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.
Rob Zombie, Megadeth and Lacuna Coil are coming to Merriweather Post Pavilion on Sunday, May 13th for the epic Metal Lords’ Day! Since I would personally hate it if you missed this concert I’m giving away a pair of kick ass seated tickets to one of you lucky readers. All you have to do to enter is tell me in the comments below which of the three main stage bands you want to see the most, Rob Zombie, Megadeth or Lacuna Coil. At 5pm EST on Friday, May 11th, I’ll pick a lucky winner at random (using Random.org) from all valid entries to win the tickets! Be sure to use a valid email address you check regularly so I can contact you when you win. Please don’t enter if you cannot make it to the show, and if you enter more than once I’ll disqualify all of your entries.
Merriweather Post Pavilion is known for being one of the best sounding open air venues in the country and to help convince you of this I’m going to give you a free pair of seated tickets so you don’t have to sit back on the lawn and squint to see Rob Zombie’s horror freak show! Even if you don’t win you’re going to want good seats for a show like this, and you can get tickets from Ticket Fly for $55 here. And as if Metal Lords’ Day wasn’t already jam packed enough with the Rob Zombie’s industrial, Megadeth’s thrash and Lacuna Coil’s gothy tunes, there’s a second stage that will feature three metal cover bands. First is Moon Baby, a Godsmack tribute, then Sanctuary, an Iron Maiden tribute, and finally Battery: The Masters Of Metallica. Go listen to some classic metal tunes while you knock a few back before the big guys hit the main stage, sounds like a damn good day to me. Now all you’ve got to do is pick which band you want to see most, so check out the classic videos by each band below and tell me your pick in the comments.
Mayhem Festival is coming around again this summer to Jiffy Lube Live (formerly known as Nissan Pavilion) on Sunday July 29th and they’ve got a killer line up this year. Slipknot, Slayer and Motörhead will headlining the main stage while the second stage will be manned by Anthrax, The Devil Wears Prada, As I Lay Dying, Asking Alexandria, Whitechapel, High On Fire, Upon A Burning Body, I, The Breather and Dirtfedd. Told ya it’s a killer line up! DCHeavyMetal.com is giving away a free pair of seated tickets (not lawn) to one of you lucky readers and all you have to do to enter is post a comment below telling me which band you’re most excited to see play live! Be sure to use a valid email address that you check regularly when you enter so I can email you when you win. Don’t worry, I won’t put you on any email lists or sell your info, I hate spam just as much as you do. I’ll pick the lucky winners at random (using Random.org) from all valid entries at 5pm EST on Friday 20 April 2012. If you don’t want to risk losing out on good seats by waiting for this contest to end, you can get tickets now here from $34 – $84, depending on their location. This concert is on Sunday 29 July 2012 and doors open at 1:30 pm (and remember, Jiffy Lube Live has gotten rid of its no tailgating rule). But wait, there’s more…
Usually I don’t have any runner up prizes on my contests but this time I’m also going to be giving away five copies of Jeff Krulik’s latest metal related documentary film, Heavy Metal Picnic. Shot in the 80s at a metal party in a field in Maryland that was headlined by the local doom metal band Asylum, the director of the classic Heavy Metal Parking Lot film just released its follow up on DVD this past winter. The winner of the pair of tickets will get a copy of Heavy Metal Picnic on DVD and I’ll also pick four more of you at 5pm EST on Friday 20 April 2012 to win. If you don’t win you can pick up a copy of the DVD for $15 here. If you want more info I recommend checking it out on IMDB (here) and of course by watching the trailer below.
On Easter Sunday, the 8th of April, I headed over to the U Street Music Hall in Washington DC to see Onslaught and M-Pire Of Evil play the final show of their 2012 North American tour. This tour was the first time either band had ever been to the US and this show was the first heavy metal show ever at the venue which has only been open for about two years. The U St Music Hall is usually home to techno DJs and dance music but recently the 9:30 Club, which is only a few blocks away, has started booking some shows for them on off nights. Normally the U Street Music Hall does not allow photography at their shows but apparently when the 9:30 Club books them those rules don’t apply, so even though they have no photos signs literally painted on the walls, it was ok this night. This was an early show, the venue wanted it to be over by 10pm for some reason, and when I arrived it was still daylight out. There were no local openers and the crowd was pretty thin, I’d figure due to that and a few other factors. For one it was not a venue metal heads generally know about, secondly it was a holiday and third neither of these UK based bands are particularly huge in the US.
The first band to play was the awfully named M-Pire Of Evil, formerly known as Prime Evil. You may remember that Prime Evil was the name of the legendary first wave black metal band Venom‘s 1989 album and this is no coincidence. Two members of M-Pire Of Evil were in Venom on that album, bass player/vocalist Tony “Demolition Man” Dolan and Venom’s original guitar player, Jeffrey “Mantas” Dunn. The band was touring with a relative unknown behind the drum kit in Marc Jackson but he did fine. M-Pire Of Evil was actually pretty damn good live, their set list (photo of it here) was very heavy on Venom covers from the era that both Mantas and Demolition Man were in the band together, and they only played three songs from their band’s debut album, Hell To The Holy. That’s ok, I think most of the people who had gotten there in time to see them were just hoping to hear classic Venom covers and when they played the only non-Demoltion Man era Venom song of their set, Black Metal, the crowd was singing along with them. Their set was fun, though short, and they ended after playing for only about 45 minutes. I would definitely recommend seeing these guys again, especially if you’re into hearing some old Venom classics played live in much the same way Heaven And Hell played Black Sabbath classics.
The headliner of this tour was Onslaught, a British thrash metal band from the 80s that never really developed a big following in the US. They are most known for their classic 1986 thrash album The Force though after breaking up in 1991 they dropped off of most people’s radars. Well they reunited in 2005 and put out two albums of new material in 2007 and 2011. The only two members left from the old days are vocalist Sy Keeler and guitar player Nige Rockett, though Nige now only plays rhythm guitar despite having done all of the band’s leads before the split. The new material is pretty killer though, their latest album, Sounds Of Violence, fits right alongside bands like Slayer and Kreator and they sounded even better live. Thrash tends to do well in a live setting, playing thrash songs faster usually makes them more exciting and they tend to have tons of what I like to call, mosh friendly riffs. Sadly there couldn’t have been much more than 50 people at this show by the time Onslaught was playing though there were a few people trying to start up pits from time to time throughout their set. Maybe he was worn out from the tour but Sy Keeler didn’t really impress me much as a front man. He missed a lot of his high notes and sometimes would just walk off to the side of the stage to relax a little. That’s fine between songs but come on man, get people pumped even when you’re not singing! The bass player and drummer, Jeff Williams and Michael Hourihan, both were very charismatic up there however, and even Nige threw the horns a few times. Lead guitarist Andy Rosser-Davies looked like he was ready for the tour to be over and really wanted a nap, haha. Still, the material was very solid, a good mix of older classics and newer songs that made for a fun performance. The show ended right on time, just before 10pm, and Sy Keeler said they would have a new album out next year and would be back to tour in support of it. You can check out the video at the end of this post to see/hear the band’s final three songs that night. There was no encore performance.
It was cool to see a metal show at a new venue like this, it seemed like something Empire/Jaxx would have gotten normally but I enjoyed seeing some old school metal bands playing in the city. It would have been nice if they booked a local opener or two since it was just a two band bill, it probably would have helped with the turn out as well. Regardless it was a fun show, especially for a holiday night. If it had been up to me M-Pire Of Evil would have headlined as I enjoyed their show more than Onslaught’s, though they were both worth coming out for. Hopefully the U Street Music Hall will get some more metal shows, they have a great sound system there and the 400 capacity venue certainly was as nice as other area venues of comparable size (think Empire/Jaxx and the Rock & Roll Hotel). And while the bar selection wasn’t bad, be sure to eat ahead of time as all they had on the menu (photo here) to eat was various styles of hot dogs. Well, that’s it for this concert review, now I’ve got to get to work on the upcoming concerts calendar and be sure to come back and check out the new ticket contest that will be running all next week. Stay metal everyone and remember, support the scene you’re a part of!
DCHeavyMetal.com has another chance for you to win some free tickets. After decades, the 80s UK thrash metal band Onslaught are on their first ever North American tour and they’re bringing along Mpire Of Evil, a new band with two former members of the legendary Venom. Mantas and Demolition Man even play some of those old Venom classics in their live set. The tour’s only area stop is this Sunday, April 8th, at the U Street Music Hall in Washington DC, a venue that generally caters to fans of dance and electronic music. To commemorate this first metal show at the venue, DCHeavyMetal.com is giving away a free pair of tickets to one of you metal heads reading this. To enter just tell me in the comments below which band you’re more excited to see, Onslaught or Mpire Of Evil. You can get more info about each band in the paragraphs after this one. At 5pm EST on Friday the 6th of April a winner will be picked at random (using Random.org) from all valid entries. Make sure you enter in a valid email address you check regularly when you submit your comment so I can contact you if you win, though it doesn’t need to be in the comment itself. Don’t be a jerk and enter multiple times or I’ll disqualify all of your entries. And please don’t enter if you can’t make it to the show. If you don’t want to wait to see if you win or this contest is already over when you read it, you can get tickets from Ticket Fly here for $20.
Onslaught was originally a hardcore band that shifted to a thrash metal style early in their career. Don’t think they sound like D.R.I. though, they sound more similar to bands like Slayer and Kreator. Onslaught broke up in 1991 before ever having come the the US and now, after reforming in 2005, they are finally touring the states. Onslaught isn’t one of those old thrash bands who just puts out shitty new songs and plays a bunch of their old tunes live, they have some killer new material as well. Just give a listen to the song below, Born For War, off of their album Sounds Of Violence which came out in 2011.
Mpire Of Evil is a band that formed in 2010 and they’ve only got one full length album out, Hell To The Holy, and it was just released last week. Don’t worry though, you’ll be sure to recognize some of their tunes as former Venom members Mantas and Demolition Man perform some of the old Venom classic songs in their set list as well. That said, their new material isn’t bad either, and you can give it a listen on the video embedded below.
Listen up folks, there’s a new ticket contest on DCHeavyMetal.com! This time you can win a free pair of tickets to see the French shoegaze/black metal band Alcest play at DC9 on Thursday 29 March 2012. To enter just leave a comment on this post telling me why you are excited to see this show. At 5pm EST on Tuesday the 27th of March a winner will be picked at random (using Random.org) from all valid entries. Make sure you enter in a valid email address you check regularly when you submit your comment so I can contact you if you win, though it doesn’t need to be in the comment itself. Don’t be a jerk and enter multiple times or I’ll disqualify all of your entries. And please don’t enter if you can’t make it to the show. If you don’t want to wait to see if you win or this contest is already over when you read it, you can get tickets from Ticket Alternative here for $12.
Alcest is probably the most famous of the bands who have started meshing black metal with the atmosphere of shoegaze and when I saw them open for Enslaved at Jaxx last September I was very impressed with their performance. They just put out an excellent new album, Les Voyages de l’Âme, in January so this set should feature some of that new material including the song you can hear in the video at the end of this post. The supporting act on this tour, deafheaven, fits perfectly on this tour since they play a similar style of music, though they are based out of San Francisco. There are two local support bands playing as well. One is Black Clouds, which, from the one song they have on their Facebook page, sounds like a pretty straight up shoegaze band. And the local act that will be opening the show is Auroboros, one of the DC area’s best up and coming metal bands. They’re not atmospheric like the other bands on this line up but they’re really great live and you’d be stupid to miss getting to this show early enough to see these guys. All around, this is a great show coming to one of the smaller venues in the city, DC9, at 1940 9th St NW, Washington, DC 20001 which is located about a block away from the 9:30 Club. Now check out this latest video by Alcest and enter the contest!
On Saturday the 3rd of March 2012 I headed over to Saint Stephen’s Church in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington DC to catch a great line up of metal bands. And while drinking wasn’t allowed at the venue this wasn’t some sort of Christian rock concert, upside down crosses and other metal standards were on display on stage throughout the night. The excellent Richmond, Virginia based doom band Windhand was touring with Natur and Pilgrim and this was the DC stop. To make the show even better DC’s own death/doom masters Ilsa were on the bill as well. Midnight Eye was supposed to open the show but they had to drop off and were replaced by Satan’s Satyrs, a Northern Virginia based sludge/stoner type of band. $10 for 5 bands is normally a pretty good deal on most nights, but this was a killer line up that gave back a lot of quality metal for your buck. That was $10 well spent!
Satan’s Satyrs was the first band up. The crowd was pretty sparse during their set but people were still coming in. The trio were decked out in bell bottoms and played a throwback style of stoner/sludge metal though it had quite a bit of energy as well. The problems with the PA system were a recurring issue throughout the evening and their set was no different. They were loud in the large square rec room space though the faster parts of their songs sounded pretty muddy. This wasn’t the band’s fault, the sound just wasn’t great that night. However it wasn’t bad enough to ruin the music overall and their performance was still entertaining, especially for a last minute add on.
The next band to play was Pilgrim, a three piece doom band from Rhode Island. I was unfamiliar with them but they were pretty good live. They were very heavy and most of their songs were slow paced. They weren’t very flashy but they played some quality tunes, often times just slowly grinding along. They finished their set with a faster paced song that was pretty cool as well. Apparently this was their first tour and this was a good showing.
The next band to hit the stage was Natur, a sort of thrashy metal band from New York City. They had a lot of energy on stage and I was really blown away by how well the executed live. Lots of catchy memorable riffs and wailing guitar solos with some solid song structures that tied it all together. I couldn’t hear the vocals for most of their performance from where I was standing. However things seemed to get sorted out a little bit by the end of their set and honestly they were so fun live the poor sound quality didn’t come close to ruining it for me. I was very impressed by these guys to say the least.
Next on stage was Windhand, one of my favorite underground bands from Richmond. They are a really heavy doom band with a woman on vocals but this is no girl power gimmicky band. I’ve seen them perform a few times before but this was certainly the biggest of those shows as far as attendance is concerned. The whole of Windhand were in great form for this show. Their sludgy doom even brought a few onlookers from the square dance event going on in another section of the church. My only complaint was that the set seemed too short, and judging by all of the applause I’m sure I wasn’t the only one wishing they had played longer.
Locals Ilsa played last. They’re one of the leading bands in Washington DC’s underground metal scene and they were spotlighted in an article in the City Paper last week (here). They play a very crusty style of death/doom metal that isn’t particularly technical but is incredibly crushing. Their sound is dirty and full of great riffs and they got the biggest mosh pits of the night during their set. Ilsa plays pretty regularly around the area and they seem to always put on a good live show. This time they mixed up the playlist a bit and I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen Ilsa where they didn’t play their song Frostthrower. It’s usually a staple and often their closer. I’m glad they aren’t happy just staying put with what they have already done so well and they’re willing to keep moving forward and keep things fresh. The vocals were basically inaudible from where I was standing in the front but the songs are still pretty awesome on their own anyways.
In all this was a great show with a lot of quality bands. It sucks that you can’t drink or order food there, but it also makes it so that some of the younger fans who can’t get into the 21+ shows can get out and see killer line ups like this when they happen. The sound left a lot to be desired but really, I’ve heard worse at plenty of local “professional” venues as well. The lack of any real back stage means the members of the bands are out in the audience (or behind the merch table) most of the night which means anyone can go up and talk to them, which I think is pretty cool not only for the fans but also to help build up a band’s fan base on a more personal level. This wasn’t the first show I’ve been to at St. Stephen’s and if you hear of a good show coming there you shouldn’t hesitate to go, just be sure you eat before you get there. Thanks for reading all of this, and while the winter has been a bit slow around here I hope to have more concert reviews up this spring and summer. Also, be sure to check out (here) the newest contest running on DCHM right now where you can win quality seated tickets to Rammstein in Baltimore AND Iron Maiden/Alice Cooper in Northern Virginia and tomorrow I will be posting a new ticket contest as well. I do love giving away stuff to the readers of this site. Stay metal everyone and remember, support the scene you’re a part of!
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