Tag Archives: jonas renkse

Bloodbath Postpones 2018 North American Tour

Do you folks remember a few months ago when we shared the news about the return of Bloodbath to US Shores? Well, since that time there has been a rather sad change in the plans. Check out the bands official statement from their Facebook.

tour posters, bloodbath, bloodbath tour posters

The Press Release:
It’s with an immense mix of anger, frustration and sadness that we’re forced to announce the following news…

We will not be flying out tomorrow to begin our first North American tour we all so much looked forward to playing.

We’ve been rehearsing and preparing this for months and our gear and bags are packed ready by the doorstep, but sadly due to the US Immigration and Embassy making a mistake with our visas, they couldn’t fix it in time and reissue it.

We hoped we never would have to make this kind of announcement, we were still trusting they would issue it in time to the very bitter end, but now with less than 24hrs to go, we have to accept our fate, it ain’t gonna happen.

We’re so sorry for all of you who bought a ticket and made plans to come see Bloodbath!

On any kind of positive note, we WILL be rescheduling (nothing else is acceptable!) and prepare to play the tour as soon as possible. More news on refunds etc. ASAP.

The Cancelled Dates:
5/23 – Regent Theater, Los Angeles, CA
5/24 – Modified Ghost Festival, Vancouver, BC
5/25 – Maryland Deathfest, Baltimore, MD
5/26 – Brighton Music Hall, Boston, MA
5/27 – Irving Plaza, New York, NY
5/28 – Phoenix Concert Theater, Toronto, ON
5/29 – Corona, Montreal, QC

*** end of transmission ***

PiercingMetal Thoughts: I think its pretty safe to say that if you are a band from the other side of the USA at this point that you really better get an earlier and more on point focus to your visas. Under the current administration with all his anti-foreign visiting rhetoric, it’s in your best interests to dot every “i” and cross every “t” and then have someone double-check it all. The visa problems report is far too often of late and I don’t see it ending at any time soon.

Official Website: http://bloodbath.biz/

Bloodbath Announces 2018 North American Tour

This news came out a day or so ago but there was so much to deliver to your attention that we are only posting now. Check out the brief statement by Bloodbath who have announced a very long overdue return to the USA.

tour posters, bloodbath, bloodbath tour posters

The Press Statement:
We will bring LIVE MORBID FUNERALS to the USA & Canada in May 2018. Tickets on sale Friday, December 1st. It’s great to be heading back to the States for not only Bloodbath’s 2nd appearance at the Maryland Deathfest but several East and West coast US shows, as well as a bloody gruesome debut on Canadian soil! ‘Fuckin Way She Goes!’

The Tour Dates:
5/23 – Regent Theater, Los Angeles, CA
5/24 – Modified Ghost Festival, Vancouver, BC
5/25 – Maryland Deathfest, Baltimore, MD
5/26 – Brighton Music Hall, Boston, MA
5/27 – Irving Plaza, New York, NY
5/28 – Phoenix Concert Theater, Toronto, ON
5/29 – Corona, Montreal, QC

*** end of transmission ***

PiercingMetal Thoughts: Truth be told I’ve not the biggest background in the band Bloodbath but I’ve seen a few videos and listened to a couple of the releases over the years. It’s great that they are coming here at long last to do some shows, albeit a very brief run. It’s out job as fans of that which be Metal to rally behind them so more things like this can determine whether or not they can do shows here. What do you readers think about this tour news? Have you seen the band before, perhaps during some European festival? If so please chime in down below.

Official Website: http://bloodbath.biz/

ProgPower USA XVIII Day Four Musings (9/9/2017)

Contributor Steven Stolper was on point enjoying the findings at the annual ProgPower USA Festival that takes place in Atlanta, Georgia at the Center Stage Atlanta theater and as already noted in one of the earlier chapters, PiercingMetal has NEVER been to the event despite the occasional interest. Fortunately, Agent Stolper was sending a final transmission to the Metal High Command from the field about this mission. Here now are his transcribed views bout the fourth and final day of ProgPowerUSA XVIII.

ProgPowerUSA XVIII Day 4: 3 days of nonstop music and parties take a toll on the body and the mind, so difficult choices had to be made and some sets were skipped. Pain and Amaranthe namely. All of the Day 4 bands except the opener were from Sweden, a testament to the country’s great contribution to the genre and popular music in general.

Seven Spires (USA):
Australia’s Teramaze was originally scheduled to perform in the opening timeslot, but unfortunately had to cancel a few days before due to health issues. That was upsetting because Teramaze was one of the bands I was looking forward to the most. Their latest album, Her Halo, was a really tasty slab of melodic prog metal. Boston’s SevenSpires answered the call and rushed to Georgia to bring their brand of metal to the masses. Seven Spires play aggressively melodic euro power metal with a female singer named Adrienne Cowan, who does both clean and extreme vocals equally well. Their video single, Cabaret of Dreams, sounded true to its name live, like a metallized groovy cabaret number. Other songs were more traditional, with many pounding harsh voiced numbers. The band had a very energetic stage presence and did a good job whipping the somewhat sleepy audience back into fighting shape.
Continue reading ProgPower USA XVIII Day Four Musings (9/9/2017)

“Let Sorrow Reign”; Katatonia Announces “Fallen Heart Of North America” Tour For 2017

A short while ago a wave of sadness and dread hit Metal fans across the nation and the melancholy only increased as more and more reports about Katatonia returning to the USA for a month-long tour became apparently clear. Well, as clear as tears would let one see at least. The sorrow was palpable at the revelation and when it comes to Katatonia this is a very good thing. A friend once said to me “if listening to Katatonia music makes you happy then you’re doing it wrong” and with that I will share the bands revelations and dates along with a very solemn poster.

tour-katatonia-fallen-hearts-2017

The Band Commentary:
We’re excited to announce our ‘Fallen Hearts of North America’ headline tour in March & April 2017.

Guitarist Anders Nyström comments “We did three North American tours in support for ’Dead End Kings’ and it’s been three and a half years since the last one when we toured with Cult Of Luna, so having already embraced the new cycle of ’The Fall Of Hearts’ over here, we are eager to once again cross the Atlantic to continue from where we left off and to reap what we planted over there.”

Vocalist Jonas Renkse introduces the bands they have chosen to join them on the tour “We are very excited to finally announce our headline tour in North America for The Fall of Hearts. Also invited for this run are post-rock titans Caspian and young, promising act Uncured. Come out and celebrate the downfall of hearts (and everything else) with us!”
Continue reading “Let Sorrow Reign”; Katatonia Announces “Fallen Heart Of North America” Tour For 2017

Katatonia’s “Dance Of December Souls” Still Solemn After All These Years (12/14/93-12/14/13)

If Lord Seth only knew what he was setting in motion when he began penning the words for “Dance Of December Souls” so very long ago.

So this might shock some of the younger Metal fans out there but today is the 20th Anniversary of the debut album by Katatonia; a crushing, Doom-laden piece of Atmospheric Melancholy that snares you upon your first listen. The band was only three members in the proper lineup at this time with Blackheim (Anders Nystrom) on electric/acoustic guitars, Lord Seth (Jonas Renkse) on drums, percussion and voices, and Israphel Wing (Guillaume Le Huche) on bass. The keyboards were delivered by a session musician Day DiSyraah. Now I will admit that I would not find myself exposed to this band for a very long time and several albums later and I guess one of the primary reasons was based on 1993 being a very different geography for music (especially Metal) here in the United States. Our local region record stores (yes there were still plenty of those at the time) we stocked in full with the Grunge movement stuff and the debut by Radiohead but this kind of Metal was not going to be too easy to chance upon. Remember also that the World Wide Web was still only building as far as the public was concerned so your chance of discovering this kind of music as an early adopter was on the limited side. You would be most successful if you had friends from the country where the band came from who were letting you know about it or by digging deep into a European Metal magazine like Kerrang!!!
Continue reading Katatonia’s “Dance Of December Souls” Still Solemn After All These Years (12/14/93-12/14/13)