Sepultura, Gama Bomb and Taint, live at the Millennium Music Hall, Cardiff, 16th July

Two gigs in the space of 24 hours, this time heading for the Welsh capital...

Local lads Taint play to a sparsely popultated crowd, and it seems once again that their awesome unique music will once again slip under the radar of the masses. Jimbob is a master of the riff and although some may be dissapointed that the bands magnus opus, The Ruin of Nová Roma, is largely ignored.

Next in line are Irish thrash metallers Gama Bomb. One cannot fail to be enamoured by frontman Philly Byrne's enthusiasm and the songs are the enjoyable party thrash you would expect from a band like them. No boundaries broken, but smiles all around the venue.

Finally Brazil's finest export Sepultura take to the stage and give a heavy as fuck lesson in metal. The band have been controversially selling this tour as a celebration to celebrate 25 years of the bands existence - only the bass player has been with the band throughout its existence. Much has been written about Max Cavalera's acrimonious departure from the band, but one must bear in mind that he has done more albums with Soulfly then he did with Sepultura, and that Derrick Green has appeared on more Sepultura records than Max. Time to move on then? Well, not really. This evening is all about endulging in the past, consisting of an undeniably awesome set featuring all the classics from Arise, Chaos A.D and Roots. Derrick has a prodigious stage presence and has the banter to go with it.I was particularly impressed with the new sticksman Jean Dobalella, whos job of replacing Igor Cavalera, one of the most innovative and intense drummers of the 90's, is no walk in the park. The crowd, although featuring its fair share of idiots, lapped up the performence and for moments it was as if the Cavaleras never existed.

Soulfly are playing the same venue on 3rd August, its a shame I'm not around to go to the gig as it would have made an interesting comparison.

Jack

Converge and Kylesa, live at Manchester Academy 2, 15th July 2010

Despite missing the first two acts, this was well worth a 6 hour return trip to Manchester for. The two main bands, Kylesa and Converge, were hardly natural partners in crime, but it certainly seems like its going to work throughout the long tour they are doing together.

Kylesa are a special act. They have managed to forge their own unique brand of heavy, with a hypnotic groove that both bewilders and pleases the listener, with the otherworldly heavyness of Electric Wizard and the more technical/psychadelic elements of Mastodon mixed to beautiful perfection. If this doesn't make you want take drugs, no heavy music will. Watching the two drummers at work is pretty mesmerising stuff, and frontwoman Laura Pleasants has a nice dirty roar on her which compliments the music, and its refreshing to have a female in a band who isnt the selling point of the music *cougharchenemycough*. Although like many members of the crowd I wasn't that acquainted with the bands discography, the nature of the music induces involuntary headbanging, and it was a great shame they only had a half hour set.

Converge confirm the diversity of this evening. The songs are short, relentless, incredibly tight and, erm, pretty hardcore. The bundle of energy that is singer Jacob Bannon is to hyperactivity what Mike Williams is to narcotic induced numbness - one wonders how it is humanely possible to maintain such levels of enthusiasm throughout an entire tour. The set features quite a few songs off Jane Doe, the seminal album ranked as the 4th best album of the 00's by Terrorizer, and as the best by Decibal, which were always going to have the crowd in raptures.

Jack

Songs for the summer

I thought I'd make the ultimate soundtrack for this surprisingly good summer we're enjoying (in the UK at least). Get yourself a beer or two, a good book, light up the bbq and stick these tunes on. Or if your'e too lazy to make a playlist just listen to the whole of Welcome to Sky Valley (although I'm sure most people don't need telling!). Preferably in the Nevada desert. Aural bliss.

Kyuss - Asteroid
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Graveyard Train
Down - Eyes Of The South
Goatsnake - Portraits Of Pain
Jethro Tull - Moths
Neil Young - Albequerque
Dax Riggs - Otherworldly Dreamer
Devin Townsend - Away
Southern Isolation - Come Back And Let Me In
Jane's Addiction - Summertime Rolls
Led Zeppelin - Over The Hills
Santeria - Hwy To The Morning Star

Graspop, Belgium, 25th June

After 10 musically sterile weeks in Spain, during which I missed Dying Fetus, Cathedral, Deathfest, Dinosaur Jr and Live At Leeds, I have had my metallic desires satisfied once more. It goes to show how desperate I was that I was willing to fly to Belgium on my own and spend 75 euros on a day ticket to the friday of Graspop. Fortunately, I had some of metal's most diverse and exciting acts awaiting me.

Although the day started with Billy Talent and ended with Aerosmith (both very enjoyable by the way), the more interesting bands lay inbetween. Anathema played for an hour just after lunchtime - a beautiful, haunting sonic assault, perfect for lying on your back and reflecting to. Then came one of the acts which was largely responsible for me being there - Devin Townsend. He may have lost his trademark skullet and ditched his most famous musical incarnation, Strapping Young Lad, four years ago, but he appears to have lost none of his zest for music and life. The greatest hits setlist, featuring "Deadhead", "Life", "Truth" and a couple of cuts off his latest work, "Addicted", is delivered with a youthful exhuberence that a few artists should take note of. I'm talking about Slayer. As they clashed with Devin rather imperfectly, I had to miss most of their set, but I chose to skip the last Dev song for a bit of tidy thrash metal. What I got was the predictable "Raining Blood", enjoyable but it seemed like such a chore for Araya and co. to play! Sad really. But somewhat inevitable.

Fast forwarding a couple of hours, past a decent enough performence by the recently reformed Stone Temple Pilots (why Scott Weiland wore a scalf in 30 degree heat only he'll know), and we get to South Carolina's favourite death metal sons, the unrelenting mesmerising technical barrage that is Nile. Karl Sanders's podgy fingers wizzed up and down the fretboard with nonchalant ease, showcasing the classics as well as a few from their truly awesome lastest album, "Those Whom The Gods Detest". The band go on to prove that the recent news that Morbid Angel are finally heading into the studio to record their first album in 7 years is a lot more irrelevant with bands as awesome as Nile around on the death metal scene.

That left Aerosmith to bring the day to a close, leaving a load of sweaty western Europeans satisfied with the days events. Good to be back!

Jack