th
The Granada

SUICIDE SILENCE
UNEARTH
All Shall Perish
Red Fang

----

July 19th
Crossroads KC

CINDERELLA
Hammerlord
The Dead Girls

----

July 21st
Aftershock

EXHUMED
ORIGIN
Cephalic Carnage
Troglodyte
The Roman Holiday

----

Get out there and get moshing!

Upcoming moshfest: Bury Your Dead

2011-06-27T23:11:00.000-07:00

You might think Bury Your Dead coming to town wouldn't be anything special, but they just had their original vocalist, Mat Bruso, rejoin the band! Seriously, that's cause for celebration. Don't come to this show unless you want to mosh and have a fantastic time! They'll be at the Beaumont Club on July 7th. Opening are Evergreen Terrace (!!!), For The Fallen Dreams, In The Midst of Lions, and Genosha. Come and mosh!

Forbidden --- Kansas City, MO --- June 27th, 2011

2011-06-27T23:08:00.000-07:00

Wow!

What an amazing show! Every single band was spot-on and really fun. My neck is going to be killing me tomorrow.

I got to The Beaumont Club about halfway through local epic band Vanlade. For those who don't know, Vanlade play an infectious brand of power/speed metal, not too much unlike old-school Manowar or Judas Priest. They sounded great tonight and the crowd was receptive as always.

The first of the touring bands was Havok, and I was most excited to see them. I am a huge sucker for new thrash bands, and Havok pretty much stands far above the rest of the field. They opened their set with a savage one-two punch of "No Amensty" followed right by "Fatal Intervention" and every head was banging. They actually saw my post on Facebook about requesting a song off of their new album, which they obliged and thanked me for! The song was "DOA", and it sounded fantastic. They ended with yet another blistering rendition of "Afterburner" that immolated all posers within a 50 mile radius.

I was actually a little wary about White Wizzard being on the bill, but they were actually awesome! Every member of the band is really talented, especially their bassist! I only knew their opener "Over The Top" but they ripped through their set. I guarantee that if we could get a time machine and go get Iron Maiden circa 1979-1982 and bring them to modern times, they'd be White Wizzard.

Another big reason for attending this show was Revocation. It was my third time seeing them. Although the sound wasn't nearly as good as I wished it could be, the band more than made up for it. Dave Davidson really earned his title of the Best Modern Metal Guitarist from MetalSucks. His solo on "Age of Iniquity" was worth the price of admission alone, and they've gotten so good at playing "Dismantle The Dictator" that the performance of that song will be considered legendary in time.

I can cross Forbidden off my list of legendary thrash bands to see. I had so much fun screaming along with them to classics like "Step By Step" and "Off The Edge", but even their new songs ripped, especially "Omega Wave"! Their setlist on the stage had only 10 songs on it, but they added a few, including "RIP" and a cover of Black Sabbath's "Children Of The Sea" which sounded surprisingly great! They ended the set with thrash anthem "Chalice Of Blood" and members of all the opening bands came out to sing the chorus. It was a fantastic way to end the night. Although there weren't a ton of people at this show, we let Forbidden and all the other bands know that we really appreciated and loved them for coming through time. Now to go rest my neck...

Forbidden setlist:

Forsaken at the Gates
Overthrow
Off the Edge
Forbidden Evil
Step by Step
Adapt or Die
Omega Wave
Twisted Into Form
R.I.P.
Through Eyes of Glass
Children Of The Sea (Black Sabbath cover)
Chalice of Blood

Revocation setlist:

Re-AniManiac
Cradle Robber (new song)
Age of Iniquity
Dismantle the Dictator
Conjuring the Cataclysm (new song)
Unattained

White Wizzard partial setlist:

Over The Top
White Wizzard
High Speed GTO

Havok setlist:

No Amnesty
Fatal Intervention
Morbid Symmetry
D.O.A.
Covering Fire
Afterburner

Vanlade partial setlist:

Life By The Blade
Blood Eagle

Forbidden: 9/10
Revocation: 8.5/10
White Wizzard: 8/10
Havok: 9.5/10
Vanlade: 8/10

HOLY FFFFUUUUU!!!!

2011-06-14T23:35:00.000-07:00

DIAMOND HEAD IS COMING TO KANSAS CITY

DIAMOND HEAD IS COMING TO KANSAS CITY!

DIAMOND HEAD! IS COMING TO KANSAS CITY!

WOW!

If you don't know the importance of Diamond Head, you must not be a very big fan of metal.

They'll be at Knucklehead's in Kansas City on August 23rd!

WOAH

And guess which band got famous for COVERING Diamond Head?

The Drapery Falls on Kansas City

2011-06-03T17:57:00.001-07:00

Returning after a triumphant show in 2009, Opeth comes back to the Beaumont Club in Kansas City on October 6th. Along with them are doom rockers Katatonia. Don't miss this!

Low Dough Show: Rob Zombie!

2011-05-24T10:44:00.000-07:00

98.9 is doing their biggest low dough show EVER, by having ROB ZOMBIE at Sandstone! Along with him is As I Lay Dying, All That Remains, Escape The Fate and local thrash legends HAMMERLORD! Best part: Tix are only $9.89! It's July 16th!

Touche Amore -- Lawrence, KS -- May 16th, 2011

2011-05-18T18:50:00.000-07:00

Partial/Out of Order set (first two and last 3 are correct order):

~ (new song)
Cadence
And Now It's Happening In Mine
Nine
Always Running, Never Looking Back
The Great Repetition (new song)
Home Away From Here (new song)
I'll Deserve Just That
Honest Sleep
Adieux
---
Suckerfish

Great show, as always. Touche Amore has a special connection with Kansas, and it's not just the song wehatefredphelps.com. They recorded their new album in Eudora with Ed Rose (they were also celebrating the leak of their new record tonight!) and Sean Ingram (Coalesce) was in the audience, and they gave shout outs to him. The crowd did as much vocals as Jeremy did, with everybody (and I mean everybody) rushing the stage for the final refrain of Honest Sleep. Cadence was also fantastic, and the new songs had a great, thrashy feel to them. Can't wait for that album. We also convinced them to do an encore, which I don't think they ever do. It was a great night, and I can't believe it took me this long to see them headline.

Opening bands were Canyons and Meth Horse. Canyons has a pretty big following and they play good old-fashioned metalcore/hardcore that sounded great. The opening band, Meth Horse, blew me away though. I'd consider them a mash-up of Tragedy, early Napalm Death and Man Is The Bastard. Probably my new favorite grind/hardcore/PV band from around here.

Touche Amore: 9/10
Canyons: 8/10
Meth Horse: 8.5/10

Touche Amore hates Fred Phelps, but loves Lawrence!

2011-05-08T22:52:00.000-07:00

Touche Amore, amazing emotional post-hardcore band from California, will be returning for the third time in two years. They'll be at the Jackpot on May 16th with Canyons opening!

DRI KC ASAP BTW!

2011-05-04T22:12:00.001-07:00

If you can't make the D.R.I. date in Wichita, they will be at the Record Bar (after destroying it in January 2010) with 3 Pac, Attention Seeker, and Whyte Bitch! Don't miss this legendary band!

Between The Buried And Me -- Lawrence, KS -- April 26th, 2011

2011-04-26T22:13:00.000-07:00

It took getting past their new EP being played, but I've decided that tonight was the best time I've seen BTBAM live. They absolutely killed it opening for Mastodon last year, but the song selection and the talent that oozed from the stage tonight easily trumped any former performance of theirs.

The EP, "The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues" (played in its entirety tonight) definitely wasn't bad live. In fact, Lunar Wilderness had some jaw-dropping parts in it. It's just that the songs hadn't matured to be fully appreciated in a live setting. Still great, but what came afterwards just blew the EP out of the water. Focusing mostly on their last two records, the snippet (by snippet I mean about 10 minutes) of Swim To The Moon and the whole Ants Of The Sky performance were definitely the highlights from BTBAM. The soundscapes they create and the pure emotion they put forward in those two songs are unmatched. Sun Of Nothing was epic with lots of crowd sing-alongs, and I was definitely happy they pulled out Fossil Genera - I had forgotten they were playing it on this tour! The band themselves were spot on, the guitar and drum solo's were really awesome, and it was just a fantastic performance. A killer rendition of Selkies ended the set, and I hope they come back soon.

But I hope they come back with a better band directly opening for them. After a few minutes of backtracking, this is the third time I've seen Job For A Cowboy (i've paid to see them five times - blech) and they have honestly gotten worse over time. They pounded out the first three or four songs with no downtime in between them and it came out as just a cacophonous jumbling of dissonant down-tuned notes with no apparent direction in mind. I would blame it on the venue for their sound, but I know better. Job For A Cowboy just prefers their music to sound like this, and it just doesn't sound good.

Opening the show was The Ocean. People were wary about what to expect, but I think they won over the crowd around the third time the vocalist dove into the crowd! I didn't know what to expect but was pleasantly surprised. I'm eager to check them out on record.

My only comment on the crowd is that I am a firm supporter of the "don't mosh during BTBAM" movement. That's all.

Specular Reflection
Augment Of Rebirth
Lunar Wilderness
Sun Of Nothing
Ants Of The Sky
Guitar Solo
Swim To The Moon (partial)
Drum Solo
Fossil Genera - A Feed From Cloud Mountain
---
Selkies: The Endless Obsession

Between The Buried And Me: 9/10
Job For A Cowboy: 3/10
The Ocean: 7.5/10

Are you ready for the SLAMZ?

2011-04-24T20:56:00.000-07:00

Ready to get GUTTURAL?

TXDM legend Shawn Whittaker will be bringing Insidious Decrepancy to the Boobie Trap in Topeka on June 21st. Support will come from Abolishment of Flesh (TX), Torn The Fuck Apart and Whoracle. Come get br00t4l!

Amon Amarth -- Lawrence, KS -- April 16th, 2011

2011-04-16T22:30:00.000-07:00

Set 1

War of the Gods
Töck's Taunt - Loke's Treachery Part II
Destroyer of the Universe
Slaves of Fear
Live Without Regrets
The Last Stand of Frej
For Victory or Death
Wrath of the Norsemen
A Beast I Am
Doom Over Dead Man

Set 2

Twilight of the Thunder God
Masters of War
Live for the Kill
With Oden on Our Side
Guardians of Asgaard
Asator
Varyags of Miklagaard
Thousand Years of Oppression
Without Fear > Victorious March > Gods of War Arise > Death in Fire

Encore:
Cry of the Blackbirds
Runes To My Memory
The Pursuit of Vikings

Just absolutely awesome. In terms of performance, this might've been the best metal show I've ever seen. Amon Amarth was spot on, and the crowd was insane. The opening of War Of The Gods (which I also got on tape) was just epic in every sense of the word. The Surtur Rising set was really solid, and that really surprised me. It's definitely a better album than most think. Destroyer Of The Universe and A Beast I Am were real thrashers, but I think my favorite was the closer, Doom Over Dead Men. It's just got that great, mid-tempo melodic death metal beat that just makes for great headbanging.

In between sets, I hooked up with Nick (aka Nick_To_The_Face) and it was awesome that he made it! Lemme know if you can make it to BTBAM

The second set started off great. People went absolute nuts for Twilight Of The Thunder God and so many people were singing along that Johan didn't even sing the chorus. Live For The Kill got a great reaction, Asator was great to hear too. I dug the medley, although I wish they would've made Death In Fire its own song. The only song of the night I didn't like too much was Thousand Years Of Oppression. It was cool near the end, but that song made me feel the fatigue. Encore was just great, and we had a great sing-a-long to Pursuit Of Vikings. It's been a while since Amon Amarth had been in Lawrence, but the sold out crowd at the Granada will hopefully bring them back time and time again.

Oh, and we also sang Happy Birthday to their bassist, Ted.

Amon Amarth: 9/10

Kansas City Mayhem Off-Date #2

2011-04-05T13:55:00.000-07:00

Mayhem Fest may not be in Kansas City, but some of the bands will be on off-dates! Here's the second one:

In Flames
Trivium
Kingdom of Sorrow
Straight Line Stitch

They'll be at the VooDoo Lounge inside Harrah's Casino (this venue is 21+) in Kansas City on August 8th.

Kansas City Mayhem Off-Date #1

2011-04-05T13:45:00.000-07:00

The Mayhem Festival isn't coming to Kansas City again this year, but we're getting another round of off-dates!

#1 is:

Unearth
Suicide Silence
All Shall Perish
Red Fang

At the Granada in Lawrence on July 18th.

Thrash All Summer Long!

2011-04-04T00:30:00.000-07:00

You've got DRI, Nocturnal, Witchaven, Holy Grail all in May. Want to continue the thrash into the summer? YOUR WISH HAS BEEN GRANTED:

June 27th...

Kansas City...

The Beaumont Club...

Thrash metal legends...

FORBIDDEN

will make their mark to be felt by the midwest for years to come!

Support comes from Revocation, White Wizzard, and Havok!

This will easily be one of the best shows ever to grace our city in quite some time. BE THERE!

Saint Vitus -- Merriam, KS -- March 28th, 2011

2011-03-29T01:11:00.000-07:00

Whelp. Now that the show is over, I can confidently say that last night was the greatest night of my life and that life is not worth living now because I'll never relive last night ever again.

Although Helmet wasn't headlining this stop on the Metalliance tour, local band Apehanger opened the show to make everything even. They're pretty much one of the few local bands that I would classify as "doom" that are any good. In fact, they were pretty damn awesome. They at times reminded me of a Khanate-like sound, but much much much (much) faster. Good stuff.

The first of the touring bands was The Atlas Moth. I'd never heard them prior to this show, but they surprised me at how good they were. They definitely had a more psychadelic sound and a more black metal (at least in the vocals) sound. It was awesome! Only complaint I had was that I seriously doubt they need three guitarists, two would make the sound a lot clearer.

After them was Howl. It was my third time seeing the band, but the first with a new guitarist. The lead guitarist/vocalist was great, and this time was by far the best time I've seen them. Their new guitarist was awesome at soloing and even had to switch guitars halfway through the set! Lots of headbanging for them.

The thing about Red Fang was that I really dug their more groovy songs, but when they went over to the more sludgey type of metal, it wasn't as good. Still fun, though! Also incredibly loud. Too loud, actually. Couldn't hear the vocals for most of the songs. They ended their set with Prehistoric Dog and that was great. I really hope they slay everyone on Mayhem Fest!

Kylesa was great, although pissed off because they had lost a piece of their vocal equipment. It just made them play with that much more furious anger. They even used a theramin (!!!) and the dual drums came off awesome yet again. Running Red was amazing and the opener of Hollow Severer was heavy as hell, but my favorite will always be Scapegoat. Love it to death. Kylesa is awesome!

I had literally heard not one note of Crowbar until I saw them last night, but they might be the most surprisingly good band to me so far this year! I will be the first to admit that I'm not a huge fan of sludge metal, but Crowbar are the godfather's of the genre and are everything right with that type of music! Some of their songs had a fast punky beat to them too. Kirk was great and interacted with the crowd a lot, and the crowd went nuts. Such an awesome surprise!

And then came Saint Vitus. I can't even begin to articulate how amazing their performance was. Definitely in my top 5 performances ever. Probably the best performance I've ever seen. Wino is a legend. There's no other word to describe him. He was so into the performance. He would get right into the crowd and sing, give us all crazy eyes, stuff like that. He dove off the stage and crowd surfed during White Stallions and drank from a bottle of Jack on stage which he then let the crowd take swigs from. But for every unforgettable moment Wino gave to us as a vocalist, Dave Chandler gave to us an unforgettable moment as a guitarist. The solo's he played were all one of a kind and he looked like an absolute madman. During Mystic Lady, he looked like he was about to have a seizure from going so crazy on his guitar. He ran out in the crowd and kept rubbing the frets on people's heads during Born Too Late and even plucked at the strings with his teeth. The best guitarist performance I've ever seen, hands-down.

I know I'll never see Saint Vitus again like I did last night, and that really makes me upset. Damn.

Saint Vitus

Living Backwards
I Bleed Black
Clear Windowpane
Blessed Night (new)
White Stallions
Mystic Lady
Dying Inside
Born Too Late

Crowbar

Conquering
Lasting Dose
All I Had
New Dawn
Sever
Liquid Sky
I Have Failed
High Rate
Cemetery Angels

Kylesa

Hollow Severer
Unknown Awareness
Running Red
Scapegoat
Tired Climb
Distance Closing In
Don't Look Back
Said & Done

Red Fang

Reverse Thunder
Sharks
Wires (new)
Painted Parade (new)
Suicide (Dust cover)
Prehistoric Dog

Howl

Heavenless
Horns of Steel
...And The Gnawing
Ashereh / Jezebel

The Atlas Moth

Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence
(New Song)
...Leads to a Lifetime on Mercury

Saint Vitus: 11/10
Crowbar: 9/10
Kylesa: 8.5/10
Red Fang: 8/10
Howl: 8.5/10
The Atlas Moth: 8/10
Apehanger: 7.5/10

Get ready to stagedive straight into 1985!

2011-03-22T15:05:00.000-07:00

One of the most legendary crossover thrash bands of all time, D.R.I. will be hitting the Oz Cafe in Wichita on May 23rd! THRAAAAASH!

Anatomy Is Destiny...In Kansas!

2011-03-22T14:52:00.000-07:00

Gore metal titans EXHUMED will be bringing their amazing brand of Carcass-inspired death metal to the Aftershock in Merriam, KS on July 21st! Opening the show is everyone's favorites CEPHALIC CARNAGE, MACABRE, and WITHERED!

Time Machine: To The 1980's!

2011-03-07T22:26:00.000-08:00

Two current bands who do a good job of emulating the best of 80's metal are stopping by the Riot Room! California's Holy Grail and Canada's Cauldron will be bringing back the glory days to Kansas City on May 9th!

Thrasho De Mayo!

2011-03-07T21:49:00.001-08:00

At the Czar Bar on May 20th will be a celebration of thrash!

Nocturnal (from Germany)
Witchaven

It doesn't get that much better for underground thrash!

Coming Up: Scion Lab shows!

2011-03-07T21:33:00.000-08:00

There's a couple of pretty good shows coming to the Scion Lab behind Crossroads KC/Grinder's in Kansas City!

First up:

Scale The Summit
Periphery
Fair To Midland

On March 22nd

Secondly:

Black Breath

On April 7th

Should both be awesome shows!

Weedeater -- Lawrence, KS -- March 3rd, 2011

2011-03-04T18:13:00.000-08:00

As if there was any nagging doubt in the subconscious areas of my mind, Weedeater has brutally stomped my mind (and definitely my ears) with their utterly heaviest brand of metal in the world. It took place at the Jackpot saloon, a small bar with a modest stage and only room for (at extreme most) a few hundred people. The way the crowd was going throughout the entire show, you could have mistaken it for Wacken Open Air. Multiple stage divers and crowd surfers and violent headbanging made for an awesome time. Weedeater played some off their upcoming album "Jason...The Dragon" including the title track and the absolute crushing show-opener "Hammerhandle." If their last album enticed you, their newest will probably be your favorite album of the year. They also revisited all their other albums, including "Weedmonkey Junction" from their first album, "Buzz" from Sixteen Tons (aptly named album), and several off "God Luck And Good Speed," including the title track, "Wizard Fight," and an absolutely stellar and mind-blowing rendition of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Gimme Back My Bullets." It was truly a performance to remember and the ringing of my ears will remind me of it for some time to come. The rest of the concerts I see this year will have some stiff competition.

Opening for Weedeater was Zoroaster, one of the loudest bands I've ever seen live. It actually started to work against them as their set went on, but their absolutely fantastic drummer made the band an absolute joy. Some songs were (a lot!) better than others and had a fantastic groove to them. They were a lot better than what I expected them to be.

The first band of the night was local band Masses who were apparently playing their first show since August of last year because their singer had a baby. I wouldn't necessarily say their brand of music was way out of place at this show, but it was certainly different. It was, however, refreshing to hear wonderful clean vocals go along with pop/post-rock/noise rock/whatever you want to call it. I'm looking forward to them again!

Weedeater (partial/out of order)

Calico
$20 Peanut
The Great Unfurling
Hammerhandle
Turkey Warlock
Jason...The Dragon
Monkey Junction
Potbelly (?)
God Luck And Good Speed
Wizard Fight
Gimme Back My Bullets (Lynyrd Skynyrd cover)
Weed Monkey

Zoroaster set:

White Dwarf
Ancient Ones
D.N.R.
Bullwhip
Old World
Odyssey
Black Hole
Spirit Molecule

Weedeater: 10/10
Zoroaster: 8/10
Masses: 7.5/10

The man himself returns

2011-02-25T17:31:00.000-08:00

After a pretty amazing show on the Blackest Of The Black tour on Halloween a few years ago, Danzig will be returning to Kansas City. He'll be at the VooDoo Lounge inside of Harrah's Casino in Kansas City on May 4th. Opening the show will be DevilDriver and 2Cents.

Lightning Swords Of Death!

2011-02-22T17:42:00.000-08:00

US black metal beasts LIGHTNING SWORDS OF DEATH will be returning to Kansas City just around the corner on March 1st at the Czar Bar. Awesome local bands Stonehaven and Meatshank will be opening!

Kansas Gets Prog

2011-02-22T16:19:00.000-08:00

Between The Buried and Me just announced they've signed to Metal Blade Records and announced a tour which is coming to the Granada in Lawrence!

Between The Buried And Me
Job For A Cowboy
The Ocean
Cephalic Carnage

April 26th
Granada
Lawrence, KS

Too bad JFAC is randomly thrown in there, another proggy-type band would've been great. But BTBAM puts on a great show!

Motorhead -- Kansas City, MO -- February 17th, 2011

2011-02-17T22:57:00.000-08:00

Great show from all the bands, but WOW what a performance by Clutch. BUT FIRST:

I got to the venue right at eight o'clock, but the line was still stretched around the block. I hear Valient Thorr playing while I waited to get in and missed about half their set. Their sound mix wasn't all that great, but the band was as great as ever. Kansas City is their second home, so I'm sure I'll be seeing a lot of them very soon.

I finally did it! I lost my Clutch show virginity! And what a show it was! Neil was moving all around and the music sounded great. Lots of great grooves; it's impossible not to move around to the beat at a Clutch performance! Big News I was really good, but my favorite song they did was Immortal. That song sounds great live! Might be the best opening set I've ever seen. Big thanks to Brad and Jeff for helping me figure out their set!

Motorhead was Motorhead. Nothing more, nothing less. I will say I enjoyed them a bit more than the last time I saw them. Also wasn't as loud as I remember. Still awesome. Songs like "Rock Out" and "I Got Mine" were great, but my personal favorite was "Going to Brazil." It's just too much fun. The guitar solo was kind of lame, but the drum solo was great. Always fun to see this legendary band, so hopefully they'll be around a while longer!

Motorhead:

We Are Motörhead
Stay Clean
Get Back In Line
Metropolis
Over the Top
One Night Stand
Rock Out
Guitar Solo
The Thousand Names of God
I Got Mine
I Know How To Die
The Chase Is Better Than the Catch
In the Name of Tragedy
Drum Solo
Just 'Cos You Got the Power
Going to Brazil
Killed by Death
Ace of Spades
---------
Overkill

Clutch (thanks Brad and Jeff!)

50,000 Unstoppable Watts
The Mob Goes Wild
Freakonomics
Pure Rock Fury
Big News I > jam > Big News II
The Incomparable Mr. Flannery
Child of the City
Immortal
Let a Poor Man Be

Motorhead - 8/10
Clutch - 9/10
Valient Thor - 8/10

War Is Our Destiny

2011-02-16T01:21:00.000-08:00

I'm still in shock that a concert this good will be here.

March 28th at the Aftershock Bar and Grille in Merriam, KS.

Saint Vitus
Crowbar
Kylesa
Red Fang
Howl
The Atlas Moth

This is legendary.

Death Angel -- Lawrence, KS -- February 11th, 2011

2011-02-12T01:25:00.001-08:00

I'm feeling it. Going all out two nights in a row is putting a strain on my body, but it feels pretty effin' good. For their first show in Kansas City since 1987, Death Angel ripped the rowdy Friday night crowd in half. It was a good night for metal.

A country show at a nearby venue caused me to park further away than normal, thus only catching the last 1 1/2 songs from KC's own power-metal titans Vanlade. I walked in on what sounded like a new song, and it sounded really awesome. The last one they played (it seemed they got their set cut short) was Breakin' The Law by Judas Priest, but they definitely put a thrash spin on the song. Best time I've ever seen them play it! I'll hold off on giving them a numbered review this time since I barely saw any of them, but I already can't wait to see 'em again!

Next up was At The Left Hand of God (or: drunkenly screaming ATLHOOOGGG!!!) and they were the odd-man out on this bill but brought a refreshing breath of air to the crowd. I'm always a big fan of these guys live and they never disappoint. The lead singer has ditched the keyboard and it seems like they play melodic death metal/metalcore in the vein on As I Lay Dying...but better! Great stuff, though the crowd wasn't too much into them. A more appropriate show for them, and they'd get tons of applause! Always a pleasure with ATLHOG.

And then came the best thrash band from the Midwest, Hammerlord. They were definitely on top of their game tonight, and they (for lack of a better word) absolutely thrashed through their opening set. Demon Fever was particularly vicious. Amazing as always. Oh, and still some of the best guitar playing I've ever seen in a live setting.

Bonded By Blood was the first of the touring bands. They were a little bit better than the last time I saw them, opening for Early Man. They seemed like they were kind of sloppy last year, but they were a lot tighter this time around. I love new thrash, but Bonded by Blood has yet to win me over. They're getting there, though.

Lazarus A.D., on the other hand, was pretty much the only band I wouldn't pay to see again. They had some pretty fun thrash parts, so it wasn't all a loss. But they definitely sounded way too much like Pantera for my liking. The crowd seemed to like them, though.

And then came Death Angel. They were outstanding. And they told us time and time again that we were by far the best crowd on the tour so far. People were spazzing out the entire time, everyone was singing along, not only to classics like Seemingly Endless Time, but also new ones like Claws In You. It was absolute chaos and absolutely insane. And let me tell you, Thrashers is probably the best live thrash song I've ever heard. Absolutely INSANE! I can't say it enough! Death Angel, please don't wait 24 years to come back again!

Death Angel (same as Chicago)

01. I Chose The Sky
02. Evil Priest
03. Buried Alive
04. Mistress Of Pain
05. Claws In So Deep
06. Seemingly Endless Time
07. This Hate
08. Relentless Revolution
(Acoustic outro from Claws In So Deep played over the P.A.)
09. Truce
10. Purgatory (Iron Maiden cover, no vocals) /
11. Veil Of Deception
12. Opponents At Sides
13. Bored /
14. Heaven And Hell (Black Sabbath cover)
15. Thrashers

16. Lord Of Hate
17. River Of Rapture
18. The Ultra Violence (Intro) / Thrown To The Wolves

LaZarus A.D. included:

The Onslaught Pt. 1 - Revolution
American Dreams
The Ultimate Sacrifice

Bonded By Blood included:

Immortal Life
Feed The Beast
Prototype: Death Machine

Hammerlord:

Wolves At War's End
Creating Destruction
Demon Fever
Cloudsplitter
The Ballad Of Rusty Tomaski
Tombstone Piledriver

At The Left Hand of God included:

The Tower Is Tall But The Fall Is Short

Vanlade included:

Breaking The Law (Judas Priest cover)

Death Angel: 9/10
Lazarus A.D.: 6/10
Bonded By Blood: 7/10
Hammerlord: 8.5/10
At The Left Hand Of God: 8/10
Vanlade: n/a

Eluveitie -- Lawrence, KS -- February 10th, 2011

2011-02-10T23:22:00.001-08:00

That's it. It's decided: Folk metal concerts are the most fun concerts in the entire world. I've never seen a more energetic crowd throughout such a long set dancing, moshing, singing, chanting, etc. than I have for a Lawrence, KS crowd on a freezing Thursday night. It was, to say the least, epic.

But it definitely didn't start out epic.

System Divide was definitely the odd man out on this tour. If they didn't have the female vocals, I'd completely write them off as a Whitechapel-worship band, but it wasn't as bad as I expected. Lots of breakdowns and the guitars just sounded like a wall of noise at times. They had a lot of energy, though. Not my favorite openers, but they woke the crowd up.

After them was Holy Grail. I expected them to sound a lot like a younger and more aggressive Iron Maiden. I wasn't completely off the mark, but they were still fun. They had some amazing twin guitar solos and the vocalist could really hit those high notes. Some songs seemed to drag on way too long, though. I'd love to see their counter-band White Wizzard and compare the two!

The first band I came for was 3 Inches Of Blood. They have a history of cancelling shows on Lawrence (I was at one that they eventually canceled) but they definitely made up for it. I was down in the pit for most of them and they sounded great, but the closer I got to the stage, the less I could hear Cam. Other than that, they were definitely on their game. "Goatrider's Horde" and "Deadly Sinners" sounded great as always, but their new one, "Lords Of Change" sounded GREAT. I think it might win back the fans they lost from their latest album. Would've loved Wykydtron, but 3IOB was fantastic all around.

Although the sound was spotty early on, it was quickly fixed and Eluveitie worked the crowd into a frenzy. Just the combination of their woodwind instruments, violin, hurdy-gurdy and the typical metal sound is just amazing in a live setting. The crowd clapped along, the pit was very active the entire set, and the hurdy-gurdy player even successfully got an audience in a Kansas college town to sing the lyrics to an ancient Celtic song. That's impressive! I will say the sound suffered just a bit because the members switched up instruments a lot, but overall it was managed very well. The vocalist was great with interacting with the crowd. Singing along with "Inis Mona" was really, really fun. Highlights were Tegernakô , Your Gaulish War, and Thousandfold. One of the all-around best performances I've ever seen! It was their first time in Kansas, but I really hope they'll be back soon!

Sets were the same all around:

System Divide

Purity in Imperfection
Repent/Forget
An Intoxicating Affair
Echoes
The Apex Doctrine
Vagaries of Perception

Holy Grail

Immortal Man
Call of Valhalla
Crisis in Utopia
Hollow Ground
My Last Attack
Fight to Kill

3 Inches of Blood

The Goatrider's Horde
Destroy the Orcs
Lords of Change (new song)
Trial of Champions
Premonition of Pain
Night Marauders
Deadly Sinners
Battles and Brotherhood

Eluveitie

Otherworld (intro)
Nil
Bloodstained Ground
Grey Sublime Archon
Your Gaulish War
Thousandfold
Inis Mona
Slanias Song
Brictom
Omnos
Quoth the Raven
The Song of Life
Kingdom Come Undone
(Do)minion
AnDro

--------------------------------

Primordial Breath
Uis Elveti
Tegernakô

System Divide - 5/10
Holy Grail - 7.5/10
3 Inches Of Blood - 8.5/10
Eluveitie - 9.5/10

SNOWPOCALYPSE!

2011-02-01T13:17:00.001-08:00

Hope everyone is staying warm.

Kansas City is now grim and frostbitten.

Wichita Death Fest?

2011-01-24T17:52:00.000-08:00

Just check this out:

Oh yeah.

Norma Jean is coming. Haters to the left.

2011-01-24T17:42:00.000-08:00

I love Norma Jean's first album. They have several albums after that varying in quality, but the first will always be near perfect. They'll be at the Bottleneck on March 12th with a line-up that's equally as varying in quality. Stick To Your Guns, Impending Doom and Of Legends open.

Contender for heaviest show of the year: WEEDEATER

2011-01-24T17:34:00.000-08:00

After a brilliant show last year, Weedeater will be returning to the area at the Jackpot on March 3rd. Zoroaster is opening. DON'T MISS THIS!

Live video for added effect:

On The Way: Genitorturers

2011-01-24T17:17:00.000-08:00

One of the longest-running and highly respected industrial rock bands is coming through KC. The GENITORTURERS! They'll be at the Beaumont Club on March 5th. Hanzel Und Gretyl and Angelspit are support, and KC locals Troglodyte and Serated open!

Kansas City Is The Road Crew!

2011-01-10T12:20:00.001-08:00

After playing one of the loudest shows ever at the venue, legendary band MOTORHEAD will be returning to the Midland on February 17th. Opening will be awesome rockers CLUTCH and spacemen and KC favorite VALIENT THORR.

Rest of January: Ozzy or Sick Of It All?

2011-01-10T12:00:00.000-08:00

Hey! There's only a few more shows in January that you need to worry about, but they both fall on the same day!

In this corner:

Ozzy Osbourne w/ Slash at the Sprint Center

In the other corner:

Sick Of It All w/ Mother of Mercy, Alpha & Omega, Iron Guts Kelly at the Bottleneck

Both shows are on January 22nd! Choose wisely!

Gaza -- Lawrence, KS -- January 8th, 2011

2011-01-10T11:56:00.000-08:00

So my first concert of 2011 may not have been all around as fantastic as 2010's (Nile w/ Immolation, Krisiun) but Gaza was fantastic all the same. And if I can't see Immortal in the middle of a snowstorm, Gaza will do just fine as a replacement.

Gaza is not your average grind band. They have grind, crust, hardcore, sludge, and punk influences in their music, but it all came through wonderfully in one of the loudest performances I've seen at the Jackpot. In between songs, the vocalist would talk to the crowd without the mic, so it gave a really at-home, down-to-earth vibe to the show. The band was all over the place and interacting with the crowd on songs like "He Is Never Coming Back" which the crowd sang most of. During the last song, the vocalist moshed with the crowd and for the final explosion of sound, the guitarist and the bassist joined. It was epic, in the small venue type of way. Great stuff, Gaza has the potential to be a legendary live band.

Opening the show was KC's Walking Oceans, an instrumental post-rock band. The good thing about them was that although they were instrumental, the music was great. They definitely put the "rock" in post-rock and the basslines were groovy as hell. Infectious. I hope they open more shows.

Before Gaza was Mansions. Mostly instrumental post-metal/sludge. It didn't really click with me last time, and this time was only a little better. It just seemed like they played the same song over and over again. Not terrible, but not too great either.

Gaza set included:

He Is Never Coming Back
Cristle
Cult
Windowless Mansion
Canine Disposal Unit

They were really good. I'll do a full review tomorrow. Pretty nice start to 2011 concerts.

Gaza: 9/10
MANSIONS: 5/10
Walking Oceans: 8/10

Happy New Year!

2011-01-05T14:46:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year. Have a bunch of shows coming up, so get ready for some awesome shows in 2011!

The first is awesome metalcore band GAZA who will be at the Jackpot on January 8th. With them will be Convert, Mansion, and Walking Oceans. It's an early show at 7 PM, so come rock out early!

New Year's Ev(il)e

2010-12-23T14:47:00.000-08:00

If you want to be a part of the funnest New Year's Eve celebration around, all you need is $3 (yes, just three dollars), to be at the Replay Lounge in Lawrence on the 31st, and be ready to headbang. Welcome to New Year's Evil!

Hammerlord
Troglodyte
Wrath & Ruin

Running the spectrum. Zombie-esque doom metal, Bigfoot-esque death metal and Undertaker-esque thrash. You won't be disappointed. Everyone will be talking about this show for all of 2011. DON'T MISS IT!

The Sword -- Kansas City, MO -- December 15th, 2010

2010-12-17T00:46:00.000-08:00

So apparently when it is in the 30's and there's a lite drizzel of rain, the states of Kansas and Missouri are paralyzed with fear and multi-car pileups and highway closing accidents are common. Because of that, I left super early to get to Kansas City to see The Sword, and I was the only one driving above 40 MPH.

When the door's opened, I was quick to realize this show would be packed. I've only been to the Record Bar for three shows, but this one had the most people by far. It was never stuffed and I never thought I was blocking someone's view: it was absolutely right.

Mount Carmel canceled their performance, but Karma To Burn more than made up for it. The crowd gave them a great reaction, and the band really fed off it. Most of their songs were doomed-out and slow, but there were a few ragers thrown in. Only about two songs actually had lyrics, but for once, I wish it was completely instrumental. It was that good! I would love to see a full set from these guys some time. Torche wishes they sounded this good.

After a quick sound check, The Sword arrived and blasted through a truncated set. While our date had fewer songs, The Sword's performance more than made up for it. Their cuts off of their latest, Warp Riders, sounded fantastic, especially Tres Brujas and Lawless Lands. The crowd absolutely kicked into frenzy for some of their older jams, and it really got going during How Heavy This Axe and Maiden, Mother & Crone. The Sword never really let up in their unrelenting rock show, which pounded at my senses and it would've been unbearable if they played for any longer than they did. Perfect set length from them. There was constant pitting and loads of headbanging and we made sure to let the band know they'll be welcome back around these parts for a long time coming.

Oh, and the drummer for Karma To Burn smells terrible.

Acheron/Unearthing the Orb
Tres Brujas
Barael's Blade
Arrows in the Dark
How Heavy This Axe
Maiden, Mother & Crone
Lawless Lands
Fire Lances of the Ancient Hyperzephyrians
The Horned Goddess
Iron Swan
The Black River
Freya > I Need More Time (The Meters cover) > Freya
(The Night the Sky Cried) Tears of Fire
Winter's Wolves

The Sword: 9/10
Karma To Burn: 8/10

Christmas Metal Meltdown!

2010-12-09T20:47:00.000-08:00

Ready to take the year out with a bang?

This Tuesday, the 14th, in Topeka at That Place Bar (3701 Southwest Plaza Drive) is one of the heaviest underground death metal bands, BURIAL RITUAL. They'll be slaying faces with our own Meat Shank, Dark Apostle and Gruesome. Brutal!

Toxic Holocaust -- Kansas City, MO -- November 23rd, 2010

2010-11-23T23:37:00.001-08:00

Great show from Joel and the boys, though it was really, really short. I think they barely just played for a half hour, but they did manage to squeeze a lot of songs in. It took a couple of songs to get the crowd kicked in, but I was headbanging and singing along to a lot of songs. I think I was the only person who knew all the lyrics to War Is Hell! Would love to see them again on a headlining tour, not just an off-date.

Setlist included:

Metal Attack
Summon The Beast
Reaper's Grave
Death Brings Death
War Is Hell
Bitch (New Song)
666
Lord Of The Wasteland
Nuke The Cross
Wild Dogs

Vanlade opened and slayed. Sounded even better than before. Koktopus played afterwards, but I was illegally parked so I didn't get to see 'em. Fun, but cold, night!

Toxic Holocaust: 8.5/10
Vanlade: 8/10

Here come the Hurdy-Gurdy's!

2010-11-17T15:07:00.000-08:00

That's right, Swiss folk metallers Eluveitie will be coming to The Granada in Lawrence on February 10th! Coming along with them are heavy metal bosses 3 Inches Of Blood, Holy Grail and System Divide. This is going to be a fun show!

Havok -- Merriam, KS -- November 16th, 2010

2010-11-16T23:41:00.000-08:00

Although they're from Denver, I really feel like Havok is a local band and hometown heroes. They always begin or end tours here and, like tonight, on a Tuesday night a ton of people show up who are big fans and sing the words and go crazy. It was my first time seeing a show at the Aftershock in Merriam, KS and the sound system wasn't too fantastic, but the stage was really big and it's an overall nice bar/grill! It was also my first time seeing Havok with two guitarists. They came earlier this year but had just lost their lead guitarist, so this was definitely better, and the second guitarist REALLY helped their sound. All the songs sounded great, but I was really impressed by the new song D.O.A. It just might be the best straight-up thrash song written in a long time! Afterburner was a highlight, but the ending Slayer covers were insane and the most fun I've had at a show in a while! One of the best performances this year by far!

Good ol' Vanlade opened right before Havok and they sounded great as always, although they only played with one guitarist this time. While every member of the band is fantastic on their own (especially the drums!) it sounds better with another guitar to even it out. No Judas Priest cover this time, but these dudes get better and better!

Meatshank sounded fantastic considering the spotty sound system at the Aftershock. The guitarist absolutely shred his face off and the bassist is still one of the most fun to watch. They played a good mix of old and new and were very well received by everyone.

Out of the two bands I hadn't heard before, Nefirum was far and away the most impressive. Looking at the band members, you'd think they had just come in from a day at school, but they played some vicious black metal with a tinges of thrash and a hint of death. Really, really impressive.

The first band of the night was Hellevate. They don't play the kind of metal I'm a huge fan of, but they did it really well and ended with a pretty sweet cover of Black Sabbath's namesake song. Evil, but nice!

Havok set:

Ivory Tower
Morbid Symmetry
Identity Theft
D.O.A.
Time Is Up
Fatal Intervention
To Hell
Melting The Mountain
Afterburner
Postmortem (Slayer cover)
Raining Blood (Slayer cover)

Havok: 10/10
Vanlade: 9/10
Meatshank: 8.5/10
Nefirum: 8/10
Hellevate: 7.5/10

Gwar -- Lawrence, KS -- November 8th, 2010

2010-11-08T23:43:00.000-08:00

After about thirty minutes of scrubbing all this stuff off in the shower, I'm finally ready to write this review!

I missed Mobile Deathcamp because I was outside talking to my friends. Shout out to Andy from Elctrikchair. (WHO IS ON THE CD IN THE LATEST ISSUE OF TERRORIZER OMG!) As soon as I made my way in, it was apparent that the show would be packed, but I wasn't prepared. It might just be the most packed show I've been to at The Granada.

Infernaeon kept repeating that they were from the "Hollywood of death metal", Tampa, FL. And that's pretty much what they sounded like. I actually thought they sounded really good. Although the mix wasn't the best, it had a lot of energy and some great sounding solo's. They even had a killer cover of Metallica's "Creeping Death" that sounded amazing, but I was embarassed that the crowd didn't go more nutso for it. Fun stuff.

I don't think I've ever come across a more polarizing band than The Casualties. I don't know if they are true punk or just posers, but I do know this: they put on a really fun show. They're probably the closest I'm going to get to seeing a legendary punk band, and the crowd certainly acted like they were legends. Huge mosh pits and lots of singing along. All their songs were fast and good to headbang to, including the "Blitzkrieg Bop" cover they did! Good stuff.

Last time I saw Gwar, I stood far enough back not to get hit with anything. Not this time! I was absolutely soaked in every imaginable liquid and it was amazing. Gwar killed Sarah Palin and Lady Gaga, a dog, a couple of zombies, and then shot out even more blood on the crowd from a cannon. The entire venue was absolutely slick with "blood" by the time the concert ended. The setlist we got was just a little bit different than the one's that have been posted, because their new album, "Bloody Pit of Horror" comes out tomorrow. "Salamanizer" and "Bring Back The Bomb" were fun of course, but "Pure As The Arctic Snow" and the "Bloody Pit Of Horror" medley sounded fantastic as well. A chaotic crowd all around; I don't think anyone left the Granada without having their skin stained red. It was an absolute spectacle. The band sounded fantastic, the theatrics were spot on, and I can't wait to see Gwar again.

Infernaeon included:

Creeping Death (Metallica cover)
Immaculate Deception

The Casualties:

We Are All We Have
Tomorrow Belongs to Us
Criminal Class
Without Warning
System Failed Us
Heart Bleeds Black
Social Outcast
Looking Thru Bloodshot Eyes
Media Control
Blitzkrieg Bop (Ramones cover)
Kill Everyone
Riot!
Unknown Soldier

GWAR:

1. Horror Of Yig
2. Damnation Under God
3. Hail to Genocide
4. Let Us Slay
5. Vlad The Impaler
6. Decay Of Grandeur
7. The Private Pain of Techno Destructo
8. Crack In The Egg
9. Maggots
10. Bring Back The Bomb
11. Metal Metal Land
12. Pure As The Arctic Snow
13. Beat You To Death
14. Salamanizer
--------------
15. Zombie March/Come The Carnivor/A Gathering of Ghouls/Storm is Coming medley
16. Sick Of You

Infernaeon: 8/10
The Casualties: 8.5/10
Gwar: 9/10

Whoops!

2010-11-05T16:01:00.000-07:00

About that Toxic Holocaust show on the 23rd: It's at the Czar Bar in KC, not the Riot Room. Sorry for the mix-up!

Rescheduled: The Sword

2010-11-04T14:09:00.000-07:00

The Sword, who was originally going to be at the Record Bar in October, will be coming back to the Record Bar on a rescheduled date for December 15th. Hooray!

Get ready for Thrashgiving!

2010-10-31T14:11:00.000-07:00

Back again to lay waste to Kansas City is a tiny little band called TOXIC HOLOCAUST! It'll be their second Kansas City show this year, and we have to show them that we want them to keep coming back! It's on November 23rd at the Riot Room and Vanlande and Koktopus will open.

Hammerween 2010 -- Kansas City, MO -- October 30th, 2010

2010-10-31T00:38:00.000-07:00

Absolutely one of the best nights I've ever had, and it was by far the best performances I've ever seen of every band tonight. There were a ton of people there and it was so much fun.

Opening the show was The Cast Pattern. Last time I saw them was opening for Hate Eternal and The Black Dahlia murder and I really didn't like them, but my tastes have expanded since them and I found them much more tolerable this time. Parts of their set totally sounded like current good hardcore bands, like Terror, but it was still a bit too breakdown-y for my tastes. They had great energy, though!

The next band was Koktopus and they pulled out a great set. The vocalist was dressed as Jesus (only the beard was real!) and the bassist had a costume on as well. They went through stapled like Old Man River and Deathbed and another fantastic cover of Venom's Witching Hour. They ended their set by putting on Kiss masks and doing a Kiss cover and I am totally an X-generation child because I didn't know which song it was! But it was a great performance throughout!

The last time I saw At The Left Hand Of God was at the American Waste Festival last June and I think they take the prize for "Most Improved Band" since I last saw them, and they were good the last time I saw them! All their songs are really catchy and the guitarists and even the bassist have some serious skills. They played some new stuff and some old stuff and filmed the entire thing. A great performance and I'd love to see them again.

This is the first time I've seen Serated at a venue where I could actually hear them clearly and it made a huge difference. At the Riot Room their guitars were reduced to a wall of noise, but at the Beaumont I could hear all the groove and beats to their music and it really surprised me. What didn't surprise me is that their bassist is still a beast. Seriously, I think every Serated show should have a 10-minute bass solo in it. Dude is seriously talented. And thanks for the shout-out during your set, bro's!

The only band I'd never seen before tonight was Diskreet and it wouldn't be completely accurate to call them a band; they were more like a ball of pure energy set to death metal. The singer was covered in fake blood and bounding around the stage like a madman. Both the guitarists had some crazy solo's and the sound was magnificent all the way through. Diskreet just might be the biggest current local band from this area and man, they definitely deserve it.

My broseph's in Troglodyte absolutely laid waste to Kansas City tonight. They played a perfect setlist and they sounded fantastic. My favorites sounded great like Don't Go In The Woods and They Walk Among Us, but Hit By The Henderson's was insane. I almost wore myself completely out from headbanging too hard. A Madball cover and two GG Allin covers were thrown in for good measure and it was a devestating set.

It's Hammerween, so OF COURSE Hammerlord has to headline! Stevie was dressed up in a wrestler costume doing his best Macho Man Randy Savage impersonation and the smile never left my face. We all know by now that the instruments and the vocals for Hammerlord are mythical in a live setting, but you really have to see it to believe it. Screaming along with Tombstone Piledriver and Creating Destruction is always fun, but I think The Ballad Of Rusty Tomaski just might be my new favorite Hammerlord live song. It's just brutal. Best Hammerlord performance I've ever seen!

In the end, Hammerween (to me) was a huge success. There were a ton of people in attendance, every band was great, the people were great, and it really made me genuinely happy to know that the KC metal scene is like one big brotherhood. Bring on Hammerween 2k11!

The Cast Pattern included:

Shut Your Homeless Mouth

Koktopus included:

Old Man River
Deathbed
Witching Hour (Venom cover)

At The Left Hand Of God included:

From Coffins Choirs Rise
The Tears Of Blackmail Are Sweet

Diskreet included:

Infernal Throne
We Are Legion

Troglodyte included:

Troglodyte Rises
Don't Go In The Woods...
Skunk Ape Rape
Bite It You Scum (GG Allin cover)
Die When You Die (GG Allin cover)
Back Of The Bus (Madball cover)
Ric Flair's Hair
The Only Good Hippie Is A Dead Hippie
They Walk Among Us

Hammerlord included:

Creating Destruction
Storm The Castle
Demon Fever
Tombstone Piledriver
The Ballad Of Rusty Tomaski
Dead City Radio
Wolves At War's End
Halloween (Misfits cover)

The Cast Pattern: 6/10
Koktopus: 8/10
At The Left Hand Of God: 8.5/10
Serated: 7/10
Diskreet: 9/10
Troglodyte: 10/10
Hammerlord: 10/10

Just in time for Thanksgiving

2010-10-28T17:50:00.000-07:00

Another pretty "eclectic" tour will be hitting Aftershock in Merriam, KS on November 16th. Wretched will be headlining, and thrashers Havok will be supporting, along with Armed For Apocalypse. Opening the show will be KC's own speed-demons Vanlade. A diverse bill, but Havok alone should make it worth the cost!

KC Metal on MetalSucks.net!

2010-10-26T18:32:00.000-07:00

I sent an e-mail to the guys at www.metalsucks.net about how much I love the local metal scene here, and they did a piece on it!

http://www.metalsucks.net/2010/10/26/readers-choice-metal-from-the-kansas-city-area-edition

Check it out!

Early Man -- Kansas City, MO -- October 18th, 2010

2010-10-19T01:15:00.001-07:00

Not a particularly long concert tonight, but it certainly was a good one. I'm glad I wore my Suicidal Tendencies long-sleeved shirt, it looks like every show I go to for a while will end with a cold night. Anyways:

Walked into the Riot Room with my friend and sat in the bar to make it through Serated. I just don't get this type of music; it's basically just nu-Pantera worship. Definitely not my thing, and judging from the crowd reaction, definitely an odd choice for an opener.

First of the touring bands was Bonded By Blood, and apparently the vocalist is new. New, as in I think it's someone different than the vocalist who sang on their latest release which came out in August. Not my favorite vocals for a thrash band, but the guitarists more than made up for it. Lots of crazy and long solo's. I'd like to see them again.

The main reason I went to this show was for UK's Evile. I think it was their second or third full-fledged US tour and I made sure to let them know that we wanted them back in KC as much as possible! At times, they sounded just like RIB/SOH-era Slayer. At one point in one of their newer songs, I really did think they were covering Slayer. Thrasher was menacing and amazing, just like I hoped it would be, but I think the highlight was definitely We Who Are About To Die. I thought it'd be too long, but I didn't want it to end. Definitely up there on my "to-see again" list.

Ending the night was Early Man. I didn't really care for them when I saw them open for Iced Earth a few years ago, but this show was definitely a different experience. Lots of headbanging from everyone. I think Early Man is one of few thrash bands today that invoke a feeling of the '80s while still being completely original and refreshing to listen to. They're a great fit in-between Bonded by Blood and Evile. Some great solo's during their set as well. They'll be back in KC on February 11th with Bonded By Blood too, opening for Death Angel, and I'll be there to catch their set!

I also picked up a cool Evile shirt!

Early Man included:

Death Potion
Brainwashed At Birth
Feeding Frenzy
Beware The Circling Fin

Evile:

Infected Nation
We Who Are About To Die
Now Demolition
Thrasher
Enter The Grave

Bonded By Blood included:

Immortal Life
Feed The Beast
Mind Pollution
600 A.B. (After The Bomb)
Prison Planet
Exiled To Earth

Early Man: 8.5/10
Evile: 9/10
Bonded By Blood: 8/10
Serated: 5/10

The Prince of Darkness returns!

2010-10-11T23:19:00.000-07:00

Ozzy Osbourne has been playing some fantastic setlists lately, and he is returning to the Sprint Center in Kansas City on January 22nd! Opening the show will be former Guns n' Roses guitarist Slash, who has also been playing some great sets! Best news: cheapest tickets for this show are less than $30!

The Sword - Canceled

2010-10-11T23:05:00.000-07:00

Due to their drummer leaving the band in the middle of their US tour, The Sword has canceled all its upcoming tour dates, including the one in a few weeks at the Record Bar in Kansas City. They are currently in the process of rescheduling all dates.

Envy -- Lawrence, KS -- October 10th, 2010

2010-10-11T17:26:00.000-07:00

I can't believe a show like this came through Lawrence. There was a great crowd for the entire show, and each band put on amazing performances. Although the crowd was over-the-top violent at times, I had a fantastic experience.

Opening the show was And So I Watch You From Afar from Belfast, Ireland. I didn't know what to expect from them, but they were definitely fun to watch. They're like an instrumental version of The Fall Of Troy, but heavier. The two guitarists were all over the stage and out in the crowd. Great stuff, I'd love to see them again. 9/10

The band I was most excited for was Touche Amore. Their brand of emotional hardcore is infectious and I finally got to sing along with "Honest Sleep" which is always fun. Lots of singing from the crowd and a pretty good pit! I can't wait to see them whenever they come through town. 9.5/10

Trash Talk got the biggest reaction of the night, and definitely the most violent pit of the night. Not the most violent I've ever seen, but I had to break up several fights (punching/choking fights) and there were lots of stage dives and whatnot. The music wasn't too terrible, but they just seemed out of place on this bill. Not too bad, but I was too busy protecting my crotch most of the time. 8/10

The headlining band was Envy from Japan. They looked like regular guys, not a band that combines metalcore with Explosions In The Sky-type post-rock. Their songs were infectious and had the expansive soundscapes of post-rock with the emotional outbursts of energy from bands like Coalesce. Great stuff, and really loud. Lots of noise from the keyboards, but it was offset by beautiful clean vocals. Amazing. 9/10

And So I Watch You From Afar included:

Set Guitars To Kill
If It Ain't Broke...Break It
D is for Django the Bastard

Touche Amore included:

Honest Sleep
And Now It's Happening In Mine
Hipsterectomy
Negotiating The Charade
Always Running, Never Looking Back
I'll Get My Just Deserve
And I'll Deserve Just That

Trash Talk included:

Flesh & Blood
Envy

Envy included:

Chain Wandering Deeply

An odd tour

2010-10-06T14:51:00.000-07:00

NY hardcore heavyweights Full Blown Chaos will be on a short tour in November and are ending it in Kansas. On November 19th they'll be at the Lizard Lounge in Wichita, and on the 20th, they'll be at Aftershock in Merriam, KS. Support comes from The Autumn Offering, and Knights of the Abyss, which makes this a...erm...electic tour.

Valient Thorr - Kansas City, MO -- October 3rd, 2010

2010-10-04T01:20:00.000-07:00

The weather is getting cooler and that means the good tours should be kicking up all over the country. Valient Thorr has a long history with the Kansas City/Lawrence area since 2001 and with the rabid following and one of the best shows I've ever seen, it's not hard to see why.

Opening the show on a high note was Hammerlord and thanks to the Record Bar's wonderful sound system, they sounded better than any other time I've heard them. Ty and JP absolutely shredded their guitars to pieces and I had a lot of fun screaming along to "Tombstone Piledriver" with Stevie. A short opening set, but it just makes me want to see them even more!

It was my second time seeing Howl this year and overall. The last time was a few months ago in Lawrence on a weird bill consisting of Howl, Phobia and Black Cobra. I gotta say that Howl sounded much better this time. Very, very heavy and the vocals sounded absolutely menacing. I feel like they will continue to get bigger. A tour with Weedeater would be MASSIVE.

I'd actually never heard of Junius before, but apparently there were a few people in the audience who had waited a long time to see them live. I was blown away. The best way I can describe their sound (and I'm probably doing a horrible job) is: Alcest if they had doom/sludge instead of black metal. Or maybe Explosions In The Sky if they were pissed off (and with vocals!). Tons of great moments in their set that made me audibly say "Wow" more than once. Great stuff.

Valient Thorr's set wasn't so much an excellent musical performance as much as it was a bunch of fans getting together, having fun, and being happy whilst listening to one of the most energetic bands in the business today. Valient Himself kept the crowd smiling with positive reinforcement before and during songs, and some quirky anecdotes. "Did you know the Record Bar was the first place in America to have automatic paper towel dispensers?" I do now. During one song, he went out into the crowd, motioned for everyone to sit on the floor, and row/headbang along with the music. It was just random things like this that made this one of the funnest shows I've seen. The music was great, too. If AC/DC was metal and awesome, they'd be Valient Thorr. I can only hope they return from Venus to bless the KC area with their metal again soon.

Valient Thorr included:

Mask Of Sanity
Tomorrow Police
Disappearer
Night Terrors
Vision Quest

and a whole bunch more.

Hammerlord set:

Creating Destruction
Storm The Castle
Tombstone Piledriver
The Ballad Of Rusty Tomaski
Wolves At War's End
Metalization

Valient Thorr: 10/10
Junius: 9/10
Howl: 8.5/10
Hammerlord: 9/10

Scion Garage Fest -- Lawrence, KS -- October 2nd, 2010

2010-10-03T01:32:00.001-07:00

It ain't no Scion Rock Fest, but Scion Garage Fest was a really fun time with friends and some pretty cool bands. There were about 35 or so bands spread out between four venues, but I only visited two venues and saw five bands. For free, and it was a steal.

The first band was at Liberty Hall and were called Best Coast. A large crowd showed for them, and my friends and I chose to sit up in the balcony for their show. The first half of their performance was alright, but it seemed like every song sounded the same. There was no bass player, but the guitarist who was "acting" as the bass player was getting really into it, but the two girls doing vocals/guitar and drums seemed to recycle the same couple of types of music over and over again. Only when the 40 minute set reached the halfway point did they really step it up and start playing really catchy lo-fi dream-pop. A little nine year old girl even got up on stage to play tambourine, and she was singing along with every word! That was pretty funny. Best Coast certainly wasn't the worst band I'd ever heard from that genre. 7.5/10

Liberty Hall completely emptied out after Best Coast, but I stayed to see the band after called The Ponies. To be honest, I thought their guitar tone and the vocals sounded like a less energetic version of The Hives, who I love. I enjoyed them a lot, but at about halfway through their set, I left because they had started to get a bit repetitive. Not too bad at all! 7.5/10

One of the bigger crowds of the day was at the Jackpot. I walked down there and caught the last half of Happy Birthday's set. They sounded pretty good, a faster version of Best Coast with some guitar solo's thrown in! The vocalist was pretty crazy, too. He was drunk, high, or both. It blew my mind that a guy with that long of hair wasn't playing metal! 8/10

The Jackpot was crammed for one of the "headliners" of the day, The Gories. Two guitarists and a drummer with only two floor tom's. Interesting, but they played intense and straight-up punk n' roll. It almost sounded like a more punk versions of 50's rock n' roll bands. With a song with lyrics like, "Hey hey, we're the Gories!" how can you not have fun and jump around. A couple of cool guitar solo's and the crowd went wild. I think if they had a full drum kit their sound would be much better because although it sounded great, it just sounded like something was missing. Like the band was kind of empty. I only stayed for about half their set, but it was truly an experience. 8/10

The only band I had listened to prior to the day of the fest was The Raveonette's, so I was pretty excited for them. There weren't a lot of people there; enough so that it was a good-sized crowd, but not so many that it was uncomfortable. Their brand of noise rock/shoegaze/punk had touches of everything from The Jesus and Mary Chain to Joy Division in it. When they weren't blasting full force with a full band, they sang some great songs with just the bassist + the two guitarists playing tambourines, or each guitarist playing and singing their own solo song. I think the girl's solo song might have been a cover. They were great and full of energy; more than once I got chills up and down my spine. They ended their set, the house lights came on, and the roadies were taking down equipment, but the crowd kept cheering and the band actually came back out and played two more songs. I've never actually seen that happen before! Great stuff, one of the best sets of 2010! 9/10

Again: it ain't no Scion Rock Fest, but give me a stellar Garage Fest line-up like Scion did this year and I'll keep coming back.

Nachtmystium - Canceled

2010-09-29T20:57:00.001-07:00

I know this is way late, but I just got back from driving up to the Riot Room: Nachtmystium has canceled tonight. Don't go looking for a show.

We are not Japanese, we are not American, we are not even human beings! We are...

2010-09-27T14:36:00.000-07:00

...Peelander-Z!

Peelander-Z is returning to Lawrence at the Replay Lounge on October 13th! Their live shows are the best in the world and include, but aren't limited to: human bowling, audience members performing their instruments, giant monsters, confetti, makeshift instruments, running outside to play, and more! If you don't attend, you're missing the most fun you'll have all year!

Upcoming Week: Hellbastard, Two Jucifer shows

2010-09-19T17:15:00.001-07:00

Just a reminder:

Hellbastard will be at The Mouth (6th and Alabama) in Lawrence on Sept. 21 with a lot of good local bands. $8, all ages, no curfew. If you don't go to this show, you don't have any punk cred.

Jucifer is playing two shows for us this week as well. They'll be at the Replay Lounge in Lawrence on Sept. 23rd and at Davey's Uptown Rambler's Club in Kansas City on the 24th. Both shows are under $10 and they will be amazing performances.

Whoops!

2010-09-10T21:30:00.000-07:00

The Black Tusk show coming up will NOT have Fu Manchu or It's Casual playing as well, instead now local bands The Cast Pattern and Hester Prynne will be opening.

More psychadelic metal landing at KC

2010-09-10T14:01:00.001-07:00

Love 'em or hate 'em, The Sword are coming back to Kansas City after their opening set for Metallica back in 2008. I dug them, but I thought that they'd be a lot better in a smaller venue. Looks like they heard me! They'll be at the Record Bar in Kansas City on October 24th. Should be heavy!

Heavy Metal from another planet!

2010-09-09T12:08:00.001-07:00

After a very entertaining and rocking set opening for Mastodon a few months ago, Valient Thorr will be at the Record Bar in KC for a headlining show. With them will be Howl, Junius and our very own Hammerlord! It'll be on October 3rd, a Sunday!

Where it all began - Blue Oyster Cult

2010-09-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

At the Old Settler's Festival in Olathe on Saturday, witness one of the fathers of heavy metal! Blue Oyster Cult will be performing and it will be a free concert!

Details here: http://www.johnsoncountyoldsettlers.com/

Troglodyte -- Kansas City, MO -- September 6th, 2010

2010-09-07T00:19:00.001-07:00

Happy Labor Day!

First band was Chaos Interval. They're a three piece grind band with no bassist, and they definitely don't need one. Their sound was really clear and the drummer and the guitarist have some serious skills. The singer did a great job too and he was all over the place. A really fun band to watch, I hope to see them play more than a short opening set some day. 8.5/10

Set included:

Entrails Of A Dead Era

The last time I saw Marasmus was back in January opening for Nile, and they're still as heavy as ever. The vocalist sounds great and as a band, they sound a bit like Cannibal Corpse, but it's all fresh and heavy. They should open up every death metal show! 8.5/10

Set included:

Drowning In Whiskey
Gnostic Decimation
Shitting Teeth

The one let-down of the night was definitely Serated. It seems they have quite a following in and around Kansas City, but I don't get it. I just hear a Pantera/Down-sounding band and I cannot get behind clean vocals in extreme metal, especially the mid-90's James Hetfield version. The sound was pretty muddy and neither of the guitarists were anything special, but their bass player has to be one of the best I've ever seen. Dude is insane. Other than that, not much here. 6/10

Everything was perfect for Troglodyte, and it might have been the best time I've seen them. They played a ton of material, including my two favorite Trog songs. They brought out some lights and a couple of fog machines. It's almost like Bigfoot himself was performing in a swamp for us! Great stuff all around, like always. I need more Trog! 10/10

Set included:

A Piece Of Me Is A Piece Of You
Hit By The Hendersons
Skunk Ape Rape
Don't Go In The Woods...
Beyond The Valley Of The Troglodyte/Troglodyte Rises
Bite It You Scum (GG Allin cover)
Die When You Die (GG Allin cover)
Back Of The Bus (Madball cover)
The Only Good Hippie Is A Dead Hippie
Ric Flair's Hair
They Walk Among Us
Fossil
Entombed Yeti Hand

Coliseum -- Lawrence, KS -- September 1st, 2010

2010-09-01T22:42:00.000-07:00

Sludge is a funny word. I've heard it describe bands whose music ranges from slow-down and dirty all the way to atmospheric bands that use acoustic guitars. Tonight could've been called a punk show instead of a sludge show, they both fit the music that came to Lawrence tonight.

The first band was Mansions, a local sludge/post-whatever band that was seriously one of the most boring bands I can remember. I can listen to Sleep do "Dopesmoker" for 63 minutes, but they at least have crushing riffs. The first two mansion songs were 7 - 10 minutes in length with no vocals and basically one riff repeated over and over. It wasn't even heavy. I retreated to a seat to watch a seriously fantastic Thai action flick (The Protector) and they added vocals it seemed, but it was still pretty poor. 4/10

Burning Love was next, all the way from Canada. They played to the 20-ish people at the Jackpot as if they were playing to a crowded room. Their brand of hardcore punk definitely had the aesthetics and some of the sound of rock n' roll and protopunk bands like The Stooges. I was so ecstatic to hear something different that I enjoyed their set immensely. Their bassist gave some great groovy lines that permeated their sound and made it really fun to listen to 'em. Highly recommended if you're bored of typical hardcore. 8.5/10

Burning Love set included:

The Needle
Burning Love
Gain
Don't Ever Change

Before they announced they were from Kentucky, I could have guessed Coliseum was from the southern US. There are parts of their sound that likens them to Kylesa, Torche or Mastodon, but instead of forming at a High On Fire show, they would have formed at a Black Flag show. When they weren't crushingly heavy, they would speed stuff up to where some mosh pits would break out. More crust punk than sludge, in my opinion. Great stuff and the lead guitarist/vocalist seemed really grateful we all showed up. They play around here a lot, and I'm sure people will keep coming to see them. 8.5/10

Coliseum set included:

No Benefit
Detached
This Mind Locked Inside This Body