The Best OC Metal Concerts in August

Aside from the annual summer heat wave, August is always on fire when it comes to concerts and live music events. This month, metal heads and rockers in the region are especially in luck when it comes to hard rock,  neo-prog/death metal, splatter thrash, traditional old school heavy metal.  Here are the best metal shows this month in Orange County.

As one of the most compelling newer bands of the technical death metal scene, The Faceless pull in fans of extreme metal but also those into conspiracy theory lore and mystical metaphysical topics.  The band survived plenty of  line up changes, but still, none of these obstacles will get in the way of the band playing live, giving fans a chance to experience the songs in person. Their show at Karman Bar in Laguna Niguel will also feature New Jersey metal band Lorna Shore, UK death metal band Dyscarnate, as well as OC’s up and coming thrash band Madrost. This tour package is sure to deliver a diverse, yet intense night of extreme metal. 

 

For three decades, American hard rock band  The Supersuckers have been pummeling audiences with their raw, nitty-gritty amalgamation of hard rock, punk, and country. Definitely a band for partying, drinking whiskey and letting loose. This is rock and roll music that would be approved by everyone from fans of  Willie Nelson,  Motorhead,  and  Bad Religion. The Supersuckers show no signs at all of slowing down; to the contrary, they are speeding things up and getting louder with age. On this, the band’s 30th anniversary tour,  the Supersuckers will perform the first two albums, (The Smoke of Hell and La Mano Cornuda) in their entireties,  as well as a special mini country set,  and songs from the new album Suck It.  LA hard rock/psychobilly band The Henchmen will open the show. 

 

Think of Ghoul as perhaps cousins of the infamous shock rock band GWAR, and you will see things much clearer.  Self-described as splatter thrash, the sound is a mixture of thrash with punk and death metal. The members of Ghoul go by the stage names Cremator, Fermentor, Digestor, and Dissector, all of whom claim to be mutants from the town of Creepsylvania. The shows are often full of surprises like giant killer sawing robots, dudes wearing blood-soaked hoods and other monsters who join the band on stage. This doesn’t include the swath of stage divers who dive head first into the slam pit. Ghoul has even toured with GWAR, and have made a name for themselves on the underground circuit as one of the fastest,  heaviest, and funniest, live acts on the extreme metal scene.  They have toured over the country, and played numerous music festivals, giving them the fan base they deserve. Expect lots of slam pits and some gnarly action on stage at this show, part of the band’s 2018 Weapons of Mosh Destruction tour, featuring opening acts FireBurn, and War Bison.

 

This year’s annual extreme metal festival is heavy and will be headlined by Between the Buried and Me, who have been merging prog rock with extreme metal since the year 2000 and have become a popular live band with a solid fan base around the country. Also on the tour, is metalcore band Born of Osiris,  Veil of Maya, ERRA, and many others. This year’s line up also features the return of The Agony Scene,  a death metalcore band that lasted from 2000-2008, and regrouped this year. To many surprised fans of the previous lineups, this year seems to be lacking the presence of a headliner that is traditional death metal band, but still, expect there to be heaviness at this festival. Among the new school of technical death metal bands on this tour is Allegaeon, who has toured with everyone from Goatwhore to Cattle Decapitation.  Also on the bill are Swedish death metal band Soreption,  American horror rockers Terror Universal and the progressive technical death metal band formed in 2015, Entheos. This is a festival for anyone into metalcore, death metal or prog metal, expect tons of guitar nerds too. 

 

Known as the First Lady of American Heavy Metal, Betsy Bitch has been rocking out in her band of the same name for three decades. Bitch was already playing gigs and getting rowdy in LA, during the days when Metallica was barely a younger band and the world’s of glam,  punk hard rock, early heavy metal was all taking shape in the early 80s. Bitch was heavy and hard, mixing rock and metal but also overt sexuality with the lead singer’s often in your face lyrics and confrontational and controversial shows which included whips, chains and songs about bondage and sadomasochism for sexual pleasure. Betsy, as a front woman was one of the first matriarchal figures in the metal scene and helped to usher in a world where women could lead a metal band, which was not common 30 years ago. Despite it all, including line up changes over the years, Bitch has prevailed, and this year is the 35th anniversary of the album Be My Slave. This is sure to be a fun evening at the Slidebar. This show will feature opening bands Heavy Justice, Tzimani, and  Worldwide Panic. All presented by Metal Assault. oh and the BEST part is this is a FREE Show!