Metal & Prog Picks: April 2017

There’s something for everybody in the very big tent that is the Metal and Prog section this month. The best news is that Blackberry Smoke, leading lights of the New Wave of Southern Rock (a genre I have just made up), finally make it to Bristol for a show at the O2 Academy. While our Christian friends are marking the resurrection of the Easter Bunny, or something, death metal fans will be celebrating, er, death at the Bierkeller’s annual Bristol Deathfest over the Easter weekend. Elsewhere, naughty Nordic black metallers Taake come to the Exchange, the mighty Pallbearer pipe progressive doom aboard the Thekla, Wolf People serve up accomplished psych/prog, Hayseed Dixie return with another dose of ‘rockgrass’ and the ever-splendid Quireboys deliver their familiar brand of classy, good-time rock’n’roll. Take a gander at the coming soons and you’ll find there’s plenty of quality stuff to look forward to later in the year. New additions include Cheap Trick at the O2 Academy, brill Canuck folk-prog-metal Satanists Blood Ceremony at the Louisiana, the welcome return of The Enid to the Fleece and noisy bastards SUNN O))) at the Trinity. Oh, and Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens, the only metal singer ever to have been played by Mark Wahlberg in a major motion picture, comes to the Bierkeller next month.

John Coghlan’s Quo

Fleece, April 1

Parfitt’s carked it, Rossi’s gone all acoustic, Lancaster lives down under. So drummer Coghlan’s quartet offers your only chance of hearing classic Quo performed by at least one original member of the Frantic Four. When he’s not fulfilling his duties as patron of the Westie Rehoming charity, Coghlan’s stated aim is to “recreate an authentic ’70s Quo sound”. No bloody Marguerita Time, then. Woo-hoo!

Wolf People

Exchange, April 5

A swift return for the riff-heavy Bedford pagan psych/prog/folkies who impressed our reviewer when they played the Louisiana back in November. Signed to hip indie label Jajaguwar, Wolf People are one of those bands that appeal to a diverse audience from beardy hipsters to old proggers who recognise all the deliciously uncool 70s influences at play. “If Fairport Convention had preferred Black Sabbath to Bob Dylan, they might have sounded like this,” enthused The Grauniad‘s review of current album Ruins.

Blackberry Smoke/Biters

O2 Academy, April 6

One of the most encouraging musical developments of recent years has been the resurgence of southern rock, with a slew of Skynyrd/Allmans-worshipping younger bands giving it some serious yee-haw. The Cadillac Three packed out the Academy back in November and now the very finest of this new wave of southern rockers finally make it to Bristol. Very hairy and exceptionally beardy, Atlanta’s Blackberry Smoke cracked the UK top ten with their fifth album Like an Arrow last October and even managed to blag that very occasional Token Rock Slot on the relentlessly soporific Later with Jools Holland, which must have jolted many a regular viewer from their gentle slumber. It helps that they’ve got a brilliant catalogue of songs elevated by Charlie Starr’s witty lyrics.

On the face of it, sleaze rockers Biters might seem an odd choice of support, but they’re the Smoke’s Earache labelmates and also hail from Atlanta. They were great fun when they played the Thekla on their first UK tour a couple of years back, so you’d be well advised to get there early and check ’em out.

Taake

Exchange, April 6

Shame this one clashes with Blackberry Smoke, but there’s probably not an awful lot of crossover between southern rock and black metal audiences. Veterans Taake (that’s ‘Fog’ in old Norse) are essentially one fella named Hoest (Orjan Stedjeberg to his mum) who pursues “true Norwegian black metal” with a bunch of sidemen. It’s impressive stuff, often of a conceptual nature. Taake’s fifth album, Noregs Vaapen, was even nominated for a Spellemann (Norwegian Grammy) award back in 2012. But this being Norwegian black metal, controversy is never far away. They’ve been accused of Naziism and writing anti-Islamic songs, though it’s only fair to point out that Mr. Hoest has mounted a robust defence, insisting that the band is not political and grumbling that nobody bothers to mention his anti-Christian lyrics.

Pallbearer

Thekla, April 8

Mournful, proggy Arkansas doomsters Pallbearer were one of the unexpected highlights of the 2015 Temples festival, playing to a rapt, packed audience at Motion. Since then, they’ve signed to Nuclear Blast, so must wave goodbye to their underground cred but can now look forward to reaching a much wider audience. Long-term fans will be reassured to learn that NB debut Heartless is very much business as usual, with plenty of epic tracks (the longest of which clocks in at nearly 13 minutes) and no shortage of primal, sludgy riffage.

Acid Reign

Exchange, April 9

Remember them? These minor league ’80s Brit comedy thrash metallers were never actually much cop, but were always an entertaining live act. They split in 1991 and inevitably ‘rebooted’ a couple of years ago with frontman Howard ‘H’ Smith as the only original member. He’s spent the intervening period on the stand-up comedy circuit as Keith Platt – Professional Yorkshireman (“Brilliant – like a Yorkshire Al Murray” – Daily Mail; “A cunt” – Jimmy Carr). This ‘April Fool’s Tour’ is Acid Reign’s first romp around the UK circuit in 26 years.

Hellyeah

Thekla, April 14

Okay-ish groove metal ‘supergroup’ featuring former Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul and Mudvayne vocalist Chad Gray. Astonishingly, their new album Undeniable features a cover of I Don’t Care Anymore by Phil Collins (it’s on Hello, I Must Be Going, fact fans) with guitar parts played by Vinne’s late brother and former Pantera bandmate Dimebag.

Bristol Deathfest

Bierkeller, April 15-16

You can have any kind of metal you want so long as it’s death metal at “Bristol’s premier indoor death metal event”, which spans the Easter weekend at the Bierkeller, with a warm-up show at the Gryphon on Friday 14. The big names are both veterans signed to Nuclear Blast. Poland’s Vader aren’t quite as accomplished as their chums and fellow countryman Decapitated, but can be relied upon to deliver a great show. New Yorkers Immolation are more technically proficient and influential and should appeal to anyone who enjoys the likes of Nile. Get there early to cheer on Bristol bands Necrosis and Body Harvest.

Hayseed Dixie

Fleece, April 19

The original ‘rockgrass’ act return with a new album Free Your Mind . . . and Your Grass Will Follow. As before, they’re diluting the rock’n’metal covers with some unwelcome other stuff (Love Train, anybody?), but – hey – it does include a cover of Skynyrd’s brilliant The Ballad of Curtis Loew, so that’s OK. If you haven’t seem ’em for a while, you may wish to know that while John Wheeler remains at the helm the Reno brothers have left to form a more traditional bluegrass outfit. They’ve been replaced by Hippy Joe Hymas on mandolin and Tim Carter on banjo.

The Quireboys

Thekla, April 27

The Thekla has become something of a home-from-home for these Geordie funsters ever since they played an acoustic show here back in 2014. Last seen headlining the Hard Rock Hell tour at the Academy, they’re back on the boat with a full band to plug 10th studio album Twisted Love. This continues Spike and chums’ late creative purple patch which has yielded such excellent albums as Beautiful Curse, Black Eyed Sons and St. Cecilia and the Gypsy Soul. The chart-bothering days may be well behind them, but there’s still plenty of songwriting gas in the tank.

Wretch/Iron Void

Gryphon, April 28

If you like your metal defiantly old-skool and performed by road-hardened, gnarly American dudes, this is the show for you – though quite how they propose to fit everything in to the bijou Gryphon remains to be seen. Not to be confused with, erm, a shitload of other metal bands named Wretch, the Indianapolis Wretch are a Sabbathy doom trio who’ve been known to cover Judas Priest’s Winter and Motorhead’s Sweet Revenge. Support act Iron Void are, well, more of the same, though they hail from Yorkshire and so have less far to travel. Their self-titled debut album was released on the splendidly named Barbarian Wrath label.

COMING SOON

Here’s our essential diary of upcoming gigs that should be of interest to anyone of a rockin’ disposition.

Black Spiders, Thekla, May 1

Inter Arma/Celeste, Exchange, May 3

Steve Hackett, Colston Hall, May 4

Tax the Heat, Thekla, May 5

Dan Patlansky, Tunnels, May 5

Katatonia, Marble Factory, May 8

Devon Allman, Tunnels, May 9

Paul Rodgers, Colston Hall, May 10

Shawn Smith, Tunnels, May 12

Damo Suzuki, Exchange, May 12

Procol Harum, Colston Hall, May 16

Riverside, Marble Factory, May 20

Hawkwind, O2 Academy, May 24

Skunk Anansie, Academy, May 25

Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens, Bierkeller, May 28

Syd Arthur/Morgan Delt, Exchange, June 4

King’s X, Bierkeller, June 12

Blood Ceremony, Louisiana, June 15

Metal Church, Thekla, June 24

The Enid, Fleece, June 26

Cheap Trick, O2 Academy, June 29

Steve Winwood, Colston Hall, July 4

SUNN O))), Trinity, July 13

Graham Bonnet, Bierkeller, July 24

Wayward Sons, Louisiana, July 26

KMFDM, Fleece, Sept 10

Sparks, O2 Academy, Sept 26

All Them Witches, Bierkeller, Oct 7

Windhand/Satan’s Satyrs, Exchange, Oct 13

WASP, O2 Academy, Oct 25

The Hawklords, Bierkeller, Nov 7

Fish, O2 Academy, Dec 13