Opeth Sorceress World Tour 2016 Report

I have seen a lot of bands live in the three decades that I have existed on this rock in space. The only band that I’ve seen nearly a dozen times is Opeth. To say that they’re my favorite band is an understatement. I first saw them when they were on the Blackest of Black tour back in 2003. They only played two songs but it was amazing. I have caught them nearly every time that they came through the valley. On the rare chance that they didn’t come directly through the Phoenix area then I would usually travel to a neighboring city to see them. With the release of Sorceress earlier this year it was time for Opeth to embark on their world tour.

Leprous North American Tour 2016

Ever since I made the Congregation by Leprous my album of the year for 2015 I have been wanting to see them live. I finally got to fulfill that desire on October 17 when Leprous descended upon the dive-bar venue, Joe’s Grotto. It’s a small, almost seedy bar perfect for metal. The fact that it has a great sound system helps too. My fiancé accompanied me to this show as well as one of my friends whom we met at the venue.

Concert Review - Mac Sabbath

Being a parody band can be a tricky thing. You have your gimmick and the music. The parody might be in just the image or it might be in the music or it could be a combination of both. Unless you are as clever and as good as someone like Weird Al Yankovic you probably are not going to go far. Mac Sabbath manages to get the image and the sound right. An Ozzy-era Black Sabbath tribute band with McDonald’s themed lyrics, Mac Sabbath has it all to be a successful parody band. They came to Phoenix for the first time on a Friday, July 10. With a couple of friends and my girlfriend in tow, we set off to see this hilarious and fun band.

Serpens in Cvlmination Tour 2015 Review

There are some bands who tour so much that you don’t mind skipping them when they come around to your town. Then there are other bands who tour so infrequently that missing them will cause years of regret and possibly a downward spiral into depression. Agalloch is one such band. They rarely do extensive tours and usually only do short coast stints and the festival circuit of Europe. It’s been three years since they last visited Phoenix (which I attended) and there was a nine year gap between that date in 2012 and their previous visit in 2003! Obviously with Agalloch being one of my favorite bands I have to attend any shows that they do in the valley of the sun. Even though we had temperatures exceeding 100F they managed to bring down the temperature by several degrees with their atmospheric and robust set.

Concert Review - Dark Roots of Thrash II

Going to a metal show in downtown Scottsdale is a bit unusual and I think that the usual Botox patrons know it. From the mass of pastel colors, booty shorts, and high heels came a small swarm of black shirt, battle vest wearing metalheads. When there is a mass of metalheads converging in an area you know that there must be a concert going on that night. That night was the Dark Roots of Thrash II tour with thrash legends Testament and Exodus, plus newcomers Shattered Sun. The new and modern venue of Livewire is about to get thrashed!

Finntroll, Moonsorrow, Swallow the Sun Concert

Hails and pixels metalheads! Sorry about the delay in between posts, just got a bit lazy and some shit going down in real life that I might go into later. Anyway here is a catch up post for the concert involving Finntroll and Moonsorrow.

The concert was over at a restaurant/bar in Mesa called UB's. I've never been there before but it's a decent sized venue; about 100 capacity. The opening band was a local one called Adavant whom I've seen prior when I saw Eluveitie. Not a bad folk metal band, though a bit odd considering they originate from the Valley of the Sun and not the fjords of Scandinavia. Their songs are typical singing about drinking, celebration and the glory of battle. And of course they have a female singer, who I saw while they were taking down their set and complimented her band on a great job and how I saw them previously. Apparently that was a different female singer and she was the new one. My bad.

The second band was a thrash metal band from California called Bonded By Blood. Really great riffs that reminded me of early Exodus, Overkill and a bit of old school Kreator. Every single riff was mosh and headbang worthy. The only negative I had with the band was the singer. He wasn't lacking energy or anything it's just that his vocal styling didn't seem suited for the brand of thrash metal they were playing. I think a more shout style like Tom Araya or psuedo-growling of Miland Petrozza would fit better. There was little between song banter and what bit was there was commenting on the stupid anti-immigration law that Arizona passed and they joked that they might get deported. This band I'll keep an eye on.

I took a personal intermission to refuel my metal gut with some Whataburger. I came back in time to catch a handful of songs of Swallow the Sun. They're not a bad live band, though I think I enjoy them more on the record than live.

After them was Moonsorrow. Tons of energy and the audience enjoyed them immensely. Unfortunately sleep started to overtake my body and I had leave half way through their set. Perhaps next time I'll down some coffee or energy drinks to compensate. By the way, I left with a pretty awesome Moonsorrow tour shirt.