Category Archives: LIVE

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: The MegaCruise 2019

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Like most metalheads, I’ve been to a lot of metal shows over the years. Over the hundreds of metal shows I’ve attended, never once did I think to myself “You know what would make this even better? Being trapped on a boat in the middle of the fucking ocean.” And yet, having taken some time to reflect on my experiences aboard the inaugural MegaCruise by Megadeth, I revel in the memories of experiencing choppy water while thrashing through the Pacific, convinced I’m going to die on a boat watching Dragonforce and being oddly ok with it. 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 →


FESTIVAL REVIEW: Badgerfest 2019 Live at The Breadshed, Manchester

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2019 see’s the third installment of what’s becoming an important event in the calendar for the discerning Heavy Metal connoisseur, BadgerFest. The brainchild of the undeniably hardest working man in the Manchester metal scene John Badger, If any qualification of that were needed, aside from it being reiterated by every band of the weekend, as well as their gratitude as to the smooth running, he’s also running the Drumming up Change in November whereby he’ll be playing the drums for the full sets of all ten bands. There’s hard-working and then there’s John Badger. Continue reading →


FESTIVAL REVIEW: Slipknot, Tool, Korn, Rob Zombie, Staind, and More Rule Aftershock 2019

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It comes as no surprise that this year’s Aftershock Festival was once again sold out. I mean, how could it not with big-name talents such as Slipknot, Tool, Korn, Rob Zombie, Blink-182, Lamb of God, Dropkick Murphys, Marilyn Manson, Bad Religion, Chevelle, and many others. And with the über-early announcement of next year’s headliner—Metallica, for those of you living under a rock—there’s no question that 2020’s Aftershock will sell out as well. In fact, as of this writing, VIP weekend passes were all gone. A year in advance! So, how was this year’s outing? Damn good, in our humble opinion.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 →


REVIEW: Annihilator – Archer Nation: Live at KK’s Steel Mill, Wolverhampton

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A former car factory, KK’s Steel Mill sits at the heart of industrial Wolverhampton and is owned, as the name suggests, by former Judas Priest guitarist and general all-round local legend KK Downing. This latest West Midlands rock venue opened its doors last year and, apart from the impressively sized stage area and the massive wall banner showing the artwork to Priest’s 1986 album Turbo, looks to have changed very little from when it was built back in 1903.Continue reading →