Concert Review - Mago de Oz, Metanium - 5/22/13 at Howard Theatre, Washington, DC

Step aside Alestorm - the title of best folk pit now belongs to Mago de Oz. What an amazing show, and amazing energy from the band and the crowd.

That said, there were definitely some downers at this show, the biggest one being that it started over an hour late. We got there a little early, around 7, for a start time of 8. But the opening band didn't go on till about 9:30, so for two hours we had not much to do besides stand around saving at spot at the rail between the bar and the sound booth. Drinks were so heftily priced that I didn't drink at all ($10 for a rum and coke? I don't think I could drink $10 worth of rum in one sitting without passing out) and since it was a Heineken sponsored event, the only beer they were selling - at first - was Heineken. That is, until they ran out, in spite of the ridiculous price of $7-8 for a beer.

Finally the opener, local Hispanic heavy metal band Metanium, came on around 9:30. They seemed to be well known to the sizeable crowd that had gathered by then, with a lot of people jumping during their first song, and small pits thereafter. They played fast-paced NWOBHM or early power metal style heavy metal, a little reminiscent of Iron Maiden and Helloween. Their riffs were energetic and groovy, but their strongest point was their singer, who was capable of both powerful singing and lasting screams. He pulled off Helloween's "I Want Out" as easy as breathing. Overall, they were more interesting than I expected.

After short break, Spanish folk metal band Mago de Oz emerged. In my opinion, they put on a great show. Every song was filled with catchy folk melodies, jump inspiring power metal riffs and anthemic choruses. The energy never stopped; even the ballads cast a spell on audience. Well, there was some down time before "Finisterra" which killed the energy a little, and that song itself was a bit long and wandering. Other than that, they kept things going for their whole set. The crowd was very lively - the pit even took over most of the floor on a couple songs (and we're talking about a floor about a hundred feet across). Even in its most brutal moments, though, it wasn't a very brutal pit; mainly people were jumping, jigging, skipping around in pairs, forming big circles or knots of people with their arms over each other's shoulders. It looked like so much fun, I really regretted wearing a skirt (this always happens when I wear a skirt to shows!). If it weren't for the fact that people were throwing their drinks everywhere and the floor was like a huge slip and slide, I would have gone in anyway. It would have been amusing to see how the Hispanic dudes reacted to a girl in pit, since it didn't seem like something that really happens in the Hispanic metal crowd - although a female friend who did go in the pit said we got grabbed more than at any other show :/

Afterward S. raised the question of why there wasn't any crossover between this crowd and folk metal crowd for acts like Ensiferum and Korpiklaani. I figure it has something do with the language - the crowd for Mago de Oz was almost entirely Hispanic. Also, the style of music is different - Mago de Oz has more of a power metal sound rather than Viking metal, which might explain why more of the typical folk metal crowd isn't drawn to it. I found them through a power metal playlist, and didn't immediately associate them with folk metal. A friend called them "the Spanish version of Iron Maiden" in that most every Hispanic metalhead she talked to in her travels seemed to know this band.

They certainly lived up their reputation, and I'm glad I got to see this great performance by a band outside my usual metal circle.

Next show: A Sound of Thunder's CD release party, June 8

Concert Review - M3 Rock Festival 2013 (Day 2) - 5/4/13 at Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD

So, this year I actually paid enough attention at M3 Fest to write a real review :P Last year it was a spur of the moment thing, something fun to do on a day off. This year I actually planned to go on the second day, and made S. make me a CD of all the bands so that I could be at least a little familiar with them XD I still went largely because S. was going, and since M3 Fest is near our anniversary, it's kinda become part of our anniversary celebrations..but I was definitely much more into it this year.

We got there a little before Steelheart came on. S. was very excited about seeing them; I couldn't really remember any of their songs. They were loud, especially the guitars - maybe even too loud; there was some feedback which made the guitars indistinct. The singer had a strong voice and was jumping around, and the bassist (an old bald guy) was also spinning around and doing other antics. They sounded great for a band near the bottom of the bill - good vocals and heavy guitars with strong metal riffs.

There was a little break, with no one on the "Festival" stage, and then Trixter came on the main stage. They had clearer guitars than Steelheart, but did not sound as metal. The backing vocals, done by band members, were horrible (I'm not exaggerating - they were off key and unpolished), and the singer himself was just all right. Their hit "One in a Million" sounded pretty good (minus terrible backing vocals), but otherwise I found them unremarkable.

The next band on the Festival stage, Tuff, was a little better. They had some metal guitar parts (heavy, riffy) such as on "Good Guys Wear Black" and "American Haircore" - I mean, "American Hair Band" - but most of the guitars were bland. The backing vocals were much better than Trixter's (not a difficult feat of course) - maybe because they consisted more of punk-like shouting than singing. I thought the vocals were strong overall. Aside from "American Hair Band," though, the songs were not very interesting.

After that was JSRG (formed by members of Vixen) on the main stage. They were excellent, with great guitar work and strong vocals. I especially liked the vocals, which were a little bit deep and rough, and very powerful. For some reason I was not very familiar with Vixen songs, so I don't recall any specifics about their songs, but I enjoyed their set.

Great White was next on the festival stage. They were good technically - I can't fault their musicianship or vocalist - but they weren't very interesting to me. Their sound leaned more toward the rock end of the hair band spectrum - slow and mellow, not very heavy - which is not really my thing. I dig heavy guitars.

The band I was probably looking forward to most was Japanese metal band Loudness, who played on the main stage. They were (of course) ten times heavier than any of the other bands at M3 Fest. They had great heavy guitars, but like Steelheart, the guitars were a little too loud again. They drowned out the vocals sometimes, or made the vocals and guitars sound mismatched. Still, I enjoyed their performance.

After Loudness, we took a dinner break while King's X played, since S. was not interested in them. I could see why - the bits we heard were pretty generic, fine for background music, not worth not sitting on the lawn though.

Our dinner break ended when hair metal parody band Steel Panther came on the main stage. As I hoped, they were hilarious, and also sounded great. Their ridiculous talk (mostly making fun of each other or making statements like "the heaviest singer at this festival on this stage in this time slot") and over-the-top songs were very entertaining. And if one looked (listened?) past their ludicrous lyrics about getting some in all kinds of comically exaggerated ways, their guitar work and vocals were very good. S.'s friend T. commented that it was a shame they were so far higher on the bill than "the bands they're making fun of," but I thought it was with good reason - they gave one of the most polished, entertaining and technically spot on performances of the day. Unfortunately, we missed their last two songs ("17 Girls in a Row" and "Death to All but Metal") because Firehouse started on the festival stage.

Coming straight from Steel Panther's bombastic performance, Firehouse seemed a little plain at first, but they sounded good. They played a lot of songs from their first album, which I was most familiar with - "All She Wrote," "Overnight Sensation," "Love of a Lifetime," "Don't Treat Me Bad." Besides that, they only played one or two other songs (I know "When I Look Into Your Eyes" was one of them) - it seemed like a rather short set, at least for so far along in the day. Still, I was stoked to have heard "Love of a Lifetime," my favorite song of theirs. T wanted to pick S up on his shoulders during "Don't Treat Me Bad," but S. refused, so I got him to pick me up instead \m/

Me making T hate his life during Firehouse's set

After that was Twisted Sister on the main stage - the last band at M3 Fest that I was actually looking forward to seeing. I'm not a huge fan of them, but they're one of those iconic bands that I wouldn't want to miss given the chance to see them. Hearing them play "We're Not Gonna Take It" was one of those experiences every metalhead needs to have at least once in a lifetime. I was pretty pleased with their performance overall - Dee Snider's voice still sounds good, his hair looks about the same as in the 80's, and he was running all over the stage. The rest of the band sounded good, too, but it was Dee's energy and presence that carried it. He talked too much, though, going on about shows in other countries and how America has to sing "I Wanna Rock" the loudest, which made the set drag at points.

After Twisted Sister, it was back to the festival stage to see Jackyl. S. and T. were pumped, but I couldn't wait for their set to be over. I find the singer's voice annoying, and his songs and talk crude and not funny. They killed the energy for me; I was ready to leave when they finished.

S. and T. wanted to stay and hear a bit of Bret Michaels, though - even though T. in particular had spent most of the day dissing him. Bret sounded good, but he played too many covers of non-metal songs (such as "Sweet Home Alabama") instead of Poison songs. By that time, it was very cold, and in my opinion, even Poison is not worth standing out in the cold. In addition, he also talked too much, which made it even more boring. I dragged S. and T. away about 3/4 through the set, just before he played "Every Rose Has Its Thorns" (we heard it as we were walking out of Merriweather).

I enjoyed M3 Fest a lot more this year than last year - maybe it was the line-up, the fact that I got familiar with the bands ahead of time, or that I was able to stay the whole day. Whatever the reason, I'm pretty sure I'll go again next year, as long as S. and T. don't mind me tagging along.

S. wrote a review of Day 1 of M3 Fest as well as Day 2, and posted some photos.

Next concert: Mago de Oz, 5/22

Concert Review - Arsis, Inhumation, Enigma Code, Monarchs - 4/30/13 at Cafe 611, Frederick, MD

Like usual, I'm trying to get this review up quickly before going to another concert... A few days ago, Arsis put on a one-off headline show as the release party for their new CD at Cafe 611 in Frederick, MD. I got into them when I saw them opening for Sonata Arctica. They were fast and melodic, and very headbangable; I enjoyed their set and looked forward to seeing them again, especially to the chance to see them headline. This week was really busy, though, so probably wouldn't have gone to seem them if the show hadn't been in Frederick. But seeing as they were right there, there was no excuse not to see them/support them at their headline show.

The best word for this show would be thunderous. Both the one opener we saw and Arsis were a massive barrage of thundering sound, which I think had more do with the venue's sound system and mixing than the bands, cause I don't remember Arsis sounding like that last time we saw them. In spite of being tired and down in the dumps about my life, I had a good time and thought it was a great show, which is a testament to the energy this band puts out.

We missed Monarchs and Enigma Code entirely, cause it took forever to get my daughter to bed (damnable naps at daycare). We heard the last three songs or so of Inhumation, which sounded pretty good to me. Their sound was dominated by rumbling, rolling bass and drums. The vocals were totally indecipherable, just a rhythmic low growl. The singer was out of breath between songs, which I thought was odd. He called for a pit on the last couple songs, but no one obliged him.

Arsis's sound was also thundering, which was when I realized it must be the sound system - they do a lot of death metal shows at Cafe 611, so I guess that's the kind of sound they prefer. The lead guitar was pretty low in the mix, sort of in the background, unfortunately, but I could pick out the melodies if I listened hard enough. I was feeling pretty crappy before their set started, but the energy of their songs wiped that right out of me and got me moving. They were dynamic, energetic, and seemed to be having a great time (this was their party after all), and they were pretty good natured about the fact that only about thirty people showed up to their party (it was a Tuesday night in Frederick). There was no pit, even though the music was fast and heavy enough in some parts. I shoved S a little, but didn't feel like starting pit. At end, S picked up the band's set list and eventually got it signed. And our friend Sc who has awesome hair got a shoutout during the show for having already purchased the new CD XD

I thought they sounded good, even if the sound system skewed their sound toward the heavier elements and obscured some of the melodic parts. It might have been a better show with more people so there could have been an actual pit, but at the same time, sometimes it's nice to see a band with just fifteen or twenty "friends". Now Arsis is on tour with Krisiun, so if they're hitting your area, I suggest checking them out - especially because the first half of the dates feature the amazing Chicago based melodeath band Starkill! (So bummed that they're not coming to my area >.<)

Next concert: M3 Fest - today!

Concert Review - Death to All, Exhumed, Anciients - 4/26/13 at Fillmore, Silver Spring, MD

Death is one of those groundbreaking bands I thought I'd never get to see live, on account of coming to the metal scene so late. So I was pretty stoked to hear that original members of Death were doing this charity benefit tour as Death to All. Funny though, before hearing about Death to All, I actually hadn't listened to Death that much, for whatever reason. I may or may not have streamed some full albums on youtube the week before the show, and then got really, really stoked about seeing them, cause I realized that they were absolutely amazing. When you think about the fact that at the time, nobody else was really doing what they were doing, it's even more amazing.

I was so busy listening to Death that I didn't look into the openers. The first band to come on was Anciients, from Vancouver, Canada, a band whose sound varies from meandering stoner guitars to much more energetic and headbangable riffs with a black metal feel. They started out a bit soft and slow - most of their songs began with stoner-ish intros - but then quickly got loud and heavy, once the jackhammer bass and drums kicked in. They used mostly clean mellow vocals, some growled harsh vocals. Their style of mixing clean and harsh vocals in songs such as "Overthrone" reminds me of Enslaved, right down to the vocal tone. This song features some of the their fastest and most prominent guitar work; usually the guitars stayed pretty mellow and were drowned out by the pounding bass and drums when things got heavy. This meant that although they were nice and heavy, the heavy parts were a little repetitive. I still enjoyed their set much more than I might have predicted from the first five seconds, though, and even discovered that I liked listening to "Overthrone" again later.

I didn't know what to expect from Exhumed, either, except that based on the name, I figured they would be a typical death metal band. They were fast, a whirlwind of sound with machine gun fast drums, and surprisingly technical guitar solos. There was just a small pit for most of their songs, which was surprising considering the intensity of the music, but perhaps the "Absolutely no moshing or crowd surfing" signs of the venue were having some effect (ironically, the pillars where the signs were posted had been covered in padding, as though we were fully expected to break the rule in a violent way). Their screamed vocals and intricate guitar work gave their music a bit of a black metal flavor, especially in their newest songs (they played a couple of brand new songs that had only been played on their concurrent tour with Suffocation), while a really old song they played (the singer said it was old and crusty like his mom) had a more thrashy sound. S. saw them the night before with Suffocation and said they sounded much better here at the Fillmore, probably due to their superior sound system.

Exhumed had some interesting stage antics - an "evil doctor" in a blood spattered apron came out with a chainsaw (S. said it was a real chainsaw, because at Empire one could smell the gas), which he waved over the crowd and even jumped down into the crowd with; then later during a guitar solo, he used a defibrillator to try to the revive the guitarist, who I guess had been overcome by his own awesomeness, to no success, heaving finally to resort to beer; he also stage-dived and crowd-surfed, and finally brought out a severed head and squirted green goo onto some hapless fan in the pit.

When Death to All finally came out, I was feeling pretty tired, and so got a bit distracted during their set. They seemed to put on a solid performance, although not being terribly familiar with their songs or having ever seen them live with Chuck Shuldiner, I can't say how true to the original they sounded. The line-up was guitarist Paul Masvidal, bassist Steve DiGiorgio, and drummer Sean Reinert who were once members of Death, and vocalist Max Phelps, the touring vocalist for Cynic; at least that's the line-up according to Metal Injection, I can't say if they were the ones who actually appeared. Halfway through the set, they switched drummers, so I'm not sure who that was.

As would be expected, they had a thundering thrashy sound, with vocals that seemed a bit more growled than what I remembered hearing on my youtube spree. They were also masters, in the way of Sabbath and Celtic Frost, of using the guitars to make haunting sounds that created a sort of weird, creepy atmosphere in the intros of some songs.

In the middle of the set, there was a photo and video tribute to Chuck Shuldiner, which was cool to see. The crowd was very appreciative. The venue was not filled - the upstairs and side areas were closed, but there seemed to be several hundred people there at least.

As a tribute to a pioneering musician and a chance to see a band from another era, I thought this was a great show, definitely a worthwhile evening for any fan of death metal.

S. also wrote a review with setlists and posted photos.

Next show: Arsis, 4/30. Not sure what happened to my two concerts a month pledge :/ Gonna work on that in May, really.

Concert Review - PAGANFEST IV - Ensiferum, Tyr, Heidevolk, Trollfest, Helsott, Yesterday's Saints, Fallen Martyr, Demiz - 4/15/13 at Soundstage, Baltimore, MD

I'm pretty sure Paganfest (America) will be my favorite show of the year - and it's only April! I have a real soft spot for folk/pagan metal, mainly because it is so fun to mosh to, and this show delivered a nonstop blast of rampaging folk metal with a great reaction from the crowd. This will also be a really long concert review, cause it was an immense show with eight bands. That's a mini festival right there.

Needless to say, what with the massive line-up causing things to start super early, we missed the first two bands, and only caught the last song of Yesterday's Saints. Although they've been on the line-up of several shows we've been to (including one where one of their guitars got stolen) this was the first time I actually got to see them. They were good, with kind of melodic riffs.

I was really looking forward to seeing Helsott, a folk metal band from California (yes, I was spreading lies when I mistakenly said they were from Texas). Their music has a heavy (ha,ha) thrash and death metal influence, and the songs I listened to ahead of time sounded full of intense, heavy energy. I thought it would be great to mosh to them, but I can't remember if I actually did (some social things were stressing me out and made it hard to pay attention at times during the show). I really enjoyed their set, though; their guitars were great. The vocals were too low, so I couldn't make them out most of the time (except the female vocals, provided by the keyboardist, which were a nice touch), but the guitars were amazing. I think at some point they even sounded a bit like hurdy gurdies, although that could just have been my imagination/being too obsessed with Eluveitie.

The next band was Trollfest, from Norway, who I was not looking forward to seeing at all. (It is almost impossible for me to dislike a European metal band, but this is one out of two that I outright dislike, the other being Vildhjarta.) I forced myself to listen to them ahead of time, and they sounded messy and discordant, something that does not appeal to me, being a fan of melodies and riffs. But they were better than I expected - they sounded much better live. Their sound was still very chaotic, and I was not a fan of the blaring saxophone, but the polka beat and melodies were difficult to resist. I would definitely have been in the pit if I had not been drinking. Actually, I did start a mini drunken jig with my friend K and crashed into some people. They came out all wearing bee antenna, and the singer was actually in an entire bee costume. As if their music wasn't silly enough.

I was also really looking forward to seeing Heidevolk, a Dutch folk metal band that I had fallen in love with while doing my pre-concert homework (that is, making a giant youtube playlist of all the bands that I then foist on my friends). Heidevolk sounded excellent. They started with "Nehalennia" and "Ostara," two songs I really wanted to hear. I fell in love with this band because of the rich, deep clean vocals, and Mark Bockting's voice sounded just as amazing live (though friends reported difficulty hearing it further back). At one point I was up in the second row, right in front of Mark Bockting - ahhh, it was amazing. Besides the vocals, the songs are kind of moderately paced with riffs that are all right, but not spectacular - just sort of generic metal riffs - but there was still a pretty good pit. I think I went in it a bit - definitely for "Vulgaris Magistralis."

Heidevolk with their two vocalists. Photo by Steve Wass

I was not really looking forward to Tyr, in spite of their awesome reputation, because they were kind of lackluster the last time we saw them. But they were so much better this time - much more energetic, and with much better sound. They mainly played the faster paced fan favorites. I do enjoy their older, slightly doomy songs with chant-like vocals like "Ormurin Langi," but the newer slow song they played last time, "Evening Star," totally sucked the energy out the set. This time they kept the energy going. I was not feeling great during their set, but ran into the pit for the second song, "Tróndur í Gøtu," since it's my favorite Tyr song. They finished with "Hold the Heathen Hammer High," and I really regret that I was sort of having an anxiety attack and couldn't go in the pit.

Finally, Ensiferum topped off the night with a great performance. The riffs were epic and the harsh vocals commanding. They started with "In My Sword I Trust" from Unsung Heroes, which is a pretty catchy song. I was rather angry at the beginning of the set and as a consequence kind of aggressive in the pit at first (not cool, really :( ). There was lots of jigging, even to the more death metal like parts of their songs, and some really furious pits for the faster, more intense songs like "Ahti." They sounded very good. While doing my homework, I had watched a live Wacken video where the singer's voice started to give out, but there no such issues that night. I did wonder why the spoken parts, such as in "From Afar," were piped in - no one in the band could do those parts? And I guess the Finnish vocals on "Lai Lai Hei" were not as nice as on the album, but acceptable. I was terribly disappointed that they didn't play "Into Battle" -  I was really looking forward to the pit for that song. They did play a good mix of old and new, though, including songs like "Retribution Shall be Mine" that I don't think get much live play. Even if they are not innovative as they used to be, I'm glad to see they can still put on a great live show and play the old songs flawlessly.

Out of two Paganfests I've been to, this one was far the better. Every band sounded great and the crowd was energetic and folky for each band. A really solid evening.

S also wrote a review (although he falsely alleges that Ensiferum played "Treacherous Gods," which they most definitely did not - I would have had to be carried out of the venue after tearing up the pit if they had played that song!). He also posted a ton of photos.

Next concert: Death To All (Death tribute/charity benefit tour), tomorrow!

Concert Review - Ripper Owens, Ghost of War, March to Victory - 4/6/13 at Cafe 611, Frederick, MD

Finally, a concert review. I've been pretty busy this month - busy relaxing and taking care of myself, mostly, and spending time with people who are important to me. Life is complicated. But I did go to a couple shows already in April, so it's time to get some reviews up.. First off, Ripper Owens, practically in my hometown.

I'm not a super fan of Ripper Owens, although I do admire his talent (having seen him with Dio Disciples), but S. is a bit of a super fan and the show was right in my backyard (well, almost..I live 20 min from Frederick, as opposed to nearly an hour from most other places that have shows). So we headed on up for a night out after I put my kid to bed.

We got there during the last song of March to Victory, which had a heavy death metal sound. I think I would have enjoyed them, so I hope we'll see them open for someone else.

A bartender made me an amazing drink (it was some sort of Finlandia grapefruit vodka Sprite lemon and lime mix..so delicious and so strong. Finlandia is second only to Jaegermeister, mmmm) and I'm very much a lightweight, so I was pretty drunk when Ghost of War, a metal band from Gettysburg, PA, came on. They seem to be classic heavy metal band in the style of Judas Priest, and they sounded good. The singer was a bit..heavy, but he could really wail.

Ripper Owens was good, of course - although I don't know his material well, so I'm not really a good judge of his performance. The song I knew best was "Painkiller," and that sounded great. The Beyond Fear songs were very heavy, and besides the Priest hits, I think I enjoyed those the best. I started to get tired toward the end, and then Ripper passed the mic to other people in the band and started playing guitar while they sang covers of songs I didn't know, and I started to get reaaaally impatient and wanted to go home. Overall it was a good night, though, and it's always fun to see one of metal's superstars up close and personal.

Lich King, Possessor, etc - 3/30/13 at Sergio's Place, Silver Spring, MD

The Otep show ended so early (9:30!) that we decided to head to this thrash show in S's hometown. It was in a little hole-in-the-wall El Salvadorean restaurant; the chairs and tables had been moved to the side and some speakers set up in the corner. There were about 50 people there when we got there, most of them looking very metal. It was my first time at an underground metal show, and it was pretty exciting, although I had gotten pretty tired on the drive from Springfield and didn't really have enough energy to enjoy it properly.

Maybe because I got extremely tired later, I enjoyed Possessor's set more. Their singer looked very 80's in a leather jacket with a big shoulder-guard and shoulder length wavy hair, and they had an 80's thrash sound with racing guitars, persistent drums and shouted vocals with the occasional wail. The crowd was pretty active, and I wondered that no one crashed into the band since the crowd was practically on top of them. I think the band was on a slightly raised platform, but the singer and one or two of the guitarists stepped off it right into the front of the crowd; the singer even directed or practically got into the pit a couple times.

I took a nap in a chair, and then just after midnight, Lich King came on. They seem to be a bit of a joke band, with songs about how black metal sucks and about Game of Thrones, webcomics, movies and the like. I couldn't really get into them - maybe I was just tired, or maybe it really was that their riffs are kind of repetitive and uninteresting, and the high pitched shouted vocals not to my liking. Also, since I couldn't tell what they were saying, the humor was lost on me. I was pretty relieved when they finished up, just because it meant we could go home and sleep.

Next concert: Ripper Owens on 4/6!