Pallbearer released their new album, Heartless, earlier this month via Profound Lore Records here in North America, and via Nuclear Blast in Europe. As Hansel said in his 8/10 review, this band was “faced with the Herculean task of following up 2014’s Foundations of Burden, and they’ve passed with flying colors.”
Now that the powerful new material is out, it’s time to bring those songs to the stage. Continue reading
A summer time Monday night found me at a venue that I had never been to before, the Royale in Boston, MA. It was a good size and actually pretty nice inside with a few large couches and suits of armor hanging on the walls. I’ve since been told that it doubles as a (dance) club, but it makes a fine metal venue as well.
We kicked things off with a performance by a band new to me called Venomous Maximus based out of Houston. They are yet another one of those bands that deserves to be seen live rather than just compared to their studio recordings. Their studio work is your standard, run of the mill doom-y stoner-y heavy metal. On stage is where the band really starts to come to life. They’re energetic and the music itself is far heavier. A CD or mp3 doesn’t capture that. Next to the masters in High on Fire themselves, Venmous Maximus was the most entertaining band on the bill for me.
I was not a fan of Lucifer. They had been described to me as a sort of female-fronted Black Sabbath but I found them to be just another generic doom band and lost interest quickly. They did have a projector with some old films running which I’ve always thought can be a nice added touch. To be honest, I probably spent more time watching the movie than I did watching the band’s actual performance.
I had a similar reaction to Pallbearer. I have plenty of friends that worship them, but they are just not my thing. I need something with a little oomph to keep my attention which I guess kind of defeats the purpose of what they’re trying to do but, hey, I need more fuzz and more grooves.
High on Fire opened their set with ‘The Black Plot’ off of Luminiferous (eOne) and with me foolishly thinking that I would simply admire their performance from the back of the crowd in order to protect my injured wrist. By the end of their second song, I knew that I was nothing but a filthy liar as I ran through the pit and began snaking my way through the crowd towards the front row. Injury or not, I was there for a helping of Pike Juice and it wasn’t long before I found myself in front of Matt Pike yet again. As expected, the set was heavy with songs off of the last album including ‘Carcosa’ and ‘The Dark Side of the Compass’ which are two of my favorite tracks. I would have loved to have gotten ‘Bloody Knuckles’ again as it holds a special place in my heart but there’s always next time.
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WORDS BY ALEIDA LA LLAVE
PHOTOS BY EVIL ROBB PHOTOGRAPHY
L to R: Des Kensel, Matt Pike, Jeff Matz. Photo Credit: J. Hubbard
Today High on Fire is streaming their entire new album Luminiferous (eOne) via NPR’s “First Listen”. This comes one full week before the album’s release on June 16th. Hear the album at this location:
Luminiferous track listing:
01: The Black Plot
02: Carcosa
03: The Sunless Years
04: Slave the Hive
05: The Falconist
06: Dark Side of the Compass
07: The Cave
08: Luminiferous
09: The Lethal Chamber
High On Fire tour dates:
North American Luminiferous Tour
Jul 30: The Casbah – San Diego, CA
Jul 31: Echoplex – Los Angeles, CA
Aug 01: The Regency Ballroom – San Francisco, CA
Aug 03: Hawthorne Theater – Portland, OR
Aug 04: Rickshaw – Vancouver, BC
Aug 05: Neumos – Seattle, WA
Aug 07: The Complex – Salt Lake City, UT
Aug 08: The Gothic – Denver, CO
Aug 10: Mill City Nights – Minneapolis, MN
Aug 11: Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL
Aug 12: The Loving Touch – Ferndale, MI
Aug 13: Opera House – Toronto, ON
Aug 14: Lost Horizon – Syracuse, NY
Aug 15: Irving Plaza – New York, NY
Aug 17: Royale – Boston, MA
Aug 18: Music Hall of Williamsburg – Brooklyn, NY
Aug 19: Theatre of the Living Arts – Philadelphia, PA
Aug 20: Baltimore Sound Stage – Baltimore, MD
Aug 21: Ziggy’s – Winston-Salem, NC
Aug 22: Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
Aug 23: One Eyed Jack’s – New Orleans, LA (* Venomous Maximus will not appear)
High On Fire on Facebook
High On Fire on Twitter
Berlin based heavy metal blues rockers Lucifer are streaming their Chris Koll and front woman Johanna Sadonis directed music video for “Izrael,” off of their new album Lucifer I, out via June 16, 2015 via Rise Above Records. The single was written by and ex-Cathedral guitarist, Garry Jennings and Sadonis, and was shot partly at Lucifer’s first Berlin show in April.
The band will be doing their first ever North American tour supporting High On Fire, Pallbearer and Venomous Maximus.
LUCIFER W/ High on Fire, Pallbearer and Venomous Maximus:
Jul 30: Casbah – San Diego, CA
Jul 31: Echoplex – Los Angeles, CA
Aug 01: The Regency Ballroom – San Francisco, CA
Aug 03: Hawthorne Theater – Portland, OR
Aug 04: Rickshaw Theater – Vancouver, BC
Aug 05: Neumos – Seattle, WA
Aug 07: The Complex – Salt Lake City, UT
Aug 08: Gothic Theater – Englewood, CO
Aug 10: Mill City Nights – Minneapolis, MN
Aug 11: Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL
Aug 12: The Loving Touch – Ferndale, MI
Aug 13: The Opera House – Toronto, ON
Aug 14: The Lost Horizon – Syracuse, NY
Aug 15: Irving Plaza – New York, NY
Aug 17: Royale – Boston, MA
Aug 18: Music Hall of Williamsburg – Brooklyn, NY
Aug 19: Theater of Living Arts – Philadelphia, PA
Aug 20: Baltimore Soundstage – Baltimore, MD
Aug 21: Ziggy’s – Winston-Salem, NC
Aug 22: The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
Aug 23: One Eyed Jack’s – New Orleans, LA
L to R: Des Kensel, Matt Pike, Jeff Matz. Photo Credit: J. Hubbard
High On Fire will be releasing their new album Luminiferous on June 16, 2015 via eOne Music. The record was recorded at Salem, Massachusetts’ GodCity Studios with producer Kurt Ballou. They have announced a North American headlining tour with Pallbearer, Lucifer and Venomous Maximus. Stream “The Black Plot” below.
HIGH ON FIRE tour dates:
North American Luminiferous Tour
Jul 30: The Casbah – San Diego, CA
Jul 31: Echoplex – Los Angeles, CA
Aug 01: The Regency Ballroom – San Francisco, CA
Aug 03: Hawthorne Theater – Portland, OR
Aug 04: Rickshaw – Vancouver, BC
Aug 05: Neumos – Seattle, WA
Aug 07: The Complex – Salt Lake City, UT
Aug 08: The Gothic – Denver, CO
Aug 10: Mill City Nights – Minneapolis, MN
Aug 11: Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL
Aug 12: The Loving Touch – Ferndale, MI
Aug 13: Opera House – Toronto, ON
Aug 14: Lost Horizon – Syracuse, NY
Aug 15: Irving Plaza – New York, NY
Aug 17: Royale – Boston, MA
Aug 18: Music Hall of Williamsburg – Brooklyn, NY
Aug 19: Theatre of the Living Arts – Philadelphia, PA
Aug 20: Baltimore Sound Stage – Baltimore, MD
Aug 21: Ziggy’s – Winston-Salem, NC
Aug 22: Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
Aug 23: One Eyed Jack’s – New Orleans, LA (* Venomous Maximus will not appear)
Track listing:
01: The Black Plot
02: Carcosa
03: The Sunless Years
04: Slave the Hive
05: The Falconist
06: Dark Side of the Compass
07: The Cave
08: Luminiferous
09: The Lethal Chamber
High On Fire on Facebook
High On Fire on Twitter
Venomous Maximus: Trevi Biles (Bass), Gregg Higgins (Vocals, Guitar), Bongo (Drums) and Christian Larson (Guitar).Photo Credit: Jessica Brungardt (@jessaberrant)
Houston metallers Venomous Maximus is streaming “Though the Black” here, off their forthcoming album Firewalker on May 19, 2015 via Shadow Kingdom Records. The album was recorded at the Diamond Factory in Austin, TX with engineer Travis Bonner (Ancient VVisdom) and mastered by Paul Logus (Satyricon, Clutch, Anthrax).
Firewalker track listing:
01: Intro
02: White Rose
03: Through the Black
04: Dark Waves
05: October 14
06: Firewalker Theme
07: Angel Heart
08: My Machine
09: Fire in the Night
10: Take On the Grave
Venomous Maximus on Twitter
Venomous Maximus on Instagram
Venomous Maximus: Trevi Biles (Bass), Gregg Higgins (Vocals, Guitar), Bongo (Drums) and Christian Larson (Guitar).Photo Credit: Jessica Brungardt (@jessaberrant)
Houston metallers Venomous Maximus will release their new album Firewalker on May 5, 2015 via Shadow Kingdom Records. The album was recorded the album at the Diamond Factory in Austin, TX with engineer Travis Bonner (Ancient VVisdom). The record was mastered at PLX Mastering by Paul Logus (Satyricon, Clutch, Anthrax), with early reports indicating the band’s new music to be “big, bold and bad ass.”
Firewalker track listing:
01: Angel Heart
02: Dark Waves
03: Fire in the Night
04: Ghost Beast
05: My Machine
06: October 14
07: White Rose