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The Nothing That Is Tour

George Archibald

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Another fall evening in the Burgh, the air was crisp and cool, setting the mood for a great night for metal. The Roxian in McKees Rock, PA, hosted The Nothing That Is Tour tonight, featuring Fit For An Autopsy. Bodysnatcher, Distant, Sylosisand, and Judiciary. Fit For An Autopsy brought some of the heaviest and nastiest together to throw down for all of you. An eclectic banding of hardcore and deathcore acts that are making waves in the metal community. 

Judiciary kicked things off, their music a blend of hardcore, thrash, and punk. Their songs had thrash riffs with hardcore rhythms and breakdowns, with an occasional solo thrown in. With horns raised in the air, the crowd gave these Texas natives a well-received welcome. This band was a great start to the night, bringing the energy in the room up quickly. 

Sylosis came out to a fury. Their vocalist ripped at the crowd from the start, asking for a circle pit as they kicked off. This band had moshers and crowd surfers amped up as waves of bodies started coming over the front barricade. Throughout the set, the energy never let up, as this band kept pushing the crowd. This energy came to a high when their newest single, “The Path,” was performed. High-paced hardcore mayhem throughout the set, this band had a vast amount of tricks in their bag, from solos to even groove to bring to the party.

At the midpoint of the show, Distant took the stage. This band is over-the-top heavy, riding low-tuned grooves into devastating breakdowns. The vocalist has a wide range, from high-pitched screams and growls to bottom-of-the-barrel gutturals. Distant announced their newest album, Tsukuyomi: The Origin, is a week away from coming out. Which kicked off the single “Torturous Symphony.” At this point, no one was standing still on the floor as moshers were on the move. Bodies colliding into each other until the band finally stopped, at this point the crowd was completely warmed up.

Deathcore veterans Bodysnatcher took the stage next to show Pittsburgh how to throw down. This band rides a low groove while keeping the energy high, accompanied by the unrelenting low growls of vocalist Kyle Medina. The band kicked off with “King of Rats” and went right into “Dead Rabbit.” The floor was swimming with bodies as the band raged on. Other standout songs were “Take Me to Hell” and “Black of My Eyes” before closing out on “Murder8.”

Headliners Fit For An Autopsy took the stage with a fury, kicking off with “Lower Purpose” into “A Higher Level of Hate” for a nasty one-two punch out of the gate. Seasoned veterans now in their careers, the band looked very polished and primed. FFAA just released their newest album, The Nothing That Is. The band played through several hits, “Black Mammoth”, “The Sea of Tragic Beasts”, and “Hellions”, before diving back into their latest album with “Hostage”. The crowd stayed up and moving through the set as Fit For an Autopsy is a Pittsburgh favorite, having visited the city several times during their tenure. 

The Nothing That Is tour showcases some of the heaviest bands touring right now. Fit For An Autopsy have updated their live show and look ready to take the world fresh off the new album. If you are looking to release some steam or to hear some new music, The Nothing That Is tour will not disappoint.

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MAC SABBATH 10 YR ANNIVERSARY TOUR PITTSBURGH SHOW REVIEW

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A drummer who looks like a cross between Peter Criss in Kiss and the Hamburglar—a guitarist with a huge cartoon-looking burger head featuring long, silver tusks—a bassist, quite literally, in a gigantic, slightly terrifying Grimace costume—and a singer sporting a yellow and red striped jumpsuit featuring long strips of fabric hanging from the arms, bright red hair, and a clown makeup look with an uncanny resemblance to Ozzy Osbourne. That’s the summary of what you’d see walking into Jergel’s on April 29 during Mac Sabbath’s show.

To explain Mac Sabbath, you need to know a little about this extraordinary band’s backstory. I spoke with Mike the Manager, the manager for this fast–food themed act, who took the band from performing in restaurant basements to stages at festivals around the world. He gave us a bit of insight into where the group came from and how their relationship came to be.

After a period owning an oddities shop, Mike was used to receiving strange phone calls requesting him to come see something that would change his life. When he got another one of these calls, which required him to meet at a local burger franchise (which shall remain anonymous), he would’ve never expected that statement would actually be true.

“It was like a fight club sort of secret situation where all these people from this organization were there and weren’t supposed to be there. They were all against the organization, even though they worked for it. Everybody was waiting for this red and yellow curtain, stuffed between packages of hamburger buns and boxes of condiments. Then, the curtain drops, and it’s these mutated mascots doing these Back Sabbath riffs and screaming about MSG and GMOs. It was like radical performance art.”

So, after years of playing small shows, the band went on to open for bands like Kiss and Motley Crue and even meet Ozzy the Prince of Darkness himself. If you’ve ever seen anything online about the band, you probably know their silly antics but their live show is really beyond what you would expect. Rather than just presenting a concert, Mac Sabbath aims to create an experience that leaves you pondering the intentions of the government.

“It’s something you really have to experience live because it’s more like a play. There’s a beginning, a middle, and an end. It’s an entire arc that you cannot appreciate by watching videos. There’s comedy, there’s magic, and then there’s also a social message. It’s very important for Ronald to keep it family-friendly to get the message to the kids because when a country is specifically poisoning its people on purpose, it starts with the children’s food. So everything Mac Sabbath does is tangible and appeals to the child in us all.”

And appeal to the child in us all they do. Like many others, I thought I knew what I was in for when arriving at the Mac Sabbath concert in Warrendale, PA. I figured I’d see a few McDondald’s inspired characters making up Black Sabbath parodies much like Weird Al. Well, boy was I wrong.

With two laser-eyes Ronald heads adoring each side of that red and yellow curtain Mike mentioned earlier, a crowd suddenly packs against the stage. What’s most interesting to me, I’ve never seen a crowd get so excited over a curtain drop. Immediately their vision clung to the stage as if they were children watching a cartoon show. And no wonder why, you’d be in a trance too if four fast-food macot-looking musicians took the stage with ketchup and mustard bottles, flamming frying pans, chicken nuggets, larger-than-life straws, and a wacky cast of guest characters.

If you want to throw yourself into this adventure with Ronald Osbourne, the Catburglar, Grimalice, Slayer MacCheeze, think of the show as an alternate universe. This is an alternate universe where Ozzy Osbourne has a passion for the toxins of fast food and joins a cast of mascots to bring the man down from the inside. There is no Black Sabbath, there is only Mac Sabbath. And honestly? After hearing songs like Sweet Beef (Sweet Leaf)  where ketchup and mustard (water) are squirted into the crowd’s mouth or More Ribs (War Pigs) where a bucket of beer turns into confetti, I’m pretty okay with that universe.

Needless to say, if you want to understand this review in totality, you need to go to a Mac Sabbath show yourself. Between the characters and the music that’s familiar yet completely new, there’s a lot of reasons to press full-send and buy that ticket. Even Ozzy’s seen Mac Sabbath, so why haven’t you?







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LA GUNS: LUCKY MF TOUR 2025 BALTIMORE SHOW REVIEW

Ron

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LA GUNS CAME BACK INTO BALTIMORE AREA TO ROCK AND ROLL

LA Guns with Red Reign rocked the house down in Annapolis at Ramshead on the Stage. Red Reign opened up and got the crowd ready for the night of some good rock n roll. If you haven’t had the chance to check out Red Reign you should.

LA GUNS. Came out and the packed Venue was ready to get our faces melted with some sick guitar solos from Tracii Guns. The setlist was perfect with a mix of old and new and all the songs that you know that LA Guns is gonna play. It’s so great as always to see Phil and Tracii together and adding into the mix Ace Von Johnson and Johnny Martin.

The band sounded amazing and kicked some serious ass tonight. Fans got a super awesome treat as well after the show when Tracii and the band were taking photos and signing autographs. It was a great night. If LA Guns are playing your area and you love LA Guns as much as I do, I say go see them live and watch such a great and fun show.

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LS DUNES 2025 COLUMBUS OHIO SHOW REVIEW

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To put it simply, I love a supergroup. There’s nothing like bringing together some of the best musicians to walk this Earth. And, in the case of L.S. Dunes, this supergroup exemplifies the standard every time they step onto the stage.

In the small venue of A&R Music Bar in Columbus, Ohio, a sold-out show leaves the room packed from wall to wall, front to back. Even as the second opener hits the middle of the set, there’s already no room to move. But that’s what happens whenever you put singer Anthony Green of Circa Survive, guitarist Frank Iero of My Chemical Romance, drummer Tucker Rule of Thursday, and bassist Tim Payne on the bill. These four, along with guitarist Travis Stever of Coheed and Cambria, who was absent from this show, create the punk-rock group L.S. Dunes.

This tour follows the release of their 2025 album, “Violet,” which blends familiar sounds from the depths of punk-rock with new, unique melodies and variations to create such a memorial album. The band chose to open with the same song that opens this album, “Like Magick.” It’s the perfect ambiance setter that starts with the pure, isolated vocals of Green before transitioning into heavy riffs that bring such a deeper meaning to the lyrics. From there, it’s all uphill as the band treks through songs new and old that range from energetic-screamo-rage to heartbreaking-yearning.

I’ve had the opportunity to see L.S. Dunes before, actually in a larger venue too, and the intimacy of A&R Music Bar was truly made for bands like these. The atmosphere that bleeds into the set is unmatchable as you see fans jump and scream together and the band uses the whole small stage to their advantage. Nearly two years from the first time I saw this group, they’ve only matured in the best way possible. The vocals and instruments both take new risks that succeed and the lyrical content is one that’s meant for these modern times.

Whenever the entire world feels like it’s crumbling, it’s bands like L.S. Dunes that keep bringing together people from all walks of life. Watching the crowd complete the bigger picture for L.S. Dunes leaves you feeling in your heart and soul even after leaving the show. This is one of those bands that’s going to stick around for a long time, far past their days of touring, for the pure memorableness of each and every performance.

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