CASTLE RAT PHOTOS—Review and photos by Greg Maki—For one night, the Ottobar was no longer in Baltimore. With the Rat Queen as our guide, the sold-out crowd was taken into a fantastical realm populated by wizards, dragons, unicorns and other mystical beasts. We had to be wary at all times of the evil Rat Repearess,... Continue Reading →
Review and photos by Greg Maki—The humbly named “Greatest of All Tours” did its best to live up to that (tongue-in-cheek) billing on a Saturday night in Hershey, Pennsylvania, with the two featured acts taking very different paths to get there. Headliner Volbeat played a career-spanning set touching on all but its first record, while... Continue Reading →
LIVE PHOTOS: Parkway Drive, Killswitch Engage, Beartooth, I Prevail, The Amity Affliction, The Devil Wears Prada, Alpha Wolf, Dark Divine—Review and photos by Greg Maki—Summer of Loud is the best metalcore tour … ever? No exaggeration there; just look at the bill with its four rotating headliners. While not the first metalcore band, Killswitch Engage... Continue Reading →
By Greg Maki—Spiritbox has officially arrived. The Canadian act that has been one of metal’s biggest buzz bands since the build-up to its 2021 full-length debut “Eternal Blue” has graduated to simply being one of the scene’s biggest bands, as evidenced by a sold-out show at the 4,000-capacity Theater at MGM National Harbor just outside... Continue Reading →
Review by Greg MakiPhotos by Alana Lopez—If 2024 was the year of Poppy, what are we going to call 2025? After last year’s breakthrough collaborations with Bad Omens ("V.A.N.") and Knocked Loose ("Suffocate," scoring her second Grammy nomination), a headline-making performance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (with Knocked Loose) and her superb sixth full-length, “Negative Spaces”... Continue Reading →
LIVE PHOTOS: Steel Panther, Stone Horses—By Greg Maki—I’ve written quite a bit about Steel Panther on this site over the years, and there’s a simple reason for that: Nearly a quarter century since its beginning, Steel Panther continues to be one of the most entertaining live acts around. Its latest tour, celebrating 15 years of... Continue Reading →
LIVE PHOTOS: Exodus, Havok, Candy, Dead Heat—By Greg Maki—Baltimore came to throw down on this Saturday night. Maybe my perception was clouded because I haven’t been to a lot of shows this year, but this near-capacity crowd was rowdy almost from the start. And Exodus’s “Battle of ‘24” tour, its first headline run in many... Continue Reading →
PHOTOS: Ice Nine Kills Q&A, Eli Roth Q&A, Welcome to Horrorwood Q&A, Terrifier Q&A—By Greg Maki—Billed as a weekend of “music, horror, gore and more,” the third annual Silver Scream Con brought a horde of bloodthirsty souls together for an unforgettable weekend. Jamie Kennedy, left, and Jose Mangin at Friday night's RIP Party at Off... Continue Reading →
LIVE PHOTOS: Judas Priest, Sabaton—By Greg Maki—A casino strikes me as such an odd place for a concert. Here you have the massive, bustling casino floor with patrons calmly—or not so calmly in extreme cases—playing the slots, sitting around blackjack tables, betting on sports, having drinks, grabbing a bite to eat. It’s a day or... Continue Reading →
LIVE PHOTOS: Kamelot, Seven Spires, Ad Infinitum—By Greg Maki—It was a night of symphonic metal mastery on a late-April Thursday in Baltimore, as Kamelot kicked off its North American Awaken the World Tour 2024 supporting its latest release, 2023’s “The Awakening,” at Rams Head Live. MELISSA BONNY OF AD INFINITUM A modest yet enthusiastic crowd... Continue Reading →
