Church of Noise – March 2013
Enter the Church of Noise, where only the most loud and abrasive get to hold the sermons. From doom-jazz to hardcore...whatever. Earplugs optional, but you probably won't last long without them
Norway's Kvelertak take a rare approach to their riffage in that they're technically impressive, but – more importantly – they're just great fun to behold, especially live. Don't miss them when they take to Stereo to promote their upcoming album, Meir (9 Mar). With support from filth-bringers Truckfighters and El Doom, how is this not going to rule? If atmospheric, roof-lifting instrumental rock is more your bag, there's the ever-impressive What the Blood Revealed down at the 13th Note on the same night.
Touring extreme/death metal bands seem to come to these shores in big waves these days, but one lineup at the O2 ABC (10 Mar) looks particularly vile: Dez Fafara's DevilDriver, Ace Ventura favourites Cannibal Corpse, The Black Dahlia Murder and Winds of Plague all in the one place? Two words: dae it.
No strangers to the touring life, Canada's Cancer Bats are still as feral as ever if recent support slots on the latest Enter Shikari tour are anything to go by. Catch them headlining at King Tut's (12 Mar). Support comes from hardcore crew Brutality Will Prevail. Then it's eyes east, where the oft-overlooked, female-fronted doom quartet Monarch! will bring the pain to Bannermans (13 Mar, also at Glasgow's 13th Note on 18 Mar). Alternatively, there's some pissed off discrust from Germany as Finisterre take to the Note on the same night. Those in the mood for some classic heavy metal will want to get themselves down to the Catty for stoner/doom vets Saint Vitus (14 Mar). U.S. hard rockers Mos Generator have their backs.
A lineup sure to catch the discerning eye is the unholy trinity of Ghost, Gojira and The Defiled at the O2 Academy (19 Mar). Retro-worship, tech-metal and grooves all rolled into the one bill. Next, recently reformed post-hardcore outfit Finch are celebrating the 10th anniversary of What it is to Burn by playing the whole thing in its entirety at the O2 ABC (20 Mar).
As March draws to a close, it's back to the Note for some psychedelic, earth-moving jams from well-kent local beardstrokers The Cosmic Dead (29 Mar), followed by the noisy-yet-entirely-melodic Battery Face, infectious rockers Saint Death and ‘shoecore’ pioneers Le Thug (30 Mar). Godspeed!