Reviews Artist Spotlights Artist Spotlight - Great American Rampage Tour | Artist Spotlight - Great American Rampage Tour |
|
|
| Written by Art Michalski | |
| Friday, 07 December 2007 | |
 Already blasting its
way through Grand Rapids back in November, The Great American Rampage Tour featuring Nonpoint and
Skindred will have hit the Machine Shop in Flint and be on its way to
Detroit, for a December 8th show at Harpo’s. Lead by the resurgent
Florida band Nonpoint, the bill promises to be a night of rip-roaring
hard rock. After getting a strong start in 2000 with their
self-titled record and with singles “Victim” and “What
A Day,” the band hit a bump in the road with their 2002 album Development and became a casuality of major label
cutbacks. However, unlike most bands in that situation, Nonpoint
fought back. Their cover of Phil Collins’ “In The Air
Tonight” showed up in countless movies, notably the remake of
“Miami Vice” and won them some major airplay.
The band gained another major step back in the rock world with their 2005 album To The Pain which featured the hit single “Bullet With a Name,” in which lead singer Elias Soriano sounds beyond enraged and definitely got the point across. Now the band is back with their new album Vengance and hoping to continue the ride. The first single, “March of War,” is already steadily climbing the rock radio charts and hopes to duplicate the success of “Bullet.” Always an energetic live set, the Welsh born and raised Skindred co-headlines the show. With their wild blend of rock, hip-hop and reggae, Skindred definitely gets their fans moving for the entire set. Lead by singer Benji Webbe, Skindred delivered a strong debut showing, with their debut Babylon selling over 250,000 (not bad in today’s album sales-deficient environment). Skindred is now back with their second album, Roots Rock Riot and delivers a lot of the same fury the band built upon with Babylon The new album is lead by the fierce title track, and the more accessible and fun "Rat Race.” With tours with H.I.M. and a few Warped Tour appearances in the past, the tour with Nonpoint seems to be a natural fit for the Welsh band. Also along for the ride is Los Angeles based Ankla, which is lead by former Latin-metal purists Puya singer Ramon Ortiz. With the release of their 2006 Steep Trails album, Ankla didn’t waste any time hitting the road. The band braved the wild second stage crowds at OzzFest and did well with a bill filled with metal titans. The band has been touring constantly behind heavy-Latin influenced tracks as “Sinking” and “Your Grace Makes Me Sick,” which is a fixture at metal outlets as Sirius’ Hard Attack Channel. The weather may be turning on all of us, but get inside for one of the last strong shows of the year. One good blast of hard rock can save us all from the bitter cold can blast anyone out of their doldrums. I guarantee it. The Great American Rampage tour featuring Nonpoint, Skindred and Ankla will be at Harpo’s on Saturday, December 8th. Tickets are $15 and are available at www.ticketmaster.com. Additional dates can be found at www.bielerbros.com or www.myspace.com/nonpoint. . |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
