HIM / Motionless in White @ Fillmore, Silver Spring 12/12/2014

I went to see HIM (a pricey $38) with my buddy Tony at the Fillmore, Silver Spring. I saw Robin and Marie there, but not many other familiar faces. My buddy had seen HIM before, many years ago, but I never managed to see them until tonight. I think that this Finnish goth rock/metal band has consistently put out solid albums, albeit a bit more on the emo/mopey/mushy side of lyrics, and I thought they'd be great live. And at the Fillmore, you know it was going to sound pretty fabulous! Initially it was just HIM on this tour when it was announced, and at some point they added Wounds and Motionless in White, neither of which I was excited for.

Crowbar / Unearth/ Black Crown Initiate / Yesterday's Saints @ Empire 12/7/2014

I went to see Black Crown Initiate on their tour w/ Crowbar and Unearth ($18.50). I was on the fence about this show because I like BCI but was kind of meh on the others. I ended up going, as you can tell. There were a decent number of people there- I saw Chris Crazy-Wolf, Kris, Bridget, Dale, Matt R, J. Oliver, Ashleigh~, Dorothy, and Kyler there.

Iris Divine / MindMaze/ Division / Vitality @ Cafe 611 12/6/2014

I went to see Iris Divine with other bands up in Frederick at Cafe 611 ($10). I was pretty excited because both MindMaze and Iris Divine have new albums that were recently released. This was going to be an uptick to a pretty dark and dreary rainy night. I did see a few people I knew there- Tom, Bobbie and Nick, The Teets, and Chris J.

Death to All / Obituary / Massacre @ Empire 12/3/2014

I went to see Death to All (aka Near Death) w/ Obituary (and others) ($25) at Empire. I saw a lot of people at what seemed to be a huge Death Metal show- Miss Lindsey, Ariel y Ilem, James, Yave y Sara, Sean, Jason, Rene, Nathan w/ a J, Alie, Kris, Daniel G and Nick, Matt R, Kyler, Dorothy, Omar, Ruby, Catherine, and Metal Chris of course. This is kind of an odd tour because Death really isn't a band anymore, and the members of Death to All are playing all old Death songs, kind of like a tribute or cover band. Now I'm not complaining because this is the closest many of us will get to hear Death songs live. This was a packed show, I was surprised given the low turnout last time at the Fillmore. Looking at it  now, it seemed that 300 at the Fillmore is pretty full for Empire. So this venue was a better fit for this package.

Whoa is this Empire?