Falsetto Overpowers the Sirens of Forest Lawn

Big Al’s in Calgary’s Forest Lawn is not a usual place for metal shows, but Sacred Ally secured show there in February, and made such a good impression they were invited back to headline a power metal show on Aug. 2. Sacred Ally knows how to engage a crowd no matter how diverse it might be and their music and stage antics are always well received.

HROM, playing their first bar show, kicked off the night. HROM had the crowd singing along during choruses and also played an impressive cover of Helloween’s “I Want Out.” Kobra and the Lotus brought the only female vocalist and played a strong set, including a cover of “Ace of Spades” by Motorhead, which will appear on their upcoming album. Striker came down from Edmonton with Adam Brown from Sixguns Over Tombstone filling in for drummer Magnus Burdeniuk, who was unable to play due to back problems. They played an energetic set with songs off their EP “Road Warrior” [Iron Kodex, 2009] and also gave fans a taste of new tunes off their new album currently being recorded.

Big Al’s has a good set up for live shows and the P.A. system and sound were very good. The sound guy was walking around and checking the levels all night and really seemed to know what he was doing. Hopefully, we will see a few more metal shows at Big Al’s this year. - Deviat

Down Jams It Out Calgary

Calgary has been waiting for Down to return for a long time. And although the supporting acts were changed around a bit before the show on Aug. 8 at MacEwan Hall, Down made it! Danava, a trio of hard rockers from Portland, Ore., opened up the show. Guitarist Pepper Keenan gave the crowd a sneak peak of his riffing skills when he joined Danava frontman Gregory Meleney for a bit of tandem shredding during “Spinning Temple Jam.” Sci-fi metal legends Voivod brought a set that featured a lot of older material, with Down vocalist, former Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo, joining them onstage for “Wrathchild.” Voivod vocalist Snake turned 55 that night, and Down brought him on stage during their set for some birthday cake and a “Happy Birthday” singalong with the crowd. Rex Brown could not make the first leg of the tour citing personal matters, but bassist Danny Theriot filled in, and doing a great job of it. Down’s set-list did not disappoint, showcasing many songs off the first album NOLA. The crowd threw up marijuana cigarettes at one point and the rain of joints led the band to play “Hail the Leaf.” “Lifer” was dedicated to Pantera guitarist “Dimebag Darrell” Abbott. The encore included “Temptations Wings”, the first song the band wrote together, and “Stone the Crow.” Their final song, “Bury Me In Smoke,” literally had the front line buried in smoke and ended with a Voivod invasion taking over all of Down’s instruments, followed by Danava who joined in to jam out the ending of the song. - Deviat

Vans Warped Brings 15th Anniversary  Tour to Race City Speedway

For 15 years, Vans Warped tour has been coming to the Race City Speedway in Calgary’s southeast. And what started as an almost strictly punk tour has evolved to encompass more music genres, which has its good and bad points. Though 11,000 punk-rock fans showed up this year, there were many comments on how the bands on the tour weren’t as good as they used to be. Ska band Streetlight Manifesto even commented during their set “Vans Warped Tour has presented you with a challenge. They’ve brought 80 per cent shitty bands and 20 per cent good bands. Your job is to find the good ones.”

But, with 70 bands playing on seven stages, you’re bound to find someone new and awesome…right? We dug up some metal, and discovered and interesting little band from Indiana that proved our theory right. Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band absolutely rocked the SmartPunk stage. The Rev had the crowd stomping and hollering to his country blues riffs and straight up lyrics. Breezy Peyton on washboards was amazing and set her washboard on fire at the end of their set. How metal is that? And speaking of metal, Florida’s Black Tide played an energetic set, showing some real skill and confidence, even busting into some dueling solos. Their cover of Metallica’s “Hit the Lights” actually had some people headbanging (didn’t get to see too much of that during the other bands). Hardcore acts such as Devil Wears Prada, Alexisonfire and Underoath welcomed huge crowds to the main stage along with punk veterans Bad Religion and NOFX. - Deviat

Woods of Ypres with Moradin and Phantom Limb

Ontario’s Woods of Ypres brought their brand of blackened doom to The Warehouse in Calgary, Alta. Aug. 22, as part of a cross-Canada headlining tour to promote their upcoming album “Woods IV,” which they’ll be touring in full force this October. In the meantime though, the band proved why they’ve been successful as a fully independent band since 2002, blistering the eardrums of all in attendance, instigating much enthusiastic headbanging and many horns from the pit.

Produced by Devil’s Work Promotions, a Calgary-based promotion and booking firm, the show featured Calgary, Alta. based openers Moradin and Phantom Limb, and Lethbridge’s Psycomantium. Moradin got the crowd warmed up with a short but solid set of folk inspired black metal. And they were good and loud, too, blowing a circuit part way through their first song. The crowd loved it, and again when the power went out again during Psycomantium’s set, although most memorable would have to have been the moment vocalist/guitarist Dave Khallil busted a string. Instead of stopping, he carried on with the strings he had left, and made a quick switch in between tunes. The delightfully erratic progressive metal trio followed, with the only hitch of their set being that it had to end. I can’t wait until these guys record. - Vagacs