The six best metal shows in Denver this month

Aaron Thackeray

Testament at the Summit Music Hall is one of the six best metal shows in February.

So you like your music hard and heavy, do ya? Good news: You're in for some serious brutality this month. There's a ton of shows happening in February, all of which are listed in our concert calendar, but here, we've singled out the six best metal shows in Denver (well, one in Colorado Springs). Whatever your proclivity, you got everything from old school thrash to doom to just sheer heaviness to look forward to, shows from Testament at the Summit Music Hall to Pallbearer at the Marquis to Neurosis at the Summit and a few others. Keep reading which six shows made the cut.

See also:
- Chuck Billy of Testament on Reign in Blood and Gene Hoglan
- Review/Q&A: Scott Kelly of Neurosis at the Hi-Dive, 12/3/11
- Photos: Anthrax and Testament's Earth On Hell Tour at Summit, 10/19/11

6. SHADOWS FALL @ BLACK SHEEP | TUES, 2/5/13
Formed in Springfield, Massachusetts, in the mid-'90s, Shadows Fall began as a melodic death-metal band with some roots in hardcore. But around the turn of the century, the outfit took decisive steps to escape a genre rut, and the result was 2002's The Art of Balance, which served as a bracing statement of the group's then-new phase of development. While not ditching melodic leads, the core songwriting explored a deeper immersion in thrash. In 2009, Shadows Fall established its own label, Everblack Industries, in time for the release of Retribution. Fire From the Sky, its latest effort, explores eschatological themes that are very much in vogue with the end of the Mayan calendar. But the songs are more about cutting out the dead weight in your life than about a literal end of days.

5. DORO @ MOE'S ORIGINAL BBQ | SUN, 2/17/13
Doro Pesch was the charismatic frontwoman of the popular German heavy metal band Warlock in the 80s. She was the first woman to front a band at the 1986 Monsters of Rock festival. Her stirring, sometimes animalistic wail had a power and confidence rare in anyone at that time. Warlock split in 1989, two years after its final, and perhaps best, album, Triumph and Agony. Since then, Pesch has embarked on a successful career making music with a band called, naturally, Doro, beginning with her 1989 album, Force Majeure. Last year, Pesch and company put out their latest album, Raise Your Fist. With the recent return of classic metal as a touchstone for modern bands, Doro Pesch is starting to get her proper due as one of the singular voices of heavy metal.