Music / Previews
Metal & Prog Picks: November 2024
That Baroness/Graveyard/Pallbearer triple bill is probably this month’s tastiest gig, but we’ve also got prog-metal from VOLA, symphonic metal from Delain, classic prog from the evergreen Focus and top-notch Canadian rock from the ever-fabulous Sheepdogs.
Fleece, Nov 13
is needed now More than ever
The annual Focus gig at the Fleece is always a real treat – except, perhaps, for the roadie charged with wrangling Thijs Van Leer’s vintage Hammond organ onto the stage. And this year they’ve actually got some new music to play us from the recently released Focus 12, which boasts a splendid Roger Dean cover and a track playfully entitled Fjord Focus. “The fact that it’s difficult to tell which one of the tracks on this album was improvised spontaneously during the sessions proves what a tight unit they are,” marvelled Classic Rock‘s reviewer. For the uninitiated, 75-year-old Van Leer and still magnificent 78-year-old drummer Pierre van der Linden survive from the classic Focus line-up, while talented Menno Gootjes has been the band’s guitarist since 2010 and ‘new boy’ bassist Udo Pannekeet has clocked up a mere eight years’ service.
O2 Academy, Nov 15
The Northern Irish rockers return on a 30th anniversary victory lap for their breakthrough Troublegum album, which reached number five in the charts, was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize and shifted more than a million copies worldwide. They’re promising to play the whole thing in its entirety, plus a bunch of other stuff. Weirdly enough, these guys were once considered to be rather hip, albeit briefly, but soon found themselves at home with the rock audience.
Marble Factory, Nov 21
On magnificent form at this year’s ArcTanGent Festival, Savannah, Georgia, sludge/prog-metallers Baroness have a rather unfortunate history with this part of the world, having been involved in a horrific bus crash after a show at the Fleece back in 2012. Two band members left after that, but founder John Baizley remains at the helm, recruiting Gina Gleason as lead guitarist in 2017. Their latest album, Stone, on the band’s own Abraxan Hymns label dropped the title colour coding that characterised previous releases and was hailed by Metal Hammer as “a monument to ambition and heaviness, and to refusing to rest too long in one place lest roots or languor take hold.” Joining Baroness on this magnificent triple bill are Swedish psychedelic blue-rockers Graveyard, who we last saw at SWX in 2023, and increasingly proggy Arkansas doomsters Pallbearer, who recently released the excellent Mind Burns Alive album.
SWX, Nov 22
These Dutch symphonic rockers were on fine form at the Anson Rooms back in 2015. But after that, founding keyboardist Martijn Westerholt fired everybody and put together a new version of the band that includes a couple of previous members. So out went frontwoman Charlotte Wessels, who’s back at this very venue in four days time with her own new band. In came Diana Leah for new album Dark Waters, which charted across Europe. Support tonight comes from former Headspace and Threshold frontman Damian Wilson, who frequently tours and records with his chum Adam Wakeman. Also on the bill are Walsall rockers Stone Broken.
SWX, Nov 23
Seventies-obsessed Lancastrian rockers whose previous album Triggered! entered the UK album charts at number six, Massive Wagons have proved on multiple occasions that they’re a great live act. This show comes after the release of new one Earth to Grace on Nov 8.
SWX, Nov 26
It’s taken a while, but Denmark’s ace riffy prog-metallers VOLA have finally stepped up from the Fleece, where we last saw them touring with Voyager back in 2022. New studio album Friend of a Phantom follows 2021’s breakthrough Witness this month. Support comes from Dutch singer Charlotte Wessels, who wasted no time in launching a solo career after being booted out of Delain. She’s now up to her third solo album, The Obsession, and is probably the only woman in metal to have a master’s degree in Gender Studies.
Thekla, Nov 26
A quarter of a century ago, Nottingham ‘rocktronica’ act Pitchshifter could comfortably sell out the Bierkeller, but the whole metal/electronica/dance remix thing was at its peak back then and they enjoyed a fair bit of crossover appeal with the ‘alternative’ crowd. Today, they’ve Pitchdownshifted to the Thekla for what still promises to be a pretty raucous show, which boasts support from Blackgold and Mallavora.
Exchange, Nov 27
“Dark Medieval Black Metal” anyone? Washington-based Hulder are a one-woman band, the woman in question being Belgian. She prefers not to disclose further details about her identity, presumably to preserve a sense of mystery. It’s not clear whether she’ll have a backing band tonight. Support comes from Brit black metallers Blood Countess, who, as the name implies, are primarily inspired by Elizabeth Bathory.
Strange Brew, Nov 30
A very welcome return for the suitably shaggy Sheepdogs from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, who last headlined here at the Thekla back in October 2022. They boast the distinction of being the first unsigned band ever to make the prestigious cover of Rolling Stone magazine back in 2011, landing them a deal with the legendary Atlantic Records. They were also the winners of three 2012 Grammy-equivalent Juno Awards (New Group of the Year, Single of the Year and Rock Album of the Year). Rather brilliantly, they manage to incorporate a bunch of influences, from The Band to the Allman Brothers, without ever sounding derivative. Hell, they even chuck in the occasional trombone solo. The Sheepdogs have recently released a surprise new EP, Paradise Alone, on their own Right On Records and are joined on this tour by fellow Canadians The Commoners.
COMING SOON
Here’s our essential diary of upcoming gigs that should be of interest to anyone of a rockin’ disposition.
Dying Fetus, Marble Factory, Dec 2
Obituary, SWX, Dec 6
Gun, SWX, Dec 7
Jethro Tull, Bristol Cathedral, Dec 11
Endeavour, Exchange, Dec 13
The Rick Wakeman Yuletide Christmas Show, Bath Forum, Dec 18
Eyehategod/Goatwhore, Marble Factory, Dec 19
The Halo Effect/Pain, Fleece, Jan 21
Cattle Decapitation, Marble Factory, Jan 31
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
Rosalie Cunningham, Louisiana, March 13
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
Amplifier, Louisiana, April 5
Bridear, Exchange, April 11
Dewolff, Fleece, April 16
Steven Wilson, Bristol Beacon, May 10
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