VISION OF MARA @ THE MARQUIS THEATER 1/26/12 DENVER-CO

“Hear a haunting chant, lying in the Northern wind, As the sky turns black, clouds of melancholy, Rape the beams, of a devoid dying sun, And the distant fog approaches, Coven of forgotten delight, hear the pride of a Northern storm, Triumphant sight on a Northern sky”

As the darkness of winter covers the Mile Hi City, come out and celebrate a night of local extreme metal, here are the bands playing:

Vision Of Mara – black metal, Centimani – Blackened death metal, In The Company Of Serpents – doom metal, Stoic Dissention – blackened doom metal and Echo – black metal. Hail Satan!

YOB @ THE LARIMER LOUNGE 1/22/12 DENVER-CO

“Burning eyes brim with tears, heavy heart clenched like a fist, Grasping hope with hands in flames, Burning ashes, burning to the core, Wretched fools suffer fate, in worlds that they made, Sand slipping through fingers, wisdom in decay, Burning the altar, ashes billow across the sky, Burning the altar.”

The psychedelic/doom monster from the Northwest YOB will be back to Denver with their thick drone/doom riffs, lengthy compositions, sludge bass, cymbals crashes and primal painful vocals, pure heavy dense doom.

Also playing: Low Gravity – stoner metal from Denver and Clinging To The Trees Of A Forest Fire – funeral-grind from the Mile Hi City.

CATTLE DECAPITATION @ THE MARQUIS THEATER 1/06/12 DENVER-CO

Cattle Decapitation are a progressive death/grind metal band from San Diego that formed in the mid-90’s. Genocide of the human race, mistreatment of animals and environment abuse are some of the topics they write about, they have released several excellent albums with these themes, like “Humanure” “Human Jerky”  and “The Harvest Floor.” They have a violent gore obsessed sound with complex basslines, ultrafast technical drums, guttural brutal death growls and high pitched shrieks, very violent, ferocious and angry.

Also playing: Clinging To The Trees Of A Forest Fire – funeral-grind from Denver, Cattleist – death metal from Denver and Ironhorse – grindcore from Denver.

CULT SOUNDS OF 2011

Another year has come to an end, a lot of good noise was released, here are the best (in my opinion)

Anthrax – “Worship Music” classic headbanging thrash by old school masters.

The Horrors – “Skying” psychedelic/shoegaze britpop from the UK that produces a dark, hypnotic atmosphere. 

40 Watt Sun – “The Inside Room” beautiful and bleak doom-gaze metal with dark and haunting vocals from the UK.

In Solitude – “The World, The Flesh, The Devil” diabolic occult heavy metal from Sweden, Hail Satan!

Peter Murphy – “Ninth” the best voice in all of music, pure dark rock from “The Godfather Of Goth.”

Goes Cube – “In Tides And Drifts” punk rock metal from Brooklyn, a raging blast of melodies, speed and distortion.

Tombs – “Path Of Totality” experimental blackened metal from Brooklyn, pummelling, intense, brutal and melodic.  

The Gates Of Slumber – “The Wretch” doom metal from Indiana, dark, slow and miserable doom and gloom.

Mastodon – “The Hunter” progressive psychedelic metal, weed music.

The Black Angels – “Phosgene Nightmare” psychedelic rock from Texas, hypnotic,mesmerizing, eerie an ethereal with a 60’s psychedelia rock vibe.

Giant Squid – “Cenotes” experimental/progressive metal from San Francisco, dark, dissonant, massive and wonderfully bizarre.

Ulcerate – “The Destroyers Of All” death metal from New Zealand that creates a bleak atmosphere.

Skinny Puppy – “HanDover” electro industrial album from a legendary band.

Opeth – “Heritage” progressive metal from Sweden, different with no death growls but equally as heavy as their past releases.

and remember kids, HAIL SATAN!

D.R.I. @ THE BLUEBIRD THEATER 12/14/11 DENVER-CO

“Your numbers up you have to go, the system say’s “I told you so” Stocked in a train like a truckload of cattle, sent off to slaughter in a useless battle, Thousands of us sent off to die, never really knowing why, Fuck the system they can have me, I don’t need society”

CONVERGE @ THE MARQUIS THEATER 12/08/11 DENVER-CO

Metallic hardcore punks Converge will be in the Mile Hi City with their intellegent brutal assault of mathcore. Formed in 1990 by Kurt Ballou and Jacob Bannon, they’ve been releasing albums for two decades, great ones like “Halo In A Haystack” “Jane Doe” and “Axe To Fall” intense, chaotic with fast guitars, double bass, blast beats, screams and pure angst. Noisy, thrash influenced hardcore!

Also playing: Git Some – punk metal from Denver and Glass Hits – punk rock from the Rockies.

VERBAL ABUSE @ THE MARQUIS THEATER 12/07/11 DENVER-CO

“I’m sick and tired of seeing my friends getting pushed and shoved around, Just because we choose to be different we gotta stand our ground, But we ain’t getting anywhere unless we can unite, Together there’s enough of us that we can insre our rights”

Verbal Abuse are a legendary hardcore punk band from San Francisco that formed in the early 80’s. They have gone through many line-up changes and have released several albums like “Just An American Band” and “Rocks Your Liver” full of speed, frustration, anger and raw power.

Also playing: SS Kaliert – German hardcore punks, Embrace The Kill – thrash metal punks from Portland and The Bad Engrish – Denver street punks.

OHGR @ THE BLUEBIRD THEATER 12/07/11 DENVER-CO

Dark and creepy danceable grooves, massive driving cuts, symphonic strings, buzzing beats, screams and guitar shrieks, horror movie style soundscapes and glassy trance elements are many of the components that OHGR use in their music. Formed in the late 90’s by Ogre of Skinny Puppy and Mark Walk, this electro-industrial band has released excellent albums like “Welt” and “SunnyPsyOp” and their latest “Undeveloped.” Ogre is known as a weird theatrical monster experiment performer on stage, so if you have access to some psychedelics enjoy the night. 

Also playing: Left Spine Down – cyberpunks from Vancouver and Orbit Service – psychedelic electronic rock from Denver.

STELLAR CORPSES @ MOE’S ORIGINAL BAR B QUE 12/06/11 ENGLEWOOD-CO

The psycho’s will be back in the Mile Hi City, so put on your creepers, style your pompadours, grab your zombie girl, jump in your hot rod and head down to Englewood to stomp with the Stellar Corpses from Santa Cruz.

Also playing: Captain Blood – psychobilly from Broomfield and Thee S.O.B’s – Denver punk’s.

SAVIOURS @ 3 KINGS TAVERN 12/06/11 DENVER-CO

Saviours is a stoner/heavy metal band from Oakland that formed in the early 2000’s. They’ve released several albums like “Crucifire” “Into Abaddon” and their new one “Death’s Procession” full of massive riffs, rolling drums, tortured screams and shouts. Hail Satan!

Also playing: Ramming Speed – grindcore/thrash punks from Boston, Speedwolf – thrash/speed metal from Denver and Black Acid Devil – stoner/psych metal from Boulder.