Specifically, the Finnish masters of “humppa” style folk metal, Finntroll, and the originators of “True Norwegian Balkan Metal”, TrollfesT, are both coming to North America later this year — separately, although each of them will be part of a tour package that will surely have any fan of folk/pagan metal salivating with anticipation! Even better, both bands will be making a stop in Pittsburgh!!
The Smiling Moose (South Side / Pittsburgh, PA), 31 May 2013
Dethlehem – “Valley of the Blades” and “Oathbound” (New Song)
The week of this show marked the birthdays of two of the band’s members (drummer Overlord Brom and guitarist Hildor), so the audience joined in singing to them. Here’s a video of that, plus the song “Sky Palace of the Dragonriders” (with a guest appearance by former vocalist Lord Bonecrush, currently a member of Supervoid):
Save Us from the Archon – “3b. So you had a dream about this place.”Invader – “A.C.R.R.”
Gooski’s (Polish Hill / Pittsburgh, PA), 01 June 2013
Iron Gavel – “Song Three”
Falcifer
Wrought Iron also played at this show, and I swear I got video of one, maybe two, of their songs. But apparently those haven’t been uploaded to YouTube. I’ll have to search for them and make sure they didn’t just disappear into the ether or something…
Valley of Steel private picnic event (South Park, PA), 08 June 2013
Reflections – “Forest of Whispers”
Gooski’s (Polish Hill / Pittsburgh, PA), 20 June 2013
Low Man – “Migraine”
Low Man – “Snake Farmer”
Cultivator – “I Can Relate”, “You Bring Me Down”, and “Where You Been”
NAVIGATION
Part 1 (28 December – 18 January)
Part 2 (01 – 09 February)
Part 3 (16 February)
Part 4 (22 February)
Part 5 (23 February)
Part 6 (02 – 09 March)
Part 7 (10 March)
Part 8 (14 March)
Part 9 (16 March)
Part 10 (22 – 24 March)
Part 11 (28 – 29 March)
Part 12 (02 – 11 April)
Part 13 (12 – 19 April)
Part 14 (20 – 26 April)
Part 15 (04 – 05 May)
Part 16 (11 – 17 May)
Part 17 (18 – 27 May)
Part 19 (23 – 30 June)
Now That’s Class (Cleveland, Ohio), 04 May 2013
3 Inches of Blood – “Metal Woman”
3 Inches of Blood – “The Goatriders Horde”
Ichabod Crane – “Hail!”
Ichabod Crane – “Nudes for Satan” (New Song)
Solarburn rehearsal space (Allentown / Pittsburgh, PA), 05 May 2013
Solarburn and Pipewrench were playing another show together this evening. We were just on our way home from Ohio (from the Cleveland show the night before), but we’d been invited to go hand out with Solarburn before the show. At their practice space, we caught the following video of a brand new song they’d been working on…
“O.P.H.A.F.O.” (“Our Pets’ Heads are Falling Off”)
The Smiling Moose (South Side / Pittsburgh, PA), 05 May 2013
Pipewrench – “Neurosurgery” (New Song)
NAVIGATION
Part 1 (28 December – 18 January)
Part 2 (01 – 09 February)
Part 3 (16 February)
Part 4 (22 February)
Part 5 (23 February)
Part 6 (02 – 09 March)
Part 7 (10 March)
Part 8 (14 March)
Part 9 (16 March)
Part 10 (22 – 24 March)
Part 11 (28 – 29 March)
Part 12 (02 – 11 April)
Part 13 (12 – 19 April)
Part 14 (20 – 26 April)
Part 16 (11 – 17 May)
Part 17 (18 – 27 May)
Part 18 (31 May – 20 June)
Part 19 (23 – 30 June)
Altar Bar (Strip District / Pittsburgh, PA), 02 April 2013
Solarburn – “Titties on the Floor”
Solarburn – “B.F.Y.J.” (“Because Fuck You John”)
Solarburn – “Beard of the Wizard” and “Rumplestiltskin”
Thunderbird Cafe (Lawrenceville / Pittsburgh, PA), 05 April 2013
The Old E Allstars – “Ain’t No Party” and “No Water”
The Old E Allstars – “Warrior with a Bottle”
The Smiling Moose (South Side / Pittsburgh, PA), 11 April 2013
On this day, Slaves BC released a split record with Cousin Sleaze from New York. These videos came from the show both bands had that evening.
Cousin Sleaze – “Never Will I Forget”
Cousin Sleaze – “Begin Again”
Cousin Sleaze – “Guilty of Being White” (Minor Threat cover)
Slaves BC – “Place Axe to Root”
Slaves BC – “To My Beloved Bride”
Slaves BC – “Dust” (New Song)
Under Everything – “Smoke Wizard”
Under Everything – “Nobody’s Hero”
NAVIGATION
Part 1 (28 December – 18 January)
Part 2 (01 – 09 February)
Part 3 (16 February)
Part 4 (22 February)
Part 5 (23 February)
Part 6 (02 – 09 March)
Part 7 (10 March)
Part 8 (14 March)
Part 9 (16 March)
Part 10 (22 – 24 March)
Part 11 (28 – 29 March)
Part 13 (12 – 19 April)
Part 14 (20 – 26 April)
Part 15 (04 – 05 May)
Part 16 (11 – 17 May)
Part 17 (18 – 27 May)
Part 18 (31 May – 20 June)
Part 19 (23 – 30 June)
The Smiling Moose (South Side / Pittsburgh, PA), 14 March 2013
Promethean Horde – “Unknown Corpses”
Liquified Guts – “Back in Black Metal” (New Song)
Liquified Guts – “The Simple Machine” (New Song)
Liquified Guts – “Heavy Dudey”
Grisly Amputation – “Scraping the Resin from Your Lungs”
Grisly Amputation – “Birthed from Defecation”
Grisly Amputation – “Serrated Suffering” (New Song)
NAVIGATION
Part 1 (28 December – 18 January)
Part 2 (01 – 09 February)
Part 3 (16 February)
Part 4 (22 February)
Part 5 (23 February)
Part 6 (02 – 09 March)
Part 7 (10 March)
Part 9 (16 March)
Part 10 (22 – 24 March)
Part 11 (28 – 29 March)
Part 12 (02 – 11 April)
Part 13 (12 – 19 April)
Part 14 (20 – 26 April)
Part 15 (04 – 05 May)
Part 16 (11 – 17 May)
Part 17 (18 – 27 May)
Part 18 (31 May – 20 June)
Part 19 (23 – 30 June)
Well folks, here we are on another lovely Monday morning. Another weekend has come and gone, and consequently, I find myself back at work once more. Even though I keep crossing my fingers and checking the results at lottery.net. I always see them reporting these huge dollar amounts followed by plenty of zeroes (and not just dollar amounts, either — jackpots in pounds and euros and stuff like that, for games all over the world that I’ve never even heard of). However, what I haven’t seen — yet — is any winning numbers that correspond with my numbers. I keep hoping, and thinking about how a few hundred million dollars (or whatever) would be pretty helpful in being able to live a more leisurely lifestyle; one in which my days are spent playing in a band, attending as many shows as I want to, listening to music. I’ll tell you one thing: I’d have a lot more time to get some writing done! And not having a job to go to would definitely mean I’d get the videos from shows edited and uploaded in a much more timely fashion.
But of course, I haven’t won any huge jackpots (yet), so I still do have to be back at work today. But following that incredibly awkward transition, speaking of going to shows and uploading videos to YouTube and stuff… we’re now halfway through this year, meaning I’ve now got six months worth of incredible bands’ performances available for your viewing pleasure! On reaching this milestone, I’ve decided to invite you to join you in taking a retrospective look at that vast collection.
Several months ago, I wrote about a new EP from the Pittsburgh-based dark, caustic hardcore/metal band Slaves BC, which was titled we mean nothing. If you’re feeling especially adventurous, you could look it up if you searched for it, but I’m not linking to it here. Because honestly, it was among the worst articles I’ve written, and I wouldn’t advise taking the time to read it. Instead, just listen to the songs and download the EP, which you can do it you follow the Bandcamp link at the end of this page.
About that review — I’ve noticed sometimes when I really like something or really connect with a piece of music on some level, I feel inadequate to convey that in words, and so I end up rambling about some other nonsense that isn’t related to the actual music. In this case, we mean nothing. centers around the concept of someone struggling and perhaps questioning the validity or value of religion — and I sort of ran with that idea, focusing more on people who place too much value on religious principles, at the expense of common sense and moral decency.
Sort of lost in all of that was my opinion of the actual music — dark and caustic, as I just said; abrasive, ultra-heavy. Some music is described as “doom metal” which usually seems to foretell a bleak, dire outcome; some music is “post-apocalyptic,” representing that tragic new reality. What Slaves BC bring is more like DURING the apocalypse: there isn’t doom coming, it’s happening RIGHT FUCKING NOW.
Anyway, one thing I did point out in that review was that the sound had improved dramatically over their first release, the demo album This World Shall Pass Away. With that in mind, the appearance of any new Slaves material should be really exciting. And GUESS WHAT — today we have exactly that! Two new songs, to be exact, coupled with a pair from the band’s comrades from New York, Cousin Sleaze.
The four-song split is available as of today on CD (if you come to the bands’ joint release show TONIGHT at The Smiling Moose in Pittsburgh — see below for details), and the 7″ vinyl version (in three different colors) can be ordered now, and will be out in the very near future!
My second Person or Persons Unknown is with Gene Fikhman, guitarist for Grisly Amputation and Vulture (one of my personal favorite bands EVER), horror and gore movie enthusiast, and all around cool and collected kind of guy. I must admit that I don’t know Gene very well, but in my personal interactions with him it has always seemed like he was the type of person who knew lots of information once you scratched the surface. I’ve had a lot of men in my life that are like this — in fact, I am married to one — and it’s been my personal experience that you are never disappointed when you get to know these kinds of guys. They are usually extremely intelligent, full of useless knowledge, helpful in all kinds of situations and hell to play trivia against. This is what made me want to interview him, not about just GrisAmp or Vulture, but about him personally so I could see if I was correct and I think you’ll see from this interview that I wasn’t disappointed. I hope you won’t be, either.
Just a few more hours to go until Winter’s Wake 2013 officially kicks off with the Thursday night pre-fest show! So here’s an interview with one of tonight’s bands!!
As I’ve been doing all along, since there have been so many different bands to talk to, I’m keeping these relatively short and sweet. There should be just enough here for you (the reader) to get a bit of background info about each band’s history, and enough so that you can get excited about seeing every single one of them this weekend!
For this “Winterview” I talked to Justin Gizzi, who plays bass in Nomad Queen…
So here’s something pretty neat. I was playing with this over the weekend and announced it all over Facebook, but if you aren’t one of the select few that get to see my posts in your news feed — or even worse, if you somehow forgot to “like” my page in the first place! — I figure I ought to say something about it here, too.
So there’s officially a Valley of Steel Youtube channel now.
Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/user/valleyofsteelDOTnet/videos. There’s just a handful of videos there so far, but feel free to subscribe to it, because my plan is to continue adding performances from all the great bands and shows I’m constantly telling you about.
Valley of Steel 