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Events, Reviews

Acrassicauda in Concert (5/15/2013)

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The band Acrassicauda was performing as a part of the “Louder Than Hell” book release party for Media friends of the authors. Since I had never before written a concert report about them I decided to do so today. Click the logo to be taken to the full on gallery and thoughts about their brief set.

Artist: Acrassicauda
Venue: The Bowery Electric (New York, NY)
Opener: n/a
Date: 5/15/2013
Label: Independent Artist

Written By: Ken Pierce (copyright 2013) for PiercingMetal.com

This evening I had the pleasure of being in attendance for the Media Launch event of the “Louder Than Hell” book by Jon Wiederhorn and Katherine Turman at the Bowery Electric. Not only was the event loaded with some cool fellow faces in Metal media, but it would also feature a short set by the band Acrassicauda who while now NYC residents originally come from the far away sands of Baghdad. The guys are the stars of a documentary called “Heavy Metal in Baghdad” which is a must see film as it showcases just how tough it was to do this kind of music in that country. At present the band only has one EP out which is “Only The Dead See The Eyes Of The War” so much of the set would hail from this particular release. I was intrigued because it would be my first chance to see them in action. I missed their opening set for Ministry since I had not gone to that show when it happened back in 2012.

Stylistically the band is primarily a Thrash Metal outfit and that makes sense since they are influenced by both Metallica and Testament for the most part and since I did see the movie I can say that they had come a bit of a way since what we see in the films. There is more musical confidence about their delivery and singer Faisal Talal is growing into an imposing front man who encourages your participation in the music as it plays forward. The only thing that I think I expected just a bit more of was a nod to their Middle Eastern culture. There is a prominent riff in “Garden Of Stones” but that was all I caught during the night and I think with bands like Orphaned Land and Melechesh managing to successfully work in those lines that it would be interesting to see more of an influx of this with Acrassicauda. Despite that minor concern the guys were going over well, and they tossed a brief homage to the late great Jeff Hanneman of Slayer by doing a quick few riffs from “Raining Blood” and of course this found the horns being raised en masse. The band now appears to be a five piece unit and has recently welcomed “Mar2” to the fold.

I wish the guys in Acrassicauda the best of luck in their continued Metal journey and felt that since this was my very first time catching them that it would not hurt to speak of their set a little more exclusively than just letting it be a sentence in my narrative about the book release event. Check them out if you see them playing anywhere in your vicinity. Their also very nice guys and interested in talking about all other Metal that comes up.

Set list:
1. Sinbad
2. Message From Baghdad
3. Unknown
4. Garden Of Stones

Official Website: http://www.acrassicauda.com

Amazon.com Code:

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Features, Interviews

New Year’s Music Resolutions For 2013: Part 3

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new year's music resolutions

Good morning to you dear readers of the PiercingMetal Blog, and welcome to our titanic third chapter in the “New Year’s Music Resolutions for 2013”. They say that the third time is the charm and I am good with that so let’s get right on down to business shall we. Proceed with interest more than any level of caution.

1. Keith Williams (Schism): My New Year’s Metolution: Be kind, be supportive, be happy, thankful, gracious & grateful…see more shows, perform better quality shows at quality venues, try and get paid what we’re worth perhaps?

2. David Ellefson (Megadeth): Play harder, play better!

3. Sam Roon (Hung): Thanks for including HUNG in this year’s festivities on Piercing Metal!!! I think for 2013 the entire Metal scene has a lot of work to do. The music industry has recognized the lack of support from the fans, and Ken, as someone who goes to every show in New York City, I’m sure you know all about the dwindling headcount. For 2013 my music resolution… or moreover, my musical mission, is to devote as much time as I possibly can to getting Metal in New York City back to the support strength that people from outside the area perceive us to have. It’s our responsibility to keep our scene alive, support the local bands around us, and to keep going to shows. Be a part of what’s happening. Twenty years from now when you look back at New York City at the time where you were a part of what was going on, you know you’ll want to be proud to have been a part of something. You were a part of a movement… a unique moment in time. The only way to achieve that feeling is to invest a little effort now, and THAT my friend, is my musical resolution for 2013. Thanks again for including HUNG and supporting the area Metal scene Ken. PiercingMetal has always been kind to the locals, and we respect you for it! For the readers, keep supporting this site and going to the shows in the calendar! Look for a new HUNG record early next year and SUPPORT LOCAL METAL!!! Happy fucking new year.
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Events, Reviews

Kittie @ B.B. King Blues Club (3/23/2010)

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It seemed like only yesterday when Kittie came a calling to New York City, and in all actuality it was back in September if my Metal memory serves me correctly and yet despite this very recent visit, one cannot be anything less than pleased when these Canadian Metal chicks want to help make March Metal Madness all the more special by visiting us once again.  They were doing the equivalent of a co-headlining tour with God Forbid and depending on where the show was taking place would swap the lead off spot every now and again.  The show also featured Gwen Stacy and if you want to see the full concert report just scroll down past their logo.  There’s also a lot of cool backstage candid moments and images here from this very night.

Logo - Kittie

Artist: Kittie
Venue: B.B. King Blues Club (New York, N.Y.)
Opener: God Forbid, Gwen Stacy
Date: 3/23/2010
Label: E1 Entertainment

March Metal Madness was showing no signs of slowing down as we found ourselves over at B.B. King’s once again for the return of those Queens of Canadian Metal, Kittie. The girls were in town back in September of 2009, but NYC never minds a return visit from them especially when it features New Jersey’s own God Forbid.

Gwen Stacy: When I first heard Gwen Stacy, this was on the Sounds Of The Underground show from back in 2005 and I didn’t like what I heard back then. The reason is simply because the band was on very, very early and the mix was so messy on all of the leading into the festival bands that each of them bled into the others and didn’t stand out. Sadly, I would not think the show starting as early as it did and this found me only catching the last three songs of their set. My guess is that they played about thirty minutes and what I did see I really liked. There was a great level of energy and technical drive to the tunes and it was a far cry from that first impression I had from back in 2005. Let’s make this a rule my Metal legions, never trust in full your very first impression on a band because you might not be seeing them in the best environment for their sound. I would totally see them again and look forward to that chance. They are a Christian Metalcore band and are signed to Solid State Records. I don’t think you need me to mention that they are named after the character in the Spider-Man comic books but they are, even though there is no female member in their lineup. The crowd seemed into them which was nice to see for the first up group so let’s hope they made some new fans on this Kittie tour. God Forbid was up next.
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