Bristol’s month in Metal & Prog – January 2025

We’re easing gently into the new year with some melodic death metal, classic rock and hard rock at the Fleece, followed by an outbreak of deathgrind at the Marble Factory. After that, February’s shaping up to be rather hectic.

The Halo Effect/Pain

Fleece, Jan 21

Melodic death metallers featuring former members of In Flames, including current Dark Tranquility vocalist Mikael Stanne, The Halo Effect released their debut album, Days of the Lost, back in 2022. Follow-up March of the Unheard is out this month, also on Nuclear Blast. Although the band take their name from the song of the same title on Rush’s Clockwork Angels album, their music is very much in the distinctive Gothenburg melodeath tradition. Support comes from Swedish producer Peter Tägtgren’s industrial/techno-metallers Pain, who played a memorable headline show at this very venue back in 2016. Tägtgren’s many projects include work with Sabaton and Amon Amarth and he also provided the musical heft behind Rammstein frontman Till Lindemann’s solo Lindemann band. Pain’s ninth album, I Am, is out now on Nuclear Blast. Opening this show are Finnish melodeath act Bloodred Hourglass.

Soul Asylum

Fleece, Jan 27

Remember them? Best known for their 1993 Grammy winning hit Runaway Train and its accompanying triple platinum album Grave Dancers Union, and for briefly featuring Guns n’ Roses’ Tommy Stinson on bass, Dave Pirner’s Minneapolis rockers have had a pretty low profile of late, though they did release their twelfth album, Hurry up and Wait, during the pandemic, and have since followed this with the splendidly titled Slowly But Shirley. Pirner is now the only remaining original member of the band.

H.E.A.T

Fleece, Jan 28

Swedish melodic rockers H.E.A.T, whose H.E.A.T II album from 2020 is considered something of a genre classic, kick off their UK tour in Bristol. Their former vocalist and Swedish Idol winner Erik Grönwall was last seen in town fronting Skid Row at the Academy and has since left that band too as he undergoes treatment for leukaemia. H.E.A.T, meanwhile, have reunited with their original vocalist Kenny Leckremo and are currently working on a follow-up to 2022’s well-received Force Majeure album. Support on this tour comes from Art Nation and Chez Kane.

Cattle Decapitation

Marble Factory, Jan 31

Yes, they’re jolly cross but these San Diego deathgrinders are also environmentally conscious chaps. Initially all vegetarians (though a couple of band members have jumped ship over the last 20 years or so), the band name came about because of their opposition to animal cruelty in general and factory farming in particular. Cattle Decapitation’s eighth album, Terrasite, is out now on Metal Blade and has proven to be their most successful to date. Support tonight comes from Shadow of Intent, Revocation and Vulvodynia.

Main image of H.E.A.T: Marcel Karlsson

COMING SOON

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

Tremonti, O2 Academy, Feb 5

Mother Vulture, Thekla, Feb 7

Slomosa, Thekla, Feb 8

Gloryhammer, SWX, Feb 9

Steve’n’Seagulls, Fleece, Feb 11

Hayseed Dixie, Fleece, Feb 12

Queensryche, Marble Factory, Feb 14

Green Lung/Unto Others/Satan’s Satyrs, Marble Factory, Feb 17

Uriah Heep/April Wine/Tyketto, Bristol Beacon, Feb 20

Opeth/Grand Magus, Bristol Beacon, Feb 25

Fish, Bristol Beacon, Feb 26

Suffocation, Marble Factory, March 4

Blacktop Mojo/Shaman’s Harvest, Fleece, March 5

Cynic/Rivers of Nihil, Fleece, March 6

Von Hertzen Brothers, Fleece, March 9

Rosalie Cunningham, Louisiana, March 13

Raging Speedhorn, Fleece, March 16

The Temperance Movement, Trinity Centre, March 17

Zeal & Ardor, Marble Factory, March 19

Wardruna, Bristol Beacon, March 21

The Darkness, Bristol Beacon, March 24

Bloodywood, O2 Academy, March 26

Skunk Anansie, Bristol Beacon, April 1

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, SWX, April 5

Amplifier, Louisiana, April 5

Lordi, SWX, April 9

Heriot, Fleece, April 10

Bridear, Exchange, April 11

John Lodge, St. George’s, April 14

Dewolff, Fleece, April 16

Sons of Liberty, Exchange, April 27

Steven Wilson, Bristol Beacon, May 10

Weather Systems, Thekla, May 17

Gun, SWX, June 14

Kerry King, SWX, Aug 13

ArcTanGent Festival: Karnivool, Melvins, DVNE, etc., Fernhill Farm, Aug 13-16

Atreyu, SWX, Sept 27

Focus, Fleece, Nov 6

Francis Rossi, Bath Forum, Nov 7

Saxon/Dirkschneider, Bristol Beacon, Nov 13

Clutch, Bristol Beacon, Dec 15