Tonight - REFLECTIONS Album Release Show and Tour Kick-Off in Burnsville, NIK TURNER'S HAWKWIND in St. Paul

I recently had a post with updates on the activities of Reflections, the Twin Cities-based technical metalcore band that is set to explore with the release of their new album Exi(s)t, which is being released through eOne/Good Fight this Tuesday, October 22. The start of their co-headling tour with Erra happens right here in Burnsville tonight, October 19 at The Garage with local support from Don't Worry I'm A Doctor. This is the official album release show, so copies of Exi(s)t should be available tonight for purchase. It's an early (5:00 doors) all ages show, and tickets are $12 at the door.

Also tonight, Nik Turner of Hawkwind and Space Ritual fame, will be playing at the Turf Club in St. Paul. There's a strong argument to be made that Nik is one of the most influential pioneers of psychedelic space rock. Now over 70 years old, Nik is out promoting a new solo album called Space Gypsy. I've seen this show billed as Nik Turner's Hawkwind and Nik Turner's Space Ritual, but regardless of what it's called, I'm sure you can expect to hear a mix of material from those two bands alongside other selections from Nik's vast recorded catalog. This is a 21+ show that starts at 9:00 with support from Thunderbolt Pagoda and Hedersleben; tickets are $12 at the door. Interesting trivia: cult doom/stoner band Sleep supported Nik Turner's Hawkwind way back on the Holy Mountain tour!

Lastly, Soul Asylum plays First Avenue in Minneapolis tonight with Fountains Of Wayne and Evan Dando. This is an 18+ show that starts at 8:00; tickets are $30 at the door. Yeah, Soul Asylum is a far cry from metal, but they were instrumental in the early 80s hardcore scene in the Twin Cities and deserve respect for that.

REFLECTIONS Update: New Tour Dates (Including Burnsville), New Album Released October 22

Reflections performing April 9, 2013 at Station 4 in St. Paul. A review of this show is here, and you can download the audio from the entire show here, where they played another new song, "Delirium".

It's been a while since my last update on the Twin Cities' own progressive metalcore giants-to-be Reflections, so here's a summary of their current activities. Their second album, and debut for eOne/Good Fight, Exi(s)t, was finished August 1 and will be released October 22. Exi(s)t is available for pre-order now through various digital and physical media outlets. The first single, "My Cancer", is available now through iTunes and it has already reached the #5 position on the iTunes Metal Chart; the official lyric video for "My Cancer" can be viewed below (it has gotten over 300,000 views in 1 month!). You can also listen to a second song from from Exi(s)t, "Bridges", through Soundcloud and watch guitarists Patrick Comoulay and Charles Caswell do a play-through in the video posted at GuitarWorld (both below).

Eyal Levi, producer of Exi(s)t and partner of Audio Hammer Studios, participated in an AMA on reddit last month and had the following to say about recording the album; he had special praise for Reflections drummer Cam Murray:

Reflections drummer Cam Murray (originally posted on the band's Facebook page)

"..the whole 'holy sh*t' feeling started when we were tracking drums because their drummer Cam is a human computer. That holds the record for being my fastest drum session ever for a real album. And not because we were cutting corners. It's because he was playing great!"

"...he was 17 when we tracked. He actually had to leave the studio to go finish high school."

"...he is the fastest drummer I've ever worked with in terms of speed of tracking. I don't mean bpm. He's pretty quick there too though. I'm very curious to see where he takes it in the next five years. If he sticks to it I think he could be one of the top drummers in not only brutal metal, but in any style that requires intense and dynamic drumming."

Lastly, Reflections has added a third mini-tour of the U.S. with co-headliner Erra to coincide with the release of Exi(s)t. Following this, they have three shows supporting Born Of Osiris before heading out with Within The Ruins, Sworn In, and Legion. One of the newly added shows is the kickoff of the tour with Erra which happens right here in Burnsville at The Garage on Saturday, October 19 (all ages). Locals Don't Worry I'm A Doctor open the Burnsville show; advance tickets are $10, and you can also order a ticket combo package for only $16 that will also get you a copy of Exi(s)t at the show three days before it's released! The current list of complete Reflections tour dates are below.

With Erra:

October 19 – Burnsville, MN, The Garage, w/Don’t Worry I’m A Doctor

October 20 – Lawrence, KS, The Bottleneck

October 22 – Austin, TX, Dirty Dog Bar, w/The Browning

October 23 – Tyler, TX, Crossroads

October 24 – Tupelo, MS, Goodtime Charlies

October 25 – Birmingham, AL, The Forge

October 26 – Douglasville, GA, BBQ Fest, w/We Came As Romans, Silverstein, others

October 27 – Cleveland, TX, The Warehouse

October 29 – Indianapolis, IN, Emerson Theatre

October 30 – Columbus, OH, Kobo Live

With Born Of Osiris, Sylar:

November 11 – Detroit, MI, The Shelter

November 13 – Buffalo, NY, The Waiting Room

November 15 – Albany, NY, Bogies

With Within The Ruins, Sworn In, Legion:

November 30 – Albany, NY, Bogies

December 1 – Nashua, NH, Bernies

December 3 – Providence, RI, Simon’s 677

December 4 – Trenton, NJ, Championship

December 5 – Amityville, NY, Revolution

December 6 – Newark, DE, Mojo Main

December 7 – Hartford, CT, Webster Underground

Concert Review - WITHIN THE RUINS, THE CONTORTIONIST, I DECLARE WAR, REFLECTIONS, DON'T WORRY I'M A DOCTOR, and FROM CONCEPT TO CHRONICLE

Within The Ruins, The Contortionist, I Declare War, Reflections, Don’t Worry I’m A Doctor, and From Concept To Chronicle – Part 2 of 2

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Station 4, St. Paul, MN

Due to the length, I’ve divided my review of this six-band bill into two parts. This is the second part featuring Within The Ruins, The Contoritonist, and I Declare War. Read part one for the reviews and pictures of Reflections, Don’t Worry I’m A Doctor, and From Concept To Chronicle.

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

Seattle’s I Declare War was nothing short of brutal and intense. Vocalist Jamie Hanks set the tone at the start with an angry rant against humanity to introduce “Human Waste”. The band forged their way through half of their latest, self-titled album, including “Misery Cloud”, “March On”, “Weak Minds” and “The Dot”. Their slow, cranium-numbing death metal in the mold of Obituary went over well with the crowd, and they wrapped up their 30 minutes with “Putrification Of The Population” and “Malevolence”. I Declare War’s albums seem to elicit love or have, but their live show makes an impression whether you like them or not.

Click on either photo to see more live pictures of The Contortionist (27).

The Contortionist was the reason I was here, and they put on a phenomenal show despite the recent departure of vocalist Jonathan Carpenter before the start of this tour. Mike Lessard from Last Chance To Reason was brought in to sing for tours this spring and summer. Upon starting with the subdued “Holomovement” the crowd underwent a dramatic transformation to the point were everyone stood transfixed with attention and giving polite applause between songs. Mike, aside from doing a fantastic job singing, took over the stage, walking and running around while the band mainly stood still during the performance. The 40 minute set focused on newer material with six of the eight songs being from the Intrinsic album (reviewed here). After “Oscillator”, the new album was then represented by “Causality”, “Feedback Loop”, “Geocentric Confusion”, “Cortical”, and “Solipsis”. While the keyboard parts were pre-recorded, the band played nearly flawlessly with the same precision and dynamics found on their albums. The polite crowd response made it unclear how The Contortionist’s progressive music was going over with the much heavier bands on the bill, but the sustained chants of “One more song!” following the end of “Vessel” made it clear that the band won everyone over.

Click on any of the photos to see more live pictures of Within The Ruins (24).

If The Contortionist was a breather of sorts for the audience, co-headliner Within The Ruins brought the exhausted crowd back to life with an equally impressive set. From the opening strains of “Solace”, the entire band took command of the stage and was unrelenting in their execution. Guitarist Joe Cocchi was especially impressive as he stormed across the stage, only pausing to deliver ripping, technical solos throughout the show. Their new album, Elite, was emphasized with “Solace”, “New Holy War”, “I, Blaspheme”, “Feeding Frenzy”, and “Absolute Hell” taking up just over half the set. It was rounded out with a good selection of older material: “Versus”, “Controller”, “Invade”, and the closer, “Tractor Pull”. I really liked Within The Ruins, but the overuse (perhaps abuse?) of backing tracks, particularly guitars, has given me pause about whether they’re crossing a line. It was only about ten years ago that Dope was mocked as “Metal Vanilli” for arguably lesser transgressions. Unless there’s some type of enabling technological wizardry of which I’m not aware, hearing rhythm guitars during solos and what sounded like double-tracked, recorded guitars frequently during the show left me wondering how much of this show was pre-recorded. All of this seemed to go over the head of a crowd more interested in shoving and moshing, so maybe expectations and tastes have changed. This aspect of the show was disappointing for what otherwise was an outstanding performance.

Concert Review - WITHIN THE RUINS, THE CONTORTIONIST, I DECLARE WAR, REFLECTIONS, DON'T WORRY I'M A DOCTOR, and FROM CONCEPT TO CHRONICLE

Within The Ruins, The Contortionist, I Declare War, Reflections, Don’t Worry I’m A Doctor, and From Concept To Chronicle – Part 1 of 2

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Station 4, St. Paul, MN

Due to the length, I’m dividing my review of this six-band bill into two parts. The first part here will feature the first three bands of the night.

Click on the picture to see more photos of From Concept To Chronicle (14).

A massive snowstorm across the upper Midwest left City In The Sea stranded in South Dakota, so locals From Concept To Chronicle and Don’t Worry I’m A Doctor were brought in. From Concept To Chronicle was up first with a crushing three-guitar attack whose brutality was impressive. These guys play a very technical style of fast metalcore with a singer belting out high-pitched screams. They made the most of their short 20 minute set, and did a great job of warming up the early arrivers.

Click on the picture to see more photos of Don't Worry I'm A Doctor (13).

Don’t Worry I’m A Doctor also made a good impression with their 20 minute set. Similar to From Concept To Chronicle, their music borders more on death metal rather than metalcore, and their vocalist uses mainly a deep scream and spent most of this time howling into a light box on stage. It took a couple songs for me to warm up to them, but the band quickly hit their stride and also delivered a short, crushing set. Both opening bands are ones to watch out for.

Click on either picture of Reflections to see more photos of the band (21).

The Twin Cities’ own Reflections have amazingly built up a growing national fanbase on the strength of their great self-released debut album, The Fantasy Effect, last year. Their inclusion on this tour is proof that key industry people are taking notice of their groove-based, technical metalcore. A large contingent of fans turned out early to catch Reflections on this hometown stop for the band, and they looked comfortable on stage as they proved they’re the real deal. The Pantera-like assault of “Lost…” and “…And Found” opened their show as the crowd chanted along. “Good Push” went over well, and this was followed by a new song, “Derlirium”, another heavy one with plenty of guitar pyrotechnics. The ambitious “Rotations” was one of the set highlights before closing out with a shortened version of “Ceilings”. Reflections has confirmed a yet-to-be-announced summer tour, so get out to support them when they roll through your town.

Part 2 with reviews and pictures of I Declare War, The Contortionist, and Within The Ruins will be posted soon.