Livestream-Review: Anvil - L'Anti Bar, Quebec City 04.07.2020

Can a livestream event really fit properly to showcase a band's abilities? Anvil proved that it is possible.

Anvil at the very beginning of the set.

The Canadian legend Anvil is well known for all their classics. Recently the band dropped a new full length called "Legal at last". Like so many other bands they had to cancel the already booked shows. The guys behind the L'Anti Bar invited the band for a livestream performance. People who wanted to attend needed to purchase a virtual ticket in advance but were rewarded very well for their money.

The band opened up with a blast of a instrumental intro. It gave a taste that a well balanced and crystal clear sound has been set up. They were on fire that night.

You could see that Anvil had a lot of fun. They smiled all the way through the set, most of all Lips who once more showed why he is a solid frontman. Bassist Chris Robertson choose to move back and forth to the whole songs while showing grimace every here and there. Very cool!

The band showed that they had a lot of fun performing live.

Other times the band showed some guitar-posing in the form of Accept. Applause was added to the sound as no real audience was allowed to show up but the text responses in the chatbox spoke for themselves. They were some lags in the beginning of the stream. Maybe a control panel to change the quality of the steam could help out to prevent such things the next time.

Lips had his typical humor and short banter with him. He had a great high-toned voice on that night. I liked the band introduction. Everyone was allowed to do a solo starting with bassist Chris Robertson. Robb Reiner was unbelievable on that night. He showed a precise drumming that sharply followed the guitars on every step. His drum solo was one of the most entertaining one's I've heard and seen in a long time. Finally Steve Kudlow gave his well known dildo-guitar performance. It was a lot of fun.

Robb Reiner performed a impressive drum solo and overall performance.

The band played for a good ninty minutes and rounded the set with a blasting cover of "Born to be wild" and the iconic classic "Metal on metal". I can only hope they will do more live shows in the near future. I would choose to see them every time again.

Keep a eye on the band's Facebook page. Let's hope we're lucky enough to see the band performing live in the future again.

Plastic Barricades make your worries visible

Have you ever thought how worries and anxiety would look like if you could make them visible?

The cover of Plastic Barricades Tunnel is as creative as the meaning behind the song.

Well, the alt-rock band Plastic Barricade picked a digital microscope. What they filmed in this session could be just that. A creative look upon something common we all share.

Musically it is a uplifting number. It has easier parts in the verses that feel great. The refrain comes in packed with more goodies playing around with guitar sounds. I like the mixture along with the vocals - it has a distracting effect upon my own worries.

The message behind the track is a shout out to all those being in trouble:

Sometimes it feels like life is this winding road with plenty of tunnels. You go in, it is dark and uneasy, and pretty soon you start wondering how long this tunnel is. Visibility is reduced, you cannot increase your speed or turn back. It starts to feel claustrophobic. Your thoughts are amplified, loudly reverberating in your head.

All you can do is keep reminding yourself that no tunnel lasts forever and you will make it out of this one, like all the previous ones you've been to - and you will see sunlight again!

Lookout for more from the alt-rock duo. The full album "Self-Theories" is set for release in autumn.

Plastic Barricades on Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/artist/4XMzKbdDQLpa36cYrISsO7?si=rvG0Hj_qSY-wfr5WHC1kZg 

Plastic Barricades Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/plasticbarricades/

Mysterious band sends EMP label group unlabeled cassette tape

Bands seem to surface in strange ways these days. It has been like this with Supreme Unbeing who surely wanted to receive the recognition of EMP label (the record company of Megadeth bassist David Ellefson) executive Thom Hazaert. He told us how it all happened.

Who stands behind the band named "Supreme Unbeing"?

“I received a strange, unmarked package in the mail one day;  No return address, no information, just a hand recorded cassette tape, with the words “SUPREME UNBEING” written on it. Thankfully, I still own a cassette player, so I put it in, and couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I’m still not entirely sure who the band is, or what I signed (and I think they might actually be cartoons), but once I heard it, I just knew they had to be on EMP. The messages of Zac Red were just too powerful to ignore. And to be honest, it hasn’t left my cassette deck since.”

EMP Founder/Megadeth David Ellefson said, “Who???”, disavowing any knowledge.

Heavy Metal Underdogs also got the first message and thought: It got my attention through the playing around with the riff throughout the whole track duration and it's dark-toned soundshell it's put in.

It also features short segments that make you think it could be a balladesque track but soon reveals it's much heavier content. The end also comes as a surprise. You may think it just goes on like in the previous three minutes but a slight change comes in.

Finally the message beneath the music spotted my interest.

The first message, “You’ll Never Make It” tells a very precise story of the human quest to understand his own existence, from creation through the present. The title “You’ll Never Make It” can be interpreted both pessimistically, as many humans fail to reach outside of the psychological cage we are all fostered into since physical birth, or provocatively, as a challenge for those who will continue to transcend the boundaries of the never-ending struggles of life.

More stuff is on it's way. SUPREME UNBEING is set to release additional messages/singles “Animals”, “Solution” and “Dreaming” to the public in the following months prior to the release of the debut full-length LP “Enter Reality” which is set to release on 10th October 2020.

Keep a eye on these pages for future messages.

https://supremeunbeing.com/ 

https://www.facebook.com/supremeunbeing/