Scorpion Child at The House of Blues on 3/21

In the wake of the news of the Key Club's closure, The House of Blues still stands strong as the premiere metal and hard rock venue of the Sunset Strip. Last Thursday, they hosted the Scorpion Child, Orange Goblin, Lionize and Clutch tour.

Please don't ever close!!

Scorpion Child started the night off right by summoning all of the powers of the rock gods with a haunting and thunderous homage to their classic rock roots.  The Child quickly awakened the curmudgeonly, early-show audience with a portentous, other-worldly opening, and dominated the stage through a haze of eerie orange and red lights for the remainder of the set. Skillful bass lines commanded all of the songs while guitar players Chris Cowart and Tom Frank churned out dramatic riffs and perfectly composed guitar solos. If you're not familiar with these guys, Scorpion Child is a present-day, psychedelic, hard rock band that pulls influences from Zeppelin and Rainbow. All of their songs are ridiculously well-composed and they put on an incredible live performance. If you've never seen them, I highly suggest you make it out to their next show. This band conveys anything but your average arena-rock concert experience.

Aryn Black wailed on the mike like a psychedelic banshee!

Chris Cowart was relentless on that guitar.

Orange Goblin brought a hell of a show, too! These British dudes played some fast paced, metal-boogie tunes and connected with the crowd in a boisterous, rowdy way. I'll definitely be checking them out again on their next tour.

These guys are British but they sort of seem like they're from Ohio...?

The crowd went absolutely wild for Clutch! These guys had a shit-ton of energy!

Be sure to check out Scorpion Child and all the other great acts on Facebook, Reverb Nation, and most importantly, in concert! The next event on my concert calendar is Paganfest, featuring TYR and Ensiferum, at The House of Blues on April 2nd.

Scattered Hamlet CD Release Party at The Viper Room on 3/4

Sucks to be you if you weren't at The Viper Room for Scattered Hamlet's CD release show cuz that shit was outta sight! It was the last show of their tour and they clearly saved the best for last. I've never seen the Viper Room so sweaty and grimy after a concert! That building needed a cigarette and a cold shower by the time the show was over.

Redd was shredding on the cat walk.

Adam was wailing on the mike.

The newest addition - Chili Bowl on guitars!

Jake stayed hidden from view most of the night.

Rich hammered out some bitchin' bass lines.

If you like dirty, unapologetic, southern rock overflowing with killer guitar riffs and sleazy wah pedal licks then this is the stuff for you. I finally heard the Skeleton Dixie album played in its entirety and I bought the CD as soon as it was over.

If you missed Scattered Hamlet this time around, you might be able catch them again in May or June. In the meantime, be sure to check  out these hellacious hillbillies on Facebook!

Turisas at The Key Club on 2/22!

Man, oh man, what a show! Turisas put on an incredible performance last Friday night at The Key Club! Any fan of power metal or Finnish folk metal should check out this band. They take the best elements of viking, folk, power and symphonic metal, and blend them together into the stunning amalgamation they call "battle metal".  And from what I can tell, their epic movie soundtrack feel is created live by keyboards and a violin, not from a cheater backing track. These guys had tremendous energy and really know how to get a crowd excited! There were tons of dudes in the pit sporting the red Turisas warrior facepaint.

Olli Vanska shreds the hell out of his violin!

I'll have to make it out to Helsinki, Finland one day because there are just too many good bands over there! Be sure to check out Turisas on Facebook and watch out for their next US tour!

The next event on my concert calendar is Scattered Hamlet at The Viper Room on Monday, March 4th. I might also make it over to The House Blues to catch The Future Villains right before Scattered Hamlet plays.