MetalVice

Chaos & Carnage, a sort of small touring festival, hits the road again in 2025 stopping at the Radius in Chicago. The lineup for 2025 saw Dying Fetus & Cradle of Filth co-headlining. With support from Fleshgod Apocalypse, Ne Obliviscaris, Undeath, Vomit Forth, and Corpse Pile. While we thought we knew what to expect going into this show, we were stunned by a few of the bands who left a las...

As spring winds down we return to Milwaukee, as we have done that past two years, for Milwaukee Metal Fest! It’s become an annual must see festival for us. Not only because it's held at one of our favorite venues of all time, The Rave, but because we know that Jamey will pack the line up with must see bands from the bottom of the bill to the top. This year was no different. Headlining this year we...

Arch Enemy returns to one of our top venues in the city, The Vic. With support from Fit For An Autopsy (our first time seeing them since the inaugural Headbangers Boat), Baest, and Thrown Into Exile. All things considered for Brian, it was a great night of heavy riffs and good vibes.

Most of the time, the shows we go to, we know at least one of the bands. On a rare occasion we will go to a show where we know none of the music.  However, when we do this its because we know the music is metal, and of course we will have a good time. Well not on this night. Sort of. Brian knows only two Nick Cave songs; Red Right Hand (because of Scream and the intro track to Ice Nine Kills, also...

We have already seen some amazing shows where bands are celebrating their 20th or 25th anniversary of key albums. From brands like Slipknot, Lamb of god, Mastodon, and Disturbed. This tour, The Poisoned Ascendancy Tour, is no different. With both Trivium playing Ascendancy and Bullet For My Valentine playing The Poisoned in full. With these two bands playing these two albums it would have been a k...

It was almost a year ago, at Milwaukee Metal Fest 2024, when we saw Paleface Swiss live for the first time. It was one of the best performances of the fest, leaving wanting more. So when they announced their headlining tour ending in Chicago we were excited. Then we saw the venue, Thalia Hall. This is a venue we have known about for some time. Mostly because every person who found out we have neve...

Most of the time, it's the top of the bill that draws you to the show. On this night it was the bottom, the first opener that brought us out. While we have seen Vended more times than we can remember, and each show is almost exactly the same, it’s a killer show every time. Regardless of the size of the crowd. This show was no exception. An added bonus, we would get to experience two bands for the...

It seems like most shows are going to the four act structure. The days of the three band bill seem to be not the norm. We are not sure why. But when it comes to a tour with three older bands like Meshuggah, Cannibal Corpse, and Carcass what more could you want. Well, unfortunately for us, we only got to see 2 out of three. Which we hear is not bad. Carcass would let us get a Headbangers vest show...

House of Blues Chicago was one of our favorite venues in the city for many years. Over time though we have come to lowth the place. For many reasons. For instance if you are not on the main floor it's easy to find yourself behind a pole without a view of the stage and piss poor sound. Let's also not forget it's a LiveNation venue. For Karen, it’s often a hard pass if a band announces a show at HOB...

Our friends in Trash Of The Titans have started a new band, MegaBallad. Instead of a tribute to the Big 4, it's a night celebrating the Hard Rock Power Ballads of the 80’s. Playing decade defining songs from Def Leppard, GNR, Skid Row Bon Jovi and so many more. When we heard they were playing Sherwood Forest Event Center in their home town of Des Moines for their first show we knew we had to be th...

When a show is announced and tickets go on sale we will jump on them as soon as we can. Mostly to ensure we get tickets before scalpers grab them all up and resell them for a huge markup. Fuck scalpers. This means that we will have to skip any show that is announced after the first. That's exactly what happened with Dream Theater’s 40th Anniversary tour and Disturbed The Sickness 25th Anniversary...

Out of all the subgenres of Metal, Folk Metal is one of our favorites. Each band in this subgenre brings their own take and sound, based on who they are, where they are from, and what their unique experience/culture is. While this is true for all Metal, Folk Metal will also bring unique instruments you don’t hear anywhere else in Metal. So when we saw the Finnish bands Korpiklaani and Ensiferum br...

25 years ago Disturbed released their debut album, The Sickness. This album, and band, has had a huge impact on both Karen and Brian's lives and musical journey. To celebrate, Disturbed, went on the road to play the album in full for all the fans who are like us and love this album. Not only was the entire Sickness album going to be played in full, Disturbed played a second set for their greatest...

Taking two, and sometimes even more, genres of music and melding them together will often result in something very good. That was the case with the Rock Orchestra presented by Candle Light. A melding of some of Rock and Metals biggest hits with a Classical twist, and even a hint of Jazz. Even with the unique sound and venue, the energy in the air was definitely a familiar one.

Welcome to our first Book Club episode. Join us as we look at Randy Blythe’s first book, Dark Days. A memoir surrounding the events that lead to his incarceration and subsequent trial.

What do you get when you ask classically trained cello players to cover one of the greatest Metal bands of all time? An insanely good time that’s what! To support their newest album, Apocalyptica returns to Chicago to play some of the best Metallica songs out there. Along for the ride Nita Strauss and company helped prep the crowd for the night ahead. While Apocalyptica only played Metallica cover...

We first saw Mother Of Graves at their first show outside of Indianapolis opening for Khemmis, and we were hooked from the start. A little while later they announced they were working on their second album, The Periapt Of Absence. Around the same time, the Chicago band Immortal Bird, also released their new album, Sin Querencia. Both bands teamed up to celebrate with two album release shows. The f...

Karen went to her first show roughly 20 years ago. The very first opener that night was 10 Years. The only other time we have seen 10 Years was at RockFest 2023. So one show every 10 years or so. Well, when they came through Chicago as part of their most recent tour we decided that was a tradition we wanted to break. We made our way once again to Subteranian’s upstars venue for 10 Years, Keith Wal...

Mother of Graves is definitely one of our favorite bands we have discovered. Every chance we get we will go to see them. So on a blisteringly cold night in late January we ventured to Cobra Lounge to see them. They were not the headliner, but they were the main attraction for us. Headlining the bill was Trouble with Fer de Lance as the first opener. Just like the many many subgenres of Metal, it t...

In late 2024 Karen finally made it to her first show of the year at one of our favorite venues in Chicago, Radius. It happened to be our first sold out show at this venue too. Headlining was Lornashore, playing their album Pain Remains in full. Along for support we had Whitechapel, Kublai Khan TX, and Sanguisugabogg. With the show being sold out, we got to experience this venue in a whole new ligh...

We start 2025 off working on one of our goals for the year, see more cheap shows around Chicago. So, over the first weekend of the year we were able to catch two shows for only $15 each. No fees, just $15 at the door. For the first, we saw a Zeppelin tribute band, Kashmir, at Reggies. The second saw us checking out a venue for the first time, Live Wire Lounge. The show was headlined by Wraith, wit...

In 2024 we saw more shows than we ever have in a single year, 67 shows in total. That's more than one a week. While a few of our episodes did cover more than one show, we did not do a Podcast on every show. In this episode we briefly recall each of these uncasted shows. At least we recall what we can, in some cases it's not a whole lot. In others, there were some fun moments we almost forgot.

With 2024 in the books, we can look back and reflect on the year that was. Again, we saw more shows than ever in a single year. We discovered some amazing new music, and met many beautiful kind souls along the way. We saw new places and new acts in killer new venues. We did this all while pursuing one of our biggest loves, music. Happy New Year and let's hope for an even better 2025!   Concert Set...

Music is a huge part of Christmas and the holiday season. Everyone knows the classics and everyone has their own favorites. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra introduced their take on some of these classics, with some of their own music too, nearly 30 years ago. Their show and music instantly became a holiday tradition for many people. For us, it has been a show we have wanted to see almost as long as t...

Beer and music go hand and hand. Unless - of course you don't drink. In that case you can just enjoy killer music. That's just what Decibel offers twice a year when they meld two great types of festivals into one. Join us as we look at our time at the 2024 edition of Decibel’s Metal and Beer fest.