Music / Previews
Metal & Prog Picks: March 2016
A one-woman black metal act from Denmark, a theatrical prog show directed by C4 illusionist Simon Drake and (allegedly) an eight-foot-tall inflatable duck? It can only be another packed month in the greatest and most enjoyable of all musical genres. From Polish technical death metal and Scottish pirate metal to Finnish glam metal, classic Calfornian thrash metal, Italian symphonic metal and an English psychedelic rock opera, there’s plenty here for those of us who prefer our music defiantly uncool. And as the late, great Frank Zappa once said: “I have an important message to deliver to all the cute people all over the world. If you’re out there and you’re cute, maybe you’re beautiful, I just want to tell you something: there are more of us ugly motherfuckers than you, so watch out.”
In other local metal news, the Temples Festival line-up is finally coming together. After the slightly underwhelming announcement that The Melvins were to be the first headliner, the organisers redeemed themselves by booking the mighty Carcass, who were last at Motion on the Deathcrusher tour. That leaves one headline slot to be filled. Our infallible chum Social Media Speculation keeps mentioning Napalm Death, but there’s no confirmation yet.
is needed now More than ever
Marble Factory, March 2
The first time Decapitated played Bristol (the Bierkeller, if memory serves), they seemed quite ridiculously young. That’s because these Poles were ridiculously young, none of them being out of their teens. Drummer Witold Kieltyka was just 15 when he played on the band’s debut album, Winds of Creation. Alas, he was killed in a car crash that nearly finished off the band altogether. But his older brother Waclaw ‘Vogg’ Kieltyka soldiered on, slowly establishing Decapitated as one of the world’s leading technical death metal acts. Support tonight comes from Reading’s very own prog/melodic death metallers Sylosis.
Thekla, March 4
While it would be grand to think that metal is free of snobbery, cliques, elitism and more-underground-than-thou posturing, that’s sadly not the case. Nowadays, there’s nothing quite as reviled as glam metal, so these Finnish ladyboys have the field pretty much to themselves (unless you count Steel Panther). Fortunately, they’re pretty damn good at it, serving up such catchy, fnarr-worthy songs as Keep It Up All Night like it’s 1985. Chart toppers back home, they play to a somewhat more select audience in the UK but always put on a good show.
Stiff Little Fingers/Ricky Warwick
O2 Academy, March 6
Not an obvious choice for inclusion in this section, Stiff Little Fingers qualify because they’re a damn fine rock band who flew under the punk flag of convenience. Little publicised back in the day was that they started out as a Deep Purple tribute act. See the B24/7 interview with Jake Burns for more. Get there early for a solo support slot by fellow Irishman Ricky Warwick, who now fronts Thin Lizzy and Black Star Riders. He’s just released a new double album of his own excellent material, When Patsy Cline Was Crazy (And Guy Mitchell Sang the Blues)/Hearts on Trees.
O2 Academy, March 8
Upgraded from the Marble Factory, the big-value metal double-bill of the month sees Swedish power metallers Sabaton make their first visit to Bristol accompanied by (mostly) Scottish pirate metallers Alestorm. And as Alestorm frontman Christopher Bowes told Metal Hammer, it’s a perfect match: “They sing short, goofy songs about battles in tanks and we sing short, goofy songs about battles on ships.” He also revealed a certain amount of competition between the two acts: “Sabaton use artillery and a gigantic tank onstage these days, and we need to beat their awesomeness with our stupidity, so we’re having an enormous, eight-foot-tall inflatable duck.” Fascinating fact number 1: Alestorm are not the world’s first pirate metal band. That distinction belongs to Hamburg’s Running Wild. Fascinating fact number 2: Mr. Bowes threw in a masters degree in mathematics at Bristol University to pursue a career in pirate metal and still lives in the city.
Louisiana, March 9
Mighty fine psychedelic/progressive rockers named after a lion-headed, bear-riding Great King of Hell, which is nice. Alas, the release of their second album, Desire’s Magic Theatre, has just been pushed back to the end of April, though no doubt they’ll take the opportunity to showcase some of what Rosalie Cunningham has described as “a psychedelic rock opera dedicated to our good friends Sarge Pepper and Zig Stardust.” If you fancy a larf, Google Ms. Cunningham’s very different previous band, the Guardian and BBC Introducing-approved Ipso Facto. Of course, we forgive her for that, especially as she’ll enjoy no such critical fawning with the superior Purson.
Fleece, March 9
Best known to metalheads as the band co-founded by Kirk Hammett, who went on to join a little combo by the name of Metallica, these second-division Californian thrashers have worked their way through an epic list of musicians, though occasionally feuding singer Steve Souza and guitarist Gary Holt (who also fills in for the late Jeff Hanneman in Slayer) have been with Exodus, on and off, since the 1980s. Expect to hear much classic thrash metal dating back to their hugely influential Bonded by Blood debut from 1984. However, they can hardly be accused of coasting on past glories. Tenth album Blood In, Blood Out, released in 2014, scored the band their biggest-ever US and global chart hit. Support comes from Finnish thrashers Lost Society.
Fleece, March 10
Alas, B24/7 was stuck in traffic as rising, hard-working, kilt-wearing Scottish blues rockers King King came on stage at the Colston Hall at the absurdly early hour of 7pm when they supported Thunder last month. The consensus view among those who got there in time seemed to be that they were much better than Terrorvision and should have been second on the bill. So expect a big turn-out for this headlining show. Don’t be put off by the fact that they regularly clean up at the British Blues Awards. This lot are no tedious purist bores, as their Planet Rock radio hits Crazy and Hurricane clearly demonstrate.
Fleece, March 13
Hipster black metal? It’s a phrase to send a shudder down the spine. Certainly, there have been more of our bearded, craft beer-loving friends venturing forth from their Stokes Croft cocoon to attend metal shows of late, possibly in search of the novelty of music that’s authentic, exciting and unironic. To be fair to San Francisco’s Deafheaven, they’ve rejected the tag that’s seen them lauded by the hipster press and treated with suspicion and hostility from metal purists and trolls. Frankly, however, tonight’s support act seems much more interesting. Myrkur is essentially a one-woman gothic black metal project by Danish musician Amalie Bruun, whose excellent debut album, M, was produced by Ulver’s Kristoffer Rigg.
Fleece, March 16
Italian symphonic death metallers Fleshgod Apocalypse have just released their agreeably overblown fourth album, King – a concept piece (obviously) with a variety of vocal styles, explosive triggered drum sounds and bombastic arrangements. Quite how the Fleece will manage to contain their pleasingly grandiose brand of everything-but-the-kitchen-sink metal remains to be seen. Get there early for the two Bristol-based support acts. First up are the brutal Mortishead, followed by Xerath, who play what can best be described as film score symphonic metal.
Hard Rock Hell Tour: The Quireboys/Faster Pussycat/Bonafide/The Texas Flood
O2 Academy, March 18
It’s a shame we don’t get more of these package tours as they’re a perfect opportunity for smaller bands to play to big audiences who wouldn’t normally get to see them. Last in town at the Thekla on their acoustic tour, headliners The Quireboys are currently on something of a creative roll with a trio of terrific recent albums: Beautiful Curse, Black Eyed Son and St. Cecilia and the Gypsy Soul. Early chums of Guns n’ Roses but, er, nowhere near as good, Faster Pussycat (yep, they’re named after the Russ Meyer boobyfest) supported Axl and co at the Colston Hall back in 1987. And if everyone who now claims to have been there was actually present, the Colston wouldn’t have been half-full. They’re still fronted by Mr. Taime Down (possibly not his real name). Swedes Bonafide supported the Quireboys at this very venue back in October 2013. They really, really, really want to be AC/DC but get bonus points for being fronted by a bloke with the magnificent name Pontus Snibb and for having a signature song entitled Fill Your Head with Rock. At the bottom of the bill are Neath-based classic rock trio The Texas Flood.
Redgrave Theatre, March 18
What’s not to adore about The Enid? Consider the facts. They began playing glorious symphonic prog in 1976, which is as big a subversive “Fuck you!” to the ascendant conformist, prescriptive, year zero punk rock movement as you can possibly get. Their magnificent instrumental debut album In the Region of the Summer Stars deserves a place on any Desert Island Discs list. And they can plausibly claim to have invented crowd-funding with their mid-’80s initiative The Stand. Of course, The Enid’s long strange trip has not been without its rocky patches, notably a truly awful flirtation with rave music in the early 1990s. Rarely has “Hope you like our new direction” proved quite so unwelcome. But in recent years, they’ve undergone an extraordinary renaissance and recently cleaned up at this year’s Prog Awards, bagging Band of the Year, Best Vocalist and Best Keyboard Player. Founder Robert John Godfrey still performs with the band, despite being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and has surrounded himself with some immensely talented young musicians, alongside long-serving drummer Dave Storey. Joe Payne, in particular, is a quite astonishing singer. So why this theatre tour? Well, it’s a full-on ambitious audio-visual production to accompany their new album Dust, which will be performed in its entirety. The show is directed by illusionist Simon Drake, who’s best known for C4’s The Secret Cabaret and has worked with everyone from Iron Maiden to Kate Bush (on her original 1979 tour).
Fleece, March 18
The Finns are taking over! The third of four Finnish metal acts to play Bristol this month, Amoprhis recently supported fellow countrymen Nightwish at Wembley. They started off as a pure death metal act but now incorporate elements of prog, folk and even psychedelia into their sound to impressive effect. Twelfth album Under the Red Cloud is out now on Nuclear Blast.
The Lantern, March 20
So who the hell’s in Soft Machine these days? Can’t be Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen, Hugh Hopper or Elton Dean, for obvious reasons. Turns out that it’s John Marshall, Roy Babbington and John Etheridge, all of whom played in the band in the early to mid-’70s. They’re now joined by that busy fella Theo Travis, who successfully straddles the prog/jazz boundary and is probably best known to those of us of the proggy persuasion for his work with Steven Wilson, Gong and The Tangent. Their Lantern show also gives us the opportunity to revisit this wonderfully eccentric clip from 1967.
Fleece, March 20
They’re less productive in the studio than they used to be – 2015’s Technicians of the Sacred was their first album in four years – but Somerset’s trippy, hippy, proggy, free festival soap-dodger faves Ozric Tentacles still put on a groovy live show and seem to be pretty much a Wynne family affair these days. Support comes from intriguing Israeli proggers Project RnL, who claim influences ranging from Gentle Giant to Metallica and Leonard Bernstein.
Thekla, March 24
You can’t help but feel that Adelaide trio Tracer have lost a bit of momentum since winning the Best New Band award at the 2012 Classic Rock Awards. This’ll be their fifth visit to Bristol and their second gig at the Thekla, where they supported The Answer last time out. If you like your heavy rock with a garnish of grunge, they’re still a mighty fine live act. Third album, Water for Thirsty Dogs, is out now.
Fleece, March 24
Yes, they’re three brothers and they’re called Von Hertzen. Oh, and Kie, Mikko and Jonne are from Finland, obviously. The preposterously talented Von Hertzens were last in town supporting the Wildhearts at the Academy and were quite jaw-droppingly awesome, effortlessly pulling off all those incredible vocal harmonies they sing on record. If Crosby, Stills and Nash played melodic prog-metal they might sound something like this. Not to be missed.
Marble Factory, March 26
The masked Americans who aren’t Slipknot (with whom they have occasionally feuded), Cleveland avant-garde industrial metallers Mushroomhead were initially associated with those naughty boys of GWAR. Of course, those masks help to conceal the fact that they burn their way through musicians at a remarkable rate, with singer Jeffrey Hatrix and drummer Steve Felton being the only constant members. Support tonight comes from American Head Charge and Sanguine.
Exchange, March 27
They’ve been keen to play down their Anathema connections of late, but these do no harm when it comes to publicising this rare UK tour by Scouse melancholic proggers Antimatter, who are essentially a vehicle for singer/songwriter Mick Moss. Their sixth release, The Judas Table, is described as “a concept album exploring the residual bad energy left in the psyche after falling in and out of a relationship with a toxic personality.” Heavy, huh? This gig also sees the unexpected reappearance of late ’80s Bristol live scene staples the Allnight Chemists. They’re fronted by Rich Harding of proggers Also Eden (and at least two Marillion tribute acts), with Ian Simpson from Bristol folk-rockers Billy in the Lowground on bass.
Further Ahead
Here’s our essential diary of upcoming gigs that should be of interest to anyone of a rockin’ disposition.
Nile/Melechesh, Birekeller, April 7
Overkill, Fleece, April 12
Butcher Babies, Marble Factory, April 13
Dub War, Fleece, April 15
Conan, Stag & Hounds, April 15
Hey! Hello!, Fleece, April 26
Anneke Van Giersbergen, Exchange, April 26
Korpiklaani/Moonsorrow, Fleece, April 27
Chris Cornell, Colston Hall, April 30
Yes, Colston Hall, May 4
Long Distance Calling, Exchange, May 11
Marduk, Fleece, May 11
Gov’t Mule, Academy, May 13
Haken, Fleece, May 25
Magnum, Academy, May 29
Mortiis, Fleece, May 29
Temples Festival, Motion, June 2-5
Panic Room, Fleece, June 23
Joe Bonamassa, Colston Hall, July 5
Frost*, Thekla, July 29
Honky, Exchange, Aug 1
Nik Turner’s Inner City Unit, Louisiana, Aug 25
Y&T, Academy, Nov 6
Martin Turner’s Wishbone Ash, Tunnels, Nov 10
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