https://lagerfest.net/ Label: Nuclear Blast Album: Beyond the Black The upcoming Lagerfest tour promises not just to be an opportunity to sample the many variants of the nectar of the gods, but also offers a wide range of musical tastes to savour across the metal genre. Aside from the headliners of Sweden’s The Halo Effect, which
Steve VaiEnmore Theatre, Sydney.Sunday, 5th November, 2023.Rating: Five skulls. Charismatic and erudite, Grammy Award winning American guitarist, Steve Vai, has toured the major cities of the Pacific rim numerous times with his first visit here in 1988, during his tenure with the incommensurate Van Halen frontman, David Lee Roth [aka DLR]. Since then, he launched
Avantasia – The Flying Opera – Around The World In 20 Days Nuclear Blast Tobias Sammet, the frontman from German power metal band EDGUY was long ago encouraged by his producer and guitarist friend Sascha Paeth to venture into side project territory. After operatic releases, some more commercial styled efforts and a trilogy of bombastic,
KISS. Supports: The Delta Riggs, Regurgitator, and Weezer. Accor Stadium, Homebush SydneySaturday, the 7th of October, 2023. Kiss are a rock music staple; the formula and product delivered is never going to change and the aim was always global domination. To some extent, they achieved that aim, as when it comes to gigantic concert experiences,
Canadian death metal band Kataklysm survived the pandemic, and in delivering their 15th studio album, titled Goliath, have unleashed one of their most crushing and ferocious outings in years. Fuelled by a strong work ethic, and a sense of pride in their work, Goliath takes the theme of resilient defiance, and harnesses their non-compromising attitude into a body of work that pummels all and sundry with the musical salvo within a no-nonsense 40 minutes. Vocalist Maurizio Iacono barks with intensity and unbridled aggression, adding to the layered Kataklysm sound.
In the mid 80’s, a slew of legendary metal bands came to fruition from the Seattle music scene, including Metal Church, the phenomenal Queensrÿche, and the melodic power metal beast that is Fifth Angel. The musicianship was revered too, with original Fifth Angel guitarist James Byrd appearing in international guitar magazines, and with co-founding drummer Ken Mary cropping up, not just in drum magazines, but on tour with the incommensurate Alice Cooper for the Constrictor and Raise Your Fist and Yell tour cycles.
Living Colour and Extreme.ENMORE THEATRE, SYDNEY Tuesday, 12 September, 2023. The co-headlining Thicker than Blood tour of Boston’s Extreme and New York City’s Living Colour rolled into Sydney for the second last night of the Australia leg, and in doing so, sold out a few hours before stage time. Extreme were last at the Enmore
The Night Flight Orchestra [TNFO]‘Aeromantic II’Nuclear Blastwww.facebook.com/thenightflightorchestraofficial Swedish band The Night Flight Orchestra aka TNFO started as a side project for friends in established metal bands such as Arch Enemy and Soilwork, primarily as a creative outlet. Their growing international profile was temporarily disrupted by the pandemic, halting their tour cycle for fifth album ‘Aeromantic’.
Tour Interview: Piotr Wiwczarek from Vader Latest Release: Solitude in Madness Label: Nuclear Blast Website: www.vader.pl Polish death metal band Vader are well known in the metal scene, and continue to produce seriously ferocious music. Their most recent album, Solitude in Madness is a punishing album of powering death metal. Australian metal audiences soon hear
Skid Row – The Gang’s All Here Website: www.skidrow.com Label: Edel Music Score: 4 ½ out of 5. Skid Row are rejuvenated, and a good chunk of that credit goes to infusing new vocalist, Erik Grönwall, into the fold. The former H.E.A.T vocalist may well have a striking sonic resemblance to original, volatile vocalist Sebastian