The comeback of the classic version of Corrosion of Conformity rolls onward as the band have previously booked summer tour dates all over, including festivals in Europe. Now the band has added more dates to flesh out the schedule. All dates on sale below. Continue reading
The brotherhood of the Almighty Black Label Society brought its POWAH and PAIN to the Chicago chapter in the Grimmest of ways on January 3rd 2018. Loud and Proud is how Zakk Wylde does it to kick off the New Year on an ice-filled, frozen city kind of evening. With Zakk embarking tours supporting Book of Shadows II (eOne), Zakk Sabbath, and of course performing with Ozzy it’s been over 2 years since BLS has taken the Blessed Hellride. The family of the House of Blues Chicago BLS DOOM crew came out in droves and packed the hall to the limit on a sub-zero night in Chicago. The house wasn’t heating up inside, it was burning up! The anticipation of the crowd was insurmountable – ready to rock with Father Zakk and the crew once again.Continue reading
It has been 13 years since Pepper Keenan’s last album with Corrosion of Conformity; 2005’s excellent and under-rated In the Arms of God (Sanctuary). In the meantime, the rest of COC ploughed on as a trio, releasing the passable pair of Corrosion of Conformity and IX (both Candlelight); two records which tried to combine their early Punk and Thrash roots with the groove-laden rock and metal of their latter days, to only middling success. Continue reading
This past year was a huge one for music with so many bands releasing new material it was hard to keep up, even for us here at Ghost Cult. So many legacy bands, modern classic acts, and up and comers dropped new music this year, some may wish they had waited until 2017 to drop it like it’s hot. Without further ado, here are our picks for the new tunes you need in your life in 2017. Continue reading
Part 2
After a wobbly Saturday morning start, Akercocke carried on from where they left off a few years ago, improving and gaining/regaining fans as they went along. Rotting Christ sounded fantastic, The King is Blind completely owned the second stage for forty brutal minutes, and Fear Factory treated the crowd to all of 1995’s Demanufacture album while singer Burton C Bell tried his best to keep his voice from cracking. Paradise Lost played a set filled with heavier material, and Gojira stunned the majority of the audience with a set that not even headliners Mastodon could come close to touching. A typically eclectic set, the Atlantan four-piece struggled to get any momentum going, and even with the aid of some fancy video screens, only occasionally showed signs of being genuine headliners. A new version of old UK thrashers Acid Reign also managed to steal Mastodon’s thunder all the way from the second stage, playing one of the fastest and most enjoyable thrash sets of the festival while singer, ‘H’, looked resplendent in his shocking pink suit and top hat.
And so to Sunday, and to the wonders of Ghost Bath. Only possessing the vaguest of knowledge about this band, I was simply unprepared for the next forty highly confusing (and occasionally eye-wateringly funny) minutes. Imagine a Black Metal band fronted by the shrieking goat from YouTube and you’d have a good idea of what I witnessed that morning.
Although the pedigree of the members of Metal Allegiance is not in question, I’m afraid the same cannot be said of their collective efforts. Cover version after horrible cover version was mauled and discarded, as people turned to each other in disbelief and disappointment. Playing all of 1996 album Nemesis Divina in full, Black Metallers Satyricon put in one of the performances of the weekend, even in the blazing sunshine. Finland’s Whispered took to the stage in their Japanese costumes and make-up and proceeded to win over an entire tent of confused onlookers. Technical Thrashers Vektor followed and even more people left with smiling faces. Symphony X gave everyone on the main stage plenty to sing along to, but Anthrax obliterated their memory in seconds. The last time the New York outfit played here in 2013, it was all fairly average, maybe even disappointing. But not this time. They were on fire from the second they launched into ‘You Gotta Believe’ until they left the stage to ‘Indians’. Nobody even cared that they dropped a couple of favourites in order to showcase newer material.
Even headliners Slayer struggled to keep up. Again, like Anthrax, it was a much improved performance from 2013, but things seemed to go a little awry in the latter stages of their set. For some reason, ‘Hell Awaits’ became an instrumental after the first chorus, and Tom’s demeanour changed from happy and smiling to fairly disinterested around the same time. Still, when they came back out for the encore of ‘South of Heaven’, ‘Raining Blood’, and ‘Angel of Death’ everything was quickly forgiven and forgotten. It was left up to New Orleans band Goatwhore to close the weekend on the second stage, and they did so imperiously with one of the loudest, heaviest hours of the festival.
From the almost comical amount of crowd surfers (Acid Reign alone clocked 263 in one hour – an average of over four per minute) to the spontaneous chant of “MAN IN YELLOW”, directed to one of the security staff stood on the scaffolding before Slayer, to the glorious weather and generally contagious good feeling of everyone in attendance (even a lot of the campsite toilets were still usable by the Monday morning!), there was only one place to be last week.
There were a few odd little problems, of course. Since the festival ended, a story has emerged that a girl was sexually assaulted in her tent, and the amount of moshpit idiocy seems to be on the increase again. Not, this time, from the shirtless circle-pitters and kung-fu merchants, but this time from the people who stand on the barrier all day, doing their best to punch and deliberately tear clumps of hair from any crowd surfer (male and female) unlucky enough to invade their personal space as they get dragged over the front. Making sure at all times, of course, that security have a firm hold of their target first so that they can’t retaliate.
The worst thing this year though was the repeated loop of the same bloody music videos on the big screen all weekend. When I arrived in the main arena on the Friday, I said “hey, this new Wormrot song’s great. I’ll definitely be getting the album”. By the time Saturday evening came around, I never wanted to hear fucking thing again. And as for the constant exposure to the videos of Wakrat and Blackberry Smoke, let’s just say that if I ever meet either of those bands in person, then it won’t end pleasantly for either of them.
Overall though, and yet again, Bloodstock Open Air was a roaring success.
Roll on next year.
WORDS BY GARY ALCOCK
Part I
For those of you who may be unaware, Bloodstock Open Air is a UK festival which began at the Derby Assembly Rooms in 2001. After four successful years, the decision was made to turn one festival into two. One would remain at the same venue, while a bold, open air venture would take place at Catton Hall in nearby Walton-on-Trent. The outdoor festival proved to be a hit, the indoor show was subsequently dropped, and the annually held event has gone on to expand in both size and stature ever since.
Thursday’s festivities were kept fairly low-key as usual, with short, enjoyable sets from Karybdis and Sumer, with Ireland’s Psykosis left to really get the party started. The evening was rounded off by the newly renamed Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons (formerly Phil Campbell’s All Starr Band), the former Motorhead guitarist ploughing through a selection of Motorhead covers plus ‘Heroes’ by David Bowie, ‘Sweet Leaf’ by Black Sabbath, and ‘Sharp Dressed Man’ by ZZ Top. Joined on stage by Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider and Pepper Keenan of COC for a truly memorable version of ‘Born To Raise Hell’, the band eventually brought things to a rousing climax with a cover of ‘Silver Machine’ by Hawkwind.
Friday is where the entertainment really begins at Bloodstock though, and you don’t get much more entertaining than songs about unicorns and space wizards followed by a battle cry of “We are Gloryhammer and we sing songs about hammers!” Evil Scarecrow followed, and you simply haven’t lived until you’ve held your pincers in the air and scuttled from side to side for the mighty ‘Crabulon’. Corrosion of Conformity played a typically crowd-pleasing set of which my only criticism would be ‘Clean My Wounds’ being used as the backbone for a rambling, ten minute long jam session. Venom‘s Legendary bassist/vocalist, Cronos, snarled and joked his way through their set, but the band let themselves down with a poor choice of songs. No such problems from Behemoth though, who played latest album ‘The Satanist’ in its entirety before finishing with a blistering encore of ‘Ov Fire and the Void’ and ‘Chant For Ezkaton’.
Britain has always held a special place in Twisted Sister‘s heart and it really showed in their last ever performance here. Drawing the biggest ever crowd for a Bloodstock headline act, it was the perfect send off for one of the finest American Heavy Metal bands to ever grace a UK stage. Diamond Head finished off the evening on the second stage in competent, if unspectacular style. At least they didn’t sound like a tribute act to themselves like they did the last time I saw them.
WORDS BY GARY ALCOCK
Given that so many festivals are shutting up shop – Heavy Fest announced only last month it was closing down for good – it’s nice to see London hosting Desertfest for its fifth installment. Although its shed the Prog and Heavy Metal stages from last year, it’s still a glorious weekend of celebrating all things bong and Black Sabbath across some of the best venues in London’s Camden town.
Friday:
Friday night saw big name bands such as Corrosion of Conformity, Crowbar, Raging Speedhorn and JK Flesh (Justin K Broadrick of GODFLESH) join forces with lesser known but excellent bands like Lionize, Asteroid, Black Pussy, Guapo, Teeth of the Sea, Gurt and more.
Saturday
Saturday is opened hairy doomsters Poseidon, and they nearly rattle the Black Heart apart in the process. Their thick, monolithic slabs of reverberated riffs draw a decent crowd for so early in the day and probably shake out a few fillings in the process. Thought the vocals leave a little to be desired and the near-pitch black lighting means there’s little in the way of audience connection, it’s a pretty solid start to the day.
Taking on of the early stints at the Underworld, Counterblast are loud, abrasive, and largely joyless. One of the few bands to go for synths and a triple vocalist attack, Swedish quintet combine the sludge of early Mastodon with a crusty punk edge. There’s a lot going on, and it’s a challenging listen, but also rewarding if you stick it out.
UK four piece Telepathy are first instrumental group of the day, and the first to make an effort to engage with the audience during their set. Playing a decent mix of post-metal with doomy influences, they don’t let a torn drum skin spoil the show. A band with promise, but perhaps not enough quality material to sustain the whole set.
Over at the Electric Ballroom, Scouse purveyors of “caveman battle doom”, Conan, draw a massive crowd. It’s easy to see why; massive, grinding riffs, thunderous drums and plenty of chances to headbang. However, the pained screams of Jon Davis’ vocals are an acquired taste and if they’re not your cup of tea, it all quickly becomes a chore to watch.
It takes until the mid-afternoon and Dusteroid’s blend of heavy desert rock and spacey vocals before the afternoon takes a slightly more chilled direction. They’re the first band to lay the riffs on thick without approaching nosebleed-inducing levels of aggression.
If you take the fuzzy rock of Queens of the Stone Age and have it played by AC/DC’s Angus Young, you might be halfway to a Truckfighter’s live experience. Niklas “Dango” Källgren is easily the most energetic person at the festival, and not just because of what people have been smoking all day. Before the first song he’s already run across the stage a few times and thrown his shirt into the crowd, and once he’s strapped in he’s jumping, windmilling, playing solos behind his head, and throwing every kind of rockstar shape possible. Blessed as well with a good frontman in Oskar “Ozo” Cedermalm, Truckfighter’s blend of big melodic rock with plenty of fuzz makes for one of the most entertaining shows of the day and is rewarded with an energised response from the Ballroom.
It’s not always easy for instrumental bands to not only fill a venue, but play music that grips the audience for the whole set. Pelican and Russian Circles, however, are two bands how have perfected the dark arts. Pelican play first, and their heavy take on progressive post metal is a delight. It’s got the grind to make you bang your head, but also the atmospherics to get lost in.
Russian Circles, despite having two less members than Pelican, make a lot more racket. Less proggy and chin-stroking in nature, but more direct and bigger on riffs, they act as the other side of good instrumental music. It might be quite as thoughtful, but it’s easier to mosh to. Both bands get rapturous applause between each song, and hardly a word has been said onstage for almost three hours between the two band’s sets. But it doesn’t matter. Epic bands don’t need to chat when they can create massive soundscapes.
At last year’s event, Manchester’s Ten Foot Wizard provided a surprise in one of the best sets of the weekend. And it’s no surprise that they do the same again this year. Having them close the tiny Devonshire Arms after the main headliners was an act of genius by the organizers. Shame that nearly the entire festival tried to cram into what was literally the back corner of a local boozer. 10FW know how to put on a good show; it’s sweaty, it’s fun – where else would you gets songs like ‘Turbo Dick’ (working title) or ‘King Shit of Fuck Mountain’? – and they know how to write a good rock tune. The mix of Clutch’s boogie with a touch of QOTSA-style guitars, plus a band who know how to rile up the throng in front of them, makes for a killer end to the day. Plus there’s a Theremin solo!
Sunday
If the Black Keys had balls and a sense of humour, they’d be a lot like Dyse. The German two-piece are on an early shift at the Underworld, but deliver a huge helping of rawkus rock and roll. Between each sweaty song, the audience are treated to a dry dose of humour; where else would you get a drummer singing Grandmaster Flash’s ‘The Message’ before diving in? Although not quite as alluring on record, live they are probably the best thing from Germany since Rammstein. Less fire though.
Over at the Black Heart, fellow German outfit The Moth lay on some decent heavy metal-inspired doom with some occasional ventures into more death/sludge territory. They can clearly write a meaty riff but live it all falls a bit flat.
Necro Deathmort are one of one the biggest oddities of the weekend. An electronic two-piece, their music is a strange mix of synths, vocal effects, and guitar distortion and reverb. It’s dark, haunting, and very introspective: the band don’t acknowledge the crowd or look up from the deck until the very end, when we’re treated to a little wave. It’s actually surprisingly very good, but at almost complete odds with everything else that’s playing this weekend; more like music to get lost to in a dark room than rock out in a large venue. Which might explain why it was so under-attended, which is a shame.
Over at the Koko, Elder couldn’t be more opposite to Necro Deathmort. The Boston, MA, boys are all about riffs, guitar solos and long psychedelic jams. They almost outshone John Garcia when supporting him in London last year, and have no trouble filling the big stage with their blend of 70s rock and big doom thunder. Of the six songs they manage to squeeze into their hour long set, we’re treated to a new one that definitely fits into the standard Elder mould. The crowd lap it up and this is clearly a big destined for more success.
It’s a shame to see the crowd thin out after Elder leave the stage, because they miss a treat in Trouble. Probably the oldest band in attendance – and occasionally showing their years with the cheesy moves – you won’t see better examples of twin guitar leads this side of Iron Maiden. Frontman Kyle Thomas, formally of thrash outfit Exhorder, has a great set of pipes on him and handle’s the band’s older material with ease. It’s hard to argue with classic such as ‘The Tempter’, ‘The Skull’, or ‘At the End of My Days’, while the new material have a real energy about it. The cover of Black Sabbath’s ‘Supernaut’ is a particular highlight.
Closing out the Koko and festival is the mighty Electric Wizard. Along with the likes of Orange Goblin and Kyuss, Dorset’s finest worshipped Sabbath long before it became cool, and have spent 20-odd years honing their brand of satanic, psychedelic, druggie bliss. Played to a background of 70s exploitation skin flicks, frontman Jus Oborn snarls his way through the more modern epics like ‘Witchcult Today’, ‘Dunwich’, ‘Satanic Rites of Drugula’, ‘Black Masses’ and of course a handful from 2000’s magnum opus, Dopethrone. The band have changed little on the whole over the years, and each track is and ode to zoning out and wallowing in a fug of massive riffs. There’s no encore, and nothing from their upcoming but untitled new album. But it’s still a hell of a closing act, and one of par with Sleep’s closing set from last year.
It’s been a great weekend that showed off some of the best Britain has to offer when it comes to dirty stoner, epic doom and everything between. Roll on next year.
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WORDS BY DAN SWINHOE
PHOTOS BY JESSICA LOTTI PHOTOGRAPHY
For the first time in their career leading up to an album, Clutch really pulled back the curtain with a series of behind the scenes videos. Clutch discussed their writing and recording processes openly, a tried to articulate the intrinsic elements that makes Clutch what they are. It was refreshing. We asked Jean-Paul Gaster next about stepping out of the groups’ comfort zone collectively and what that added to the album:
I think we’re getting better at it. When we first got into this thing, we didn’t really know what the hell we were doing. Those things you are describing, those intangibles, you can’t really verbalize those things because you don’t really fully consensualize what’s going on. We’ve been around for so long, we’ve played so many shows, made so many records. I think we are better at those things, and just talking about the music. I think we are better at that as well.
With opportunity to talk shop with JP about drums, and knowing he is into a lot of Jazz and blues guys, and a lot of kinds of music that other people normally don’t call attention. JP discussed his favorite drummers, and who’s influenced him. He also mentioned, and who is contemporary that is influencing him now:
Early on, I had the opportunity to see some really great drummers that really formed the way that I look at the drums, my perspective of that. One of the first guys I ever saw was Elvin Jones, and I had the opportunity to see him play many times. I think one of the things that most inspired me about him was that for me, he was greater than just a jazz drummer. He transformed the way that people looked at the drum kit. For me he was very influential and continues to be very inspiring. I got to see a lot of go-go shows early on in Washington D.C. For me, that music is very important. I got to see great drummers like Brandon Finnely and JuJu House. These were guys who played incredibly strong groove, incredibly strong pocket. A lot of times when I’m up there playing, I still think about those guys. I saw Earl from The Bad Brains. He was great. We got to tour with some of my favorite drummers too. Igor Cavalera, from Sepultura. We did a tour with Pantera, got to see Vinnie Paul. These guys really informed the way that I look at the drums and these things just come out in the music today.
One thing about Jean-Paul that the average fan might not know is that he doesn’t single out brands that he is endorsed by. his philosophy of drumming is much the same as his approach to gear:
I don’t think you ever really reach that point. If you ever get to the point where you think to yourself man, I now everything there is to know about this particular drum or this particular style, it probably means that you don’t know anything about that particular style. For me, it’s about the process. It’s not about the end result. It’s not about “I’m going to do these exercises and I’m going to master this style.” That’s not really the goal. For me, the goal is to go through the process, to learn that stuff, internalize that stuff and then make it your own thing. For me, that’s never going to end. I never see an end in sight. Sometimes it can be incredibly frustrating, but I love it.
You can catch Clutch on the road with Lamb Of God and Corrosion of Conformity this spring.
KEITH CHACHKES
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Clutch has been riding high since last fall’s release of their album Psychic Warfare (Weathermaker). Being a band for over 25 years, the venerable act has seen trends come and go, but never wavered from their high energy rock music they love. They are also one of the few bands that has operated with the same lineup for most of their history, for which in this day and age, you need to give some props. We caught up with drummer Jean-Paul Gaster to discuss touring and performing, how Clutch makes a record among other topics. The band is heading out with Lamb of God and Corrosion Of Conformity soon:
Clutch are hitting the road soon with Corrosion Of Conformity, who are back with Pepper Keenan, and the band have already toured together extensively. What are you guys most looking forward to most about this run of dates?
They’ve been one of my favorite bands since I first started playing music, and this even goes back to the original 3 piece version of the band. When I watch Mike Dean and Woody and Reed play together, for me, it’s a little bit like looking back into history because those guys really formed that music that we call hard core, or sludge, or doom, or whatever you want to call that thing that those guys are doing. They really did it first and they did it better than anybody. When I watch those guys play, I think about that. I think about how long those guys have been playing together and the level of communication that goes on just in looking at one another or little gestures. That’s amazing, and then when Pepper joined the band, those guys wrote even more incredible songs. I’m very much looking forward to checking out their set every night.
Clutch has made a career of being a great live band. Musically they are almost another animal entirely how they bring it live from their albums. Jean-Paul explains:
That’s the point. My intention is to go up there and make music, make it be a real musical situation. We take chances on stage. We improvise. We try new things. The song itself is really just a vehicle for the playing. I try to make that performance a unique performance. What happens tonight is not what’s going to happen tomorrow night and what happened last night. For me, that’s a very special thing knowing that the folks in the audience are going to be treated as something completely unique. That’s what I would want, as a music fan, I love that. I don’t love going to see a band and knowing that the guy said the exact same thing last night and that the band is going to do that exact same thing just like they did last night. To me, that’s not rock and roll. That’s like a school play. That’s fine too. There’s great bands out there that do that really well, but that’s not interesting to me.
The 20th anniversary of the very first and much-loved Clutch album, Transnational Speedway (East West) was a few years back. Wouldn’t it be something special for the band and their fans if they represented that music on tour?
I think we’re probably just going to keep things business as usual. We’re going to get out there and we’re going to tour. A lot of bands get together, say, for their 25 anniversary tour and they go on tour. We’ve been going on tour for 25 years already.
If we did anything, maybe we’ll just take a year off. I don’t think we will.
Psychic Warfare came out last fall, seemingly on the heels of Earthrocker, which was amazing. Just a short time ago. Not only are are Clutch one of the most consistent bands around, they are stunningly consistent from album to album.
I think in some ways, there are some tunes on there that are related to what we did on Earthrocker. Let’s remember we recorded Earthrocker not that long ago. In some ways, the way we wrote the songs are similar. We learned a lot on the Earthrocker run. It was a good tour for us. We went to a lot of places. We played those songs in a lot of different venues.
Consequently, there’s a lot of energy we pull from those tunes. In some ways, the new songs are related. I do think this is a more diverse record. Earthrocker tended to be pretty consistently upbeat, and on this one, there’s a little bit more variables on there. We have some more dynamic happening. The tempos are a little different. There’s some blues-ier things on there, and some more funk based things on there as well. I enjoy playing that style. We’re very proud of the record. It’s going to be a fun tour.
The band worked with their sometime collaborator/producer Machine on Psychic Warfare. From the artist perspective, having a producer that understands you, but can also give you a reality check is key. The artist perspective, it’s important to keep it. While respect for the man is industry wide, Machine’s personal style is said to be not for everybody. We asked JP why the band works so well with him?
I think the most important thing that Machine brings to the table is that he is able to look at the songs from the perspective of a fan. For us being around for 25 years, same guys with the same instruments, it can be tough sometimes to gain perspective. You feel like you’re swimming around in a fish bowl a little bit. You can’t see the forest through the trees. Machine is really good at doing that. He’s really good at listening to a song, looking at a song, and thinking about how a fan is going to hear that song. That perspective is invaluable for us.
KEITH CHACHKES
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What year is it again? A new Star Wars movie is about two months away, Iron Maiden has a brand new album out that rules, The Muppet Show has new episodes on TV each week and other amazingness is happening. Somebody pinch me! Or don’t, because I don’t want to wake up if this is a dream. And for the kicker, Clutch and Corrosion of Conformity, frequent touring partners for the last 25 years are out on the road together once again. Playing blistering sets each night for droves of fans, neither band competes with the other. Instead they live in their own bubbles of genre defining greatness. C.O.C., now rejoined by Pepper Keenan (Down), are rejuvenated by going down memory lane for a set consisting of songs from classic 90s albums such as Deliverance and Wiseblood (both Columbia). Although they occasionally toss in an 80s crossover classic, one hopes the band hasn’t abandoned its fruitful “COC trio” work they have been doing the last few years completely. Writing for a new COC album is ongoing and a release is expected sometime in 2016. In the meantime Clutch is just crushing on the strength of their bold new album Psychic Warfare (Weathermaker). Led by the indomitable Neil Fallon, the band has mined this new album heavily live, as well as the classics that have made Clutch one of the premier American heavy rock bands going. Captured tonight by Evil Robb Photography at Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom in New Hampshire, you have one of the strongest bills of no compromise rock and metal heard anywhere this fall.
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