BlackMagic Revolution at The Crest on 3/29

I visited The Crest last Friday to show support for a friend's punk band and was very pleasantly surprised when an awesome metal power trio ended up playing as the headlining act! I had no idea this was how the night would turn out because I had previously visited the band's Facebook page and the posted songs sounded entirely different. These guys played some incredible 80's style metal and threw in some rad covers of Motley Crue & Led Zeppelin. The wickedly fast guitar, ear-splitting vocals, bass and drums were all phenomenal!

The light show at The Crest creates some strange effects.

Lots of shredding occurred!

I can't wait to check out BlackMagic Revolution again! Be sure to catch one of their upcoming shows & say hello to them. The band just recently moved to LA from Uruguay so I'm sure they could use some support from the local scene.

The next event on my concert calendar is U.D.O. at The Whisky on 4/23. Here's a link for discount tickets from the opening band Blak!

Nile at The Grove on 3/27

Since Nile did not have an LA date for their tour this year, I cruised on down to Orange County to see them play at The Grove last Thursday. I have to admit that I hate to travel behind the Orange Curtain but since the Metal Alliance Tour sold out before I had a chance to buy tickets, I chose to see Nile that night instead of staying home to sulk.

Does this look like a typical LA death metal venue??

I'm so glad I went out because these guys played a heart-shrivelingly brutal death metal show (Karl Sanders was smiling the whole time, if you can imagine that)! The turn-out was rather small but that was probably due to the simultaneous Metal Alliance concert taking place in Los Angeles. It was definitely a die hard death metal crowd.  Nile played two full sets of old and new material, and closed with Black Seeds of Vengeance. What a night!

Karl Sanders played some viciously weird and complicated solos on this custom double-neck guitar.

If you enjoy other technical death metal acts like Death or Dreaming Dead, you'll definitely enjoy Nile. Be sure to check them out on Facebook and catch their next show!

The next event on my concert calendar is Death To All at The House of Blues tonight, 4/13.

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.

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.

Nekrogoblikon at The Whiskey on 1/18

Riding on the heels of my post about Klingon metal, I bring you another delightfully bizarre and original metal sub-genre: goblin metal! Seriously, I cannot make this stuff up.

Nekrogoblikon is a local metal band who writes songs mostly about goblins - except for that one song about bears. They've got kind of a Euro-thrash vibe with impressive twin guitar leads and bitchin' fast keyboard solos. There are also some campy electronic disco beats thrown in occasionally but it kind of makes sense, especially if you've seen the music video for No One Survives. I'd venture to say that fans of Children of Bodom and Powerglove would dig them equally.

Anyway, they put on a totally incredible show and since they were the headliners they actually got to play a long set. I especially enjoyed "Return to the Sky", the song about birds plucking out everyone's eyes and reducing humanity to bird droppings. I'm choosing to believe it was somewhat Hobbit-inspired.

The only photo I got right before my phone battery died.

Make sure you stalk Nekrogoblikon on Facebook or Reverb Nation to find out about their next shows and stream their music for FREE.

The next event on my concert calendar is Scrap Metal at The Key Club on 1/26.