July 2010

Sat 31 July – King Giant and Above The Silence and Throwdown Syndicate at the 9:30 Club (Washington, DC) – Local stoner act King Giant is headling a show at Nightclub 9:30 on this Saturday night for only $10! I don’t know a whole lot about the opener bands, though they are from the area. Should be a fun show, would love to see King Giant’s material live, I highly recommend checking out their album Southern Darkness. A sort of sludgy stoner metal album with a southern twang to it, and most of all it’s really fun to listen to I’m telling ya. I could easily see them opening for bands like Baroness or Down. Tickets are available for $10 at the door or you can buy a ticket online from TicketFly for the rip off price of $17.50 after all fees.

August 2010

Sun 1 August – Black Cobra and Howl and Struck By Lightning at Ottobar (Baltimore, Maryland) – The Weight Of The Crown Tour – Sludge band Black Cobra is on tour this summer and bringing with them Howl and Struck By Lightning. I know the poster above say Monarch, but they aren’t on the Baltimore date and actually join the tour a week later when Columbus, Ohio band Struck By Lightning drops off the tour. Should make for a fun Sunday night at the Ottobar!

Sun 1 August – The Over The Limit Tour – As Blood Runs Black and Oceano and Arsonists Get All The Girls and The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza and Thick As Blood and Burning The Masses and Circle Of Contempt and Blind Witness and This Or The Apocalpyse at Jaxx (Springfield, Virginia) – Outerloop brings the Over The Limit tour to Jaxx this summer, and it’s on a Sunday so you can get there early to catch all the bands, which is good because doors are at 1pm and the first band starts 15 minutes after that. It is being billed as a co-headline tour for As Blood Runs Black and Oceano, but there’s also 7 additional bands playing. If you like bass heavy breakdowns to mosh in a circle pit to, this concert is for you. And although they are on the flyer image above, Son Of Aurelius doesn’t have this date listed on their MySpace calendar, looks like they are only playing a few west coast shows on this tour. Tickets are $12 advance ($19.50 after fees if you buy a ticket online from Ticketmaster) or $14 at the door the day of the concert.

Tues 3 August – Boris and Russian Circles and Disappearer at the 9:30 Club (Washington, DC) – Boris is from Japan and the fact they named themselves after a Melvins song AND come from Japan should be enough to tell you they’re weird. But not in a bad way. They have genre hopped from doom to noise to psychadelic rock and even did a drone album with the members of Sunn O))) at one point. They come to DC with Russian Circles, an instrumental band I highly recommend. They are from Chicago and because of this they draw many comparisons to fellow windy city instrumental band Pelican, though I’d say they aren’t much like them really. Russian Circles is more post-rock, atmospheric and lighter than Pelican, but they’re still worth seeing even if they’re not brutal. I don’t know much about the opener band the Disappears though I think they’re from Massachusetts. Anyways, tickets for this gig are just $16 ($24.75 after fees if you want to get ripped off and buy a ticket online from Ticket Fly), a great price that makes this show hard to pass up.

Thurs 5 August – Pentagrammaton World Tour – Enthroned and Destroyer 666 and Pathology and Black Anvil and Estuary and Cypher Lock and Wolves Guard My Coffin and Immortal Decay at Jaxx (Springfield, Virginia) – What a blasphemous line up! Enthroned comes from Belgium to spread black metal hate here in the US. They bring along the blackened thrash band Destroyer 666 from Australia and Swedish black metal band Shining. Shining was supposed to be part of Behemoth’s last US tour, including a date at Jaxx, but had to drop off due to visa issues. Let’s hope they get in this time. This show will be a night of unholy music at its finest. Tickets are $20 presale ($27.75 after fees if you buy a ticket online from Ticketmaster) and $23 the day of the concert. UPDATE: According to Black Anvil‘s comment on their Facebook page (here), Shining will not be playing this concert but Black Anvil will be. The Jaxx page for this show has not been updated to reflect this last I checked, so I’m not sure what the deal is exactly. UPDATE 2: Looks like it’s true, Shining will not be on this tour. To make up for it Pathology, Estuary and Black Anvil will all be at this show. That’s 8 bands playing total!

Fri 6 August – Heavy Metal Picnic premieres at AFI Silver Theatre (Silver Spring, Maryland) – This isn’t really a concert, but the premiere of the movie Heavy Metal Picnic. It is directed by John Heyn and Jeff Krulik, the same pair who made the classic short film Heavy Metal Parking Lot. That movie was just random interviews with people outside of a Judas Priest concert in Washington DC in the 80s. This new movie, Heavy Metal Picnic, is about a weekend party in 1985 at a field in Potomac, Maryland where metal bands played and people partied the whole time. I believe this will be the first ever showing of this film, and the directors will be on hand too. The movie starts at 9:30pm (as far as I can tell there is only going to be one showing of it here). Tickets are $10 for regular admission, and you can buy them online from the theater here. Below you can watch the trailer for the film.

Sun 8 August – Re-Traced / Re-Focused Live – Cynic and Intronaut and Dysrhythmia at Rock And Roll Hotel (Washington, DC) – Wow what a line up of technical and progressive metal! This is the first Hall Of Fame tour being put on by Decibel magazine as well as the first US headlining tour for Cynic. They’ll be playing their classic 1993 album Focus in its entirety, as well as other songs too. Intronaut has a new album coming out soon and this show will probably showcase their newest material in DC for the first time. And if you don’t know who Dysrhythmia is, you should. They’re a technical instrumental metal trio that is just fantastic to watch live. I caught them at the Velvet Lounge in February 2009 and it was just sick. Forget the Mayhem Fest, this is where the real metal heads in DC will be on August 8th. And the best part? It’s only $12 advance and $15 the day of the show. Also, there are VIP tickets available that include a meet & greet with Cynic, a signed poster and a t-shirt, all for $55 from Artist Arena.

Sun 8 August – Korn and Rob Zombie and Lamb Of God and Five Finger Death Punch and Atreyu and Hatebreed and Norma Jean and Chimaira and 3 Inches Of Blood and Shadows Fall and In This Moment and Winds Of Plague at Jiffy Lube Live (Bristow, Virginia) – This year’s Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival is coming back to the same venue, tho it has changed it’s name from Nissan Pavilion to Jiffy Lube Live. Not sure I’d call Korn or even Rob Zombie’s solo stuff metal, but regardless, bands like Lamb Of God and Hatebreed certainly are. They’ve got a variety of ticket options for this one. If you want a GA pit ticket, or a seat in the first 10 rows you have to buy a VIP ticket (it also gets you early entry to the venue, exclusive access to the Rockstar Lounge and “much more”, whatever the hell that means). The tickets are $169.50 for the pit, or $155.50 for the VIP with a seat in the first 10 rows. Amazingly, Ticketmaster does not charge a service fee on the VIP tickets. They have other seated tickets, priced up to $69.50, though I’m sure the best seats are long gone. They also have a 4 ticket lawn package (similar to the one for the Iron Maiden show) but tickets are a bit more. It’s $97 ($127 after fees or $31.75 each after fees), though a single lawn ticket is $31 ($41 after fees). Anyways, you can get tickets here or just go the the tour’s official page here for more info. Here’s a promotional video for the tour:

Fri 13 August – Soilwork and Death Angel and Augury and Mutiny Within and Swashbuckle and Rest Among Ruins at Sonar (Baltimore, Maryland) – Soilwork finishes their 2010 North American tour at Sonar. They’ve always been one of the more popular of the “Gothenburg” bands but this time they’ll be playing with one of the thrash metal bands that arose out of San Francisco in the 80′s, Death Angel. The rest of the bands on this tour are younger up and comers, while Rest Among Ruins is local support for this gig only. This tour will also be coming to Jaxx in Springfield, Virginia on Weds 14 July 2010. The Sonar show lists tickets at $22.50 and also has a VIP package available from the Vault for $50.

Sun 15 August – Coffinworm and Marrow and BSOM and Vulcan at Sonar (Baltimore, Maryland) – Indiana’s doomy black metal band Coffinworm comes to the area on August 15th. I’d really like to catch them play but I’ll be on vacation then, damn! Hopefully they’ll play another show in the area soon. They’re playing with Baltimore native death metal band Marrow, as well as Philadelphia bands BSOM and Vulcan. It’s only $7 ($9.95 after fees if you buy a ticket online from ThunderTix) and will be on the Talking Head Club stage.

Weds 18 August and Thurs 19 August – The Devil Wears Prada and Miss May I and Your Demise at Ottobar (Baltimore, Maryland) – Back To The Roots Tour – Apparently metalcore band The Devil Wears Prada has quite a fan base in Baltimore, enough to play 2 back to back shows at the Ottobar. I don’t know much about the openers other than Miss May I has a name almost as lame as the headliner! Don’t expect to see me lining up outside for this one. Regardless, this IS a metal blog, and I’m trying to be all inclusive here, so if you’re interested in seeing this show, tickets for either night are $15 ($18.50 after fees if you buy online from MissionTix). You can buy Wednesday tickets here and Thursday tickets here).

Fri 20 August – Timelord and King Giant and Croatoan and Invader at State Theatre (Falls Church, Virginia) – The historic State Theatre in Falls Church is hosting it’s first Monthly Metal Night featuring all local heavy metal bands! This is the first one but if the turn out is good this will become an ongoing thing, featuring bands off almost all heavy metal sub genres (sorry NSBM and crabcore). The headlining acts will be thrash band Timelord and southern sludge act King Giant, and the support bands will be Croatoan and Invader. All of these bands will be selling tickets at $10 each. You can also buy a ticket from the State Theatre’s box office for $11 plus fees. I wrote a blog post with all the details on this event that you can read here. This is a don’t miss event and if the turn out is good then there will be more featuring bands of even more genres.

Mon 23 August – DevilDriver and Kataklysm and Skeletonwitch and Saviours at Recher Theatre (Baltimore, Maryland) – Devil Driver isn’t a band I’ve ever really been into, though Kataklysm and Skeletonwitch are both pretty damn fun to watch live. Kataklysm has a new album out soon, and apparently it was written to be played in live settings, so that should be cool. The gig is all ages and tickets to this one are $20 ($25.95 after fees if you buy a ticket online from MissionTix) and since Ozzfest isn’t coming to the area, this is your only chance to see Kataklysm play in the area this summer.

Fri 27 August – Hate Eternal and Cannabis Corpse and Order Of Ennead and Orgy Of The Damned at Jaxx (Springfield, Virginia) – Quite a line up of death metal coming to Jaxx on this Friday in late August. Hate Eternal is one of the most technical death metal bands around. Cannabis Corpse is a sort of joke band from Richmond who write parodies of Cannibal Corpse songs with a pot theme to them (for example, Skull Full Of Bong Hits instead of Skull Full Of Maggots). Also, LandPhil Hall, bass player for Municipal Waste, is a member of Cannabis Corpse. Order Of Ennead is a death metal band from Tampa, Florida, and features Steve Asheim of Deicide as their drummer. You may also recognize their guitarist Kevin Quirion who was playing with Deicide in place of Ralph Santolla the last time they were at Jaxx. Orgy Of The Damned is the only local opening act I’ve seen listed yet, a death metal band that’s a perfect addition to this show. This killer line up is only $13 advance ($20.50 after fees if you buy a ticket online from Ticketmaster) and $15 the day of the concert.

Fri 27 August – Dir En Grey and Apocalyptica and Evaline at Rams Head Live (Baltimore, Maryland) – This is a rather odd line up. Dir En Grey is a metal band from Japan that sings in Japanese. They were apparently a visual kei band before, but now they seem to just dress like gothy emos, which is probably a step up. I’m not very familiar with these guys, but I’d bet the cosplay crowd will be there to see them. Also on the bill is Apocalyptica, a band from Finland that is basically a cello quartet with a drummer. They first gained notoriety for playing covers of Metallica and other heavy metal bands entirely on cellos, though now they have added a drummer and sometimes they have someone do vocals for them on certain original songs of theirs. The opening act is a US band named Evaline, which isn’t really a metal band at all but a rock band I’d think would fit better on a tour with bands like 30 Seconds To Mars or Muse. I’m sure with such a wide variety of music in the line up it will be an interesting crowd. The tickets are $25 ($31 after fees if you buy a ticket online).

Tues 31 August – The North American March Of Brutality Tour 2010 – Exodus and Malevolent Creation and Holy Grail and Bonded By Blood and Death Penalty and Krass Judgement at Jaxx (Springfield, Virginia) – Exodus comes back to the area again, this time headlining the March Of Brutality tour. Malevolent Creation will be playing as well, first time I’ve seen them touring the US in many years. I don’t know a whole lot about the other bands on here, though Bonded By Blood must be stoked to be touring with Exodus, since they presumably took their name from the classic Exodus album. This concert has a VIP package available, but it doesn’t seem like that great of a deal to me. It’s $99 ($102.75 after fees) and gets you early entry to the venue, as well as a meet and greet with “select members of the band” which I guess means not all of the band, and it doesn’t say which members either, as I’m sure Gary Holt is the reason anyone would want this in the first place. It also allows you to get your picture taken with said select members of the band. In addition, they will give you a signed poster, an Exodus guitar pick, and a laminate. Doesn’t seem like such a bargain to me, especially since Cannibal Corpse recently had a similar VIP package for $35 and that came with a t-shirt too. Anyways, if you are interested you must buy your VIP ticket before Tues 10 August 2010. Regular tickets are priced at $18 advance ($25.75 after fees) and $20 the day of the show. Both VIP and regular tickets can be purchased online from Ticketmaster here.

Tues 31 August – Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival – Disturbed and Avenged Sevenfold and Stone Sour and Halestorm and Hell Yeah and Airbourne and Hail The Villain and New Medicine at Jiffy Lube Live (Bristow, Virginia) – This is a new festival tour run by the same guys who put together Mayhem festival every year. I’d guess if they make good money they’ll do them annually. There will be two stages for bands to play on. It really seems pretty similar to the Mayhem Festival which will be here on Aug 8th, just with different bands. The official Uproar website has a lot more stuff on it, videos, a message board, contests, etc… I find it odd that the Marines are a sponsor, so expect to see a booth for recruiting people at the events. Nothing like signing up for war in a far away country while you’re hammered at a concert! Tickets aren’t on sale until June 12th, so I don’t know how much they will be yet. There will be a pre-sale on June 8th, but I couldn’t find any more info on that. Here’s a video commercial thing:

September 2010

Thurs 2 September – Fu Manchu and Black Tusk and It’s Casual at the Black Cat (Washington, DC) – I don’t know if Fu Manchu counts as a metal band really, they’re more of just straight up stoner rock, but Black Tusk certainly does. They’re another sludge band coming out of the Georgia scene. I recommend checking out the music video for their song Red Eyes, Black Skies. Pretty cool stuff. I don’t know much about the tour’s opener, It’s Casual, other than they are apparently a California hardcore band. As usual you can check out any of these bands on their MySpace pages by clicking their names above. Tickets are $15 ($17.50 after fees if you buy a ticket online from Ticket Alternative) and this show is on the upstairs main stage.

Weds 8 September – New Night Over North America – Katatonia and Swallow The Sun and Orphaned Land and Nightfire at Sonar (Baltimore, Maryland) – Katatonia finally comes back to the US, this time in support of their new album, Night Is The New Day. They bring with them support acts Swallow The Sun, who I think sounds pretty similar to Katatonia, and also coming all the way from Israel is the band Orphaned Land. There will also be local support from Nightfire. This concert will be on the Talking Head Club stage at Sonar, not the main stage, and it’s the first show of the tour. It will also be coming to Jaxx in Springfield, Virginia, but that will actually be the final show of the tour on Thurs 7 October 2010. The tickets for the Sonar gig are $15 advance and there is also a VIP package available for $40 that I would assume includes a meet & greet with Katatonia. Here’s a short video clip promoting the tour:

Fri 10 September – Iced Earth and Sons Of Liberty at the 9:30 Club (Washington, DC) – This will be the first of just four tour dates for Iced Earth this fall. These shows are going to be a break from recording their new album and will feature a greatest hits style set list. Who knows, maybe they’ll play a new song live for the first time too. Sons Of Liberty is a side project that Iced Earth’s John Schaffer has recently made. It’s a one man band where he plays all the instruments and overdubs them together, so I’m not sure if he’s got session live musicians to play this gig, or if he’s going to just have the guys from Iced Earth play them. Tickets are $18 ($22 after fees if you buy a ticket online) or you can get a VIP package for $75 ($84 after fees) that includes regular ticket, a meet and greet with Iced Earth, a signed tour poster, an Iced Earth flag and an Iced Earth t-shirt as well as a commemorative laminate. You can get either the regular or VIP tickets here. To log in the user name is “iced” and the password is “earth”. Both are all lower case and of course don’t include the quotation marks. It’s nice that these tickets are available through another company besides TicketFly, who usually handles the 9:30 Club’s ticketing. They are just as bad as Ticketmaster when it comes to tacking on extra fees. TicketFly now has tickets for sale too, and they’re for $18 ($26.75 after fees if you buy a ticket online).

Sat 11 September – Kamelot and Leaves’ Eyes and Blackguard and Cypher Lock at Jaxx (Springfield, Virginia) – Kamelot is a power metal band, which mean I probably won’t be at this show. The openers haven’t been announced yet, but I’ll post them when I find out. I think they will be Leaves’ Eyes and Blackguard, but that’s not official. Tickets are listed at $27.50 advance ($33.50 after fees if you buy a ticket online from The Vault) and $30 the day of the concert. There’s also a $100 VIP option ($112.50 after fees) that includes quite a bit actually, along with the standard “early entry to the venue” and “meet and greet with the band” they’ve also thrown in a VIP Laminate (which is provided by Jaxx but custom designed by the band) and a signed poster (also designed by the band) and a VIP t-shirt that is only available at the concert, as well as a mystery “VIP Item” which has not been determined yet what that will be, but will be exclusive to this specific concert and not available anywhere else.

Wed 15 September – The Anti-Hero Tour – Bleeding Through and After The Burial and For Today and The Word Alive and Stray From The Path at Jaxx (Springfield, Virginia) – Well, this is a total metalcore show, not exactly my specialty in metal. I know who headliner Bleeding Through is but half of the other bands on this I’ve never even heard of. I suppose if you’re into breakdowns and circle pits, this concert is for you. It’s only $14 advance ($21.50 after fees if you buy a ticket online from Ticketmaster) or $16 the day of the show. At the time I wrote this, it looks like they need 2 local acts to open for this one, you can email info@outerlooppresents.com to get your band booked for this show.

Tues 21 September – Valient Thorr and Junius and Howl at the Black Cat (Washington, DC) – Well, I’m not sure if Valient Thorr counts as a metal band or not, and I don’t think Junius does by any measure, but opening act Howl certainly does. I’m no expert on these bands though so I recommend checking out their MySpace pages for more info on them. I do know Howl is a sludge band from Rhode Island, home of Family Guy. This show will be on the back stage at the Black Cat and tickets are $12 ($14.50 after fees if you buy a ticket online from Ticket Alternative). Also, Valient Thorr apparently has a couple of fan groups in the area, the Capital City Thorrors and the Northern Virginia Thorrors. I guess they really like the guy (or at least his van).

Wed 22 September – Venomous Concept and Nachtmystium and Zoroaster and Nails and Strong Intention and Atlas Moth and Coke Bust and Dark Castle at Sonar (Baltimore, Maryland) – About Fuckin Time Tour – Now this is one hell of an eclectic line up. It appears that Venomous Concept and Nactymystium are both on tour and coming to Sonar the same night where the 2 tours will combine for this night only. Venomous Concept is a very aggressive punk band made up of members of Napalm Death and Brutal Truth. Nachtmystium has been making waves in the black metal scene by combining traditional black metal with a sort of 70s rock vibe on their last two studio albums. It’s hard to explain really, not a whole lot else like it. Zoroaster is a sludge metal band from the Atlanta scene that’s been getting a lot of notice these days. Nails is a southern California punk band, one of the guys used to be in Terror I believe. Strong Intention is a hard core band from Maryland. Atlas Moth is a sort of pyschadelic stoner band that I’ve been meaning to see for a while. Coke Bust is a straight edge punk band from Washington DC and the opener, Dark Castle is a sludgy doom band from Florida that I’ve also been wanting to see live for a while. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a line up for a concert quite like this one, should be a blast and it’s only $15 ($18.95 after all fees if you buy a ticket online from ThunderTix) and it’s on the Talking Head Club stage.

Sat 25 September – Bullet For My Valentine and Escape The Fate and Black Tide and Drive A at the 9:30 Club (Washington, DC) – Not a bunch of bands I care much about, but they’re metal and this is a metal calendar. Apparently this is Bullet For My Valentine’s second US tour supporting their latest album, Fever. I don’t know much about any of the opener bands, but the first to play, Drive A, is apparently a punk band. They confuse me though, on their MySpace page they have a big anarchy logo next to links to their Facebook, Twitter and iTunes. I don’t think they understand anarchy, or maybe they just don’t care and are just using the imagery to make money. Either way, not very punk. Tickets for this concert aren’t on sale yet. To my understanding they will be on July 30th but we’ll see. I’ll post more info when I know it.

Sun 26 September – BlackDiamondSkye Tour – Alice In Chains and Deftones and Mastodon at the Patriot Center (Fairfax, Virginia) – This date is now official, and will be Alice In Chains’ fourth DC area appearance since Sept 2009, each time at a different venue too. This time they come to the Patriot Center on the George Mason University campus and bring with them the Deftones and Mastodon. The doors open at 5:30pm and the show starts at 7pm. There are seated tickets as well as general admittance floor tickets for sale, with different prices of course. The GA floor tickets are $59.50 each ($78 after fees, wow) or for concourse seats $49.50 each ($66.70 after fees). Really getting raped on service fees for this one, but you can buy tickets online from Ticketmaster here.

Wed 29 September – Immolation and Vader and Abigail Williams and Lecherous Nocturne and Pathology at Sonar (Baltimore, Maryland) – Immolation and Polish band Vader start their fall tour here at Sonar in Baltimore. This is a really brutal line up of death metal, be sure to get there early and check out opening act Lecherous Nocturne. If you can’t make this gig don’t sweat it, they come back through the area to Jaxx on 25 October (see entry below). Anyways, the ticket fees for this are $20 ($24.95 after fees if you buy a ticket online from ThunderTix).

October 2010

Wed 6 October – American Carnage Tour Leg 2 – Slayer and Megadeth and Anthrax at the 1st Mariner Arena (Baltimore, Maryland) – This is the second round of tour dates for the American Carnage tour, which previously had Testament opening. Now Anthrax is taking that slot and this makes the line up the same as the 1991 Clash Of The Titans tour. I think Alice In Chains was on that tour too, as the first band to play (obviously before they made it big) but they’ll be on their own tour coming to the Patriot Center in late September (see listing above). Apparently on this tour Slayer will be playing their 1990 album Seasons In The Abyss from start to finish, which is cool and all but it’s not Reign In Blood. Megadeth will be playing their Rust In Peace album from start to finish as well. Anthrax has vocalist Joey Belladonna in the band these days, so expect a set list made of mostly songs from his era with the band. There is a ticket presale going on, though I’m a bit confused about when exactly. Slayer and Megadeth list on their sites that it starts on July 14th, but Ticketmaster says it’s on July 13th. Slayer also says that if you buy tickets through Slayer.net or Ticketmaster during the presale, you can download a free “audio track” of the song War Ensemble from their upcoming DVD Live Intrusion. Oh, and the Slayer password for the ticket presale is ABYSS. Also, there will be VIP tickets available via ILoveAllAccess.com featuring a meet and greet with Megadeth as well as other stuff, you can find out about that here. Those VIP tickets also go on sale July 13th. Oh and apparently there will be some $10 tickets available, but I haven’t seen any details on those yet. The regular public ticket sale starts on July 23rd. Tickets will be available here, but I’ll have to get back to you on prices when I find out more. Also, there seems to be a bit of confusion with where the event will be held, both the Slayer and Megadeth announcements list the Baltimore venue as Eagles Auditorium, but as far as I can tell that’s in Seattle, Washington. Ticketmaster lists the venue as 1st Mariner Arena so I’m going with that. I’ll post updated/corrected info here when I get it.

Thurs 7 October – New Night Over North America – Katatonia and Swallow The Sun and Orphaned Land at Jaxx (Springfield, Virginia) – Katatonia finally comes back to the US, this time in support of their new album, Night Is The New Day. They bring with them support acts Swallow The Sun, who I think sounds pretty similar to Katatonia, and also coming all the way from Israel is the band Orphaned Land. The local support for this concert hasn’t been named when I posted this, but I’ll update here when I find out. This will be the final concert on the North American tour, which will also have a stop in Baltimore at Sonar on Weds 8 September 2010. The tickets for the Jaxx gig are $20 advance ($25 after fees if you buy a ticket online from The Vault) and there is also a VIP package available for $50 ($56.99 after fees) that includes early entry to the venue as well as a meet and greet with Katatonia. Here’s a short video clip promoting the tour:

Thurs 7 October – Early Man and Evile and Bonded By Blood and Radical Discharge at Sonar (Baltimore, Maryland) – Early Man is a sort of thrash or speed metal band that started out in Columbus, Ohio before relocating to New York City. They’ve been around since 2003 but this tour is in support of just their 2nd album, Death Potion, which was released on 20 July 2010. Along for the tour is UK band Evile and San Fransisco thrash act Bonded By Blood. I’m not sure who the other band is, Radical Discharge, I’ve never heard of them and I couldn’t even find a MySpace page for them. This show is $12 advance ($15.95 after fees if you buy a ticket online from ThunderTix) and $14 the day of the show and will be on the Talking Head Club stage.

Fri 8 October – Triptykon and 1349 and Yakuza at Ottobar (Baltimore, Maryland) – Weltenbrand Tour 2010 – This is an awesome line up! Triptykon is the new project from Tom Gabriel Warrior of Celtic Frost fame, and if you haven’t heard their debut album Eparistera Daimones yet you should. 1349 is a black metal band from Norway. They were supposed to play with Cannibal Corpse at Jaxx back in April but due to visa issues they couldn’t get into the country in time to play there. I don’t know if they will have Satyricon drummer Frost with them or not for this tour, as he tends to have immigration issues himself. The opening act, Yakuza, is a experimental I guess you could say progressive metal band from Chicago. It will be great to hear them play some of the material from their newest album, Of Seismic Consequence. Tickets for this gig go on sale Friday, 30 July 2010 and there will also be 50 VIP tickets available that grant the buyer a meet and greet with Triptykon, a signed poster as well as early entry for the soundcheck. I’ll post updated info on ticket prices when I know more.

Fri 15 October – Nevermore and Warbringer and Mutiny Within and HateSphere and Apothys at Jaxx (Springfield, Virginia) – Nevermore has never really been a band I cared much for, though I know they have a decent sized following. I saw them play with Dimmu Borgir, Children Of Bodom and Hypocrisy once and wasn’t really impressed, though this was many years ago. Warbringer is one of those modern thrash metal bands, and after having gotten to see them play at Jaxx with Overkill earlier this year, I have to say they are definitely worth catching live. Mutiny Within and HateSphere seem to be opening for every other tour these days, so here’s another chance to catch them live. The tickets for this show are $22 advance ($27.50 after fees if you buy a ticket online from the Vault) and day of show prices haven’t been announced yet. There is also a $50 VIP ticket ($56.99 after fees) that includes early entry to the venue and a meet and greet with Nevermore. UPDATE: You can purchase a $22 ticket online in advance from local opening act Apothys without any fees via their website here.

Fri 15 October – The California Blood Tour – Cattle Decapitation and Devourment and Knights Of The Abyss and Burning The Masses and Son Of Aurelius and As The Kingdom Falls and Palkoski at Sonar (Baltimore, Maryland) – Cattle Decapitation is a very brutal vegetarian death metal band. In case you are wondering what vegetarian death metal is, their songs are about animals in slaughterhouses and other forms of abuse inflicted upon animals by humans. Also playing is Devourment, which is a fucking awesome band and if it was up to me they’d be the headliner. I don’t know much about some of the other bands, though I’ve been waiting to see Son Of Aurelius for a while now. They’ve got a member of Decrepit Birth on guitar and that alone should be enough to get you interested in seeing them play. This concert is $15 ($18.95 after fees if you buy a ticket online from ThunderTix) and will be on the Talking Head Club stage.

Fri 15 October – Defenders Of The Old Pre-Fest – Revelation and The Gates Of Slumber and Fischel’s Beast and Widow and BSOM and Burning Shadows and Acid Queen at Sidebar (Baltimore, Maryland) – If you’re going to the Defenders Of The Old Festival (see next entry below) you’ll certainly want to check out this pre-fest gig at the Sidebar Tavern. The later bands are some of the more prominent doom metal bands from the area, though there’s also a set by Fischel’s Beast (who are also playing the Defenders Of The Old Fest) with special guest Debbie Gunn. The earlier bands are a bit more eclectic, with a power band in there and even an old school metal cover band, Acid Queen, opening the show. Doors are at 6pm and tickets are $12 ($15.50 after fees if you buy a ticket online from MissionTix).

Sat 16 October – Defenders Of The Old Festival – Tyrant and Blood Feast and Ares Kingdom and October 31 and Vermefug and Fischel’s Beast and Extermination Angel at Sonar (Baltimore, Maryland) – This will be a concert of mostly older bands, thrash metal mostly. Several of these bands are reuniting to play this gig. I don’t know a lot about most of them, though I know Fischel’s Beast is the new band of Barry Fischel formerly of Sentinel Beast. As noted on Blabbermouth.net, former Sentinel Beast singer Debbie Gunn will be joining Fischel’s Beast for this one show. The bands October 31 and Extermination Angel are local area bands that will be playing along with these old school metal bands. This concert will be on the Talking Head Club stage. Tickets are $20 ($23.95 after fees if you buy a ticket online from ThunderTix). You can find out more about the bands by clicking their names above to listen to them on their MySpace pages, or you can get more info at the festival’s Facebook page.

Weds 20 October – The Sword and Karma To Burn at the 9:30 Club (Washington, DC) – The Sword is a doom band from Austin, Texas and they’ll be touring in support of their new album Warp Riders this fall. Their support will be coming from West Virginia’s instrumental stoner band Karma To Burn. Presale tickets go on sale from Artist Arena here on Friday 30 July at 3pm EST. The username is: thesword and the password is: tickets. The 9:30 Club hasn’t listed this concert yet, but they probably won’t until the presale is over anyways. I’ll list info on ticket prices when I know them.

Mon 25 October – Immolation and Vader and Abigail Williams and Lecherous Nocturne and Pathology at Jaxx (Springfield, Virginia) – Polish death metal band Vader comes back to Jaxx, but this time they’re headlining. They’re bringing with them several bands, Immolation, Abigail Williams, Lecherous Nocturne and Pathology. Immolation is from New York and probably most known for their influential 1991 album Dawn Of Possession, though their latest album, Majesty And Decay has been getting a lot of attention. I don’t know a whole lot about Abigail Williams or Lecherous Nocturne. Pathology, though they sound like band that’s heavily influenced by early Carcass, is actually a brutal death metal band more along the lines of Prostitute Disfigurement or I suppose modern Cannibal Corpse to a certain extent. There are local bands that will be opening, but they haven’t been announced yet. Tickets are listed at $20 presale ($25 after fees if you buy a ticket online from the Vault) or $23 the day of the concert. UPDATE: Looks like Immolation is actually the headliner and will be playing last. Kind of sucks cause I really wanted to see a full Vader set, but not the end of the world. Last I checked though the Jaxx site still lists Vader as the headliner so maybe it’ll be different for this show.

November 2010

Tues 2 November – Those Whom The Gods Detest Tour II – Nile and Ex Deo and Psycroptic and Keep Of Kalessin and Pathology at Sonar (Baltimore, Maryland) – This is the second tour Nile will be going out on in support for their album Those Whom The Gods Detest. I missed their last stop at Jaxx because it was on Valentine’s Day, but this line up is better anyways. Nile always puts on a killer show, and I’ve still yet to see Ex Deo, which is basically the guys in Kataklysm in an ancient Roman themed band. I’ve been waiting to see Psycroptic for quite a while now too. They’re from Tasmania and if you’re a fan of technical death metal, you should really check them out, they’re totally sick. Keep Of Kalessin is a good band to see live too, though they’re a Norwegian black metal band along the lines of older 1349. Well, they were, their new album, Reptilian, kinda sucks if you as me. Pathology is death metal band from San Diego, though I don’t know much more than that about them. Tickets for this concert are $17 advance ($20.95 after fees if you buy a ticket online from MissionTix). They haven’t listed a day of show price yet, though I’d guess it’ll be $20 at the door.

Thurs 4 November – Forbidden and Evile and Gama Bomb and Bonded By Blood at Jaxx (Springfield, Virginia) – Forbidden was one of the late comers to the 80′s Bay area thrash scene, they broke up for 10 years or so but in 2008 they got back together. They have a new album in the works, their first in 13 years, which will hopefully be out before this tour starts. They’ve got some interesting openers, Evile from England and Gama Bomb comes from Northern Ireland, and Bonded By Blood from southern California. That’s right, 4 shredding thrash bands are on this bill. If this doesn’t quench you of your thirst for thrash metal you need to live next door to where Slayer practices or something. Tickets are $20 advance and $23 the day of the concert. Also of note, this is the first show of the tour for these bands, though starting the next night Overkill will be on the bill also (including on the 8th at Sonar), but NOT for the show at Jaxx. And when I posted this the local opening bands have not been announced yet, I’ll add those to this listing when I find out about them.

Mon 8 November – Overkill and Forbidden and Evile and Gama Bomb and Bonded By Blood at Sonar (Baltimore, Maryland) – This show is pretty similar to the concert listed above on Nov 4 at Jaxx (see listing above) with the main difference being this show is headlined by Overkill. There is also 2 types of tickets available, a regular ticket for $20 or a VIP ticket for $55 which I assume grants the purchaser a meet & greet with the band. If you purchase these tickets online the fees will make the total prices $24.95 for the regular ticket and $59.95 for the VIP ticket, both of which can be purchased from ThunderTix here.

Tues 16 November – Epica and Scar Symmetry and Blackguard and Mutiny Within at Jaxx (Springfield, Virginia) – Epica is a dutch female fronted power metal band fronted by redhead Simone Simmons. This will the first concert on their second US tour in support of their latest album, Design Your Universe. All 3 of the opening acts on the tour were on the North American tour with Hypocrisy in 2010 also, kind of odd. Anyways, there is a VIP package available from the Vault for $50 ($57 after fees) that includes a meet and greet with the band before the show, while regular tickets are $22 advance ($27 after fees if you buy a ticket online from the Vault) and $25 the day of the show.

Sun 28 November – Psycroptic and Keep Of Kalessin and Pathology at Jaxx (Springfield, Virginia) – I’m really looking forward to this one. These bands are all opening for Nile on their US tour this winter, but after Nile goes home these guys decided to play a few more shows. I’ve been waiting to see Tasmanian tech death band Psycroptic for years now, and I never thought I’d get a chance to see them headline a concert, this is just awesome. It’s only $13 advance ($20.50 after all fees if you buy a ticket online from Ticketmaster) or $15 the day of the concert so I don’t know how you can pass this up. They’re still looking for local opening acts, so if you want your band to be one, check out the booking info page on the Jaxx site here.