Known best for their breakthrough hit “Through the Fire and the Flames”, and the same song’s addition to the video game Guitar Hero 3 as the game’s white-knuckle “final boss” track, UK’s DragonForce had, for a time, enjoyed riding upon the crest of a resurgence in the popularity of power …
Read More »Show Review: Thrice at The Granada in Lawrence, KS – 6/24/16
Hailing from Irvine, California, Thrice is a rock band which touts an impressively dynamic catalog – gaining popularity in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s as a post-hardcore outfit, shifting into more experimental territories throughout the mid-to-late ‘00s, and rounding out the early ‘10s with a more straightforward style with …
Read More »EP Review: Monument of a Memory – Catharsis
Delve into the depths of modern metalcore and one will find numerous tropes and common elements that, even with a cursory glance, are immediately apparent – among them: distorted and drop-tuned guitar riffage, ballsy harsh vocals, and pounding drums with a kick that seems attached at the hip with the …
Read More »Show Review: Disturbed, Hellyeah, Sixx:AM, Seether, and more at Rockfest in Kansas City, MO – 5/14/16
Rockfest is touted as North America’s largest one-day music festival, and with fifteen main bands between two stages, more bands on the smaller third stage, and around 50,000 fans in attendance each year, this claim is not hard to imagine as accurate. The festival takes place outdoors in downtown Kansas …
Read More »Show Review: Fear Factory, Soilwork, Spades and Blades, and Moiré at Aftershock in Kansas City – 4/23/16
Industrial metal powerhouse Fear Factory are currently on tour in the United States in celebration of the 20th anniversary of their seminal album Demanufacture. As a gift to their loyal and widespread fanbase, the band are playing the album live, in its entirety, at each date on the tour. Joining them …
Read More »Show Review: Nightwish, Sonata Arctica, and Delain at the Uptown Theater in Kansas City, MO – 3/16/16
Three of the most respected acts in symphonic Euro-metal – female-fronted Dutch act Delain, long-lived Finnish power quintet Sonata Arctica, and the symphonic metal pioneers themselves, Nightwish – have made their way across the pond to tour the states, promising a night of headbanging with a touch of epic fantasy. …
Read More »Show Review: Killswitch Engage, Memphis May Fire, 36 Crazyfists, and Toothgrinder at the Uptown Theater in Kansas City, MO – 3/19/16
American metalcore promises several things: aggression, headbanging, moshing, and above all, a great party. Genre gods Killswitch Engage have promised all of the above, embarking on the Incarnate tour, celebrating their recently released album of the same name. Along for the ride are up-and-comers Toothgrinder, old friends 36 Crazyfists, and …
Read More »Event Review: A New World, Benyamin Nuss, Critical Hit, and Earthbound Papas at Naka-Kon, 3/11-3/13 2016
Naka-Kon is an annual 3-day convention held in the Kansas City area which celebrates anime, video games, and Japanese culture. Each year, the convention hosts a variety of influential Japanese musicians who perform, host informative panels, and sign autographs for fans. This year’s main guest was legendary video game composer …
Read More »Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu and more to appear at Naka-Kon Anime convention in Overland Park, Kansas
Naka-Kon is an annual 3-day convention held in the Kansas City area which celebrates anime, video games, and Japanese culture. Each year, the convention hosts a variety of influential Japanese musicians who perform, host informative panels, and sign autographs for fans. Line-up This year, the convention will be hosting the …
Read More »Album Review: Textures – Phenotype
With their first album released in 2003, Dutch headbangers Textures are a well-established band within the progressive metal community. Their previous album, Dualism, was released slightly over four years ago, so the level of anticipation among fans has come to a boiling point. The lengthy wait was not for nothing, …
Read More »Album Review: Megadeth – Dystopia
As one of the “big four” bands which pioneered American thrash metal, Megadeth are always guaranteed to generate plenty of buzz with the release of any new album, and their latest release, Dystopia, is as much a generator as any. The main draw this time around is the replacement of …
Read More »Album Review – Manimal: Trapped in the Shadows
When it comes to straight-up heavy metal, most fans believe that it can’t get any better than the classics: Maiden, Priest, Sabbath, etc. If their latest release, Trapped in the Shadows, is anything to go by, Sweden’s Manimal are certainly subscribers to this philosophy. Their second album thoroughly succeeds in …
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