New York City proved metal is not dead on Wednesday night when Anthrax and Testament came to town to close their tour. Following an opening performance from thrash band Dark Angel, Testament were ready to hit the stage. They wasted no time, opening with “The Preacher” the moment they set foot on stage. Singer Chuck Billy stomped around the stage, occasionally stopping to play air guitar on his light saber microphone stand. They seamlessly flew through each track. including “Disciples”, “DNR”, and “Into the Pit”.  

This is Abigail Williams’ third full length album.  Maybe a bit less technical than their previous efforts, but with much more emotion & atmosphere built in. The vocals in each song seem to just be another instrument. They don’t stand out, but they add to the feeling of each song. They’re a subtle addition that’s so important to the end result.  The music is melodic, raw, aggressive & thoughtful.  

By Todd Matthy Gigantour did not live up to its name. Before I continue none of it was the fault of the bands or their members. It was the sound and the timing. Sound was off, you couldn’t hear the singers (especially during Megadeth), and performances were too short (like Motorhead’s). There were times when distortion was stronger then the musicians. But we’ll talk about that later for now let’s talk about the bands.  

The Art of War 2.0: An In-Depth Review of the Graphic Novel Titanium Rain I’ve had a lot of physically painful experiences in my life: broken bones, stitches, concussions, migraines, kidney stones, and I did permanent damage to my right ankle because I went to Comic-Con San Diego and walked around on a nasty sprain. I’ve had a Bone-Marrow Extraction, Lumbar Puncture, more I.V’s, blood tests, and shots than I can count- and I’m only twenty-seven years old. My medical history file looks like a freaking phone book! But with all the painful shit I have been through, one thing I can’t say I know a damn thing about is the pain and terror of being shot.  

Well, well…things are never easy in the Buffyverse? Are they?  

Animals as Leaders started as Tosin Abasi’s solo project.  He’s a Washington D.C. based guitar player who played guitar for Born of Osiris & Reflux. He now has a full instrumental band with Javier also playing guitar & Navene Koperweis from Animosity playing drums.  This is a mixture of electronic, ambient, progressive metal & jazz that I can just hear Tosin has spent years perfecting the sound of.  

From down south. No, further south. Guanajuato, Mexico. Ominous Crucifix is bringing some much needed Satanism back to death metal. They are from Mexico, but the songs are all sung in English.  It’s a  bit different from other Mexican death metal albums in that it doesn’t have much blasting, its more intricate & there’s melodies. More like Scandinavian death metal.  

Irving Plaza was full of 80’s hair metal fans, hairspray, and spandex on Wednesday night for a sold out Steel Panther show. The packed crowd were entertained by a medley of Iron Maiden, Guns N’ Roses, and Metallica as they waited for the comedic band to take the stage. Two hours after doors the lights finally dimmed as fans drowned out Black Sabbath with chants of “Steel Pan-ther!” The Vegas hair metal band started out with ‘Supersonic Sex Machine’ from their 2011 release, ‘Balls Out’. Their set was mixed with stand up comedy as vocalist Michael Starr joked about the other band members, girls in the audience, and drugs. They had the audience laughing constantly during... 

The night kicked off with Rex Brown’s new band Kill Devil Hill, a Southern Metal band with Rex on bass, Vinny Appice on drums, Mark Zavon playing guitar & not much known is about their singer,  Dewey Bragg, but he resembled Layne Staley vocal wise, but with a much better beard.  

The Best Buy Theater in Times Square began to fill up on Tuesday night as up and coming band For Today opened up the show.  

From Quebec, a proud raw black metal three piece awaits in the cold for war. Nevermind the lyrics & song titles, you can tell from just the music this band loves their native land. A couple songs even start with a small folk piece that sets the mood.  

A more guitar driven album than their previous ambient works, still just as heavy & still able to send you to his frozen realm.