LATEST NEWS
DEMONS & WIZARDS: A Return to Battle
Demons & Wizards, the power metal side-project featuring Iced Earth guitarist Jon Schaffer and Blind Guardian vocalist Hansi Kürsch, has returned after a lengthy hiatus. The band kicked off its A Magical Encounter with Demons & Wizards Tour—its first tour in nearly two decades—in Europe last summer in Saarbrücken, Germany, including a headlining show at Wacken Open Air, while their North American headline tour began in Los Angeles with Lizzy Borden and Tyr as support.
GHOST: The End of Cardinal Copia and The Future of Ghost
Ghost has been on the rise for nearly a decade, getting exponentially larger with each year, each album, and each tour. Ghost has had its best year yet, jumping from theaters to arenas, opening for Metallica, and finishing out their Prequelle tour cycle with US and European tours. We spoke with Ghost mastermind Tobias Forge at the end of the US The Ultimate Tour Named Death. With just one more run of dates before taking all of 2020 off from touring, we found out what we could expect in the next chapter of Ghost…a new album, the end of Cardinal Copia, and a new Papa?
ABIGAIL WILLIAMS: Back From The Ashes
Abigail Williams is one of the most diverse bands in modern metal. Their earlier material was the perfect combination of melodic and technical with plenty of black metal influences. But the band’s newest release, Walk Beyond the Dark, introduces a more evil atmosphere to Abigail Williams’ signature sound. We spoke with Sorceron about the writing behind Walk Beyond the Dark and the band’s tour with Ensiferum, Kalmah, and Aenimus.
FEATURES
Top 10 Metal Albums Celebrating 30th Anniversaries
There are many influential releases celebrating three decades of existence in 2019. Before the year wraps up, we here at Outburn would like to spotlight the most notable metal outings that were released in 1989. The criteria for making this list is mostly based on the album’s intensity, sound, riffs, songs, cover art, and album title, and not on sales numbers.
EMPATH, TOUCHÉ AMORÉ, and LA DISPUTE: 11.23.19 The Palladium, Worcester, MA
For the first time on the road together since 2011, Touché Amoré and La Dispute brought their final tour of 2019 to The Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts. Competing with another show occurring just upstairs, the bands were still able to pack out the venue with dedicated fans eager to see these post-hardcore acts.
TOP UNDERGROUND METAL RECORD LABELS PART II
In August, Outburn ran a feature on the Top 5 Underground Metal Record Labels, which was met with favorable praise (unless your label didn’t make the list). This time around, instead of a ranking system, we decided to focus more on the diversity of the different labels to spotlight our appreciation and give recognition to them. Because that’s really what the whole point of this is about, to get metal fans to check out the labels’ Bandcamp pages and their excellent rosters.
LIVE REVIEWS
EMPATH, TOUCHÉ AMORÉ, and LA DISPUTE: 11.23.19 The Palladium, Worcester, MA
For the first time on the road together since 2011, Touché Amoré and La Dispute brought their final tour of 2019 to The Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts. Competing with another show occurring just upstairs, the bands were still able to pack out the venue with dedicated fans eager to see these post-hardcore acts.
KING DIAMOND: 11.8.19 The Palladium, Worcester, MA
After four years, King Diamond has embarked on his first US tour since 2015. Tonight, we find the King appearing at the historic Worcester Palladium in Massachusetts to a packed crowd and full balcony of screaming fans. While he had some health issues in the past, with triple bypass heart surgery, it’s clear it has not slowed King Diamond down, nor has he skipped a beat.
GHOST: 10.21.19 The DCU Center Worcester, MA
Love them or hate them, there’s no question Ghost has quickly become a massive force to be reckoned with. The question, however, on both sides of the Ghost fence is, “Are they big enough and ready for arenas?” Last year Ghost tested the waters, jumping up from a theater show to an arena show for three dates of their tour at Barclays Center in New York, The Forum in California, and Place Bell in Montreal. The results were undeniable.
MAGAZINE
