Early November Concert Recap

I went to a few shows last week that were all great and I shot a lot of photos and videos and thought I’d share them here with you all. Mercyful Fate, Katatonia and the Dave Sherman Benefit show were all great experiences, I’m so glad live concerts are back this year.

Mercyful Fate

First up was the return of Mercyful Fate at the Fillmore Silver Spring on Tuesday, November 8th. Teutonic thrash legends Kreator were the first band I saw as it took me 25 minutes (and cost me a bottle opener on my key ring) to get into the venue leading me to miss opener Midnight. King Diamond has toured the US several times since Mercyful Fate’s last US tour in 1999 but fans have long been whispering rumors of a proper Mercyful Fate tour. With a blood moon lunar eclipse in the sky and midterm election results coming in time was standing still as Mercyful Fate took the stage. You never really know if a band as old as Mercyful Fate is going to live up to the hype live but I think it is quite safe to say that this show did. King Diamond’s voice held up well and the band had great energy on stage along with a beautiful stage set up and lighting. They played a set list full of classics and a new song off an upcoming album that is yet to be named. I didn’t have a photo pass for this show, all my shots were from the audience on my phone, but I think I got a few decent ones, and I got video footage of the new song “The Jackal of Salzburg” as well as my personal favorite Mercyful Fate song, “A Dangerous Meeting.”

Click here to see all of my concert videos on YouTube.

Click here to see all of my photos from this concert on Flickr.

Mercyful Fate – The Jackal of Salzburg

Mercyful Fate – A Dangerous Meeting

Kreator – Flag of Hate / Pleasure to Kill

King Diamond of Mercyful Fate

Mercyful Fate at the Fillmore Silver Spring

Mike Wead and Hank Shermann of Mercyful Fate

Mercyful Fate at the Fillmore Silver Spring

Mercyful Fate set list 11/8/2022

Katatonia

The next night I found myself at the Black Cat to see Swedish doom band Katatonia along with the German prog band The Ocean. Again I missed the opener, Cellar Darling in this case, and I’m starting to wonder if it is just me or if shows are starting earlier now since the pandemic. This was the first night of the US tour and I wasn’t sure what kind of set list Katatonia would play, mostly newer stuff or and older “best of” style set. They played a pretty good mix with 5 songs off of The Great Cold Distance album and they even played their new song “Atrium” live for the first time ever at this show. Jonas Renkse’s voice sounded great and the band seemed fresh and really into the entire 90 minute show. The lighting has never been stellar at the Black Cat and since I just had my phone with me I didn’t get many decent shots of either band, but I did get some great video footage of Katatonia, which you can peruse below.

Katatonia – Old Heart Falls

Katatonia – Deliberation

Katatonia – Teargas

Katatonia – Leaders

Katatonia – Atrium first time ever played live

Katatonia -Evidence

Katatonia at the Black Cat

Katatonia at the Black Cat

Katatonia set list 11/9/2022

Video clip of The Ocean Collective

Dave Sherman Benefit

The following Saturday, the 12th of November, I headed up to Frederick, Maryland, for the Dave Sherman Benefit show at Cafe 611. The gig was a benefit show for the family of the late, great Dave Sherman. It was also something of a memorial show for the legend of the Maryland doom metal scene after his untimely death in September, but I’ve gotta say it was a pretty uplifting and positive experience. People were happy to see each other and most of the bands played some sort of cover or tribute to Sherm during their sets. The first band went on at 3pm, which was way too early for me to get there, but I did make sure I left in time to catch Victor Griffin and his band Place of Skulls. I guess they took too long setting up because several songs were cut out of their set and they ended abruptly after playing a cover of Pentagram’s “Relentless” (which wasn’t even on their set list). Still, it’s always cool to see Victor Griffin play live. Next up was Foghound and they put on a super high energy set and got everyone in the audience to raise their hands like how Dave Sherman would imitate riding a motorcycle. After they played it was time for another great set by Borracho. The DC based stoner band has been working on some new material and playing some of the songs live here and there and I managed to get video footage of a brand new song the first time they ever played it live that night. They closed their set with a Spirit Caravan cover, one of Dave Sherman’s bands, and I’ve got footage of that below as well. Faith in Jane closed out the show and the crowd was dwindling by the time they took the stage a little before 1am but the people that were there still had some energy! Faith in Jane had some technical difficulties but even so they still somehow seem to get better each time I see them, and this time was no exception. I wish I had been able to catch Pimmit Hills and some of the other earlier bands but I still enjoyed every minute of the sets by the four bands I did catch. I’m not one to believe in any kind of afterlife but I know that Dave Sherman would have been happy and proud to see all the joy in the room and on stage that night because of him.

Place of Skulls – Lost

Foghound – Turn Off the World

Borracho – Architects of Chaos – Part 1 first time ever played live

Borracho – Fang Spirit Caravan cover

Faith in Jane I don’t know this song’s name

Victor Griffin and Place of Skulls at Cafe 611

Foghound at Cafe 611

Borracho at Cafe 611

Steve Fisher of Borracho at Cafe 611

Faith in Jane at Cafe 611

Faith in Jane at Cafe 611

Faith in Jane at Cafe 611

November 17, 2022
Categories: Black Cat, Classic Metal, Concert Reviews, Doom Metal, Fillmore Silver Spring, Progressive Metal, Stoner, Thrash Metal . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Metal Chris . Comments: Leave a comment

Katatonia and The Ocean ticket give away

Katatonia at the Black Cat

Katatonia is coming all the way from Sweden to play the Black Cat on Wednesday, November 9th, and they’re bringing The Ocean Collective and Cellar Darling with them! Even better, DCHM is giving away a pair of tickets to this very show! All you need to do to enter: is just tell me your favorite band to listen to when you want to get into the Halloween mood. Then on Halloween, Monday October 31st, at 5pm Eastern the winner will be selected from all valid entries using Random.org. Be sure to use a valid email you check regularly when you enter so I can contact you if you win. Don’t worry, I won’t add you to any spam lists or sell your info or anything sleazy like that. If the selected winner hasn’t written me back within 24 hours another winner will be selected. If you can’t wait to see if you win or the contest is already over when you read this, then you can purchase tickets here.

This show is going to be the first night of the North American tour and Katatonia has a new album coming out in January titled Sky Void of Stars. Hopefully we’ll get to hear some of these new tunes on the tour (and be sure to check their music embedded video below for one of the new songs). Also along on the tour is the German band The Ocean Collective. Their proggy post-metal sound is a perfect compliment to Katatonia, and you should also check out their video embedded below for a song they did that features Katatonia’s vocalist Jonas Renkse. Cellar Darling is an up and coming Swiss band with progressive leanings and all three of the band’s members are former members of Eluveitie. Anyways, go check out the music videos by all three of these great bands and leave a comment telling me what your favorite band to get you into the Halloween mood is!

Katatonia – Atrium

The Ocean – Jurassic | Cretaceous (feat. Jonas Renkse)

Cellar Darling – Avalanche

October 26, 2022
Categories: Black Cat, Contests, Gothic, Shameless Promotion . Tags: , , , , , , , . Author: Metal Chris . Comments: 9 Comments

Leprous ticket give away

Leprous at the Black Cat

Omicron has come and gone and shows are starting to happen again, including with international bands. We here at DCHM are super psyched for the Norwegian prog band Leprous to take the stage at the Black Cat on Friday, March 11th, that we’re giving away a free pair of tickets to the show! All you need to do to enter: is just leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite album release during the pandemic is. It can be a live album, split, compilation or anything, just as long as it is from March 2020 or newer. Tuesday, March 8th at 5pm Eastern the winner will be selected from all valid entries using Random.org. Be sure to use a valid email you check regularly when you enter so I can contact you if you win. Don’t worry, I won’t add you to any spam lists or sell your info or anything sleazy like that. If the selected winner hasn’t written me back within 24 hours another winner will be selected. If you can’t wait to see if you win or the contest is already over when you read this, then you can purchase tickets here.

I discovered the band Leprous when they performed at Maryland Deathfest in 2013 as the backing band for Ihsahn (of Emperor) for his solo performance. However Leprous has created a legacy all their own in the progressive metal world releasing a diverse seven full length albums, including last year’s Aphelion album. The band has a way of taking elements from several different genres and still making it sound like “Leprous” no matter what they’re doing. Support on this tour is another favorite of mine, the German band The Ocean, who play a epic style of heavy metal with lots of progressive elements. All in all if you’re into prog you’re not going to want to miss this chance to see two of Europe’s best share the stage in DC. Now check out these videos of Leprous and The Ocean and leave a comment below telling me your favorite album released during the pandemic!

Leprous – The Silent Revelation

The Ocean – Pleistocene

March 4, 2022
Categories: Black Cat, Contests, Progressive Metal, Shameless Promotion . Tags: , , , , . Author: Metal Chris . Comments: 8 Comments

Windhand ticket give away

Windhand at the Black Cat

Autumn has arrived and it’s the perfect season for occult doom metal. Luckily Windhand is performing at the Black Cat this Sunday, November 14th! It’s no secret that Windhand has long been one of my favorite bands from Virginia so I’m excited to be giving away a pair of tickets to this show to a lucky DCHM reader. To enter: just leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite doom metal album to listen to in the fall is. Thursday, November 11th at 5pm Eastern the winner will be selected from all valid entries using Random.org. Be sure to use a valid email you check regularly when you enter so I can contact you if you win. Don’t worry, I won’t add you to any spam lists or sell your info or anything sleazy like that. If the selected winner hasn’t written me back within 24 hours another winner will be selected. If you can’t wait to see if you win or the contest is already over when you read this, then you can purchase tickets here.

Windhand had a livestream event online back in November of 2020 and a year later they’re finally on tour again! This is the last of four East Coast dates they’re doing this fall which means we’re lucky to even be getting the chance to see them. Don’t blow it and miss this show! The support on this run of shows is by local band Aertex who are a sort of gothy synth pop band (with a great demo here). Now check out these videos of the bands below and leave a comment telling me what your favorite doom metal album to listen to in the Autumn months is.

Windhand – Old Evil

Aertex – Revenge (Ministry cover)

November 9, 2021
Categories: Black Cat, Contests, Doom Metal . Tags: , , . Author: Metal Chris . Comments: 14 Comments

Darkest Hour benefit for the Black Cat

When the COVID-19 pandemic came to town in March it shut down all of the area’s live shows, including metal shows. However at 7pm this Saturday, September 26th, Darkest Hour will be streaming a performance that was just recorded at the Black Cat! The show itself won’t be live because there are many guest performers involved who had to be recorded playing from their own locations since it isn’t safe to fly them in right now. However there will be a live chat during the stream where fans can interact with the band and guest musicians in real time as everyone watches the stream. The audio has also been professionally mixed and mastered so the sound quality will be closer in quality to a live album than a regular livestream. On top of all that, everyone that buys a ticket will get an invite to the virtual afterparty on Zoom with Darkest Hour members and some of special guests after the performance ends!

Tickets to watch the stream (which includes access to the Zoom afterparty) are available from Veeps.com (here) for $10 or at the same link you can buy a bundle that comes with an exclusive shirt (shown below) made just for this performance for $35.

I spoke with Darkest Hour guitarist and founding member Mike Schleibaum and he told me that this event ties in with the band’s 25th anniversary (which was on Wednesday, 9/23). Along with some of the band’s most popular songs, the setlist will include some of their oldest songs performed with guest appearances by former band members. Other performing guests include Doc Coyle (Bad Wolves, God Forbid), Mark Heylmun (Suicide Silence), Buz McGrath (Unearth), Fella Di Cicco (Dreamshade) and more! Mike Schleibaum went on to say, “all of the Darkest Hour parts were shot on the Black Cat stage with multiple cameras.” When pressed about exactly how much of the ticket price went to the venue, Mike said, “100% of ticket sales go to the Black Cat. So when you buy a $10 ticket they get all of the $10. There’s also going to be a donation feature while the performance is streaming so people watching can also donate that way.”

This isn’t a live stream but it sounds like they’ve really upped the production value for this using multiple cameras, top notch sound quality and out of area guest musicians to make this closer to something you’d see on a band’s live DVD release. And while I’ve watch several band live streams they do kind of all seem like you’re just watching a rehearsal with poor sound quality. This event sounds like a great way to do something bigger for the fans, celebrate the band’s 25th anniversary, and donate to one of Washington DC’s live music institutions. If you can’t watch it when it starts or you just want to replay the show, a ticket purchase will grant you access to it for 24 hours. You can check the event’s Facebook page here for info and once again you can get tickets here.

The Veeps stream layout with the chat shown on the right

Here’s some videos Darkest Hour put out that you can get even more info from:

September 25, 2020
Categories: Black Cat, Coronavirus Quarantine Days, Local Band Info, Melodic Death Metal, Metalcore, Shameless Promotion, Washington DC / Maryland / Virginia Metal Scene . Tags: , , , , , , , . Author: Metal Chris . Comments: Leave a comment

Cancellations due to COVID-19

I figured I’d put a post together with updates on all the postponements, cancellations, and non-cancellations, in our area due to concerns about the COVID-19 coronavirus. I’ll try to keep this as up to date as possible as I get more info about various metal shows in the area.

On March 11th DC’s Mayor Bowser declared a state of emergency and advised that “mass gatherings” (events with more than 1,000 people in attendance) be cancelled by organizers, but it is not mandatory. You can get more info on that here.

Later the same day IMP posted (here) that they will be closing all of the venues they operate through April 1st. This includes the 9:30 Club, The Anthem, U Street Music Hall and the Lincoln Theatre.

Also on the 11th, Italian symphonic death metal band Fleshgod Apocalypse postponed their entire US tour, including their date at Baltimore Soundstage on 3/20. You can read their statement here.

On March 12th Maryland’s Governor Larry Hogan said in a press conference (here) all events with more than 250 people in attendance must be postponed or cancelled. This presumably cancels the upcoming metal shows at the Fillmore Silver Spring, including Overkill on 3/13 and Killswitch Engage on 3/14. I’m still waiting on an official statement my the Fillmore Silver Spring but I’ll update this post with that here when I see it. This also presumably cancels upcoming shows at Baltimore Soundstage, including Thy Art Is Murder on 3/13, and again I’m waiting for a statement from the venue to confirm status. UPDATE: My contact at the Fillmore Silver Spring emailed me to let me know that all shows there through March 31st are postponed. This includes the metal shows Overkill on 3/13, Killswitch Engage on 3/14 and In This Moment on 3/31. UPDATE 2: Baltimore Soundstage has posted that they will not be open for their shows this weekend, which includes the Thy Art Is Murder show. Read their statement here.

Rams Head Live was supposed to host Devin Townsend on 3/16 but Heavy Devy had already canceled his tour (statement here) before Larry Hogan’s order.

The St Thrashrick’s Fest, headlined by Lich King, was supposed to be at Angel’s Rock Bar in Powerplant in Baltimore, but it was moved to the Depot and now finally it has been cancelled. You can read the promoter’s statement about the cancellation here.

On March 13th we started seeing many tours get cancelled, especially those with foreign bands. Devastation On The Nation tour with Rotting Christ and Borknagar, scheduled to be at the Ottobar on 4/5, has been postponed. That tour is planning to reschedule for 2021 at the same venues with the same bands and you can read the statement about that by the tour promoters here.

Sepultura and Sacred Reich have postponed their tour, including their date on 4/8 at Baltimore Soundstage. You can read the statement from Sepultura about it here.

Insomnium and Omnium Gatherum cancelled their tour, despite already being in the US, and this includes their date at Fish Head Cantina on 4/18. The bands seem to be hit quite hard financially because of this and you can read their statement here.

The Rotting Kingdom show at Metro Gallery on 3/29 has been cancelled, however at the time of this writing the tour still seems to be happening, including their date at Atlas Brew Works on 4/1. You can read the statement by the promoter of the Baltimore show here.

Deafheaven has postponed their entire tour, including their 4/6 show at the 9:30 Club. You can read Deafheaven’s statement here.

After the DC Department of Health updated their recommendation to Mayor Bowser, she has now banned all events with 250 or more people in the District (more info here). This falls in line with similar bans in the states of Virginia and Maryland. So basically, the DMV will have no concerts or other events with more than 250 people in attendance in any kind of foreseeable future.

Due to the new ban the Black Cat has announced they will be closed until March 31st and you can read that statement here.

On March 14th Kayo Dot cancelled the remainder of their tour, including their show at VFW Post 9274 in Falls Church on 3/18. You can read the band’s statement here.

On March 15th Ripping Headaches Promotions cancelled their three area DIY shows in March, which are High Command at Atlas Brewery on 3/20, Midnight at Metro Gallery at 3/24 and Morpheus Descends at Atlas Brewery on 3/27. You can read their statement about these shows here.

Perdition Booking cancelled the upcoming Rippikoulu and Chthe’ilist show at the Metro Gallery on 4/9. You can read Metro Gallery’s statement about that here.

DC’s Mayor Bowser has closed all nightclubs and put restrictions on all restaurants and bars in the District. Details on that here.

On May 22nd Rams Head Live in Baltimore posted (here) that all their upcoming events through the end of May will be postponed. This presumably includes Maryland Deathfest, which is scheduled to take place May 21st thru May 24th at both Rams Head Live and Baltimore Soundstage. However, at this time I have yet to see anything official by either MDF nor BSS claiming the entire fest has been postponed.

I’m doing my best to keep up with all the cancellations and postponements but if you hear about one that I haven’t updated on the calendar or here yet, feel free to email me at DCHeavyMetal@Gmail.com

March 12, 2020
Categories: Baltimore Soundstage, Black Cat, Fillmore Silver Spring, Howard Theatre, Nightclub 9:30, Uncategorized, Washington DC / Maryland / Virginia Metal Scene . Tags: , . Author: Metal Chris . Comments: Leave a comment

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