By Jillian Locke, Music Editor

2009 has been nothing short of epic thus far, and the most bitterly cold month of the year brings the brutality with grinding force. I’ll be venturing to the west coast for the first time to spend my birthday in not-so-ass-bitingly-cold weather, but The Palladium will bring enough thrash-tastic metal juggernauts to keep you toasty varm!!!

Trivium ~ All Hope is Gone Tour; interview with Matt Heafy

When vocalist/guitarist Matt Heafy picked up the phone, he was sitting on the tour bus, bored out of his mind. “We’re two hours late to our next show,” Heafy explained. Trivium’s bus and trailer had broken down somewhere between Fort Lauderdale, FL, and Knoxville, TN. Headed to the Valarium in Knoxville for a headlining show, Trivium, who is in the midst of spreading the intense ferocity that is their 2008 Roadrunner release Shogun, had only played two shows at this point, which, incidentally, have been their first shows in six weeks. “We’re all hurting right now,” laughs Heafy. “It takes you a few shows to get back into the rhythm of touring.”

Then it’s a good thing they’ve had a few warm-up headlining shows to get them ready for their supporting spot on the upcoming All Hope Is Gone, World Tour 2009 Slipknot tour. Along with Coheed and Cambria, Trivium will be opening for the maniacal masked marauders as part of a very eclectic line-up. “I think it’s a great line-up,” Heafy attests. “All three bands are very different – that’s what’s so good about it. Good music is good music, no matter what kind it is. I’m a big advocate of that. We played a show in Japan with New Found Glory, Cold Play, and Alicia Keys, and it was cool.”

This tour will present Trivium with a few more curve-balls. “This is the first time we’ve been the underground band. I would say 80-90% of the audience won’t know who we are. This tour will give us the opportunity to get in front of so many new faces,” Healy speculates. “This tour will also be the biggest U.S. tour we’ve ever done. One of the first shows on that tour will have 8,000 people there!” On the flipside, the three bands do share a common bond: the same producer. “All three singers have worked with the same producer, Nick Raskulinecz,” Healy says, “which is really weird considering how different all the bands are.”

After finishing up this tour, Trivium will headline a 5-7 show tour on the west coast, then plan on shooting over to Japan and Australia, then over to Europe and the US for some summer festivals. In the meantime, check out trivium.org/ for access to ALL of Trivium’s multimedia – by far, the BEST band site I’ve ever seen. “We have a big online presence,” says Healy. “You can check out our new video for “Throes of Perdition,” which is the best video we’ve done.” After you’ve checked out the new video, get yourself some tickets to the All Hope is Gone tour at the Tsongas Arena, Friday, February 6th, and prepare for some severe skull-poundage!

Now this is rugged. Prepare to have your headpiece blown to the balcony as these blastmasters dominate The Palladium on 2/26. “The Palladium is one of my favorites,” says Despised Icon vocalist Alex Erian. “Our first show there was in 2005 with Morbid Angel and Behemoth, and we played NEMHF the last two years…we’ve got a lot of good memories there.” As they should ~ MA fans devour the absolute desolation and destruction that DI brings. The two vocalists in the band, Erian and second vocalist Steve Marois, add their own unique brand of brutal. “I do basic mid-range vocals, while Steve does the highs, lows, and squeals.” This added layer of guttural doom definitely sets DI apart from other death/grindcore bands, but Erian prefers to think of DI in their own league of aural annihilation. “I would just describe us as a modern death metal band…we have a lot of technical aspects to our music…but we also have sense of groove.”

Also on the roster, Montreal’s tech-masters of doom Neuraxis are joining their Canadian brothers on The Montreal Assault tour. Currently assailing audiences with their 2008 Prosthetic release The Thin Line Between, guitarist Rob Milley had this to say about the brutastic tour in a recent press release: “I’m looking forward to the Montreal Assault tour, mainly since we have been friends with almost all the bands for so many years now…Some may know that Alex [Erian, Despised Icon vocalist] was once our drummer, and Maynard [Moore, The Plasmarifle vocalist] was once our vocalist, so for me it’s like coming full-circle touring with these guys. Beneath The Massacre have always been close with us and I’m looking forward to meeting the dudes in Carnifex. Come out to this tour and have a good time with all of us.” Also touring are labelmates Beneath the Massacre, completely the Canadian invasion! Neuraxis and friends pound The Palladium on Feb. 26.  (Keep an eye out for a recap of that ear-exploding show from none other than my Sr Editor, who, lucky bee-atch, managed to snag tix ~ and Pulse photographer Frank Poulin, himself from Montreal, got som KICKASS photos to go with it, so check out the April L n R for those!)

This headlining tour is especially important to Despised Icon as they’ve been a bit detached from US soil. “This year we only did one US tour ~ Summer Slaughter, which lasted one month…we haven’t played the US in six months. I hope our American fans don’t feel neglected…the kids in this country go most ape sh*t, and we’re very much looking forward to seeing our fans!” Check out some tunage and some siiick videos at

Despised Icon, Neuraxis, Carnifex, Beneath the Massacre

Now this is rugged. Prepare to have your headpiece blown to the balcony as these blastmasters dominate The Palladium on 2/26. “The Palladium is one of my favorites,” says Despised Icon vocalist Alex Erian. “Our first show there was in 2005 with Morbid Angel and Behemoth, and we played NEMHF the last two years…we’ve got a lot of good memories there.” As they should ~ MA fans devour the absolute desolation and destruction that DI brings. The two vocalists in the band, Erian and second vocalist Steve Marois, add their own unique brand of brutal. “I do basic mid-range vocals, while Steve does the highs, lows, and squeals.” This added layer of guttural doom definitely sets DI apart from other death/grindcore bands, but Erian prefers to think of DI in their own league of aural annihilation. “I would just describe us as a modern death metal band…we have a lot of technical aspects to our music…but we also have sense of groove.”
This headlining tour is especially important to Despised Icon as they’ve been a bit detached from US soil. “This year we only did one US tour ~ Summer Slaughter, which lasted one month…we haven’t played the US in six months. I hope our American fans don’t feel neglected…the kids in this country go most ape sh*t, and we’re very much looking forward to seeing our fans!” Check out some tunage and some siiick videos at www.myspace.com/despisedicon, www.despisedicon.com.
The Kings Royal: Interview with Benny Marchant

Santa Monica, CA alt/pop rock outfit The Kings Royal are just starting out and coming into their own with their debut release, Beginning. From working with producer Davild Holman (Bush, Adema, No Doubt) to opening for veteran rockers Candlebox during their 2008 summer tour, TKR have a lot to be hopeful about. Vocalist/guitarist Benny Marchant talks about the roots of TKR and performing with Candlebox.

JL: How did The Kings Royal come together?
BM: What started out as a single artist project for me, turned into a band concept after laying down basic tracks with Sean Hennesy, Adam Kury, and Brian Burwell. Then later for the tour, Dave Krusen and Walker Gibson joined the band.

JL: You have a very eclectic sound-who are some of your major influences?
BM: The Kinks, The Doors, and The Velvet Underground.

JL: What was it like working with David Holman?
BM: It was a great experience on the first record and we’re fortunate to be working with him on the second.

JL: How did you come to have Dave Krusen play drums for you?
BM: Our great relationship with Candlebox helped introduce us to Dave. We asked him to play, he liked the tunes and the rest is history.

JL: How did opening for Candlebox go? You must have been stoked for the tour! How long did it last for/where did the tour cover?
BM: It was great! Their fans are amazing and showed up early so we always played to a full house. It was a two and a half month North American tour. It was extremely exciting!

JL: What are your plans for 2009?
BM: Release our new record and tour. Thanks for the questions and hope to see you next year on the road!

www.myspace.com/thekingsroyal, www.thekingsroyal.com

Since the Flood ~ Final Show (for real this time!)

What an amazing way to close the first month of the new year! A ginormous metal mob pummelled The Palladium this past Saturday night, Jan. 31st, as Massachusetts heavy weights Unearth headlined a massive onslaught, including Born of Osiris, Impending Doom, Emmure, Sick of It All, and Every Time I Die. But the true highlight for a certain legion of die-hard fans was the second performance of the night, NH/MA hardcore wrecking-ball Since the Flood. After original vocalist Chuck Bouley, parted ways with the band in May 2007, STF enlisted the efforts of TTEOTD vocalist Nate Johnson, who climbed on board in January 2008. Having just called it quits this past September, STF decided to come together one last time, bringing Bouley back for their final performance. Delivering his larger-than-life, fist-to-the-face, skull-mashing intensity to the stage, Bouley led his brothers in their final renditions of their hard-hitting anthems. They closed the performance off with “24K,” a classic staple off their first album, Valour and Vengeance, but not before thanking his brothers, his fans, and original guitiarist Toby Bastille, whom he cited as “…writing 90% of the songs.” The floor exploded, a blur of fists and sneakers, thus concluding the career of one of southern New England’s greatest hardcore battalions.

Pissed I Missed…and Someone Who Will Forever be Missed

There is one show I’m EXTREMELY pissed I missed, and that is The Acacia Strain’s DVD shoot that dominated The Palladium on 12/28. Blood’s thicker than water, and family comes first, but I sorely missed throwing down with my metal family at THE Palladium event of the year. I heard it was beyond badass…can someone please give me an eye witness account? Help a sista out, man!!!

I’d like to end this month’s column with a tribute to Dominic Mallary, vocalist for Worcester’s own hardcore outfit, Last Lights. Dominic died of a brain aneurysm the day after Last Lights played BU Central on December 24th. Since I had never met Dominic, my words would be useless. Instead, I asked Dominic’s good friend, I Rise guitarist Alex Kantarelis, to say a few words about his friend and fellow artist:

“Dom was a great guy. At this point, saying that has become an understatement. He was honestly one of the greatest guys I’ve ever known. He lived for music and creativity. He would literally spend hours writing songs, or writing poetry, or doing strange artwork, all with no real goal other than to accomplish something he loved. His passion was something that I have never seen in another human, and he applied it to all aspects of his life.”

“I remember the last time I hung out with Dom. It was the day before we left for our European tour. That night, he couldn’t stop talking about how excited he was to go on tour with us, and how absolutely pumped Worcester hardcore had made him in 2008. It was great to see a person as happy as he was. We dropped him off and said, “See you in a few weeks, when we’re home from Europe.” That was the last time we saw him. We got the news with 2 days left on tour. It made our return home unbelievably hard. Instead of getting everything together for our East Coast tour with Soul Control and Last Lights, we were going to Dom’s funeral. One thing that we knew from the beginning was the fact that we wouldn’t let something like this ruin what Worcester punk and hardcore has become. “Dom will live on forever, within all of us.”

Last Lights will play their final show at Club Oasis on Saturday, February 21st, with Paint it Black, No Trigger, Outbreak, and I Rise. All proceeds will go to the Mallary family. www.myspace.com/lastlights

In closing, I order you to drag yourselves out of hibernation for a little face meltage that only Worcester can provide and get on the nerd and check www.thepulsemag.com for interviews with Cradle of Filth, Funeral for a Friend, and Trivium, as well as California’s The Kings Royal, for their thoughts on their tour with Candlebox. ROCK!