Thursday, October 1st, 2009

June 12, 2009 – The Vent, Coaldale, AB
This one-horse town had a decent good turn out for a punk/metal show in the middle of summer. Kids were showing up long before doors to do the Pilsner warm up in the parking lot, ogling over Toxic Holocaust who were super approachable and easy to share stories with. The show got off to a start with Lethrbidge’s The Dregs, baby face punkers clattered through a set that had the audience vaguely rockin’. The bar started to fill up and the booze was flowing, that’s one plus about small towns, they sure know how to knock ‘em back. Something else I really liked was how the crowd was about half female, which never happens. Up next was Parapsycotic, a few of the boys from Bitchsplitter’s new project that was also quite a trip. Metal with a stand up bass… who’d a thunk it. They did, and the audience was feelin’ it, the crowd was packed and people were having a great time. Next up was Toxic Holocaust, a huge favourite in both punk and metal scenes. Al used a few pieces of this and that for a makeshift drum kit and it still sounded good. They tore through hits like “Wild Dogs”, “Nuke The Cross”, “War Is Hell”, “Feedback” and a few more. Girls were falling down backwards on the stage, heels in air, and the boys clearly didn’t mind at all. Good summer show.
-Demonika

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Thursday, October 1st, 2009

June 14, 2009 – The New Black Center, Calgary, AB
The Toxic Holocaust mini-Albertan tour, presented by Absolute Underground, ended in Calgary with two shows in one day. The first was an all-ages show at the New Black Center with locals Ground Up and Crystal Mess opening. This venue was out in Inglewood, or the middle of nowhere. It had a tight no liquor policy so while the good men of the Calgary Police Department rode asses up and down the block, many stayed in their cars to suck back a few Lager before the toxic meltdown. Ground Up was missed but I’ll give a shout out, while Crystal Mess displayed some infectious grooves for the young and mostly sobered crowd. Toxic Holocaust, on their first stop in Calgary since their much talked about GWAR opening-slot, buzzed through their set like a small-dicked man’s first time stripping. Not much “Feedback, Blood and Destruction” this early in the day.
-War is Dyer

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Thursday, October 1st, 2009

June 14, 2009 – The Drum and Monkey, Calgary, AB

At the Drum and Monkey, security were being fucks about letting people back in from their smoke breaks. Even if you’d see the same security guard eight times prior, they still wanted to look at your ID like they’ve never seen you before in their life. Shithawks. The Drum and Monkey has skinny, flimsy speakers which were guarded like Fort Knox by the bouncers so that nobody would run into them. Of course, people did. Opening were Warbird, who seem to be a local band on the rise. Some guy fell into the drums and security threw his ass onto the street from a door directly behind the band – convenient. The pit was more of a war zone for Toxic Holocaust, with their road manager standing in between Joel Grind and the turbulent action in front of them. Three or four more songs were played here as well, including “Gravelord” and “In the Name of Science”, two of this reviewer’s favourites’. Grind nuked the cross and the drum was emptied of its monkeys.
-War is Dyer

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Thursday, October 1st, 2009

June 23, 2009 – The Biltmore Cabaret, Vancouver, BC
Hm. Quite a few white shirts. Wonder how that’ll turn out. Vicious Cycles have all their ethnicities covered: white, brown, hobo, and robot. Quick and fast set, pretty random punkness, a good time. Speaking of which, so are the Evaporators. For real, that Nardwuar dude is so crazy happy all the time that you can’t help but join in. The songs are all very simplistic and easy to follow, but without Nardwuar’s over the top enthusiasm you probably wouldn’t care too much about these guys. My favourite moment was when he simply handed over his maracas to the nerdiest looking fan he could find, and the dude went insane with maraca fever! Talk about entertainment. Then it happened. Andrew WK took the stage. He actually said, “this isn’t a show it’s a party.” Maybe not the best idea. Soon after the first actual song, the audience rushed the stage and began to dance all around him. Pretty quickly you couldn’t even see Andrew. Between songs they would attack him, putting their clothes on him and taking pictures. He never stopped playing. Total insanity and security failure. The show appeared to end early with an accapella number, apparently caused by the crowd damaging the sound equipment on the stage. After much chanting, both Andrew AND the Evaporators returned for an encore performance of “She is Beautiful”. If that weren’t enough, closing the night the Sub Humans singer Wimpy came up to sing, while Andrew played guitar. Total and utter chaos. Wow.
-David Warren

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Thursday, October 1st, 2009

June 27, 2009 – Pengrowth Saddledome, Calgary, AB
Dave Mustaine’s sobriety continues to affect even his audience as the drinks stopped flowing as soon as Slayer started playing. Guess Dave can’t even see a drink or he’ll be too tempted. Sort of like a reformed pedophile at a kids birthday party. He must have nearly croaked when a single beer cup flew upon the stage mid-song… Suicide Silence was just that – silence. Arrived late and missed them, only to be warmed by Robb Flynn’s shotgun blast, the now sometimes too melodic, rather than too nu-metally, Machinehead. Don’t know how the start of their set was, but it must have been at least three ballads until their crushing classic from Burn My Eyes, an album they’ve yet to surpass even with redeemers like The Blackening. “Davidian” closed the set with a decent circle pit from the pumped audience… It’s been six or so years since Slayer has stopped in Calgary, and their hour set left something more to desire. Sure, they played, “Ghosts of War”, “Mandatory Suicide”, and “Hell Awaits”, but besides that it seemed like a “Best Of” album put to stage. Still, Slayer sounded amazing and seeing them in the Saddledome was something of a religious experience. Megadeth was even more basic and stripped down than Slayer, clocking in a one hour set as well. Mustaine also went through tried and true thrash classics like “Hanger 18″, “Peace Sells” and “She Wolf” (well maybe that isn’t a classic… but I like it), without any of the frills and explosions seen on his Gigantour. Some drum complications early in the set caused the cynic faced guitarist to ream out a sound tech for a few minutes, while Mustaine used this opportunity to tell the audience how much he loves Canada and that he would like to apply for dual citizenship. Good luck Dave, I hear the test is bitchin’.
-Dyerabulous in Musica

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Thursday, October 1st, 2009

June 27, 2009, The Distillery – Calgary, AB
With four amazing days of Sled Island performances behind us, everyone wanted to see the festival end with a bang. The Bronx came all the way from Los Angeles to deliver the explosives. When they arrived, vocalist Matt Caughthran remembered us immediately from his last visit, even with The Distillary having since relocated. By the time Edmonton’s Whitey Huston and Calgary’s Knucklehead were done their sets, it was full to its 500-plus capacity, for the first time at the new location. The Bronx was incredible, playing a great selection of favourites to a surging mosh pit of Lucky Lager-fueled fans. Highlights included kick-ass renditions of “Young Bloods”, “Shitty Future”, “Knifeman”, and a sweet crowd sing-a-long to “Dirty Leaves”. Matt and the rest of the Bronx, (Joby J. Ford, Jorma Vik, Ken Horne and Brad Magers) fearlessly interacted with crowd, encouraging the stage divers and crowd surfers. Matt even jumped right in – at one point executing a perfect front flip into the arms of the aficionados up front. “This one’s for you, Philly,” Matt said before lighting the fuse on “History’s Stranglers”, and the whole place went nuts. When the show ended, they opted out of returning to their hotel, to instead party with the staff, right up until flight time at 7 a.m. the next morning. They are all great guys, and shared their amazing and funny stories of life on endless tour. Matt left Philly with a memento he is most proud of, a voicemail on his cell phone, screaming the way only Matt can: “YOU MOTHERFUCKER, I WANT YOUR BLOOD!”.
-StEvil

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Thursday, October 1st, 2009

July 2, 2009 – Pub 340, Vancouver, BC
Apparently Pom Pom Girls showed up a couple hours before the show and asked if they could open the show ‘cause their guitar player was going back to Japan in three days. Pretty random way to start, but also memorable. Sure, it was J-pop but it had the occasional “heavy-ish” twist and some fun vocal playoffs. Good energy, which translated well for the rest of the night. Next up, the Mishits – which, luckily, were everything you would expect. Misfit songs, water pistols, go-go dancers, props. Check, check, check. Very strong first impression, especially for their second show. Bloody Betty was minus “the deadly sins” for the tour, so it was a pretty brief performance from the gorelesque mistress. Still, plenty of comedic moments with the fire, sparklers and ketchup. Lust Boys (note name change) finally had some new material since last I saw them, as well as G N’ R and Van Halen covers. Boys are still as sleazy as ever, and while the loss of a bass player has reduced their visual foot print, it gives them more room to move! Definitely a good time, as long as you know what you’re getting into. Rounding out the night BB returned, dressed in tighty whities and fake moustache. To do what? A GG Allin cover of course! Not sure if it was the booze, but I was blown away. Lust Boys did a good job playing all the actual songs, and should be commended for playing back to back. As they kept playing the antics kept getting better and better! Fake penis, fake urination by mishits singer, fake overdose ending. Crazy!
-David Warren

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Thursday, October 1st, 2009

July 8, 2009 – The Underground, Calgary, AB
About 30 people showed up on this Wednesday night; caught between a cowboy and a hardened turd in the midst of the Stampede. Like many all ages gigs before, water was the beverage of choice downstairs in the Underground, making the upstairs Summit of Beer worth the hike. SWWAATS (Success Will Write Apocalypse Across The Sky) were first up, boasting many a churning riff, getting the sparse early goers a playground pit to fuck each other up in. The six piece put up a demanding front for being the first act on a tour of five. Abysmal Dawn, while being technically superior to the openers, really had to grind their gears to get people woken up. The death metal quartet seemed programmed to kill, carving out a notch with a butter knife to add to their tour accolades of Six Feet Under, Decapitated and Suffocation. Daath take modern death metal to a high tech, dance floor-esque place, but the songs will never be heard in Tantra on a Saturday night, with jean skirt wearing ass-floss blondes shaking their teeth. No, Daath is catchy in terms of metal – almost Rob Zombie like, but nothing a normie’s mind can unlock. Live, hardly any of the melodic know-how on albums The Hinderers or The Concealers is audible – what comes is brutality as a carpenter’s dream: nailed down tight. Abigail Williams are in some respect, headliners of the tour, but they were brought down to direct support somewhere in the middle of things. Maybe because they aren’t practically renting a house here like Goatwhore, who are having their fourth stop in Calgary in roughly two years (with a fifth this September with Obituary). Anyhow, a coven of witches couldn’t conjure a spell more potent than their accursed set tonight. Goatwhore were Goatwhore, the only difference being Sammy had more hair this time and looked a lot like the first part of their name. After the show, he was looking for the second…
-Ryan Dyer

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Thursday, October 1st, 2009

July 11, 2009 – The Biltmore Cabaret, Vancouver, BC
Success Will Write Apocalypse Across The Sky… should get a shorter name. Good hardcore style, pretty catchy despite me not being too into hardcore these days. Abysmal Dawn surprised me. Knowing next to nothing about them, they showed a refreshing blackened death style at a level unseen in awhile. Daath are really fun to listen to when drinking, but begging for a pit when no one is there is annoying, and the breakdowns sorta lost me. Regardless, when they are in the zone, you can tell that they are a step above the average. Fun fact: all bands from California like weed. No, Abigail Williams isn’t that little girl. With quite a few guest appearances, they blew away any expectations. There have been some comparisons to Cradle of Filth (indeed, same keyboardist), but to their credit Abigail manage to differentiate themselves with a much heavier and hard hitting sound while still maintaining a certain creepiness. If you’ve been waiting to see Goatwhore again since they last opened for Cannibal Corpse, then you were one of the people going crazy right about now. They were ready for us. Bursting onto the stage, Goatwhore hit you like a brick to the face. In a good way. It was a never ending stream of glorious punishment that had you begging for more. Intensely blackened death. Singer Sammy seized his audience and spun them into a furry, never letting go.
-David Warren

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Thursday, October 1st, 2009

July 18, 2009 – Rendezvous, Edmonton, AB
It was a dark and stormy night… and it truely was a perfect setting for the most satanic, evil metal festival to hit Alberta. Lithica opened the show with their brand of melodic black metal. Their subtle keyboard accents are what really made them stand out from the rest of the bill. “Their guitar riffs were extreme as hell” said Michael Scorpio(Photographer). They added a great gothic black metal tone to start out the night. Next, Begrime Exemious hit the stage, this was my first time seeing them perform, and I was blown away by their raw energy. They had the crowd whipped into a chaotic fury in no time. Begrime Exemious is a band who’s live show is not to be missed. I had heard much buzz about Tyrant’s Blood and dissapointed I had to miss their set while getting ready for my own show. “The new material is getting decidedly more intense and I’ve never been disappointed by one of their shows” said Sanguis Morbis(Anatolian Wisdom) of Tyrant’s Blood’s set “near the end of their set, vocalist Brian Langley pulls out a guitar and brings down the house with a thundering wall of earth-shattering sound”. “Brutal, unstoppable metal” is how Evilglen (Dead Jesus) described their show. I took the stage next and performed my “Burlesque from the Darkside”. I brought a special one-time extreme act for the event. I used real human blood and drank it from a giant silver chalice, then proceeded to grab a loyal minion from the audience and feed him wine poured over my feet. “luscious display of seductive dancing drenched in blood and red wine all set to the churning strains of Black Metal dripping pure fukking evil from every pore! Certainly an artist to keep your eyes peeled for” said Sanguis Morbis. “I saw the Satanic Metal Goddess, Madeleine Horn, turn every guy in the room into her obedient slave” said Caligulus Supremus(Anatolian Wisdom) of my act. When I was finally cleaned up Anatolian Wisdom had already hit the stage and what a great band to keep my stage energy flowing. “With their crazy inverted cross necklaces and grim as fuck corpse paint, it was both enjoyable to watch and even better to hear” said Michael Scorpio. They were the epitome of everything a seasoned blackmetal fan could ask for. The entire night can be described as probably the most extreme show you could ever ask for, the only dissapointment was the poor turnout. I’m sure a lot of people are kicking themselves about missing this one.
-Demonika

Posted in Live Reviews