Live Reviews

Every day a tour is postponing to a later date because of the pandemic, and it still feels like dark days. SoCal rockers In This Moment with co-headliners Black Veil Brides and openers DED were also forced to make this hard choice, but the tour is on and not to be missed.

The Summer Slaughter Tour 2024 made its mark at the Riverside Municipal Auditorium, delivering an explosive evening of deathcore, metalcore, and unrelenting energy. Headlined by the mighty Veil of Maya, the show was a masterclass in heavy music.

This tour is a throwback to their greatest album, Slaughter in the Vatican (1990), which they played in its entirety. Every two or three songs, Kyle Thomas would tell us “Gather around the fireside, kids.”

When We Were Young hit Las Vegas for the third installment of the emo-revival festival on October 19th and 20th. It’s become an annual vacation for elder emos worldwide, with many festival-goers spending up to a week in Vegas surrounding the fest to take in all the emo-centric events.

It was a cold and hot October night when The Sisters of Mercy and opener Blaqk Audio took the stage at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, CA.

Pure mayhem. That is the only way to describe what occurred at The Webster Underground on Sunday, June 12. With a lineup of Bodybox, Vatican, hometown band Boundaries, and headliner Spite, fans were eager to get into the venue to begin their night of heavy music, friendship, and chaos. 

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.

Saturday’s stream focused on two more of Avatar’s lengthy catalog of albums, this time around being a set that moved fluidly back and forth between Black Waltz and Hail the Apocalypse. Both records explored everything from groove metal to death metal.

Back in January, Hot Mulligan played a set at NAMM with fans crowd surfing nonstop through the Hilton lobby. That show and the stacked lineup at the House of Blues Anaheim set expectations high, and the sold out night did not disappoint. 

On December 15th, Sacramento’s Holy Diver had a great show with Craig Owens and two Sacramento local bands, Aquageist and Saint Juniper. His set was a great mix of songs from all of his projects, like D.R.U.G.S, Cinematic Sunrise, Chiodos, BadXChannels, and Isles & Glaciers.