MetalVice

This week we wrap up our time at Milwaukee Metal Fest 2026 covering day 2 and 3. Of course we cap off the episode with a short chat about our pros and cons of this year's fest and how we think it could possibly be improved next year.

It’s time to kick off summer with a bang as we return to MKE for Milwaukee Metal Fest! For this year's headliners we got Acid Bath, Killswitch Engage, and Ministry with nonstop music all day from some killer bands. Join us in this episode while we chat about the pre-party and day one of this festival that we look forward to each year.

Sometimes more than one show you want to see gets announced on the same day. Other times, you have to juggle several other commitments around a show. You may or may not be able to attend because of this. That was the dilemma we had when both Sepultura and Cradle Of Filth were announced in Chicago. We had to determine what, if any, show we were going to see. Then we saw that these tours  were being combined into one show at the Rave in Milwaukee. And we were free. So of course this made the decision easy for us. 

After years, we finally made it our first Dark Lord Day! This unique event celebrates the release of 3 Floyds Dark Lord. A limited Imperial Stout and barrel-aged variant release with a metal show. This year Crypt Sermon opened the stage with killer performances by Deadguy, Midnight, Gatecreeper and Municipal Waste before the headliner - Napalm Death closed out the day. Join us as we share our experiences of the beer release, beer share, and Metal concert.

For some time Lorna Shore has been one of Karen’s top bands. Whenever they would come to or around Chicago, she would drag Brian along. Brian would often say they are a fine band, but he never had the same love for them that Karen had. That was until this show at the Hard Rock in Gary Indiana. It was a killer lineup with support from Paleface Swiss and another of Karen’s favorite bands, Signs Of The Swarm. Join us for this concert report, the headlines, some long awaited new music from Repentance, and a quick stop at the merch table.

When you are depressed and in an emotional funk, music can be the shining light that helps bring back some joy and happiness to your life. At least that was our hope at the end of a very shitty week. Would Electric Callboy, with their unique sound blending Pop/EDM/Metal, be able to break the depression? How about an Aussie Metal Core band Polaris or Scene Queen with some Bimbocore? Join us in this week's concert report to find out.

After going two weeks without seeing a live show, we were definitely itching for the next gig. And we dove head first into it with four shows over six days. The first; Slaughter to Provel played a headline tour with Whitechapel and Attila in support at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. A few days later we made our way to the burbs of Milwaukee for our first show at XRay Arcade. A small converted house tucked in a quaint neighborhood where we saw Malevolence and Guiltrrip bring their Representing United Kingdom Metal & Hardcore Across North America Tour with support from Chamber and Suffer No Fools. Then the following night at our favorite venue the Rave the Godless IV that are Behemoth, Decide, Rotting Christ, and Immolation let us bathe in the unholy spirit. Finally the next day we took the long drive to Waukee, IA for our first show at Vibrant Music Hall. Where Dethklok and Amon Amarth co-headlined with support from Castle Rat.

Live music is hands down our favorite way to consume music. It doesn't matter what the genre of music is, the energy and emotions of the fans is the same. That's why when you hear about fans at a show getting hurt or losing their lives at a show, your heart sinks. In this episode we talk about the Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy documentary. Trainwreck is a documentary series on Netflix. Covering topics from Woodstock ‘99 to the poop cruise. We share what we can recall from when we first learned of the Astrowold tragedy, some of our past concert experiences, and what new insights we learned from the documentary.

We are back for the third book club episode. This time we take a look at Mark Mortons first book, Desolautions: A Heavy Metal Memoir. The Lamb Of God guitarist shares some of his highest highs and lowest lows as he tells the story of his life so far. From learning to play music as a child to his high school bands and the formation of Lamb Of God. Tag along while Mark shares the inspirations for some of the bands biggest songs and take a look behind the curtain to see how the albums were made.

It's no secret, ticket prices are expensive. Why is that though? Has it always been this way? Business Insider has a video out where they look at just this. They spend time talking to people from Live Nation, StubHub, the DOJ and others. Join us as we watch this video and provide our thoughts throughout.
 
Business Insider Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN1AVSZyFbY
 
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