MetalVice

It’s the holiday season. The days are shorter and the nights are colder. Live music seems like a good solution right? How about some swing music? Everyone will be dancing and enjoying the music and each other. Well that was our thought when we went to see Big Bad Voodoo Daddy as part of their Swinin’ Holiday Party tour. It wasn’t quite what we expected, but it was also exactly what we expected at the same time. Swing along as we look back at this unique experience and revisit some memories from our early days with music.

How do you make a metal festival even better? You add on a beer festival of course! That's exactly what Decibel Magazine has been doing for a few years now. With shows coast to coast, LA to Philly, and everywhere in between. This time, the fest stopped in Denver for the second year. Decibel continues to highlight the outstanding sounds of Black Metal, Death Metal, and Doom Metal. Headlined this year by Khemmis and Agalloch it was two killer days filled with amazing music, beer, and people.

Metallica is Brian’s favorite band without question and they can do no wrong in his eyes. Well, mostly no wrong. So when Metallica announced a tour the first thing to do was check what the Chicago dates were. Unfortunately, in 2023, Chicago did not make the cut, but Detroit did. A quick drive down, to a new city, to see five amazing bands with two guaranteed unique sets by Metallica? It was a no brainer. The only question that remained, what ticket option to get. Did we make the correct choice?

Time for part 2 of our conversation of our time on the inaugural Headbanger Boat. In this episode we cover the final 2 days of the cruise. The last few days were packed with excitement and amazing sets, including Lamb of God playing Ashes of the Wake in its entirety. It was also during this part of our trip we experienced the metal community coming together to support each other during a very dark and sad time. The metal community is amazing and one we are proud to be a part of.

It’s like a music festival on water, but oh so much better. For a few years now we have wanted to do a music cruise. When Lamb of God announced their very own cruise we knew we had to do whatever we could to get on that ship. With such an amazing lineup it was undoubtedly going to be one of the best shows/festivals we have ever been to. Join us for part one as we take a look at days one and two.

We return to the Aragon ballroom for another show. This time for Motionless In White. Joining them we had Knocked Loose, After the Burial, and Alpha Wolf. But that's not all! Motionless In White had a little on stage help from the Cherry Bombs. With such an amazing lineup it was sure to be a killer evening.

The heaviest, most brutal, band to ever walk the face of this earth has returned! That's right, Dethklok hit the road again. We just had to make our way to Wisconsin to see the emotional homecoming of Pickles (the drummer) at the Rave in Milwaukee. Babymetal and Jason Richardson joined Dethklok on their barbarically, brutal, bloody journey.

We return to one of our favorite venues in one of our favorite cities for the start of a weekend full of live music. This time, though, it's our first time at the stage in the Rave’s basement. Or is the ground floor? Wherever it was in the Rave, we have now seen a show at every stage, at least every stage we know of. This was also our first time seeing all of the bands. It was a co-headlining show with Memphis May Fire and Atreyu. Joining the two headliners were two openers, Catch Your Breath and Another Day Dawns. Outside of all the crowd chatter during the early sets, it was an amazing way to kick off the weekend.

There’s a new venue in Chicago. Well newish, and it's the Salt Shed. While there have been many shows at the Salt Shed already, the Bad Omens show definitely caught our attention. Joining them we had ERRA and I See Stars. This show was hit and miss in many areas, but one major hit, without question, was the venue itself. After just one show, the Salt Shed has become one of our favorite venues and a gem of a place to see a show in Chicago. We only hope more metal shows will be booked here in the very near future.

It was 35 years ago that Danzig I was released. In celebration of this milestone anniversary, Danzig hit the road for a handful of shows. Luckelly, Chicago was one of the stops. Joining the festivities was Behemoth, Twin Temple, and Midnight. The only downside, this show was on the last day of Riot Fest. Oh well, we still got to see an amazing show with some old friends.