A decade of war.  But for almost all of of us, it's a war viewed through our television sets.  We have no understanding of what war means.  The fear, the uncertainty, the complete lack of contol over your own fate.  War is a favorite theme of thrash.  And there's no doubt that the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have played a role in the resurgence of that genre.  Take WARBRINGER.  When I saw that band the first time, I thought three things: 1)  Fuck, they're just kids; 2) Fuck, they're talented; and 3) What the fuck do they know about war?  But when I thought about it, I realized these kids grew up on September 11th and lived ther entire adolescence with their country at war.  Maybe it wasn't such a foreign concept.

That view was shattered when I finally saw Heavy Metal in Baghdad.  Apparently, you don't know war until your practice space is blown up.  The movie is the story of a group of kids that just wanted to play in a metal band.  Under Saddam, the relative calm allowed them to pursue that dream (albeit with some artistic compromise to please the dictator).  Post-invasion, they were able to play just 6 shows in over 5 years, culminating with a daytime performance in a Green Zone hotel with flames, mortars and Blackhawks as the backdrop.  The type of show only their heroes METALLICA could afford to put on.  But for ACRASSICAUDA, it was all part of the rider when the U.S. military books you to play in the middle of hostile territory.  When conditions worsened so that practice became impossible, the band made the fateful decision that nobody should live with death everyday, and the members scattered across the border.  Yes, they were ready to die, but why wait for it?             

It turns out that Syria is not a much better place for metal than Iraq.  It's so bad that the U.S. gov't was willing to grant them refugee status because the release of the movie had revealed to their neighbors that there were not in league with Islamic fundamentalism.  Today they reside in Jersey and release an EP on Vice entitled Only the Dead See the End of War.  Produced by TESTAMENT's Alex Skolnick, the record showcases the incredible progress the band has made over the last year.  Sure, the influences are there - MEGADETH, SEPULTURA and SLAYER all unsurprisingly come to mind.  But there's nothing generic about this music.  It's not possible when the creators have lived the songs.  And with Skolnick's production, he helps them sound like the professionals they have risked their lives to become.  The lead guitar work and the variety of vocal stylings have me believing this is no novelty act.       

So what does this have to do with Los Angeles?  Nothing.  What does it have to do with metal?  Everything.    

Sometime last year we finally went to the Dragonfly and walked out thinking it was a pretty solid spot for a metal show.  A dive environment with above average and built-in sound, a good sized smoking area out back, a bar that extends the whole length of a wall, and some shady booths where just about anything and anyone could go down undetected.  Eddie Solis's Club My War O))) begins a run of free Sunday shows there tonight.  With Eddie, you never know how long it will last, but leading off with Dave Lombardo's PHILM is an auspicious beginning. It's free and the set times are relatively early:

Doors Open @ 630PM
Internal Corrosion @ 7pm
House OF Broken Promises @ 745pm
Of The Horizon @ 830pm
It's Casual @ 915pm
PHILM (DAVE LOMBARDO) @ 10pm

Time for that part of the program when we spew forth the news from Los Angeles bands and labels:

• The CHELSEA GIRLS' lead vocalist Tuesdae tells AOL about  how she formed HUNTRESS with the boys from PROFESSOR and that she can't live without KING DIAMOND's Them.  After saying that, we might not be able to live without her.  Catch the first HUNTRESS show April 5th at Les Deux.

• Guitarist Emily Burton & lead vocalist/guitarist Rev. Jim Rota of FIREBALL MINISTRY will guest on the syndicated metal radio show “Full Metal Jackie” all weekend and on KNAC.COM's “Crazy Craig’s Super Rock Sunday" from 3-5 pm PST.

• It turns out tonight's headliner at the Mountain Bar, ANCESTORS, isn't the only band brave enough to challenge the ADD-riddled masses of our fair city with 15+ minute songs.  THE FREQUENCY has one that has caught the ears of the UK's New Music Express, and you can go to their site to download that tune and two others.  Check out these "relatively unknown LA psychedelic beatniks" (NME's words, not ours) live when they headline a free show at The Echo on March 22nd.

• If the idea of buying a demo strikes you as wrong, maybe winning one through a contest will let you sleep at night.  And there's no better creator of lullabye music than XASTHUR.  Share your misery with Chronic Youth by next Friday to be eligible to win the 2005 Demo.   

• Things must be going well over at Hydra Head because they're also sharing a new track on Music Sucks called "The Theatre Goer" from DAUGHTERS' new album that will be released Tuesday.  We hear the band is in a state of disarray which makes sense if you have ever seen them live. 

• Southern Lord introduced the newest member of its family, THE SECRET.  Greg Anderson had this to say about the Italians:  "These days it's extremely rare that we receive a demo submission that blows us away. This was the case with the demo THE SECRET had sent us. Their sound is relentless, uncompromising and extremely lethal. Anti-melody, pro-cacophony!"  The band will soon enter Godcity Studio in Salem, MA in April with producer Kurt Ballou to record their label debut Solve et Coagula.  And if you're a CD buyer, SOUTHERN LORD is running a sale that reduces prices for that format to $10 or less for almost all their offerings, duration unknown.  

• And finally, further solidfying their status as the technological pioneers of the local underground metal scene, here's an interview with RUSTY EYE by occasional City of Devils contributor Charlie Steffens.  RUSTY EYE plays the Whisky with WARBRINGER on March 18th. 

On Saturday night, we're co-presenting a free show at Mountain Bar with Ovrcast Productions.  The lineup is heavy and diverse: ANCESTORS, MOAB, TRUE WIDOW (from Texas), KILL KILL KILL and CACTUS PRICKS.  Martin at Ovrcast deserves all the credit for curating the show, and when we heard who was playing, we begged to be a part of it.  Just a few dollars later, he obliged.  First time we saw MOAB, they were opening UFOMAMMUT's first ever US show at the Nomad Art Compound.  That was a nice introduction. To prepare for Saturday's show, we sent some questions over to MOAB's guitarist/singer Andrew Giacumakis.  

You have anything special planned for us on Saturday night?

T-shirts with artwork by Tom Denney. We plan to debut a new song at the end of the set, but there's some other newbies too that we've only played once before.

Does the band have any recording plans for 2010?

We're in the process of recording a home spun record...it will be our debut. It's about 3/4s done. Whether it gets released as is or it's used as a blueprint for a studio record remains to be seen...we're into it as it is though...hopefully we can get a label to jump onboard.

When we saw you last, you were playing at Les Deux with PROFESSOR while a bunch of porn stars milled about - what did you think of that scene? 

It was cool. Different scene for us to play at...we're used to playing for metal heads.

You say your influences are "old metal" - how old are we talking?

Pretty standard stuff - Sabbath/Pentagram/Budgie/Zeppelin. I think of Zeppelin as a metal band. I was heavily into the thrash scene as a kid too, the big 4 etc...The other guys might have a more hip answer but that's all I got right now.

Are you looking forward to the PENTAGRAM show at Ultra Violet in a few weeks (note:  we will have free tickets to giveaway soon)?

Didn't even know about it, now I do. We have a recorded cover of "Forever my Queen". Maybe someday it will see the light of day.

We noticed you guys are fans of Minnesota's ZEBULON PIKE.  Their latest record has a permanent home in our car's CD player and is the answer for those that have questioned PELICAN's recent direction.  How did you find them? 

Our drummer is a music freak, he knows about every new thing that comes out. For a while he was my only source of new music. I haven't heard their latest record, I'll have to check it out.

We're pretty excited that Los Angeles's RED SPAROWES new album, titled The Fear Is Excruciating, But Therein Lies The Answer, will be released via Sargent House on April 6th, 2010.  That label, also local, treats their bands the way labels should, and my sense is that RED SPAROWES will reach a lot more ears by the end of the year.  Their performance at Vacation Vinyl last year was awesome (and we don't use that word lightly) even though the band was without one of their leaders,  Bryant Clifford Meyer, who then and now is overseas playing keyboards/guitar with ISIS.  We have every reason to expect that he will be back in the states to join RED SPAROWES for their U.S. tour and their penultimate stop at the Echoplex on May 8th.  Until then, here's a taste to hold you over: