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.
You may have heard that Electric Wizard is returning to Baltimore, this time to play at the Baltimore Soundstage on Wednesday, April 1st, 2015. And you may have heard that this show is already sold out. These things are true but we here at DCHM wanted to give everyone one last chance to get into this show so we’re giving away a pair of tickets to one of you lucky readers! To enter: just leave a comment on this post telling me what was the best sold out concert you’ve ever been to. At 5pm EST this Friday, March 20th, a winner will be chosen at random (using Random.org) from all valid entries to win the tickets. Be sure to enter using a valid email you check regularly 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 I haven’t heard back from the winner within 24 hours another winner will be chosen at random. This is your last chance to get Electric Wizard tickets so don’t put it off!
Electric Wizard last played in Baltimore in 2012 as a headliner at that year’s Maryland Deathfest. It was the UK based stoner/doom metal band’s first time in the US in many years. They’ve finally put out a new album since then, last year’s Time To Die, and now they’re finally coming back to the US for a tour. This will be our area’s only stop for the tour and as you can imagine, it sold out pretty quick. The opening band for the tour is actually a local band from our area, Satan’s Satyrs. The throwback band has become a favorite of the guys in Electric Wizard, so much so that Satan’s Satyrs bass player Clayton Burgess is now also playing bass for Electric Wizard. If you’re looking for a night of down tuned fuzzy riffs then you don’t want to miss this concert! This show is going to seriously kick some ass so check out these videos by the bands playing and leave a comment below telling me what your favorite sold out concert was!
The Behemoth and Cannibal Corpse dual-headlining tour stopped at the Fillmore Silver Spring on Monday, March 2nd, 2015, and it was a great show! Death metal fans were treated to two titans of the genre and the bands didn’t disappoint. This was the first time I have seen Behemoth since the band’s main man, Nergal, recovered from cancer. I have to say the Polish band’s stage show has really improved since the days they used to open for other bands all the time at Jaxx! Behemoth played a lot off the new album, The Satanist, but old fans were treated to some older classics like “Chant for ΕΣΧΗΑΤΟΝ 2000” as well. Cannibal Corpse put on a brutal show as always. While I don’t think they were bad I still think they’re a better show in smaller venues where the band is closer to the audience and the place is a packed, sweaty mosh pit from stage to exit. Still, they’re always tight and it was cool that they mixed things up by closing their set with “Devoured By Vermin.” The lighting for Cannibal Corpse wasn’t the best for shooting but I did get a few shots, Behemoth was much brighter and had a lot of stage props as well (including Nergal’s mic stand that he must have purchased from Cobra Commander’s yard sale). Unfortunately I didn’t get there in time to catch openers Tribulation and Aeon, the latter of which I really wanted to see, but early start times aren’t the best for week nights in this town with the crazy traffic we get. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the photos I shot below of Behemoth and Cannibal Corpse.
Well it’s official, today, February 26th, they legalized the personal possession of marijuana (up to 2 ounces and 6 plants) in Washington DC by anyone age 21 or over. It’s still not legal on federal land, which includes all parks (including the zoo and the National Mall), Smithsonian museums, Congress, and even some roads like the Rock Creek Parkway, and you still can’t smoke it in public on the street or in a bar/restaurant, hell you’re not even allowed to buy it (it is legal to give it away to someone 21 or over though). But still, it’s now no longer a crime to possess or use pot in your own home in Washington DC. I think that makes, in Washington DC at least, 2-26 the new 4-20. So grab some munchies and check out this stoneriffic playlist of pot related metal songs I’ve thrown together to mark the occasion.
I’d be an idiot if I didn’t start this playlist off “Sweet Leaf,” the opening track from the original stoner metal album Master Of Reality. Pretty much every song on this list was influenced by this song in one way or another.
Cannabis Corpse – Skull Full Of Bong Hits 2009 The Weeding
Richmond’s Cannabis Corpse have made a career out of making pot themed parodies of famous death metal songs, mostly from Cannibal Corpse. I’m assuming they got real high and had some Weird Al Yankovic and death metal on shuffle together. This song parodies the Cannibal Corpse classic “A Skull Full Of Maggots.”
Electric Wizard – Satanic Rites Of Drugula 2007 Witchcult Today
Have you ever been so high you felt like Nosferatu waking from an ancient, undead slumber? Judging by this song I can tell you Electric Wizard sure as hell has.
Back in 1991 Death’s line up included Sean Reinert and Paul Masvidal (both of Cynic fame) and the Human album had some instant classic songs like “Suicide Machine” and “Flattening Of Emotions.” I remember when I first heard this instrumental track and thinking to myself “oh so the Death guys have been getting high as shit.” This song isn’t an ode to Mary Jane like most of the tracks on this list but compared to the rest of Death’s catalog it’s apparent that this is definitely their weed song.
The Chicago based instrumental band Bongripper sure brings the heavy. They blew me away at Maryland Deathfest XVII and this hilariously titled song, “Reefer Sutherland,” is a great 16 minute long example of the band’s stoner doom metal sound.
Cephalic Carnage is from Colorado and while that state already legalized pot that wasn’t the case when they wrote this brutal song back in 2005 about the need for legalizing pot.
Acid Witch is one hell of a trippy band, they sound like they crawled out from some dank cave that they haven’t left since the 70s. This song recants the tale of how the Acid Witch met her untimely death.
Back before Josh Homme went on to form a bunch of pop rock bands like Queens Of The Stone Age and Eagles Of Death Metal he was in a killer stoner band called Kyuss. These guys brought the riffs every time and Gardenia is a great track to showcase one of the greatest stoner bands that will probably never fully reunite.
A stoner metal playlist just isn’t complete without the legendary Dopesmoker, made famous for being an album consisting of just one song that clocks in at over an hour. There simply isn’t a better metal song to zone out to.
When two of the titans of death metal have a tour coming to our area you know we get excited here at DCHM. And when we get excited about a show we like to get as many people out to it as possible. So this week we’re giving away a free pair of tickets to see Behemoth and Cannibal Corpse at the Fillmore Silver Spring on Monday, March 2nd, 2015. To enter: just leave a comment on this post telling me the name of your favorite death metal band. At 5pm EST this Friday, February 27th, a winner will be chosen at random (using Random.org) from all valid entries to win the tickets. Be sure to enter using a valid email you check regularly 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 I haven’t heard back from the winner within 24 hours another winner will be chosen at random. If you can’t wait to see if you win or the contest is already over when you read this, then you can get tickets from Live Nation for $35.50 here.
Last year Poland’s Behemoth put out one hell of a come back album with the release of The Satanist, quite an accomplishment considering, Nergal, the band’s mastermind, was diagnosed with leukemia in 2010. After a successful bone marrow transplant he has recovered from cancer and is ready to bring his musical vision on The Satanist to stage for us. As if that wasn’t enough, the kings of gorey death metal, Cannibal Corpse, will be co-headlining this tour as they terrorize audiences (and stir up brutal mosh pits) with their songs about murder, zombies and violent torture. In addition to that we’ll also get the chance to see two up and coming death metal bands from Sweden as Aeon and Tribulation open up the show. That’s a ton of death metal for one bill, will you be able to survive? Be sure to check out these videos by each band below and tell me what your favorite death metal band is in the comments!
When it is cold and snowy outside the time is right for some Norwegian black metal and as luck would have it Norway’s 1349 will be coming to Empire on Tuesday, February 24th to spread their unholy black metal gospel in our area. Inspired by the snow outside today we’re giving away a pair of tickets to this very show to one of you grim and frostbitten DCHM readers. To enter: just tell me the name of your favorite metal album to put on when it snows. At 5pm EST this Friday, February 20th, a winner will be chosen at random (using Random.org) from all valid entries to win the tickets. Be sure to enter using a valid email you check regularly 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 I haven’t heard back from the winner within 24 hours another winner will be chosen at random. If you can’t wait to see if you win or the contest is already over when you read this, then you can get tickets from Ticket Fly for $17 here.
1349, named after the year the black plague came to Scandinavia, has been around since the late 90’s bringing their aggressive black metal to fans worldwide. This tour is to support their latest full length, Massive Cauldron of Chaos, and will be our area’s first chance to hear them play some of the new material live. In addition we’ll get to see the spazz out brutality of Origin, a death metal band from Kansas. Lately they’ve been known to have their fans break out in massive pillow fights in the mosh pit during their sets. Also on the tour is Wolvhammer from Minneapolis, who plays some filthy blackened sludge metal. Local support for this show will be from Yesterday’s Saints, who just released their debut full length, Generation Of Vipers, and Cladonia Rangiferina, a black metal band with several Empire employees in their ranks. That’s a hell of a line up to chill you to the bone this February. Be sure to check out these awesome videos by bands playing the show as you leave a comment telling me what your favorite metal album to listen to when it snows is.
So since Valentine’s Day is upon us I thought I’d make a fun metal playlist to mark the occasion. However instead of finding a bunch of romantic songs and turning this into some ballad fest I decided I’d find some of the most absurd, disturbing and downright creepy “love” songs that could only come from the world of heavy metal. So whether you’re celebrating with your special someone, your favorite orgy group or just chilling by yourself spending the day swiping left you should be able to enjoy this not-so-romantic playlist.
There’s nothing more romantic than Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister starting off a song with the lines “If you squeeze my lizard/I’ll put my snake on you.” It was a tough choice but I picked this one over another Motörhead classic, “Orgasmatron.” But we’re just getting started here, on to more fun!
I love me some Ozzy and while the Prince Of Darkness has quite a few songs about love “Mr. Tinkertrain,” the opening track off of No More Tears, uses a first person account of being a child predator as a metaphor for dating a younger woman. But wait, it’s just a metaphor so that magically makes it less creepy, right?
Gorgoroth – When Love Rages Wild In My Heart 2000 Incipit Satan
Norwegian black metal band Gorgoroth seems to have taken the Kanye West approach when writing the lyrics to this song with its oddly romantic title. The line “and I think of me when love rages wild in my heart” shows the self adoration typical of famous rappers and Satanists alike.
I’ve always said that if you want romance then look to Megadeth. This song is about vocalist Dave Mustaine trying to sneak back into bed at 4am without waking his woman because he’s been out drinking and fooling around with another woman. The title refers to what he’s in for if he is caught.
Behemoth – I Got Erection (Turbonegro cover) 2008 (unreleased)
Polish blackened death metal band Behemoth has some pretty brutal songs but for a couple years they’d close out their show with this bizarre cover of the Turbonegro song “I Got Erection.” They even played it at Empire once. This video is pretty funny when the entire audience starts singing “erection” in the chorus. This song is the aural equivalent of a dick pick, and that gives it a place on this playlist.
Glen Benton of Deicide has written many songs in homage to Satan (including one actually called “Homage To Satan”) but the 30 second mark of this song lets us know how he really feels about the man in red downstairs when he growls “Conquering churches and slaughtering lambs / Doing it all for my love of Satan… I love you Satan, my lord.” Not exactly Lord Byron but hey, do you know of a more direct love letter to the Devil?
Macabre – You’re Dying To Be With Me 2003 Murder Metal
The Chicago based trio Macabre has a unique sound and all of their songs are about actual criminal events, usually about specific serial killers. This song is about Dennis Nilsen, the man called the “British Jeffrey Dahmer” because he killed at least 12 young boys and kept their corpses around after their deaths to keep him company, as in, he would have long conversations with their dead bodies.
Well I couldn’t ignore all the hype about the bondage themed movie (based on the book) 50 Shades Of Grey coming out this weekend and what better band to represent the more kinky side of things than the bondage (and Satan) obsessed Austrian band Belphegor. Somehow I doubt the movie will have any goat zombies tied up, but there’s always room to expand in a sequel, right?
The Slayer song 213 is a love song written from the perspective of Jeffrey Dahmer, whose apartment number in Milwaukee where he murdered 12 of his victims was 213. The lyrics to this one are totally gross and I still have my old Slayer shirt that has the line “death loves final embrace” on the back of it stuffed somewhere in my closet.
I could have made an entire playlist of sexually violent death metal songs but I decided I would keep it narrowed down to the one with the most disturbing lyrics I’ve ever seen. “Necropedophile” is a first person tale of someone who cannot stop having sex with the corpses of children. You can read the lyrics here if you dare, they’re truly disturbing, even for death metal, but I figure if I’m going to pick just one brutal death metal song it’s gotta be this one.
Carpathian Forest – Theme From Nekromantik 2000 Strange Old Brew
Norway’s Carpathian Forest have a bizarre sense of humor but this piano cover of the theme song to the German film Nekromantik seems fitting here. The movie is about a man who cleans bodies from car accidents on the Autobahn and one day he decides to take a corpse home to have a three way with it and his girlfriend. Things get even more weird when she starts falling for the corpse and out of love with him, and this creepy tune is the background to all of it.
Well that does it for this special DCHeavyMetal.com Valentine’s Day playlist, now go kill yourself.
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