4-20 Russian Circles, King Woman, Pittsburgh @Spirit Hall

The pizza at Spirit really hit the spot. So much in face that we ate pizza through all of King Woman. I'm not entirely upset about that. I didn't listen to them at all beforehand so I don't even know anything about them. Oh well, we were there for Russian Circles anyway.

Russian Circles - Really good set. Pretty much every song is really good. They have the pace down pat. Their first half of the set was pretty drum heavy and it was really good. The second half of the set was really guitar heavy, and that was good also. All in all great set. I like that they don't have any lyrics. The one thing about this band is it's a really stationary show. No crowd movement or sing alongs and such.

Highs - Spirit, pizza, Russian Circles
Low's - The just too cold to be nice weather

4-8 Integrity, Ringworm, Midnight, In Cold Blood, Lakewood OH @The Foundry

I figured this show was going to be pretty awesome. It was. We'd never been to the Foundry before. The show was sold out, 300 people, so you can imagine the size of the venue is a bit small. That's pretty ok by me. The venue was long and narrow. That's a good thing for tall people, bad for short people or those who don't push to the front. I didn't have a problem.

We especially liked the police officer at the door telling everyone to smoke weed in between bands and not to bring it in. Thanks.

In Cold Blood - Very good band. Reminds me of Steel Nation a bit. Heavy dual singer metal hardcore. Good shit. I'll see this band again I hope.

Midnight - Honestly if Midnight wasn't on the show, I'm not sure I'd have gone. They were awesome. Motorhead sounding metal in the especially fun and evil variety. Sick band, I love them. The hardcore crowd wasn't especially into it, but I was.

Ringworm - A completely underappreciated band all around. This was probably the best I've ever heard them or seen them. Somehow songs other than Justice Replaced by Revenge got the biggest mosh. Great set, Human Furnace is great.

Integrity - They played a ripper of a set. Played pretty much everything you wanted to hear, and only two new songs. Heavy as fuck and super good. Good venue to choose for this hometown back to back.

Highs - All the bands, the matinee with a 3 hour drive.

Lows - Nothing at all.

3-23 Weedeater, BASK, Hyborian, Pittsburgh @Cattivo

I love the late show. It was super decent that this started at 11. I'm guessing that there may have been an earlier show that they had to clear out? Either way Cattivo was a good place for this show.

Hyborian - I hadn't listened to this band before. I didn't like them right off the bat because they stopped playing their first song four times because the bass guitar was fucking up. They should have just played through it. I don't know what that was all about really but it was a momentum killer. They had a good riff or two but all in all very average leaning towards sucking.

BASK - This band is a bit on the easy side of metal. They were good, better than the opening band. A little bit poppy at times and in general happy sounding. More so than I expected at least. Half decent band, I didn't mind watching the whole set.

Weedeater - They were pretty much better than I expected. They played their best album in it's entirety, it was very very good. I like the bass player, he was drinking whisky straight from the gallon bottle. Great energy from the band. Though the crowd left a bit to be desired. I don't think anyone there knew the words to a single entire song, but that didn't really take away from the night at all. Good metal, good set.

Highs - Weedeater, beer
Lows - Trash band.

3-5 Propagandhi, Iron Chic, La Armada, Pittsburgh @Rex Theater

Any time Propagandhi is going to be around the area, I'm going to see them. Last time they came through was a few years ago with Comeback Kid. It was awesome. This time had promise to be the same.

La Armada - This band had been to Pittsburgh a few times over the years, but I hadn't ever paid much attention to them. They were good, a bit on the heavy and choppy side. I really liked the guys in the band. When they talked about things they seemed sincere and genuine and I really liked it. I very much wanted to be way into the music, but it just wasn't so.

Iron Chic - More or less a pop punk band. Maybe a little in the vein of Hot Water Music or something like that. Not quite really poppy, but not heavy or fast or angry or anything like that. The singer had a gnarly beer gut holding him back. The songs were good. Maybe I'll download them sometime.

Propagandhi - The best set I've ever seen them play. Great shit. They opened with a bunch of bangers consecutively, then played some new mixed with old, then they rocked it out to end. Great sounding set. Great everything. One issue here with this band, the cheapest merch was a $25 t-shirt. That's fucking astounding pricing. I feel like that's Metallica or Kenny Chesney prices.

Hi's - Drunk, bands, yay

Low's - Those shirt prices. Fucking fuck.

2-27 Mammoth Grinder, Concealed Blade, Ritual Mass, Pittsburgh @Rock Room

Rock Room shows are always the best. Though of all the food special days, hamburger days are the worst. But the $1 PBR pounder specials are where it's at.

Ritual Mass - Heavy new hardcore metal band. Relatively new at least. Heavy and pretty good.

Concealed Blade - This band rules. Great mosh parts. I love watching them in smaller spaces like the Rock Room. It was packed in and a great time. I know Blood Pressure is on tour in Mexico for a while, so we probably wont see any Concealed Blade shows for a bit.

Mammoth Grinder - We were excited to see this band for the first time because of the Power Trip and Iron Reagan pedigree. They were pretty good, but I felt the set dragged on pretty long. Or it could be because my belt broke and I was fidgeting with that.

Hi's - Rock Room, all the bands

Low's - Not a thing.

2-23 American Nightmare, No Warning, Spiritual Camp, Pittsburgh @Rex Theater

It's American Nightmare, of course we were going to go. The Rex is a good place for this show. I'm thinking close to 300 people were there. A pretty decent showing for Pittsburgh for a fast band. I think this show could have greatly benefited from a good heavy local band like Eternal Sleep or Concealed Blade or No Reason to Live or something.

Spiritual Camp - I don't particularly like this band on this show. They're more of a surf rock garage rock indie type of band. Not really a hardcore band at all. Which is ok, but it's not what I was in it for. They had a tambourine player who pretty much just wigged out the whole time. Very dancey music.

No Warning - At one point in time No Warning was really popular. The response to them was pretty average on this night. For the first half of their set pretty much one dude was moshing, and he was escorted out for some reason. I know the mosh has happened in that place before. I'm not sure what he was doing that warranted the toss. Oh well. No Warning wrapped up their set with their popular songs and the tambourine player. Good set.

American Nightmare - The good news is they're making new music. The bad news is the new music sometimes sounds more like Spiritual Camp than American Nightmare. They played most of the songs off of Background Music. I really dislike the forced curtain call. The crowd wasn't into it vociferously enough to warrant a curtain call. They came back out played one song, that's it. The old songs were great, the new songs were ok.

Highs - American Nightmare, No Warning, great weather
Lows - Not a whole lot.

2-17 Wisdom in Chains, Strength for a Reason, Line of Scrimmage, Jukai, Trail of Lies, Sanction, Break Away, Absolute Suffering, No Reason to Live, Dissent, Departed, Forced Out, Iron Price, Red Vision, Cursed Path, Foul Play, Fire in the Blood, Vile Mentality, Brick by Brick Fest, Altoona @Altoona Grand Hotel

First things first, this show was really sweet. There aren't enough fests at big hotels. We were able to get a room for under $100. It was perfect because we didn't have to buy beer from the hotel, we got that Lionshead special at Duffys for $4.99 per 12 pack. We killed something like 56 beers on Saturday. No one puked or passed out. Perfect day. The hotel was pretty much all you wanted it to be. A few different eating options in there, a bar, a nice pool and hot tub. It was really decent.

We were just a little late getting there. We missed a few bands through the day.

Vile Mentality - Missed them. I really like their band name though.

Fire in the Blood - Missed them. I really don't like their band name though.

Foul Play - Missed them.

Cursed Path - This was the first band we saw once we pulled into Altoona. They kinda sucked. Multiple of their songs were played in such a way that I thought they were fucking it up. I don't know if they were fucking it up or not, but I left their set feeling meh. Heavy band, just not good riffs and shit.

Red Vision - Missed them. At this point we were able to check into the room and take all our shit up. Get the cooler set up. All that mess.

Iron Price - I wanted to see this band, but it just didn't work out.

Forced Out - Missed them.

Departed - Missed them.

Dissent - This band was pretty good. I liked their metal riffs. It was cool.

No Reason to Live - Pittsburgh metalcore. They were better this time around than any other time I've ever seen them. Decent mosh response, good band on this day. I think I'm going to download their new album.

Absolute Suffering - Missed them.

Break Away - Good band. Youth crew style straight edge hardcore, but harder than what you think when you think youth crew style. I liked them when we saw them at TIHC, I liked them this time around too.

Sanction - Really really good. I hadn't heard this band before, but I'm going to get into it now. A heavy hardcore band from Long Island. Relatively new band. Good riffs, good mosh, just good in general.

Trail of Lies - Missed them.

Jukai - Jukai is a killer good heavy band. Party animals perhaps. Perhaps not. Either way, they are always heavy and good.

Line of Scrimmage - We saw them once at East Coast Tsunami a while ago. They were ok then. We didn't watch them this time around.

Strength for a Reason - I like this band a bit. But we didn't watch them this time.

Wisdom in Chains - The main reason we went to this fest. Really if Wisdom wasn't playing we probably wouldn't have spent the money for the trip. They killed it of course. Played about 30 minutes, per usual. They didn't make any shocking song selections. Maybe the omission of Cap City was a little bit of a shocker. But when you have as many good songs as they have then something gotta give. Great set like usual. Great singalongs.

Hi's - The hotel, def going back next year even if Wisdom doesn't play.

Low's - Not much. The Snow and the cold primarily.