Metal & Prog Picks: January 2017

What better way to shake off that New Year torpor than with a healthy dose of metal? We’ve got quality stuff from opposite ends of the spectrum this month. If you crave classy, catchy, singalong melodic rock to put a big smile on your face, look no further than the splendid Tyketto. Prefer to turn that smile upside down? Permit Meshuggah and Oathbreaker to rattle your eardrums and, in the former’s case, frazzle your retinas.

Meshuggah

O2 Academy, Jan 12

Few bands can claim to have inspired an entire genre. But for good or ill, we wouldn’t have had the whole djent/math-metal/tech-metal/whatever scene without ace Swedish metallers Meshuggah. And 22 years on from the ground-breaking Destroy Erase Improve album, they still piss all over most of their many imitators. Essentially a very, very loud and brutal progressive rock act, incorporating polyrhythms, elements of experimental jazz and, of course, lashings and lashings of metal, Meshuggah’s eighth release, The Violent Sleep of Reason, takes terrorism and religious fanaticism as its theme and wound up on all the most discerning Albums of the Year lists. Of course, music this extreme was never intended to be quite so popular. But Meshuggah have risen to the challenge of playing larger venues (this is their third headlining show at the Academy, fact fans) by employing one Edvard Hansson as their lighting tech. Essentially a sixth member of the band, he conjures up a stunning complementary spectacle by ‘playing’ the lights live. Scoot round YouTube and you’ll find vids of him at work.

Tyketto

Thekla, Jan 28

Somewhere in an alternate universe, the middle-aged Jon Bongiovi is still sweeping his uncle’s recording studio floor and dreaming of stardom. Meanwhile, the tabloids are obsessing over the hair and cheekbones of Danny Vaughn – frontman of New York’s enormodome headliners Tyketto. But, hey: them’s the breaks. Tyketto had the misfortune to release the excellent Don’t Come Easy album, which should have been their breakthrough, just as grunge was raising its sulky, dishevelled head back in 1991. So the huge potential audience who’d have loved their classy, catchy melodic rock never got to hear it and Vaughn now earns his crust fronting the Ultimate Eagles tribute act alongside Thunder’s Chris Childs (who also plays in the current Tyketto line-up). Despite plenty of bumps, splits and line-up changes along the way, their music has always been of a consistently high standard, never succumbing to those Poundland Springsteen-isms that have afflicted The Jove’s increasingly woeful output. If you fancy a sunny, tuneful, hard-rockin’ antidote to the January blues, it doesn’t get any better than this.

Oathbreaker

Exchange, Jan 29

Some prog, goth and black metal with your ‘post-metal’, sir or madam? Atmospheric, genre-dodging Belgians Oathbreaker are closely associated with Amenra, who played at Temples back in 2014. Their third and most accomplished album, Rheia, has plenty to appeal to fans of blackgaze and hipster metal (y’know – Deafheaven and so on) alike, with Caro Tenghe’s distinctive vocals helping them to stand out in an increasingly crowded field. Get there early for Bristol’s very own black/post-metallers Svalbard, whose ranks include B24/7 contributor Serena Cherry on guitar and vocals.

COMING SOON

Here’s our essential diary of upcoming gigs that should be of interest to anyone of a rockin’ disposition.

Mare/Sonance, Stag & Hounds, Feb 1

Glenn Hughes, Fleece, Feb 2

Evil Scarecrow, Thekla, Feb 4

Galactic Empire, Fleece, Feb 6

Anthrax, Academy, Feb 11

((OHHMS))/Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard, Stag & Hounds, Feb 15

The Answer, Fleece, Feb 28

Bristol Heavy Rock Explosion Charity Show: Stampede, Lautrec, Stormtrooper, Exchange, March 11

Devin Townsend Project/TesseracT/Leprous, Colston Hall, March 12

Monster Truck, Marble Factory, March 15

Black Star Riders/Backyard Babies/Gun, O2 Academy, March 16

LA Guns, Bierkeller, March 17

Sonata Arctica, Marble Factory, March 18

Gojira, Academy, March 18

Suicide Silence, Marble Factory, March 23

Jizzy Pearl’s Love/Hate, Thunderbolt, March 24

Crowbar, Bierkeller, March 25

Ill Nino, Fleece, March 26

Broken Witt Rebels/Bad Touch, Tunnels, March 30

John Coghlan’s Quo, Fleece, April 1

Wolf People, Exchange, April 5

Blackberry Smoke, O2 Academy, April 6

Pallbearer, Thekla, April 8

Acid Reign, Exchange, April 9

Hellyeah, Thekla, April 14

Bristol Deathfest: Vader, Immolation, etc., Bierkeller, April 15-16

Hayseed Dixie, Fleece, April 19

The Quireboys, Thekla, April 27

Black Spiders, Thekla, May 1

Steve Hackett, Colston Hall, May 4

Damo Suzuki, Exchange, May 12

Skunk Anansie, Academy, May 25

KMFDM, Fleece, May 25

King’s X, Bierkeller, June 12

Fish, O2 Academy, Dec 13