Music / Previews
Metal & Prog Picks: April 2016
Assyrian black metal, two very shouty ladies, solo acoustic Dutch prog, splendidly danceable folk-metal from Finland and, um, ragga-metal from Newport. Don’t let anyone ever tell you this music is lacking in diversity.
is needed now More than ever
Bierkeller, April 7
Now here’s an interesting one: an American death metal band who are obsessed with Egyptology supported by a black metal band who are actually from the Middle East. South Carolina’s ace technical death metallers Nile make a swift return to Bristol after their packed, sarcophagus-rattling show at the Marble Factory last September. Founded in Jerusalem by Ashmedi way back in 1993, Melechesh (it’s a Hebrew/Aramaic portmanteau meaning ‘king of fire’) have been described as everything from Armenian black metal to oriental metal and Mizrahi metal, though they apparently prefer the term Mesopotamian/Assyrian metal, and were one of the first metal bands from the region to get a record deal. You’ll find Middle Eastern chord progressions and Mediterranean drum patterns here, but Ashmedi has been outspoken about not wishing to fetishise his ethnicity and culture in trad world music style, so Melechesh’s first album in five years, Enki, remains as brutal as ever. There’s a long-gestating documentary about his life and struggles (the band were busted for “dark cult activities” – i.e. playing black metal – in the early days) which should attract plenty of mainstream attention on release.
Fleece, April 12
After Exodus’s visit to the Fleece last month, another veteran second-division US thrash act reaches our shores. As the name implies, New Jersey’s Overkill owe rather a lot to Motorhead, though they originated as a punk act delightfully named The Lubricunts. Like Exodus, they’re down to just a couple of original members these days – vocalist Bobby ‘Blitz’ Ellsworth and bassist D.D. Verni. Also like Exodus, they’re enjoying something of a commercial renaissance as a new generation of yoof discover the joys of thrash. Latest album White Devil Armory proved to be the highest-charting release in the band’s history. Incidentally, they’re touring Russia with our very own Onslaught in June.
Marble Factory, April 13
They get more than their fair share of stick from our delightful friends in the online trolling community for the crime of failing to be sweaty, bearded, white men, but Heidi Shepherd and Carla Harvey come across in interviews as being pretty genuine in their enthusiasm for all things metal. They’re also heavily influenced stylistically by the late Wendy O. Williams. So let’s give ’em a chance, eh? Their music is at its best when it veers away from generic nu-metal towards heavier, Pantera-esque sounds. Second album Take It Like a Man (so named against the wishes of their record company) includes the enjoyably potty-mouthed Blonde Girls All Look the Same. Fascinating fact: Ms. Harvey has a degree in Mortuary Science and plans to forge a second career in carving up cadavers at her own funeral home once she’s done with the shouting.
Fleece, April 15
Judging by the number of “Isn’t that the bloke from Skindred?” comments on the interweb, there are plenty of young ‘uns who are unfamiliar with Benji Webbe’s musical past. So why on earth get Dub War back together when Skindred have reached Academy-packing level after years of hard slog? Benji has said that he wants to do something “a bit more Newport” than with Skindred, whatever that may mean, though his enthusiasm for his home town may have waned slightly after he was stabbed in the face and throat after leaving a party back in January. Anyhoo, it’ll be grand to see Dub War reviving all the old stuff at their early ’90s Bristol stomping ground once again. Their genre boundary disrespecting brand of ragga-punk-metal is broadly similar to that of Skindred, but clearly the world wasn’t ready for this kind of thing 20 years ago.
Stag & Hounds, April 15
Firmly rooted in the underground, self-styled ‘caveman battle doom’ trio Conan hail from doomy, battle-riven and caveman-infested Liverpool. “Their songs are exercises in scowling, Lovecraftian menace, with macabre fantasies brought to life via detuned guitars and Jon Davis’ despairing bellow,” enthused The Guardian in its review of their Blood Eagle album. Last time they were in Bristol just ten months ago, they played the Exchange. This time, they’re right next door. Better yet, it’s a free gig put on by those lovely Fleece people. So unless you’re going to Dub War, there’s absolutely no excuse not to attend.
Bierkeller, April 22
It’s a fact: every single character and location in The Lord of the Rings has been nicked by a metal or prog act for a band name or song title. These veteran German death metallers bagged the chief antagonist in The Silmarillion, which is certainly an improvement over their previous moniker – Cadaverous Smell. Having enjoyed a 15 year break from infernal noise, they got back together in 2011 to take advantage of the revival of interest in death metal and recently released a new album, Ungod, on Century Media. Your death metal needs will be further serviced by no fewer than three support bands tonight: Incantation (note: very loud Americans, not the bland, tootly ’80s chart-bothering world music act), Darkrise and Omophagia.
Exchange, April 26
Probably the mellowest gig you’ll ever find recommended in this section. Anneke merits inclusion because of her proggy collaborations with Devin Townsend and Arjen Lucassen (in The Gentle Storm, who played at the Marble Factory with Delain last October) as well as her pioneering work with Dutch band The Gathering. This is billed as a career-spanning solo acoustic show, so let’s all request an acoustic version of Napalm Death’s In Deference. She does guest vocals on that, you know.
Fleece, April 27
There are solemn, po-faced metallers who sneer at Korpiklaani. Ignore them. These people are tossers. If you want to dance like a fool to songs about drinking and Sami mythology with lashings of violin, accordion and full-blooded yoiking, there’s no one better in the increasingly crowded field of folk-metal than these veteran Finns – with the possible exception of Eluveitie, who plough a slightly different furrow. Since their, ahem, somewhat inebriated show at the Fleece back in December 2014, they’ve released their ninth album, Noita, which brings the folky elements more to the fore than on previous releases. (Fact: Korpiklaani started out as a pure folk band called Shaman, but soon discovered that metal was much more fun so decided to combine the two.) This is billed as a co-headlining show with fellow countrymen Moonsorrow, who seem a less likely match than Faroese berserkers Tyr, who were their previous touring partners. In contrast to Korpiklaani’s relentless jauntiness, these rather serious, war-painted pagan metallers trade in lengthy epics. Indeed, three songs on their new album Jumalten Aika clock in at more than 15 minutes apiece.
Colston Hall, April 30
Chris Cornell and Mark Lanegan – separated at birth? Consider the evidence. They were the two greatest singers of the ‘grunge’ era, whose bands actually owed more to classic hard rock than modish Generation Whatever sulkiness (Soundgarden and the hugely under-appreciated Screaming Trees respectively). Each had well-documented drug problems, chopped off his locks and went on to pursue a more critically acceptable direction with their solo music which – can we be totally frank here? – is dull as ditchwater. There are differences, of course. Lanegan has never got the old band back together or released an album quite as monumentally awful as Cornell’s dire electro-pop collaboration with Timbaland, Scream. So what can we expect tonight? The speed with which this show sold out suggests there will be a lot of people present solely to hear “that song from the James Bond film.” But so long as he does Black Hole Sun too, we’ll go home happy.
Further Ahead
Here’s our essential diary of upcoming gigs that should be of interest to anyone of a rockin’ disposition.
Yes, Colston Hall, May 4
Lionize, Thekla, May 5
Metalplex, The Cube, May 6-8
Ron Geesin, Watershed, May 8
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
Stream of Passion, Bierkeller, Oct 14
Y&T, Academy, Nov 6
Martin Turner’s Wishbone Ash, Tunnels, Nov 10
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