MetalVice

Episode 129: Two Shows One Night

When a show is announced and tickets go on sale we will jump on them as soon as we can. Mostly to ensure we get tickets before scalpers grab them all up and resell them for a huge markup. Fuck scalpers. This means that we will have to skip any show that is announced after the first. That's exactly what happened with Dream Theater’s 40th Anniversary tour and Disturbed The Sickness 25th Anniversary tour. We already had tickets to Dream Theater when Disturbed announced. It was going to be a homecoming for Disturbed, playing The United Center, one of the largest venues in the city. So what should we do? Well Brian went to Dream Theater with a friend while Karen went to Disturbed. Join us as we share our experiences seeing two shows in one night.

Episode 128: Folkfest of The North

Out of all the subgenres of Metal, Folk Metal is one of our favorites. Each band in this subgenre brings their own take and sound, based on who they are, where they are from, and what their unique experience/culture is. While this is true for all Metal, Folk Metal will also bring unique instruments you don’t hear anywhere else in Metal. So when we saw the Finnish bands Korpiklaani and Ensiferum bring Folkfest of The North to the states we knew we had to be there. But it wouldn't be a Folkfest without at least one other band right? Well they brought two, Trollfest (from Norway) and Nini (from Taiwan with US musicians). Join us as we look back at these four unique bands with their four unique sounds.

Episode 127: Disturbed - The Sickness 25th Anniversary

25 years ago Disturbed released their debut album, The Sickness. This album, and band, has had a huge impact on both Karen and Brian's lives and musical journey. To celebrate, Disturbed, went on the road to play the album in full for all the fans who are like us and love this album. Not only was the entire Sickness album going to be played in full, Disturbed played a second set for their greatest hits. The tour was a choose your own adventure type tour, where the opening act will change depending on the dates you see the show. For us, we got Sevendust and Three Days Grace (with Adam Gontier returning). With many of the key albums that shaped our musical tastes approaching their 20 and 25 year anniversaries this show was definitely going to be one we did not want to miss.

Episode 126: Rock Orchestra

Taking two, and sometimes even more, genres of music and melding them together will often result in something very good. That was the case with the Rock Orchestra presented by Candle Light. A melding of some of Rock and Metals biggest hits with a Classical twist, and even a hint of Jazz. Even with the unique sound and venue, the energy in the air was definitely a familiar one.

Episode 125: Book Club - Dark Days by D. Randall Blythe

Welcome to our first Book Club episode. Join us as we look at Randy Blythe’s first book, Dark Days. A memoir surrounding the events that lead to his incarceration and subsequent trial.

Episode 124: Apocalyptica Plays Metallica

What do you get when you ask classically trained cello players to cover one of the greatest Metal bands of all time? An insanely good time that’s what! To support their newest album, Apocalyptica returns to Chicago to play some of the best Metallica songs out there. Along for the ride Nita Strauss and company helped prep the crowd for the night ahead. While Apocalyptica only played Metallica covers, they definitely left us hungry for another set. 

Episode 123: Immortal Bird/Mother Of Graves Album Release Show

We first saw Mother Of Graves at their first show outside of Indianapolis opening for Khemmis, and we were hooked from the start. A little while later they announced they were working on their second album, The Periapt Of Absence. Around the same time, the Chicago band Immortal Bird, also released their new album, Sin Querencia. Both bands teamed up to celebrate with two album release shows. The first in Mother Of Graves' hometown, with the second in Immortal Bird’s hometown. While we were unable to make the first, we were not going to miss the show at Reggies where our obsession with Mother Of Graves began. Tagging along to help celebrate these two amazing bands, the bill included Payasa and Apophy as support. Unfortunately, Payasa was unable to play, but it would still be an amazing night of music.

Episode 122: 10 Years

Karen went to her first show roughly 20 years ago. The very first opener that night was 10 Years. The only other time we have seen 10 Years was at RockFest 2023. So one show every 10 years or so. Well, when they came through Chicago as part of their most recent tour we decided that was a tradition we wanted to break. We made our way once again to Subteranian’s upstars venue for 10 Years, Keith Wallen (from Breaking Benjamin), and Kamenar. While the music is not our go to knuckle dragging Metal music, it was definitely a good night for live music.

Episode 121: Trouble Live At Cobra

Mother of Graves is definitely one of our favorite bands we have discovered. Every chance we get we will go to see them. So on a blisteringly cold night in late January we ventured to Cobra Lounge to see them. They were not the headliner, but they were the main attraction for us. Headlining the bill was Trouble with Fer de Lance as the first opener. Just like the many many subgenres of Metal, it turns out Doom Metal has many flavors too. For this night all three bands offered a unique sound of Doom. Join us as we ponder which flavor is our favorite.

Episode 120: Lornashore - Pain Remains Tour

In late 2024 Karen finally made it to her first show of the year at one of our favorite venues in Chicago, Radius. It happened to be our first sold out show at this venue too. Headlining was Lornashore, playing their album Pain Remains in full. Along for support we had Whitechapel, Kublai Khan TX, and Sanguisugabogg. With the show being sold out, we got to experience this venue in a whole new light.