Music / Previews
Metal & Prog Picks: November 2019
Holy crap – what a month! A truly international selection too. November brings bands from Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Moldova, Italy, Australia, Switzerland, the USA and, uh, Devon (that’ll be Hawkwind).
It’s also worth mentioning, once again, that rather a lot of people still haven’t received the memo from the fashion police instructing them that they’re not permitted to enjoy this stuff. Many of the gigs listed below are already sold out (Fever 333, Marillion, Steve Hackett, Lacuna Coil, Rival Sons, etc) and others are on the verge of doing so. So don’t dither – bag those tickets now if you intend to rock.
is needed now More than ever
SWX, Nov 1
Missing Rage Against the Machine after Zack de la Rocha took his ball home? Meet Inglewood’s Fever 333. They’re just as cross and also do the multi-racial genre mash-up thing. Signed to Roadrunner, they’ve released just the one album, Strength in Numb333rs, and bagged a Grammy nomination (Best Rock Performance) earlier this year for Made an America. Should you be minded to learn the name of yet another metal sub-genre, you may wish to know that Kerrang! has defined their oeuvre as ‘Trap Metal’. One thing’s for sure: this is going to be rowdy.
O2 Academy, Nov 3
No doubt about it: Opeth have now gone full prog. While this has caused a certain amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth among hardcore death metal enthusiasts, their evolution has been a joy to behold for those of us with broader tastes. After Heritage, Pale Communion and Sorceress they’re now four albums in to this musical adventure with the excellent In Cauda Venenum, which has been released in English and Swedish versions. That it’s become yet another chart hit suggests departing naysayers have been replaced by newcomers to the band. Their previous show at the Academy was one of the best gigs of 2017. Let’s see if they can top that this time. Make sure you arrive in plenty of time for fabulous Icelandic trio The Vintage Caravan, who were on fiery form at the Exchange last year and will no doubt be highlighting the proggy side of their catalogue.
Fleece, Nov 7
The former Hanoi Rocks pretty boy frontman cuts a somewhat more ravaged dash these days, but compared to some of his ex-bandmates he’s a picture of health. And he certainly puts everything into his high-energy live performances, as he demonstrated when we last saw him supporting Motorhead at the Colston Hall back in 2010. Musically, there’s been little change in the brand of punky hard rock Mr. Monroe has been refining over the last thirty years or so, new album One Man Gang being another solid collection. His current band includes regular sidekick Sami Yaffa, guitarist Steve Conte (best known as the chap who filled the New York Dolls void after Johnny Thunders carked it) and wonderfully named drummer Karl Rockfist.
O2 Academy, Nov 7
Often glibly characterised as Led Zeppelin fronted by Jim Morrison, California’s Rival Sons are one of the rare rock acts who’ve had a look-in on TV music snoozathon Later . . . With Jools Holland. When they played the Thekla back in 2012, frontman Jay Buchanan emerged in a black blouse open to the waist, spray-on leopard-skin trousers that left nothing to lady fans’ imaginations, and a pair of white shoes so pointy that he was in danger of having someone’s eye out. If you’re going to dress like that, with all the attendant rock god posturing, you really need the talent to back it up. Fortunately, Buchanan is one of the best rock vocalists of his generation and has the whole Tyler/Perry, Jagger/Richards thing going on with dapper guitarist Scott Holiday. Sixth album Feral Roots is Rival Sons’ highest UK-charting release to date and the fact that this entire tour sold out months ago suggests they must be doing something right. Support comes from hard-working duo The Last Internationale, hot from playing this very venue on The Cult’s tour last month. Their new album Soul on Fire is out tomorrow (i.e. November 8).
Bath Forum, Nov 9
How are they going to top that sublime performance on the Fuck Everyone and Run tour at the Colston Hall last year? The answer is that Marillion have taken another left turn. Clearly having enjoyed their performance with ‘friends from the orchestra’ at the Albert Hall (the fastest-selling show of their career, fact fans) that was recorded for the All One Tonight blu-ray, they’ve decided to take the show on the road for a run of dates that sees them back at the RAH for a two-night stand later this month. Expect re-worked versions of Marillion classics performed with the In Praise of Folly String Quartet plus Sam Morris on French Horn and Emma Halnan on Flute. For a hint of the likely set list, look no further than the recently released Marillion with Friends from the Orchestra album.
Macmillanfest 2019: Evil Scarecrow
Fleece, Nov 9
From the sublime to the ridiculous. Roll up for some jolly dressing up box metal from an act who are billed as “the finest parody metal band from Nottingham to have written a song about a robot.” Dr. Rabid Hell, Brother Dimitri Pain, Kraven Morrdeth, Princess Luxury and Ringmaster Monty Blitzfist have released a whole bunch of increasingly silly albums – most recently Crowcifiction, Sixty Six Minutes Past Six and Chapter IV: Antartarctica – and moved Metal Hammer to hail them as “an affable blend of Pythonesque absurdity, artfully drawn from an evident love of metal”. They’re headlining the annual Macmillanfest charity all-day metalfest aimed at raising cash for, and awareness of, Macmillan Cancer Support. Your host for the day is the world’s leading vegan heterosexual transvestite comedian and metalhead musician: Andrew O’Neill (author of the highly entertaining A History of Heavy Metal).
O2 Academy, Nov 11
Heavy djenty prog-metallers from Washington DC whom we last saw supporting the Devin Townsend Project at the Academy back in 2015, Periphery were founded by ace guitarist Misha Mansoor and have a slight whiff of nu-metal about them thanks to Spencer Sotelo’s vocals. Even if you consider this a deal-breaker, you’d be hard pushed not to enjoy the title of their latest album: Periphery IV: Hail Stan.
Lacuna Coil/Eluveitie/Infected Rain
SWX, Nov 15
Last seen by us at the Anson Rooms, veteran Milanese goth-metallers Lacuna Coil had a bit of a wobbly mid-period with the dodgy if big-selling Shallow Life album. Lately, they’ve been pursuing a much heavier direction (and raiding the dressing-up box for their promo photos), which suits them much better. They bagged the Best Live Act gong at last year’s Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards and new album Black Anima is out now. Support comes from splendid Swiss folk-metallers Eluveitie, who were on stunning form during their show at the late lamented Bierkeller back in 2014. As usual in Eluveitieland, there have been plenty of line-up changes since then, though dreadlocked Chrigel Glanzmann remains at the helm. 2017’s Evocation II: Pantheon album provided a way in to their music for trad folkies, being mostly acoustic and, it must be said, a tad New Agey on occasion, but newie Ategnatos saw the metal come roaring back with a vengeance. If you’re wondering about the lyrics to that one, by the way, they’re in Gaulish. Completing this big-value international triple bill are Moldovan melodic death metallers Infected Rain.
Anson Rooms, Nov 19
Recovered from the sight of Womblemeister Mike Batt skipping about the stage as he conducted the Docklands Symphonia when they accompanied the psychedelic warlords at the Bath Forum a year ago? It’s fair to say that fans were divided by this experience, though we enjoyed it very much. This 50th anniversary tour, which culminates at the Albert Hall, sees Hawkwind back to space rockin’, with latest studio album (their 32nd, fact fans) All Aboard the Skylark getting the four star thumbs-up from Classic Rock. To celebrate, here’s the Levitation promo with Mr. Brock (almost) wearing corpse paint a decade ahead of black metal and the late Ginger Baker on drums. As at the Forum, The Blackheart Orchestra are the tour support, though it’s been revealed that both Jah Wobble and former Motorhead guitarist Phil Campbell will also be guesting with Hawkwind on ‘selected dates’.
https://youtu.be/MExLFl2g688
O2 Academy, Nov 20
“Oh no, Steve Hillage!” – Neil the hippy, The Young Ones, 1984. Mr. Hillage may have left many of us behind when he and his partner Miquette Giraudy embarked on their ambient dance adventure with the Orb-inspired System 7, but he seems to have thoroughly enjoyed playing the guitar again with Gong and producing their 2032 reformation album. And as the response to a recent brief run of Steve Hillage Band dates proved, there’s a huge audience who still want to hear that magnificent early solo stuff. The good news is that this is exactly what we’re going to get, as he’ll be playing songs from Green, L, Fish Rising and – huge hurrah! – Motivation Radio tonight. (That’s the Live Herald album, in other words). So who’s in the Steve Hillage Band these days? Why, it’s the current, heavy psychedelic incarnation of Gong, fronted by Kavus Torabi. They’ll also be playing an opening set of their own material, mostly drawing on their excellent new album The Universe Also Collapses, as unveiled at that great show aboard the Thekla back in May.
Bath Forum, Nov 20
He was shamefully written out of Genesis history by the BBC, but there are plenty of reasons to love Steve Hackett. For a start, he’s the only member of the ‘classic’ Genesis line-up to keep the music alive and was last seen doing so at the Colston Hall in 2017. But he doesn’t just churn out the same old stuff, delving deep into the catalogue to unearth rarely played gems. On this tour, he’ll be playing Selling England by the Pound in its entirety for the first time (which means Firth of Fifth, featuring one of the greatest guitar solos ever), plus songs from his Spectral Mornings solo album, which marks its 40th anniversary this year. Expect to hear selections from his latest album At the Edge of Light too. He’s also got a great band, fronted by the flamboyant Nad Sylvan, which currently features Flower Kings bassist Jonas Reingold. Oh, and he invented modern heavy metal. No, really. Steve originated the finger tapping technique on The Musical Box way back in 1971. Without this, there’d have been no Eddie Van Halen.
Airbourne/Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown
O2 Academy, Nov 25
Wanna hear the good news about Airbourne’s fifth album, Boneshaker? It sounds much the same as the previous four Airbourne albums. That’s exactly what you want from a defiantly unreconstructed Australian band who model themselves closely on AC/DC, when they’re not modelling themselves closely on Rose Tattoo. That means nudge-winky songs about shagging, songs about cars, songs about the glory of rock’n’roll and even more nudge-winky songs about shagging. On stage, it’s all delivered at maximum volume with a total lack of pretension. If you’re still unsure of what to expect, check out their 2017 tour documentary above, much of which was shot at the Bristol Academy. Make sure you arrive in time for Nashville’s Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown, who were hugely impressive when they last played here with the Cadillac Three back in 2016. Mr. Bryant is something of a guitar hotshot who was a teenage winner of the Robert Johnson Award. In case you’re wondering, his fellow guitarist Graham Whitford is indeed the son of Aerosmith’s Brad.
COMING SOON
Here’s our essential diary of upcoming gigs that should be of interest to anyone of a rockin’ disposition.
Jinjer/The Agonist, Thekla, Dec 4
Last in Line, Fleece, Dec 4
The Darkness/Rews, Bath Pavilion, Dec 7
Dan Reed Network/Gun/FM, O2 Academy, Dec 9
Saving Grace, St. George’s, Dec 11
Slade, O2 Academy, Dec 15
Toby Jepson, Louisiana, Dec 17
Boris, Fleece, Dec 19
Heather Findlay, Thekla, Jan 11
Insomnium, Thekla, Jan 26
Steel Panther, O2 Academy, Feb 5
Delain, Anson Rooms, Feb 8
The Hu, O2 Academy, Feb 10
Testament/Exodus/Death Angel, O2 Academy, March 3
Grand Magus, Fleece, March 5
Anvil, Exchange, March 18
Ian Anderson, St. George’s April 21
Lamb of God/Kreator/Power Trip, O2 Academy, April 21
Chon, Fleece, April 24
Redd Kross, Exchange, April 30
Van Der Graaf Generator, Bath Forum, May 7
Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets, Bath Forum, May 12
Jizzy Pearl’s Love/Hate, Fleece, Sept 5
Jethro Tull, Forum, Bath, Oct 13
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