Music / Previews
Metal & Prog Picks: February 2023
This month brings bands from as far afield as Australia, Ukraine, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Finland, the USA and, uh, Torquay.
In other news, if you’ve ever seen a show at the lovely art deco Bath Forum and thought “This would be a great place to film a live video”, prog veterans Van Der Graaf Generator thought so too and took along a full film crew to shoot their gig at the venue last year. It’s being released as a blu-ray/DVD/CD box set on the Esoteric label on March 10. Don’t expect much change from £40. There’s no news yet on what’s happening with the films that were shot last year of Skid Row at the O2 Academy or Frost* at Komedia.
is needed now More than ever
O2 Academy, Feb 3
Who’d have thunk Australia would spawn so many prog-metal bands? Tool-influenced, chart-topping Karnivool are part of the thriving scene that gave us Caligula’s Horse, Ne Obliviscaris, Voyager and Circles. This is the first British date on their Regeneration Tour, which has been rescheduled twice. Support comes from German prog-metallers The Ocean Collective.
Thekla, Feb 4
A former cage fighter from Torquay (no kidding) who also plays alongside ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons in Supersonic Blues Machine, hard-working, hard-rockin’ Mr. Barras and his band gave a very good account of themselves supporting Black Stone Cherry at the Academy back in September 2021. Now they’re undertaking their longest ever UK headlining tour, several dates on which have already sold out. New album Death Valley Paradise (Mascot Records) hit the top 30 last year.
SWX, Feb 5
After Avenged Sevenfold were announced as a Download headliner back in 2013, many punters objected that there were bands far more deserving of the headline slot. Before long, the hashtag #whynotdyingfetus? was trending worldwide, in the way that these things do. This was good news for the Maryland technical death metallers as they were eventually offered an opening slot on the festival’s main stage. Signed to the Relapse label, their latest album is 2017’s Wrong One to Fuck With, which proved to be their biggest commercial success to date.
Tubular Bells 50th Anniversary
Bristol Hippodrome, Feb 8
Don’t expect to see Mr. Oldfield himself on this 50th anniversary tour of the groundbreaking album that made Richard Branson very rich indeed. Originally performed at the Royal Festival Hall back in August 2021, it’s a ‘reimagined’ orchestral version (i.e. not the 1975 David Bedford Orchestral Tubular Bells) conducted by Oldfield’s veteran collaborator Robin Smith, who worked on the performance at the London Olympics Opening Ceremony in 2012. The main guitar parts will be played by Jay Stapley, who’s worked with the likes of Roger Waters and Scott Walker. There’s no info on who’ll be taking the Viv Stanshall role as ‘master of ceremonies’. Brian Blessed did it for a short run of shows last year, but it seems unlikely that he’ll be hauling ass round the UK on this tour. Factual note: Tubular Bells doesn’t actually reach its 50th anniversary for another three months. The album was released on May 25, 1973.
SWX, Feb 11
Boasting the stunning vocals of keyboard player/main songwriter Einar Solberg, Norwegian prog-metallers Leprous haven’t played in Bristol since that great show with Devin Townsend at the Hall Formerly Known as Colston back in 2017. They’ve been busy since then, releasing three albums on the Inside Out label, the latest of which is 2021’s Aphelion. Prog magazine’s reviewer observed that this saw Leprous “cast off the last vestiges of progressive metal. The album touches on prog, djent, pop, funk, trip hop and electronica, but the result is much greater than the sum of its parts. Nobody else sounds like this: Leprous have entered uncharted territory, proving utterly fearless in the process.” Support tonight comes from Monuments and Kalandra.
Marble Factory, Feb 12
Double bill of the month! We first saw Iceland’s magnificent Solstafir at the Exchange eight years ago. Signed to the Season of Mist label, they started out as a black metal act, but moved away from extreme metal fairly swiftly to establish their own distinctive atmospheric sound. Not exactly prolific, Solstafir tend to release an album every three years, the latest of which is 2020’s superb Endless Twilight of Codependent Love (the 34th best metal album of the year, according to Metal Hammer, whose reviewer noted that “Solstafir’s music doesn’t feel like it’s been written so much as carved out of the landscape by blizzards and howling gales”). Melancholic Swedes Katatonia are the perfect choice of co-headliner on this 31 date European tour, as they also have roots in extreme metal but have developed and refined their sound over a long career, with co-founder Jonas Renkse’s distinctive sonorous vocals very much to the fore. This rescheduled tour was originally intended to accompany the release of the City Burials album, but they’ve actually managed to record another one since then, Sky Void of Stars, which is out now. Don’t be surprised if you spot Bruce Soord lurking in the shadows tonight. The Pineapple Thief founder collaborated with his chum Renkse on the Wisdom of Crowds project, and this is practically a hometown gig for the Yeovil prog titan.
Fleece, Feb 16
Boston technical death/thrash metallers whose latest release is Netherheaven on Metal Blade, Revocation have been going for more than two decades now. The main support tonight is their extreme metal labelmates Goatwhore, whose newie is Angels Hung from the Arches of Heaven.
Trinity, Feb 18
Kerrang!‘s band of the year 2022 are probably a little too hip for the likes of us, but there’s definitely a good dollop of metal in mixed race duo Amy Love and Georgia South’s Mercury Prize shortlisted melange of grime, punk and electronica on their second album, Supernova. They also notched up some metal cred points by playing Hellfest. Hey – as with all previous metal-adjacent trends, if this is a gateway drug that leads to more fresh-faced teens mainlining on Sabbath and Slayer it can only be a good thing.
Black Star Riders/Michael Monroe/Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons
O2 Academy, Feb 22
Now celebrating their 10th anniversary, the band that grew out of the revived Thin Lizzy have undergone several line-up changes over the years. The most dramatic of these was the departure of Scott Gorham, though he’s apparently rejoining the band (along with original drummer Jimmy DeGrasso) for this run of anniversary dates. The great Ricky Warwick remains at the helm and the band’s sound is still distinctively Lizzy-esque. Latest recruit is Wayward Sons guitarist Sam Wood. Surely it cannot be a coincidence that he resembles the young Scott Gorham? New album Wrong Side of Paradise is out now on Earache. It’s well worth turning up early for two excellent support acts. Former Hanoi Rocks frontman Michael Monroe has enjoyed a solo career whose critical acclaim (2011’s Sensory Overdrive was Classic Rock‘s album of the year) hasn’t been matched by commercial success. His latest release I Live Too Fast to Die Young! features a guest performance by Slash on the title track. He always puts on a high energy show even though, amazingly, he’s now 60 years old. Trundling over the bridge once again, former Motorhead guitarist Phil Campbell and his band of bastard siblings return in the opening slot with a new vocalist, Joel Peters, and a recent-ish album, We’re the Bastards. Such a shame this show clashes with . . .
Fleece, Feb 22
Pleasingly overblown Finnish-Greek-Hungarian power metallers founded by former Battle Beast guitarist Anton Kabanen, Beast in Black were recently seen opening for Nightwish on their UK arena tour. Their third album, Dark Connection, is out now on Nuclear Blast and topped the chart back in Finland.
SWX, Feb 23
It’s a very welcome back to the theatrical Swedes, who made their international breakthrough with Avatar Country back in 2018 and played memorable shows at the O2 Academy and Anson Rooms. This long-delayed tour was originally intended to mark the release of the Hunter Gatherer album, but they’ll have another one, Dance Devil Dance, in the shops just before the Bristol show. Support comes from Veil of Maya and Mastiff.
Bullet For My Valentine/Jinjer/Atreyu
O2 Academy, Feb 28
Enjoy watching headline bands being blown away by their support acts? This is likely to be the show for you. Bridgend metalcore veterans Bullet For My Valentine may be at the top of the bill, but all eyes will be on Ukrainian prog-metallers Jinjer, who played a stunning show at the Thekla back in December 2019, long before Putin’s invasion, and have got bigger and bigger since then. Tatiana Shmailyuk’s extraordinary vocal range is what really sets them apart, but they needed Ukrainian Ministry of Culture approval to tour after the war began and have now been named as cultural ambassadors whose task is to raise money and awareness. That certainly seems to be working. Last April, the band’s stylish charity T-shirts raised $150,000 for war victims. Current album Wallflowers sees the talented quartet venture further into prog territory.
Main pic of Avatar: Johan Carlèn
COMING SOON
Here’s our essential diary of upcoming gigs that should be of interest to anyone of a rockin’ disposition.
Damian Wilson and Adam Wakeman, Chapel Arts Centre Bath, March 1
Dub War, Thekla, March 6
Napalm Death, O2 Academy, March 7
Lamb of God/Kreator, O2 Academy, March 8
Boss Keloid, Exchange, March 9
Ville Valo, O2 Academy, March 10
The Answer, Thekla, March 19
Sons of Liberty, Thekla, March 22
WASP, O2 Academy, March 23
Haken, SWX, March 23
Devin Townsend/Klone/Fixation, O2 Academy, March 29
Bloodywood, Fleece, March 29
Steve Hillage, O2 Academy, March 30
Tubular Bells 50th Anniversary, Bath Forum, March 31
Finntroll/Skálmöld, Fleece, April 4
The Zombies, Fleece, April 13
Goat, SWX, April 15
Massive Wagons, Fleece, April 15
Cannibal Corpse, O2 Academy, April 18
Voivod, Fleece, April 18
Tragedy/Nanowar of Steel, Thekla, April 29
Graveyard/Kadavar, SWX, May 3
The Quireboys, Exchange, May 20
Steel Panther, O2 Academy, May 21
The Aristocrats, Fleece, June 15
ArcTanGent Festival: Heilung, VOLA, Cave In, Elder, etc., Fernhill Farm, August 16-19
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