Reviews and Recommendations: metal

Oh...my...god.  This was quite possibly the best gig I have ever been to, and I've been to a lot of gigs.

Gojira are a phenomenal band; they manage to combine expert technicality with face-melting heaviness, some of the best riffs you are likely to hear and refreshingly intelligent lyrics for... [more]

Event Date: 12th March 2009
Event Venue: The Classic Grand, Glasgow, Scotland

Oh...my...god.  This was quite possibly the best gig I have ever been to, and I've been to a lot of gigs.

Gojira are a phenomenal band; they manage to combine expert technicality with face-melting heaviness, some of the best riffs you are likely to hear and refreshingly intelligent lyrics for a death metal band.  They are truly original which is very rare in today's metal scene and since discovering them late last year, they have become a firm favourite of mine.

The Classic Grand is a small, fairly intimate venue (450 capacity) and this only added to the electric atmosphere.  It seemed that everyone, like me, was
a coiled spring just waiting for the fireworks to start.

And start they most surely did - I had been looking forward to this gig for ages and I was not disappointed.

Gojira kicked off their set with the mightly 'Oroborus', the first track from their latest album 'The Way Of All Flesh' and continued with a variety of tracks covering all of their four records.

The highlights for me were 'Backbone', 'Clone', 'The Way Of All Flesh', 'From The Sky' and of course the excellent 'Flying Whales', all of which were delivered with amazing precision and raw passion.  Gojira live are the sonic equivalent of a collapsing star and it took me a couple of days just to come down from the high of this show.

Anyone who is a fan of extreme music should not miss the chance to see Gojira live - I just can't wait until they come back to Scotland and I most definitely will be back to see them again. [less]

The ambivalent masses and the ill informed had been drawn away by rock alumni Alice in Chains. Which is fine if you wanna stay rooted in 1994 or there isn’t anything else on. Those who remained at the 3rd stage, living in the here and now, where treated to a... [more]

Event Date: August 2, 2009
Event Venue: Sonisphere Festival

The ambivalent masses and the ill informed had been drawn away by rock alumni Alice in Chains. Which is fine if you wanna stay rooted in 1994 or there isn’t anything else on. Those who remained at the 3rd stage, living in the here and now, where treated to a no frills, 30 minutes of pure punk-metal power to shred your face too. This is Rock N Roll people. Soak it in.

I had become so annoyed by bands talking. "we love you guys", "your the greatest crowd ever" "england is now our spiritual home".
Fascinating, now any chance of a song?

Don't expect this with Canada's finest. They burst on stage with the awesome Hail Destroyer and within seconds Liam Cormier (vox) has launch himself on top of the crowd who are instantly whipped into a frenzy like a bunch of demented hyenas. Mosh pits, circle pit and crowd surfing all ensue with Cormier remaining on top of the crowd bellowing every word with so much passion i fear his lungs will start bleeding.

The song closes, i look around and the sweaty bodies all look shattered and it only been 3 minutes.

They smash straight into the next song only pausing to say hi, we are the Cancer Bats from Canada. The crowd get more and more crazed as the burst in to favs, Sorceress and Harem of Scorpions. The pit looks like they have pumped Jack Bauer full with Whiskey and PCP and told him the entire tent is full of terrorists

A supreme concoction of hardcore, Southern tinged riffs and punk as f*ck attitude The only thing wrong with the entire performance is that they aren’t given long enough so don't get round to playing the awe inspiring B*strad Waltz.

They are dirty, raw, mean and out for blood. These boys are the future. What a future it will be. [less]

Linkin Park create a great festival atmosphere, because everyone's heard the songs hundreds of times and it's like one big karaoke sesh. Thoughout the Sonisphere performance Linkin Park keep to a high standard musically, with creative introductions and varied playlist with the new and old. The downside to the performance... [more]

Event Date: August 1, 2009
Event Venue: Sonisphere Festival 2009

Linkin Park create a great festival atmosphere, because everyone's heard the songs hundreds of times and it's like one big karaoke sesh. Thoughout the Sonisphere performance Linkin Park keep to a high standard musically, with creative introductions and varied playlist with the new and old. The downside to the performance was Chester's side project (Dead By Sunrise) which destroy our passion and vibe during the Linkin Park set coursing a dangerous tension between the crowd and the band. Linkin Park eventually came back and brought back the live performance energy with their song "New Divide". I would recommend seeing Linkin Park, but don't expect just a Linkin Park performance when it comes to the festivals. [less]

an amazing line-up and an amazing stage. alien ant farm and buckcherry were the openers and although i was dissappointed with alien antfarms performance- especially the frontmans personal display....- buckcherry more than made up for it.
BUCKCHERRY drew a small crwod as nt too well known a band however anyone... [more]

Event Date: August 1, 2009
Event Venue: Knebworth Park

an amazing line-up and an amazing stage. alien ant farm and buckcherry were the openers and although i was dissappointed with alien antfarms performance- especially the frontmans personal display....- buckcherry more than made up for it.
BUCKCHERRY drew a small crwod as nt too well known a band however anyone who skipped this performance really missed out, buckcherry are worth a watch  watch.. if u get the chance dnt miss out,, they got the crowd goin even though nt many had slept atall in the past 3 days, and sounded amazing.

LAMB OF GOD excelled,, hardcore fans were not dissappointed, i hadnt herd their songs before but by the end i was singing with the best of em and wondering why the hell i hadnt herd it before:)

special guests MACHINEHEAD made up for the fact that they dropped out as one of the main bands because of limp bizkit- to play a smaller spot AFTER them as special guests- by giving an amazing live performance,, killer sound,, and a drop dead f*in awsome crowd

LINKIN PARK,,, one of the best live performances i have seen! they sound amazing live,,, as good off of a disk as on one, which is rare to find,, their new song songs amazing and their old stuff still works wonders with a large crowd... 1000's singing in time with spirit to songs they love is always enough to give u a buzz.
they played some songs to introduce DEAD BY SUNRISE-their new band- which i was a little dissappointed in however still being pumped up from 'faint' i was more than happy with the performance.
especially since those in the crowd who stuck around through dead by sunrise were rewarded with 'new divide'

COHEED AND CAMBRIA... well i personally am a huge fan of coheed,, however i was very dissappointed. after waiting in the pouring rain and sitting through a 'guitar hero' performance on stage as the introduction, we were all told that coheed would not be playing their slot due to being held up on  a ferry,,,FACT- a little known japanese group filled in and were imediately bottled by most of the crowd. they were not the best replacement.
coheed did play facts original spot later that evening on a smaller stage for a smaller slot- not big enough for these giants to get the crowd going let alone show what they really can do. [less]

As I am a Maaahooosive fan of Nickelback, I was super excited to see them live, especially at the O2.

But, nothing could prepare me for how awesome and funny they actually were!!!!!!!

There was so many pyro effects and explosions, which made it all the more amazing, especially when they played... [more]

Event Date: September 19, 2008
Event Venue: The O2 Arena

As I am a Maaahooosive fan of Nickelback, I was super excited to see them live, especially at the O2.

But, nothing could prepare me for how awesome and funny they actually were!!!!!!!

There was so many pyro effects and explosions, which made it all the more amazing, especially when they played songs like Animals, Side of a Bullet and classics like how you remind me.

A tip for people in the future if they go to see nickelback: Try to be relatively close to the front, as they have cannons that shoot out free nickelback stuff, and they throw out plectrums and drumsticks... and on occasions beer! :-D

I loved every second and didn't want it to end, but they ended in style with a joke about the DFS advert, and then playing rockstar and figured u out, with more fireworks, explosions and lights!!

A completely wicked night out!!!

:-D [less]