Local Metal bands

[no country for old wainds]

i know the ex-guitarist of the swedish thrash band lethal (as does anyone who's been here 15 years)

 

[HamburgerBoy]

I'm too antisocial to know anyone first-hand but I'll worm my way into the thread via my dad. I don't live in Houston anymore, but when I was a kid, my dad was re-roofing the house while blasting some metal on the stereo, while I watched and played with leaves and shit. The next-door neighbor was in a local band, heard the noise, and after chatting metal for a while introduced my dad to Fates Warning, the guy's favorite band, which would by twist of fate (hurrhurr) become mine as well. I think my dad said that his last name was 'Fudge' but I haven't been able to find any hint of the band he was in or even any metal band from Houston circa that time that would roughly fit the bill, but it's something I'm still trying to figure out. When we moved to San Diego, Cage, Asphalt Ballet, and probably a couple more I'm forgetting all made it into the CD collection as bands my dad saw as frequent opening acts, and he was introduced to Den of Thieves (more obscure band; lightly-grungy rock/metal that sounds somewhere between GnR, Armored Saint, and Alice in Chains I guess) because a member of the band worked for the same company as him.

 

[Satanstoenail]

I've still got relos in Frankston, 21st Century might have gone but Frangga hasn't changed

It’s defintely become more desirable, being near the beach. But yeah boganica still abounds.

Worst place we ever put on a gig was San Souci. The drummers had to go without any cymbals higher than their head's because the drum riser, which was only about thirty centimetres high, left no room below the roof. I was about 6'2" back then and I could nearly touch the roof with my head, the lead singers all got blinded by the cans all night because their eye balls and the lights were nearly the same height. I think they redid the shit hole in the early 90's but until then it was a dive of a place.

I don’t remember that place at all, was it Melb or Sydney? We used to mainly play The Tote or the Sarah Sands. The Sarah Sands is about to be turned into apartments of course. The Tote is still going strong though.

Sanctum Lethal records demo 92:

 

[Slammed]

I don’t remember that place at all, was it Melb or Sydney? We used to mainly play The Tote or the Sarah Sands. The Sarah Sands is about to be turned into apartments of course. The Tote is still going strong though.

That is possibly because I've got the name of the place wrong but I can't for the life of me think another name. There used to be a hotel at the northern end of Barkly St not far from Dandy Rd, Google shows apartment blocks there now so I'm guessing it's been ripped down (and probably needed to be).

Sarah Sands used to be a half decent place for metal. They renamed it to Bridie O'Reily's in the late 90's and a we managed to put a few Irish bands on the stage after that, not sure how the remodelling is going. There was a rumour last year they were going to turn it into a cafe.

Sanctum Lethal records demo 92:

That logo is on the EP I have somewhere but I can't remember the picture. I'll have to try and dig it out.

 

[Sleestaks]

Atlanta's always had a pretty decent scene, nothing really mindblowing but a lot of a solid bands plugging away in relative obscurity. Can't say I've ever known any of them personally but thanks to the long running college radio show WREKage I've been exposed to a great deal of the city's (and metro area's) music going back to the mid 80s. In the Divebomb Records "reissues you'd like to see" thread I posted about Ghost Story, so rather than repeat myself I'll just say they were an excellent thrash band from back in the day, and are in need of a modern demo comp treatment. I highly recommend them.

and


Part of my metal psyche is stuck in the late 90s, mostly because that was around the time I came back to the genre after having spent several years listening to almost anything but. When I checked back in with the aforementioned WREKage show, I heard a lot of talk about Abwhore, a sort of visually Napalm Records band that had a bit of a Cradle of Filth vibe but came off more raucous and death metal oriented. Yes they sound dated as hell, ha. I'll always dig this stuff though.


Speaking of Abwhore, their vocalist/bassist went on (briefly) to Cauldron Born, who fucking rule, but I think they're pretty well known. If not, check them out for galloping, fist pumping power metal in the 80s sense.



Two of the current death metal bands I enjoy are Disfigurement and Mangled. The former's EP Soul Rot got some attention when it came out a few years ago, and rightly so, as it manages to avoid being constricted by the geographical labels so prevalent in the "OSDM revivalism" movement. It has little flashes of Sweden, or Finland, or Florida, or NY, or what the hell ever else, but stands quite ably as its own thing.


And Mangled really like Carcass.


Oh, and despite already going on for longer than I'd intended, if you've never heard Sadistic Ritual, take care of that problem now. Totally ripping thrash.


edit: dammit, only the first Ghost Story link was supposed to be an embed. I purposefully used the truncated "share" links in the other instances to avoid just that. Oh well, enjoy the image dump. A thousand pardons.

edit2: Psychology plays a hell of a role, jesus. Sitting here listening to Abwhore for the first time in years, I'm only hearing any kind of Cradle of Filth element in the skeleton of the songs, the way the parts are joined together and how the vocals fit into the music. The riffing and drumming, not to mention a lack of any kind of gothic atmosphere, which I was weirdly and erroneously remembering, are different indeed. Reminds me of Epoch of Unlight -- not the most helpful comparison, but a band I love.

 

[Satanstoenail]

Sarah Sands used to be a half decent place for metal. They renamed it to Bridie O'Reily's in the late 90's and a we managed to put a few Irish bands on the stage after that, not sure how the remodelling is going. There was a rumour last year they were going to turn it into a cafe.

I couldn’t believe when I came back from the UK and they’d turned it into a Bridie O’Reily’s but at least then it was still a pub. Now apparently all they’re keeping is the facade and it’s going to be a six-story shitbox apartment block. Shits me.

 

[Slammed]

I couldn’t believe when I came back from the UK and they’d turned it into a Bridie O’Reily’s but at least then it was still a pub. Now apparently all they’re keeping is the facade and it’s going to be a six-story shitbox apartment block. Shits me.

Yeah not really surprising now days unfortunately. Look at what they have done and want to keep doing to places like Festival Hall and the Palace. Festival Hall's been a shit hole since the 70's but it was a good shit hole for metal gigs. The riots at the Sepultura gig pretty much fucked up things for Festival Hall.

The Sanctum I have is actually a single called Dimensions Of The Mind, it's a standard 45 with only two songs on it.

 

[Satanstoenail]

Yeah not really surprising now days unfortunately. Look at what they have done and want to keep doing to places like Festival Hall and the Palace. Festival Hall's been a shit hole since the 70's but it was a good shit hole for metal gigs. The riots at the Sepultura gig pretty much fucked up things for Festival Hall.

Yeah Festival Hall is a hole but it’s a sentimental thing for me, I saw many many shows there starting with Megadeth in the Rust in Peace tour in 91. It’ll be a real shame to see it go.

The Sanctum I have is actually a single called Dimensions Of The Mind, it's a standard 45 with only two songs on it.

Haha yeah that’s an angsty 17 year old me screaming and growling on it and trying to look as metal as possible on the back cover. Actually tracks 2 and 4 on that link I put up are different mixes of the same recording.

 

[Slammed]

Yeah Festival Hall is a hole but it’s a sentimental thing for me, I saw many many shows there starting with Megadeth in the Rust in Peace tour in 91. It’ll be a real shame to see it go.

I'd seen bands like the Angels and Tatts etc there but Megadeth was the first real metal gig I saw there, then Maiden (found the Sanctum single between the RIP and FOTD tour books), and we worked the Seps gig that had the riot.

Haha yeah that’s an angsty 17 year old me screaming and growling on it and trying to look as metal as possible on the back cover. Actually tracks 2 and 4 on that link I put up are different mixes of the same recording.

Thankfully there is very few recordings of me doing any screaming, although I never tried the death growl

 

[Bloopy]

I'm from Wellington and was dragged to my first local show in 2004. The main attraction according to my little sister was death/grind band Backyard Burial, although it was a mixed genre show. 2 months later we saw them play a shed in the industrial area of a small city, and Ulcerate from Auckland was a late addition to the bill (who I didn't see again until after they released Everything Is Fire). At the time the NZ metal scene was almost exclusively black & death metal which I'd only minimally gotten into, so I kinda slipped into a punk phase when my sister moved away!

In 2008 I moved to Auckland. At first I only saw a few extreme metal bands if I'd heard of them, but I followed the developing stoner rock/doom scene closely. The House of Capricorn was particularly interesting as their sound shifted from stoner rock to doom, and later death rock. Two members were in black/doom band Creeping, who helped get me more into black metal. Unfortunately they've split up or gone inactive now, along with many other doom bands such as Burning Solitude, Mosquito Control and the punkier Wall of Silents.

I've known the guitarist of Stälker (speed metal) since high school, along with the bassist of Execrate (black thrash) somewhat. Some other current NZ bands I've gotten to know personally include Bloodnut, Arc of Ascent and Wolf Wizard (all stoner metal), Deathnir (thrash), and Into Orbit (instrumental post-rock/metal). Shallow Grave (doom) are basically inactive but have a recent recording to put out, and a few others need to release something too.

 

[Dazed and Brutal]

A pretty decent doom outfit with ties to some other trendy names.



These guys are workhorse around me and are well worth catching live.

It's hard to really dig into the scenes I grew up around in the greater NYC area. I got to meet Incantation through a neighbor once when I was like 13 though. I was a tad too awestruck and bashful for it to be meaningful, but they always put on a great set.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

When I lived in the Bay Area, it was Ludicra. Cool band and cool people. The drummer got in touch with me after I wrote a review of their debut on metal archives. Most musicians who have contacted me wanted to bitch about negative reviews or critiques. He actually said he appreciated the constructive criticism (granted it was mostly a positive review). He also put me in touch with the guitarist. She One lived in Santa Cruz when I was in college and drove me from Santa Cruz to San Francisco so I could see their show and helped me get into the bar by passing me off as a roadie. The singer bought me a drink. Then, when I moved back to the East Bay, they were one of my go-to local bands and one of the bands I used to introduce a lot of my non-metal friends to extreme metal.



These days, living in LA, it's the Twilight Black Circle. I've probably seen Volahn and Arizmenda about 5 times each. Both really awesome live acts, though in very different ways. Arizmenda is so damn intense every time I see them.

 

[Manic Ferocity]

@Manic Ferocity knows the singer of Lethal.

Former co-worker. Guy is a bit of an ass but I find him amusing as a person.

 

[Omni]

Interestingly enough, I apparently now know him too because he sent me a friend request on Facebook at some point between when I posted that and you replied.

 

[Manic Ferocity]

So, to follow-up on my Valdrin post in the black metal thread, the band rips live. Honestly one of the few examples of bands that sound better live than in the studio.

 

[The Ozzman]

So, to follow-up on my Valdrin post in the black metal thread, the band rips live. Honestly one of the few examples of bands that sound better live than in the studio.

Valdrin rules. I was exhausted from work so I didn't go to that show. Eagerly anticipating their next album. Verment fucking rules too. Eric the front man is one of the nicest dudes in the scene.

 

[Manic Ferocity]

Yeah, I talked to the vocalist briefly after their set. He seems nice.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

I'm currently living in Chicago so there's too many bands to list off. However, the Peoria/Bloomington/Normal scene has had some rare gems. These days, I like to get really drunk and party with these guys.



And aside from them, there really aren't any other noteworthy metal bands from Pissoria. There is a real shitty hardcore/scene/straightedge scene but all that shit is fucking garbage. Peoria is more known for it's solid punk scene with bands like Bloody Mess probably being the most popular. And yes, GG Allin took his first on-stage shit at the VFW outside of Peoria in Creve Coeur.

Bloomington/Normal has had some decent bands as well. I think the most popular around here would be Impetigo. Mark is an awesome dude and his band is quite good for those into that sort of thing.

 

[Funerary_Doom]

There's many bands here. I use to hang out more, but life and stuff gets in the way.

My friend's boyfriend plays in Throaat. They rule. Actually funny story. During MDF 2013 him and I took a picture together with the dude who walks around with the Death speedo. I randomly posted it on my instagram and his girlfriend found me because I guess he had the same picture too. She's cool and he's cool too. I run into them often.



And a friend of mine plays in One Master. He's the bassist.

 

[Manic Ferocity]

I'm currently living in Chicago so there's too many bands to list off. However, the Peoria/Bloomington/Normal scene has had some rare gems. These days, I like to get really drunk and party with these guys.



And aside from them, there really aren't any other noteworthy metal bands from Pissoria. There is a real shitty hardcore/scene/straightedge scene but all that shit is fucking garbage. Peoria is more known for it's solid punk scene with bands like Bloody Mess probably being the most popular. And yes, GG Allin took his first on-stage shit at the VFW outside of Peoria in Creve Coeur.

Bloomington/Normal has had some decent bands as well. I think the most popular around here would be Impetigo. Mark is an awesome dude and his band is quite good for those into that sort of thing.

Yeah, Mark is really down-to-earth. I also love how he has a patch vest with JUST Venom patches.