Live Reviews

Godfathers of death metal, Poland’s Vader just wrapped up a month long tour of North America—their first here in almost three years. As luck would have it, it also happened to fall on big anniversaries of three of their most revered albums—De Profundis (25 years), Litany (20 years), and The Art of War (15 years), giving the band an excuse to bring out some deeper, older cuts on this run.

The lights dimmed and the energy of the crowd intensified with anticipation for the New England local, Great American Ghost. The band released their third LP Power Through Terror just 10 days before the show, giving fans plenty of time to learn every lyric.

From the fog filled darkness emerges a female figure dressed in white, angelic and surreal. There is something mystical about her, one can not avert their eyes. Is she even real? Is she of this Earth? As she begins to sing the most angelic yet tormented tones, it is quickly realized this is no ordinary rock show. This is September Mourning.

Cloaked in darkness, a single robed figure appears with a smoking chalice. He makes his way across the stage, slowly but with purpose, fanning the sage over the stage and out toward the crowd as a near perfect silence envelopes the room. More appear in the mist, clad in robes, adorned with bells, bones, and antlers.

“Enter the Necrophaze, there’s no mercy for you!” That quote perfectly sums up a Wednesday 13 show—no mercy. Outburn was front and center for the kick off of the tour. Because this show is the opening night of the band’s month long run with Nuclear Blast label mates The 69 Eyes, no one knows exactly what to expect and the fan's level of excitement is immeasurable.

18TH ANNUAL SCHECTER NAMM PARTY: HOLY WARS, NEW YEARS DAY, and BLACK LABEL SOCIETY January 18, 2020 Grove – Anaheim, California PHOTOGRAPHS AND REVIEW BY ANABEL DFLUX “Prepare for an influx of NAMM posts,” write hundreds of musicians and industry professionals on social media during the famous NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) week.

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.

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.

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.

Legendary black metal icon Abbath brought his eponymously named band Abbath to the smallest state in the United States, and the show was anything but little. Well known for his tenure as the frontman of Immortal, when Abbath broke off to form his own band, the question on the minds of Immortal and Abbath fans alike was, “How will Abbath do on his own, and how will Immortal do with out Abbath?”