From The Vault - PANTERA, Part 2

In Part 1, I posted some pictures of Pantera from the 2000 Ozzfest tour, so now here's some from the band's final U.S. tour on July 21, 2001 in San Diego at Cox Arena. Of course, the reason for showcasing these is in anticipation of former Pantera bassist Rex Brown performing with Kill Devil Hill on Tuesday, November 19 at the Skyway Theater Studio B in Minneapolis.

This was a monster of a bill - supporting Pantera was Slayer, Static-X, Skrape, and Morbid Angel. Pantera was supporting was I think was one of their best albums, Reinventing The Steel, although opinion seems to be divided about the merits of that album. Nevertheless, Pantera went out near the top of their incredible career.

SEPULTURA Cancels North American Tour

Brazil's Sepultura announced on their Facebook page a couple days ago the cancellation of their North American tour to promote their new, just-released album The Mediator Between The Head And Hands Must Be The Heart. The official statement reads:

"Due to the delay in obtaining a visa for the band to enter the United States, we regret to inform all fans that the previously announced North American tour is being cancelled. We apologize to the fans, promoters, and the bands who were going to be part of the 'Tsunami Of Metal' tour - UNEARTH, KATAKLYSM, SCAR THE MARTYR, ANCIIENTS, and DARK SERMON."

The tour was slated to invade Minneapolis at Skyway Theater Studio B on Thursday, November 7.

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

Album Review - TESSERACT

Tesseract – Altered State

Century Media, 2013

9/10

Altered State follows the release of one previous album and two EPs from this English progressive metal band, and despite new singer Ashe O’Hara being the third vocalist across this output Tesseract has delivered an outstanding album that should earn them a place among the prog elite. More thoughtful and introspective than technical and flashy, Altered State occupies a musical space somewhere between the melodic beauty of the 90s output of Fates Warning and the rhythmic, modern vibe of Karnivool. The album is divided into four multi-song movements that seem to have more a lyrical than musical thread between them. Songwriting is the major strength of Altered State, rather than the performance of any individual band member. Strong from start to finish, Altered State is the type of album that commands attention through out its entirety. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact reasons why the album doesn’t score a 10, but it would have to be distilled down to the fact that there is not a single song that demands inspiring passion which creates a bond with the listener. For example, “All I Know” and “Goliath” draw me to Karnivool’s Sound Awake, and I can’t listen to the album without hearing those songs. While there’s not a bad song to be found on Altered State, I’ve yet to be so enraptured by one to the point that my listening experience feels incomplete without it. That said, the last 2–3 years have been incredible for the growth of progressive rock and metal, and Tesseract deserve a place alongside the burgeoning list of young bands that are poised to lead the field into the future. Tesseract has released an album or EP in each of the last four years, and I hope they keep up this pace of output for I’m eager to hear further developments to their sound.

Tesseract performs tonight, Wednesday, October 16 at Skyway Theater Studio B in Minneapolis with support from Scale The Summit and Anciients.

KILL DEVIL HILL Adds Minneapolis to U.S. Tour

As promised, Kill Devil Hill has announced additional dates to their upcoming U.S. tour, including a show in Minneapolis at the Skyway Theater Studio B on Tuesday, November 19. Support on the tour will come from Eyes Set To Kill and Girl On Fire; local support at the Minneapolis show will be Pandemic. Kill Devil Hill features bassist Rex Brown of Pantera and Down fame and legendary drummer Vinny Appice (ex-Black Sabbath, Dio, WWIII, and others). The tour coincides with the release of Kill Devil Hill’s second album, Revolution Rise, set for release on October 29 through Century Media. You can listen to “Crown Of Thorns” from the upcoming album in the YouTube video below. The current list of Kill Devil Hill tour dates follows. Tickets for the Minneapolis show are on sale now through Ticketfly.

October 26 – Ramona, CA, Ramona Mainstage

October 27 – Fullerton, CA, The Slidebar

October 28 – Chico, CA, Lost on Main

October 29 – West Hollywood, CA, The Roxy Theatre

October 31 – Tucson, AZ, The Rock

November 1 – Tempe, AZ, Club Red

November 2 – Las Vegas, NV, LVCS

November 5 – Seattle, WA, El Corazon

November 6 – Portland, OR, Hawthorne Theater

November 7 – Walnut Creek, CA, Red House Live

November 13 – Austin, TX, Dirty Dog

November 14 – Houston, TX, Scout Bar

November 17 – Oklahoma City, OK, Chameleon Club

November 19 – Minneapolis, MN, Skyway Theater Studio B, w/Pandemic

Tonight - CHIMAIRA in Minneapolis

Long-running metalcore/thrash band Chimaira are out on the road promoting their latest release on eOne, Crown Of Phantoms, and the tour stops tonight in Minneapolis at the Skyway Theater Studio B. Opening the show are Immoralis, The Pride, Essex, and Prophets Of Aether. This is a 15+ show that starts super early (5:00), and it's $15 at the door.