This September DCHeavyMetal.com turns 4 years old and I’m really trying to make it special with all kinds of great things, online and offline, to celebrate. There’s going to be more posts on the site this month, including a few album reviews which are in the works as well as a good old fashioned concert review or two, something I haven’t posted too recently. I’m also working on an app for Android users which will let people pull up the concert calendar on their phones very easily as well as some other features like an interactive map that will use your GPS location data to tell you what concert venues, record stores and other businesses in the area that are metal friendly are near you. This should make traveling to these places much easier if you’ve never been there before. I should also be selling not one but TWO new t-shirt designs this month that I hope you all like as much as I do. I can’t wait to reveal them! Now some details about some of the other things DCHM will be doing to celebrate our 4th anniversary…
To get things started, right now we’re giving away a pair of tickets (before they even go on sale) to see Slayer, Gojira and 4Arm at the Fillmore Silver Spring on 11/19. To enter you just need to send me the title of your favorite Slayer song either on Twitter (send it to @MetalChris) or you can leave a comment on the Facebook post here. The winner will be chosen at 5pm EST on Thursday, Sept 5th so don’t wait!
This Sunday, September 8th, you’ll find me at Port City Brewery in Alexandria as I co-host Metal Night IV there with their metal head brewer Will! The event is free and there won’t be any bands playing but we’ll be playing metal on the speakers all night from a playlist that you guys send in songs for. You can send song requests (limit 2 per person) to Will via Twitter (@PCBCBrewMetal) or via email at Will@PortCityBrewing.com. Since the brewery is releasing their Oktoberfest beer this metal night is having an Oktoberfest theme, meaning think of your favorite metal songs with a German theme or by bands actually from Germany (Blind Guardian, Kreator, Necrophagist, Sodom, etc…) You can send in non-German songs too, and local bands are always welcome on the list. There will be nine beers on tap for Metal Night IV including rare releases such as Deracho, Maniacal (named after the Cannibal Corpse song with that title) and my personal favorite, the smoked porter named Two. In addition to all that, we’ll have lots of prizes to give away, including tickets to upcoming area metal shows like Pelican/Coliseum at DC9, another pair of tickets to Slayer, and tix to several shows coming to Empire. More details and info can be found on the Facebook event page here.
And you may have heard by now that there will be a big DCHeavyMetal.com anniversary show at the Fillmore Silver Spring on Thursday, September 26th! I’ve got some of my favorite local bands, as well as the excellent sci-fi themed thrashers Vektor, playing this show! And these aren’t just any locals on the bill: the beer soaked heavy riffs of Borracho will be sure to please any Sabbath fans (isn’t that all of us?) and the guitar wizardy of Midnight Eye is going to sound great at the Fillmore! The opening act is Asthma Castle, a stoner metal band from Baltimore featuring Adam Jarvis (of Misery Index and Pig Destroyer) on drums. There will be more surprises to be announced about this show as well, so join the Facebook event page (here) and I’ll keep you up to date! I hope a lot of you can come out to this one, if there’s a good turn out I might be able to do more of these, plus it will be cool seeing these bands on such a big stage! You can get tickets for $12 here.
Last but not least a big thank you goes out to everyone who helps make this site, and the area’s metal scene, what it is. Checking out local bands, suggesting new tunes to people, going to concerts big and small all around the area, forming bands, setting up shows and just spreading the metal word any way you know how, it’s all of you who make this area’s metal scene awesome. I wouldn’t be doing this still after 4 years, advertisement free mind you, if this area’s metal scene sucked. I may keep this website alive but it’s all of you metal heads in this area that keep the scene alive here in the DMV and give me something to keep writing about. I hope to have many more reviews, improvements, fun events and of course ticket give aways for many more years to come. Keep it heavy everyone and remember: support the scene you’re a part of!
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