Thursday, April 30, 2009

Every Shirt XXXII: 1349

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: 1349
size: XL (US)
vintage: 2007
provenance: band

Another Mark's acquisition, this dates back to one of the best shows I had to see in that venue, at the end of March 2007. On this occasion, the locals were almost perfectly matched to the touring bands, and the bill turned out pretty much black metal top to bottom, making it worth the fact that it was an eight-band bill in a strip club's sports bar in New Hampshire.

Interestingly, the string '1349' is completely absent from this shirt. The front has the upturned cross from the Liberation cover, and the back has the tourdates, but the band name appears nowhere. This is kind of a big oversight in most cases, but in black metal you can at least convincingly pretend that being this super-kvlt and withholding that information was intentional.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Every Shirt XXXI: Finntroll

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: Finntroll
size: XL (US)
vintage: 2007
provenance: band

I picked this up from the band on their Ur Jordens Djup tour, which ended up being one of the last shows I saw at Mark's (not that anyone really misses said venue....). Because I missed them on their subsequent tour -- which went through the Middle East last fall -- I still have not seen Finntroll in a set of conditions that most normal people would consider fulfilled by default for a metal band: both a) at a range of closer than half a mile and b) not throwing people out for moshing. That's one to be worked on.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Every Shirt XXX: W:O:A 2008

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: Wacken 2008
size: XL (EU)
vintage: 2008
provenance: festival

This one, pretty obviously, was picked up at the '08 Wacken Open Air, and may have been the dead-last available of this design, at least when I picked it up. As detailed in the rundown of the festival, it was down to me and a fat(ter) guy for the last two in this style, and I let him take the larger one, leaving me with this, which marginally fits, and even if/when I get my act together and lose the fatbelt around the waist, it's still going to be tight across the chest.

I normally opt for Black Stage gear, but this year, like about 69,999 other festivalgoers, I had to have something with the date and the Iron Maiden logo on it, because this was kind of epochal. And by the time I got around to hitting the merch stand, mostly everything else was sold out. Good enough; this shirt is just fine.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Every Shirt XXIX: Gwynbleidd

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: Gwynbleidd
size: XL (US)
vintage: 2008
provenance: band

After several cases of not seeing this band, I eventually caught up with them at a Metal Thursday in April of last year, and got this shirt off them. The shirt itself is decent, with high production values in the small printed area, but the music is the real kicker; prominent influences from both Opeth and Primordial, blended into an organic and independent whole. They haven't played up this way much since, if I can recall, but those around NYC may have more of a chance to see them.

Speaking of shows, the Metalfest stuff will be done when it gets done. I'm working on it, but we're shorthanded at work and I'm still trying to move into my new apartment before the current lease runs out.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Every Shirt XXVIII: Onkel Tom

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: Onkel Tom D.F.B.
size: 2XL (EU)
vintage: 2006
provenance: catalog

This shirt was ordered with a bunch of other stuff from Nuclear Blast in early 2006; I think this one was on special. The main reason for the order was a bunch of patches, but this shirt, along with a couple others stood out as otherwise unobtainable. It's a tad small, in the range of the Dissection shirt mentioned earlier, and this may be a reason why it was in the remaindered goods pile.

The jokes on this shirt are completely impenetrable to the non-German-speaker, but you really can't blame Tom for this. Tom Angelripper from Sodom has a project called Onkel Tom (Uncle Tom) where he plays metalled-up versions of traditional German drinking songs, and since these are all in German, it's kind of expected that anyone who would want this shirt would also get the D.F.B. = Deutsches Fassbier (normally Deutscher Fussball-Bund) on the front and the 3 promille (3 parts per thousand, the legal threshold for drunkenness in Germany) regarding the number on the back. Otherwise, it's just a run-of-the-mill imitation fitba shirt.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Every Shirt XXVII: Metallica - Unforgiven

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: Metallica (Unforgiven/Harvester)
size: XL (US)
vintage: 1996
provenance: retail

This was the first shirt I acquired, in the spring of 1996, as I started to combine "being into metal" and "able and willing to walk ridiculous distances". Because I didn't want to rely on anyone else to lug me around, and I wasn't able to drive yet, I walked about six and a half miles out to Newbury Comics to pick up a Metallica or Type O shirt; this is the kind of thing that you do when you're in the suburbs and, as a metalhead, don't want to take the easy way to do anything.

For a long time, this was also my only shirt; if you have to walk thirteen miles round-trip to buy metal shirts, you may not want to do it so often. As such, and due to the thirteen years of age on this one, it's pretty battered, as can kind of be seen with the overexposure and that it's lighter than the background.

Every Shirt XXVI: Terminally Your Aborted Ghost

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: Terminally Your Aborted Ghost
size: XL (US)
vintage: 2008
provenance: band

This is one of the last TYAG shirts ever produced, a relic of their final tour of the US in 2008. I picked this up from the band at their kickoff show at Welfare Records, a venue that is now technically defunct, but has been reborn as Anchors Up!. One might say the same about the band; it's Devon's band, and he's permanently out and out of New England, so they won't be back under this name, but Mark, Elliot, and Mike keep teasing Composted fans about most of a record's worth of more serious material written for TYAG, and occasionally playing some of it. Time will tell.

On the back of this one is the logo again, but overstamped with the '08 spring tour banner and logos for their two labels at the time, Siege of Amida and Ferret. This was made before the band picked up the sobriquet "Terminally Your Not Enough Myspace Friends For Ferret Music". When last heard from, the label was reaping exactly the rewards one would associate with dropping bands for not spamming people, but the band members were still somewhat pissed at them for welching on their deal, which was supposed to include support for the tour this shirt is from, and also a budget to record that last TYAG disc.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Every Shirt XXV: Revocation - demon

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: Revocation - muscle demon
size: XL (US)
vintage: 2008
provenance: band

This shirt, picked up in January of last year, comes from when Revocation were touring somewhat intensely leading up to the release of Empire of the Obscene. They haven't been playing out as much since that one came out; partly band member commitments, partly that Anthony (bass) got hit by a car in the middle of the year and still has some tendonitis issues from time to time, which is a problem when you're playing in a technical thrash-death band.

I also have another Revocation shirt, which I don't wear on other continents (this one went to Wacken '08) as it's now out of circulation in favor of designs like this with production value on them. That'll be treated in its own good time.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Every Shirt XXIV: Psycroptic

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: Psycroptic
size: 2XL
vintage: 2009
provenance: festival

The last of the shirts picked up at NEMHF 2009, this one features a really cool cthulhoid rendered in pen and ink in addition to the band's logo. The design and composition are similar to the Hypocrisy shirt profiled earlier, but I'm not going to attribute both to the same artist without some, y'know, proof.

I did see Psycroptic at this fest, but by very fortunate chance, since the schedule had gotten fucked up even that early (3rd main stage band on Friday becoming second), and they went on one slot earlier than anticipated. This did mean that I got to see them from right up at the front, the only band that I did so for, at least on the main stage, over the course of the fest.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Every Shirt XXIII: Decrepit Birth

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: Decrepit Birth - The Living Doorway
size: 2XL (US)
vintage: 2009
provenance: festival

Because I actually ended up missing these guys at NEMHF '09 (despite getting the shirt), I was initially concerned that I'd missed a release or something. Nope, I just hadn't listened to Diminishing Between Worlds in forever and had forgotten the name of the first fucking song on the record. This is the inspiration for this rather cool art piece, and a strong argument that I need to listen to more Decrepit Birth more regularly.

And yes, as noted, and as will be further detailed when I get around to transcribing those notes (probably come the weekend), I missed Decrepit Birth in favor of Toxic Holocaust. The short version is that DB tours and Toxic doesn't, generally, and the worst part is that it was only because the running order got fucked up, and by that point it was sufficiently un-fucked-up that I probably could have seen both, but did not in the rather unnecessary chaos. Someone buy Scott Lee a pair of greaseboards, and promise to store them in your living room or basement 51 weekends a year so he doesn't have to do a damned thing except get some runner to write on them when the order changes.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Every Shirt XXII: NEMHF

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: NEMHF 2009 - Pat Patriot
size: 2XL (US)
vintage: 2009
provenance: festival

LOL FOOTBALL RIFFS LOLOLOLOLOL. Apparently, all the grousing about footballisms (to cut to the heart of the criticism, "often simple, always brutal death metal and hardcore that jocks also like") being everywhere at this fest from the underground have percolated up to the organizers, who decided to twist our tails and make some money by putting out this cool shirt. The weird fold in the middle there is to show that Pat is doing the horns rather than holding a football like normal; otherwise, it would be really hard to determine from the normal fold pattern that this isn't just a non-germane Patriots shirt. The subtlety is what makes the shirt clever, and the union of the concepts of "subtlety", "cleverness", and "deathcore with football riffs" is what makes the shirt waeome.

Note: I actually like a couple of the bands linked above, but if you somehow think that there's anything subtle at all about any of them, you've been indulging a little too much today. The point of this sort of music is anti-subtlety.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Every Shirt XXI: Metal Church

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: Metal Church '06/'07 tour
size: XL (US)
vintage: 2007
provenance: band

Though the cover on this one is from their classic self-titled record, the tour dates on the back are from the Dark In The Light tour that came to Mark's that January, which is where I picked up this shirt. Of the three times I've seen Metal Church, this one is probably the favorite; though the sound wasn't as good as at Wacken, I was up closer than either set there, and they did "Fake Healer", which for whatever reason I never saw them do in Europe.

This one is a little interesting in light of Running Wild's announced intention to retire; when Metal Church decided to hang it up, I was saddened, but didn't really have any regrets, since I'd seen them do some particular Blessing In Disguise material at this gig. Similarly, I'm seeing Running Wild on their last show, but things can always go wrong; either I might be unable to get up to the front, or Rolf's idea of a Night to Remember set might be radically different from mine, and then there'll never be another Running Wild gig to have another chance.

I'm most concerned about "Little Big Horn"; I'm pretty sure that they won't be able to get away with skipping "Raise Your Fist", and it's hard to see how they wouldn't do "Treasure Island" and "The Ballad of William Kidd". We'll see, though; this is a designated 2-hour minimum, and every Running Wild song I see is one more than I've ever seen from the band to date.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

good news/bad news

Good news: Running Wild is playing Wacken this year on Thursday night.

Bad news: Running Wild is playing their last show ever at Wacken this year on Thursday night.

Good news: I bought my W:O:A ticket immediately when they went on sale, the bill essentially sight unseen, and thus I'm assured of seeing Running Wild before they strike the tents, which is not something many US metalheads can say. I'd like Running Wild to do a full tour and come back to the US as a farewell, but they've been bad at finishing tours for a while; I should have seen them in Dresden the day after I saw In Extremo, at the same venue, but they bagged the end of that tour and haven't really scheduled a sustained run of dates since.

Cap'n Rolf may be striking the black flag, but there are other corsairs out there; whether Swashbuckle, Scurvy, or Alestorm eventually takes over their spot, the cause of heavy metal piracy will go on -- and Swashbuckle's coming by in two weeks with Paganfest.

Ravage with Armory, Amadis, and Zero Point [Ralph's, Worcester, 4/16/2009]

Due to Metalfest and the way that this show played into that, I went on down to this gig directly from work, and got over, after unpacking all my crap at the hotel and getting some eats, shortly after Zero Point started.

Zero Point [4/7]
I saw about two-thirds of their set, which was strongly populated with covers and somewhat negatively affected by technical issues. They had some decent originals, which, from Maiden, Priest, and Dio Sabbath, provide a fair look-in at their original sound, but the band as a whole needs more finishing to take the next step up. They looked to be in general fairly young, so this is somewhat to be expected; they next time they come back here, they'll probably have taken that step.

Following this band, I got my first drink (Jack and coke, not beer, on the probably fallacious premise that it'd tear up my throat less) and also picked up Ravage's CD offerings; despite following the band since well before finding a review of it in Metal Hammer, I had somehow missed picking up Spectral Rider to date. No idea how that happened, but it's fixed now.

Amadis [5/7]
Not on the same guy, but this band featured Museum Replicas-style lapped leather armor as well as a top hat. Power metal, how we love ye. More relevantly, this band displayed the abilities as well as the trappings of American power metal, pounding out a high-quality set in the vein of Metal Blade's early lineup -- which also reminded me of Ravage a couple years ago. This bodes well for them, especially if they can continue to minimize the parts that were weak points in this set -- mainly prog elements that weren't as tightly integrated into the overall sound as they might have been -- and further develop the epic highs. They didn't have a CD out, as far as I could find, but eventually they'll be back, and hopefully have some recordings with them.

Armory [6/7]
Armory I did get a CD from (more on that later), and they certainly took the performance up a notch or two. Their more clearly Maiden-derived power metal sound was a bit of a change-up in this lineup, and definitely well-received; this is where the floor started moving, to a little consternation from people who may not have expected Metal-Thursday-style moshing at a power metal show. Though the band played through at a high level, they had a total PA dropout for about the last half of their last song, but adjusted to the extent that they could, and things barely slowed down in the audience as people got used to the muted, somewhat shifted sound. Good all around on the band's part; definitely looking forward to seeing them again.

For a long time one of Metal Thursday's big selling points, in addition to the killer atmosphere, was that they had consistently the best DIY-show sound in the area. This has been in doubt since O'Brien's finished their renovation, but it was a neck-and-neck thing; lately, it bears more mention when there's a MT where at least one band doesn't have major issues with the PA. The sound man is still good, but he needs to go through his setup with a multimeter and replace or rebuild what isn't working. The community will keep this show series rolling along, but the more transient crowd for other live band nights may not be as forgiving if the PA gives up on the music.

(Metal Blade Recording Artists) Ravage [6/7]
The first gig for these guys since linking up with Slagel's outfit, this was a worthy outing of the first major-label artist to appear on a Metal Thursday bill, and also a class headlining set. It wasn't the best set that I've seen out here, or the best show I've seen from Ravage, but Armory set the bar mighty high, and Ravage easily met if not topped their standard. They didn't do "Wyvern", despite some jerk yelling for it a lot, but they did do a lot of old-school stuff, which held up well in relation to the new material. The floor got proper turbulent for them; there was no crowdsurfing or people getting flipped, but a few people got helicoptered, and the floor ended up covered in beer as usual. Due to massive demand, they also managed to squeeze out an encore of a couple songs; Metal Blade may be thinking more of selling them to Europe and continuing to push deathcore here, but when their debut comes out later this year, they're going to move more than a few of them here in the Northeast.

Before heading back to try to get more not sick before Metalfest, I picked up a CD from Armory, then congratulated Pete (keys) on a great set; I guess I intimated that I hadn't seen them before, but already had a CD, which caused a little confusion as I'd picked up the disc about 45 seconds before he got over to the merch table. Either that, or one or both of us had our brains and/or ears turned off due to drinking, noise, and/or fluid imbalance. I'd bet on at least me being in that state, much more than anyone in the band.


Time for lunch, a last merch run, and Book of Black Earth; it's looking more like it'll take a while to get the Metalfest comments digested and processed. Some of that will go on before reentry closes tonight, but the writeups are probably going to go in no earlier than next week.

Every Shirt XX: Candy Striper Death Orgy

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: CSDO - got thrash?
size: XL (US)
vintage: 2007
provenance: band

I picked this shirt up from the band, if I recall correctly, at some Mark's show in the middle of 2007. CSDO and Mark's Showplace go together like fries and mayo; internally, basically solid, but rejected out of hand due to external weirdness, whether the venue's commitment to ripping off local bands or Eric's rather decided idiosyncracies (for example, he's still, probably, the only guy in the world to advocate for Mitt Romney while wearing shorts with flames on them). Regardless, CSDO, taken at face value, is a decent thrash metal band, and this is a solid, worthy shirt. The band's logo is on the back, so if you have a kutte or vest like I do, you can get the witty slogan without necessarily associating yourself with candy canes crossed under a gasmask...unless, of course, you out yourself in this regard on the internet.


Metalfest is under way, but I have little interest in many of today's bands, so one or both of the still pending commentaries will likely be out today.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Every Shirt XIX: Necrophagist - Demon

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: Necrophagist - demon
size: XL (US)
vintage: 2007
provenance: band

This is one of my less favorite shirts, due to a certain lack of coherence in the design, which looks less like cool chaos and more like a muddy mess than my other Necrophagist shirts. I'm pretty sure that I got this one at the 2007 Summer Slaughter due to 1) a lack of better options and b) the fact that Mohammed Suicmez and Marco Minneman are freaking awesome. Seriously, if you sit through a solo like the one that Minneman put up at that gig and don't support whatever band he's playing with, you've got to be deaf, blind, and probably retarded.

I've got work this morning and Metalfest the rest of the day; nearly all the good bands are playing today, so the review of last night's Ravage gig will be along in a bit, and the next of these may be a little late tomorrow.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Every Shirt XVIII: Hekseri

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: Hekseri
size: XL (US)
vintage: 2007
provenance: band

This one came from Destruction's next-to-last gig in New England, which Hekseri opened; downstairs at the Middle East during that Metal Winter Break extent of February '07. Because of when and how the club decided to do doors, I only saw about half of Hekseri's set, but I'd seen the band several times in the few months proceeding, and they'd sold out of their demo a while before. (Larissa ended up compiling their complete demos for me, but that was later, and she didn't charge any consideration.)

While checking up on an unrelated issue, I found that this band is still technically still active, but that's a big "technically" there; Seth is out, and in Summoning Hate after a (allegedly tumultuous) stint in Herugrim, Megan moved to Germany, and Jason doesn't seem to go to shows, so I've got no idea what he's up to.

Every Shirt XVII: Kreator - Live Kreation

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: Kreator - Live Kreation
size: XL (US)
vintage: 2009
provenance: band

Like the last two shirts, this one came from the past weekend. This was a second choice, as mentioned, because they were out of At The Pulse of Kapitulation. I was also lucky in this regard, as they were on the verge of selling out of this shirt, and they happened to be down to XL rather than smaller sizes. The design here is hella cool, too, which the photo doesn't really do justice to.

It gets odd in that Live Kreation is about the only Kreator record that I don't own in some format. Most are CD, with a few on tape, and some demos/bootlegs/rares (including Pulse) on digital, but I'm pretty sure I still don't have the CD for this shirt. On the list!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Every Shirt XVI: Exodus

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: Exodus 2009 tour
size: XL (US)
vintage: 2009
provenance: band

Also picked up at the gig Friday, this shirt illustrates something I alluded to in that review, as to how Exodus is super-underground. If you compare the tour dates on the back of this one to the ones on the back of Kreator's, you'll see that the start and end points aren't the same, in space or in time, and that Exodus' dates are a superset of Kreator's.

There's a pretty easy explanation of this just from reading the itineraries. Kreator's tour starts at the Sonar in Baltimore and ends at the Jaxx in Springfield, VA, after doing a counterclockwise loop through the generally-habited areas of English-speaking North America. The band probably got cheap flights in and out of Dulles and booked the tour accordingly. Exodus, though, comes from the other coast, and though they will probably make enough from the Kreator portion of their tour to justify just coming straight across by road, or by JetBlue and mating up with a U-Haul full of guitars, they decided to do nine dates driving cross-country before meeting up with Kreator, and taking seven dates to drive home at the end, hitting smaller markets and places that Kreator just wasn't stopping for some reason. Yes, it's also an economic winner. But playing en-route dates is what working underground bands do: a few dates define the tour route, and then as close to every night in between them and home is filled out with other shows, because gas is not cheap, and many fans are.

This is the only Exodus shirt from this show; they also had a FedExodus design that was hella funny, but I had, as mentioned, no money at the end of the night to buy one with. Maybe another time; maybe in the fall, or maybe next year, but something tells me those shirts are going to sell out right quick.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Every Shirt XV: Kreator 2009 tour

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: Kreator Hordes of Chaos tour demon
size: XL (US)
vintage: 2009
provenance: band

This is a prime reason why this project is going to take longer than initially anticipated. As I remain a metalhead and continue going to shows, I will continue to acquire shirts, especially tour shirts, which will go right on the pile and become part of the pool. This isn't "every shirt as of when I started, and the rest can get stuffed", it's "every shirt", and every shirt will be given consideration.

I got this one this past weekend at the gig in the last post, half because it was a cool design and half because the other tour shirt wasn't. The spiky postmodern-sculpture head doesn't look that great on the actual Hordes of Chaos album, and it looks even less good huge as the centerpiece of a shirt. This here is not only proof that Kreator can do wrong occasionally, but that I can correctly recognize and draw attention to it. This said, I still think their '90s records don't suck as much as advertised.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Kreator with Exodus, Belphegor, Warbringer, and Epicurean [Worcester Palladium, 4/10/2009]

Others have commented on how far six and a half years takes you: from not selling out a converted Pizza Hut in Haverhill to getting your gig moved into, and nearly filling, the biggest indoor room for extreme music in New England. Between that day and this one, we've had the internet go to ubiquity, the thrash revival start and come to flower, and probably more importantly, six seriously worthy records from the bands at the top of the bill. Not everyone who bought their first Kreator gear here and immediately pulled it on will go on, half a decade hence, to be among us old crusty misanthropes dividing the world between Sounds Like Kreator and Garbage, but some will, and if these gigs continue to bring in both the young and those who'll become the old at a consistent rate, metal is going to be ok.

With an intro like this, you get the impression that this was a pretty damned epic concert, and yes, you would be right on that one.

As is usual for Palladium shows, I left directly from work, strapping my brace on before I left the building. Traffic on the Pike was garbage, with rain starting soon after I cleared 495, and getting heavier as I moved further inland. Coming in about half an hour after doors, I was moderately surprised to see Epicurean already well into their set, but this would have positive rather than negative consequences for the rest of the evening.

Epicurean [4/7]
I took a few moments after coming in to listen to these guys; if they were real good, I would go forward and listen to them now, then do merch later. I got a beer, then somewhat leisurely browsed the merch tables, but did get down for about the last half of their set, which seemed to run on longer (probably going into what would under normal circumstances have been Warbringer's time) than the band's performance might warrant. They were pretty good, sort of a NWOSDM/prog hybrid that you might get by crossing Into Eternity and Shadows Fall, but the music never left that "pretty good" level, and for whatever reason they had a fair amount of synths on playback. I hadn't seen them before, but apparently the last time they were around, they had a live keyboardist. Epicurean were pretty decent as openers go, but on their own I'd be wary of seeing them anywhere bigger than O'Brien's.

In contrast to some other big shows downstairs lately, merch prices were eminently reasonable, with nearly all shirts at $20. I wouldn't read too much into this in regards bands bowing to recessionary pressures or acknowledging the younger audience; Exodus, as their tour dates on this run show, are about as super-underground as a big band can get, and Mille is kind of an anarcho-socialist, to whom normal economic math may not make moral sense.

Warbringer [5/7]
I'll have to withhold judgement until later as to whether I've seen Warbringer yet. This was a good performance running down basically exactly the same kind of Exodus-leaning Bay Area thrash as found on War Without End, but it was also a short one, necessitated by the fact that their normal drummer had broken a bone in his arm a few days prior, and they had only a few days to start rehearsing with and teaching songs to the drummer from Epicurean, who was sitting in. This made for about a four-song set, but it was a good four songs, and they did manage to get a new one in. As regards the new record, from this limited sample, it sounds like anyone who liked the first record will dig the second, as there does not appear to be a lot of material change.

The original plan was to dodge the hordes by going down front only after Warbringer due to expected audience flux between them and Belphegor. As it turned out, the floor did not start filling in until that point, so I was able to freely come and go from the rail up until when Belphegor started.

Belphegor [6/7]
I'll have to check, but I'm not sure that I've seen Belphegor before either; I missed them several times on several previous tours, and as a result seem to have missed out on the period where Anthony (ex-Zircon) was playing second guitar live for them. (I did see him in the audience for their set, though...and if they've got any sense of decency, he was on the list.) This was a shortish but high-quality set of death-black metal that should probably be reckoned a "low 6"; I'd feel more confident about marking them at this level if they had gone on a little longer, but I, and I expect nearly everyone in the hall, would be willing to take slightly less good Belphegor in exchange for more truly excellent Exodus and Kreator.

I picked up Belphegor's new record, Bondage Goat Zombie (talk about your RttP title generator...) from the band along with a patch that I now have to put somewhere, and on later inspection, found a writing credit for someone called "Pagan Megan". If this is the person that the Northeast thinks it is, there is a dramabomb planted somewhere and waiting to go off. If you know why this intersection might lead to ridiculous internet drama, get your popcorn and image macros ready; if not, just go on with your life, it's probably better to ignore this. Support Music, Not Rumors.

Exodus [7/7]
As mentioned above, I made sure to equip my leg brace before going down for this one. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough -- not because I got hurt or anything, but because "Piranha" is still too fucking good to have to stay in one place because you can't afford major joint damage because Kreator is next and you have to bend yourself up to get in your damn car after that. Exodus kicked extreme ass, putting up a better show than the last time I saw them in this building -- which was at Metalfest, so any set longer than 30 minutes would automatically become better -- and probably better than when I heard them at Wacken this summer -- and while the pit was, as expected, fucking bananas all the way around, nobody was beating me about the head and shoulders with a shoe at any point during the performance. The single notable break in the thrash avalanche came when Rob went backstage and brought out a cake for Tom Hunting's birthday (yes, he's back in, so Exodus is no longer at zero original members), and Gary jammed through "Happy Birthday" for the audience to bellow along with. Other than that, yeah, continuous circle pits and a wall of death on "Strike of the Beast" that was hell of fun catching. If this had been the headline set, I don't think that anyone would have minded, except for the part where it was only about an hour long. Still fucking killer.

While standing around between them and Kreator, still burning out excess energy, I encountered Eric from CSDO, flyering for his band (and if you're going to advertise CSDO, you could hardly find a more receptive audience than the people standing around after Exodus because they want to see Kreator at as close range as possible), and Alex from Razormaze, who thanked me for writing them up favorably in an old number of this record. We'll see if I manage to make it down to any of the matinee-and-night Robinapalooza they're playing at O'Brien's today; if you've got working feet and fewer family commitments, though, get the hell over.

Kreator [7/7]
As alluded above, my first time seeing Kreator indoors, and for me even as much as for those who don't even know that Club 125 ever existed, a hell of a way to start. We got the standout material (ok, modulo "Demon Prince") from the new record woven cleanly into highlights from the band's last 25 or so years, and fitting perfectly in beside them. While Hordes of Chaos isn't as good as Enemy of God, it's still a good D-thrash record, and it shows this most clearly by transferring exactly into the live setting. This wasn't a quirky a set as I saw at Wacken, or clinically perfect either ("Voices of the Dead" was done better both times I've seen the band before, but the dudes around me were just pumped that the band played it, so all was good), but it was a Kreator set, complete with high execution, lighting effects to knock your skull in, and ferocious floor movement that benefited from having more space than Exodus did, even if exhaustion was starting to cut into the crowd's vigor. I've got a bad sample space of Kreator shows for comparison; this is tied for second out of three for me, but for normal people, this is likely to be the best set they've seen from the band and may well stay that way for a while.

After it became apparent that they weren't going to do another encore, I went up and dropped my last dollar on the merch stand; they were out of the At the Pulse of Kapitulation shirts, which have a hellishly awesome design, but I was able to score a Live Kreation number before they ran out of those. I also bumped into Dave (ex-Summoning Hate), and asked him about his separation from said band; he quit, which is better than getting kicked, but I didn't go into particulars, as band business should stay band-internal rather than having some yob come and pry about it.

Homeward bound, things were simple: having barely the money left to do tolls, I didn't stop, and as a result got home a little after 2, gunned a glass of water to make up for the fluid volume I'd lost by thrashing and not drinking, and sacked out to start the recuperation process. I'm in functioning form now, but probably won't be hitting any gigs until Thursday, warming up for the NEMBVF (New England Metal Blade and Victory Festival, lolz) with Metal Blade Recording Artists Ravage (I'm not sure, but I think that's how we have to refer to the band now) at Metal Thursday (not yet sponsored by Metal Blade), then sticking in Worcester for Friday and Saturday. We'll see how synchronously the reports on those come in; I may have to work on Friday morning, which would give me a little time to write, but thrashing's of course going to be a higher priority.

Every Shirt XIV: Dissection

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: Dissection - Storm of the Light's Bane
size: XL (EU)
vintage: 2001
provenance: catalog

Secured in an order in the winter of early 2001 and almost immediately consigned to a drawer, this shirt's primary historical role has been as a marker of how fat I am. Currently, the answer is 'medium'; I can fit into it, but it's still tight around the gut, unlike when I was in grad school, walking 50 miles a week and subsisting on generally less than 1800 calories a day. As might be expected, I'd rather the shirt fit better, but I have a car now and no economic imperative towards starvation, so this might take a while.

Though I did my first W:O:A in a Dissection shirt because I hadn't built my kutte yet, it wasn't this one; for reasons of fit and logistics I didn't take this shirt to Germany. The Dissection shirt that has been in the mud over there was a longsleeve (viz my prior advice), and will be covered some weekend in the future.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Every Shirt XIII: Mortis Deveia

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: Mortis Deveia
size: XL (US)
vintage: 2007
provenance: band

I picked this shirt up from the band sometime probably in the first half of 2007; between when I had to nearly put Henry in a headlock to get him to take my money for their demo and when Mark's ran out of bands willing to p2p to allow them to support concerts. This shirt, said demo, and a track on an Oak Knoll comp are, apparently, now all that remains of one of the Merrimack Valley's most promising bands.

Playing thrashy yet accessible NWOSDM-influenced music while that style was still in its ascendancy, and sporting a female vocalist and a truly elite lead guitarist, Mortis Dev drew a lot of interest, and a few contract offers from smaller labels, but did not sign. Eventually Caitlin quit the band, and while they got a new (male) singer and the instrumental positions were completely unaffected, a significant portion of their local audience, in one of the more egregious and stupid dick moves we have on record, lost interest. The music stayed the same, but the change in peripherals left the band high and dry.

Even at this distance, it rankles. Support music, not rumors, so that good bands don't get jobbed by ultimately immaterial cosmetic issues.

Every Shirt XII: Gamma Ray

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: Gamma Ray Land of the Free II/US
size: XL (US)
vintage: 2008
provenance: band

This one, featuring Fangface as the Statue of Liberty with some different tablets and a torch forming the horns, was issued for Gamma Ray's '08 US tour with Helloween, and I picked it up at the local date, which was probably the best single non-festival show I went to last year. I wore it out to Kreator last night because a) it was next in the rotation and b) switching shirts based on what band you're seeing is in itself moderately poser. If you're actually metal (or have an imposing enough jacket to wear over it), nobody will care what shirt you have on.

The back features the mascot's gaping maw behind the Land of the Free II title. Normally, this would pass without comment, but one of my non-metal friends (who will remain nameless) was actually scared and/or freaked out by this graphic. He laughed at Typhoid's album cover, but quails at Gamma Ray -- go figure.

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Every Shirt XI: Hypocrisy - Compulsive Psychosis

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: Hypocrisy - Compulsive Psychosis
size: XL (US)
vintage: 2006
provenance: band

"Thees shirt ees NAAAT BLECK." "No, 'this shirt is black...NOT'." "Thees shirt ees blaknot."

The second non-black shirt surveyed so far, this is one of the few metal shirts that I own that is not printed on a primary color. I picked this up at the only show I've seen them on thus far, which was one of the best of 2006; still waiting for another tour, or for them to play a festival that I'm going to. I'll probably see Pete this summer at Wacken with Pain, but it isn't the same: only Hypocrisy is Hypocrisy.

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Every Shirt X: Ipsissimus

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: Ipsissimus white logo/Bleed For Him
size: XL (US)
vintage: 2007
provenance: band

I had to check which Metal Thursday in the second half of 2007 I picked up this shirt from the band at, and it turned out to be one in October; for some reason I had associated these guys with opening for Wolven Ancestry on that gig, but that was not the case. Some parts of some sets at specific gigs you recall, but after a hundred or so in various places, DIY shows start to blend together; hence the need for deliberate history to keep things straight.

Eventually, this may be joined by a newer Ipsissimus shirt (basically the same as this, but black-on-black), but I'm kind of in the process of moving to a new apartment, and don't really want to have to transport any more shirts in that process than I already have to.

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Every Shirt IX: Watain

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: Watain 2008 US tour
size: XL (US)
vintage: 2008
provenance: band

This shirt was acquired last autumn at the band's gig downstairs at the Middle East. The front design, though (as opposed to the back, which has the tour stops and a cool decayed version of the Statue of Liberty's head), is the somewhat older/classic "To The Death" design, which I got on a patch at their more epic concert at the Middle East upstairs the year before. The design, like a lot of designs based on photos, translates a lot better here than onto the patch, but looking at the patch in situ on my jacket, the thing is just fucking monstrous. That's a killer black metal design executed with top-end materials, and it's entirely debatable whether the better total effect is at shirt size or on the patch.

Monday, April 06, 2009

Every Shirt VIII: Emperor

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: Emperor - Wrath of the Tyrant/"Priestess"
size: unknown (US), either XL or 2XL
vintage: 1999/2000
provenance: retail

This shirt is based on the reissue cover art for Wrath of the Tyrant, which sets a definite lower bound on when I could have picked it up. I didn't have it in the summer of '99 where my inexperience with Euro date formats led me to miss their last real US tour (with Borknagar, which was a real kick in the guts since they've never been back at all since), but I did have it by the summer of 2000, when I wore it to see Iron Maiden on their Brave New World tour. This makes it also about the last metal shirt that I bought at retail; nearly everything else since has been from catalogs or from bands directly.

As expected for a nearly ten-year-old shirt that has seen service on several continents, this one has been worn hard, and the identifying tag no longer exists. This is still an extraordinarily large-cut shirt, even if it was originally 2X rather than XL. This is made more odd by the fact that Emperor do not generally have, er, large, fans here in the States -- maybe back then, the destroyed tag obscuring the evidence, their merch was being handled by the same people who did Cradle's shirts. Seriously, this is big on me, and that's saying something.

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Every Shirt VII: Morbid Angel

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: Morbid Angel Domination/Masters of Chaos
size: L (US)
vintage: 2006
provenance: band

Yesterday I intimated that I couldn't fit into a size L shirt. This is not technically true, as I can fit into this one. It's fairly tight, though, maybe a little smaller than a European XL, which shows the reason for listing the sizes as they're actually recorded rather than insisting on some arbitrary standard.

I don't know why I got this in large as opposed to XL. Maybe they were out of stock and the other shirt options were less appealing; maybe, since this was the first big show since I got back from Germany, I was confused about how big American shirts were generally cut. It may have been some combination of the above; this gig was three years ago this coming week, and I can still wear the shirt, which makes this whole exercise pretty academic.

The design on the front of this shirt is the Domination record, which came out in 1995, though the back has the '06 Masters of Chaos tourdates. This is because Trey is kind of crazy, and consequently Morbid Angel very rarely has a relatively recent album out when they do a tour. Three years ago, when they did this jaunt, their latest record was already three years old. As mentioned, it's now three years later, and still nothing since Heretic.

Saturday, April 04, 2009

Every Shirt VI: Coffins

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us


shirt: Coffins white skull
size: XL (US)
vintage: 2008
provenance: band

Despite the band's origin, this is a US-sized shirt; it's not economical for Asian bands to ship merch as well as themselves and their axes over when playing limited engagements in the States, so Coffins or their label had these printed up and ready to mate up with the band when their pre-MDF tour started in Montreal. Additionally, if Japanese shirt standards are along the lines of what I encountered in China and South Korea, getting enough made in the right sizes might have been a bit of a hassle had the band done it themselves locally. The US size XL basically does not exist, and there are a lot of metalheads (yeah, self included...though see tomorrow's shirt) who don't fit into anything smaller.

As mentioned originally in the notes on the show, I purchased this shirt entirely in Japanese, which may or may not have thrown the band for a loop. Learn different languages -- it can be useful, and it can cause bonus cognitive dissonance if you use them in weird contexts!

Friday, April 03, 2009

Every Shirt V: Vital Remains

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us


shirt: Vital Remains Decades of Death
size: XXL (US)
vintage: 2006
provenance: band

No, this was not acquired off the back of a truck recently (and if you spot those guitars, incidentally, let the band know); I got this one back in '06 at the Middle East on one of the more epic shows of that year. This wasn't the tour that the dates on the back are from (an earlier leg), but the one they did in the fall with Grave and Dismember.

Grave was awesome, Dismember was amazing, and Vital, in one of the last shows that they did with Anthony Geremia on vocals (much better than Glen Benton), simply tore the hell out of the place. I'd missed this tour when it started up, up at Mark's, but allegedly Vital just decided not to show for that one after picking up their guarantee; no substantiation on that one at all, but between one thing and another, with this show being what it was, I don't think I missed much.

This particular gig was incidentally, also where Rev. Aaron took the picture that I've cropped for my profile here; if you're exceedingly obsessed and have too much free time, you can go dig up the original there if you like.

Fires of Old with Ipsissimus, Shadar Logoth, and Morgirion [Ralph's, Worcester, 4/2/2009]

I'm not sure that I've ever seen the same band twice in the space of a week, local or national; this would make this a first, but even without it, it would grade out as a hell of a gig.

I got in a little early, relative to the normal start time, even after refueling on the Pike with the godawful slow gimped pumps that must allegedly let them catch you stealing fuel or just let them spam you to buy all kinds of useless bullshit in the minimart, a fact that will become salient later. Back in reality, I stood around, drank a beer, bought Shadar Logoth's CD since it was then, and would be later, the only record available for sale that I didn't have already, and waited for the bands to start.

Morgirion [6/7]
My bassplayers'-union skepticism was quickly laid to rest as this band came right out of the gates and flat dominated. They've improved significantly since I last saw them, and they also happened to be in a much better venue on this go-round. They had some slip-ups, and if I was one of the real ultra-grvm stick-in-the-ass types, I don't know how I'd've reacted to the singer's somewhat goofy banter and mannerisms, but where it counted, on the music, Morgirion was pretty badass. They're not quite on the level of the very top black metal bands in New England, but they're close, and if you're looking for black metal to get keyboarded up without getting gothed up, look no further. They set a critically high bar for the rest of the night, but most of the bands to come were able to meet that standard.

While they were setting up, Ryan (Ipsissimus) told me to especially watch their drummer, and I agree wholeheartedly with his assessment of the guy as a truly top-flight musician. He does a fair bit of triggers, but his cymbal work wasn't triggered, of course, and that was jaw-droppingly tight and consistent as well as the requisite fast and heavy. Not Marco Minneman quite yet, but still definitely a highlight in a band with high instrumental execution all around.

Shadar Logoth [4/7]
It's hard for me to stay objective here, as I tend to cut bands from Maine breaks on the basis of an exceedingly ephimeral gonfallon, especially these days, and I'm concretely prejudiced towards huge Borknagar fans, as these guys evidently are, but this is the performance that we heard. They were either victimized by the sound mix (i.e., the singer couldn't hear himself) or the vocalist has severe problems staying on pitch when singing clean outside of a fairly narrow range, and the composition of their tunes wasn't as smooth as might be desired, still relying in large part on tropes that have become worn out even in Maine thrash in the past decade. I'm interested to hear them on CD to see if the more controlled environment improves the material; more likely, though, is that this was a fairly average performance (if a little more nervy due to being so far afield) from a band still figuring out their style, their identity, and how they're going to develop their potential.

While Ipsissimus was setting up, the dominant lighting of the stage area changed to green. One really wonders whether this was due to coincidence (it was also easier on the eye, less glare), or to the sound/light guy overhearing Ryan describing his somewhat unorthodox method of mixing chaos and rigor in composition to Chris (Zircon; also the promoter if you're totally unfamiliar with this concert series). In many dimensions, this show was nearly as 'green' as 'black', but that's really neither here nor there.

Ipsissimus [6/7]
No matter what you were fueled by for their set, though, Ipsissimus definitely impressed. The cumulative effect was a little less than at the Midway, but still badass, the debits being not a relative paucity of beer, but more occasional technical problems with the sound system that got certain parts lost. During their set, whether due to critical levels of collective alcohol intake being topped or because they somehow have the ability to play breakdowns and integrate them seamlessly into twisted, true, black metal (seriously!), was when things started to get seriously violent and chaotic down front. At least two beers got blown up all over the floor, and I think it was here that Chris and Crazy Dan started helicoptering people. True filthy black metal, till you nearly can't see through the haze of evil.

While setting up, Fires of Old declared their intent in unmistakeable fashion: instead of a normal mic stand like all the other bands had used, Fires brought their own, a five-plus-foot-tall steel monstrosity covered in spikes, formed into an upturned cross with two more upturned crosses attached at angles, and finished off with a couple loops of razor wire hung off the front. Looking at this thing, you immediately get the sense that this band doesn't fuck around, and you also marvel that nobody was seriously injured while removing the wraps from it. Seriously, even Mayhem didn't fuck around with razor wire back when they were putting straight blades in with the liner notes of their demos. Nothing says "we really don't care if we or someone else gets slashed up" like a coil of razor wire, and this message is pretty damn black metal.

Fires of Old [6/7]
The only violence and injury here was aural, though, which was pretty lucky as this set included people getting literally flipped head over heels in the pit. This was a first, even for Metal Thursday. Fires definitely delivered on the promise of old-school, violent music, inheriting heavily from old Satyricon and laying out a positively punishing set. There were a couple points to pick with the sound overall, and the sound guy apparently flat lost their intro, but they overcame these and finished strong. They, like Ipsissimus, could have easily gone on for a couple more songs, but in addition to the lateness of the hour, it was probably an even proposition that someone would get their skull cracked if things went on in the pit as they'd been going. So much for the "no mosh", "no fun", "no friends" parts of that old saw -- not like it had much currency around here anyways.

Still having to work in the morning, I cleared out shortly after Fires of Old closed up, then drove back along the pike through the fog. In with the usual dimension of otherworldliness, though, there was a hidden trap that I ended up having dodged heading out. The sole gas station between Worcester and Lexington not involving an additional toll was out of service, so while I was able to pick up some eats going through, it was lucky that I'd filled up on the way out, or given the fact that the fog cut into my max speed and hence my fuel efficiency figures, I might have ended up stuck on the side of 128, in no shape to work or to write this up.

Next gig is after I finish my on-call shift: KREATOR!!!! A THOUSAND FIRES BURN!!! IT"S TIME TO RAISE THE MOTHERFUCKING FLAG OF HATE!!!!!

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Every Shirt IV: Indignation

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

shirt: Indignation flaming skull back
size: XL (US)
vintage: 2006
provenance: band

I'd actually almost forgotten about my other Indignation shirt, partly because it wasn't in the pile with all the rest, and partly because I almost never wear it. It's a little unwieldy; some weekend, though, I have to wear it, and when that time comes it'll show up here.

This one, though, was purchased off the band at the moderately infamous South Central show at (IIRC) Tabu in Saugus at the tail end of December '06. This was notably the first and last time that there's been a metal show at this place, as well as the first and last time I've gone through an explicit metal detector stop to see a band. That was a hell of a lineup; Ravage with Pat (MPD) McNeil on some vocals because Al got stuck in traffic, Mortis Dev, MPD, Death Defect, and of course Indignation seeing as I got the shirt from them there. I don't know if the band's still active, as I haven't seen a lot of Haverhill shows being advertised, and they were always a linchpin of South Central's lineups. It's a shame if they aren't; their derivation of power/thrash out of hardcore was fairly original and completely unexpected, and the organizational element that they brought to heavy music in the Valley (viz school buses chartered to lug fans around to out-of-market gigs like this one) will be sorely missed. Good band, nice shirt, but the story that goes with the other 'Nation shirt is a lot weirder.

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Every Shirt III: The Accursed

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us


shirt: The Accursed logo
size: XL (US)
vintage: 2007
provenance: band

Not to be confused with The Accused, the legendary Seattle splatterpunk band, The Accursed were a decent NWOSDM band in the vein of a lot of others that caused the rise of the epithet "Gothenchusetts"; those outside the region will probably be most familiar with Shadows Fall, All That Remains, and maybe Beyond The Embrace, who are probably the closest comparison. I picked up this shirt in early 2007, sometime after the release of their Seasons of the Scythe record and sometime before the Skybar closed/turned into a Chinese restaurant annex that didn't have bands. That was a good time for the scene in eastern New England; the Skybar was a cool, fun, intimate place to see a show, but the shows there never drew enough people or made enough money to justify it to the owners, and now that O'Brien's is back, I'm not sure anyone really misses it.

In the last analysis, though, the Midway is better and more accessible, and also has a Chinese restaurant practically next door -- and also a burrito/pizza place. The Accursed, who have not really had another band come forward to pick up the mantle of underground NWOSDM leaders from them, will probably be missed a hell of a lot more than the venue that I bought this shirt from them at.