Huge update!

Been silent for February, but have a ton of new confirmed shows to let you all know about! Here we gooooooooooooooooooo:

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The hardest working band in a touring sense, JUCIFER, is returning yet again to Kansas City. They'll be at The Riot Room on March 10th, a Sunday. They literally play with a wall of amps so be prepared for one of the loudest and heaviest experiences of your life.

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HOWL, the only good thing to come out of Rhode Island, will be returrning to KC on March 19th, a Tuesday, at the Riot Room. I was very impressed the last time I saw them, one of the first acts on the first Metal Alliance tour. Super heavy! Also on the bill are Boreas, Keef Mountain and Abbot.

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Here's one for the kids - Australian death metal/metalcore act PARKWAY DRIVE will be at The Granada on April 4th, a Tuesday. I actually think they do this genre of music better than pretty much all others, even though I'm not a huge fan. Along for the ride is The Word Alive, Veil of Maya and While She Sleeps.

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Here's a big one. One of the original old-school death metal bands that is world-renowned will be making a stop in KC for the first time in...AGES. The legends themselves, SUFFOCATION will be bringing a packed bill to The Riot Room on April 22nd. Along with them are one of my favorites EXHUMED, along with legendary act Jungle Rot, Rings of Saturn, Adimiron and of course, local favorites Troglodyte will be opening! Seriously stacked bill - get your tix soon!

 

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Another pretty sweet show, KVELERTAK is bringing back their brand of hardcore punk and black metal to the Granada in Lawrence on April 28th, a Sunday. Along with them is Canadian extreme music act Cancer Bats and sludge addicionados Black Tusk.

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Are the shows announced so far not crazy enough for you? Then here you: DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN will be headlining at The Granada in Lawrence on May 12th, a Sunday. The Faceless and Royal Thunder open. Get ready for stage dives!

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Here's probably my most anticipated KC concert so far of the year. Doom legends KATATONIA is making a rare headlining appearance at The Aftershock on May 19th, a Sunday. They put on one of the best performances of 2012 opening for Devin Townsend, and hopefully they're every bit as heavy this time around. Locals Existem and the always awesome Wrath and Ruin open.

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And finally, new inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame RUSH will be at the Sprint Center on August 4th, a Sunday. It seems KC-based Rush appearances are becoming rarer and rarer, so I suggest not missing out on this one!

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That's most of the shows announced. Check the sidebar for more! Thanks! :D

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

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

War Is Our Destiny

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.

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

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

Heavy Metal from another planet!

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!

Black Cobra -- Lawrence, KS -- July 21st, 2010

My streak of almost dying from heat exhaustion at shows continues. After a sweltering performance from Black Cobra, Phobia, and Howl inside the Jackpot, I was sopping wet with sweat. But it was well-earned not just from the heat, but from how fantastic the concert was.

"Someone has to live there," says Howl's frontman Vincent when he mentions that they're from Rhode Island. Apparently, over on the northeast coast, you get a free Buzzov*en album whenever you buy groceries. They were dripping with Buzzov*en/Weedeater/etc. worship that halfway through their set, I wish they would change it up a little bit. While they were certainly heavy, I was sorely aware of the absence of guitar solos. Too many songs sounded the same and, for the first time I can recall, the bass absolutely dominated in the mix. Odd, but they still pulled off a decent set. They know how to get heads banging.

I've seen some odd pairings in shows, but nothing quite like this. Phobia stood out as the more extreme/faster of the three bands, but most of the crowd came for their set. It was a blast of fresh air, but it seemed the band was going a little through the motions, although they seemed to get really into it halfway through the set. Lots of pitting and even a few stage dives let them know just how welcome their grindcore was. As they were starting to put their gear away, the crowd kept yelling for more, so they gave the grindcore faithful a well-earned encore. Phobia will always be welcome back.

I can't believe I was considering leaving before Black Cobra's set. I decided to stay and it was the best decision I've made in quite some time. Matt Pike would be proud: Black Cobra sounded just as heavy and had as many riffs as High On Fire, but they only had a guitarist and a drummer. Couldn't believe how loud two guys could get. They were heavy when the tempo's slowed and made everyone's neck sore when they decided to get fast. This fantastic two-piece didn't let up one bit and it was really one of the better performances of the year so far. After their set, I shook their guitarist's, Jason's, hand and said, "Calling you the heaviest band in the world would be an understatement." And what an understatement it is.

Black Cobra:

Five Daggers
Kay-Dur-Twenty
Red Tide
Machine
Catalyst
Omniscient
Chronosphere
Negative Reversal
Storm Shadow
Swords For Teeth

Phobia:

Bring The War
Savannah's Assault
So Full Of Hate
I Reject
Fuck What You Think
Drunken Spree of Violence
?
?
Death To False Punk
?
Cheap Life?
Ultimate Suffering
Rise Up
Get Up And Kill
?
Blood Sport
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Let's Get Pissed

Black Cobra: 9.5/10
Phobia: 8/10
Howl: 7/10

A good thing gets a whole lot better

See that Black Cobra/Howl show mentioned over there to the right?

Well, according to the Jackpot's website, California's own Phobia has been added to the bill.

You heard me right.

Black Cobra
Phobia
Howl

Hitting all extremes of the music spectrum that night.

July 21st at the Jackpot!