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Features, Tours and Festivals

Opeth Announces Fall 2021 Co-Headline Tour with Mastodon

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The Press Release:
Sweden’s iconic rock/metal titans OPETH will return to North America this fall for a tour with fellow masters of prog-metal MASTODON. Announced today, the bands will embark with special opening guests ZEAL & ARDOR on a two-week tour kicking off in Asheville, NC on November 16th and wrapping in Denver, CO on December 5th.

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Tickets go onsale Friday September 17 at 10am local time. Check out the full confirmed itinerary below, including a handful of festival dates. Visit www.opeth.com/tour-dates for ticket and tour information.
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Features, Tours and Festivals

Bloodbath Postpones 2018 North American Tour

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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.

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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/

Features, Tours and Festivals

Bloodbath Announces 2018 North American Tour

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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.

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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/

Music, Reviews

“The Wacken Carnage” by Bloodbath

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Artist: Bloodbath
Title: “The Wacken Carnage”
Label: Peaceville UK
Release Date: 6/2/2008
Genre: Death Metal
Rating: 4/5

It’s not too often that you find the term “super group” applied to the likes of a Death Metal band, but when it comes to this particular lineup for the band Bloodbath is most certainly makes sense. The Swedish Death Metal group delivers the no-holds barred approach to the genre and this rare concert appearance from 2005 is not something we can easily expect to see again based on the daytime gigs of its roster. The supposed “one time only gig” finds Michael Akerfeldt and Martin Axenrot (members of Opeth) handling the vocal and drumming duties, while Anders Nystrom and Jonas Renske (guitar and bass respectively) hail from the Doom Metal band Katatonia. Rounding out the project is Dan Swano (Nightingale/Edge Of Sanity) who not only provides crushing guitar riffs but also additional and very necessary growling. According to research this was the band first ever live performance and supposed to be the only one as well for the band was formed as a studio only side project based on the very busy schedules that its members are involved in on a daily basis and while the future might find this to be a different case altogether I am glad that the cameras were on hand to capture this one. The film finds the guys dressed in bloody tatters as the pummel the audience with a very traditional brand of Swedish Death Metal. The sound while different from the USA brand of the stuff is no less heavier or intense and what made this most interesting for me was that it offered the viewer the chance to see these musicians performing outside of the roles that we know them most from. Seeing Akerfeldt with no guitar for example is one thing, and to find him doing nothing but the gut-wrenching soul tortured growls as opposed to any level of melodic singing is the other. It’s true that while Opeth offers many levels of heaviness across the board there is much more brutal intensity being brought to the table during “Cancer Of The Soul” and “Eaten”. Clearly the bands subject matter is very along the lines of their equally brutal name.
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Music, Reviews

“Watershed” by Opeth

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Artist: Opeth
Title: “Watershed”
Label: Roadrunner Records
Release Date: 6/3/2008
Genre: Progressive Death Metal
Rating: 5/5

When Opeth first signed to Roadrunner Records there was scuttlebutt about the label interfering with the bands creative vision and ruining it for everyone as a result but despite this kind of talk the band gave us “Ghost Reveries” which was a stunning release. It was an album that presented new worlds of heaviness meets progginess to their fans and found them reaching for higher ground in terms of musical quality. The response that the release earned them made many wonder how the band could possibly hope to follow up the album and have the output be as good or impact the genre as much as this one had done and when you place “Watershed” in your CD player you will be happy to discover that the group has surpassed all expectations with flying colors. Such seems to be the common practice with a band like Opeth for they can never be referred to as a band of predictability or following the acceptable standard and instead make great strides in their material with each and every release. They are a band that has become as important to the Death Metal genre as Rush had become to the Progressive Rock genre so many decades ago. That being said, the scene and its ever changing geography are in excellent hands.
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