Music / Previews
Metal & Prog Picks: January 2018
Tongue-in-cheek glam metal, dressing-up box black metal and old-school quality blues-rock. It’s all a bit quiet in our world until February, when there’s a multiple pile-up of gigs, but nobody could bemoan the lack of diversity. Check out the coming soons for a rapidly swelling gig schedule, missus, with no shortage of annoying clashes. Oh, and grab those tickets while you can. A bunch of stuff has already sold out, including Steel Panther (see below) at the Academy, death metal veterans Cannibal Corpse at the Bierkeller and prog-folk titans Jethro Tull at the Colston Hall.
Thekla, Jan 12
is needed now More than ever
Need some invigorating black metal to blast away all the Christianity that’s been inflicted on us over the last few weeks? Look no further than this robed and anonymous Polish eight-piece, who fill the void between Ghost and that funny Australian act fronted by the bloke with the box on his head (oh that’s right, Portal). Anyhoo, this Polish octet’s Cyrillic name Батюшка translates as “father” and is used, it says here, to address an Eastern Orthodox priest. What this lot actually trade in is a blend of atmospheric black metal with liturgical chants in Church Slavonic. Batushka’s collectable Litourgiya album was initially released on the indie Witching Hour label, but has recently been picked up and re-released by Metal Blade. At the very least, it should be great fun watching them all trying to squeeze onto the Thekla stage. Support comes from Basel’s esoteric avant-garde black metallers Schammasch (who take their name from the Mesopotamian sun god Šamaš, fact fans) and Trepaneringsritualen – the solo project of Swedish ‘noise artist’ Thomas Ekelund, which is billed as “Ritual music from Göta Länder.”
Steel Panther/Inglorious/Wayward Sons
O2 Academy, Jan 27
No question about the gig of the month, as those very naughty, bewigged chaps formerly known as Metal Skool return to infect us with another virulent dose of disgraceful, tongue-in-cheek glam-metal. With songs like Goin’ in the Backdoor, Pussy Ain’t Free and the big power ballad That’s When You Came In, aptly titled current album Lower the Bar doesn’t break any new ground. But that’s not what we want or expect from Steel Panther. It helps that they’re exceptionally good musicians and are happy to give a leg-up to two rising British metal acts. Those peculiar folks who are glued to TV singing contests will recognise Inglorious frontman Nathan James as a runner-up on ITV’s Superstar. Last seen at this venue supporting The Winery Dogs, the band’s imaginatively titled new album Inglorious II is out now. The highly promising Wayward Sons, fronted by Bristol’s very own former Little Angel Toby Jepson, played their very first gig at the Louisiana last year. Their debut album Ghosts of Yet to Come is out now on Frontiers.
Exchange, Jan 30
Oli Brown is the toast of our beer-bellied chums in the blues fraternity, being a multiple winner at the British Blues Awards and securing the John Mayall seal of approval. But he’s no boring purist and also likes to rock. In 2014, he formed the agreeably hard-rockin’ trio RavenEye, who supported Blues Pills at the Bierkeller back in 2015. Since then, they’ve released their debut album, Nova, on Frontiers and toured with the likes of Slash, Deep Purple and Aerosmith. Support tonight comes from fellow Brit trio SKAM, who are based in Leicester but seem to consider Bristol their second home, so frequently do they play here. Unusually for a rock act, their new album The Amazing Memoirs of Geoffrey Goddard is a full-on, ambitious concept piece, whose story arc follows the eponymous test pilot who’s jolted forward in time from 1935. Wonder if they’ve ever heard Robert Calvert’s Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters…
COMING SOON
Here’s our essential diary of upcoming gigs that should be of interest to anyone of a rockin’ disposition.
Therion, Bierkeller, Feb 13
Arch Enemy/Wintersun/Tribulation, O2 Academy, Feb 14
Hayseed Dixie, Fleece, Feb 14
Amenra/Boris, Thekla, Feb 14
Paradise Lost, Thekla, Feb 17
Magnum, Trinity, Feb 20
Butcher Babies, Thekla, Feb 21
The Temperance Movement, O2 Academy, Feb 22
Piratefest 2018: Alestorm/The Dread Crew of Oddwood/Rumahoy, Motion, Feb 24
Apocalyptica, Colston Hall, Feb 28
Stone Broken/Jared James Nichols/The Bad Flowers, Fleece, March 7
Venom Inc/Suffocation, Bierkeller, March 9
Sepultura, SWX, March 13
Yes, Colston Hall, March 13
Cannibal Corpse, Bierkeller, March 16
Skid Row/Toseland/Bad Touch, O2 Academy, March 20
Testament/Annihilator/Vader, Motion, March 29
Epica/Myrkur/Oceans of Slumber, O2 Academy, April 8
Jethro Tull, Colston Hall, April 9
The Dead Daisies/The Treatment/The Amorettes, O2 Academy, April 14
Marillion, Colston Hall, April 17
Trivium, O2 Academy, April 19
Skindred, O2 Academy, April 25
G3 2018: Joe Satriani/John Petrucci/Uli Jon Roth, Colston Hall, April 26
Omnium Gatherum/Skalmöld, Bierkeller, April 26
Peter Hammill, The Lantern, April 29
Lionize/Planet of Zeus, Fleece, May 3
Machine Head, O2 Academy, May 15
Wildhearts/Reef/Terrorvision, Marble Factory, May 25
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