Tag Archives: trouble

Features, Tours and Festivals

The First Annual Florida Metal Fest Happens January 30th 2016

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If you leave now by car you will make it provided you first purchase a “Box Of Joe” from Dunkin Donuts and keep the need to check your Facebook feed to a minimum (which I hope you will not be doing while driving anyway). If you book a quick flight out of JFK or LaGuardia you’ll be down there with time enough to rest and have a nice dinner in town and of course I’m referring to all of you readers who are up here in the NYC metropolitan area when it comes to the news that the First Annual Florida Metal Fest will happen tomorrow, January 30th. Check out the official press release and then I will chime back in for a couple of more thoughts.

Tour - Florida Metal Fest - 2016

The Press Release:
This Saturday, January 30th, 2016 marks the first annual Florida Metal Fest! Organized by brothers John and Donald Tardy of death metal legends, Obituary, and set to take place at The Cuban Club, Ybor City in Tampa, year one of the brutal, two stage gala will see some of the Sunshine State’s most iconic bands – including Obituary, Malevolent Creation, Atheist and Deicide – unite and return to their roots in the very heart of the death metal world. Additionally, the Tardy brothers have invited some of their favorite bands from around the country to take part in this special event including Corrosion Of Conformity, Trouble, Madball, Broken Hope and Generichrist!

Two local Floridian bands, both winners of the Battle Of The Bands contest show, will be opening the fest. The first battle was held on November 27th at the BrassMug where the winning band was Untoten Krieg. The second battle took place on December 26th at the Crowbar in Ybor City, with Unsung Destroyer winning the proverbial belt.

Said John Tardy of fest:

“My brother and I have been so fortunate and thankful to be part of some the best and biggest music festivals in the world. The amount of people, bands and energy these festivals can bring is just awesome. From the first time we played one, it has always been a dream of ours to put together a music festival that is not only fun for the fans, bands and crews, but one that also brings a closeness to all involved. After years and years of talking about it, we finally decided the time is now. We want to put together a first class festival. From the venue to the PA, from the lights to the lineup we are trying our best to make this as memorable event as possible. No festival, anywhere in the world, even with the best possible lineup, would work if the area does not support it. I think that Tampa, and its surrounding cities, is a great music area and one that is ready to make this event come to life.”

Florida Metal Fest I Schedule – Doors: 3:00pm

Criss Oliva Stage:
Atheist: 4:30pm – 5:15pm
Madball: 5:45pm – 6:30pm
Trouble: 7:00pm – 8:00pm
Deicide: 8:30pm – 9:30pm
Corrosion Of Conformity: 10:00pm – 11:00pm
Obituary: 11:30pm – 12:30pm

Chuck Schuldiner Stage:
Untoten Krieg: 4:00pm – 4:30pm
Unsung Destroyer: 5:15pm – 5:45pm
Generichrist: 6:15pm – 7:00pm
Broken Hope: 7:40pm – 8:20pm
Malevolent Creation: 9:30pm – 10:30pm
Aftershow Party w/ Painkiller: 12:30pm

The Cuban Club, Ybor City in Tampa, Florida, home to the Florida Metal Fest, is surrounded by dozen of bars and restaurants, includes easy parking and is in walking distance or a short cab ride to dozens of hotels at a variety of prices for further info visit http://www.floridametalfest.com where you’ll find ticket, travel and lodging info.

*** end of transmission ***

PiercingMetal Thoughts: For starters let me say how cool it is that this all-day festival show will have two legendary figures of Metal’s past honored in stage names with both Criss Oliva from Savatage and Chuck Schuldiner of the mighty Death. What is great about this festival is that so many of the bands hitting the stage tomorrow were influenced by Death themselves and you have to imagine that somewhere in the great beyond Chuck has put down his guitar and glanced at the proceedings and smiled at what he helped inspire. There are no less than seven bands on this lineup that I want to see and I wish that I could head down there to rock out with reckless abandon like the folks who already have their tickets. What do you readers think of this one? Let me know in the comments below. Maybe we can start a petition on Change.org to convince them to bring something like this a few states further up the coast. I know this has the kind of lineup that would blow away that last Mayhem Festivals early stage for sure.

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

Features, Interviews

New Year’s Music Resolutions For 2013: Part 11

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new year's music resolutions

Hails and Hello to The Metal Republic, my hope is that our continuing series opening finds you all well. Now that we are at Chapter Eleven, I have to admit that I never expected the responses to be this awesome but of course I am very glad for them when it all comes down to it. Okay, enough from me, let’s get back into the “New Year’s Music Resolutions for 2013” as contributed by some great talents.

1. Tyler Burrow (Publicist): “It is such a great feeling to be embraced by the music scene in NYC. Such an amazing community of people with brilliant minds and beautiful souls. I look forward to being part of discovering and nurturing new talents in the New Year and help others speak the language that the entire world understands, and that’s music.”

2. Kevin Quirion (Deicide, Order of Ennead, Shadow Society): For 2013, I want to finish up some songs that have been just sitting around for awhile. Also I would like to find one new band that I really enjoy. Its been awhile. Oh yeah, try and see Ghost this year too.

3. Benny Rose (Ghosts Of Eden): “To have 2013 be the year of the Ghosts! To make my late father proud of being able to push all these years and struggle to be a part of something so special. To be the pioneers of bringing Velvet Grunge out as a genre.”
Continue reading New Year’s Music Resolutions For 2013: Part 11 →

Music, Reviews

Revisiting “Metal Edge” Magazine: The CD Reviews – Part 11

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These album overviews were originally written for Metal Edge Magazine when I was a contributor to their “Hear Us Out” CD reviews section back in 2006-2007. With the magazine wrapping up publication a few months ago, I decided to add them to the context of our PiercingMetal presentation. I felt that by doing this I would not only be raising the horns in remembrance of the magazine but would also be able to showcase just how different writing for a major publication was when it all came down to it. Since “Hear Us Out” notations were usually “100” words in length, these posts will feature several reviews each until we run out of them. The freelance writing tenure at Metal Edge Magazine was discussed on THIS LINK so please check that out when done. Here are the reviews, so “Hear Us Out”.

Trail Of Tears: “Existentia” (Napalm Records)

Dark Gothic Metal takes the brooding, morose textures of the conventional Gothic style and adds levels of drama and power that is more akin to Black or Power Metal. Sweeping and thunderous at every turn the effects come to life due to the three lead singers that the band possesses. They duel throughout the recording using dark, clean and operatic vocals to cover the spectrum while the musicians combine intense riffs that are chock full of power. TOT serves the need for those seeking intense music with dynamic vocals; as result Existentia remains exciting with each and every listen.

Tristania: “Illumination” (SPV Records)

Norway’s Tristania moves deeper into the Gothic with their latest release by serving fans a quasi-Evanescence feel but with a lot more depth and dramatics than that outfit provides. Brooding and dark, the textures both chill and warm the blood as Vibeke Stene provides siren melody and operatic styles to the sullen and deep words of her male counterpart Osten. “Destination Departure” & “Mercyside” are its most captivating tracks and will surely enthrall you after moments of hearing them. It’s new ground for the band as they wisely blend Doom into their signature sound as well. The dark never looked as bright before now.
Continue reading Revisiting “Metal Edge” Magazine: The CD Reviews – Part 11 →

Reviews, Videos

“The Videos” by Trouble

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Artist: Trouble
Title: “The Videos”
Label: Independant
Release Date:
Genre: Doom Metal
Rating: 3/5

If you were ever a fan of the legendary Doom Metal band Trouble then you will certainly enjoy some of the things that the band is releasing under their own power. This is a good thing for while we were able to enjoy remastered editions of “The Skull” and “Psalm 9” from their back catalog on their previous label Escapi Music, these particular items would have never seen the light of day had the band not opted to release them on their own. The band had a handful of videos which I recall being more underground than on the likes of MTV of the day when the network actually played such things and now thanks to being able to deliver such products on ones own dollar we have them all in one place to easily enjoy. Looking at them so many years after they were first recorded makes me smile a little because while great songs these were only ok in terms of the video that they did. There are many scenes with band members walking or standing around or on the stage but let’s face it, this was the kind of film that a Metal band did for the most part. There was no budget for bands of this type to be on jet skis or boats like we found the guys in Duran Duran doing in their own clips. I will say that the films are quite clear and the sound was on target and this made me feel that they would appeal to those who have had them on video tapes for a couple of decades. Listening to the tracks as these films played out made me go back in time to when the Doom Metal genre was starting to pick up steam amidst all the Hair Metal that was going on. Bands like Trouble were offering up a nice heavy take on things and crushing the listener with riffs as opposed to teasing their hair and singing about getting drunk. It was a welcome difference for those who were longing for something heavy to take place again. Trouble was definitely a band that was bringing a lot to the listener during these years.
Continue reading “The Videos” by Trouble →

Events, Reviews

Trouble @ Knitting Factory (9/15/2008)

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Logo - Trouble

Artist: Trouble
Venue: The Knitting Factory (New York, NY)
Opener: Minsk
Date: 9/15/2008
Label: Independent Artist

I was always one of those casual fans of the band Trouble when they were hitting the clubs during their original heyday and I had to admit that while I leaned to the Melodic Power Metal side as a preference, I really enjoyed the crushing Doom riffs that they laid out. I had last caught the band back in 2007 for a show at B.B. King Blues Club where a mostly original lineup was celebrating not only their return but also the remastering of a few of their classic albums on the now defunct Escapi Music label. The short time that had passed from then to now found Trouble to be a band that was down some original members and now dishing out their new music on their own. The show tonight would be at The Knitting Factory in the venues main space and would feature Minsk as their direct support.
Continue reading Trouble @ Knitting Factory (9/15/2008) →