Tag Archives: Washington

Review: CITY OF INDUSTRY – ‘American Habits Are Hard To Break’ [Album Stream]

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City Of Industry is a hardcore punk band that was formed in 2017 in Seattle, Washington. The band is a three piece comprised of Jack Thompson on bass, Mauro Contreras on drums and rounding out the band John Suede on guitar and vocals. Though City Of Industry was just formed last year they have wasted no time getting material out to fans. In December of last year they released their debut EP and the band has now released their follow up titled ‘American Habits Are Hard To Break’ on July 27, 2018. ‘American Habits Are Hard To Break’ was recorded and mixed by Jon Lervold at Big Name Studios and mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege. The band notes Coke Bust, Converge, Ceremony, Iron Lung, and Despise You as some of their biggest influences.  Though you can easily hear the bands hardcore and punk styles meld together within their music you can also hear touches of the crust punk genre throughout their songs as well.

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SABATON, KREATOR & CYHRA Dominate Silver Spring, MD [Review & Photo Gallery]

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Kreator

Sabaton, Kreator and Cyhra recently kicked off their North American tour and finally it reached the Washington DC/Baltimore area last Wednesday night.  This show in Silver Spring was one of the last ones of the North American tour, the wait was grueling. This is a tour I have been waiting to cover for a while, firstly because I am a huge fan of both bands, and secondly Sabaton is a great band to photograph.  I haven’t attended any show since Trans Siberian Orchestra in November, so I was extremely excited to be surrounded by metal heads. Let me dive into the review now, you can check out the photo gallery at the bottom of the page. 

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PROPHETS OF RAGE In Washington, D.C. [Photo Gallery]

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Prophets Of Rage

Prophets of Rage, the rap rock supergroup consists of members of Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, Wakrat, Public Enemy and Cypress Hill played to a packed crowd at the iconic 9:30 Club in Washington DC on last Wednesday night. While my political views no longer resonate with the lyrics of RATM and Prophets Of Rage, my opinion on their music has remained unchanged. I well and truly believe that the original quartet of RATM are a bunch of creative geniuses, and that is why they had been so successful in capturing the imagination of millions around the world. Tom Morello is consistently ranked among the finest modern guitarist. My primary interest in this show was because of the RATM songs the lineups were playing. And tonight was the night.

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KATATONIA, CASPIAN, UNCURED Take Over Washington, D.C. [Photo Gallery]

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Katatonia

Last Thursday night I found myself doing something I absolutely despise, taking the horrid DC metro rail, to do something I dearly love, enjoying live music. Katatonia, was opening the North American tour in support of their album ‘The Fall of Hearts’ at the 9:30 Club in Washington D.C. A small venue with a prominent stage with excellent lighting and sound system, many consider 9:30 Club to be the heart and soul of the music scene in Washington D.C. And I have never been to this iconic venue in our nations capital, despite having lived in the area for multiple years. This, combined with the excitement of seeing Katatonia live for the first time, my excitement was palpable. Still, I had little idea how good a night this was going to be. Katatonia is one of the finest heavy metal bands to have emerged from Sweden, and their ten studio albums bear testimony to that. The last album ‘The Fall of Hearts’ was released mid last year, which garnered excellent reviews from fans and critics alike. On this North American leg, they are supported by Caspian and Uncured. Continue reading →

State of the Art: Invasive

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*This is part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured State*

This month’s State is Washington!

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Very cool the way the Metal family works. I have stated before, that Metalheadz know no strangers. We all share a bond in the music, the bands, the musicians and for one another. What’s especially cool is when that camaraderie is perpetuated from band to band as well; not as competition, but as influences, friends and fans instead. Such is the case with my next SOTA band who was suggested to us by BloodRedRose’s band Homewrkr earlier this month and shared the stage with a number of my bands including Mechanism and Elephant Gun Riot. Let me introduce you to Invasive.

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State of the Art: Lust for Glory

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*This is part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured State*

This month’s State is Washington!

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Just about everyone likes Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The Eagles, old Aerosmith, Blue Oyster Cult and other late sixties/early seventies Hard Rock favorites. If you like Rock in any form, you are not likely to find friends with similar tastes saying they hate these bands, right? Heavy riffs, bluesy, heavy hitting solos, blasting drums and booming bass lines were the foundations for everything that we listen to today, much of it having direct underpinnings paying homage to these gods. As good as the music has always been, the live shows were where all of the glory was, however. Festivals that lasted weeks in a time of free love, fun Rock ‘n Roll and overt illicit drug use are pillars on which today’s Metal grounds itself. Such is the case with my SOTA band this week. Lust for Glory flies in the face of just about everything modern in favor of their Lo-Fi take on what music should be.

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State of the Art: Mind Vice

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*This is part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured State*

This month’s State is Washington!

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Not looking for the normal fare this week. I was looking for something different, but couldn’t quite put my finger on what specifically I was looking for. When I heard it, I would know, right? Washington has, so far, provided a bevy of super music, so I figured it couldn’t be too difficult. Two hours later I found EXACTLY what I was looking for. Heart of 70’s Rock with elements of Funk and fuzzy Psych they have termed as “Head Banging, Ass Shaking, Molten–Hot–Sludgefunk”. I’ll buy that. Saves me the trouble of trying to categorize them and sounds much cooler than anything I would have come up with anyway. So, without further ado, let’s check out what makes Mind Vice such a kick ass band.

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State of the Art: Mechanism

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*This is part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured State*

This month’s State is Washington!

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So I was on vacation last week and, as a result, did not post a State of the Art: Washington showcase article. Well, when looking for Washington bands to cover this week, I was almost overwhelmed with the number of really good bands deserving some attention and have decided to make up for last week by posting two this week. So, let’s go to Tacoma, Washington, just northeast of Olympia, home of Melodic Hard Rock/Metal monsters, Mechanism.

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State of the Art: Elephant Gun Riot

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*This is part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured State*

This month’s State is Washington!

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After a week off, I am back with you here at MN. So we are off to Washington this month. Population of 7.062 million spread over 71,300 square miles in the upper, northwest corner of the continental United States. Known for its snow capped mountains of the Cascades and the rainforests of Olympic National Park, tech industry and cultural diversity in music, art and business, Washington definitely deserves a month in the spotlight. For my first SOTA lets head just a little north and all the way east from Washington’s capital of Olympia to Spokane and check out Elephant Gun Riot…

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