The Whisky and The Rainbow - Two Venues in One Night on 1/24!

Apparently Thursday is the new Friday because there is way too much good shit happening on Thursdays lately!
I started off my Thursday evening metal adventure at The Whisky (yes, I'm there pretty often) to see Ascendancy play. If you haven't seen them before, I highly suggest you check them out. They're a local five piece that lays down some seriously heavy groove metal. It was a high energy show and I was stoked to see that there was a decent crowd there to support the band on a weeknight. Of course Ascendancy played a consistently bitchin' set but something hard to describe happened towards the end of the show that unleashed a mysterious untapped reservoir of thunderous energy on stage, giving the band a freakishly powerful finish! All of my hair stood on end! That was some good (but weird) shit, man!

Gus Trujillo on vocals.

Epic shred time.

Next, I wandered over to The Rainbow to check out Rattlehead and Desecrate for their pre-NAMM show.  Both bands are well known on the Sunset Strip for being excellent shredders and great performers.  This night was no different, even though everyone was crammed into the claustrophobically tiny upstairs space that The Rainbow has converted into a concert venue.  I imagine that's what it must feel like to be stuck in a tugboat's boiler room. Desecrate hammed it up by running circles around the smushed audience with their wireless rigs and Rattlehead had to do battle with a drunk girl who kept insisting on providing backup vocals.  Somehow, it all worked out!

The stage is actually below the audience space!

Rattlehead!

Be sure to look for Ascendancy, Desecrate and Rattlehead on Facebook or at their next concerts! The next event on my concert calendar is Ascendancy and Nekrogoblikon at Mirror Image Studios on 2/15.

The Glory Stompers at The Whiskey on 1/14

Have I mentioned that recently The Whiskey has gotten a lot better? Well, it has! The last few shows I've seen there have had zero drama from security guards and no bands have had their sets cut short. My only complaint would be that one of the bartenders likes to charge $2 for tap water. Hey lady, cut it out. But mostly, it's alright.

The Glory Stompers played a totally bitchin' show at The Whiskey last Monday! The crowd was a bit sleepy and timid at first but they all warmed up after Joe shouted at them and humped the air for a few songs. Lovely stuff.

James and Mike tearin' it up!

That would be Joe's leg. Mike and Dustin are busy shredding.

I write about these guys all the time and I'm sure I'm beginning to sound rather redundant by now but they're the kind of band that even the average concert-phobic shmoe wouldn't mind seeing over and over again. They've easily got one of the best stage performances of any LA band I know and they're really solid musicians. If you like hard rock or metal you'll probably love this band.

Joe wields the American flag like it's a weapon.

Be sure to check out The Glory Stompers on Facebook or Reverb Nation.

The next event on my concert calendar is Ascendancy at The Whiskey on 1/24.

Ascendancy, Legal Tender, Desecrate at The Whiskey on 11/17

Local metal bands took over The Whiskey last Friday, November 17th, for Desecrate's "At The Edge of Sanity" album release show. It's always great to see a bunch of local bands pack a venue with their fans. I think I even saw some parents in the audience!

Ascendancy started playing right as I walked through the doors. They had kind of a groove-thrash thing going on, in contrast to the typical thrash sound that has been revamped by a lot of bands lately. (When I describe something as groove metal, I'm saying it has a similar vibe to Carcass, not rap-rock or groovy 60's music.) The killer vocals were actually what stood out as best to me and that's not a compliment I give out very often. I grabbed a demo from Gus, their vocalist, after the set and told him I'll definitely be attending another Ascendancy show.

The next band I was there to see was Legal Tender. I saw them play recently at the Skeletonwitch/Havok show and this show was even better than the last one! These guys are great entertainers and I think they're gonna be the next big thing in the LA metal scene. Fingers crossed for them! I really liked their song "Street Walker". 

Desecrate was the last band to play and they took the stage with a tremendous amount of energy and stage presence.  For their last song they invited everyone on stage to celebrate with them. How rad is that!? I can never seem to remember my camera when I go out but I did manage to get a grainy shot on my phone. 

After their set was over, we all met up at the record store across the street for the Desecrate album release party. I got a chance to chat a bit with Vinny of Legal Tender and Gus of Ascendancy. They were both very cool guys.

Be sure to check everyone out on facebook:

Ascendancy
Legal Tender
Desecrate

The next events on my concert calendar are Eluveitie on 11/29 at The House of Blues, followed by Gypsyhawk and The Sword on 11/30 at The House of Blues.

Enslaved at The Roxy - Scion Metal Matinee on 11/10

Enslaved played a special FREE show last Saturday at The Roxy courtesy of Scion A/V Metal's Label Showcase. If you are not on the Scion A/V email list or at least following them on facebook you need to do so ASAP! Scion works with various record labels to host a free matinee show every month and the bands they choose are good at least 50 percent of the time (I've seen Holy Grail and Skeletonwitch on two different metal matinee occasions). That's a pretty good ratio if you ask me. The catch is that you have to RSVP to go to the shows.

So as I was saying, Enslaved played last Saturday. These guys flew all the way out here to play one show in LA, so I feel really fortunate that I was able to attend.  The crowd was pretty good although I was a bit disappointed that the venue didn't hit max capacity since it was a FREE show. I think some people were confused and didn't realize that the show was in the afternoon at 4:00 pm. Pay attention, people! 

If you aren't familiar with them, Enslaved is an awesome metal band from Norway. It's hard to pin them down to a particular genre although Enslaved is currently associated with viking metal. They certainly had roots in the Norwegian black metal movement but their music has become more progressive and atmospheric over the span of their 20 year career. I enjoy it, although there are a few prog moments that make my head spin. Mostly, it reminds me of being lost in a Norwegian blizzard after slaying all of your enemies in a surprise ambush!  If you're into that sort of thing, Enslaved is the band for you! They played some songs off of their newest album, (which I do not currently own but it is on my Christmas wish list) as well as plenty of old stuff. Fans always love the old stuff! Of course they finished with Isa and a cover of Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song. I don't place Led Zeppelin on a masturbatory pedestal like lots of other music fans but I really dug this cover. It was kind of evil and foreboding! If you missed them this time, check them out when they come back to LA on an official tour early next year.

Be sure to check out Enslaved on Facebook if you have not done so already. (I always plug everyone on Facebook because it's the easiest thing to do.)

The next events on my concert calendar are Legal Tender, Ascendancy, and Desecrate tonight at The Whiskey, and Eluveitie at The House of Blues on 11/29.

Scattered Hamlet at The Viper Room on 11/07

My buddies in Scattered Hamlet played a truly rockin' show at The Viper Room last Wednesday! These guys are a sweaty, southern hard rock band, and their music makes for good dancing or head-banging - whichever you prefer. I like to call it blue collar rock 'n roll and I think they're giving their predecessors of southern rock a run for their money! This was the first show Scattered Hamlet has played with their new guitar player Branden. He seems like a very cool dude and he wasted no time carving out his own sound alongside veteran guitarist Redd.

As anticipated, it was a great show! Lots of people turned up and the crowd was rockin' out along with the band. Scattered Hamlet played a bitchin' new song for us along with my favorite songs Skeleton Dixie and Shotgun Symphony. Apparently they're just starting to record an album so I'll be waiting patiently for it to hit the stores.

For the first time ever, I remembered my camera.

                                                       Redd knows how to shred.

                                         Jake was commanding the hell out of that drum set.

I accidentally clocked singer Adam Joad in the face after the show while swinging my arms wildly for some forgotten (and stupid?) reason but he was totally cool about it. Sorry!

Check these guys out on facebook: Scattered Hamlet

The next even on my concert calendar is Desecrate, Ascendancy, Legal Tender and a crap load of other bands at The Whiskey on 11/16. Municipal Waste is actually playing tomorrow night at The House of Blues but I won't be able to make it because I have Kendo practice and I've already missed too many practices. Daaaaamn.