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Metal & Prog Picks: December 2015
If your taste is for indie, dance or world music, you crave the Mercury Music Prize seal of approval, or you just want reassurance that you’ll be rubbing shoulders with the coolest cats in town, move right along now. There’s nothing for you here. This month’s eclectic selection ranges from twiddly English prog to Satanic black metal from Bergen. Yummy!
Be warned that since many people don’t seem to have received the memo telling them they’re not supposed to enjoy this stuff, some of these shows have already sold out and others are close to doing so. That’s why we’ve included a comprehensive coming soon list. If you’re planning ahead, note that the 2016 Colston Hall shows by Steven Wilson, Thunder and Chris Cornell are already sold out, as are earlybird tickets for the Temples festival, and the Sabaton/Alestorm gig has just been upgraded from the Marble Factory to the Academy.
is needed now More than ever
Fleece, Dec 3
Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent are both 70 now, and can be forgiven for looking a bit craggy around the gills. But their voices have held up remarkably well. Hence, presumably, the bullish title of the Zombies’ new crowd-funded CD (only their sixth, fact fans), Still Got That Hunger. They’ve enjoyed a longer, stranger trip than most ’60s acts, its most surprising turn coming when their second release, 1968’s groovy concept album Odessey and Oracle, underwent an extraordinary critical rehabilitation. Even though this yielded the hit Time of the Season, hacks didn’t much care for it in the swinging sixties. But the 2008 40th anniversary tour led to such an about-face that it now regularly ranks on those pointless Greatest Albums of All Time lists alongside this week’s critical darlings who’ll be long forgotten by the time the next list is compiled. Hey – maybe Rod’s under-appreciated Argent will undergo a similar revival, introducing a new generation of prog fans to the delights of In Deep and Nexus.
Academy, Dec 3
You don’t need to be a veteran of Status Quo’s 1984 End of the Road show at Milton Keynes Bowl to be somewhat sceptical about the whole idea of farewell tours. But Mr. Fish (Derek William Dick to his mum), who will forever have to live with the “former Marillion frontman” tag, is adamant that he’s going to jack it in and retire to Germany before his 60th birthday. So this is allegedly the last time we’ll see the bloke who’s responsible for a whole generation of girls being named Kayleigh (seriously – he made the name up by shunting together Kay and Leigh to disguise the identity of the song’s subject) performing Marillion’s biggest hit album, 1985’s Misplaced Childhood, in full. It’s also his first show round these parts since his rather excellent performance at the Fleece last December.
Bierkeller, Dec 4
Back in town for the first time since they played the Fleece last October, people’s metal band Orange Goblin never fail to put on a great show – even when hulking berserker Ben Ward is so pissed that he can barely stand (as he was on one memorable previous occasion when the Goblins headlined a Bierkeller show). There’s no new album to promote, but they don’t really need one with songs of the calibre of The Fog, Quincy the Pigboy and Round Up the Horses.
Exchange, Dec 5
The first of two lupine acts from Bristol to hit the road this month, classic rockers BlackWolf have impressed local and national audiences on tour with the likes of Blues Pills, The Answer and The Temperance Movement. They also bagged a Best New Band nomination from Classic Rock magazine. Tonight they’ll be unveiling material from their second album, which is due for release in January. This one’s produced by former Little Angels frontman Toby Jepson, who now resides round these parts and has built up an enviable production reputation for his work with the likes of Saxon and The Answer.
Bierkeller, Dec 7
Fear Factory? They only released one great album, right? Well, your luck’s in pal, as that’s the one they’re playing in its entirety tonight. Its 20 years since they unveiled the ground-breaking, ahead-of-its-time cyber-metal concept album Demanufacture, with a world tour that reached the Anson Rooms back in July 1996. How time flies. They’re older and, in the case of guitarist Dino Cazares, considerably more corpulent today, but the precision assault of Demanufacture still sounds fabulous. Shame that, rather like Queensryche, those they influenced took the ball and ran with it leaving the originators for dust.
Fleece, Dec 10
What could be more pleasingly festive than corpse-painted black metal? If you haven’t been paying attention, sinister Gaahl (remember him being all evil and intimidating in Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey?) left overtly Satanic Norwegian controversy magnets Gorgoroth back in 2007, then came out as gay and designed a range of women’s clothing. In 2010, he was pronounced Gay Person of the Year at the Bergen Gay Gala. Who saw that coming, eh? That leaves guitarist Infernus as the sole original member. He’s forged ahead through changing line-ups with a couple of albums since then, the latest being Instinctus Bestialis, which got a fairly mixed reception. But if Gorgoroth ain’t kvlt enough for you, they’re bringing fellow Norwegian black metallers Kampfar and Gehenna as support acts.
Academy, Dec 13
What do you get when you promote a rock band like a fad indie act? The dustbin of pop history is that way, mate. Luckily for them, The Darkness managed to amass a loyal audience before all the Brit Awards madness and cocaine-fuelled, self-indulgent but – can we now admit? – really rather good second album One Way Ticket to Hell … and Back (still available in bargain bins across the land). So the punters didn’t evaporate with the hype. Two albums in to the inevitable reunion, Lowestoft’s finest find themselves back at their natural level. There’s a Christmas single, obviously, which reeks of the ripest fromage. But new album Last of Our Kind rocks most impressively. You may also be amused to learn that new drummer Rufus Tiger Taylor was saddled with that name by his dad Roger – yes, he of primary Darkness influence Queen.
Marble Factory, Dec 16
Bristol’s other wolfie band return to the Marble Factory just eight months after their last show here, of which our reviewer remarked: “They’ve honed the live show to perfection and become an eight-legged gonzo/garage metal act par excellence”. New album Two Hands has picked up plenty of enthusiastic reviews and was described by Total Guitar mag as “the best British debut album we’ve heard all year”. This will be Turbowolf’s last gig of 2015 and is being billed as a Special Christmas Show, so there’ll probably be all kinds of Santa-oriented preposterousness.
Bierkeller, Dec 17
Busy bassist Bryan Beller and drummer Marco Minnemann were in town just last month as part of Joe Satriani’s band at the Colston Hall. Now they’re back with homegrown guitar ace Guthrie Govan for their second visit to Bristol as The Aristocrats. Purveyors of the finest prog/fusion, these guys are no po-faced musos, but demonstrate their jaw-dropping chops with an infectious sense of fun that often recalls the late, great Frank Zappa. As indeed do such song titles as Sweaty Knockers and Blues Fuckers. Their third album, the ZZ Top-referencing Tres Caballeros, is a real corker too.
Fiddlers, Dec 18 & 19
Bristol’s contribution to the first wave of prog was not exactly overwhelming. There was East of Eden and Stackridge, and, um, that’s it. With impeccable timing, the latter have decided to jack it in just at a time when prog has shed its punk-era pejorative connotations and is enjoying a popular revival with its own official chart. So why should the yoof who flock to Steven Wilson’s shows care about these old buggers? Here’s a brief history lesson. Stackridge opened (and closed) the very first Glastonbury Festival. They recorded The Man in the Bowler Hat with George Martin, who proved a perfect match for their melodic Beatlesy prog. They played Wembley Stadium with Elton John and the Beach Boys. Their fans were known as ‘rhubarb thrashers’, because they’d turn up to shows with sticks of rhubarb and thrash one another (some of these people were on drugs). Oh, and they put the region on the songwriting map with such classics as Purple Spaceships Over Yatton (some of the band were on drugs too). These are the very last dates on their Final Bow tour (an additional night at Fiddlers was recently announced because of overwhelming public demand). Is it really the end? Well, history records that they first split up back in 1977…
Academy, Dec 20
The gig of the month and the penultimate date on Ghost’s epic European trek. To the uninitiated, these anonymous Swedes look like they ought to be black metallers, and there’s certainly plenty of Satanism in their Catholic-baiting costumery. But they actually play catchy, proggy melodic rock, which has confused many a metalhead. Opus Eponymous and Infestissumam were both strong albums, but they really nailed it with Meliora, which is a strong contender for the accolade of 2015’s album of the year. It’s also become their biggest hit to date, topping the charts in Scandinavia and making the US top ten. Just like Banksy, you don’t actually have to look very far to uncover their true identities, but where’s the fun in that? And if you didn’t catch them on their previous visit to the Academy, you may be surprised at just how droll Papa Emeritus III and his Nameless Ghouls can be. Get there early to check out intriguing Swedish duo Dead Soul. These metal fellow travellers trade in ‘electronic delta blues’ or ‘industrial doom blues’, no less, and have been described as a mash-up of Johnny Cash, Nine Inch Nails and Nick Cave.
Further Ahead
Here’s our essential diary of upcoming gigs that should be of interest to anyone of a rockin’ disposition.
Steven Wilson, Colston Hall, Jan 26
The Winery Dogs, Academy, Feb 2
TesseracT, Thekla, Feb 3
Bowling For Soup, Academy, Feb 15
Kataklysm, Fleece, Feb 15
Thunder/Terrorvision/King King, Colston Hall, Feb 16
Symphony X, Bierkeller, Feb 18
Ensiferum, Marble Factory, Feb 18
Therapy?, Thekla, Feb 18
Graham Bonnet, Bierkeller, Feb 19
CJ Wildheart, Thekla, Feb 25
Decapitated, Marble Factory, March 2
Reckless Love, Thekla, March 4
Stiff Little Fingers/Ricky Warwick, Academy, March 6
Sabaton/Alestorm, Academy, March 8
Exodus, Fleece, March 9
Fleshgod Apocalypse, Fleece, March 16
Hard Rock Hell Tour: Quireboys/Faster Pussycat/Bonafide, Academy, March 18
The Enid, Redgrave Theatre, March 18
Tracer, Thekla, March 24
The Von Hertzen Brothers, Fleece, March 24
Overkill, Fleece, April 12
Chris Cornell, Colston Hall, April 30
Yes, Colston Hall, May 4
Temples Festival, Motion, June 2-5
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