Gig Reviews

Jagermeister Tour 2012: Skindred, Therapy?, Black Spiders, and The Defiled

Brixton Academy, London, Friday 13^th April

Words by Nicholas Holmes

Photos by Tess Donohoe www.tessdonohoe.com

In August last year, purely coincidentally following a Morrissey gig, Brixton Academy was at the centre of the riots which caused mayhem across the city for several days. There really was panic on the streets of London. Fast forward several months, and Friday 13^th April proves lucky for thousands of fans keen on a more convivial type of chaos – the Jagermeister Tour featuring four of the best bands in modern British heavy music. Even better, the tickets cost just a fiver, and this show sold out ages ago.

Hammerfest 4 Review Part 1 – Friday

by Nicholas Holmes

Photos by Tess Donohoe (www.tessdonohoe.com/)

Hammerfest, organised by Metal Hammer magazine with the team behind Hard Rock Hell, celebrated St Patrick's Day weekend in thoroughly drunken style, with several thousand heavy metal fans making the bi-annual pilgrimage to the Pontins holiday complex at Prestatyn on the North Wales coast.

The line-up this year featured some true legends in the form of Big Four US thrashers Anthrax and Yorkshire's doom-driven Paradise Lost, plus Swedish death metallers Amon Amarth and eclectic, eccentric Welsh wonders Skindred – not to mention a huge bill of bands that may have been overlooked by others or new ones looking to make their mark.

The weekend includes fancy dress themes, band autograph sessions and a bustling market area where you can get tattooed, stock up on CDs, shirts and patches. Then there is the amusement arcade, open until 3am where hardcore party animals can win a giant-sized cuddly Winnie The Pooh to take to bed. Or not.

The event is all about the live music, and the bill covers numerous genres and tastes across three stages. There really is something that will appeal to everyone. Here are some of the highlights...

Hammerfest 4 Review Part 2 – Saturday

by Nicholas Holmes

Photos by Tess Donohoe (www.tessdonohoe.com) 

It is noon on a grey Saturday at a North Wales holiday camp, and heads are sore after the long night before. However, some hardy souls are up or have not even been to bed. Just as the previous day's action closed with the ridiculous spectacle of Lawnmower Deth, the bizarre duo Oaf have stumbled onto the small stage in the Queen Vic pub to begin the second day of Hammerfest in equally ludicrous fashion. One of them is recognisable as Metal Hammer's own Dom Lawson. It seems his, ahem, project is a form of music therapy. Arguably some may need therapy after prolonged exposure to Oaf-ishness! They are actually very funny, and Lawson drops some great stand-up style lines between the shouting, screaming, punk rackets. Apologising for a merch fuck up, he quips, “If you are a 4ft 2 woman with no boobs or a big fat fella like me, we've got T-shirts just for you!” Returning to the therapy theme, he explains one song is based on a Will Self book about mental illness, responding to a heckler with, 

Black Breath/Victims/Tormented/Dead Existence at the Underworld 02/04/2012

Words by Pete Green

Photos by Antony Roberts

The Underworld is crusty at the best of times, but if there were a crust-o-meter system to measure the volume of beards, the essence of scraggly unwashed hair, the number of hoods up over baseball caps indoors and pairs of tight black jeans, tonight would surely be up there as some kind of new record. Seattle, Washington’s premier punk-thrashers Black Breath are in town to wreak havoc and destruction alongside a varied support bill of bands drawn from an equally gnarled darkness. One thing’s for sure, this ain’t gonna be pretty!

Suffocation with support from Cattle Decapitation, Blood Red Throne, Sadist, Cerebral Bore and Carceri, Camden Underworld, London, 13th March 2012

Words and photos: Antony Roberts

With Suffocation's London date falling on a weekday it was always questionable whether I was going to make it on time.  Doors were at 5.30 and not living in London this was going to be a mission.  Unfortunately with full time work commitments our reviewer who is far more familiar with all the bands playing was unable to get away from work, and I arrived late having missed openers Carceri.

Cerebral Bore were due on at 6.30 but took to the stage around 7, good for those arriving after work, but meaning the rest of the night was going to be pressured to get the timetable back on track.  Opening with Maniacal Miscreation and then plowing through

Wino and Conny Ochs, with support from The Death Letter, The Black Heart, London, Saturday March 23rd 2012

Words and photos: Antony Roberts 

With the ever reliant service from South Eastern trains I turned up to the gig late despite it being on a Saturday afternoon.  Managing to only catch the very last few songs of The Death Letter, I walked in to "Down and Out" and felt like I could have been walking the rail tracks out in Mississippi.  With a home made banjo they referred to as a rigar it was a great start to the beating start of summer with London's first, and very early mini heatwave. They finished up with a raw bluesy cover of Monster Magnet's Powertrip.  One 

Earth at The Haunt, Brighton, 12th March 2012

Words: Antony Roberts

Photos: Antony Roberts (metalgigs) & Gemma Shaw (www.gloomylightsphotography.co.uk)

After seeing Kylesa play a blinding set at The Haunt and experiencing its seriously awesome sound system for the first time, there was no questions asked at all, we had to go and see Earth play there.   Kylesa was my first time at The Haunt and I fell straight in love with the venue.  It's small and intimate, but unlike so many small venues they've actually spent some money on the P.A. system, and it sounds amazing. 

Walking on to quiet and polite applause, Earth took to the stage, and Dylan thanked us for joining him on 

LIVE REVIEW: Cannibal Corpse, Triptykon, Enslaved, Job For A Cowboy, HMV Forum, London 10th March 2012

Words and photos: Antony Roberts

Arriving late I only managed to catch the last song of Job For A Cowboy, but not being a fan this was no great loss.  They had however drawn a large crowd, the Forum was already pretty heaving and the queue outside was winding down and around the building.

Enslaved took to the stage and straight into "Ethica Odini", the first track from their most recent album, 2010's Aximoa Ethica Odini.  Guitarist Arve was his usual self, like a child who's eaten too many skittles, the man does not stand still!   Constantly a top the monitors or throwing shapes with

Pythia + The Mariana Hollow

The Borderline, London, 29^th February 2012

Review by Nicholas Holmes

All photos by Tess Donohoe http://www.tessdonohoe.com/ 

It is “leap day”, which only comes round every fourth year, and according to Celtic tradition a time when women propose to men – if the man refuses he has to buy her twelve pairs of gloves! Female-fronted bands Pythia and The Mariana Hollow would be 

Thin Lizzy, Clutch, Triggerfinger, Brighton Dome, Friday 3rd February 2012

Words and photos by Antony Roberts

Arriving at the rather spacious and grand Brighton Dome and Triggerfinger had already taken to the stage.  Prior to their support announcement I had not heard the name, so I had briefly checked out the myspace but from what I'd heard I was not too fussed about catching them.  Thankfully I did get there early though as they are one of those bands that fair a lot better in a live environment, and they were very different, at least compared to the few tracks i had heard from their myspace.  Any singer