Photo Gallery: Bassists, Part 7

May 14, 2023April 29, 2023 Wayne EdwardsAndrew J. Brady Music Center, Badflower, Blue Ridge Rock Festival, Brkn Love, Corrosive Vengeance, Death Metal, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Live Music, Lust Witch, Max and Iggor Cavalera, Mercyful Fate, Municipal Waste, Piere's Entertainment Center, Pure Filth Festival, Saving Abel, The King Of Clubs, The Vogue Theatre

**Saving Abel at Blue Ridge Rock Festival**

**Municipal Waste at Pure Filth Festival**

**Mercyful Fate at the Andrew J. Brady Music Center**

**Corrosive Vengeance at The King Of Clubs**

**Badflower at Blue Ridge Rock Festival**

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Photo Gallery: Shredders, Part 3

May 6, 2023April 30, 2023 Wayne EdwardsAccept, Andrew J. Brady Music Center, Anthrax, Black Veil Brides, Blue Ridge Rock Festival, Cattle Decapitation, Corrosive Vengeance, Death Metal, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Live Music, The King Of Clubs, Thrash Metal

**Black Veil Brides at Blue Ridge Rock Festival**

**Cattle Decapitation at Andrew J. Brady Music Center**

**Corrosive Vengeance at King Of Clubs**

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Photo Gallery: Singers, Part 3

April 15, 2023March 27, 2023 Wayne EdwardsAccept, Alice Cooper, Blue Ridge Rock Festival, Casket Robbery, Death Metal, Doyle, Eric Martin, ghost, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Live Music, Michigan Metal Fest, Moru, Muddy Roots Festival, Piere's Entertainment Center, Tennessee Metal Devastation, The Convalescence, The King Of Clubs, Thrash Metal

**Casket Robbery at Tennessee Metal Devastation**

**Alice Cooper at Blue Ridge Rock Festival**

**Accept at The King of Clubs, Columbus**

**Eric Martin at Piere’s Entertainment Center, Fort Wayne, Indiana**

**The Convalescence at Michigan Metal Festival**

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Photo Gallery: Drummers, Part 7

April 9, 2023April 3, 2023 Wayne EdwardsAndrew J. Brady Music Center, Blue Ridge Rock Festival, Carcass, Corrosive Vengeance, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Gravehuffer, Heavy Metal, IV and the Strange Band, Live Music, Mercyful Fate, Muddy Roots Festival, Piere's Entertainment Center, Spirit Adrift, Tennessee Metal Devastation, The King Of Clubs, The Vogue Theatre, Thrash Metal, Warbringer, Whores

**Warbringer at The Vogue Theater, Indianapolis**

**Spirit Adrift at Piere’s in Fort Wayne, Indiana**

**Mercyful Fate at Andrew J. Brady Music Centre, Cincinnati**

**IV and the Strange Band at Muddy Roots Festival**

**Gravehuffer at Tennessee Metal Devastation Festival**

**Corrosive Vengeance at The King Of Clubs, Columbus**

**Carcass at The Vogue Theatre, Indianapolis**

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Photo Gallery: Bassists, Part 2

February 12, 2023February 16, 2023 Wayne EdwardsCarcass, Death Metal, Dying Wish, Eric Martin, Extinction A.D., Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Live Music, Mike Vallely and the Complete Disaster, Muddy Roots Festival, Narcotic Wasteland, Newport Music Hall, Piere's Entertainment Center, Pure Filth Festival, Stoner Rock, Testament, The Contortionist, The King Of Clubs, The Old National Centre, The Vogue Theatre, The Webster Theater, Thrash Metal

**Narcotic Wasteland at King of Clubs, Columbus**

**Extinction A.D. at Pure Filth Festival**

**Dying Wish at the Webster Theater, Hartford**

**Mike Vallely and the Complete Disaster at Muddy Roots**

**The Contortionist at the Old National Centre, Indianapolis**

**Testament at the Newport Music Hall, Columbus**

**Eric Martin Band at Piere’s, Fort Wayne, Indiana**

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Thy Art Is Murder at The King of Clubs, Columbus, Ohio, February 9, 2023

February 11, 2023February 15, 2023 Wayne EdwardsDeath Metal, Deathcore, Heavy Metal, I Am, Justice For The Damned, Kublai Khan TX, Live Music, Metalcore, The King Of Clubs, Thy Art Is Murder, Undeath

Thy Art Is Murder brought their Decade Of Hate tour toColumbus, Ohio, with Kublai Khan TX, Undeath, I Am, and Justice for the Damned.

If you live anywhere near The King of Clubs in Columbus, Ohio, you must go see a show there. It is an excellent venue with a generous open floor in front of the stage and a mezzanine-level horseshoe balcony that has a dedicated bar. It is the only place I go to regularly that has an announcer who, between sets, gives you a run-down of the drink specials. Every time I have been there the crowds have been great and the staff are always fantastic. While they host all manner of shows, they have a special affection for heavy metal, and the list of acts that hit their stage is very impressive.

Australian deathcore upstarts Justice For The Damned opened the Thursday night show. They told the crowd many times how they have been wanting to come to the US for years, and how they were fired up to get on the tour with fellow countrymen Thy Art Is Murder. They played like they meant it, stomping the stage and chewing the rafters. The show in Columbus was my first time seeing Justice For The Damned and they made a great first impression on me.

Apart from the headliner, I Am is the band I most wanted to see. I had caught there act last year in Fort Wayne at Piere’s. Ever since then, I have been on the look-out for another opportunity to hear them live. They put out a new album recently, Eternal Steel, which we reviewed favorably here at FFMB (link to that review below). This Dallas, Texas death metal band is one of my absolute favorites working today, with their huge , resounding riffs and just the right amount of groove. They played music from the new album as well as crowd pleasers from their previous two records. In the second slot of five, I Am ratcheted up the expectations for the rest of the night.

Undeath is a straight-ahead death metal band from Rochester, New York – they’ll tell you that themselves from the stage, “We play death metal. That’s all we do.” Supporting their 2022 album It’s Time…to Rise from the Grave (Prosthetic Records), they were on the mark and deadly in their attack. Raucous and ready, the did the deed and got the pit roiling.

Kublai Khan TX is on tour for the first time in a while and, judging by the reaction of the crowd, they have been sorely missed. I was very surprised by how many fans knew the words to their opening number, “The Hammer,” and sang along on the punchlines. Hard- and metalcore pounding is what was served up and their was nothing left over when they left the stage. The band’s latest record is the EP Lowest Form Of Animal, and it’ll give you some idea of what you missed if you weren’t at the show. But really, seeing Kublai Khan TX live is the best way to go.

Australian metal masters Thy Art Is Murder are stalking North America once again. I haven’t seen them for a few years, the last time being at Higher Ground in Burlington. The new tour, the Decade Of Hate Tour, is shaping up to be one that will be talked about for years to come.

Starting off as usual, in the dark with blasts of strobing light, front man CJ McMahon came on stage and sang around a pedestal of the damned, laying is head back and crooning at the night. The intensity of his performance shines through is rolled-white eyes on brutal killers like “Reign Of Darkness” and “The Purest Strain Of Hate.” The show at The King Of Clubs was the second stop on the tour, but already all the bands were firing on all cylinders, and Thy Art Is Murder was ready and waiting to pounce. This was my first metal show of the year and I could not have asked for more.

The tour runs through to the ides of March, crisscrossing the country – see the tour poster below for dates cities near you. It is a must-see for heavy music fans. Grab your tickets before they sell out.

Photos by Wayne Edwards.