Metal Up Your Ass - March, 2008

We've made it through the sleet and bluster of winter. Well done, fellow pilgrims of all that is heavy. March and springtime seem traditionally associated with images of cuddly lambs being born, flowers shooting through the earth and life renewing afresh. What 'they' don't know is that March is named after 'Martius', the Roman God of war. March customarily marks the start of military campaign season - so dust down your musket, pull on those combats and wage hostilities at the finest in heavy gigs in Scotland this month. Easy on the slam dancing though, eh.

Marching the legions to their side on Sunday 2 Mar will be Panic Cell at The Cathouse. Hair, beards, gurn, Pantera-influenced riffage: this will be an all-out mosh fest with support from local stalwarts of steel Man of the Hour. Along at Glasgow Barfly on Thursday 13 Mar, Beyond all Reason will be roaring their punishing grooves into battle from 8pm.

Saturday 22 Mar presents a choice for Edinburgh rockers: choose between epic alternative Sheffield act Flatlands at the Canon's Gait or metalcore ahoy at Studio 24 with Rise With the Fallen and Dead at the Scene. New Jersey titans Ill Niño check into The Cathouse for some casual brutality on Sunday 23 Mar, and terrific post-hardcore southerners Devil Sold His Soul are back in Glasgow on Wednesday 26 Mar for a show at King Tut's with The Miramar Disaster. Go forth, and heidbang.