“For some, like Kiss, it is pure spectacle. Alice Cooper varies between psychodrama and pure theater. Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson said he feels their performance is close to pantomime. Talking Heads did surreal theater. Lady Gaga does surreal shock. The Rolling Stones opted for large circus-like productions.” Arthur Brown For…

A few weeks back we brought you a list of our favorite heavy metal charities. Here’s one that we saved for this week, since Phoenix metal lovers can interact with this one as part of the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival this Friday, July 11, at Ak-Chin Pavilion. That’s because…

The United States can’t tell Cannibal Corpse what to do. (I mean, if you ever came across anything with that name, would you want to mess with it anyways?). Other countries can – in fact, Germany has tried to regulate the hell out of them over the years, and an…

It’s 111 degrees outside, and the Valley of the Sun is deserted. Summer is upon us — which also means that the music industry-touring slowdown is, as well. While the rest of the country delights in sunny breezy festival days, our prime time for outdoor shows is during winter. But…

Last year when heavy metal musician and horror icon Rob Zombie’s Great American Nightmare debuted in LA, I was pretty close to heading out there over Halloween to check out what The New York Times called “the best example yet of the upsizing of haunted houses in the last decade.”…

The heavy metal music community is one that’s pretty close. Last weekend, a well-respected veteran of the scene was killed. According to Phoenix police, on June 7 around 1:30 a.m., Chris Kutcher was driving east on Cactus Road when an intoxicated woman accelerated behind him, striking his SUV and sending…

Now more than ever, there is lot of metal — from comedy to thrash to black to grindcore — getting slung in and around Metro Phoenix, thanks to concerts and gigs by locals and touring acts alike. As such, Up on the Sun’s resident metal scribe, Lauren Wise, is on…

When it comes to list compilations of the “hottest” musicians in rock, there’s no shortage by any means. In the heavy metal genre alone, you can Google endless lists detailing the sexiest guitarists, frontmen, drummers, bassists, keyboardists — you name it. But the majority of these lists are based completely…

“We play more shows a year than any band out there right now, unless you have a residency in Vegas.” –Dez Fafara, vocalist of DevilDriver. Upon reading that, there are probably a dozen bands most people would list off the top of their heads — and probably none would be…

When there were all those rumors about AC/DC retiring/breaking up a few weeks ago, a lot of people were panicking. Everyone from industry pros to famous musicians wondered if AC/DC was actually going to continue on without guitarist/founder Malcolm Young, or if they should just hang up their hats after…

Ahh, the Revolver Golden Gods Awards. A time when the metalheads freaks and rock ‘n’ roll geeks gather in one small venue to pay tribute to all the artists in the industry who don’t really get credit for their masterful guitar riffs, rumbling bass licks, incessant double kick drum, and…

See also: Top 10 Metro Phoenix Metal Vocalists. Now more than ever, there is lot of metal — from comedy to thrash to black to grindcore — getting slung in and around Metro Phoenix, thanks to concerts and gigs by locals and touring acts alike. That’s why we have compiled…

There’s something fascinating about Motörhead’s longevity. Nearly 40 years ago, the English band fused together heavy metal and punk — fueled by healthy doses of whiskey — to become one of the early pioneers of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal…

Anything involving Alice Cooper is bound to push the boundaries of what’s normal in the world of pop culture and music. Forty-five years after he began shocking the world for the first time, Cooper, along with a team of filmmakers, Cooper is back, this time in film form. Unveiled as…

When it comes to categorizing what makes a great heavy metal vocalist, there are a lot of factors that come into play. First off, there’s the matter of subgenres. Mainstream, Swedish, death, black, melodic — as much as I hate to pay attention to this bottomless list, it’s a fact…

Devour the Day might sound like a morbid name for a band; but that’s because the members were going through some pretty dark times. The group was born out of another band’s demise, and the uncertainty that followed. When American rock band Egypt Central disintegrated in 2012, bassist Joey Walser…

The five musicians of L.A.-based band Gemini Syndrome create such an electric reaction among themselves, it might be construed as too many primal forces colliding. However, it just happens to work out beautifully in their music. As their live set kicks off, the first thing you notice is guitarist Rich…

Now more than ever, there are a lot of metal — from comedy to thrash to black to grindcore — getting slung in and around Metro Phoenix thanks to concerts and gigs by locals and touring acts alike. As such, Up on the Sun’s resident metal scribe, Lauren Wise, is…