Fall is my favorite time of the year. It actually gets below 90° in Alabama, and the leaves are beautiful for, like, three days. Lol. And, of course, there’s Halloween. Given my love of all things spooky, y’all have probably guessed that Halloween is my favorite holiday.
This year, I have issued a personal challenge to myself, kind of an extension of the Goodreads Reading Challenge. See, I have never read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or Bram Stoker’s Dracula. I’m sure you’re thinking “what have you been doing with your life?” Well…I don’t know. Haha! I missed out on those classics, despite my parents having copies of both.
Anyway, sorry for my rambling. My point is, my goal for October is to read Frankenstein and Dracula. What better way to celebrate the season?
Happy October, y’all! If you have any other reading recommendations, I’d be glad to hear them. Drop a comment!
The first date of this tour was technically Tool’s set at Louder Than Life… I guess I should have posted sooner. Whoops!
Anyway, Tool is touring this fall. With them will be opener Steel Beans, who will be appearing on the non-festival dates starting October 11th in Salt Lake City. Tickets/VIP are available at toolband.com!
10/3 – Loveland, CO – Budweiser Events Center (w/special guest Emily Wolfe)
10/6 – Sacramento, CA – Aftershock Festival 2023
10/8 – Indio, CA – Power Trip Festival 2023
10/11 – Salt Lake City, UT – Delta Center
10/12 – Idaho Falls, ID – Hero Arena at the Mountain America Center
10/14 – Nampa (Boise), ID – Ford Idaho Center Arena
Update:The show on 11/14 has been moved from Racine, WI, to Belvedere, IL, at the Apollo Theatre!
Horror punk band Murderdolls’ debut album, Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls, turns 21 this year! In celebration of this anniversary, frontman Wednesday 13 is hitting the road to perform songs from their first record, as well as their second and final release, Women and Children Last (2010). Wednesday’s touring lineup for this run includes Murderdolls’ alumni Roman Surman and Jack Tankersley.
The supporting acts are Gemini Syndrome, Infected Rain, and Black Satellite.
This is far from a comprehensive list, of course, but here are five bands I’ve discovered from the neue Deutsche härte genre that don’t get nearly enough recognition in the U.S.
1. Oomph!
Formed in 1989, Oomph! actually pioneered the neue Deutsche härte movement, according to some sources The thing I really love about them is the fact that they change a little (sometimes a lot) every couple of albums. They started with a more electronic/dance/industrial sound, but they quickly morphed into guitar-driven rock/metal. Several bands that came after drew inspiration from Oomph!, including – most notably – Rammstein.
From the self-titled record released in 1992
From GlaubeLiebeTod (2006)
From XXV (2015)
2. Eisbrecher
I actually discovered Eisbrecher years ago, but I didn’t know the band’s name. My best friend had their song “Wilkommen im Nichts” downloaded to her computer, and I loved it. Later, I searched for the song, found that it was by Eisbrecher, and went down the rabbit hole. I bought a copy of their 2010 release Eiszeit and I’ve been a fan ever since.
From the self-titled record (2004)
From Eiszeit (2010)
From Liebe machtMonster (2021)
3. Stahlmann
I found Stahlmann after I’d begun listening to Eisbrecher (and obsessing over the track “Wir Sind Wir” by Paul van Dyk and Peter Heppner). I think at that point I was simply looking for similar bands because I really enjoy the genre. The first song I remember hearing by Stahlmann was “Schwarz.”
From the self-titled record (2010)
From CO2 (2015)
From Quarz (2021)
4. Erdling
Erdling was founded in 2014 by Neill Freiwald and Niklas Kahl. They are a blend of heavier rock and neue Deutsche härte. I remember listening to “Mein Element” and really being able to hear the Rammstein influence.
From Aus den Tiefen (2016)
From Yggdrasil (2020)
From Bestia (2023)
5. Die Kreatur
Die Kreatur is a project formed by Chris Harms (Lord of the Lost) and Dero Goi (Oomph!). The two artists had made guest appearances on tracks for each other’s bands, and they finally decided to merge into a separate entity. The project meshes together the more gothic metal sound of Lord of the Lost with the neue Deutsche härte elements that started with Oomph! Thus far, they have only released one album, entitled Panoptikum, but here’s hoping there will be more from them in the future!
We Came As Romans will be kicking off their Darkbloom II Tour on October 10th in Indianapolis, IN. This run features special guests Emmure, Bodysnatcher, and Archetypes Collide. You can get tickets and VIP at iamdarkbloom.com.
10/10 – Indianapolis, IN – Deluxe at Old National Centre
Avant-garde masked metal marauders Mushroomhead are touring this October alongside special guest Hellzapoppin: Circus Sideshow Revue, Kurt Deimer, and FleischKrieg. Grab your tickets at mushroomhead.com!
Over the last two weeks, there have been several amazing singles released by some truly talented bands/artists! Here are the tracks I recently added to the playlist.
