Metal and Hardcore

Katatonia Bring The Power of Swedish Metal to the States

By: Alex Distefano Sweden is well known for producing some of the darkest, gloomiest metal bands on the planet--from Bathory, At The Gates, Entombed, Amon Amarth, Meshuugah Ghost, Opeth and many more. Katatonia is no exception. Formed in 1991, the band launched into a sound that was a more melanc ... More >>

Motorhead - Club Nokia - May 14, 2013

Motorhead Club Nokia May 14, 2013 The privilege of watching Motorhead thrash on their instruments is certainly a good way to spice up any Tuesday night. But there is no way to start this review without discussing the insanity of their opening act, Anvil, who took the stage with a vengeance in front ... More >>

Danzig 25th Anniversary

Fox Theater

Our Top Ten Favorite Online Resources for Metal Knowledge

By Jason Roche Next time you find yourself in a shouting match with a metal head about what band's penultimate album had the best guitar solo on the third track (it happens) you'll probably find yourself thinking 1) What have I done with my life? B) How drunk am I? Or III) Are there online resource ... More >>

Om Drone Metal Riffs on Religion

The San Francisco band are built on pantheism and powerful distorition

Dillinger Escape Plan Talk About Sneaking Into OC to Record New Album

By the time you read this, most of The Dillinger Escape Plan will be back home on the East Coast, settling down for the holidays with lady friends and family members. But for the last two months, members of the legendary mathcore/metal band have been living under the radar behind the Orange Curtai ... More >>

Top 10 Most Unreadable Metal Band Logos

By Alee Karim Once upon a time, extreme metal bands opted to contort their logos into the most stylized mutations possible as a way to visually represent their music, and as a proud testament to the obscurity of their appeal. But by now it's all become a bad joke, and you're likelier to find the slu ... More >>

Big Business

Alex's Bar

Metallica at Outside Lands: The Five Best Parts of the Band's Fiery San Francisco Show

METALLICA @ OUTSIDE LANDS FESTIVAL | 8/11/12 The following is a dispatch from Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco, from our sister paper, SF Weekly. Metallica, headlining Saturday night of the Outside Lands festival in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, proved just about as huge and satisfying ... More >>

Damage Inc.

House of Blues

Toxic Holocaust Really Mean It

Joel Grind plays sincerely apocalyptic thrash music

Testament Guitarist Endorses Obama After Dave Mustaine Picks Santorum

​Last week, metalheads across the country shook their heads in disgust when they found out that Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine endorsed Rick Santorum in the Republican presidential race. In Music Radar, Mustaine said, "I think Santorum has some presidential qualities, and I'm hoping that if it ... More >>

The Best Musician Signings And Events At NAMM

​With today being the official kickoff of the NAMM convention, expect Anaheim to be flooded with musicians instead of the usual Disneyland crowd. That being said, below are some of the best signings and events of the next few days, beginning this afternoon).

The Time Metallica Jammed Onstage with my BFFs at the Fillmore

The Diazes: Dennis, Annette and their daughter Lightning (yes, after "Ride the Lightning")​Last May, my besties released a wedding video to top all other wedding videos. In it, the bride (a drummer) and groom (a multi-instrumentalist) performed Metallica's "Master of Puppets" in lieu of the first ... More >>

Slayer Light Show: Because Your Holidays Could Use a Good Headbanging

​It's the most wonderful time of the year. The weather is crisp, everybody's slurping from that mug of good cheer, lights twinkle, and Christmas carols soothe your five o'clock drive. Sick of all that, Scrooge? Good news. Your neighbor has set his holiday light show to Slayer. "Slayer Bob, ... More >>

Exhumed

Slidebar

[UPDATE: An Interview with Gas Station Manager Who Found Cory Smoot] Flattus Maximus, GWAR Guitarist, RIP

Update: Our sister paper Minneapolis City Pages has an interview with the gas station manager who discovered Cory Smoot dead and called 911. "It really, really shook the band," says Dan Anderson. "Pretty much all of them were crying, teary eyed. It broke them up pretty good." Read the whole intervie ... More >>

Nails: Yes, They're Tough

[Locals Only] The Buena Park thrash outfit thinks about what you think they'd think about Metallica

Jerry Only Brings the Misfits Back From the Grave

Thirty years later, he says their legacy is just beginning.

What You Missed: Big 4, Railroad Revial Tour, Paw Pawty, Robert Plant

​What'd you miss this weekend? It was a long one for us: We headed out to Indio (again!) for the Big 4 Festival with Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer; then we checked out the Railroad Revival Tour, which stopped in San Pedro with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and Mumford & Sons. ... More >>

DOs and DONTs at the Big 4 Festival

Andrew Youssef/OC Weekly​ On Saturday, metal legends Slayer, Anthrax, Metallica and Megadeth will share the stage for the first time ever in the U.S. at the Big 4 Festival at Indio's Empire Polo Club. While the ninnies in your life will warn you that the punishing (yet cathartic) volume of each ... More >>

Five Music Biopics We'd Like To See

​ Over the last decade, Hollywood has pumped out an increasing number of music biopics, treating us to everything from enjoyable theatrical hits (8 Mile) to wobbly, tear-jerking cable duds (Take Me Home: The John Denver Story). With Jeff Buckley, Sam Cooke and Clash movies in the works and rumor ... More >>

Spades & Blades

Slidebar

Barren Earth: The Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young of Baltic Heavy Metal

The Helsinki-based supergroup span pretty much every alloy of metal you could dig up

Bitter End

Chain Reaction

Glenn Danzig VS. the Internet

www.thegauntlet.com​Maybe the last time you saw Glenn Danzig, he was carrying kitty litter to his car while wearing a Danzig shirt. Or maybe it was when you watched the YouTube video of him getting knocked out with one punch. You could've seen him shaking his hips with Shakira. No? Well, you're in ... More >>

Helmet

The Galaxy

Slipknot Bassist Found Dead

www.slipknot1.com​ The bassist of nu-metal band Slipknot was found dead in a hotel room in Urbandale Iowa today. The Associated Press reports that a hotel employee found 38-year-old Paul Gray, and no foul play is suspected. An autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow.

Motorhead's Lemmy Kilmister and More at NAMM Day 2

The musician sightings at NAMM, which runs through Sunday, heated up Friday as I passed Tom Dumont (No Doubt), Kenny G, Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath), Neal Schon (Journey), Billy Zoom (X), Tim Mahoney (311), Rikki Rockett (Poison), Peter Frampton, and Hollywood-based hard rock hero, Lemmy Kilmister ... More >>

Danzig

Long Beach Arena

On Sale Saturday: Slayer and Megadeth

​Get out those heavy coats cuz it'll definitely be reigning blood when Slayer, Megadeth and Testament hit the Long Beach Arena Jan. 22 as part of the American Carnage Tour.In my 30 years on this planet, I've been to my fair share of concerts, but never have I seen anything like what I saw the one ... More >>

Incoming: Mickey Avalon, Soulfly at the Galaxy Theatre

Keith May​The Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana hasn't slowed down since reopening a few months ago, adding a couple new shows of note to its schedule.

The Jakes Announce Deal with Roadrunner Records

​It's been rumored around the local music scene for a while, but now it's official: Irvine/Newport Beach band the Jakes have signed a deal with Roadrunner Records. Yes, Roadrunner, the label best known for having acts like Slipknot and Nickelback on their roster. (It's right on their website title ... More >>

Iron Butterfly

On-Sale Saturday: Um, Not a Lot, Really.

Yeah.We've got the Creed show at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine Ryan Ritchie told you about earlier in the week, and Sunny Day Real Estate at the House of Blues in Anaheim on Oct. 10, which the always-helpful RR also told you about earlier in the week. Children of Bodom at the Glass House, ... More >>

Artfully Done

MusINK Festval

Watch Ikey Owens (and the Rest of the Mars Volta) Win a Grammy

The Mars Volta--featuring Long Beach's Ikey Owens, of Free Moral Agents and Look Daggers, on keyboards--won the "Best Hard Rock" Grammy last night for "Wax Simulacra." Since the Grammys only show a handful of the awards on the telecast (there are a lot of Grammys, like a lot) their award was accepte ... More >>

Opeth, The Kills, Coming to the Glass House

Couple of new shows added to the Glass House's schedule, both on sale tomorrow at noon (Friday, for the time displaced).

Top 10 Metal Albums of 2008

In a year worthy of your rage, metal delivered in spades. What with the economy circling the drain and Sarah Palin coming down from the tundra and then refusing to go back, 2008's been the kind of year that really makes you want to smash your head into walls or punch random strangers in the face. Go ... More >>

Mötley Crüe Stage a Mötley Crüe Broadway Musical in the Inland Empire

Hurts So Good?

Iron Maiden

Last Night: Gigantour at the Long Beach Arena

Better Than: Watching the American Idol Finals. Download: "Holy Wars...The Punishment Due" from Megadeth's Myspace page Shred is still alive and continues to thrive as the Megadeth curated band, Gigantour unleashed the demons of heavy metal at the storied Long Beach Arena. Megadeth is one of the o ... More >>

Now Wave

The Post-Punk 
Progressive Pop Party

Taste of Chaos Tour-Avenged Seven Fold and Atreyu at the Long Beach Arena

It's funny how music styles always manage to come full circle, even the ones some would like to forget. Sure, people may have thrown their stretchy leotard pants and hairspray in the garbage a couple decades ago, but who says hair metal is dead? Definitely not anyone packed into the Long Beach arena ... More >>

Slayer Give Good Head... Protection

Southern Cali thrash-metal legends Slayer are branching out into motorcycle-helmet designing. Working with O'Neal USA, the band known for classics like Reign in Blood and South of Heaven and being sampled by Public Enemy on "She Watch Channel Zero?!" lent their memorable artwork to the RockHard li ... More >>

New Developments In Disney Censorship

Anaheim’s House Of Blues cancellation of the Machine Head show earlier this month was just the beginning in Disney’s slow and steady elimination of all things metal. Immediately after the cancellation, Machine Head released a statement citing the venue’s reasons for canceling the show (with ... More >>

Full Metal Racket

SiX turn OC into Oh!Rage! County

Blast Beats, Dark Harmonies and Monstrous Melodies

The top nine heavy metal albums of 2006

Slayered in Fullerton

Slayer--of whom Oliver Hall, reviewing in the Weekly the '80s metal godheads' July 22 Long Beach Arena show, wrote: " It was SLAYER, DUDE!!! BRUTAL AS FUCK!!!"--is getting no love in Fullerton. Under the headline "No Slayer Bus Benches for the City of Fullerton, CA," Blabbermouth.net reports that th ... More >>

This Week in Mexican Metal

Brujeria