The Metal Column – November 2011
To Mexicans, November is a time to honour the departed. For Accident & Emergency workers, it’s a time to stifle a giggle as another hapless chap is wheeled in after attempting to launch a firework from his arse. For Scotland’s headbanger contingent it’s the month to get our chilly arses down to the clubs and support the cause.
If we’re talking old, then you can’t get older than Lemmy. He’s probably done your mum and he’s still bringing Motörhead to the O2 Academy (5 Nov) with UK Subs and Anti-Nowhere League for (im)moral support. And while Manowar aren’t quite as old, can you think of a band that better embodies everything metal ever stood for? Thought not. They’ll be at the Academy a mere four days earlier (1 Nov), so you might as well just camp out.
For those who desire an old-school level of leather-clad mayhem but with less warts or oiled-up Germans, Classic Grand is the place to loiter. The infernal eve of 13 Nov brings not only Polish death-metal titans Vader to its stage but also corpse painted lunatics Gorgoroth. You might want to watch your drink with Infernus around though. Make sure to buy industrial goliaths KMFDM a pint or two on 15 Nov when they’re in the building, while a more dramatic night can be had on 18 Nov as Dimmu Borgir rock out with their synths – and possibly some ludicrous body armour – out.
On the new front, try ABC2 on 24 Nov for the sheer unbridled carnage of the unholy meeting of Norway’s primo rock’n’rollers-that-aren’t-Turbonegro Kvelertak, fellow Scandinavian hellions Wolves Like Us, Portland nu-thrashers Toxic Holocaust and Italian sludgecore mob The Secret. Then again, Monster Magnet will be bringing several skipfulls of chemically-enhanced riffage to the Garage that night too, so what is the conscientious metalhead to do? Choose wisely, kiddies.
And as a special treat? Home of all that is unholy in the UK, Candlelight Records, will be bringing their roving death machine Candlefest to Ivory Blacks (20 Nov). Altar of Plagues, Winterfylleth and Brummie lovers of Nietzsche, haters of everything else Anaal Nathrakh will all be incinerating eardrums, as will Glasgow’s atmospheric black metal warriors Falloch, in this night of eye-watering extremity.
Eagle-eyed readers may have found things to be a bit obsessive on the West coast front here, but rest assured, audio terror awaits the rest of the nation too. The inimitable grindcore nuttiness of Take A Worm For A Walk Week can be witnessed within Sneaky Pete’s hallowed walls (3 Nov) while Glesgae metalcore militia Azriel will be heading up a night of metal shenanigans in Studio 24 (25 Nov).
If you want bigger, it’ll be hard to top Opeth. They’ll be bringing their prog-metal wonders to the HMV Picture House on 10 Nov, and with a consistently astonishing back catalogue there’ll be no shortage of epic compositions, and maybe it’ll bring a nostalgic tear or two to the eyes of chronic Robert Fripp fantasists.
Finally, the delectable Cristina Scabbia, as well as the rest of Lacuna Coil, will be bringing gothic-leaning metal to the country, taking in King Tut’s (8 Nov), Aberdeen Lemon Tree (9 Nov) and Dundee Doghouse (10 Nov). Say goodbye to your pennies and get ready for the trench run.