concert review

Concert Review - Selfish Needy Creatures

Submitted by M. Drew on Wednesday, Sep 21st 2011

To get to this show, I had to board a boat. Wait, a boat? Yes, a boat. Essentially, the show was a rock and roll river cruise, which is an astoundingly simple and yet profoundly novel concept. You got metal in my recreational boating! You got recreational boating in my metal! It continues to amaze me that this kind of synergy isn’t more realized by adventuresome promoters. Tell me you wouldn’t go to a metal show at a paintball park. In any event, it was like attending the “70,000 Tons of Metal” cruise, but much much colder and smaller. So, more like “7 Tons of Metal.”

Concert Review - Big 4 - Anthrax, Megadeth, Slayer, Metallica

Submitted by M. Drew on Monday, Sep 19th 2011

How to describe a show that's thirty years in the making? An event so domineering it was called, without hyperbole, the largest metal show that the East Coast has ever seen. It was the culmination of a timely anniversary, fan support and the consistently discussed dream of all metal fans world wide. We asked and eventually, with some prodding, New York City's collective thrash prayer was answered.

So, the Big 4 and roughly fifty thousand of their closest friends came by all roads and paths to Yankee Stadium for an evening of heavy metal history and fury.

Concert Review - Lazarus A.D.

Submitted by M. Drew on Monday, Aug 1st 2011

In the muddled quagmire of up-and-coming bands that is crowded with acts like Black Veil Brides and Motionless in White, there stands Lazarus A.D, an increasingly rare embodiment of the original tenets of American metal. Bred with speed and groove and forged in the heart of thrash's nuclear furnace, Lazarus A.D, represents the kind of ferocious fidelity to metal's principles that empirically seems to be from a bygone era.

Concert Review: Slayer and Megadeth

Submitted by M. Drew on Friday, Aug 13th 2010

After all the waiting and back surgery and more waiting, how can I best sum up the experience that was the American Carnage tour? Well, with the help of a free (and possibly unreliable) internet translator, here are a few simple phrases in a whole slew of languages:

It kicked ass!
C'était genial
Fue impresionante
Es war toll
Det var awesome
Ito ay mahusay na
E 'stato eccellente
Ni bora
Det var utmärkt
Ez remek volt
Foi excelente

Concert Review - Arch Enemy & Exodus

Submitted by M. Drew on Tuesday, Jan 26th 2010

I had never before been to the Palladium in Worcester (and yes, it’s pronounces wuss-ter,) but I must say I was fundamentally impressed with the place. I’m a sucker for metal venues that clearly used to be performance theatres back in the day, and the Palladium did not disappoint. It perhaps lacks the sheer character of The Chance (my personal favorite venue, and we all have one,) but it’s a great wide space with a good mix of casual seating and open floor space.

Concert Review - Clutch

Submitted by M. Drew on Tuesday, Jan 5th 2010

I had just sat through three opening bands. I had just to wait an interminable amount of time between the last band and the band I paid to see. I had worked fourteen hours the day before, slept for five, then worked nine more before coming to the venue. I hadn't eaten in nine and a half hours. I was in no mood for bullshit.

After three cuts from “Strange Cousins of the West,” Neil Fallon approached the microphone, and not allowing for suspense, stated simply that Clutch was going to play two more new ones…and then the entire self-titles album.

Concert Review: GWAR 2009

Submitted by M. Drew on Monday, Dec 14th 2009

I realize that everything I am about to say sounds like unabashed nonsense. It probably is. Bear with me.

So, self-described undisputed kings of splatter-metal GWAR had come to the conclusion that being addicted to crack and living endlessly at the behest of manager Sleazy P. Martini was no life for a god. So, procuring a Scumdog spaceship, they played their last on Earth and headed to their old stomping ground in the stars.

KMFDM - Concert Review

Submitted by M. Drew on Wednesday, Sep 30th 2009

There are few bands that I have seen before who I will still travel three hundred miles round trip to see again. KMFDM is one of them. I had previously seen them on consecutive Halloweens in 2003 and 2004, and each of those shows is likely included in my personal top seven favorite shows. So, ticket in hand, I packed into the car, and off I went to Boston, and the House of Blues.

Children of Bodom - Concert Review

Submitted by M. Drew on Tuesday, Sep 22nd 2009

I was no mood to go to a show. It’s rare that I say that. It was a Sunday night following two hellish weeks at work, with a third on deck. I had no desire to drive the fifty miles round trip to the venue, especially for a band I’d seen before. I needed to sleep.

Still, I already had my ticket in my wallet, and I figured once I got over myself, pried my eyes off of televised football and got my ass to the club, I’d be happier for being there. So, I crammed myself into my car and away I went.

Candlemass - "Death Magic Doom" Review

Submitted by M. Drew on Monday, Jun 15th 2009

When I first heard Candlemass’ “Death Magic Doom,” I was blown away. “If I Ever Die” is one of the finest songs I’ve heard this year. The pace is solid, the construction is peerless. The lead guitar riff wastes no time, and is instantly infectious, which is no doubt a side effect of its simplicity. The riff is so compact and well put together that you wonder how it could be possible that no one else thought of it. Couple all this with new singer Robert Lowe (no, not that Rob Lowe,) who could easily pass as an imitation for Dio, and the album is off to an amazing start.