Out Of The Ashes 2014 Preview - Aeris

I'm a huge fan of festivals, and, with ticket prices rising for Bloodstock and the like, cheaper, smaller festivals are more than welcome. Beermageddon is a fantastic one that I've done for the last couple of years and will be returning to this year, and Out Of The Ashes is another of those.

I went last year for the first time, a long, long trek from London up to just outside of Liverpool. On the site of Vauxhall Motors Football Club in Ellesmere Port, Out Of The Ashes gives you 3 stages, more bands than some of the larger festivals can put on, and a truly great weekend for £18.

This is the first in a series of blogs I'll be doing in the runup to Out Of The Ashes Festival 2014, which is in July this year.

Aeris are a 4 piece metalcore outfit from Crewe in the North West of England, and their EP 'Become My Breather' was released only a few days ago, according to their Bandcamp page (link at the end of this post). Honestly, metalcore isn't my thing generally, but having downloaded the EP and put it on, by track four 'Revelations' this band had really grown on me. Maybe there's something about the rawness of vocalist Tom's vocals that does enough to put them apart from so many other bands that attempt to do the same thing. Aeris have found a wonderful blend of powerful, heavy, crushing tracks interspersed with really rather serene moments throughout the album, with a vocal line that at this moment I can only really compare with Bloodsimple, that is perfectly suited to providing a massive onslaught of harsh, pissed off, screaming over the top of the heavy parts, or as a heavy, loud contrast to those more peaceful moments in the EP. Aeris are a young band that will definitely be going places soon, they're certainly worth checking out live if the EP is anything to go by. I'll be doing my best to see them at Out Of The Ashes 2014, if you're from the North West though, you may well find that you get the chance to see them before then.

You can download Aeris's EP for free from here : http://aerismusic.bandcamp.com/releases
Give them a 'like' on Facebook at : https://www.facebook.com/AerisOFFICIAL

And come over and follow me on twitter : www.twitter.com/bigmetalbastard

Christ, just as I was about to clock 'publish', the track 'Portugal' has just come on on my media player. Go and download this bands EP, if you're into your metalcore, you'll dig it.

Oh, also, as a footnote, please check out the website I work on for my day job: www.londonwebmaps.co.uk and follow me on my work Twitter www.twitter.com/londonwebmaps.

Kraptor - Night Of The Living Dead

South America seems to be getting a bit of a reputation of being a hotbed of completely insane thrash metal fans. Whilst it may not be the first place you think of when it comes to metal, you only have to hear Iron Maiden's Live in Rio set, or see the reception Kreator get out there to see that actually, yeah, those guys love their metal. And they LOVE their thrash.

Venezuela, going through a bit of a rough time at the moment politically, and known for Angel Falls, has also produced a monolith of a thrash band in the shape of Kraptor. Their album 'Night of the Living Dead' is a free download at the moment, which is how yours truly came across them, but I haven't looked back since. This is hard thrash, crunching bass lines, ripping solos and really, truly angry vocals from the South American outfit. Definitely check out 'Murder King', it has everything a great thrash track should have in it, and christ, you can't help but imagine how it would sound to see it live. Having never been (as far as I can tell) to Europe to play, the album was put out in Europe by a Greek label named Chainsaw Distro, and they continue to tour with upcoming dates in Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Colombia. It can only be a matter of time before the Kraptor guys are playing live shows in the UK. I'll be there.

You can download Kraptor's album 'Night of the Living Dead' along with 'Fucking Liar' here: http://www.kraptorband.com/music.html

And follow them on Twitter here : https://twitter.com/kraptorband

And I'm on twitter at www.twitter.com/bigmetalbastard


Also, as a quick footnote, I'm currently working on a website listing over 300 free things to see and do in London, England. This is what I do as my day job, with music on the side. Please check it out and tweet me what you think of it. www.londonwebmaps.co.uk

Check back soon for more from Big Metal Bastard!

Gig Review! Gorgoroth, Vital Remains, Ageless Oblivion and Ethereal - The Garage, London - 6/04/2014

This was my first trip to the Garage in a long time, having last been there for Obituary and Macabre in December 2012. It has stuck in my memory as one of the warmest venues I've ever been to. I mean it gets ludicrously hot in that place. But here I was again, this time for the mighty Gorgoroth.

Doors opened at 7, but having been in the pub around the corner and slightly lost track of time, I didn't get there until 7.20-ish, one song into Ethereal's set. I have never regretted being 5 minutes late more. Ethereal are absolutely incredible. Possibly the best opening act I have ever seen, and I do not say that lightly, they are the raw black metal powerhouse that Gorgoroth could have been shown up by. The energy, the darkness and the visceral power of the whole band, not least the near-perfect blackened shrieking vocals, really tied the set together perfectly. A real discovery for me personally, I'll be seeing them again on the 19th at the Unicorn in London, and I'd encourage anyone and everyone who can to go along and check them out.

Next up were Ageless Oblivion. I personally don't like to review bands that I don't like so just a quick word on these guys. Just because it's not my thing doesn't mean that someone else would have been as enthusiastic about them as I am about Ethereal. They didn't do anything for me musically, but they had excellent stage presence and they were clearly going down well with some of the crowd.

Third up, a band that I had heard of for years, but had never seen or even listened to : Vital Remains. Absolutely unbelievable. I knew there was some connection with Glenn Benton and that Corpsegrinder wears Vital Remains shirts pretty much every time I see Cannibal Corpse, but these guys take all the best elements of Deicide and Cannibal Corpse, and turn it up to maximum. I don't know how some of those growl/shreiks could even be made to be so high pitched by human lungs, but they managed it, and mixed with the most gutteral, bowel-rupturing death-gurgles you have ever heard, Vital Remains absolutely blew me away. I can't believe I hadn't heard them or seen them before, but I'll definitely be seeing them again. Incredible stuff from an amazing band. AND for them to be doing shirts for £15!? Excellent, so I bagged myself a t-shirt. Vital Remains tore the place to pieces.


Headlining were Gorgoroth, who I hadn't seen since Bloodstock in 2010, who then had Pest on vocals and were very much there to play a bunch of songs and clear off. I guess it's just the black metal way sometimes to have pretty limited interaction with the audience. This time, Hoest of Taake was guest vocalist, and he absolutely slayed it. Taake are due to play the same venue in May at Incineration Festival alongside Anaal Nathrakh, Carach Angren, Eastern Front and Nargaroth amongst others, and the Garage was given a taster of how intense that night is going to be. Gorgoroth came out and smashed it, with enormous nails dangling from a heavily corpsepainted lineup of musicians peering through the fog of sweat and dry ice. Incipit Satan, Destroyer and Krig bring the Garage to its knees. Again little interaction with the crowd, which might just be a personal thing, but I quite enjoy at least a little acknowledgement from a band I've seen, but let that take nothing away from the intensity of Gorgoroth, proving that Gaahl or no Gaahl, they are still monoliths of black metal.

Finally, please go and check out Aeon Promotions. They were the guys who put this night on and who are doing Incineration Fest too. They know how to put on an absolute beast of a night.

Find me on Twitter : @bigmetalbastard