Ok, this one is extremely late, dating back to before the Euro trip, but it still needs to get out, and another one after it, before that report goes up and at least before Exodus on Friday, which would totally fuck up the timetable.
I got in at a decent start before the bands went on, got the requisite beer in, and looked unsuccessfully for stuff to lug over. Not very thick on the ground here, but that's probably to be expected in an environment where I'd seen exactly one of the bands, the first on the bill, before, and them exactly once with a severely gimped lineup. No matter; if next year goes and these bands are still active and playing shows I go to at that time, they'll have more distributable merch, and as it turned out, I wasn't exactly hurting for stuff to give away by the time I got on the plane.
Dhoulmagus [4.5/7]
These guys were significantly improved from the last time I saw them, down, I suspect, to being a full band this time out, but still really need to work on writing the ends of songs. They played a decent set of blackish "extreme" metal, that sort of generic bucket used to cover what a lot of young bands are doing, either because it's the spirit of the times or because they haven't decided to fully commit to black or death metal yet, but as mentioned, need to work on tying their songs off. Too often they kind of just stopped, which works against positive impressions when you don't have an engineer to fade you out. This will probably come with time; if the past is any indication, I'll see them again in another 18 months opening another Metal Thursday and have another opinion at that point.
They asked midway through the set how many people'd seen them before. Mine was the only hand that went up; this bill didn't have a lot of overlap with Dysentery's crowd, and any others who were at that previous show had likely either come in late, forgotten the opener, or misidentified these guys since they weren't a full band at the time. Absurdly eidetic memory for the win.
Holding Steady the Heartbeat of Hell [5/7]
The name, which might lead the reasonable person, at least in this part of the country, to prepare for a cover-your-eyes-and-ears set of generic metalcore, is desperately misleading. Despite the absence of a bassist (guitar, drums, keys here), this trio delivered a class set of powerful, floor-shaking doom metal that locked in and kept the attention of the entire room for the whole of their set. This is about where I usually complain about bands playing without a four-string thudder in the lineup, but honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing these guys again, in whatever configuration, and if they keep playing good music, they're pretty much a cert to be back here at some point.
Mowgli [5.5/7]
As on any show where I haven't seen any of the bands going in (though after four years going to DIY shows around eastern New England, this is not as rare as it used to be, and even here I'd seen one of the bands, as noted above, albeit in a kind of gimped incarnation), I didn't have any preconceived ideas going in, but even at that, it would be difficult to anticipate how this band might sound. Mowgli filled the stage with musicians, and laid out a weird but fun set of still indisputably metal music, like a lighter Unexpect or Maudlin of the Well with some Opeth and Nevermore shadings. Unusual? Yes, but cool also, and those weird bands that you occasionally hear randomly or buy CDs from come from somewhere, and there happens to be one, albeit with less recognition at this point, playing local shows in New England. Good stuff and worth checking out if you see them on a bill somewhere.
Necronomichrist [6/7]
More than other headliners, at least as I can recall, here lately, this band really squeezed their timeslot to the very last drops, going right up out to the cutoff. Fortunately, though, nobody minded, as they were delivering nothing but consistently good, consistently well-performed modernistic black/death metal. On their Intimacy of Armageddon CD, which I picked up from the band after they finished, they occasionally sound like the leftovers of Vital Remains' Dechristianize (probably understandable for this style from this area), but they really didn't present that impression live so much as just that of a really good band. They may not be as distinctive as some other bands around here, but they've definitely got some good music in them, and they rolled out a fucking class set here.
CD in hand, I bailed posthaste; not only did I have to work in the morning, I also had to charge up, somehow, to do this all over again for Composted and Dysentery the next night, then get on a plane on the Saturday. Notes on those experiences are coming, and hopefully soon; all the pictures from the tour are now processed, and all that remains is to transcribe the notes. Hopefully by the end of the weekend, but I aint promising anything.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Woods of Ypres with Frozen, Hirudinea, and Dreaded Silence [Ralph's, Worcester, 7/15/2010]
Late, but here it goes; at least one more show and hopefully two (noted below) before shipping out.
I got to go home from work before this one, though it did end up being some extra driving, but the Pike was clean all the way out and I got in with plenty of time to spare. Woods had a seriously extensive merch desk out, but I held fire for the time being, to be sure the locals got the support they deserved as well and also to get a better idea of what in this giant pile of stuff was going to be heading out the door in my pockets.
Dreaded Silence [5/7]
These guys started up a little rusty -- maybe enhanced by P.A. issues, the balance seemed a little weird at the start -- but got it under control and put out a quality set of depressive death metal, much as they did more regularly back a couple years when the band was more active. They were a late addition, covering for Anticosm (same tour as prior shows where their vehicle issues were documented), so a little rust is to be expected; hopefully, moving on from a good outing here and the release of Life Hangs Motionless recently, they'll play out some more and get their profile back up again.
Afterwards I picked up their first EP, which they'd been out of, apparently, when I was seeing them more regularly back in 2007, and tried to get some spare flyers (advertising the Life Hangs Motionless demo, available for free from the above link on the band's site, which has not prevented the typical Russian channels from repackaging it, in a display of mentalness verging on plain idiocy) from Doug to hand out overseas. Instead, he sent me a color PDF of the flyer, and now, 10 quick copies later, I have 40 semi-glossy color flyers to paper around at Wacken, with the opportunity to make more if needed. And since the entire festival is going to be wireless-enabled, some people may be able to pick the demo up and put the flyer down for the next passerby. Technology destroys (wireless internet at a metal open air? everywhere? are you fucking shitting me?), but also rebuilds.
Hirudinea [6/7]
Another band that I don't see nearly as often as I should, these guys fit oddly into the bill as it shook out without Anticosm, but for everyone there for music, an sich, not the sake of a uniform experience, more than made up for it with a powerful, blasting set of intense blackened grind. One of the great things about this concert series, and likely a significant factor in why it's now closing in on its hundredth edition (as well as threatening to take over just "every Thursday" at Ralph's) is the job that Chris (et al) does in getting in bills that are diverse week to week and well-balanced internally, but that would only be half-achieved if the bands involved didn't execute at the high levels that they do. This wasn't Hirudinea's usual audience (bands aside; both of the other locals have plenty of members between them who'll go out for grind or generally DIY shows) for the most part, but their performance was strong enough that it should have convinced at least a few of those who were down for the more melodic bands to dig up some of their recordings.
Frozen [5.5/7]
It'd been a while since I'd last seen Frozen, so their lineup changes coming into this one may have been more than just the new guitarist that I noticed. Fortunately, though, the change(s?) didn't seem to hold them back any, with this being a good solid set that leaned a little more towards Symphony X in its fusion of the heavy and the progressive, though still keeping a lot of the Evergrey elements that've dominated my ideas of this band since I first saw them almost four years ago. It wasn't quite a peak performance, but it it was a good set regardless, and it'll be interesting to see how the band continues to develop if they get into another active phase and release some new material.
Woods setting up.Your Ontario flag is just an amp-scrim rag. No, that's offensive, and not even funny either.
Woods of Ypres [7/7]
Wow. That's pretty much all that can be said; a top-class set from a very good band that, at this point, finally seems to have a lineup that's real, complete, and stable, as well as a firm handle on how they're going to get about it going forward. This was their first tour through this area, which meant that David got the usual guff for mispronouncing "Worcester" the first couple times (out-of-area folks: it's probably closest to "wistah", but if your band is touring through here or the Wheelchair or the QVCC, give a try with "worr-chester" or "woo-ster" first, us Massholes like correcting outsiders and it's less lame than most other forms of stage banter), but the Greyhounds got a few shoutouts as well from the crowd; probably not many places outside Canadia where that would be the case. The set covered material from Woods' whole history, with the expected heavier emphasis on the new record; still, there was plenty of stuff off the other ones, with the new lineup pushing the stuff from the second and third albums a little heavier, and the material from the first disc in a doomier direction. The result was a diverse yet unified set of crunching but melodically structured music that both impressed and got the floor moving, not to Dysentery standards by any stretch, but a hell of a lot more than most people might think possible from a set that, among a significant amount of other Woods II material, put both halves of "The Sun Was In My Eyes" back to back. I'm going to, of course, have to go back over seven months' worth of gigs to be categorical, but there have not been a lot of DIY sets this year (at least that I've been to) that have gotten to quite this level.
After the venue ops turned the lights on, closing out the encore (which actually felt like a legitimate encore, that the band were done, but left their gear onstage in the off chance that we'd cheer them back up, and if not, oh well, stretch out for a bit and then start tearing down), I had to make a couple hard decisions about what swag not to pick up, then hit the road more or less skint. Good show; here's hoping the locals are coming back onto an active cycle, and that Woods will be back with a new record sooner rather than later.
I had to miss two gigs due to unplanned contingencies, but there's at least one more show and potentially two before I hit the skies. If I can get out to Metal Thursday tomorrow, I will; if not, there's always Friday's nonstop melee. There's been a good response so far, but there's still room in the pack for more.
I got to go home from work before this one, though it did end up being some extra driving, but the Pike was clean all the way out and I got in with plenty of time to spare. Woods had a seriously extensive merch desk out, but I held fire for the time being, to be sure the locals got the support they deserved as well and also to get a better idea of what in this giant pile of stuff was going to be heading out the door in my pockets.
Dreaded Silence [5/7]
These guys started up a little rusty -- maybe enhanced by P.A. issues, the balance seemed a little weird at the start -- but got it under control and put out a quality set of depressive death metal, much as they did more regularly back a couple years when the band was more active. They were a late addition, covering for Anticosm (same tour as prior shows where their vehicle issues were documented), so a little rust is to be expected; hopefully, moving on from a good outing here and the release of Life Hangs Motionless recently, they'll play out some more and get their profile back up again.
Afterwards I picked up their first EP, which they'd been out of, apparently, when I was seeing them more regularly back in 2007, and tried to get some spare flyers (advertising the Life Hangs Motionless demo, available for free from the above link on the band's site, which has not prevented the typical Russian channels from repackaging it, in a display of mentalness verging on plain idiocy) from Doug to hand out overseas. Instead, he sent me a color PDF of the flyer, and now, 10 quick copies later, I have 40 semi-glossy color flyers to paper around at Wacken, with the opportunity to make more if needed. And since the entire festival is going to be wireless-enabled, some people may be able to pick the demo up and put the flyer down for the next passerby. Technology destroys (wireless internet at a metal open air? everywhere? are you fucking shitting me?), but also rebuilds.
Hirudinea [6/7]
Another band that I don't see nearly as often as I should, these guys fit oddly into the bill as it shook out without Anticosm, but for everyone there for music, an sich, not the sake of a uniform experience, more than made up for it with a powerful, blasting set of intense blackened grind. One of the great things about this concert series, and likely a significant factor in why it's now closing in on its hundredth edition (as well as threatening to take over just "every Thursday" at Ralph's) is the job that Chris (et al) does in getting in bills that are diverse week to week and well-balanced internally, but that would only be half-achieved if the bands involved didn't execute at the high levels that they do. This wasn't Hirudinea's usual audience (bands aside; both of the other locals have plenty of members between them who'll go out for grind or generally DIY shows) for the most part, but their performance was strong enough that it should have convinced at least a few of those who were down for the more melodic bands to dig up some of their recordings.
Frozen [5.5/7]
It'd been a while since I'd last seen Frozen, so their lineup changes coming into this one may have been more than just the new guitarist that I noticed. Fortunately, though, the change(s?) didn't seem to hold them back any, with this being a good solid set that leaned a little more towards Symphony X in its fusion of the heavy and the progressive, though still keeping a lot of the Evergrey elements that've dominated my ideas of this band since I first saw them almost four years ago. It wasn't quite a peak performance, but it it was a good set regardless, and it'll be interesting to see how the band continues to develop if they get into another active phase and release some new material.
Woods setting up.
Woods of Ypres [7/7]
Wow. That's pretty much all that can be said; a top-class set from a very good band that, at this point, finally seems to have a lineup that's real, complete, and stable, as well as a firm handle on how they're going to get about it going forward. This was their first tour through this area, which meant that David got the usual guff for mispronouncing "Worcester" the first couple times (out-of-area folks: it's probably closest to "wistah", but if your band is touring through here or the Wheelchair or the QVCC, give a try with "worr-chester" or "woo-ster" first, us Massholes like correcting outsiders and it's less lame than most other forms of stage banter), but the Greyhounds got a few shoutouts as well from the crowd; probably not many places outside Canadia where that would be the case. The set covered material from Woods' whole history, with the expected heavier emphasis on the new record; still, there was plenty of stuff off the other ones, with the new lineup pushing the stuff from the second and third albums a little heavier, and the material from the first disc in a doomier direction. The result was a diverse yet unified set of crunching but melodically structured music that both impressed and got the floor moving, not to Dysentery standards by any stretch, but a hell of a lot more than most people might think possible from a set that, among a significant amount of other Woods II material, put both halves of "The Sun Was In My Eyes" back to back. I'm going to, of course, have to go back over seven months' worth of gigs to be categorical, but there have not been a lot of DIY sets this year (at least that I've been to) that have gotten to quite this level.
After the venue ops turned the lights on, closing out the encore (which actually felt like a legitimate encore, that the band were done, but left their gear onstage in the off chance that we'd cheer them back up, and if not, oh well, stretch out for a bit and then start tearing down), I had to make a couple hard decisions about what swag not to pick up, then hit the road more or less skint. Good show; here's hoping the locals are coming back onto an active cycle, and that Woods will be back with a new record sooner rather than later.
I had to miss two gigs due to unplanned contingencies, but there's at least one more show and potentially two before I hit the skies. If I can get out to Metal Thursday tomorrow, I will; if not, there's always Friday's nonstop melee. There's been a good response so far, but there's still room in the pack for more.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Composted with Parasitic Extirpation, Hivesmasher, Goreality, and Scaphism (supporting The Funeral Pyre and Early Graves) [Midway, J.P., 7/11/2010]
As alluded to previously, this was the conclusion to a rather full afternoon/evening of events. After Inestia successfully prevented an often-boring (decent, but not a patch on Germany-Uruguay the day before) and unnecessarily violent (thanks Webb for chickening out and not sending De Jong off for his Mortal Kombat tackle) final from going to penalties, I drove pell-mell to get in a decent amount of hanging out and socialization before bailing for this showcase of pure death metal quality.
I got in a little late thanks to the aforementioned, but got through the door without issue and right into the raging from Scaphism.
Scaphism [5/7]
Though I missed at least their first song, they still set out a killer performance of crunching death metal; relatively less grind and more death this time than the last that I'd seen them, but still quality. This band keeps getting better and better; unfortunate that they probably won't have anything to lug over to Europe this time around, but those who don't have that hard cutoff will probably see their demo soon enough.
Tom's favorite hockey player is from the underworld. Seriously, what took this guy so long to get to Boston? Even New Jersey would have probably played it down, but as soon as he signed here, the bootleggers had shirts like this out aping the Haunting The Chapel cover with hockey sticks, and next season, they'll probably be in the official Bruins stores.
Goreality [5.5/7]
Another show, another different Goreality lineup; this one, though, with bass and only one guitar. The resulting sound was a little less complex than Goreality have been before, but still crushing; what really hurt them, though, was the heat on stage. Even at the best of times the Midway can be a bit of a sauna, but with New England in the bowels ofrepuga significant heatwave, things got out of hand, and Fish was having problems holding onto his guitar pick due to the sweat. It shouldn't be necessary to note that this is a bad thing to have happen to you as a technical death metal band. They persevered and laid out a solid performance including a few new ones, but some 100-grit sandpaper glued to the back end of a couple guitar picks might have made it go a little smoother.
Hivesmasher [6/7]
I hadn't seen this band before, somehow, but now I know what I was missing out on. From the first moment, just an absolute maniac grind avalanche, and when Aaron hit the floor, the pit started moving good and proper. In the pummeling, though, it was hard to hear exactly why they have a member on keyboards/fx -- as if more inducement was needed, the answer to that one is to actually pick up some recorded material from them, in a setting where they've got slightly more control of the total balance and aren't trying to incite/play over a riot, to see what the sound is like in that context. Killer regardless.
Parasitic Extirpation [6.5/7]
Amazing. Just a stupendous performance of solid, violent, chunky yet technical death metal accompanied by insane floor violence, every bit the kind of performance the band would have desired to kick off a long and brutally-slotted (it's not too surprising that brutal gigs are few and far between in flyover country, but one day to go between OKC and southern Illinois is really backbreaking) tour out to the LVDF and back. They're hitting on all cylinders right now, and hopefully will get more attention out west out of this, and be more able to plan longer tours with shorter between-gigs legs.
I got a shirt off Blue afterwards, as well as a couple stickers, but since they were leaving on, um, a national tour the next morning, I didn't go mining for stuff to lug over to Europe. Dudes who show up and see the band should get first shot at merch for themselves and to push on their friends; on the 30th, though, any leavings will get looted to the bare walls of the bucket.
Special World Cup extra: Drew in Netherlands-supporting mode. You can see him in his orange (or Oranje, whichever) shirt in the back, but Tim is unfortunately standing in front of the red-white-blue sweatband on his plucking hand, which was usually the case in moments like this where the band wasn't playing and I had the ability to hold my phone up as opposed to staying on guard to avoid getting punched in the mouth.
Composted [6/7]
When Composted says it's Pride Month, it's Pride Month. Especially when they do it with a new lineup, balloons, and a black male blowup doll to celebrate. The new members blend well in with the rest of the guys, and in addition to the bizarre props and silly costumes, pounded out the deceptively strong slam-death that audiences have come to expect from this band; lineup surgery success, roll on the AWSMcore. The performance was good, the floor was violent, and in a testament to the abuse that such things are anticipated to get by their makers, the blowup doll survived all the way through, despite being kicked, stomped, tossed all over the room, used to beat several band members about the head and shoulders, and repeatedly thrown into the ceiling fans. In the official Composted say-no-to-drugs-comic-book continuity (note: does not actually exist, but someone should make it up on wikipedia anyway), he has obviously swum off with Leo the fish to Rainbow Unicorn Buttrape Land to live happily ever after.
When Composted wrapped up, it was getting towards the point where I had to split in order to get the last Orange Line train back towards where I left my car. It was tough missing the nationals on this one, especially since I'd been impressed with The Funeral Pyre the last time I saw them (at Metalfest a few years back, for like 20 minutes), but I picked up a record from each before heading out. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make any of the several other gigs in the region; when they come back, you have to hope.
Even without the nationals, though, this was a kickass gig, at a place that's only going to get better: the Midway was well under construction for his one, so you've got to figure that they'll be expanded to their full new dimensions (more room for more audience, less gear piled on the sidewalk, and less sauna atmosphere) by the next gig I end up going down there for.
I got in a little late thanks to the aforementioned, but got through the door without issue and right into the raging from Scaphism.
Scaphism [5/7]
Though I missed at least their first song, they still set out a killer performance of crunching death metal; relatively less grind and more death this time than the last that I'd seen them, but still quality. This band keeps getting better and better; unfortunate that they probably won't have anything to lug over to Europe this time around, but those who don't have that hard cutoff will probably see their demo soon enough.
Tom's favorite hockey player is from the underworld. Seriously, what took this guy so long to get to Boston? Even New Jersey would have probably played it down, but as soon as he signed here, the bootleggers had shirts like this out aping the Haunting The Chapel cover with hockey sticks, and next season, they'll probably be in the official Bruins stores.
Goreality [5.5/7]
Another show, another different Goreality lineup; this one, though, with bass and only one guitar. The resulting sound was a little less complex than Goreality have been before, but still crushing; what really hurt them, though, was the heat on stage. Even at the best of times the Midway can be a bit of a sauna, but with New England in the bowels of
Hivesmasher [6/7]
I hadn't seen this band before, somehow, but now I know what I was missing out on. From the first moment, just an absolute maniac grind avalanche, and when Aaron hit the floor, the pit started moving good and proper. In the pummeling, though, it was hard to hear exactly why they have a member on keyboards/fx -- as if more inducement was needed, the answer to that one is to actually pick up some recorded material from them, in a setting where they've got slightly more control of the total balance and aren't trying to incite/play over a riot, to see what the sound is like in that context. Killer regardless.
Parasitic Extirpation [6.5/7]
Amazing. Just a stupendous performance of solid, violent, chunky yet technical death metal accompanied by insane floor violence, every bit the kind of performance the band would have desired to kick off a long and brutally-slotted (it's not too surprising that brutal gigs are few and far between in flyover country, but one day to go between OKC and southern Illinois is really backbreaking) tour out to the LVDF and back. They're hitting on all cylinders right now, and hopefully will get more attention out west out of this, and be more able to plan longer tours with shorter between-gigs legs.
I got a shirt off Blue afterwards, as well as a couple stickers, but since they were leaving on, um, a national tour the next morning, I didn't go mining for stuff to lug over to Europe. Dudes who show up and see the band should get first shot at merch for themselves and to push on their friends; on the 30th, though, any leavings will get looted to the bare walls of the bucket.
Special World Cup extra: Drew in Netherlands-supporting mode. You can see him in his orange (or Oranje, whichever) shirt in the back, but Tim is unfortunately standing in front of the red-white-blue sweatband on his plucking hand, which was usually the case in moments like this where the band wasn't playing and I had the ability to hold my phone up as opposed to staying on guard to avoid getting punched in the mouth.
Composted [6/7]
When Composted says it's Pride Month, it's Pride Month. Especially when they do it with a new lineup, balloons, and a black male blowup doll to celebrate. The new members blend well in with the rest of the guys, and in addition to the bizarre props and silly costumes, pounded out the deceptively strong slam-death that audiences have come to expect from this band; lineup surgery success, roll on the AWSMcore. The performance was good, the floor was violent, and in a testament to the abuse that such things are anticipated to get by their makers, the blowup doll survived all the way through, despite being kicked, stomped, tossed all over the room, used to beat several band members about the head and shoulders, and repeatedly thrown into the ceiling fans. In the official Composted say-no-to-drugs-comic-book continuity (note: does not actually exist, but someone should make it up on wikipedia anyway), he has obviously swum off with Leo the fish to Rainbow Unicorn Buttrape Land to live happily ever after.
When Composted wrapped up, it was getting towards the point where I had to split in order to get the last Orange Line train back towards where I left my car. It was tough missing the nationals on this one, especially since I'd been impressed with The Funeral Pyre the last time I saw them (at Metalfest a few years back, for like 20 minutes), but I picked up a record from each before heading out. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make any of the several other gigs in the region; when they come back, you have to hope.
Even without the nationals, though, this was a kickass gig, at a place that's only going to get better: the Midway was well under construction for his one, so you've got to figure that they'll be expanded to their full new dimensions (more room for more audience, less gear piled on the sidewalk, and less sauna atmosphere) by the next gig I end up going down there for.
Oneiric Realm with Katahdin, Vaitarna, and Sarcomancy [Champions', Everett, 7/10/2010]
Hideously late, but here goes, as I clean up two weeks' worth of shows so that it won't be past all hope by the time I get back from Europe.
I came in by a different route for this time than I did last time due to the Saturday slot (so I wasn't coming from work, just from putting my Germany shirt away after the victory), which resulted in getting lost and taking some minor detours around the back streets of Revere and Everett in order to get back on line and over to the venue. Nevertheless, I made it in good time and was able to stand outside for a bit, and also get some beers drunk before the bands started.
Sarcomancy [5/7]
A new band featuring several scene stalwarts, this was their first show, and while they didn't have a lot of material prepared, it was good stuff all the way through. The sound was very heavily and obviously Immortal-influenced, but there was more than a little early Enslaved in there as well. Four songs isn't a whole lot to judge any band on, but they executed well, and with this kind of lineup, they've definitely got the potential to build on the stuff they presented here and develop it further. One to watch out for, provided that the members' other-band commitments don't ride roughshod over this project.
The blessing and curse of this show was that, to avoid policing requirements, the organizers had to move a table to block the bar off from the stage area. This meant that you could not get a beer and then just go in to watch the band, glass in hand (the Everett PD would have wanted a detail officer in the bar in that case, the expense of which was the reason for the table jammed into the doorway), but it did induce people to go outside as much as possible, getting the audience fresh air and venting out the venue every so often, keeping it from getting too hot inside. A decent tradeoff, but it would've worked better if in this country like most others, it was not a problem to take a beer out onto the sidewalk. Plastic cups + trashcan (+ organizers giving aggro if people tossed their cups in the street) = sorted.
Vaitarna [5/7]
Up from Connecticut, these guys had a decent traveling support and some good, solid riffs, but the connections between the riffs, and the overall songwriting structure left a little to be desired. Without either vocals or the sense of structured repetition, this set felt at times like a mostly-black-metal extended jam session; musically good stuff, but still needing more in the way of song structure to bring everything together. This is kind of a problem in general with this sort of instrumental post-metal, really, and these guys definitely did have good chops, so the set, all in all, was still pretty decent and still a good time.
Katahdin [6/7]
Though for whatever reason they didn't bring their bassist up, Katahdin still put on a kickass set of solid black metal with pagan leanings reminiscent of the eastern-European sound (potentially due to the way the sound was balanced without the bass, but still). Unfortunately, they didn't have their new record with them, as it came out the following week; oh well, but if the quality of this performance and the quality of the response it earned is any indication, they'll be back in greater Boston soon enough, and this won't be an issue.
I did however, get a shirt, because I wanted to support the band and because the design (just the bandlogo) was pretty cool. Unfortunately, they didn't have change for my $20, so this turned into a shirt and a round for the band, and me being more skint than I expected faster. It's still a frickin nice shirt, though.
Oneiric Realm [6/7]
Capping off the night (since Anticosm, who would have played after them, pushing Sarcomancy off at the front, had to drop due to vehicle problems), these guys closed in style with a nice set of melodic black metal that still retained enough of an edge to keep it out of post-black territory. Though, really, the bands don't sound terribly much alike, and nobody actually has Wait Me At Dusk, a good point of comparison in what they're doing with the general black metal sound might be Solar Signs -- hopefully, they won't fall off the map like those guys did, as this is music that deserves a wider hearing. Unfortunately, they didn't have anything recorded available, so that dimension is going to have to wait for a bit.
Things having concluded, I headed home; the next day, between a friend's housewarming, the World Cup final, and another cool show, was going to be pretty eventful.
I came in by a different route for this time than I did last time due to the Saturday slot (so I wasn't coming from work, just from putting my Germany shirt away after the victory), which resulted in getting lost and taking some minor detours around the back streets of Revere and Everett in order to get back on line and over to the venue. Nevertheless, I made it in good time and was able to stand outside for a bit, and also get some beers drunk before the bands started.
Sarcomancy [5/7]
A new band featuring several scene stalwarts, this was their first show, and while they didn't have a lot of material prepared, it was good stuff all the way through. The sound was very heavily and obviously Immortal-influenced, but there was more than a little early Enslaved in there as well. Four songs isn't a whole lot to judge any band on, but they executed well, and with this kind of lineup, they've definitely got the potential to build on the stuff they presented here and develop it further. One to watch out for, provided that the members' other-band commitments don't ride roughshod over this project.
The blessing and curse of this show was that, to avoid policing requirements, the organizers had to move a table to block the bar off from the stage area. This meant that you could not get a beer and then just go in to watch the band, glass in hand (the Everett PD would have wanted a detail officer in the bar in that case, the expense of which was the reason for the table jammed into the doorway), but it did induce people to go outside as much as possible, getting the audience fresh air and venting out the venue every so often, keeping it from getting too hot inside. A decent tradeoff, but it would've worked better if in this country like most others, it was not a problem to take a beer out onto the sidewalk. Plastic cups + trashcan (+ organizers giving aggro if people tossed their cups in the street) = sorted.
Vaitarna [5/7]
Up from Connecticut, these guys had a decent traveling support and some good, solid riffs, but the connections between the riffs, and the overall songwriting structure left a little to be desired. Without either vocals or the sense of structured repetition, this set felt at times like a mostly-black-metal extended jam session; musically good stuff, but still needing more in the way of song structure to bring everything together. This is kind of a problem in general with this sort of instrumental post-metal, really, and these guys definitely did have good chops, so the set, all in all, was still pretty decent and still a good time.
Katahdin [6/7]
Though for whatever reason they didn't bring their bassist up, Katahdin still put on a kickass set of solid black metal with pagan leanings reminiscent of the eastern-European sound (potentially due to the way the sound was balanced without the bass, but still). Unfortunately, they didn't have their new record with them, as it came out the following week; oh well, but if the quality of this performance and the quality of the response it earned is any indication, they'll be back in greater Boston soon enough, and this won't be an issue.
I did however, get a shirt, because I wanted to support the band and because the design (just the bandlogo) was pretty cool. Unfortunately, they didn't have change for my $20, so this turned into a shirt and a round for the band, and me being more skint than I expected faster. It's still a frickin nice shirt, though.
Oneiric Realm [6/7]
Capping off the night (since Anticosm, who would have played after them, pushing Sarcomancy off at the front, had to drop due to vehicle problems), these guys closed in style with a nice set of melodic black metal that still retained enough of an edge to keep it out of post-black territory. Though, really, the bands don't sound terribly much alike, and nobody actually has Wait Me At Dusk, a good point of comparison in what they're doing with the general black metal sound might be Solar Signs -- hopefully, they won't fall off the map like those guys did, as this is music that deserves a wider hearing. Unfortunately, they didn't have anything recorded available, so that dimension is going to have to wait for a bit.
Things having concluded, I headed home; the next day, between a friend's housewarming, the World Cup final, and another cool show, was going to be pretty eventful.
Friday, July 09, 2010
remaining shows calendar (before Euro tour 2010)
It's now just about three weeks until I fly off to roll the dice on Scandinavian transit systems and thrash about in Germany, and the below are the final shows where it'll be possible for you to give me stuff from your band to take over:
Jul 10 (Sat) - Champions', Everett - Oneiric Realm, Vaitarna, Katahdin, Sarcomancy
Jul 11 (Sun) - Midway, Jamaica Plain - Composted, Parasitic Extirpation, Hivesmasher, Boarcorpse, Goreality, Scaphism
Jul 15 (Thu) - Ralph's, Worcester - Woods of Ypres, Frozen, Anticosm, Hirudinea
Jul 16 (Fri) - O'Brien's, Allston - Finisher, Sin Of Angels, Faces Of Bayon, Bog Of The Infidel skipped, emergency ManUtd/Celtic game and drinking session
Jul 22 (Thu) - Ralph's, Worcester - Mantic Ritual, Armory, Rattlehead, Hexen skipped, family emergency
Jul 30 (Fri) - O'Brien's, Allston - Composted, Rampant Decay, Dysentery, Maggot Brain, InTheShit -- LAST CHANCE!!!
This two-gigs-per-weekend thing may look optimistic based on past results, but the World Cup is over, I'm done my last on-call shift as of this evening, and this last push, in addition to having a huge selection of flat awesome bands, is likely to also be rewarding in terms of stuff to take across. If your band is on this list and I don't pester you for stuff by the end of the gig in question, feel free to give me a hiding for it. If your band isn't on this list, these six dates are the last chances you'll get (this year) to get your stuff promoted on this trip.
As has been noted, there has been a good response so far, but space is still available in the pack. Stickers and promo cards move best (well, after CDs, but those are bulkier and more fragile), buttons less well. Don't worry if your stickers don't have any contact info on them; I wrote such onto the backing paper of the stuff I got from Abdicate and Nachzehrer, and even if you don't get them into my hands before the 30th, I'm still going to have a lot of time to kill on the ferry down from Oslo.
Jul 10 (Sat) - Champions', Everett - Oneiric Realm, Vaitarna, Katahdin, Sarcomancy
Jul 11 (Sun) - Midway, Jamaica Plain - Composted, Parasitic Extirpation, Hivesmasher, Boarcorpse, Goreality, Scaphism
Jul 15 (Thu) - Ralph's, Worcester - Woods of Ypres, Frozen, Anticosm, Hirudinea
Jul 30 (Fri) - O'Brien's, Allston - Composted, Rampant Decay, Dysentery, Maggot Brain, InTheShit -- LAST CHANCE!!!
This two-gigs-per-weekend thing may look optimistic based on past results, but the World Cup is over, I'm done my last on-call shift as of this evening, and this last push, in addition to having a huge selection of flat awesome bands, is likely to also be rewarding in terms of stuff to take across. If your band is on this list and I don't pester you for stuff by the end of the gig in question, feel free to give me a hiding for it. If your band isn't on this list, these six dates are the last chances you'll get (this year) to get your stuff promoted on this trip.
As has been noted, there has been a good response so far, but space is still available in the pack. Stickers and promo cards move best (well, after CDs, but those are bulkier and more fragile), buttons less well. Don't worry if your stickers don't have any contact info on them; I wrote such onto the backing paper of the stuff I got from Abdicate and Nachzehrer, and even if you don't get them into my hands before the 30th, I'm still going to have a lot of time to kill on the ferry down from Oslo.
Thursday, July 08, 2010
In Which I Attempt To Guess The Party.San Running Order, And Moan About Wacken Again
It's a little more than three weeks before I fly out, but the festival lineups are set, and importantly, Party.San hasn't done out their full running order, so I can indulge this pointless exercise in Paul the Octopus biting.
This is a potential running order for Party.San 2010, based on already-published information; feel free to laugh at it when the real one is published and I get most bands wrong:
DONNERSTAG
--
DEMONICAL
KETZER
THE DEVILS BLOOD
MERRIMACK
MONSTROSITY
WATAIN
actual Thursday:
--
KETZER
MERRIMACK
DEVOURMENT
MONSTROSITY
THE DEVILS BLOOD
WATAIN
I got none of these right (well, besides Watain, but that doesn't count). I didn't anticipate The Devil's Blood playing so late or Devourment switching in, albeit to about where I'd've had them.
FREITAG
--
SUICIDAL ANGELS
MILKING THE GOATMACHINE
ONHEIL
ORIGIN
OFERMOD
DEVOURMENT
LIVIDITY
SARKE
DYING FETUS
THE CROWN
ASPHYX
AUTOPSY
actual Friday:
--
ONHEIL
MILKING THE GOATMACHINE
LIVIDITY
SUICIDAL ANGELS
ORIGIN
OFERMOD
DEMONICAL
THE CROWN
ASPHYX
DYING FETUS
SARKE
AUTOPSY
I got Milking The Goatmachine right, and the Origin-Ofermod-D-band-that-switched-days sequence in the right order, but Sarke going so late fucked things up again. I should have learned from Eluveitie last year.
SAMSTAG
--
TRIBULATION
UNDER THAT SPELL
VARG
DESASTER
GHOST BRIGADE
LOCK UP
AURA NOIR
NECROPHAGIST
MANEGARM
NAPALM DEATH
SUFFOCATION
CANNIBAL CORPSE
actual Saturday:
--
UNDER THAT SPELL
TRIBULATION
GHOST BRIGADE
DESASTER
VARG
MANEGARM
NECROPHAGIST
AURA NOIR
NAPALM DEATH
SUFFOCATION
LOCK UP
CANNIBAL CORPSE
I got Desaster right, and correctly called Suffocation playing after Napalm Death. Additionally, I had Under That Spell and Tribulation, as a pairing, in the right two slots on the bill, but the wrong slots individually; same goes for Aura Noir and Necrophagist. The wrench in these works was Manegarm playing so early after when Moonsorrow went on last year, and Lock Up somehow going on after Napalm Death. All in all, about 8 of 27 correct (under a charitable interpretation). Picking at random would probably get about one band right per day (equal chance of any band for any slot, add up the percentages and hey ho, (1/n)*n = 1), so I did better, but not actually well.
The headliners (last in the list for each day) are announced, and all bands are assigned to the days noted above; it's only the exact order that's not yet determined. If I get more than 50% bands correctly slotted, I get to be unnecessarily annoying and self-congratulatory about it in a later post.
Meanwhile, the running order for Wacken is now out in full, and due to a lack of especially interesting bands, there are very few conflicts. However, they all seem to be really, really, stupid ones:
Grave Digger against Equilibrium on Friday
Slayer against 1349, also Friday
Atrocity against Cantus Buranus (Corvus Corax) on Friday -- even though I don't give a shit and will be seeing Raven in that slot, this is egregiously stupid
Immortal against Rotting Christ on Saturday
As a result, my schedule is going to look something like this:
WED
--
Wikinger-stage (medieval markt?)
18:00 - 19:00 LORD OF THE LOST
20:00 - 21:00 FIDDLERS GREEN
moviefield:
22:30 - 00:00 MOVIENIGHT "UNTIL THE LIGHT TAKES US"
THURS
--
16:00 - 16:45 BLACK SKYLINE (+ SPECIAL GUESTs DORO, U.D.O. and more)
17:30 - 19:00 TRUE ALICE COOPER
20:00 - 21:15 BLACK MÖTLEY CRÜE
21:30 - 23:30 TRUE IRON MAIDEN
(if shit is ridiculous)
Wikinger:
17:00 - 18:00 SVARTSOT
19:00 - 20:00 TORFROCK
21:00 - 22:00 HANGGAI
tent:
23:00 - 23:45 GOJIRA
FRI
--
11:00 - 11:40 BLACK DEW-SCENTED
11:45 - 12:45 TRUE AMORPHIS
13:00 - 14:00 BLACK ORPHANED LAND
14:15 - 15:15 TRUE ILL NINO (???)
15:30 - 16:30 PARTY VOIVOD
16:45 - 17:45 TRUE THE BOSS HOSS (???)
18:00 - 19:00 WIKING SCHELMISH
19:15 - 20:15 TRUE KAMELOT (???)
20:00 - 21:00 WIKING LETZTE INSTANZ (???)
XOR
20:30 - 21:30 BLACK ARCH ENEMY (???)
22:00 - 23:00 WIKING EQUILIBRIUM
23:15 - 00:30 BLACK SLAYER
00:45 - 01:45 TRUE ANVIL
02:10 - 02:55 TENT RAVEN
SAT
--
12:00 - 12:30 TENT NIGHTMARE
12:55 - 13:25 TENT THE NEW BLACK (???)
13:50 - 14:20 TENT DEGRADEAD (???)
14:30 - 15:30 BLACK UNLEASHED
XOR
14:30 - 15:30 PARTY KAMPFAR
15:45 - 16:45 TRUE OVERKILL
17:00 - 18:00 BLACK LOCK UP
18:15 - 19:15 TRUE W.A.S.P.
19:30 - 20:30 BLACK CANNIBAL CORPSE
20:45 - 21:45 TRUE EDGUY
22:00 - 23:00 BLACK IMMORTAL
?AND?
22:45 - 23:15 TENT ROTTING CHRIST
BREAK (no Soulfly, no Despised Icon)
00:30 - 01:30 PARTY TIAMAT
XOR
00:45 - 01:30 TENT KILLING MACHINE
01:35 - 02:50 TRUE U.D.O.
02:54 - 03:00 TRUE SUBWAY TO SALLY COVER "IT'S AFTER DARK" (DAD)
Despite the downtime built in avoiding Caliban and the 23:15 - 00:15 Saturday slot, and the real sag in quality early Friday evening, there are still a lot of decent bands on that schedule. It's just that there are also a lot of bands on that schedule that I don't have an especially strong interest in, many more, proportionally as well as absolutely, than at Party.San, and it's not like every single slot where I do have must-see bands has another must-see band booked onto a different stage behind it. The orgas may say "the festival is the headliner", but in reality there are a lot of other options for people who mainly want to live in a tent by their car, drinking beer and blasting metal for a weekend. Without good bands, no festival will hold up, and the thing about a 50,000+-class festival is that virtually no one who is going to be attending is going to be able to draw up a schedule much different than the one above, full of downtime and bands they don't care about. The trick is, obviously, to cover all the bases in getting enough bands that every segment of the audience has someone they have to go see, but managing that without getting repetitive is the tough part. Apo have played a minimum of three times in the last five years ('06, '07, and '10), and I really need to go back and check to make sure, as I thought they were in last year as well. Mambo Kurt and the Firefighters back every year is festival culture; main-stage stalwarts back every year is ossification. We'll see how things are for real this time next month.
update:
godfuckingdamnit, no sooner do I go and post this up than the organizers swap Devourment to Thursday and move Demonical to Friday. The complete list of slots I got wrong will be unveiled as soon as the real running order goes up on the 26th.
This is a potential running order for Party.San 2010, based on already-published information; feel free to laugh at it when the real one is published and I get most bands wrong:
DONNERSTAG
--
DEMONICAL
KETZER
THE DEVILS BLOOD
MERRIMACK
MONSTROSITY
WATAIN
actual Thursday:
--
KETZER
MERRIMACK
DEVOURMENT
MONSTROSITY
THE DEVILS BLOOD
WATAIN
I got none of these right (well, besides Watain, but that doesn't count). I didn't anticipate The Devil's Blood playing so late or Devourment switching in, albeit to about where I'd've had them.
FREITAG
--
SUICIDAL ANGELS
MILKING THE GOATMACHINE
ONHEIL
ORIGIN
OFERMOD
DEVOURMENT
LIVIDITY
SARKE
DYING FETUS
THE CROWN
ASPHYX
AUTOPSY
actual Friday:
--
ONHEIL
MILKING THE GOATMACHINE
LIVIDITY
SUICIDAL ANGELS
ORIGIN
OFERMOD
DEMONICAL
THE CROWN
ASPHYX
DYING FETUS
SARKE
AUTOPSY
I got Milking The Goatmachine right, and the Origin-Ofermod-D-band-that-switched-days sequence in the right order, but Sarke going so late fucked things up again. I should have learned from Eluveitie last year.
SAMSTAG
--
TRIBULATION
UNDER THAT SPELL
VARG
DESASTER
GHOST BRIGADE
LOCK UP
AURA NOIR
NECROPHAGIST
MANEGARM
NAPALM DEATH
SUFFOCATION
CANNIBAL CORPSE
actual Saturday:
--
UNDER THAT SPELL
TRIBULATION
GHOST BRIGADE
DESASTER
VARG
MANEGARM
NECROPHAGIST
AURA NOIR
NAPALM DEATH
SUFFOCATION
LOCK UP
CANNIBAL CORPSE
I got Desaster right, and correctly called Suffocation playing after Napalm Death. Additionally, I had Under That Spell and Tribulation, as a pairing, in the right two slots on the bill, but the wrong slots individually; same goes for Aura Noir and Necrophagist. The wrench in these works was Manegarm playing so early after when Moonsorrow went on last year, and Lock Up somehow going on after Napalm Death. All in all, about 8 of 27 correct (under a charitable interpretation). Picking at random would probably get about one band right per day (equal chance of any band for any slot, add up the percentages and hey ho, (1/n)*n = 1), so I did better, but not actually well.
The headliners (last in the list for each day) are announced, and all bands are assigned to the days noted above; it's only the exact order that's not yet determined. If I get more than 50% bands correctly slotted, I get to be unnecessarily annoying and self-congratulatory about it in a later post.
Meanwhile, the running order for Wacken is now out in full, and due to a lack of especially interesting bands, there are very few conflicts. However, they all seem to be really, really, stupid ones:
Grave Digger against Equilibrium on Friday
Slayer against 1349, also Friday
Atrocity against Cantus Buranus (Corvus Corax) on Friday -- even though I don't give a shit and will be seeing Raven in that slot, this is egregiously stupid
Immortal against Rotting Christ on Saturday
As a result, my schedule is going to look something like this:
WED
--
Wikinger-stage (medieval markt?)
18:00 - 19:00 LORD OF THE LOST
20:00 - 21:00 FIDDLERS GREEN
moviefield:
22:30 - 00:00 MOVIENIGHT "UNTIL THE LIGHT TAKES US"
THURS
--
16:00 - 16:45 BLACK SKYLINE (+ SPECIAL GUESTs DORO, U.D.O. and more)
17:30 - 19:00 TRUE ALICE COOPER
20:00 - 21:15 BLACK MÖTLEY CRÜE
21:30 - 23:30 TRUE IRON MAIDEN
(if shit is ridiculous)
Wikinger:
17:00 - 18:00 SVARTSOT
19:00 - 20:00 TORFROCK
21:00 - 22:00 HANGGAI
tent:
23:00 - 23:45 GOJIRA
FRI
--
11:00 - 11:40 BLACK DEW-SCENTED
11:45 - 12:45 TRUE AMORPHIS
13:00 - 14:00 BLACK ORPHANED LAND
14:15 - 15:15 TRUE ILL NINO (???)
15:30 - 16:30 PARTY VOIVOD
16:45 - 17:45 TRUE THE BOSS HOSS (???)
18:00 - 19:00 WIKING SCHELMISH
19:15 - 20:15 TRUE KAMELOT (???)
20:00 - 21:00 WIKING LETZTE INSTANZ (???)
XOR
20:30 - 21:30 BLACK ARCH ENEMY (???)
22:00 - 23:00 WIKING EQUILIBRIUM
23:15 - 00:30 BLACK SLAYER
00:45 - 01:45 TRUE ANVIL
02:10 - 02:55 TENT RAVEN
SAT
--
12:00 - 12:30 TENT NIGHTMARE
12:55 - 13:25 TENT THE NEW BLACK (???)
13:50 - 14:20 TENT DEGRADEAD (???)
14:30 - 15:30 BLACK UNLEASHED
XOR
14:30 - 15:30 PARTY KAMPFAR
15:45 - 16:45 TRUE OVERKILL
17:00 - 18:00 BLACK LOCK UP
18:15 - 19:15 TRUE W.A.S.P.
19:30 - 20:30 BLACK CANNIBAL CORPSE
20:45 - 21:45 TRUE EDGUY
22:00 - 23:00 BLACK IMMORTAL
?AND?
22:45 - 23:15 TENT ROTTING CHRIST
BREAK (no Soulfly, no Despised Icon)
00:30 - 01:30 PARTY TIAMAT
XOR
00:45 - 01:30 TENT KILLING MACHINE
01:35 - 02:50 TRUE U.D.O.
02:54 - 03:00 TRUE SUBWAY TO SALLY COVER "IT'S AFTER DARK" (DAD)
Despite the downtime built in avoiding Caliban and the 23:15 - 00:15 Saturday slot, and the real sag in quality early Friday evening, there are still a lot of decent bands on that schedule. It's just that there are also a lot of bands on that schedule that I don't have an especially strong interest in, many more, proportionally as well as absolutely, than at Party.San, and it's not like every single slot where I do have must-see bands has another must-see band booked onto a different stage behind it. The orgas may say "the festival is the headliner", but in reality there are a lot of other options for people who mainly want to live in a tent by their car, drinking beer and blasting metal for a weekend. Without good bands, no festival will hold up, and the thing about a 50,000+-class festival is that virtually no one who is going to be attending is going to be able to draw up a schedule much different than the one above, full of downtime and bands they don't care about. The trick is, obviously, to cover all the bases in getting enough bands that every segment of the audience has someone they have to go see, but managing that without getting repetitive is the tough part. Apo have played a minimum of three times in the last five years ('06, '07, and '10), and I really need to go back and check to make sure, as I thought they were in last year as well. Mambo Kurt and the Firefighters back every year is festival culture; main-stage stalwarts back every year is ossification. We'll see how things are for real this time next month.
update:
godfuckingdamnit, no sooner do I go and post this up than the organizers swap Devourment to Thursday and move Demonical to Friday. The complete list of slots I got wrong will be unveiled as soon as the real running order goes up on the 26th.
Friday, July 02, 2010
Forever's Fallen Grace with Suicide Dream, Absence of the Sun, and Destruction From Within [Ralph's, Worcester, 7/1/2010]
Now that the teams I follow are all out of the part of the World Cup that matters, this post gets to go up in the same tremendously late fashion that anyone disturbed enough to read this thing on a regular basis has come to greet with a resigned acceptance.
I came right out of work going over to this, and ended up getting in a little early due to expecting more traffic than there actually was. The Pike westbound can be pure hell on weekends in the summer as everyone tries to get the hell out of Boston, but apparently people were sticking for the long weekend, or not taking off till Friday. Whatever, no matter, as it just came out to a little more time sitting around waiting for the bands to go on and trying to think of schemes to keep beer bottles from exploding when opened. (Final conclusion: immediately pour into a pint glass, but knowing how turbulent the floor tends to get at this place, you can see why the bartenders wanted to keep the glassware behind the counter.)
Destruction From Within [5/7]
I hadn't heard of these guys before, let alone heard anything that they've done, and perhaps unfairly, when you see a bunch of kids with Xed out hands and a backline full of Crates, you tend to get a little suspicious. Fortunately, any suspicions turned out to be completely unjustified, as they provided a decent, moderately developed set of Dissection-biting blackened metal that got things off on the right foot. Like a lot of young or just new bands, these guys showed solid technical chops even if the composition or songwriting was occasionally lacking, and it'll be interesting to see how they develop and mature going forward.
Absence of the Sun [5/7]
There's no shortage of opportunity for making various environmental-lighting-related jokes given the bandname and the general style, but these guys did come all the way down from Maine and play a solid set, despite their keyboardist getting this instrument jacked out of his car the day before, so actually doing so would be out of line. I'm not sure that the band's sound as presented without the keys is a 100% accurate picture of what they sound like on record or live going forward, but the well-finished if admittedly kind of formulaic NWOSDM/NWOAHM that they laid out here was decent enough. Nothing enormously new, but well-done and solidly executed, and a good time, even if people may not have been as receptive, or inclined to move about, as the band might have liked. Still, good music, and if they're on Hold True, they'll be back in the area sooner or later, and probably on a bill more balanced towards their style.
Suicide Dream [5.5/7]
I'd heard peripherally about this band before, though mostly in the context of the guitarist's gigantic pedal board, which was fully as epic as advertised. Fortunately, the ability and facility to more or less run front-of-house with his feet didn't intrude into the actual musical experience; people were watching and listening to the band, not where Shadow was stepping on. They played out a good set of doomish melodic metal that didn't immediately suggest comparisons; maybe Warlock singles played at 33 rpm -- and not just due to Laurel's voice, but the style of the vocals and the arrangements around them; automatically comparing one female-fronted band to another is the music world's equivalent of the equally annoying, lazy, and misleading black-quarterback/white-receiver comparison -- but the Opeth and Sentenced tinges are undeniable as well. Probably best to actually go and listen to the band; this was good music and they seem to be getting more active.
Unfortunately, neither they nor any of the other three bands on the bill had merch out that would be amenable to lugging over on the fast-approaching Euro tour. Forever's Fallen Grace did have shirts (as well as stickers at a buck a pop, but I'd feel like a dick asking bands to write off potential revenue so I can, in many cases, leave them on tables and bar counters), but I have way too many shirts to buy one from a band before I have a record from them. Of course, everything leans in the other direction (ignore recordings and steal it on the internet later, buy the shirt), but I continue to, salmonlike, swim against the current, fixed firmly on the goal of mistiming a jump over some rocks, falling out of the river, and asphyxiating, later to be devoured by a bear.
Wait, what? Anyways.
Forevers' Fallen Grace [6.5/7]
Wow. The bands to this point had been quite good, and well worth the trip out, but FFG really kicked it up a notch, as well as kicking each others' pedals out of configuration, kicking each other over, and kicking boots off. It kicked off on the floor as well, as might be anticipated at the end of the night, watching a band that at many times came off like Angel Dust, albeit powered by a diesel hemi. Plus more than a few NEHC breakdowns. It was an impressive performance (despite or because of the weirdness of the synthesis), but perhaps marred to a certain degree by excessive fucking around. Yes, it's a DIY gig, and yes, there's nothing wrong with being loose, but when you're bodychecking other band members around the stage so hard that they fall over and knock their axes out of tune, it's hard to argue that it's not having a negative effect. Despite the mishaps, though, this was as indicated a killer performance of the kind that so often closes out these gigs, eminently justifying the investment in driving out and staying to the end.
Unfortunately, while they were able to get one additional song out of the venue ops, that end did have to come, and it was on the road to go home, get in shortly before 3AM, and take a nap before going in to work. Tiredness took its toll on the optimistic goal of getting it out Friday, and then Germany got into the semis. I missed the two gigs that I'd ideally have gone to over the weekend if I hadn't been on call, but the last shift before Germany comes to an end tomorrow, and before that I should have a calendar of remaining gigs up as well.
I came right out of work going over to this, and ended up getting in a little early due to expecting more traffic than there actually was. The Pike westbound can be pure hell on weekends in the summer as everyone tries to get the hell out of Boston, but apparently people were sticking for the long weekend, or not taking off till Friday. Whatever, no matter, as it just came out to a little more time sitting around waiting for the bands to go on and trying to think of schemes to keep beer bottles from exploding when opened. (Final conclusion: immediately pour into a pint glass, but knowing how turbulent the floor tends to get at this place, you can see why the bartenders wanted to keep the glassware behind the counter.)
Destruction From Within [5/7]
I hadn't heard of these guys before, let alone heard anything that they've done, and perhaps unfairly, when you see a bunch of kids with Xed out hands and a backline full of Crates, you tend to get a little suspicious. Fortunately, any suspicions turned out to be completely unjustified, as they provided a decent, moderately developed set of Dissection-biting blackened metal that got things off on the right foot. Like a lot of young or just new bands, these guys showed solid technical chops even if the composition or songwriting was occasionally lacking, and it'll be interesting to see how they develop and mature going forward.
Absence of the Sun [5/7]
There's no shortage of opportunity for making various environmental-lighting-related jokes given the bandname and the general style, but these guys did come all the way down from Maine and play a solid set, despite their keyboardist getting this instrument jacked out of his car the day before, so actually doing so would be out of line. I'm not sure that the band's sound as presented without the keys is a 100% accurate picture of what they sound like on record or live going forward, but the well-finished if admittedly kind of formulaic NWOSDM/NWOAHM that they laid out here was decent enough. Nothing enormously new, but well-done and solidly executed, and a good time, even if people may not have been as receptive, or inclined to move about, as the band might have liked. Still, good music, and if they're on Hold True, they'll be back in the area sooner or later, and probably on a bill more balanced towards their style.
Suicide Dream [5.5/7]
I'd heard peripherally about this band before, though mostly in the context of the guitarist's gigantic pedal board, which was fully as epic as advertised. Fortunately, the ability and facility to more or less run front-of-house with his feet didn't intrude into the actual musical experience; people were watching and listening to the band, not where Shadow was stepping on. They played out a good set of doomish melodic metal that didn't immediately suggest comparisons; maybe Warlock singles played at 33 rpm -- and not just due to Laurel's voice, but the style of the vocals and the arrangements around them; automatically comparing one female-fronted band to another is the music world's equivalent of the equally annoying, lazy, and misleading black-quarterback/white-receiver comparison -- but the Opeth and Sentenced tinges are undeniable as well. Probably best to actually go and listen to the band; this was good music and they seem to be getting more active.
Unfortunately, neither they nor any of the other three bands on the bill had merch out that would be amenable to lugging over on the fast-approaching Euro tour. Forever's Fallen Grace did have shirts (as well as stickers at a buck a pop, but I'd feel like a dick asking bands to write off potential revenue so I can, in many cases, leave them on tables and bar counters), but I have way too many shirts to buy one from a band before I have a record from them. Of course, everything leans in the other direction (ignore recordings and steal it on the internet later, buy the shirt), but I continue to, salmonlike, swim against the current, fixed firmly on the goal of mistiming a jump over some rocks, falling out of the river, and asphyxiating, later to be devoured by a bear.
Wait, what? Anyways.
Forevers' Fallen Grace [6.5/7]
Wow. The bands to this point had been quite good, and well worth the trip out, but FFG really kicked it up a notch, as well as kicking each others' pedals out of configuration, kicking each other over, and kicking boots off. It kicked off on the floor as well, as might be anticipated at the end of the night, watching a band that at many times came off like Angel Dust, albeit powered by a diesel hemi. Plus more than a few NEHC breakdowns. It was an impressive performance (despite or because of the weirdness of the synthesis), but perhaps marred to a certain degree by excessive fucking around. Yes, it's a DIY gig, and yes, there's nothing wrong with being loose, but when you're bodychecking other band members around the stage so hard that they fall over and knock their axes out of tune, it's hard to argue that it's not having a negative effect. Despite the mishaps, though, this was as indicated a killer performance of the kind that so often closes out these gigs, eminently justifying the investment in driving out and staying to the end.
Unfortunately, while they were able to get one additional song out of the venue ops, that end did have to come, and it was on the road to go home, get in shortly before 3AM, and take a nap before going in to work. Tiredness took its toll on the optimistic goal of getting it out Friday, and then Germany got into the semis. I missed the two gigs that I'd ideally have gone to over the weekend if I hadn't been on call, but the last shift before Germany comes to an end tomorrow, and before that I should have a calendar of remaining gigs up as well.
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