Category Archives: Concerts

LIVE REVIEW: Gatecreeper – Exhumed – Necrot – Judiaciary: Live at Sanctuary

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The Fresh-faced act Gatecreeper and the veteran collective Exhumed both recently released shiny new full-length albums. Just six weeks ago we were gifted with some fresh and fearsome material from these great groups. Now they have joined forces on the road to play their new fantastically foul tunes. The Sanctuary was an ideal venue to host a stop on this tour. It’s the perfect size and atmosphere for the fans to experience an intimate and enjoyable encounter with these Death Metal experts. Just outside of Detroit, The Sanctuary caters particularly well to the heavy. This pocket-sized music club proudly hosts some of the best metal shows that come through Michigan. With venues like this, and local acts like Mutilatred, show us that the metal scene in this state is alive and well. The enthusiastic gang of guys in Mutilatred opened the show with a spunky, spirited set. They even handed out actual paper flyers which gave the night a marvelously old school feel. Continue reading →


LIVE REVIEW: Agnostic Front – The Take: Live at Mama Roux’s, Birmingham, UK

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For years, metal and hardcore have been regular bedfellows but that wasn’t always the way. Back in the ’80s, metalheads regularly ran the risk of getting beaten up if they attended hardcore or punk shows. Skins and Mohawks did not take kindly to long-hairs stepping onto their turf, and vice versa. It wasn’t until the emergence of more popular bands like Slayer who, by straddling both genres, showed that the two sets of fans were capable of co-existing without confrontation.

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LIVE REVIEW: Cold: Live at Fine Line, Minneapolis, Minnesota

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I can still remember the very moment the band Cold came hurtling into my atmosphere like a brilliant meteor, hell-bent on causing upheaval. Scooter Ward and his musical cohorts were the direct support band for the St. Louis, Missouri Industrial band, Gravity Kills. Cold, with their first studio album, just released, was still flying under the radar as far as getting mainstream exposure and radio play. The small venue in La Crosse, Wisconsin was sold-out on that balmy summer evening. I was unaware of how my life would be altered forever by a band I had never even heard of when I walked into that venue.Continue reading →


REVIEW: Dragonforce and Lovebites: Live at Manchester Academy 2

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When thinking of the power metal scene in general, you would be forgiven for not necessarily considering Britain an institution of it. Considering that Germany has offered the worldwide scene the likes of Helloween and Blind Guardian, and Finnish groups such as Stratovarius and Sonata Arctica, it is unsurprising that power metal shows in the UK come few and far between, despite the country’s roots in the highly influential NWOBHM genre.Continue reading →


REVIEW: William DuVall: Live at Cutting Room

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If you have read these web pages of Ghost Cult, you know one of our favorite albums of 2019 is the solo début album from William DuVall of Alice In Chains. While many know him for fronting that legendary band since their comeback in 2006. However, as discussed in our review of One Alone, Duvall’s lengthy career has traversed genres and time-space in a way that all great singer/songwriters can. The album is introspective, yet fiery and lends itself to this solo setting. With the artist doing a brief tour to promote the release, we were excited to see a new side of the man in person at Cutting Room in midtown east neighborhood of Manhattan. Continue reading →


REVIEW: Municipal Waste – Napalm Death – Sick Of It All: Live at Worcester Palladium

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We were back at the Worcester Palladium for the massive fall tour co-headline tour of Municipal Waste and Napalm Death, with Sick Of It All and Take Offense as support! The venue had been home to the annual Rock and Shock all weekend, “3 days of Metal and Horror”. The weekend had already seen the likes of Korpiklanni, Eluveitie, Revocation, with locals like Vivisepulture, and Ice Giant (Day 1) and Day 2 was dominated by the folks over at Psychopathic Records with the Insane Clown Posse and all their friends as well, with a few local bands opening on the second stage upstairs.Continue reading →


REVIEW: Beyond Creation – Fallujah – Arkaik – and Equipoise: Live at The Sanctuary, Detroit MI

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The bright blue paint job on The Sanctuary makes it the most inviting building on Cardiff Street. Nestled in the middle of Hamtramck, a pint-sized town in Detroit, The Sanctuary is actually one of the most inviting music venues in the whole city. The Canadian Death Metal act, Beyond Creation brought their proggy and technical goodness to Ham Town earlier this week. It was the second to last gig on a month-long tour with Fallujah, Arkaik, and Equipoise. The band has been promoting their most recent full-length album, Algorythm (Season of Mist) on this run and hearing it played in full made for a perfect Metal Monday. Continue reading →


REVIEW: Shinedown – Papa Roach – Asking Alexandria – Savage After Midnight: Live at Lacrosse Center

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Music, throughout history, has had a way of influencing the social behavior and norms found in human societies. Music is a universal language that is capable of bridging the gap between disparate people and entire social classes, cultures, and continents. Music can also be a tremendously personal thing, a song that has certain significance to one person may hold no meaning for the next. The current immeasurable dissonance in the social climate that spans the entire globe seems to push lost souls to seek comfort in music. In my humble Skullgurl opinion, that reason alone is why the world needs more bands like the four I saw on the second day of October 2019.Continue reading →


REVIEW: Gloryhammer – Beast In Black: Live at The Mill, Birmingham

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Greeted with a queue that stretches the length of the entire street and beyond, the nearest many get to seeing Italian Dwarven Metal act Wind Rose is listening to them from outside. ‘The Breed of Durin’, ‘To Erebor’, and of course ‘Diggy Diggy Hole’ sound like they’re going down well, but it’s disappointing that a large percentage of the crowd has to miss most of their set.Continue reading →


REVIEW: Kataklysm – Exhorder – Krisiun – Hatchet: Live at The Market Hotel

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The Market Hotel in Bushwick has been a D.I.Y. Rock staple for many years. It is also one of the few D.I.Y. venues to survive foreclosure and resurface in the scene. With the continuous loss of venues in New York City that cater to Extreme Music, the Market Hotel, is making its mark on becoming the new home of Metal in Brooklyn.Continue reading →