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.
Many years ago Scott “Wino” Weinrich was told, by Ian MacKaye (of Minor Threat and Fugazi fame), of a doom metal band out in LA called Saint Vitus. Wino ended up moving from the DC area to California to become the front man for Saint Vitus and doom metal history was made by this perfect matching. Now Wino and Saint Vitus are coming back to the area to play a show at Empire on Sunday, October 20th and we’ve got a free pair of tickets to give one of you lucky readers! To enter just leave a comment on this post telling me what song you’d like to hear Saint Vitus play live the most at this show. You can see their discography here if you need some help. At 5pm EST this Friday, October 11th, a winner will be chosen at random (using Random.org) from all valid entries to win the tickets. Be sure to use 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 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 Amped & Alive for $17 here.
Along with Saint Vitus on this tour there will be psychedelic sludge band Zoroaster performing as well as a high energy set by punk/metal/rock band The Hookers. Local support will be from DC’s stoner riff masters Borracho. In all that’s a damn solid line up! Now check out these songs below by the bands playing and tell me what song you want to hear Saint Vitus play live.
Band: Windhand Album: Soma Release Date: 17 September 2013 Label: Relapse Records Buy from Bandcamp (digital) for $9.99:Here Buy from Relapse (CD, vinyl) starting at $10.99:Here
We’ve got a new album review by Grimy Grant and this time he’s writing about the new album by the Richond based doom metal band Windhand. I know, I know, Richmond isn’t technically within the area that DCHM covers however they’re too close, and too damn good, to just skip over. If you haven’t heard Windhand before be sure to stream the songs at the bottom of this post and give them a listen as you read the following review.
There is a murky world that is a little bit of our own but also belongs to some kind of secret, far-away dungeon where ghosts wail and guitars sing a sad, creeping harmony. This is what Windhand constructs in their albums with Soma being this year’s addition to the collection. A lot of the same great elements are here as in their full length from 2012. Dorthia Cottrell’s vocal work imbues each song with a haunting feel while Parker Chandler (also from Cough), Asechiah Bogdan, and Garrett Morris deliver consistent, Sabbath-y guitar licks that wash over you in waves. Meanwhile, Ryan Wolfe shudders the earth with slow, pounding beats from the drums. When I listen to their work I can almost sense the smoke and fog rising from the ground. It’s everything that a doom super-group should be but in the form of a few local creatives in nearby Richmond, Virginia.
While listening to Soma I couldn’t help thinking about their 2012 album, Windhand. Both have interesting sounds that add flavor to the album. Windhand opened with summer storms rolling in the background, cicadas buzzing in the air and only a single pair of footsteps tromping through an outdoor field. It then digresses a bit by breaking away from the occult drama and even featuring some laughter and unintelligible banter from the band at the start of one track. Soma, in comparison, is far more into the natural and occult roots of the band’s material. The focus seems to be more on the music in this album and lacks the casualness found in Windhand. The band, too, seems to bring more precision to their craft, both in the mixes of the songs and the tightness of their sound. It feels like a perfect second act in their catalog.
Soma lurks in the shadows and stares straight into the darkness, never once looking back and occasionally popping up briefly to rock out. There is more punch to each song than in Windhand, something that I appreciate a lot yet at the same time I strangely find myself missing some of the slower songs in their debut. “Woodbine” for example, starts off immediately in the middle of a strong, harmonizing guitar jam and chorus-like background vocals. Lyrically it’s mesmerizing – the vocals sound like a ghost drifting in and out to entice us to “Go on and love what you are”. By definition, a soma refers to all “non” parts of the body, the soul, the psyche and the mind, as well as an intoxicating drink used in Vedic rituals (Webster’s). “Woodbine” gets its name from a type of vine, also called Virginia Creeper, that blooms mostly in late summer and early fall. So there are intricate levels of metaphor, and symbolism that make “Woodbine” something I can go back to again and again. Like the layers of meaning and imagery for the song, the guitars, vocals, and percussion work together in a dark harmony.
As I already mentioned, the band sounds better on Soma. Embedded in the songs is the occasionally sighing, occasionally roaring voice of Dorthia Cottrell. Cottrell really shines on this album, like in the fourth track “Evergreen”, which breaks from the electrical buzz of guitars, transitioning into an almost all-acoustic folk song. Cottrell comes into focus in the sound mix with her voice sounding clearer than on any other song on the album. The mix on “Evergreen” produces a dual vocal harmony that is a beautiful, artistic edge that I hadn’t heard from Cottrell before and shows off her range. It’s a great change in the pace of the album that seems a bit hard to swallow at first but then gradually builds back into the doom-y feel from the rest of the album. Most stoner and doom albums I listen to now have brief acoustic breaks – such as Valkyrie’s “Wolf Hollow” from their debut full-length Valkyrie. “Evergreen” goes a step further by embracing the musical form of the ballad, giving it a voice as well as pretty acoustics. I found it an interesting choice although some might think it’s too different from the rest of Soma.
“Boleskine” wraps up the album with an ode to Aleister Crowley’s “Boleskine House” – a house in Scotland near Loch Ness where he wrote several books on occult rituals (a fun bit of trivia: it was also owned briefly by Jimmy Page). The song is the longest recorded by the band – going over 30 minutes and features theater-like sound effects accompanied by almost twangy, Western-ish guitar work. It’s long and seems to kind of go on without ending, though, and I didn’t like it as much as the rest of the album’s songs, but I still enjoyed how it took me to a different zone of the Windhand world. However if there’s something that I love the most about this album – and quite possibly the band – it’s the focus on nature and not just occultism. In fact, I should have put my cards on the table at the beginning of this review and mentioned that I am a huge fan of Windhand’s style of doom metal. There is something about Soma that is both mesmerizing and horribly frightening. There is something syrupy and obsidian flowing beneath the surface.
It’s a great moment to see a band such as Windhand evolve their craft into something superior. Stoner and psychedelic rock seem to be reaching an apex now with so many throwback and psychedelic bands coming to the fore. Valkyrie, Doomriders, Kadavar, Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, Bloody Hammers, Saint Vitus, to name just a few, all released albums in the 2012 or 2013. This means there are good and bad albums as each group scrambles to put their hat in the ring. Windhand is releasing Soma almost a year after their previous self-titled debut yet it seems like they’ve spent a lot of time with it. Not only are they throwing down crushing notes, they are also building into their songs so much imagery that it’s almost overwhelming. I feel like this album has all the atmosphere of a good black metal album coupled with doom metal’s slow-motion pace. At the core is what I love the most about this album and Windhand: that they really seem to give it their all, even if that means depressing or scaring the rest of us.
Pentagram is one of the oldest doom metal bands not only from the DC area but in the history of metal and they’re playing at Empire (formerly Jaxx) in Springfield, Virginia on Saturday, August 3rd! DCHM is psyched to give away a pair of tickets to see these guys rock the stage the night after Black Sabbath plays to be the second half of an old school doom metal weekend. To enter just leave a comment on this post telling me what song you’d like to hear Pentagram play live the most at this show. You can see their discography here if you need some help. At 5pm EST this Friday, July 26th, a winner will be chosen at random (using Random.org) from all valid entries to win the tickets. Be sure to use 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 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 Amped & Alive for $20 here.
Along with Pentagram there will also be a performance by locals A Sound Of Thunder. I have a pretty good feeling they’ll be busting out some of their more Sabbathy stuff for this show and they’ve been known to cover some obscure Black Sabbath tunes too. Sons Of Eddie will be playing Iron Maiden cover songs at this show as well. And you’ll want to get there early to make sure you catch Virgina based Dirt Merchant‘s fuzzy guitars and Despite Charm who are coming down from Baltimore to play. Now check out some of these cool songs by Pentagram and A Sound Of Thunder below and tell me what song you want to hear Pentagram play live!
Band: Black Sabbath Album: 13 Release Date: 11 June 2013 Label: Vertigo Records (Universal) Buy From Amazon:Here
DCHeavyMetal.com focuses on metal in the Washington DC, Baltimore and Virginia area, and usually I only do reviews of albums by bands from inside the area. However, I’d like to break one of my own rules today and post a review of the new Black Sabbath album, 13. They’re my favorite band and metal is about breaking rules anyways, right? So let me dive into Black Sabbath’s first album with Ozzy Osbourne since 1978…
If you’ve ever met me in person you might have noticed that I have O-Z-Z-Y tattooed on my left knuckles, my first tattoo back when I was 18. When Sabbath reunited with Ozzy Osbourne in the late 90s the first show of the US tour was at Nissan Pavilion (now known as Jiffy Lube Live). They had a tent there and people were waiting hours to get tattoos but when they heard I wanted Ozzy on my hand they rushed me right in. The people working the tent were taking pictures and shooting videos of me getting my tattoo, it was a fun experience. I figured if there was ever a day to get Ozzy tattooed on my hand that was it. I used to draw it on there with a ball point pen every day anyways so this saved me money on ink costs. Since it’s a visible tattoo people often ask if I ever regret it and I never have, though it’s funny when people ask if (or just assume that) my name is Ozzy, haha. Anyways, a lot of people have asked for my opinion on the new Black Sabbath album, 13, since I’m such a big Sabbath fan. Is it as good as the classic albums from the 70s?
No. I don’t think it realistically could be. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a really good album. I think the track order (here) is poor and the better songs tend to be later in the album. I like the first two songs, both of which are over 8 minutes long, but I don’t think they were the best songs to get people into the album. Casual fans of the band, or people just interested in all the hype, may lose interest and not make it past that point. Also, the choice of the slow to build up second track, “God Is Dead?,” as the lead promotional song seems kind of dumb. I think the shorter song “Loner,” which has a catchy riff right from the start, would have been a better choice for drumming up early interest. The song “Zeitgeist” is my least favorite of the album. It’s basically a rehash of “Planet Caravan,” from their 1970 album Paranoid, but far less interesting and just not as good. That said, I think the band really starts to sound good on later tracks like “Age Of Reason” and my (current) favorite song from the album, “Damaged Soul.” The sad riff on “Damaged Soul” along with the use of a harmonica shows Black Sabbath still have their roots in the blues. “Live Forever” is another really solid song that I think should have been the album’s opening track. The closing song of the album, “Dear Father,” discusses the issues with priests hiding crimes by the clergy, though it isn’t as somber as you’d expect due to one of Tony Iommi’s signature heavy riffs.
Ozzy’s voice is heavily processed throughout 13 but that’s pretty typical these days for any older studio vocalist (hell even the younger ones can’t quit their Auto-Tune addictions). Even in the studio he doesn’t have the energy that he used to in his youth but this isn’t a band of 20 somethings anymore, they’re musicians that have been making music for over 40 years now. The Black Sabbath sound has matured and aged with the members and that’s not a bad thing. Tony Iommi’s riffs are as thick and heavy as ever, further proof to everyone that he’s still the Riff Master. Geezer Butler’s bass playing is excellent throughout 13 reminding us all that there is a place for bass guitar when mixing metal albums. As for the drums, well, Rage Against The Machine/Audioslave drummer Brad Wilk is probably the weakest link of the band. He isn’t really an official member but just did session work after contract disputes (thanks Sharon) left original Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward out of the production of the new album. To put it bluntly, Brad Wilk’s drumming on 13 is just boring. It is so uninspired that they may as well have gotten a drum machine instead. This might not even be his fault though. With the Sabbath guys and producer Rick Ruben all running things in the studio, he was probably just told to keep things simple to have the focus on the three other musicians. This might work for newer fans of the band but to those more familiar with Ward’s work in Sabbath it just makes his absence even more apparent. I really hope that Tommy Clufetos does a better job playing live with Sabbath on tour this year than Wilk did in the studio.
The album closes with the fading sounds of rain, thunder and a church bell that is almost exactly like the intro to the song “Black Sabbath,” the first song on the band’s self titled debut album. But wait, there’s more! Four original bonus tracks not on the regular album can be found in various places. My favorites are the riff filled song “Pariah” and the faster paced “Naïveté In Black”. There’s also a live version of “Dirty Women” that was recorded at a show in Australia in April 2013, suggesting they might be playing the old song on their upcoming tour. Which, by the way, comes to town on Friday, August 2nd at Jiffy Lube Live (details here). In all this isn’t my favorite Black Sabbath album but it is the one we got in 2013 and I’ll be damned if I don’t play the hell out of it. New Sabbath fans might want to start with one of the first five albums, or maybe even the best hits collection We Sold Our Soul For Rock ‘N’ Roll, but long time fans shouldn’t have any gripes about adding this to their Sabbath collection. The most anticipated metal album of the year is here and it is definitely worth the listen.
Feel free to leave a comment telling me what you think of the new album. Did it exceed your expectations or do you think it was just a cash grab? Is it better than the 2009 Heaven And Hell album, The Devil You Know, with Tony, Geezer and vocals by the late Ronnie James Dio? If you think you could have written a better review check out this post and see if you’ve got what it takes to review albums here on DCHeavyMetal.com And of course, be sure to check out a few new songs from the album below that I picked to give you an even better idea of what’s on 13.
Thursday the 27th of September 2012 saw the Black Cat in Washington DC drawing a pretty good sized crowd for one of the legends of doom/stoner metal, Saint Vitus. This was the first of two major doom/stoner shows in just a few days as Down and Pentagram played the Fillmore three days later (my review of that show is coming next). However, the first band to play on this rainy Thursday night was Sourvein, a stoner/doom/sludge band that was a decent opener. They didn’t do anything that really stood out that much to me but they were heavy and fuzzy and made for a good band to open this kind of show. The second band to play was a three piece stoner band from North Carolina named Weedeater. Their bass player, “Dixie” Dave Collins, also does the vocals and he’s a pretty entertaining front man. When he wasn’t swigging whiskey from the bottle on stage he was giving all kinds of crazy cross eyed looks to the audience and stomping around his side of the stage. You may have seen him before in the bands Buzzov•en and Hail!Hornet but Weedeater was definitely his band and as such, they were a lot of fun to watch play. Their songs ranged from faster paced catchy riffs to slow plodding doom all with a bit of humor to them. Their closing song, the humorous yet epic track Weed Monkey, was a perfect showcase of their range and a great set up for the final band of the night, Saint Vitus.
Saint Vitus formed in the late 70s in Los Angeles as one of the first doom metal bands (after Black Sabbath of course). However it wasn’t until 1986 that their legendary vocalist, Scott “Wino” Weinrich would join the band. Wino has been in several other noteworthy bands such as The Obsessed, Spirit Caravan, Shrinebuilder, Premonition 13 and too many more to list, however he is most famous for his time in Saint Vitus. This is why the influential Saint Vitus got all the old school doom heads out to the show, as well as many younger fans. Saint Vitus put out a new album, Lillie: F-65, back in May and made an appearance at Maryland Deathfest that same month, however Thursday’s concert was the first time Saint Vitus had played any of that new material actually inside the District. They kicked off their set with one of the new album’s best tracks, Blessed Night, and played several more from the album through the night. They also played several older classics from the three old albums with Wino and even played a couple songs from before he joined the band. You can see the actual set list here if you’d like. Despite the band’s age they had great energy on stage. Guitarist Dave Chandler went crazy with the solos all night sometimes playing with his teeth or even behind his head at times. He really did a good job of bringing the crowd up while Wino’s painful lyrics and trademark weathered, raspy voice brought everyone back down. Towards the end of the set Dave Chandler even said that this was definitely the band’s best gig in DC and he thanked the audience for being so into the show. I guess that wasn’t good enough for him as he later jumped off the stage and played a solo while walking around in the audience! Saint Vitus eventually walked off stage and came back to perform two of the band’s most well known songs, Dying Inside and Born Too Late. I’ve got video footage of the entire encore, and some other songs too, posted below so check that out if you can handle the doom. My only complaint with the show was having to watch the band in that awful pinkish orange lighting the Black Cat has. It’s long past time they upgraded the lighting on the upstairs main stage and this show was just another reminder of that. Even so, Saint Vitus put on a killer show that night no matter how you look at it. Thanks for reading this post and be sure to get out to some of the great metal shows coming to the area to help support the scene you’re a part of!
If you like your doom metal with an extra dose of heavy and a heaping side of gloom then you don’t want to miss Pallbearer coming to the Rock & Roll Hotel on Wednesday, September 12th, 2012. DCHeavyMetal.com is giving away a free pair of tickets to one lucky winner to catch this must see show and all you’ve got to do to enter is leave a comment at the end of this post telling me which metal band you’d like to see come to the Rock & Roll Hotel next! On Monday, September 10th 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 wont add you to any email lists or anything like that, I hate spam too. If you enter more than once then all your entries will be disqualified. If you simply can’t wait to see if you win the contest you can get tickets from Ticket Alternative here for $12.
Pallbearer’s debut album, Sorrow And Extinction, was released in February and has been making waves in the world of doom metal, and for good reason! The Arkansas based band uses clean vocals on top of crushingly heavy riffs that will have you feeling the weight of that casket when you hear them play live. As an extra bonus, everyone in attendance can pick up a free copy of Pallbearer Live on 10″ vinyl provided by Scion A/V at the merch booth. The opening act on the Paths To Oblivion Tour is Royal Thunder, an Atlanta, Georgia based rock band. Samothrace was supposed to be on this tour but had to drop due to an “immediate illness in the family of a band member” according to this post. For this show their spot on the bill has been taken by Asthma Castle, a Baltimore based band that should fit perfectly with the two touring bands. Now crank up the song below, Devoid Of Redemption, while you enter the contest below. Good luck!
the first band to play on this rainy Thursday night was 
DCHeavyMetal.com 