Category: Reviews – Live

Hellbound is always there, lurking in the crowd, while the band blisters the very air.

Festival Recap – Scion Rock Festival, Columbus OH, March 13, 2010

I like free things. I especially like them when they give me the chance to see a bunch of bands I dig for, well, nothing. So, after passing on going to the initial Scion Rock Festival with Kevin Stewart-Panko last year when it happened in Atlanta, I made up my mind I wouldn’t miss this…

March 22, 2010
Dillinger Escape Plan / Darkest Hour / IWrestledABearOnce @ The Opera House, Toronto ON, March 14, 2010

DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN were merciless performers, never letting the audience relax for a moment. Not only did their wicked on-stage energy hold everyone rapt, but so did the possibility that at any moment Greg Puciato might dive directly into the crowd and continue to perform while crowd-surfing. Dillinger Escape Plan concert review by Natalie Zed,…

March 19, 2010
Orphaned Land with Suidakra @ The Wreckroom, Toronto ON, March 13, 2010

After a short intermission Israel’s Orphaned Land presented to Toronto their version of Middle Eastern Heavy Metal. Foregoing the traditional metal uniform of all black, the band performed dressed in Arabic influenced white and accessories.

March 18, 2010
Kreator, Voivod, Nachtmystium, Evile @ Opera House, Toronto, ON, March 9, 2010

KREATOR, of course, positively destroyed The Opera House. “Hordes of Chaos” raised the energy level in the room to near-riot level early on, and “Enemy of God” and “Extreme Aggression” kept it there. Whatever chilliness I’d initially felt evaporated almost immediately, and there was rarely a moment when my fist wasn’t in the air and…

March 12, 2010
Megadeth: Rust in Peace 20th Anniversary Tour w/ Testament and Exodus, Prairieland Park, Saskatoon, SK, March 8, 2010

If there was a concert to bring out the old school headbangers in full force, some with their kids in tow, it was this one. Not only was Megadeth bringing along fellow Bay Area thrash legends Testament and Exodus along for their spring tour of North America, but Dave Mustaine and crew were set to…

March 10, 2010
Arch Enemy/Exodus/Arsis/Mutiny Within @ Phoenix Concert Theater, Toronto ON, January 27, 2010

Live review by Ola Mazzuca; Photos by Adam Wills There is a certain magic quality about metal shows; magic in which no matter what age you are or how you dress, you can still be a part of something larger than life, like the people in Dissection shirts who thrashed out to Exodus or that…

January 29, 2010
D.R.I. / Attitude Adjustment / Voetsek @ Slim’s, San Francisco CA, January 9, 2010

It’s a given D.R.I. will draw a crowd in their adopted city. Add that this was D.R.I’s first show here in six years since guitarist Spike Cassidy was diagnosed and then beat colon cancer and you have a sold out crowd where getting to the bathroom was a 15-minute undertaking. The band’s performance was far…

January 13, 2010
Hatebreed/Cannibal Corpse/Unearth/Born of Osiris/Hate Eternal @ Odeon, Saskatoon, SK, December 7, 2009

There’s never much to a Cannibal Corpse show, just five guys who never leave their marks, long, sweaty hair obscuring their faces, churning out that distinct death metal sound they’ve been doing for more than two decades. No frills whatsoever, just pure brutality, and it never fails to floor audiences. Adrien Begrand recaps the recent…

December 11, 2009
Lacuna Coil @ Annex Wreckroom, Toronto, ON, November 20th 2009

Lacuna Coil live photo courtesy of wikipedia, copyright creative commons By Melissa Andrews Lacuna Coil, previously already in Toronto this year on tour with All That Remains, was back for a special show that was added last minute as an end to their current North American tour. The Good: it was a Friday; it…

December 2, 2009
Skinny Puppy/Vvervvolf Grehv @ The Phoenix, Toronto, ON, November 13, 2009

By Melissa Andrews In the twenty plus years that Skinny Puppy have been around, their Friday the thirteenth show at Toronto’s Phoenix Concert Theatre was the first time I made it out to see them. Something always seemed to come up to prevent me from going. Even this time it was scheduled on the same…

November 30, 2009