This blog specializes in heavy metal music and how it relates to Washington DC and the surrounding area. Featuring info on upcoming metal concerts in Washington DC, Baltimore and Virginia, as well as info on local bands, area concert venues, reviews of live gigs, and lots of give aways.
So Xmas has come and gone again and every year there always seems to be one present you really wanted yet you somehow didn’t get. Maybe it was a bb gun one year, a Tickle Me Elmo another year, or even an iPad. Well DCHeavyMetal.com has your ass covered this year cause we’re giving away a pair of tickets to see Warchild and Black Clouds on Saturday December 29th at the Rock & Roll Hotel! While you were faking laughs at the stupid gag gifts you got and pretending to be really thankful for the Olive Garden gift card you received, DCHM was working behind the scenes with Satan’s Claws to be sure you still had a chance at the must have gift this holiday season! That’s right, you’ve gotten your fill of jolly holiday jingles, now it’s time to fucking thrash! This isn’t some pregame for New Year’s Eve, this is going to be a full on party loaded with beer chugging, head banging and general chaos! You know you’ve got some post-holiday angst you’ve been keeping pent up while you had to deal with relatives, and now you know how to get it all out! But wait, there’s more: the winner will receive not only a free pair of tickets to the show, but also a Warchild t-shirt and a Warchild beer coozy! This might just be your best Christmas yet! Now check out this awesome video flyer and get all the details on how to enter below!
To enter just leave a comment at the end of this post that tells me about your worst holiday experience ever! Maybe your grandma cussed out your new girlfriend one year, maybe your mom made you wear the ugliest sweater ever, you tell me! One lucky winner will be chosen at random (using Random.org) from all valid entries once the contest closes at 5pm EST on Friday, December 28th. Be sure to enter using a valid email address that you check regularly so I can contact you about the tickets once you win. Don’t worry, I won’t add you to any spam lists or anything like that, I hate that shit too. If you know you can’t make the show please don’t enter, I want to give these to someone who is in need of a post holiday party!
If you don’t know Warchild (what the fuck is wrong with you?) then you already win, cause their six song demo is available to stream and download free here. They sound like Kill ‘Em All era Metallica if they partied like they were in Municipal Waste! Of course there’s another local band playing as well, Black Clouds. They’re not thrash but they’re damn good. The band is moody as hell and sure knows how to suck and audience into their mind melt world of doom and gloom. Check out their song Santorum Sunday School on YouTube below, it features Neil Fallon, frontman of Clutch, doing spoken word vocals and it’s intense! Now enough of what I’ve got to say. Check out this sick Warchild video and that killer Black Clouds song I was talking about. Give em a listen as you enter the contest below because YOU HAVE BEEN SUMMONED!
Friday the 26th of October 2012 was one hell of a fun night. Municipal Waste and Napalm Death were kicking off their co-headlining tour with Exhumed and Vektor at Empire (formerly Jaxx) in Springfield, Virginia that night and you just knew a line up like that was going to result in an awesome night. Apparently a lot of you had the same idea as the place was pretty packed. It was probably the best turn out I’ve seen at Empire since the new management took over back in January.
There were a couple of local openers to start the show off but I didn’t get there until Vektor was just beginning their set. They play a futuristic tech-thrash that is pretty damn fun to watch live. Their songs are long but they go all over the place so you never feel bored listening to them. The crowd surfers were already starting during their set. I had seen Vektor headline a show in mid September (ready my review of that show here) and while they didn’t play as long of a set, it was still cool seeing them on a proper stage. Also, guitarist David DiSanto was playing a new guitar this time. After Vektor played it was time for Exhumed to unleash their gory death metal on the crowd. They were as fast and brutal as ever and they’re the kind of band you can tell is having a lot of fun on stage. They had their crazy chainsaw surgeon guy come out on stage a few times with his real chain saw that he was waving over the audience and they even had blood splatter onto some of the people up close when he pulled out a decapitated head. Exhumed opened their set with several songs off their latest album, All Guts, No Glory, but started playing older songs midway through their set. They ended their set with their classic The Matter Of Splatter which really had people going nuts in the pit. Two bands in and this show was already kicking some serious ass!
Napalm Death was the next band to take the stage. They’re one of the fathers of grindcore and have consistently put out good material since they formed 31 years ago (although none of the current members have been in the band prior to 1987). In addition to that they’re also known for being one of the best live bands in extreme metal. As they opened their set they showed that their age was not slowing them down a bit. I had seen them in May at Maryland Deathfest X but this time the audience was much closer up to the band and the setting was definitely more in your face. Hell, I even saw a guy in a banana costume stage dive during their set (photo of that below). Napalm Death’s vocalist, Barney Greenway, was as spastic as ever on stage, pacing back and forth between bursts of vocal rage and showing that he’s still one of the most ferocious live vocalists in metal. Their set contained mostly material from the past 10 years or so but they did sprinkle in some key tracks from older albums throughout the set. For some reason the band played their infamous Guinness World Record holding one second track You Suffer two times during their set, that was a new one. I didn’t love their latest release, Utilitarian, because a Napalm Death album with clean vocal parts just doesn’t sound right to me. Even so, when they played The Wolf I Feed, a song from that album, it still fit in well with the rest of the songs they played despite the clean back up singing. Napalm Death played a thoroughly brutal set from start to finish and the audience seemed to love every minute of it, myself included.
The final band of the night was Richmond, Virginia’s Municipal Waste. They’re a party thrash metal band and they’re known for having a totally wild live show. Most of the band’s songs revolve around binge drinking and partying and they readily encourage stage divers. However if you stay on stage too long you’ll get an atomic wedgie, which vocalist Tony Foresta explained by making an example of one lingering stage diver during the show. They got the crowd going from the start with their songs Headbanger Face Rip and Mind Eraser. Tony said that since the band had toured so much lately they wanted to change up the set list some. This included playing A.D.D. (Attention Deficit Destroyer) for the first time ever live as well as playing the first song Municipal Waste ever wrote, Thrashin’s My Business… And Business Is Good. You can see the full set list here. The band was a bit sloppy but it didn’t matter, they’re more about having fun than playing perfectly. Guitarist Ryan Waste was sporting a new custom guitar that had a body shaped like a big M and W. At one point Tony mentioned that he didn’t like most modern thrash bands, but that he definitely approved of Vektor. An odd opinion since Municipal Waste is one of the biggest modern thrash bands. The shred-fest went on for over an hour and the mosh pit went crazy all night. Crowd surfers and stage divers were a constant presence and I’m sure a lot of people were nursing bruises afterwards, but they were well worth it to be in the middle of all the fun. As usual, you can see my photos of the bands I was there for below. I didn’t get shots of all of the band members throughout the night because it was hard to move around the wild audience that close to the stage and I was not trying to damage my camera with all the crowd surfers over head either. I have some video footage of Municipal Waste as well but due to complications from Hurricane Sandy I haven’t been able to upload those yet. I hope to add them to the end of this post in a day or two. It was great to see such a good turn out for a metal show at Empire and I hope to see more of you out at metal shows soon to help support the scene you’re a part of!
On Friday the 19th of October 2012 I headed up to the Ottobar in Baltimore to see Pig Destroyer perform at their album release show. Their new album, Book Burner, is their first full length release in over 5 years and anticipation for the album has been high not only in the DC area, which the band is from, but in the overall world of metal fandom. I missed the opening act, Wargames, though they’re a Baltimore based hardcore band so they’ll probably be playing in the area again soon. Royal Thunder was the first band I saw play. They’re a slow paced hard rock/metal band from Atlanta and while I didn’t think they were all that bad, they were certainly out of place on this bill. The crowd who showed up to see a spastic grindcore band wasn’t really interested in seeing a drowsy southern rock band with clean vocals. Royal Thunder, along with Pig Destroyer, is signed to Relapse. I guess they were just trying to get Royal Thunder more exposure by adding them to this line up but they really sucked the energy out of the place. Luckily the next band, Baltimore natives Necropsy, came to the rescue with their set and got the mosh pits started. They play some catchy death/thrash and they are really fun to watch live. They’re all pretty young, I’m not sure if any of them are over 21, but they are certainly worth checking out if you haven’t seen them yet. They’ll be opening the first day of Maryland Deathfest next May. The next band to play was Washington DC’s own Ilsa. I’ve seen them a ton of times and as always they brought the heavy, chugging riffage doused in crusty filth. They started their performance off by throwing stripper glitter on the people standing close to the stage and I have to say that was rather unexpected. Just when you think you’ve seen it all at a metal concert… Anyways, Ilsa was in really good form, mostly playing songs from their upcoming album Intoxicantations which is due out on Black Friday (Nov 23rd) from A389 Records. I’ve got the set list posted here if you’d like to see it. They didn’t play the song Frostthrower, a personal favorite of mine, but it didn’t matter, they’ve got a lot of great songs and you could tell the audience agreed. They were loving the weight of the band’s sound and I’m sure Ilsa won some new fans with their performance.
After Ilsa’s killer set it was time for Pig Destroyer. They don’t play a lot of shows in the area and there was a good sized crowd out for this rare appearance by the local grindcore legends. Vocalist JR Hayes (who I recently interviewed here) was rather jovial between songs then like a light switch he would just turn on his pent up rage and funnel it through his throat. He was like a caged wild animal suddenly set free into the confusing world with his microphone as his only weapon. Guitarist Scott Hull stayed pretty cool on the left side of the stage, grinding out his bizarrely unique riffs as the songs jarringly started and stopped. This was the first time I had seen Pig Destroyer with with their new drummer, Adam Jarvis (also of Misery Index) and apparently it was his birthday as well. Even after taking birthday whiskey shots on stage he still ripped through those crazy Pig Destroyer songs with total precision. The band doesn’t have a bass player but they do have Blake Harrison who basically “plays” some sort of DJ console making noises and adding clips and samples to their songs. Since a lot of what Blake does is basically prerecorded he spends a lot of time on stage essentially acting as a hype man by helping pump up the crowd and keep them into the show. There were also a few guest appearances during the set. Kat Katz (vocalist for the now defunct DC doom band Salome) performed vox on a few songs and the Grindfather, aka Richard Johnson of Drugs Of Faith, did some guest vocals as well. Pig Destroyer’s set list didn’t include a whole lot from the new album though they did play a cover of a Void song. You can see their full set list here. Overall it was a great performance by one of DC’s biggest bands and it was awesome to see them in a local venue. During Pig Destroyer’s set I was up front trying to get some photos and videos and, unsurprisingly, the crowd was wild, hyper and just violent overall. I’m lucky I didn’t damage my camera but I think it was worth it to get some straight on, close up shots from this rare show. The videos are all the way at the end, I hope you enjoy them. Until next time, stay metal everyone and support the scene you’re a part of!
Municipal Waste and Napalm Death are co-headlining a tour that will be at Empire (formerly known as Jaxx) in Springfield, Virginia on Friday the 26th of October 2012 and since it sounds so damn fun DCHeavyMetal.com is giving away a free pair of tickets to one lucky reader of the site. All you’ve got to do to enter is tell me your favorite Halloween themed song (metal or otherwise) by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post. On Wednesday, October 24th at 5pm EST I’ll pick a winner at random (using Random.org) from all valid entries to get the free pair of tickets to the show. Be sure to enter with a valid email address you check regularly so I can contact you if you win. If I don’t hear from you in 24 hours then I’ll pick another winner to get the tickets. Don’t worry, I won’t add you to any email lists or anything like that, I hate spam too. If you enter more than once then all of your entries will be disqualified. If you simply can’t wait to see if you win the contest you can get tickets from Amped & Alive here for $16.
Richmond thrashers Municipal Waste are among the leaders in the modern wave of thrash metal and if they do anything better than shred it’s party. They’re known for putting on crazy wild shows and you can bet this Friday night show will get crazy. If you’re looking for an excuse to wear your Halloween costume in a mosh pit this year then this is it! Napalm Death is a legendary UK band most known for pioneering the grindcore genre and in case you didn’t know they put on intense live performances. The band still keeps it heavy after all these years while also bringing attention to important social issues. California’s masters of gory death metal Exhumed will also be playing this show, which is perfect leading up to Halloween. Expect to see blood, guts, and a maybe even a real chainsaw on stage during their set. Philadelphia based Vektor is a futuristic tech-thrash band that is paving the way for the future of thrash metal and they’ll melt your damn face off while they’re at it. You will also be able to catch March To Victory from Lancaster, Pennsylvania and NoVA locals Krass Judgement opening this concert. This Friday night metal gig is jam packed with so much awesome that you’d be crazy to miss it. Now check out some of these creepy videos and songs by the bands playing and go enter a the bottom of the page!
On Sunday, September 30th of 2012 the New Orleans based southern/stoner metal band Down played the Fillmore Silver Spring. Also on the bill was the doom metal band Pentagram, the Texas based thrash metal band Warbeast and a blues rock band from Ohio called Mount Carmel. I had just seen a great doom and stoner concert with Saint Vitus and Weedeater at the Black Cat three nights before (read that concert’s review here), so would this show live up to it?
The first band to play was Mount Carmel, however I only caught about one of their songs. They did make an appearance on stage later in the night but I’ll get to that later. They’re really more of a throwback bluesy rock band and since this is a metal site I’m not too upset I didn’t catch enough to review them. The second band of the night was the heavy thrash band Warbeast. They’re from Texas and feature members of the old school Texas thrash bands Gammacide and Rigor Mortis. Warbeast seemed to get a good response from the crowd with their catchy riffs and flashy showmanship but they didn’t really do anything I hadn’t heard from a thrash band a dozen times before. The highlight of their set was when Down’s vocalist Phil Anselmo came out to do guest vocals on a song with them (my video of that is posted below). You could tell Phil was really trying to get the audience into Warbeast which makes sense because they’re on his record label, Housecore Records. Warbeast played a lot of material off of a yet to be released full length which was cool for their fans. Overall I thought they were a decent opener but as far as thrash goes they were pretty typical and generic. They just didn’t stack up to the Vektor show I had seen two weeks earlier (my review of that concert is here) and while their energy got the crowd pumped up they just didn’t seem to fit in with the other slower paced bands on the bill that night. The next band to play was the legendary doom metal band Pentagram who were originally based in Washington DC. It was announced (here) the day of the show that this would be guitarist Victor Griffin’s final US concert with the band as he will be leaving them, again, after their upcoming European tour to work on his other projects. While offstage the band’s vocalist and founder Bobby Liebling comes across as a man whose years of hard drug use have left him rather frail and weathered he showed that when he gets on stage he’s still got it. Like most of the older legends of the doom metal scene he knows heavy, depressed and weary, but he also has a quirky side that isn’t afraid to laugh at himself. If you had any doubts about this going in they were instantly dashed when Bobby dropped trou on stage to reveal some skin tight pants covered in eyeballs of various sizes. While I had a photo pass for the band’s first three songs he did this afterwards so I have no photos of said pants, although I have posted video footage you’ve got to see to believe of him wearing them below. The band really was in great form and played a lot of their older classics as well as a few from their latest album, 2011’s Last Rites. The biggest problem was due to no fault of their own as the microphone had technical issues throughout their set. It got so bad that Phil Anselmo walked out on stage and started yelling at the sound guy to get things fixed! Regardless Pentagram played their asses off and really showed that after all these years their material still holds up, their sound is still heavy and they’ve still got it live! Bobby walked around on stage like he owned the damn place and Victor, cool as ever, cranked out those classic riffs and even did some back up vocals on some songs. Had the show ended after Pentagram played it would still have been a great concert but next up was the headlining act, Down.
Down is a stoner band with a strong southern metal bent from New Orleans. They are often referred to as a “super group” since the band’s line up includes such notable musicians as Pepper Keenan of Corrosion Of Conformity, Kirk Windstein of Crowbar, Jimmy Bower of Eyehategod (on drums no less!) and Phil Anselmo of Pantera. Since the members have so many other band commitments Down doesn’t tour very regularly so when you hear they’re coming to town you should probably get off your ass and go because who knows when they’ll be back. That said, if you missed the show the band just released Down IV Part I: The Purple EP so perhaps a part two will be coming soon and Down be touring again in no time. Down started their set off with their song Eyes Of The South and followed it up with their latest single, Witchtripper. The song was just released twelve days prior to the show but already most of the audience seemed to know the words! Down’s frontman Phil Anselmo really had the crowd in his palm throughout the show and while the stage at the Fillmore isn’t small he had a presence that still seemed confined by it. His voice was cracking and going hoarse throughout the night plus he had more of the same microphone problems that plagued Pentagram’s set as well, but none of it seemed to matter much to the enthralled audience. At one point Phil pulled a teenager out of the audience and brought him on stage to headbang with him for half a song. Not because the guy paid extra for a special VIP ticket or was somehow friends with a band member, but just because Phil thought he was so damn metal looking! I actually have some video footage of that so if anyone knows the guy tell him to get in contact with me. Let’s not forget the dual guitarists of Down, Kirk Windstein and Pepper Keenan. The guys have a great chemistry on stage and even though Phil commands a lot of stage presence, and thus attention, Kirk and Pepper reminded everyone that this wasn’t just Phil’s band. Their solos were on point, their timing and exchanges precise and more than anything, you could just tell they were having fun performing for everyone. Down’s sound owes a lot to those dirty southern riffs they cook up and while there were vocal issues throughout their set the guitars were excellent all night. The band walked off stage for the pre-planned encore and came back to play three more songs. Hail The Leaf saw people openly smoking joints in the mosh pit but when Stone The Crow’s instantly recognizable opening riff started people really went wild with the moshing and crowd surfing. Finally Down played the song people had been requesting all night, Bury Me In Smoke, to close the night. They didn’t just play it though, they actually played a 10 minute plus version with members of Mount Carmel and Pentagram coming out to the point that I’m not even sure if any members of Down were playing any instruments by the end of the song! Of course there’s video footage of that below as well. Overall the show was a great performance by a great band that had the crowd moshing, singing along and just rocking out to some great music. Thanks for reading my review and be sure to check out all the photos and videos I’ve posted below. There are more great metal shows coming to the area (calendar here) so get out to some of them and support the scene you’re a part of!
So last Sunday, the 16th of September 2012, the Philadelphia based thrash band Vektor was finishing up their tour with an afternoon matinee show at the RAS Hall in Washington DC. People often mistakenly call the venue an Ethiopian restaurant however it is actually Jamaican, or more specifically, Rastafarian. Their religion believes that former Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie was the second coming of Christ and that is why his image was plastered all over the interior. Anyways, there was a good turn out even though the early show was competing with the Redskins game. Luckily they had some TV’s over the bar that showed the game. The music began with a Chicago based grind band called Worn Out that I didn’t hear but from outside of the venue. They seemed a bit out of place for this show’s line up. The next band up was Midnight Eye, a great local metal band that really started the riff fest that the rest of this show would be. The band’s frontman/guitarist, Simon, is a friend of mine and he set up this show, along with many others around the area. If you want to keep up with the awesome DIY metal shows he puts on you can join his Metal Squad Party Force group on Facebook (here) to be sure you get invited to them all. I don’t have photos of Midnight Eye from Sunday because I hung out at the bar to watch the Skins game while Midnight Eye played and I’ve shot them several times before anyways. However you can see older photos I’ve shot of them here. They were good and it looks like they’re starting to get a more consistent line up now. After they played the Richmond based Battlemaster slayed the place with their Dungeons & Dragons themed thrash metal. Their songs were about things like displacer beasts and cursed boots of perpetual dancing which might have been a bit too nerdy for most in attendance to understand (however I did play some 2nd Edition AD&D back in the day and I got most of their references I think). Regardless of their lyrical content the band can really shred and they were really fun to watch play. You may recognize their vocalist, Andy Horn, as being the recently departed original frontman of another Richmond band, Cannabis Corpse. You could tell he was having fun up there and it was a good show for the band’s first time in DC in about 5 years. Battlemaster’s set was a good lead in for the final band of the evening, Vektor.
I’d never seen Vektor live before and while they are coming to Empire in late October, they’ll be playing a shorter set I’m sure since they will have three bigger bands playing after them (more info on that show here). So that meant the chance to catch them do a full headlining set was a don’t miss opportunity. The band’s main man, David DiSanto, looks like Morbid Angel‘s Trey Azagthoth circa 1990. He was even wearing a cut off Morbid Saint shirt! He also had various metal parts and what seemed like a grate and a circuit board on his guitar which totally fit with the band’s futuristic lyrical imagery. Did I mention they totally killed the place? Vektor has some awesome riffs and the shred factor was off the scale at this show. I like their recorded music but hearing it live just added another whole level of energy and excitement to the songs. They didn’t have a set list for the show so after a few songs they just took requests from people in the audience for what to play next, a sure fire way to please any crowd. I really can’t say enough about how good they were live, just total face melting thrash! If you’re into thrash metal and you missed this show then you fucked up big time. However there’s another great thrash show happening this weekend: The area’s wildest live thrash band, Warchild, will be chugging beers and thrashing people’s faces off Saturday the 22nd at DC9. You can get more info on that show here or give the band a listen here (I recommend the song Every Position, that song rules!). It’s great to see such quality bands playing the area so be sure to get out to some of these great metal shows and support the scene you’re a part of!
has your ass covered this year cause we’re giving away a pair of tickets to see Warchild and Black Clouds on Saturday December 29th at the Rock & Roll Hotel! While you were faking laughs at the stupid gag gifts you got and pretending to be really thankful for the Olive Garden gift card you received, DCHM was working behind the scenes with Satan’s Claws to be sure you still had a chance at the must have gift this holiday season! That’s right, you’ve gotten your fill of jolly holiday jingles, now it’s time to fucking thrash! This isn’t some pregame for New Year’s Eve, this is going to be a full on party loaded with beer chugging, head banging and general chaos! You know you’ve got some post-holiday angst you’ve been keeping pent up while you had to deal with relatives, and now you know how to get it all out! But wait, there’s more: the winner will receive not only a free pair of tickets to the show, but also a Warchild t-shirt and a Warchild beer coozy! This might just be your best Christmas yet! Now check out this awesome video flyer and get all the details on how to enter below!
the bill was the doom metal band 
DCHeavyMetal.com 