New Band - ASTRAL BLOOD

Wednesday night I witnessed the performance of a great new local band called Astral Blood to whom I wanted to draw some attention. The band describes their sound as "esoteric black metal", which is a succinct description as any. Consisting as a trio of Alexander (guitar/vocals), Justin (keyboards), and Andrew (drums), Astral Blood delivers cold, atmospheric black metal as long songs that leave room for plenty of experimentation and variation between dark, ambient passages and ripping, buzzsaw fury. Their lack of a bassist is certainly odd, but it works, and it allows Astral Blood to achieve a sound that isn't so dense as to drown out the music's subtleties.

Wednesday's show supporting Tesseract, Scale The Summit, and Anciients was only their second show as a full band! I spoke with Justin for a few minutes after the show, and Astral Blood expects to release some music soon while getting more live shows under their belts. Go learn more about Astral Blood at their Facebook and Bandcamp pages. If you're curious about their music, here's the audio and video of their last song from Wednesday's show (October 16) available to download. Although the sound is excellent, the quality of the video is, unfortunately, low - that's what happens when you forget to check the recording settings (oops). Anyways, these give you an idea of how this great new band sounds. A list of their upcoming shows follows.

Astral Blood - Audio and video downloads
2013-10-16, Minneapolis, MN, Skyway Theater Studio B
Last song (8:55): mp3@192 kbps (12.25 MB) or mov (346.3 MB)

October 28 - Minneapolis, MN, Memory Lanes, w/Deretla, Invidiosus, We Are Legion
October 31 - Minneapolis, MN, The Terminal Bar, w/Pestifere, Invidiosus, Plagued Insanity
November 3 - Minneapolis, MN, Blue Nile, w/Masshu, LocKGnar, Plagued Insanity, The Progenitors
November 9 - St. Paul, MN, Big V's Saloon, w/Under Eden, Invidiosus, Dissident Clone

I DECLARE WAR - April 9, 2013

Brutal deathcore band I Declare War played an intense show on April 9 at Station 4 in St. Paul while on tour with Within The Ruins, The Contortionist, Reflections, and City In The Sea. I previously posted the audio from Reflections, and now here is the complete audio of I Declare War. The concert was reviewed in two parts, here and here.

Click on the photo to see additional live pictures of I Declare War (22).

The download link is here. As always, please share, but share the link to this post rather than the direct Mediafire link. Enjoy!

I Declare War

Tonight We Lay Waste

April 9, 2013

St. Paul, MN, Station 4

mp3@192 kbps, 41.7 MB zip file (artwork included)

1. Human Waste (5:39)

2. Misery Cloud (3:40)

3. March On (4:01)

4. Weak Minds (4:09)

5. The Dot (4:36)

6. Putrification Of The Population (4:03)

7. Malevolence (2:20)

Total time: 28:28

REFLECTIONS - April 9, 2013

Minneapolis metalcore band Reflections has some interesting progressive elements to their sound, and the recently completed a tour with Within The Ruins, The Contortionist, I Declare War, and City In The Sea. The tour steamrolled through Station 4 in St. Paul earlier this month, and here now is the audio of the show for download. The review of this show with pictures was published in two parts, part 1 is here and part 2 is here (Reflections is reviewed in part 1). Look for a new tour announcement from Reflections soon.

The download link is here. As always, please share, but share the link to this post rather than the direct Mediafire link. Enjoy!

Reflections

Fantastic Live Effects

April 9, 2013

St. Paul, MN, Station 4

mp3@192 kbps, 38.1 MB zip file (artwork included)

1. Lost… (1:27)

2. …And Found (5:52)

3. Good Push (6:23)

4. Delirium (2:52)

5. Rotations (7:02)

6. Ceilings (1:57)

Total time: 25:33

LOUDNESS - May 19, 2001

Loudness

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Ground Zero, Minneapolis, MN

Click any of the pictures to see more photos of Loudness performing live (37).

Japanese greats Loudness did a rare U.S. tour in the Spring of 2011 to celebrate the band’s 30th anniversary. This show was a late addition to the initial batch of announced tour dates so this nearly missed my attention. Loudness never broke through in the U.S. and hadn’t toured here in over 20 years. I still remember all the hype in the mid-80s about guitarist Akira Takasaki being the “Japanese Eddie Van Halen”, so my expectations were high as I finally had a chance to see Loudness. The full show is at long last here for you to download.

Local industrial band As|Of opened the show followed by Mommy Sez No, who filled in for the last minute cancellations of Warmachine and Dirty Passion. The club wasn’t full, but there still was a good turnout by the time Loudness took the stage. As the intro music played the only thing visible was the LED lights from Akira’s fretboard before showcasing his shredding on the instrumental “Fire Of Spirit”. Vocalist Minoru Niihara then ran out as they launched into “Hit The Rails” and a crushing version of their most well-known song in the U.S., “Crazy Nights”. The intensity never let up for an instant as the band tore through a selection of songs from most stages of their long career. The guitarwork of Akira was simply insane as his fingers flew all over the frets seemingly without effort. Other highlights were the drum solo that led into “The King Of Pain” and the dramatic “Shadows Of War (Ashes In The Sky)”. An encore of “Let It Go” and “S.D.I.” closed out an amazing show.

This was easily one of the best and most memorable concerts in the last few years. It was also up there with Manowar as one of the loudest concerts I’ve ever experienced. The band was in great spirits throughout the night and fed off the rapturous crowd response. Loudness makes a return to the U.S. this month for a very limited run of dates that are not to be missed.

The download link is here. As always, please share, but share the link to this post rather than the direct Mediafire link. Enjoy!

Loudness

Thunder At Ground Zero

May 19, 2011

Minneapolis, MN, Ground Zero

mp3@192 kbps, 109 MB zip file (artwork included)

1. Intro/Fire Of Spirit (6:02)

2. Hit The Rails (4:36)

3. Crazy Nights (6:13)

4. Heavy Chains (5:12)

5. In The Mirror (4:13)

6. Never Change Your Mind (7:26)

7. Shadows Of War (Ashes In The Sky) (8:35)

8. Get Away (6:38)

9. Black Star Oblivion (4:20)

10. The King Of Pain (6:58)

11. Crazy Doctor (5:18)

12. Let It Go (6:04)

13. S.D.I. (7:28)

Total time: 79:03

Loudness performs Saturday, April 27 at the Hi Five Bar in Burnsville with support from Downtread.

From The Vault - SEVENDUST

I saw Sevendust a number times from 1997–2000 out on the road promoting their first two albums, Sevendust and Home. Here's a number of pictures and promotional items from that time.

A 1997 promotional picture signed by the band.

The first time seeing Sevendust was on July 19, 1997 at The Bottleneck in Lawrence, Kansas soon after the release of their debut album. I've already posted the audio of this show for download here, where you can read more details about this show. They were on the road supporting Coal Chamber, but Coal Chamber cancelled to attend an MTV Awards show. Refunds for the show were offered, but Sevendust went ahead with their own headline show anyway for about 30–50 people.

Click on the picture to download the complete audio recording of this Sevendust concert from 1997.

Another promotional picture from 1997.

Sevendust came back to the Kansas City area for a show with Coal Chamber (Dayinthelife... had cancelled, I believe) on February 12, 1998. I honestly don't remember much about this show other than it being a completely packed house.

The next time seeing them was on March 11, 1998 at The Beaumont Club in Kansas City supporting Limp Bizkit and Clutch for a sold-out show. By this time Sevendust was taking off, and touring continued with a run with Clutch, Stuck Mojo, and Ultraspank that brought them back to Lawrence on October 28, 1998 at the Granada Theater.

Advertisement for a 1999 show in San Bernardino, CA - I wish I had been at this one!

A 1999 promotional picture for the second album, Home.

My final time seeing Sevendust during this time was June 18, 2000 at Cox Arena in San Diego where they were direct support to Creed with Nickelback opening (I previously posted Nickelback pictures from this concert here).

Sevendust performing in San Diego on June 18, 2000. Click on either of the pictures to see more photos from this show (18).

Sevendust will be performing Monday, April 8 at Mill City Nights in Minneapolis with support from Coal Chamber, Lacuna Coil, and Candlelight Red.

SEVENDUST - July 19, 1997

This is a completely new, remastered edition of a show that I originally posted a couple years ago. For this I went back to the digital transfer of the original VHS-C video tape to remove a large amount of the tape hiss. This version has far superior sonics and captures a complete Sevendust show on one of their earliest tours in 1997. I've also created new artwork.

Soon after the release of their debut album in April 1997 Sevendust hit the road in an RV supporting Coal Chamber and Powerman 5000. Shortly before the this date in Lawrence, Kansas, Coal Chamber canceled to attend some type of MTV awards show. The show went forward without Coal Chamber, but Powerman 5000 didn't make it either (I believe due to their bus breaking down). So this left Sevendust to perform an unexpected headlining show with no supporting bands to a small crowd of about 30–50 people that didn't take a ticket refund.

Sevendust was completely on fire this night and ripped through the entire debut album over the course of an hour. They also goofed around on a covers medley where they mashed together riffs from King Kobra, Dio, Ratt, Powerman 5000, Coal Chamber, and Dio. It was an awesome show, with "Prayer" and "My Ruin" being major highlights. The entire band spent a lot of time hanging out with their fans in the bar after the show and they were genuinely appreciative of the people that showed up.

The download link is here. As always, please share, but share the link to this post rather than the direct Mediafire link. Enjoy!

Sevendust

Loco In Lawrence

July 19, 1997

Lawrence, KS, The Bottleneck

mp3@192 kbps, 76 MB zip file (artwork included)

1. Black (7:06)

2. Speak (3:49)

3. Terminator (5:23)

4. Will It Bleed (5:25)

5. My Ruin (5:39)

6. Wired (4:55)

7. Born To Die (4:22)

8. Face (5:12)

9. Prayer (4:22)

10. Too Close To Hate (5:06)

11. Cover Medley (3:07)

12. Bitch (4:26)

Total time - 58:52

Sevendust performs Monday, April 8 at Mill City Nights in Minneapolis with co-headliner Coal Chamber with support from Lacuna Coil and Candlelight Red.