March 2010

Sun 21 March – Deceased and Hatred and Drugs Of Faith at Quarry House (Silver Spring, Maryland) – This is quite a line up of local metal! Deceased is a staple in the DC metal scene for almost 25 years now. Hatred has been around in one form or another for almost 20 years themselves. Both are somewhere between death metal and thrash. If this awesome local metal line up wasn’t good enough, they’ve also thrown in local grind band Drugs Of Faith to open. This is an early matinee show, starting at 2pm and is only $5. When it’s over there should be plenty of time to drive up to Sonar in Baltimore and catch that Misery Index show (listed below) for a completely awesome day of local metal!

Sun 21 March – Misery Index and Swarm Of The Lotus and Gigan and Strong Intention and Blue Collar War and Endgame at Sonar (Baltimore, Maryland) – Local band Misery Index will be headlining a show at the Talking Head Club inside Sonar for only $12 (or $15.95 after fees if you buy from ThunderTix and choose the free print at home option). Misery Index was formed by members of Dying Fetus who left and started a new band. They’re a really fun band to catch live and I highly recommend seeing them if you haven’t before (hell, even if you have!).

Fri 26 March – Ancient Sacrifice and Ravn and Antietam 1862 and Revolta and Putrid Servant at Hexagon (Baltimore, Maryland) – This is an underground band feature. Most of the bands are from Maryland but Ravn and Antietam 1862 are from Richmond. I don’t know much about most of them, they generally seem to be in the black metal and/or thrash metal vein. I do know Putrid Servant, which features former members of Corporeal. I haven’t had a chance to see them yet tho, but I’m sure they won’t disappoint. For only $6 this is a cheap show, go out and support some true underground metal!

Sat 27 March – Ol Scratch and Cough and Nitroseed and Hollow Leg at Velvet Lounge (Washington, DC) – Ol Scratch is one of my favorite local acts. They’re a really sludgy doom band out of Leesburg, Virginia. I saw them play with Pentagram at Jaxx in January and I’ll be excited to see them again. I’m not familiar with the other bands though Cough seems to also be a doom metal band. This is a late show, starting at 10pm and is ages 21+ only. It’s only $8 so it’s pretty hard to pass up. If you can’t get to see them though, Ol’ Scratch will be playing the Velvet Lounge again on Thurs 22 April as support for Lair Of The Minotaur.

Sat 27 March – Death Row and One Slack Mind and Acid Queen and Make Like Murder at Jaxx (Springfield, Virginia) – Death Row is an old local doom band started back around 1980. At one point Bobby Liebeling of Pentagram was a member and the band actually changed it’s name to Pentagram. This reunion of Death Row does not include Bobby Liebling. Regardless it does feature original members Marty Swaney, Victor Griffin and Joe Hasselvander. As far as I can tell, this is their only US tour date this year, though it looks like they will be doing a European tour in April. I don’t know much about the opener bands, though they all seem to be local. Acid Queen is also playing a show with Deceased in Baltimore on April 19 which you can find more info on lower down the calendar. If anyone can find any sort of official link for Death Row let me know, all I can find is this fan site on MySpace here. The tickets for this show are $17 advance (or $24.75 if you buy a ticket from Ticketmaster) or $20 at the door the day of the concert.

Mon 29 March – The Dillinger Escape Plan and Darkest Hour and IWrestledABearOnce and Animals As Leaders at Ottobar (Baltimore, Maryland) – Not a show I’ll be attending, but you metalcore fans might be interested. Dillinger Escape Plan headlines local groups Darkest Hour and Animals As Leaders as well as Louisiana based band IWrestledABearOnce. If you haven’t checked out Animals As Leaders yet, you should. They are an instrumental band featuring Tosin Abasi of Born Of Osiris. These guys can really play, if you like Scale The Summit, instrumental metal bands in general or just great guitar work, you should check out this excellent local act. I wish they were the headliner I’m telling ya. Anyways, the tickets are listed at $18 but after the fees from MissionTix, it comes to $21.50 each (plus shipping I’d suppose tho it didn’t give me a shipping option before asking for my credit card info).

April 2010

Tues 6 April – Finntroll and Moonsorrow and Swallow The Sun and Survivors Zero at Jaxx (Springfield, Virginia) – The Finnish Metal Tour 2010 – Finntroll is a goofy folk metal band from Finland that sings in Swedish. Through odd circumstances they have no original members left in the band. At $27.50 presale (or $35.25 after fees if ordered through Ticketmaster with the free shipping option) and $30 day of, the ticket price is pretty steep for this one considering the weak openers, Moonsorrow (really not that bad of a melodic black/doom metal band) and Swallow The Sun (too much of a Katatonia or Sentenced rip off for me). Also of note, this will be the first show of the US tour.

Weds 7 April – Mayhem and Ludicra and Tombs and Krallice at 9:30 Club (Washington, DC) – THIS ENTIRE TOUR HAS BEEN CANCELED Mayhem has had problems getting work visas. Ludicra, Tombs and Krallice have scheduled a new tour to make up for it and will be playing Baltimore on April 20 and Richmond on April 21. No Washington DC date has been made though. More info on those shows are listed lower on the calendar.

Sun 11 April – Thou and Oak and Pala and Diablero at Charm City Arts Space (Baltimore, Maryland) – Thou is a sludgy doom band from Louisiana and like all awesome bands they give all their music away for free. You can go to their website and just download it all if you want (note most of it is RAR’d and you’ll need a program like the free 7-Zip to extract the files into a regular folder on your comp). The rest of the bands are local support. Oak is pretty awesome and if you don’t know who they are you’re missing out on one of the better underground local bands of the area. Pala and Diablero seem to be punk bands, kind of odd for openers but hey, at least it’s angry music. I’m not sure on the price at the door for this gig, I’ll update here when I find out more info.

Sun 11 April – High On Fire and Priestess and Black Cobra and Bison B.C. at the Black Cat (Washington, DC) – High On Fire is coming to DC in support of their new album Snakes For The Divine. They’re a great doom band and they’ll be playing with some good opening acts like Priestess and Black Cobra. It’s a rare opportunity to see a metal show on the upstairs main stage at the Black Cat (I think the last time was in April ‘08 for Pig Destroyer and Misery Index). Tickets are just $15 (or $17.50 after fees if you order online from Ticket Alternative). UPDATE: A show in Baltimore has been added for the day before the DC show, Sat 10 April, at the Talking Head Club inside Sonar. It will be the same line up too, tickets are $16 advance (or $20.95 after fees if you buy online from ThunderTix) and $18 the day of the concert.

Mon 12 April – Weedeater and Black Tusk and Struck By Lightning and Nihilitia at DC9 (Washington, DC) – Nine Toe Tour – Weedeater is one of those sludge/doom metal bands that basically writes all their songs about pot. Their tour had been put on hold because the lead singer, Dixie Collins, shot his toe off, haha! They’ve now got everything scheduled and it’s good to see a metal show coming to DC9. The openers for this tour seem to be changing every few shows, but for this gig it will be Black Tusk and Struck By Lightning and local act Nihilitia. If you missed the High On Fire show the night before, or you STILL need more doomy stoner goodness, this show is for you. It’s only $12 (or $14.98 if you buy from Ticket Alternative with a free shipping option). Sorry kids, it’s ages 18+ only.

Sun 18 April – Lair Of The Minotaur at Sonar (Baltimore, Maryland) – Lair Of The Minotaur is a sort of thrashy sludge band from Chicago. They sing mostly about Greek mythology, hence the band’s name. Their new album, Evil Power, is coming out just days before this gig. It’s only $8 per ticket presale (or $11.95 after fees if you buy from ThunderTix with a free shipping option), and $10 day of and they are not playing the main stage but the Talking Head Club stage. They will also be playing at the Velvet Lounge (Washington, DC) on Thu 22 April. The openers haven’t been announced as of when I wrote this, but I’ll update this page as soon as I find out.

Mon 19 April – Deceased and Superchrist and Extermination Angel and Acid Queen at Sidebar (Baltimore, Maryland) – Deceased has been in the local metal scene for almost 20 years now. They used to be more of a death metal band but their more recent stuff has been leaning towards thrash. The last time I saw them they were opening for Sigh at the Spotlight in Woodbridge and their drummer was doing lead vocals. The ticket price is only $10 (or $13.95 after fees if you buy one from ThunderTix). If you can’t make this show don’t worry too much as you’ll have another chance to see them on day 2 (Sat 29 May) of Maryland Deathfest at Sonar.

Tues 20 April – Ludicra and Tombs and Krallice and Diablero and Putrid Servant at Hexagon (Baltimore, Maryland) – Decancelation Tour 2010 – This Decancelation tour was supposed to be called the Deconsecration Tour and be headlined by Mayhem and was to stop by the 9:30 Club on April 7th. When Mayhem couldn’t get their visas to play in the US the rest of the bands rescheduled this tour. This is an awesome line up! Ludicra is becoming the next big thing in US black metal and I’m glad we’re getting a second chance to see them. Their drummer is from Agalloch, one of my favorite bands so maybe I’m just a bit biased. Local bands Diablero and Putrid Servant will be extra support for this tour. It’s just $10 to get in, cheap! As you can see below, Mastodon is playing Baltimore the same night, I hope they don’t take away from this show’s audience, as this is really a killer line up people should go see. This tour is playing Richmond at the Triple the following night, Wednesday 21 April. I’m not sure what the cover is or who the openers are for that yet though.

Tues 20 April – Mastodon and Between The Buried And Me and Baroness and Valient Thorr at Rams Head Live (Baltimore, Maryland) – Volcom Tour 2010 – It looks like this gig will be Mastodon headlining with Between The Buried And Me, Baroness and Valient Thorr opening. The tour will also be at the National (Richmond, VA) two days earlier on Sun April 18th. At this point it looks like they are completely skipping over DC, unless they decide to add a gig there on the 19th. The tickets for the Rams Head Live gig are listed at $25 but after all fees they come to $33.50 (with the cheapest shipping option). The tickets for the concert at the National are listed as $25 presale (or $35.25 if ordered through Ticketmaster with a free shipping option) and $28 day of show. Also of note, Baroness will not be playing the Richmond concert, which stinks because I think they’re the best band on this tour.

Fri 23 April – Cannibal Corpse and 1349 and Skeletonwitch and Lecherous Nocturne and C.O.B.C. at Jaxx (Springfield, Virginia) – The Evisceration Plague Tour – Cannibal Corpse has announced they will be headlining a North American tour this spring and this is the DC area stop, no other shows are scheduled for anywhere in Virginia, DC or Maryland. They are playing with 1349 which I have mixed feelings about. I used to really love 1349 but their latest album, 2009’s Revelations Of The Black Flame, was the biggest disappointment I had heard last year. The concert also has premium tickets available, with a meet and greet option as cheap as $35 a ticket (actually $40 after fees). You can find more about that here (username: “cannibal” and password: “corpse” without the quotes). Also, the VIP package comes with a Cannibal Corpse t-shirt made by some random shirt company called Iron Fist. The price of a regular ticket is $24.50 advance (or $32.25 after fees with a free shipping option from Ticketmaster) and $28 the day of the show.

Sun 25 April – Municipal Waste and Toxic Holocaust and Parasytic at the Rock And Roll Hotel (Washington, DC) – Looks like a great night for modern thrash metal at the Rock And Roll Hotel! Municipal Waste is from Richmond and this show isn’t part of a tour as far as I can tell, though maybe more dates will be announced. Toxic Holocaust is a great opening act for them as I’d imagine their audiences are about the same. I’ve never heard of Parasytic before, though they are apparently also from Richmond. Tickets are listed at $12 ($14.95 after fees if you buy tickets from Ticket Alternative and choose a free shipping option), that’s damn cheap. Cheap enough that you don’t have a good excuse not to go to see this show.

Mon 26 April – Amon Amarth and Týr and Holy Grail and Cab Ride Home at Jaxx (Springfield, Virginia) – This is quite a line up of viking metal. Amon Amarth has added a few more dates to the end of their North American tour and this show at Jaxx is one of those shows just added. It’s been a little while since I’ve seen Amon Amarth, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen them as a headliner. They always put on a good show and leave you wanting to go rape and pillage the European seaboard. I’ve never seen Týr live, but they seem to be a perfect opener for this concert. Holy Grail I am completely unfamiliar with, though they seem to use Norse mythology as a theme which again seems to fit this tour. No local openers have been announced, yet, tho I’ll post them here when I find out more on that. The tickets are listed at $24.99 presale (or $32.74 if you buy a ticket from Ticketmaster) and $28 the day of the show.

Tues 27 April – Job For A Cowboy and Whitechapel and Cattle Decapitation and Gaza and Revocation at Ottobar (Baltimore, Maryland) – I’m not particularly a fan of most of these bands, though I do sorta like the vegetarian death metal band Cattle Decapitation. Boston’s Revocation has been really impressive and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were headlining a tour like this in a few years. They need more exposure but being the first band of 5 to play isn’t going to help too much, most people won’t even be at the venue by the time they’re packing up. Regardless, I know JFAC has a pretty big following and if you’re interested in this show it’s $15 to get in (or $18.50 after fees if you buy a ticket from MissionTix).

Fri 30 April – Overkill and Vader and God Dethroned and Warbringer and Evile and Woe Of Tyrants and Krass Judgement at Jaxx (Springfield, Virginia) – Killfest 2010 – This will be Overkill’s 25th anniversary tour and will support their album Ironbound, but I’ve got to admit I’m much more interested in the openers for this show. It’s been a while since I’ve seen Polish death metal band Vader and the entire line up has changed since then. In fact, they’re auditioning guitar players for this tour, which you can find more info on here. I just saw God Dethroned for the first time in October, but I was impressed and wouldn’t mind seeing them again. Also Warbringer has been one of those up and coming thrash bands and they’re a great addition to this tour. I don’t know much about Evile other than they are from the UK and I think Woe Of Tyrants is a Christian band (wtf?). Krass Judgement is local support and is not on the tour, they are just opening this one show. Tickets are $25 presale (or $32.75 after fees from Ticketmaster with a free shipping option) and $28 day of show, or you can get a $55 VIP ticket ($64.75 after Ticketmaster fees with a free shipping option) that gets you a meet and greet with Overkill, Vader and God Dethroned.

 

 

May 2010

Sun 2 May – Sonata Arctica and Mutiny Within and Powerglove and Union Street and Trilhexyn at Jaxx (Springfield, Virginia) – The Days Of Grays Tour – Power metal and metalcore, not a show I’m rushing to see. Regardless, if power metal is your thing then Finland’s Sonata Arctica are sure to please. They’re playing with New Jersey metalcore outfit Mutiny Within and Powerglove, who seems to be opening for every power metal tour they can. I don’t know anything about the local openers Union Street and Trilhexyn but you can click their MySpace pages above to check em out. The price of a ticket is listed at $22 advance (or $27 from The Vault or $29.75 from Ticketmaster, both prices after fees) or $25 the day of the show. Also of note, this is the final show of the tour.

Wed 5 May – Blackguard and Swashbuckle and Nightfire and Internal Fear at Sonar (Baltimore, Maryland) – Blackguard and Swashbuckle are both going to be openers on the upcoming North American tour for Hypocrisy. Unfortunately that tour won’t be stopping anywhere near the DC area. Since they apparently can’t wait to get on the road, Blackguard and Swashbuckle are touring some of the cities skipped by that tour, and this is the Baltimore stop for them. If you haven’t gotten your fix of goofy folk/pagan/viking metal to drink ale to, well, this show’s for you. I don’t know much about the local openers for this show, but they aren’t playing any other dates with these bands. You can check them out by clicking their names above of course. The show costs $12 advance ($15.95 after fees if you buy your ticket from ThunderTix) or $14 day of the show. Also of note, this concert isn’t on the main stage at Sonar but on the smaller Talking Head Club stage.

Weds 19 May – Dark Tranquillity and Threat Signal and The Absence and Hatesphere at Jaxx (Springfield, Virginia) – Dark Tranquillity goes back on tour in the US, this time as a headliner. Awesome, last time I didn’t bother to see them because they were opening for Killswitch Engage and The Devil Wears Prada. I’m not a huge fan of their new album, We Are The Void, (available for free download on the downloads page) it was ok but I still like listening to Damage Done from time to time. They’re a fun band to see live and for only $17 presale ($24.75 after fees if you buy a ticket from Ticketmaster) or $20 the day of the show, it’s really hard to pass up.

Fri 21 May – Primal Fear and Havok and Metal Mike and Cypher Lock and Brutallion at Jaxx (Springfield, Virginia) – Germany’s Primal Fear is one of the more thrashy of the power metal bands. For the North American tour they’ll be joined on stage by Pamela Moore (source: Blabbermouth). Colorado modern thrashers Havok are support on this tour (they are replacing Luna Mortis who has dropped off the tour). Most of the local support for this show is still to be announced, but West Virginia’s Cypher Lock has been listed to play. You can get your band to be one of the openers if you contact Jaxx on via their booking info page. This show is $22 advance ($29.75 after fees if you buy a ticket from Ticketmaster with a free shipping option) or $25 the day of the show. There’s also a $50 VIP ticket available ($58.75 after fees from Ticketmaster) that includes a pre-show meet and greet with Primal Fear.

Weds 26 May – Cannabis Corpse and High Priest and Hessian and Oh Shit They’re Going To Kill Us and Vulcan and Omicron and BSOM and Extermination Angel at Sidebar (Baltimore, Maryland) – Dave Tedder’s Fucking Birthday Show – Maryland Deathfest Pre-Pre Show – Cannabis Corpse is a band from Richmond featuring Philip “Landphil” Hall of Municpal Waste. They parody Cannibal Corpse songs in a sort of Weird Al Yankovic way make them all about smoking pot. Well, a lot of the songs have little resemblance to the originals other than lyrically. I’m not sure who many of the other bands are, though with the exception of High Priest from New Orleans, they all seem to be from Philadelphia and Baltimore. The bands seem to be calling this the pre-pre Maryland Deathfest show, though the Sidebar Tavern site calls it Dave Tedder’s B-day show. Also, I can’t for the life of me find a link to a site for the band Omicron, if you know where they exist online let me know so I can link it here. Tickets for this gig are $15 (apparently it’s the same price if you purchase tickets online from MissionTix).

Thurs 27 May – The Pre-Fest Party for Maryland Deathfest VIII at Sonar (Baltimore, Maryland) – This party is going to feature some of the best grind around, quite the show if you enjoy that. I find it kind of funny that the Maryland Deathfest has been sort of taken over by a mixture of genres when it used to be mostly grind bands with some death metal headliners. Now it seems they need a pre-fest party to actually feature some of the grind. Anyways, the bands that are playing are: General Surgery, Birdflesh, Iron Lung, Engorged, Pretty Little Flower, Ex Dementia, Nekromantheon, and Xbrainiax. The pre-fest party tickets are not part of the regular festival’s 3 day passes. Tickets are $15 and you can get them at the Maryland Deathfest website as well.

Fri 28 May thru Sun 30 May – Maryland Deathfest VIII is at Sonar in Baltimore again this year with 3 days of extreme heavy metal from all over the world on Memorial Day weekend. There’s a whole slew of bands that are going to be there (more still to be announced), some of the bands I want to see are: Obituary, the reunited Autopsy, the reunited Gorguts, Entombed, Asphyx, Pentagram, Pestilence, Naglfar, Malevolent Creation, Necrophobic, Sinister, Incantation, Haemorrhage, Portal, Melechesh, Tombs, Verbal Abuse, Sodom and Watain. Looks like I’m going to need a 3 day pass. They don’t seem to have as much black metal as last year, but I’m really excited to see Melechesh for the first time. UPDATE: I’ve posted a full listing of which bands will play on what day here.

June 2010

Tues 20 July – Iron Maiden and Dream Theater at Jiffy Lube Live (Bristow, Virginia) – Iron Maiden is coming to the DC area for the final show of their North American tour. If you’re wondering where the hell Jiffy Lube Live is, it’s the (awful) new name for the artist formerly known as Nissan Pavilion. This tour is to support Iron Maiden’s upcoming album The Final Frontier, which is expected to be released in the late summer. That kind of stinks if they’re going to play new songs on an album you haven’t had a chance to hear yet, so hopefully the new album will leak onto the internet before the tour comes here. I’m not 100% sure when tickets go on sale, the Live Nation website says here that they go on sale at 10am Saturday 13 March but press release on the Iron Maiden website says they go on sale a week later at 10am on Saturday 20 March. Whatever the public ticket sale date is, there is also going to be a special ticket presale that will start 2 days earlier for members of the Iron Maiden fan club. I hate when bands do that, it’s like another fee to get a ticket, and if you don’t pay the fee you don’t get the better seats. LAME! I don’t know what the actual ticket prices are going to be yet, but I’ll post those here when I do find out. Anyways, progressive/power metal band Dream Theater are the openers, though I’m not really a fan of theirs. They do crazy stuff in the studio but I’ve heard they use studio tricks and can’t actually play all those technical solos and such live. I’ve never seen them live nor do I know their music well enough to confirm that. Who knows, maybe they really shred live.