It was down to the wire for me and my buddy to work everything out to be able to go on the eighth annual Monsters of Rock cruise. We literally booked ten days before departure and got lucky by snagging a mid-ship, mid-deck cabin location (prime location for multiple reasons) from someone who had just recently had to cancel their reservation. It was an early morning as we left St.…
Hatebreed destroyed everything in their wake with their performance at the State Theater. The tour was billed as “20 Years of Desire & 15 Years of Perseverance”, paying homage to their first and second studio albums, so it was with great anticipation in the days and weeks leading up to the show knowing the set list would favor heavily from those two kick ass releases.
Last year I had the opportunity and good fortune to be able to see Iron Maiden shows in both Florida and Illinois and when the new US leg of their tour was announced I jumped on the chance to do so again this year. These would be my fourth and fifth Iron Maiden shows and even though knowing ahead of time the set list would be the same at shows…
Metallica lit the Orlando sky afire with their mammoth stage production when they brought their “Hardwired…to Self-Destruct” tour to Camping World Stadium on July 5th. Four massive screens, seemingly a hundred foot tall, was the backdrop of a simple stage layout where the four metal horseman absolutely electrified a crowd of forty thousand plus with over two hours of pure in your face metal brilliance.
As a longtime fan of Metallica, literally I was hooked the first time I heard them the day ‘Master of Puppets’ was released back in 1986, I held so much hope of the potential for the rest of ‘Hardwired… to Self-Destruct’ to kick-ass and rank up as one of their best releases after Metallica strategically unveiled three singles leading up to its release date. I was up in Minneapolis just…
As a long time Slayer fan I can tell you that purchasing a ticket upgrade and attending their sound check was about the second coolest thing I have ever experienced in my concert going history behind going on the Motörhead Motörboat cruise last year. I had some reservations after spending what I did for the upgrade as leading up to the show I saw videos from other stops on…
To say that I had waited a long time in between Metallica concerts is an understatement. I, along with the majority or North America, have patiently waited as we fans have not had a proper tour by the metal icons in almost seven years. When the show in Minneapolis was announced back in March it was just a goof when I thought about trying to get in on the fan…
The best way that I can describe seeing Weird Al live is that he puts on a show, not a concert. Weird Al has the ability to parody songs and engulf me into his performance that in any other instance I would not care to listen to the original. I can only describe his show as a comical musical journey filled with multiple hilarious costume changes and a very tight…
Volbeat was a band I discovered back in 2009 when someone posted one of their videos in a metal forum that I read. After reading they were described as a mix of Elvis, Johnny Cash and Metallica, I had to give them a listen and wow was I blown away by how kick ass this band was. I really liked their unique sound and crunching guitar riffs and digging further…
From my first steps into Chastain Park Amphitheatre I knew right away this was by far the coolest venue I have ever been to for a concert. The amphitheater was located within Chastain Park which is the largest city park in Atlanta. The band shell was set at the bottom of a sloped hill and the outdoor bleacher style seating extended upwards to where the whole venue is nicely tucked…
I was rather elated when the Fort Rock lineup was released for the fact that the majority of the bands I wanted to see were all playing on the same day given that this year’s event had been expanded to a two day festival. Tickets were soon acquired, travel and timing plans were made after the set times were released as this event was a little over two hours away…
Back in early October of last year, having just spent the most metal week of my life aboard Motörhead’s Motörboat, catching up on the metal news that had transpired while we were away was the discovery that Iron Maiden had announced a tour, which was to open only a few hours from where I lived. All focus and discussion about the cruise was temporarily suspended while my cruise mates and…
This was going to be my third time seeing Swedish Viking metal legends Amon Amarth live and I knew from the two previous shows that the crowd that had gathered for the event this night was in for a treat of total metal brutality as well as a lesson in Viking mythology and history! For this show I opted for the VIP (or as the lanyard displayed, VIV, for…
To say that I got lucky being able to purchase face value Tool tickets off of the Ticketmaster site the moment they went on sale is an understatement. When Tool played Orlando a couple of years ago I was not as lucky. They are a band that sells out their concerts literally within minutes of tickets going on sale and just like last time, as soon as this show sold…
After discovering the band Avatar from Göteborg, Sweden about six months ago, and thoroughly enjoying their catalog of music I had kept my eye out for when they had a show local to my area. My first taste of the band was the title track video for their most recent CD in 2014 “Hail the Apocalypse” and instantly I was drawn into not only the crushingly heavy and groovy music,…
Being a Pantera fan, Official Truth, 101 Proof was a book I was certain many of us metalheads were eager to read. To me, their songs are filled with so much power and energy with such precise raw aggression they are easily one of my all-time favorite heavy metal bands. Having been fortunate enough to have seen them live back in 1992 (more on that a little later), this was…
Newcomers Product of Hate, with their debut release “Buried in Violence”, are the heavy and technically ferocious kick in the teeth the thrash metal world has been longing for. “When you see the album art, right away you know what to expect: dark, brutal, and unforgiving,” says vocalist Adam Gilley, who along with Cody Rathbone on guitar, Gene Rathbone playing lead guitar, Mark Campbell on bass and Mike McGuire behind…
Having been a metalhead for over thirty years one genre I’ve never really gotten into was power metal. Not purposefully mind you – I had always steered toward the thrash and darker side of the metal family tree. After listening to this new Primal Fear CD Rulebreaker, I know for a fact I’ve been missing out on some great music all these years. The two opening songs on here literally…
David Randall “Randy” Blythe is the vocalist and lyricist of the metal band Lamb of God – from my previous readings of his blog and attending 3 Lamb of God concerts it’s hard to believe that this wild growling madman on stage is such an eloquent writer in his stories beyond just song lyrics. Randy writes this book telling of his arrest, incarceration, trial and ultimate acquittal when he was…
This is a solid release from Prong – the opening track “Ultimate Authority” gets things going with that raw crunching guitar sound that we metalheads love and gets your head banging from the start. Every song on here will have your head nodding at some point. There is a change of musical pace from their traditional sound with “Do Nothing”, sort of ballad like, but does pick up as it…
