Black Sabbath live on Jim Marshall Stage at Download Festival, 2012 : A review in pictures

The title says it all. Possibly Black Sabbath‘s last performance of their career, and as expected drummer Bill Ward was replaced by Tommy Clufetos (drummer Ozzy Osbourne, ex-Alice Cooper).  They headlined Jim Marshall Stage on the final day of Download Festival 2012. Even after almost forty three years of the band’s formation, Black Sabbath showed more than a hundred thousand of us why they are still one of the greatest metal bands that’s ever walked the earth.

Black Sabbath’s set-list for Download Festival, 2012 -

Black Sabbath
The Wizard
Behind the Wall of Sleep
N.I.B.
Into the Void
Under the Sun
Snowblind
War Pigs
Sweet Leaf
Symptom of the Universe (instrumental)
Drum Solo
Iron Man
Fairies Wear Boots
Tomorrow’s Dream
Dirty Women
Children of the Grave

Encore:
Paranoid

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YOB in pictures : Live at I’ll Be Your Mirror, London 2012

Fans of stoner doom rock n’ roll music benefited the most out of this year’s I’ll Be Your Mirror in London. Out of the six bands on the line-up, four were very closely related to the genre. YOB‘s front-man Mike Scheidt could not contain his feelings about being able to deliver a performance alongside some big names, even though they themselves are able to attract a lot of crowd, and they sure did live up to expectations.

YOB’s set-list for the night -

Prepare the Ground
Burning the Altar
Adrift in the Ocean

This is how the band looked on-stage. Click to enlarge -

A Storm of Light’s set at I’ll Be Your Mirror, London 2012 : In pictures

Day one of this year’s I’ll Be Your Mirror was opened by United States of America’s A Storm of Light. Meticulously planned with a video backdrop for every song, à la Roadburn, the first impression was already created by the festival as well as the band, and it was a very deluxe one. I had thought the video backdrop would in some way make up for me not being able to attend Roadburn earlier this year, but as the day passed by I realized the backdrop was only part of A Storm of Light‘s performance. A festival line-up as varied as this one at this one, any sort of complaint would fall on deaf ears. What with YOB, Wolves in the Throne Room, Melvins, Sleep and Slayer warming up back stage.

Animated members of the band ASOL slit open their bag of doom sounds, giving the festivites a gloomy start. A Storm of Light lapped up this opportunity by putting out a memorable performance.

A Storm of Light’s set-list for the night -

Silver
Missing
Wasteland
Wretched Valley
Collapse
Black Wolves

Here are some pictures shot during their set. Click on them to enlarge -

Rival Sons live on Zippo Encore Stage at Download Festival, 2012 : Pictures

American blues rock band Rival Sons took to the Zippo Encore Stage on day 3 of Download Festival, 2012. Those of you who haven’t heard their second album Pressure & Time already should catch hold of it before you miss out on an opportunity to watch them play in your neighborhood only because you thought the band’s name does not make sense. What matters is the name makes sense to the band, and they ooze out rock n’ roll while paying equal attention to the blues and classic rock. Rivals Sons have also announced the title of their third full-length due to release this year on 17th September. It has been named Head Down.

Rival Sons live at Download Festival, 2012. Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

In pictures : Megadeth live at Download Festival, 2012

Back in 2008, when Dave and his thrash orchestra Megadeth had hit Palace Grounds (Bangalore, India) I had lived through one of the most painful days of my life since I couldn’t attend the concert for some reason. Little did I know that years later I would watch one of my favorite band from the early 80′s thrash explosion at the mother of all events – Download Festival, 2012. Since Megadeth was to enlighten the audiences on how to play good live music on the main Jim Marshall stage (obviously!), I snailed my way closer. No more than a fifteen minutes wait, Mustaine coolly walked onto the stage. No epic background music, no introductory theme, no suspense, no bullshit. That’s what Dave is loved for!

The rifftastic extravaganza, coupled with metal’s most unique voice, began with Never Dead and went on to captivate the audiences, who let their hair down as Megadeth belted out classics like Hangar 18, Sweating Bullets, Public Enemy No. 1, Symphony of Destruction, Peace Sells, A Tout Le Monde and Holy Wars… The Punishment Due along with the rest of the tracks. They delivered one of the best set-lists of the festival, and I’m delighted to include Megadeth‘s performance as a part of my long term memory. Having already enjoyed all their albums and now that I’ve seen them live I’m a fan for life, and before I forget the wait for their fourteenth record just became slightly more difficult.

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album review : Th1rt3en (2012) by Megadeth

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Ghost (Swedish band) in pictures : live at Download Festival, 2012

Mysterious Swedish heavy metal outfit Ghost played this year’s Download Festival too, and they took to the Pepsi Max Stage on the last day (read Sunday, the tenth of June) of the fest. Particularly at 19:30 hours. With just one album out since their formation in 2008, and absolutely no piece of official information about who is behind all the chilling make-up, Ghost has already played almost every major metal festival in a short span, have impressed fans and critics alike, and are definitely the next big thing in metal. Considering Ghost hasn’t written a single new song since their first release, there had to be some way of differentiating their appearance at all the festivals (including last year’s Download) and Ghost decided to don white garbs for the very first time. The band has toured with Metallica, James Hetfield loves them, and when the whole of Anthrax had gathered in one corner of Pepsi Max Stage to partake in the breathtaking ritual that was to follow, I wasn’t surprised. As for their performance, Ghost proved to be the connoisseurs of their genre, which, on the whole, is satanic heavy metal and manages to take you through every age of metal. I think everyone should try and catch the band at these smaller platforms because Ghost is going to join the big league and hit the main stages soon, and then, there would be no turning back.

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Slayer live at I’ll Be Your Mirror, London 2012

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Album / Ep / Demo / Teaser reviews

Melvins live at I’ll Be Your Mirror, London 2012 : A review in pictures

Melvins definitely know how to have fun while performing. While they rocked and rolled the audiences, I was standing right below them with goosebumps. Melvins wrote the principal set of laws for the genres of sludge/drone sometime around 1984, and have been captivating the metal lovers ever since. They have been quoted as an influence by more bands than the amount of precision with which they were jamming on their songs this particular evening at the second edition of I’ll Be Your Mirror, 2012.

They have four vocalists, one lead guitarist, one bass player and two drummers and are still a four-piece act. With their next album Freak Puke ready for release, this gig served as a much needed sneak peak into the next record. Shall I praise the co-ordination between the drummers Dale Crover and Coady Willis, or should I highlight the genuine admiration the band garnered from the audiences? All of our playful bantering, hip gyrations and unoriginal reflexes aside the least I can say is everyone present loved every minute they spent with one of the most unusual bands I have come across, a band that has composed music spanning across multiple genres – the one and only Melvins.

Melvins’s set-list for the night -

Hung Bunny
Roman Bird Dog
The Water Glass
Evil New War God
Manky
A History of Bad Men
Youth of America (Wipers cover)
A Growing Disgust
The War on Wisdom
The Bit

Pictures from Melvins’s performance. Click on the pictures to to enlarge them.

Slideshow -

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Wolves in the Throne Room live at I’ll Be Your Mirror, London 2012

Sleep live at I’ll Be Your Mirror, London 2012

Slayer live at I’ll Be Your Mirror, London 2012

Wolves in the Throne Room live at I’ll Be Your Mirror, London 2012 : A review in pictures

Without an iota of glow on-stage right from Wolves in the Throne Room‘s entry, through their performance and even after they left the band left everyone clueless as to which member was standing where. But being a fan of the band’s music, especially the last record Celestial Lineage, it really was a big deal for me to watch the Weaver brothers live, and the speakers did a great job of helping me recognize the band’s music. WITTR is on the borderline of black and melodic metal, and are one of the few talented American black metal bands who became visible through their intricately detailed sorrow-ridden albums that are loaded with honesty. And, at the second edition of I’ll Be Your Mirror, London the band presented themselves in the same manner I wanted them to. They did not give a shit about posers trying to understand black metal, nor did they bother posing for the cameras. The West Hall of Alexandra Palace, where the band performed, was filled with a chunks of attractive and mysterious dark melody. They sent me straight to my grave and back, and it was an insult to the band when some ridiculous couples were spotted making use of the much needed darkness inside the venue to fucking make out. Death to posers, I say!

WITTR’s set-list for the night -

Thuja Magus Imperium
Dea Artio
I Will Lay Down My Bones Among the Rocks and Roots
Prayer of Transformation

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Slayer live at I’ll Be Your Mirror, London 2012

Melvins live at I’ll Be Your Mirror, London 2012

Sleep live at I’ll Be Your Mirror, London 2012

Sleep live at I’ll Be Your Mirror, London 2012 : A review in pictures

As I had expected from them, United States-based stoner doom legends Sleep took the audiences at Alexandra Palace to another space with their solid compositions, and they chose to perform songs that made the ones watching them for the first time (including me) want to watch them over and over again. Having inhaled a lot of Sleep‘s original material, some where in the middle just before they started off Sonic Titan vocalist Al Cisneros cracked up everyone, although he was damn serious about it, by saying, “If you have a hashish pipe, please light it at this time“. Neither did I have a pipe, nor do I smoke hashish, but none of these stopped me from getting high courtesy of Sleep‘s foggy music that completely engulfed my mind. From my keen observation I can confidently say that one of the main reasons for the success of I’ll Be Your Mirror, 2012 was Sleep‘s presence on the line-up. Amen.

Sleep’s setlist for the night -

Dopesmoker (Part I)
Holy Mountain
Dragonaut
Sonic Titan
From Beyond
Dopesmoker (Part II)

Click on the pictures below to enlarge them. Cheers!

Melvins live at I’ll Be Your Mirror, London 2012

Slayer live at I’ll Be Your Mirror, London 2012

Wolves in the Throne Room live at I’ll Be Your Mirror, London 2012

Bolt Thrower live at BoltFest, London 2012

Slayer live at I’ll Be Your Mirror, London 2012 : A review in pictures

That thrash metal would not have completely evolved without the six-lettered Slayer‘s contribution to the genre is as true as the fact that they have the most violent and crazy fans out of the big four of thrash or any other thrash band for that matter. I know, today it does not matter who or what big four is as the quality of releases have so clearly deteriorated, just that now it is impossible for bands to touch such dizzying heights of success. But to understand the kind of respect a band as massive as Slayer commands, to get a first hand experience of having a fully functional production team handling all things for the performing band, one has to be present in person and watch everything disentangle up close and personal.

Since it was the first time I was watching Slayer I did not have any emotions. I was numb, and I still am even after I’m done watching them. There were a few others around me who were recalling their experiences at past Slayer gigs. As to what song had some chick taking off her tee, and what song made Slayer put a break on their performance because some fan had severely injured himself. And here I was, just a few steps away from the stage. With all these talks happening in the background, those umpteen Slayer DVDs playing in my head and their tracks thumping my heart harder than usual, I was almost ready for Slayer‘s first UK appearance in 2012 at I’ll Be Your Mirror presented by All Tomorrow’s Parties. Boy was I nervous or what! Nervous because I would be in an enclosed venue with Slayer firing rounds at me or because their set-list for the night contained stuff dreams are made of.

Alexandra Palace is a massive indoor venue in London, and they were right when they named it a ‘palace’. Wait till I bring you pictures of what the venue looks like from the outside. You can almost see the whole of London from this place, if you have the eyes for it.

Once stoners Sleep stepped down, a huge Slayer backdrop came on. Chicks and dicks, vying to find a suitable spot to catch a better glimpse of Slayer made for an interesting pass time. With my earplugs in tow, I was ready to be assaulted. Entering the stage from every direction the four members opened the floodgates to restlessness. Even before Slayer broke into a song, the crowd was uncontrollable. Like it was all planned, only this time the plan worked well.

To write about Slayer‘s performance would not just be dumb, but it’d be a fucking mistake which is the very reason I clicked while they performed. Because these are times when pictures speak louder than words. It’s already known that Gary Holt is replacing Jeff Hanneman for of Slayer‘s gigs, as the latter has been hospitalized because a spider bit him. As per the latest Jeff is recovering fast. Apart from the music what I carried back home from this gig was Tom Araya‘s cold stare, Kerry King‘s arms, Gary Holt‘s personality and Dave Lombardo‘s energy. Slayer packaged and presented everything in a way that made even the weak feel strong.

Set-list for the night -

World Painted Blood
Psychopathy Red
Die by the Sword
Chemical Warfare
Hate Worldwide
Dead Skin Mask

Reign in Blood – the album
Angel of Death
Piece by Piece
Necrophobic
Altar of Sacrifice
Jesus Saves
Criminally Insane
Reborn
Epidemic
Postmortem
Raining Blood

Encore:
South of Heaven
Snuff
War Ensemble

With bodies flying around like a swarm of locusts heading towards you everytime you look in some direction, standing still and clicking these pictures was one of the toughest things I ever did. Luckily I did not require the assistance of paramedics stationed at the venue since I suffered only a few minor bruises, but before Slayer went on stage I had made it a point to remember the exit routes. I wanted to come out alive, so I could narrate this experience. And now my very short wish-list has one less point on it.

Live the Slayer experience through this gallery. Click on them, and keep moving.

Wolves in the Throne Room live at I’ll Be Your Mirror, London 2012

Sleep live at I’ll Be Your Mirror, London 2012

Melvins live at I’ll Be Your Mirror, London 2012