Metal – Page 9 – 7th Level Music

Top 15 live shows of 2021: #’s 10 – 6

I saw over 30 bands last year, despite many shows being cancelled or postponed, and here are the ones that made the top ten.

#10: Frankie and the Witch Fingers – Ft. Wayne’s Brass Rail – October 08th

This was the third time I’d seen Frankie and the Witch Fingers in as many months (and the last time I’d see them in 2021), and they played a wild set in a small club that included some new, unreleased material.

#9: Danzig – Psycho Music Festival – August 21st

I’m not sure how I hadn’t seen Danzig in concert until now, but he and his crew put on a good show. They played Lucifuge in its entirety and plenty of other tracks – including a long encore missed by at least half the crowd.

#8: Claude Fontaine – Psycho Music Festival – August 20th

In the middle of the Psycho Music Festival, which is heavy on metal of all sorts, Claude Fontaine came onstage at the Mandalay Bay House of Blues and put on the most beautiful set of the entire festival. Backed by two percussionists and a guy on acoustic guitar, she performed gorgeous bossa nova and dub tracks for her first show ever in the Sin City. Shame on you if you missed it.\

#7: Death Valley Girls – Psycho Music Festival – August 19th

Playing as the sun set and the moon rose, Death Valley Girls were a highlight of the “Psycho Swim” opening night of the 2021 Psycho Music Festival in Las Vegas. Like pretty much everyone there, it was their first gig in nearly two years and their excitement was palpable.

#6: The Flaming Lips – Psycho Music Festival – August 21st

It’s always a joy to see The Flaming Lips, and hearing their uplifting songs and soaking up the energy from the loving crowd was just what we needed as we returned to live music and hope. This show will always have a special place in my heart, as it was the last time my late wife was able to see them. Their shows always boosted her spirit.

Who’s in the top five? You’ll have to wait until tomorrow to learn!

Keep your mind open.

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Mötorhead releases massive compilation – “Everything Louder Forever.”

Leading the charge for their entire 40 year career was the cultural icon Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister, who swashbuckled around stages, streets and overseas like a glorious Mad Max pirate truthsayer, roaring for the good and screaming at the wankers. With his propulsive sound and lyrical might leading the charge, MOTÖRHEAD released 22 studio albums over those four decades, amassing chart topping records worldwide, a Grammy award and racking up around 20 million sales. Their hit song “Ace Of Spades” became MOTÖRHEAD’s anthem, perfectly capturing their attitude for millions, and punching giant holes in stereos worldwide to this day. Nothing was harder, nothing was faster, nothing packed more raw attitude and certainly nothing was louder, making MOTÖRHEAD a cultural elixir that was regularly imbibed across all genre lines. Don’t take our word for it, look around any heavy metal, punk or alternative gig, and you’ll see the indomitable warpig logo and MOTÖRHEAD gothic script on a t-shirt, a jacket, even an arm or leg or back (MOTÖRHEAD tattoos are everywhere), all sitting on the bodies of rockers, metalheads, punks, bikers, rebels, outcasts, freethinkers and even athletes all around the world. Yeah, that’s right, MOTÖRHEAD’s cultural reach remains virtually peerless to this very day (the one you’re living right now as you read this), and it continues to span fans young and old, igniting their adrenaline and giving them both entertainment and identity.

MOTÖRHEAD are proud to announce they are teaming up with MÖVEMBER for their annual fundraising campaign this year. Supporters are encouraged to ‘shave down’ on 31^st October and grow a moustache – or in this case your very own ‘Lemmy Mo’, through the month of November, to raise funds and awareness. All funds go directly toward supporting men’s health projects across mental health and suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer.

By joining team MOTÖRHEAD and growing your own Lemmy Mo’ you’ll be raising much needed funds for MÖVEMBER and all the great work that they do. The biggest fundraisers will have a chance to win a selection of very special MOTÖRHEAD prizes!

Do you want to see what you might look like with a Lemmy Mo? Then you can try this handy filter!https://motorhead.lnk.to/LemmyMoPR

To sign up to grow your own mo’, visit www.movember.com/lemmy

Everything Louder Forever
This collection is the definitive assembly of MOTÖRHEAD songs which have created this cultural phenomenon, and represents the first time all eras of the band’s recorded history have been represented in one place. And we feel that if in this mad, mad world we’re living in, some aliens decide to drop by your house for tea and demand an explanation as to, “what the fuck is this ‘MOTÖRHEAD’ is that we keep hearing and feeling bits of in our extra-terrestrial houses millions of miles away,” you could happily play Everything Louder Forever and know that the question will be thoroughly answered. Buy two copies though, because you know they won’t leave without taking one themselves! Or something like that anyway…

Be sure to visit www.iMotorhead.com for news and updates!

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Maria at Adrenaline PR.]

RidingEasy Records set to unleash “Scrap Metal vol. 1” – a horde of rare metal from the 1970s – 1980s.

The curators of the popular Brown Acid compilation series of long-lost vintage 60s-70s proto-metal singles share a new track today via Decibel Magazine from the first edition of a new series titled Scrap Metal. Following chronologically where Brown Acid leaves off, Scrap Metal scours the world for long-lost, rare and unreleased Heavy Metal from the late-70s through late-80s. Hear/share The Beast‘s (featuring Scott Ruth, later of Dim Mak and Ripping Corpse) 1983 punk-metal hybrid “Enemy Ace” HERE. (Direct YouTube and Bandcamp.)

Album opener Rapid Tears‘ anthem “Headbang” premiered previously via Metal Injection HERE (And YouTube.) “69 in a 55”, a 1983 track from Bay Area band Air Raid launched via Ultimate Classic Rock HERE (and YouTube.)

Brown Acid & Scrap Metal series are created and compiled by L.A. based RidingEasy Records and Permanent Records.

By now you’re probably familiar with our wildly popular Brown Acid series of rare, lost and unreleased proto-metal and stoner rock singles from the 60s-70s. In the endless pursuit of those glorious gems, we often uncover equally brilliant rarities from the late-70s to late-80s Golden Age of Heavy Metal that also just must be heard, but they don’t fit the series’ aesthetic. Scrap Metal: Volume 1 collects some of the greatest unknown and lost Heavy Metal tracks, long buried beneath the avalanche of the era’s classic output.

We all know the old adage that history is told by the winners. But sometimes the losers tell the best stories. And while none of these bands found fame and fortune, this artifact and the volumes to come are testament to the enduring power of heavy music. You can hear the blood, sweat and beers that went into each of these singles. The recordings may be low budget, but the inspiration and talent is immutable. Not only are the amps turned up to 11, the boyish sexual innuendo is cranked to 69. You can hear the convergence of influences — NWOBHM, thrash, glam metal, doom, etc — colliding at once as the era birthed a wellspring of subgenres.

Many of these singles are self-released and were thus limited to a small run of copies. Those that remain are hoarded by collectors and sold for exorbitant amounts. We’ve collected the best of the best for you here. As with Brown Acid, all of these tracks are licensed legitimately and the artists all get paid. Because it’s the right thing to do.

Scrap Metal: Vol. 1 will be available everywhere on LP, CD and download on November 12th, 2021 via RidingEasy Records. Pre-orders are available for digital at Bandcamp, physical pre-orders at RidingEasy Records.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Dave at US / THEM Group.]

Witch Fever deliver “In Birth” ahead of their debut EP.

Creating buzz in the music scene since their inception, Manchester’s Witch Fever are not long away from their debut EP Reincarnate which will be released digitally on 29th October and physical 12” on 3rd December, via Sony’s Music For Nations. Pre-order HERE.

Following title track ‘Reincarnate’ (here), and the lyrical mash up ‘In The Resurrect’ (here), today they share new single ‘In Birth’. It’s lyrics are semi-autobiographical from singer Amy and deal with the consequences of being born into a Charismatic Christian church where patriarchal structures and predatory behaviour were rife.

“‘In Birth’ has been kicking around for a little while now, so it’s nice to finally exorcise it into the world.”, says Amy. “Whilst the theme of a lot of our songs is reclamation, empowerment and catharsis, it’s definitely far more vulnerable. It felt right to juxtapose this with big chuggy riffs and noisy, cymbal heavy drums. The power that Alisha, Alex and Annabelle create on this track accompanies the anger in my lyrics perfectly.”

Watch the video for ‘In Birth’ HERE.

She continues, “We created and directed the video with Sam O’Leary and it’s a tongue in cheek way of presenting the narrative. We wanted something camp and fun, but still powerful and angry. Plus, everything’s better with a bucket of fake blood!”

Witch Fever also announce an in-store performance and signing at the legendary Rough Trade East for 4th December 2021. Free with vinyl purchase at Rough Trade, or tickets on sale.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Amy at Prescription Music PR.]

Motörhead to release “Everything Louder Forever” compilation this October.

MOTÖRHEAD…a life force, an energy, an attitude and the loudest, meanest, dirtiest music to smash the 20^th and 21^st centuries. With a bastard sound comprising an unholy synergy of rock, punk and heavy metal, MOTÖRHEAD comes coated in relentless, ear-curdling power. They were life-changing for millions, carrying a spirit and approach to life and music which proudly said, “Honey, we’re hoo-oome and don’t bother cleaning because we’re here to enjoy ourselves!” The ‘off’ switch was never employed in the MOTÖRHEAD lust for life, and they became legends as a result.

Leading the charge for their entire 40 year career was the cultural icon Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister, who swashbuckled around stages, streets and overseas like a glorious Mad Max pirate truthsayer, roaring for the good and screaming at the wankers. With his propulsive sound and lyrical might leading the charge, MOTÖRHEAD released 22 studio albums over those four decades, amassing chart topping records worldwide, a Grammy award and racking up around 20 million sales. Their hit song “Ace Of Spades” became MOTÖRHEAD’s anthem, perfectly capturing their attitude for millions, and punching giant holes in stereos worldwide to this day. Nothing was harder, nothing was faster, nothing packed more raw attitude and certainly nothing was louder, making MOTÖRHEAD a cultural elixir that was regularly imbibed across all genre lines. Don’t take our word for it, look around any heavy metal, punk or alternative gig, and you’ll see the indomitable warpig logo and MOTÖRHEAD gothic script on a t-shirt, a jacket, even an arm or leg or back (MOTÖRHEAD tattoos are everywhere), all sitting on the bodies of rockers, metalheads, punks, bikers, rebels, outcasts, freethinkers and even athletes all around the world. Yeah, that’s right, MOTÖRHEAD’s cultural reach remains virtually peerless to this very day (the one you’re living right now as you read this), and it continues to span fans young and old, igniting their adrenaline and giving them both entertainment and identity.

This collection is the definitive assembly of MOTÖRHEAD songs which have created this cultural phenomenon, and represents the first time all eras of the band’s recorded history have been represented in one place. And we feel that if in this mad, mad world we’re living in, some aliens decide to drop by your house for tea and demand an explanation as to, “what the fuck is this ‘MOTÖRHEAD’ that we keep hearing and feeling bits of in our extra-terrestrial houses millions of miles away,” you could happily play Everything Louder Forever and know that the question will be thoroughly answered. Buy two copies though, because you know they won’t leave without taking one themselves! Or something like that anyway…
Everything Louder Forever will be released October 29 via BMG Records. See below for full details of the Everything Louder Forever and be sure to visit www.iMotorhead.com for news and updates!

2CD & 4LP track listing:

Overkill
We Are Motörhead
Snaggletooth
Rock It
Orgasmatron
Brotherhood Of Man
In The Name Of Tragedy
Bomber
Sacrifice
The Thousand Names Of God
Love For Sale
Killed By Death
I’m So Bad (Baby I Don’t Care)
Smiling Like A Killer
Sharpshooter
Queen Of The Damned
Keys To The Kingdom
Cradle To The Grave
Lost Johnny
The Game

Ace Of Spades
Burner
Stone Dead Forever
Bad Woman
Just Cos You Got The Power
Stay Out Of Jail
No Class
I Am The Sword
The Chase Is Better Than The Catch
God Save The Queen
R.A.M.O.N.E.S.
Iron Fist
Rock Out
Dirty Love
Shine
Overnight Sensation
On Your Feet Or On Your Knees
I Ain’t No Nice Guy
Sucker
1916
Choking On Your Screams
Motörhead

Also available as 2CD, 2LP, 4LP, digital download, streaming and 360 Reality Audio.

Keep your mind open.

[Thanks to Maria at Adrenaline PR.]

Review: Deathchant – Waste

Imagine Thin Lizzy fronted by a guy who looks like a heftier Frank Zappa but with a voice like Lemmy Kilmister (T.J. Lemieux), and you’ll pretty much have the sound of Deathchant and their second album, Waste.

The seven-track album rips by you faster than a drag strip car, barely coming in over half an hour in length. These guys don’t fool around or waste time. The first track, “Rails,” sounds like the album is about to come off them after the first drum fill by Colin Fahrner. Deathchant’s melodic heavy metal instantly makes you want to customize a Dodge van and hit the road with a foxy lady dressed in bellbottom hip-huggers and an American flag bikini top…while you’re possibly being chased by a wizard. “Black Dirt” has you stomping the gas in that van in order to make it past a haunted mesa before dusk. “Holy Roller” is one of the album’s heaviest cuts. Lemieux and fellow guitarist / vocalist John Belino simply unload twin machine guns on it, and George Camacho‘s bass is like a sledgehammer taking out any survivors.

The whole band’s stunning ability to just jam is apparent on “Gallows.” The title track is over five minutes long, which seems like an epic poem from Deathchant, and it’s suitable for a heroic journey to a dark land to vanquish a monster and return with a mystical orb. The thing starts like squealing race car tires and then bursts from the starting line and never looks back.

“Plague” has neat guitar work balanced well between Lemieux and Belino while Belino sings of bodies lying in the streets. The album ends with “Maker,” a rocking track that features a friendly competition between Camacho and Fahrner – almost like they’re trying to see which of them might stumble first upon the driving rhythm of the track.

Waste is a solid rock record, and Deathchant seem to have had a blast making it – judging by how fun it is to hear.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Dave at US / THEM Group.]

Psycho Las Vegas 2021 recap: Day Three

We only had four bands on our itinerary for day three of the Psycho Music Festival in Las Vegas. One was a must-see for us (especially for my wife) and another was someone I, for some reason, had never seen before this festival.

First up were shoegazers Flavor Crystals, who played the early afternoon at the Rock & Rhythm Lounge to a small crowd, but a small crowd full of shoegaze fans. They dropped a heavy sound bomb on the place, flooding the casino with fuzz.

Flavor Crystals melting faces and minds.

They also added to my set list collection from the festival.

We took a break for a few hours and then came back for three consecutive shows at the Michelob Ultra Arena, which is connected to Mandalay Bay. Meanwhile, Summer Slam was happening at the stadium across the street, which made for a weird mix of T-shirts seen in the casino. You saw everything from shirts for wrestlers like John Cena and Rey Mysterio, Jr. to bands like Dying Fetus and Cephalic Carnage.

The first band at the Michelob Ultra Arena certainly weren’t the death metal category, but were rather Thievery Corporation, who put on a fun show combining bhangra, reggae, dub, rap, and funk. It was my second time seeing them, and the first time I saw them was also in Las Vegas (at the Cosmopolitan Hotel Casino rooftop pool), so it was an interesting return for me. They put on a fun set.

Sitar, drums, congas, bass, synths, and vocals from Thievery Corporation.

Next were The Flaming Lips, who are one of the best live bands going right now and one of my wife’s favorite bands ever. It was, as always, a delightful, uplifting experience. The usual spray of confetti into the crowd was minimal, and there were no giant, confetti-filled balloons launched into the crowd due to COVID concerns, but there was still plenty of fun to be had. It was fun to stand next to a guy who’d never seen them before then, and he gave me a happy thumbs-up during the show.

My wife went back to the hotel room after the show, and I stayed to see Danzig. I’d somehow gone my entire punk teenage years, college years, and post-college years without seeing Danzig, Samhain, or any variation of The Misfits. Danzig started a little late, but Glenn Danzig and his band came out to an appreciative crowd and played the entire Danzig II: Lucifuge album and then some of their favorite hits. It was an impressive set, and the guitarist was especially talented. Glenn Danzig wasn’t too concerned about possible COVID infection, however, as he tossed multiple used water bottles and face towels into the crowd – half of whom left before his three-song encore, which baffled me.

One funny conversation I overhead as I was leaving the Danzig show was between two guys. One was checking the set times on his phone. His friend asked who was currently playing. “Cannibal Corpse,” said the man with the phone. His friend replied, “Yeah! Let’s fucking get brutal!”

I made it back to the room after wandering the casino a bit and being a bit overwhelmed by all the visual and aural stimulation, not to mention all the smoke of various kinds I’ve been around all day. We had an easy morning planned for the last day, and then a night of wild rock, Cambodian funk, soul funk, and metal lined up for Sunday.

Keep your mind open.

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Motörhead release previously unheard sound check version of “Stay Clean.”

Life on the road isn’t all glamour and rock’n’roll excess and MOTÖRHEAD’s punishing tour schedule in 1981 took them all over the globe as they rode high on the success of Ace Of Spades. One integral part of the daily grind on the road is the sound check, although very little of it is ever seen or documented in the public domain. Fortunately during the Short Sharp Pain In The Neck tour of March 1981,

MOTÖRHEAD had a mobile recording studio in tow as they recorded their thunderous, number 1 live album, No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith now celebrating its 40^th year. This rare recording of them performing “Stay Clean” as they warmed up for the night at Newcastle on March 30 is accompanied by a video containing behind the scenes montages of the backbone of the MOTÖRHEAD live show; the legendary road crew!

Watch the video at https://youtu.be/nTEGnEgUrY4.

The deluxe CD Box-Set and Special 40^th Anniversary Editions of No Sleep‘ Til Hammersmith will be released on June 25, 2021.

Preorders and exclusive merch bundles can be found here – https://motorhead.lnk.to/nosleep40PR

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe before you go.]

[Thanks to Maria at Adrenaline PR.]

Review: Alastor – Onwards and Downwards

If you’ve been thinking there isn’t any good doom metal out there right now, allow me to use a phrase I find myself saying now and then, “Meanwhile, in Sweden…”

In Sweden, Alastor have been crafting heavy, spooky doom metal for a few years now, and their new album, Onwards and Downwards, is about (in the words of guitarist Hampus Sandell) “…one person’s gradual slip into insanity. An ongoing nightmare without end. It also sums up the state of the world around us as this year has clearly shown.”

So, don’t expect a happy-go-lucky record. Expect skull / soul-crushing riffs and images of things watching you from the shadows.

Opening track “The Killer in My Skull” unleashes a fusillade of cymbal crashes, rocketing riffs, and vocals about questioning reality. “Dead Things in Jars” creeps around you like something in a secret laboratory you just found in a witch’s basement. Sandell’s solo on it is slick. “I hear them callin’, shadows are fallin’…There’s no denyin’, red eyes are cryin’…” Is it a warning or a lament? It’s probably both. The breakdown around the five-minute mark leads to heavy riffs suitable for something emerging from a cauldron.

I’m fairly certain I can hear a piano being pounded on during the rocking, reeling “Death Cult” – a song made for blasting out of the windows of your muscle car are you’re being chased (or you’re chasing) werewolf bikers. The bass groove alone is pretty damn cool. “Nightmare Trip” could be a subtitle for the year 2020. “Shadows like walls around me slowly closing in,” they sing with a slight edge of reverbed fuzz on the vocals that mixes well with the killer bee buzz guitars. The tolling bell at the end is a great touch.

Believe it or not, there’s acoustic guitar on the instrumental “Kassettband,” showing that Alastor aren’t a one-trick pony and could easily be a psych-band if they wished. The nearly ten-minute-long title track (complete with spooky haunted house organ) has vocals that seem to cry out from behind an ornate mirror that was formerly covered in a dusty crimson cloak. The guitars and drums feel like they’re rising up from the ground to become something you can’t escape (“There is no place you can hide…”). The song somehow gets creepier around the seven-minute-mark, especially with lyrics like, “Your dying heart is beating faster as you are pushing through the night.” The closing track, “Lost and Never Found,” is another heavy-hitter that further explores the descent into madness a lot of us were sensing for the last year.

It’s a heavy record, both in sound and theme, and well worth a listen. Yes, it’s about staring and walking into the abyss, but the riffs are powerful enough to give you the strength to emerge from it like a warrior.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Dave at US / THEM Group.]

Clutch announces winter tour with Stöner and The Native Howl.

Clutch has just announced a string of Winter 2021 headline tour dates celebrating 30 years of rock and roll starting on December 27th in Baltimore, MD. Supporting the tour will be STONER, the brand new band featuring Brant Bjork (Kyuss) and Nick Oliveri (Queens Of The Stone Age, Kyuss).

The run will also include Detroit natives and “thrash grass” pioneers, The Native Howl.

“We are incredibly excited to hit the road again” states Clutch. “We’ve missed the shows, the fans, the venues and the opportunity to watch the other bands we share the stage with. It’s going to feel like our first show all over again and we can’t wait! Come out and let’s make some Rock and Roll!.”

Tickets will go on sale to the general public Friday, May 21st at 10:00 am at www.ClutchOnTour.com.

CLUTCH Celebrating 30 Years of Rock N Roll Winter Tour Dates: Dec. 27 – Baltimore, MD – Rams Head Dec. 28 – Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom Dec. 29 – Cleveland, OH – Agoura Theatre Dec. 30 – Detroit, MI – Filmore Theatre Dec. 31 – Cincinnati, OH – The Icon

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Doug at New Ocean Media.]