Metal Up Your Ass - May, 2007

The sunshine is beginning to trickle into the season and temperatures are soaring to that prescribed 14C or so that means neds feel the need to walk around the city with their shirts off and the idle youth of Glasgow become irresitably compelled to open up fire hydrants everywhere. Certain cider manufacturers are again thanking the ingenious ad agency that came up with the idea of selling bottles of the stuff with a glass of ice, and the summer music festivals are tantalisingly appearing over the horizon. In preparation for your summer of heavy musical love, here's a quintuple-whammy of events to get your ass along to in May.

Making something of a breakthrough with their first full-length album this year are Manchester's I-DEF-I: ball-busting metallic rock playing out at the Barfly in Glasgow on Thursday the 10th. Metal-influenced hardcore from Centurion at Studio 24 on Saturday the 12th should be a date in the diary for Edinburgh gig-goers as the touring Brighton lads are one of the few harder acts to come to Reekie in May. Anticipate an intense live show as Akercocke entertain The Cathouse on Sunday the 20th with support from Colorado's class Cephalic Carnage and Ted Maul (not to be confused with the cutting edge journo of the same name). Staying with the Catty, Tuesday the 22nd sees an unmissable one-two from hard-hitting death fiends The Red Chord and techy hardcore in the mould of Ion Dissonance and Botch from brilliant up-and-comers Architects. There's also a chance to check out on-the-road Englanders Stand Up Guy at Subway Cowgate in Edinburgh when they check-in on the 25th. Expect some neat post-metal passages and delectable crunches of hard mosh. They are ably assisted on the night by The Final Sigh and the lovely Friday Night Gunfight.