The London stint of Lacuna Coil’s Shallow Life European tour satiated the appetite of hungry London fans at Shepherd’s Bush Empire this evening. It is always a pleasure to watch the gorgeous Cristina Scabbia strut her stuff on stage as her record perfect voice penetrates the enveloping air, and the Italian songstress did not disappoint. Of course, Lacuna Coil is more than Cristina and it is the power of the six that sparks the crowd’s excitement. Tonight the band successfully showcases its versatility with a mix of goth-rock ballads and heavier tracks with a metal kick. (more…)

Photos by Warren Zanin

Caliban, along with tour headliners Emmure, led a full metal assault on a handful of wildly devoted fans at the Relentless Garage in London tonight. The hardcore metallers from Germany played to a rather sparse crowd, most likely owing to poor tour promotion, but wrecked havoc nonetheless.

Vocalist Andreas Dörner’s beast of a voice put fans in a manic mood and the singer’s animated gesticulations so aptly reflect the aggression and intensity of his lyrics. New album Say Hello To Tragedy explores some dark (and tragic) topics inspired by Dörner’s personal experiences as well as the real life drama of the Josef Fritzle case. The album reflects an anger provoked by an unjustified evil that encompasses our world today and reflects on the sad reality of how, in many cases, tragedies could have been prevented. And there is no better place to thrash out anger and frustration than at a live metal show – for both fans and band. (more…)

Fans turned up in droves to see 30 Seconds To Mars perform a once-off show in London at Camden’s majestic live music venue Koko. The band’s second show in a year and a half oozed with a confidence that is earned through the hard work and dedication that it takes to achieve success. Gregarious front man Jared Leto controlled the crowd, the VIPs, the record label dignitaries and the venue with his unyielding charisma. Screeching girls were in abundance and playing ‘spot the dude’ from Koko’s grand balcony was a good way to prevent openers We Fell To Earth from yawning the audience into a coma. When the lights finally dimmed, heralding the arrival of the Californian rockers, screams reached a crescendo and cell phone and camera lights illuminated the venue as fans raised arms and recording devices in a bid to preserve the moment for all time. (more…)

Photos by Warren Zanin

Adept launches into tonight’s performance with an explosive command from singer Robert Ljung: “Let’s burn this fucker down!” Unbeknown to the crowd, the band has busted its ass to make it to the Underworld in Camden to play for its London fans, following some major dramas and delays in Paris. Over half an hour late, Robert thanks the crowd for waiting and cites the day as the most stressful ever but never once is the impression given that Adept is anything but totally excited to be there. The band makes the most of its twenty minutes by ripping through the crowd with four brutal songs including favourites Sound the Alarm and Shark! Shark! Shark! The audience is left shell-shocked, with the Adept’s metalcore sound burnt onto the soul of each and every member. (more…)

Photos by Warren Zanin

The cold, dark night outside the O2 Academy in Islington waits resignedly for an excited energy to accost its consciousness. Fans soon penetrate the evening’s calm with the precise intention of witnessing a great performance by metal masters of doom and gloom, Paradise Lost. And fans are not disappointed. The foreboding tone of the band’s ethos seems to suit London: an austere city that has witnessed centuries of life’s brutality and pain yet surrenders an unparalleled magnificence and wisdom that has come with age and experience. Tonight’s show proves that the twenty-year career of Paradise Lost has honed the band’s talent and creativity into a musical heritage of authority and significance. (more…)

Tonight, a thousand maniacs serve their lives up on a silver platter as they congregate at The Garage to participate in the metal onslaught of Malefice, Trigger the Bloodshed, Suicide Silence, Behemoth and DevilDriver. The bloodied faces that exit the venue post-performance testify to the fact that, on this night, the ‘safety in numbers’ tactic proves to be no protection against five of metal’s most brutal acts. (more…)

Papa Roach is touring up a frenzy this year but the band has made time, amidst its busy schedule, to return to London for tonight’s gig, just five months after performing at The Forum in April. The band’s charisma is a giant fan-magnet and the crowd gathered at Brixton Academy waits in anticipation for what it knows will be one heck of a show. The event is opened with the rock ‘n roll sound of UK-born Heaven’s Basement and Madina Lake have been allocated the all important task of pumping up the crowd before the Roaches hit the stage. (more…)

Photos by Warren Zanin

There is nothing that can bring forth a horde of biker jackets like the raucous ringing of traditional metal, and tonight Camden’s Underworld did just that. Wolf, supported by Elimination and Cauldron, entertained fans with the mega riffs and guitar solos that serve the dramatic story telling that is synonymous with the metal trends of the early 80s. The band is known to thrive on the essentiality of crowd connection at live performances and the Swedish quartet deliver a show at an extra-frenzied pace, rendering singer Niklas ‘Viper’ Stalvind’s reminder “we are crazy about heavy fucking metal” redundant – um … duh! (more…)

Oh man! Oh man! Oh man! I would tell you about the opening act but I have forgotten who it was – all I remember is the singer making some lame joke about champagne and Barack Obama. I think that my lack of interest can be excused on this occasion, as my complete hysteria at the prospect of witnessing a performance by one of metal’s greatest bands was slightly overwhelming. Excluding the three guys vehemently cheering up at the front, the masses breathed a collective sigh of relief as the opener exited the stage. So, back to the ‘Oh mans’: the crowd tension increased notch by notch as the minutes rolled by, minute by excruciatingly long minute. Every time a techie tested a piece of equipment, particularly the guitars, the crowd let out bursts of anticipatory cheers and applause. Even the ‘pimp daddy’, porno eighties remixes that were playing over the sound system (sorry, I have no explanation) did not send the crowd into some hornified mass orgy. Why? Because the night was all about Deftones … getting laid took a total back seat. Kentish Town’s HMV Forum played host to a uni-mind of Deftones fans, collected to witness what turned out to be an unforgettable display of talent, insanity and brutality. The uni-mind spent the preceding few hours before Deftones’ appearance wondering what songs would be played, whether Chino would be on form, and whether the band would live up to high expectations set by fans. Well, the uni-mind was blown away! Deftones was stupendously amazing (I am seriously trying not to gush here). Chino was totally on his game, the crowd was intensely wrought with excited energy and the result was a gig that will not be forgotten by all who attended! (more…)

24 JULY 2009

Cast your mind back to 1983: as you cough your way through the hairspray of the teased-haired, spandex-wearing, glitter-infused conglomeration of glam-metallers, you will stumble upon a band called Testament – born in America to the town of California. 27 years later the band exists as an attestation to longevity: testified by fans, both young and old, who congregated at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire to witness thrash metal at its very best. The all-consuming anticipation that permeates the air is finally ignited when the legends of thrash finally respond to the crowd’s calls and appear on stage to entertain and brutalise with riffs that are bigger and badder than ever. Chuck Billy, the mammoth vocalist with the mammoth voice, opens the set with The Preacher, taking the audience way back to Testament’s second album The New Order. The evening’s set list (The Preacher, The New Order, Over the Wall, Practice What You Preach, More Than Meets the Eye, The Persecuted Won’t Forget, Burnt Offerings, The Legacy, Into the Pit, Souls of Black, Disciples of the Watch Encore: DNR, 3 Days in Darkness and The Formation of Damnation) spans seven of the band’s ten albums, reflecting the contribution Testament has made to metal over that last two decades. Intellectually the band still has a great deal to offer, having lived through the political, personal and social upheavals that life has hurled its way since the band’s conception. Musically, the band is as tight as ever – guitarists Eric Peterson and Alex Skolnick shred through an unyielding set without losing any fingers, bassist Greg Christian rips up some juggernaut speed tempos and, surprisingly, Paul Bostaph manages to extricate his foot from the double bass drum pedal when the gig is over. Billy owns the stage with his grandiose stage personality and, with the help of his mic-stand, ads to the guitar mayhem with some air-guitaring that punctuates his relentless vocal aggression. Testament comes full circle by ending a raucous three-song encore with the title track from 2008’s The Formation of Damnation, and even after a mass of tireless head-banging, moshing and crowd-surfing the crowd is still able conjure up enough energy to belt out the battle cry of the final song:“I will fight relentlessly/ I stand tall defiantly/ I see what you cannot see/ I invoke the beast in me/ I fear not the agony/ I breathe hope inside of thee/ I will kill the enemy/ I fulfill my destiny” – powerful words that exemplify the persistence of a band (and its fans) that stands in opposition to the world’s bullshit.

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