Tag Archives: riffs

Black Label Society Announce UK Tour Dates

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Black Label Society UK Tour Poster

Rejoice lovers of all things riff-related, Zakk Wylde and his massive case of riffs are returning to the UK next year when Black Label Society invade the UK. After tearing Download apart this year, Zakk and co will be playing a series of dates throughout February. See you there.

From The Press Release

Following on from their highest ever UK charting album Catacombs of the Black Vatican via Mascot Label Group (home to Joe Bonamassa, Volbeat, Gov’t Mule, Beth Hart, Vandenberg’s MoonKings) earlier this year, Black Label Society have announced their 2015 tour dates.

Presale tickets will go on sale for O2 customers on Wednesday 8th October at 10am and via Live Nation on Thursday 9th October at 10am with the official on sale date Friday 10th October at 10am.

Bringing his guitar wizardry and guttural blues to the road; Zakk Wylde along with Dario Lorina (Guitar), John DeServio (Bass) and Jeff Fabb (Drums) will play 8 dates for the UK faithful; giving them the opportunity to see the brooding intensity, swampy nihilism and explosive swagger of Catacombs.. for the first time since their formidable main stage performance at this years’ Download Festival.

Speaking of the new album experience Wylde explains “Every time you’re going to make a new record, it’s exciting. When you’re in the studio you can approach it like Salvador Dali where you’ve got a blank canvas in front of you. You can paint a little bit, sit back and look at it and go, ‘Oh man, let’s add a little more red over here, let’s make this darker over there.’ Because live? It’s a free-for-all. People are bleeding. There’s fire going on. You’re getting attacked by grizzly bears…”

If 2013s Unblackened live album found Black Label Society in a mellower mood then Catacombs of the Black Vatican, their 10th studio album sees them throw down the gauntlet as the runaway beast that they really are in which Metal Hammer described the album as “a metal warrior returning to former glories”.

From his 20 years with Ozzy Osbourne and his inception of Black Label Society in 1998 Wylde has widely been considered as one of modern rocks’ true guitar heroes with his taste for metal, blues, doom and southern rock. He recently won the accolade of ‘Metal Guru’ from Classic Rock as well as a ‘Golden God’ from Metal Hammer and ‘Best Guitarist’ from Revolver to cement this status. His collaborations have led to a string of multi-platinum albums, including Osbourne’s biggest selling ‘No More Tears’ for which Wylde wrote all the music.

Get ready for February 2015 as Black Label Society are back to bring the noise.

2015 UK TOUR
WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY O2 ABC, GLASGOW – £20.00 Tickets
THURSDAY 12 FEBRUARY THE INSTITUTE, BIRMINGHAM – £20.00 Tickets
FRIDAY 13 FEBRUARY THE ROUNDHOUSE, LONDON – £22.00 Tickets
SATURDAY 14 FEBRUARY O2 ACADEMY, BRISTOL – £20.00 Tickets
SUNDAY 15 FEBRUARY O2 ACADEMY, LEEDS – £20.00 Tickets
TUESDAY 17 FEBRUARY UEA, NORWICH – £20.00 Tickets
WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY ROCK CITY, NOTTINGHAM – £20.00 Tickets
THURSDAY 19 FEBRUARY MANCHESTER ACADEMY – £20.00 Ticket

EUROPEAN TOUR DATES
SATURDAY 21 FEBRUARY MELKWEG, AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS €27.50 Tickets
SUNDAY 22 FEBRUARY ANCIENNE BELIGIQUE, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM €28.00 Tickets
TUESDAY 24 FEBRUARY BATSCHKAPP, DORTMUND, GERMANY €28.00 Eventim & Ticketmaster

WEDNESDAY 25 FEBRUARY FZW FREIZEITENTRUM WEST, FRANKFURT, GERMANY €28.00 Eventim & Ticketmaster
THURSDAY 26 FEBRUARY LE BATACLAN, PARIS, FRANCE €32.00 Tickets
SUNDAY 1 MARCH TRAIN, AARHUS, DENMARK 275.00 DKK Tickets
TUESDAY 3 MARCH ROCKEFELLER MUSIC HALL. OSLO, NORWAY 385.00 NOK Tickets
FRIDAY 6 MARCH NOSTURI, HELSINKI, FINLAND €41.00 Tickets
SUNDAY 8 MARCH ROCK CAFÉ, TALLINN, ESTONIA €32.00 Tickets
MONDAY 9 MARCH FORUM PALACE, VILNUS, LITHUANIA $30.00
WEDNESDAY 11 MARCH B90, GDANSK, POLAND 110.00 PLN Tickets
THURSDAY 12 MARCH CLUB STUDIO, KRAKOW, POLAND 110.00 PLN Tickets
SATURDAY 14 MARCH Z7, BASLE, SWITZERLAND 46.00 CHF Tickets
SUNDAY 15 MARCH LES DOCKS, LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND 50.00 CHF Tickets

Album Buy links:
Buy ‘Catacombs of the Black Vatican’ on CD/Vinyl here
Buy ‘Catacombs of the Black Vatican’ on iTunes here

Black Label Society On Facebook


Wolvhammer – Clawing Into Black Sun

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wolvhammer-clawing album cover

 

It’s not often you find a black metal album you can dance to, but Wolvhammer seem to have produced a sound that does just that. Mixing up doses of black metal with rock sensibilities their music is both dissonant and hooky, meandering into post-metal territories on occasion. The different genres are blended seamlessly, forming an entity where each style is equal and nothing dominates the other.

 

Following on from 2011’s sophomore album, The Obsidian Plains, Clawing into Black Sun (both Profound Lore) may not be a change in style, but it is certainly a completely different beast. It lacks some of the raw aggression that was present in The Obsidian Plains, opting for a more refined approach to the style. The music centers much more heavily around the riffs, downplaying some of the heavy black metal influence from the previous release. The biggest difference however can be found in the vocals, losing some of the raw and harrowing edge.

 

While ‘Death Division’ and ‘The Desanctification’ drip with hatred, ‘Silver Key’ and title track ‘Clawing into Black Sun’ strip back the bleakness, replacing it with more groove-based riffing. Coming in at almost nine minutes long, it is the longest song and really stands out an album underpinned by a melodic edge where many of the tracks charge between rage and refinement. ‘A Light That Doesn’t Yield’ is a dark introspective; its’ melodies poignant and captivating backed by slow-moving harmonies underneath.

Wolvhammer have once again crafted an eloquent and addictive album evolving out the sound of previous work. While it lacks the sheer torment that Obsidian Plains encapsulated, for those that like their black metal polished, buffed and refined, this makes an essential addition to the record collection.

Wolvhammer band photos

8.0/10.0

Wolvhammer on Facebook

 

CAITLIN SMITH

 


Lord Dying – Vaporizer – Lunglust: Live At O’Brien’s Allston MA

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Thankfully for the majority of shows I have been to this year, the brutal winter weather has been no match for the brutal live music scene. Although O’Brien’s barely holds 100 people, the joint was sold out on this frigid, windy night. The placed was packed and people were keeping warm with a pint or three for this Friday night. Lots of local luminaries were out in force, naturally. One of the cooler people in the scene is Michelle Dugan, who makes gorgeous silk screen print posters and other kinds of design work for local and national bands. Hit her up if you need some fresh designs. Nice to even see some of the hipster metal elite of Boston, supporting a local artist, as I saw several people leave with their own posters. O’Brien’s is one of those places that is really small, but feels homey and cool to take in a show. Low lights, cold brews, decent sound, and good metal playing in between bands is always a recipe for a fun time.

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Sadly I missed seeing The Modern Voice while BS-ing with the door guy about getting in, which bummed me out a bit. Luckily for me Lunglust was coming on next. One of the best up-and-coming bands of the Boston scene, Lungust is the kind of band you never want to miss, with their brutal, crusty hardcore influenced metal. They have yet to let me down. Front man Jeffrey Sykes spits venom on the mic with his manic performance and spent most of the set in the crowd in front of the stage. With a lineup is now bolstered by the rhythm section from The Proselyte, they are super tight now and better than before. They have a new record coming out this year, so we will be keeping an ear out for that too. Definitely a group you want to listen to when your usual KEN Mode or Trap Them fix runs out.

 

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Vaporizer, hailing from Vermont, is a band I had heard a lot about, but never had seen live until tonight. They seemed to had the stage presence of ten guys with their ton of gear, packing onto the stage that is small for a four piece band, let alone five. They played an amalgam of doomy sludge with cool, weird occasional flourishes of proggyness, thanks to the vocalist Dan getting down on bended knee to make love/hate to his synthesizer. The crowd was definitely into these guys and they performed well,. Some of their tunes meander on a bit for my taste with some extras codas as the culprit. However, they definitely have the goods talent-wise. From what I could tell, the majority of their songs are about weed and mysticism, weed mysticism, and did I mention songs about weed? They had a lot of confidence as a unit too. So many bands look like they don’t care, so it’s cool (and sad) that bands that give a shit about performing live these days make themselves stand out a lot.

 

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Lord Dying set up their own gear with a quick-fast, like the tireless professional road dogs that they are. Out on the road supporting their release Summon The Faithless (Relapse) which has seen them open up regularly for their hometown Portland bromein in Red Fang on several tours, as well as many other bands in just a few years time. Tearing into a short set of songs from that release, the crowd was hella into it and many were singing along which was cool to hear. The band rocks out with none of the pretense of some of their stoner rock loving brethren, which makes them heavier and cooler than most. I also noticed their live versions of their songs are a lot tougher sounding, making me think their next album is going to be a real killer if they can capture this live feeling with these new songs. They played their jams like ‘Dream of Mercy’, ‘What is Not….Is” and ‘Greed Is Your Horse” to the loud approval of the crowd. In addition to their massively heavy title track, they also played a new song, that I missed the name of, but it was balls out hard. When they announced their closer ‘In a Frightful State of Gnawed Dismemberment’, there was an audible groan from the fans, as well as the usual “one more song” chant. Nonetheless, these workman like dudes, came, conquered and left as quick as they came in. Well done!

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Lord Dying on Facebook 

Vaporizer on Facebook

Lunglust on Facebook

 

Words: Keith (Keefy) Chachkes

Photos: Echoes In The Well