Though work was wicked busy and I was unsure as to whether I'd get out on time for this, I went off on-call on schedule and was accordingly deshackled from my laptop. A brisk hike over a couple bridges later, and I was on the doorstep of O'Brien's, shortly after doors and just in time to have to watch where I was standing as Nachzehrer loaded in.
As usual on getting in early, there was a bunch of standing around drinking; I didn't need to get in this early, but the alternative was to maybe get stuck in traffic and end up missing bands or, having arrived in Boston, stand around pointlessly in the cold.
Soon enough, though, the music started.
Nachzehrer [5/7]
The second time I'd seen them, and maybe their second show overall, this presented a different side to the band: darker, heavier, and more first-wave black metal. With a wee bit of stretching, one might get to a heavier Bifrost minus the keys; this band is still, obviously, in the process of finding their feet, but there's not a lot of Low-Countries-derived black metal in this part of the world, and it'll be interesting to see how Nachzehrer's take on the raw and thrashy sound develops going forward.
Darkwor [6/7]
This was a shorter set than they had in Worcester, and one with a few more technical difficulties -- the guitars rather buried at the start -- but a good solid one. Of the three black metal bands here, Darkwor was the most expansive and 'epic', even with their raw bits, and they did a good job bringing that sound forward.
Unfortunately, I got mixed up and asked after a CD that the band didn't have -- but it is coming out for real, imminently, and if regular Darkwor shows in Worcester are something else, a Darkwor release show at Ralph's with Woe heading the bill will be something else again, and not to be missed. Mark your calendars for 3/13 -- it's not the Ides, but Metal Thursday is kind of constrained as to what day of the week it can happen on.
Black Pyramid [6/7]
The only thing "black metal" about Black Pyramid is that they are a "metal" band with "black" in their name, but regardless they were well-matched to this bill and well-received by the audience. This is partly because Rich Horror just plain doesn't book shows where all the bands don't flow with and set up each other in subtly awesome fashion, and partly because Black Pyramid is a fuckin good and fuckin heavy doom metal band. Not content to just revive Sabbath (though, admittedly, there are a lot of Sabbath riffs going on here), Black Pyramid substantially reinvents the progress of rock starting about 1978, taking first-wave blues-metal and NWOBHM as the foundation, then discarding everything after as irrelevant to their vision of metal. It was an awesome time at a crushing volume (making the case advanced by others who've seen them, that, despite not being remotely a death metal band, they would do well at MDF), and enthusiastically received by the peak audience; these people were up for the black metal portions of the bill as well, but truer-than-thou is a disease on the wane in Boston, as evinced by the diversity of the lineups on the last couple black metal shows documented here, as well as this bill itself.
Before Witch Tomb, people sadly and completely expectedly started to filter out; this is a consequence of MBTA policies, as noted on other O'B's shows in the past, rather than any reflection on the bands, and will likely continue until the T officils grow the stones to keep some kind of service running overnight -- and with the various anti-party ordinances currently in force in mind, this is not likely. It is, though, pretty amazing that the Boston DIY music scenes are able to continue to be so vibrant and productive in a town where the bars close before 1 AM on the weekends.
Witch Tomb [6/7]
As Witch Tomb goes, this was in some ways a down set. However, it really speaks to the quality and consistency of this band that even a relatively "down" set could be this good and this dominant, debatably the best outing on a very strong show. This performance was brutal first, last, and foremost, a powerful statement of urban yet never urbane black metal that, as with the band's tenuous antecedents in December Wolves, really needs to get out to more people. Witch Tomb's done better sets than this (mostly where a longer set time's afforded them more space to plow dissonant atmospheres into the abysal blasting, but this set was crushing and impressive in its own right, and a worthy capstone to another good local black metal show.
Things having closed up, it was time for the hike again, and though it was still freezing, it was not here, but the next night, somewhere in the process of getting wasted and sticking public pencils in my chop while doing karaoke in a dive bar, that I got sick. Hence the delay in getting this thing out. I'm still too dinged up to make it down to Bobfest tonight (the birthday celebration by and for Boston's most eclectic and enthusiastic DIY music fan, Wren "Bob" Leader), and sadly either on-call or busy with other stuff for Revocation's sure-to-be-memorable gig at the Cambridge Marriott, but there aint no such thing as too sick to go to Kreator.....even if it turns out to be IMPOSSIBLE! IMPOSSIBLE TO CURE!!!!!
Showing posts with label witch tomb. Show all posts
Showing posts with label witch tomb. Show all posts
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Friday, September 25, 2009
Summoning Hate with Martyrvore, Witch Tomb, and Deathgod Messiah [O'Brien's, Allston, 9/24/2009]
This was the best show I've gotten seriously injured at on this continent. Actually, the seriousness is debatable, because it was only a finger that got broken, and just the end of it, really, but the awesomeness of the performance was not.
I plugged along at work a little too late, at least as I thought, got stuck in traffic due to large portions of 93 being closed, and then managed to hike over to the venue with time to spare regardless. Once inside, I drank some beer, got shit from Raphael and others for cutting off the Sodom backpatch in favor of a DIYed Revocation badge (pics of assembly sequence maybe coming), and waited around a bit occasionally getting quizzed on Euro-festival stuff; pretty much the usual.
After some grousing about "punk rock standard time" (also pretty much the usual), the bands got rolling, and the result was a pretty epic time only a little dinged up by injury.
Deathgod Messiah [5.5/7]
I hadn't seen these guys together before (but, of course, all of the members separately in various local black/thrash bands such as CNV, Deathamphetamine, and Witch Tomb), and the first three bands were backlined with the Martyrvore/Panzerbastard kit, so I was a little confused that it wasn't Martyrvore opening. Once the band actually started, though, the confusion was gone, blown away by a roiling tide of primitive first-wave black metal. Best comparisons are probably to Sarcofago and Hellhammer, but angrier and more focused. Though this was a good set, it also felt kind of short, which is par for the course when a new band shows up (not much material written, and as discussed on Bone Ritual's debut a while back, a general disinclination to play covers), but still hurts. In truth, all the sets this night felt a little short, even Summoning Hate at the end when I was waiting for them to finish so I could go to the doctor; maybe it's just not enough shows lately. Good stuff, and if they had demos I missed them, but a band this good and aggressive is going to show up again on DIY shows, and I'll get another chance.
Witch Tomb [7/7]
You never know with Witch Tomb; some nights you just get a great show, and others you get something completely awesome. This was one of the latter; the band has an excellent history, but this was one of the real true highlights, at least as I've seen so far. They did a lot of stuff old and new, and all with that complete conquering presence that you really only get from a good black metal band at the top of their game. There are a lot of good black metal bands in this area, enough that it's realistic to talk about NEBM as largely or completely independent of USBM as it is today, but when they're putting up a performance like this, it's hard to think of Witch Tomb as anything but the top of that heap. The environment at that '07 outing supporting Watain was maybe a little more special, but the music here was definitely better.
Martyrvore [6/7]
Before these guys started, Seth (Anal Cunt, duh) Putnam had a couple words into the mic lauding the fact that the Boston underground is still going, still producing quality extreme metal and still putting up quality shows like this gig and these bands. Martyrvore basically took it from there, putting out an intense barrage of violent blackened death metal in their expected no-prisoners fashion. I was able to hear more of their set than the last time I caught them -- potentially one of the last times they've played out, but that's really neither here nor there -- due to generally better sound, and the result was a solidly better impression. If you're looking for a quick look into NEBM, you won't do much better than their split with Witch Tomb. As noted, there are a lot of bands from here, but this sort of raw, dirty violence is the dominant strain, and these two bands do it pretty goddamned well.
This show was the end of the line for the cowskull that Martyrvore has had for a while, and brought out corpsepainted. It got slammed into the stage rather hard on numerous occasions, and by the end of their set, Paul had carpeted the stage and front of the floor in bone shrapnel. OH SNAP FORESHADOWING. Another attendee took this Symbolfoto of it sometime before it became completely destroyed; that's no a half-bad desktop background for anyone into DIY metal. I managed to pick up a tooth from it that so far has not been successful as a ritual focus for the Merseburg Charm, but expecting effectiveness out of old Germanic magic is probably asking too much.
Summoning Hate [6/7]
Though I spent about half the set distracted by violent pains in the middle of my right hand, this was still an intense and awesome set from the least black metal band on the bill. Summoning Hate turned in, like usual lately, a nice thick set of pounding thrash-death that sounded a little crisper than the last few times I've seen them, maybe due to the good venue sound. They also got people moving with this music, which is the reason that this score ought to come with that infamous "includes adjustments for injury" tag.
About halfway through Summoning Hate's set, one of their guys got pitched backward in the pit. I stretched out a hand to try and keep him from busting his head open on the edge of one of Martyrvore's cabs, which they'd cleared off the stage after their set but not yet out to their van/truck. This was a partial success; the guy wasn't injured, but his head caught the last digit on my right middle finger right on the fucking edge of the cab, and as it turned out, neatly broke the bone. This hurt like a fucking bastard, but I've gotten banged up before, so with the help of a couple trips to the O'B's bathroom sink to ice it down, I got through the end of the show.
The finger was swelling up and looking bad, and I didn't do any favors on the long walk back to Cambridge by not elevating it and also jimmying the digit around to see if it would bend in a way that wasn't consistent with a single piece of bone between the nail and the first knuckle. I got one of those results, and by the time I got back to my town, the finger was large and purple and worth a trip to the ER rather than just going to the pharmacy next door to my apartment buying some athletic tape.
Since this was kind of a pussy injury as ER cases go -- even in a small town like this, there are issues, like the patient brought in euphemistically described by the EMTs as "significant lower GI bleed" and more candidly by the nursing staff as "gouts of blood pouring from the anus" -- I got to sit around with an icepack for three hours while the doctors took care of the people with real problems, and contemplate the staff, the sounds of other people under heavier treatment, and the bed in the waiting room, and with it the reality that I, like some of the heavier cases, would likely find myself on a similar contraption sometime in the next fifty years, at which point I would stop being an alive human being and turn into a corpse. Pussy injury or no pussy injury, medical gore and forced contemplation of your own mortality is pretty fucking death metal.
In the end, I got what I was after -- a splint and confirmation that the damn finger was broken and I hadn't wasted three hours -- then went home and went to sleep instead of going to work. An outbreak of egregious drunkenness kind of killed off the rest of the weekend, but I'm on the mend now, in fine condition apart from that one damn digit, and will be in prime shape for Revocation's CD release this week.
I plugged along at work a little too late, at least as I thought, got stuck in traffic due to large portions of 93 being closed, and then managed to hike over to the venue with time to spare regardless. Once inside, I drank some beer, got shit from Raphael and others for cutting off the Sodom backpatch in favor of a DIYed Revocation badge (pics of assembly sequence maybe coming), and waited around a bit occasionally getting quizzed on Euro-festival stuff; pretty much the usual.
After some grousing about "punk rock standard time" (also pretty much the usual), the bands got rolling, and the result was a pretty epic time only a little dinged up by injury.
Deathgod Messiah [5.5/7]
I hadn't seen these guys together before (but, of course, all of the members separately in various local black/thrash bands such as CNV, Deathamphetamine, and Witch Tomb), and the first three bands were backlined with the Martyrvore/Panzerbastard kit, so I was a little confused that it wasn't Martyrvore opening. Once the band actually started, though, the confusion was gone, blown away by a roiling tide of primitive first-wave black metal. Best comparisons are probably to Sarcofago and Hellhammer, but angrier and more focused. Though this was a good set, it also felt kind of short, which is par for the course when a new band shows up (not much material written, and as discussed on Bone Ritual's debut a while back, a general disinclination to play covers), but still hurts. In truth, all the sets this night felt a little short, even Summoning Hate at the end when I was waiting for them to finish so I could go to the doctor; maybe it's just not enough shows lately. Good stuff, and if they had demos I missed them, but a band this good and aggressive is going to show up again on DIY shows, and I'll get another chance.
Witch Tomb [7/7]
You never know with Witch Tomb; some nights you just get a great show, and others you get something completely awesome. This was one of the latter; the band has an excellent history, but this was one of the real true highlights, at least as I've seen so far. They did a lot of stuff old and new, and all with that complete conquering presence that you really only get from a good black metal band at the top of their game. There are a lot of good black metal bands in this area, enough that it's realistic to talk about NEBM as largely or completely independent of USBM as it is today, but when they're putting up a performance like this, it's hard to think of Witch Tomb as anything but the top of that heap. The environment at that '07 outing supporting Watain was maybe a little more special, but the music here was definitely better.
Martyrvore [6/7]
Before these guys started, Seth (Anal Cunt, duh) Putnam had a couple words into the mic lauding the fact that the Boston underground is still going, still producing quality extreme metal and still putting up quality shows like this gig and these bands. Martyrvore basically took it from there, putting out an intense barrage of violent blackened death metal in their expected no-prisoners fashion. I was able to hear more of their set than the last time I caught them -- potentially one of the last times they've played out, but that's really neither here nor there -- due to generally better sound, and the result was a solidly better impression. If you're looking for a quick look into NEBM, you won't do much better than their split with Witch Tomb. As noted, there are a lot of bands from here, but this sort of raw, dirty violence is the dominant strain, and these two bands do it pretty goddamned well.
This show was the end of the line for the cowskull that Martyrvore has had for a while, and brought out corpsepainted. It got slammed into the stage rather hard on numerous occasions, and by the end of their set, Paul had carpeted the stage and front of the floor in bone shrapnel. OH SNAP FORESHADOWING. Another attendee took this Symbolfoto of it sometime before it became completely destroyed; that's no a half-bad desktop background for anyone into DIY metal. I managed to pick up a tooth from it that so far has not been successful as a ritual focus for the Merseburg Charm, but expecting effectiveness out of old Germanic magic is probably asking too much.
Summoning Hate [6/7]
Though I spent about half the set distracted by violent pains in the middle of my right hand, this was still an intense and awesome set from the least black metal band on the bill. Summoning Hate turned in, like usual lately, a nice thick set of pounding thrash-death that sounded a little crisper than the last few times I've seen them, maybe due to the good venue sound. They also got people moving with this music, which is the reason that this score ought to come with that infamous "includes adjustments for injury" tag.
About halfway through Summoning Hate's set, one of their guys got pitched backward in the pit. I stretched out a hand to try and keep him from busting his head open on the edge of one of Martyrvore's cabs, which they'd cleared off the stage after their set but not yet out to their van/truck. This was a partial success; the guy wasn't injured, but his head caught the last digit on my right middle finger right on the fucking edge of the cab, and as it turned out, neatly broke the bone. This hurt like a fucking bastard, but I've gotten banged up before, so with the help of a couple trips to the O'B's bathroom sink to ice it down, I got through the end of the show.
The finger was swelling up and looking bad, and I didn't do any favors on the long walk back to Cambridge by not elevating it and also jimmying the digit around to see if it would bend in a way that wasn't consistent with a single piece of bone between the nail and the first knuckle. I got one of those results, and by the time I got back to my town, the finger was large and purple and worth a trip to the ER rather than just going to the pharmacy next door to my apartment buying some athletic tape.
Since this was kind of a pussy injury as ER cases go -- even in a small town like this, there are issues, like the patient brought in euphemistically described by the EMTs as "significant lower GI bleed" and more candidly by the nursing staff as "gouts of blood pouring from the anus" -- I got to sit around with an icepack for three hours while the doctors took care of the people with real problems, and contemplate the staff, the sounds of other people under heavier treatment, and the bed in the waiting room, and with it the reality that I, like some of the heavier cases, would likely find myself on a similar contraption sometime in the next fifty years, at which point I would stop being an alive human being and turn into a corpse. Pussy injury or no pussy injury, medical gore and forced contemplation of your own mortality is pretty fucking death metal.
In the end, I got what I was after -- a splint and confirmation that the damn finger was broken and I hadn't wasted three hours -- then went home and went to sleep instead of going to work. An outbreak of egregious drunkenness kind of killed off the rest of the weekend, but I'm on the mend now, in fine condition apart from that one damn digit, and will be in prime shape for Revocation's CD release this week.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Bone Awl with Ashdautas, Volahn, and Witch Tomb [O'Brien's, Allston, 6/15/2009]
No longer sick, on-call, or preoccupied with moving stuff, I went in for this rather awesome black metal gig, and effectively reacquainted myself with the protocols of Boston shows. Traffic was almost non-existent, and my anticipated time for the walk in from Cambridge must have been set when I was a lot less walk-capable, so I ended up getting over to O'B's about half an hour before nominal doors. Of course, this was a DIY show, so nobody cared; I sat around on the sidewalk cooling down for 15 minutes or so, then went in and got some beer and some merch.
There was some lineup flux in the show going in, and -- always a sign of good bands on a successful tour -- the merch selection was not biased towards the convenient and the portable. I missed the last Volahn pin, but scored an Ashdautas record (good stuff, nearly as impressive as their live effort) and some Bone Awl cassettes. I was thinking about maybe getting a 7" or two as well, but the awkwardness of hand-carrying them through the rest of the show, and the certainty that they would end up snapped if I put them inside the back jacket pocket, put the nix on that until it was too late.
Witch Tomb [6/7]
It'd been a while since I'd seen these guys last, but the performance proved that I hadn't just been building them up in my head all this time; just as black, brutal, and hateful as might be desired. They allegedly had some new material, but I'm not sure that I heard anything I didn't recognize; if there was new stuff, it's solidly in the dominating tradition of the old, still holding up the vicious end of NEBM. Cody was, as often, the only one on the bill blacked up, but either as a new angle or as a concession to how hot it gets inside O'Brien's around this time, he had a more conventional corpsepaint design reminiscent of Alan Nemtheanga (Primordial) or Sarcofago. With a limited supply of data points over a long time axis, it's difficult to determine if this is a manifestation of developing ideas on what image Witch Tomb should present, or a postmodern (and thoroughly old-school BM) refutation of the idea that image, or indeed anything except what's coming out of the speakers, matters when considering a band. In regards that most important dimension, though, the sole shortfall in this performance was that there wasn't enough of it; Witch Tomb got a good thick set for an opener, but any time you've got a good band cranking along and hitting their stride, it's a bummer when they have to close up and make way for the next.
With Mind Eraser not on this show (they'd previously been announced, then dropped, then reannounced, then dropped again), there was a nice symmetry of brutal-mystic-mystic-brutal as regards the emphases of the bands, which meshed well with the crowd that showed up. As seems to be the case for black metal in Allston these days, the venue was packed, in about equal proportions of hipsters, normal people, and aspirational militants. ('Normal' here, of course, being normal metal fans.) I try not to judge people by appearances, or begrudge anyone the right to support touring bands, and my black metal militant days are long behind me, but you look at some of the conduct seen here, and think back to the days when people used to huff dead animals and fuck up their own lives permanently for this music and think, how do we get from A to B? No declaration of genre death, though; eventually, people who are into black metal because it's kvlt rather than because they love the music will move on, and DIY shows like this show that the music will continue to go back to its deep dark wellsprings to reinvent itself whenever it needs to.
Volahn [6/7]
The first of the touring bands, they'd been billed as sounding like early Immortal, but while I'm not sure how accurate that is as a description of the music, as an indicator of quality it was pretty much dead on. The band (in this live iteration) included nearly all of the same members, in nearly all of the same positions, as Ashdautas, and as someone who didn't take notes but did take several pints of beer while at this show, it's not always the easiest to discriminate between these two bands. Volahn had a little more instrumental bite to them due to having two guitars instead of one, and more screamed than shrieked vocals -- and if you're asking yourself what the difference is in that regard, you don't listen to enough underground black metal. They also felt like they could have gone on a few more songs longer, but unfortunately did not; this, as seen above and below, is kind of a theme of this show.
I got another beer, sat down for a bit, and turned back around to find virtually the same band setting up on stage. It's like Composted and the last TYAG lineup, except that the singers in the aforementioned band usually have baked goods or dildo hats or something on top of their heads, rather than rendition hoods.
Ashdautas [6.5/7]
The general expansive Norwegian-first-wave sound was common with Volahn, but the slightly sparser instrumentation meant more space in the sound, which was a plus in this mystic and ritualistic outing. The singer also delivered with some of the best absolute shrieking I've heard from a band not named Bethlehem, and did it while wearing a bag over his head for the entire set. Some cynics may correctly observe that wearing a tentlike bedsheet cloak does not make you Wormphlegm, it merely makes you a guy under a black bedsheet with armholes, these people weren't in the audience, obviously, because if they were, they'd see how well this one bit of costuming works in this particular context. The sound, of the instrumentals and of the expressive vocals, really goes out and grabs you, and then you stop thinking about Jawas and shit and concentrate on how awesome the band is being.
Bone Awl [6/7]
A return to the dirtier and more brutal sounds that Witch Tomb had started off with, Bone Awl brought the proceedings full circle with a nice thick set of thrashing, vicious black metal. There was, as might have been anticipated, not a whole lot of movement on the floor at this shindig, but Bone Awl saw the most intensity and most collisions of the few that were. They may not have had the musical highs that Ashdautas did, at least from my perspective, but they did lay out a hellish fun set of crushing music, and what turned out to be an appropriate conclusion to a damned good show that will probably turn up among the year's best.
The "turned out" part is in there because after Bone Awl wrapped, I and a bunch of other people hit the sidewalk to chill out and cool down, not certain if Mind Eraser was going to play or not. Eventually, I decided that even if they did, it wasn't worth the extra time spent, so I hiked back across the bridges to pick up my car, drive home, and get to sleep a little after 2AM, leaving barely four hours before I had to get up and go to work. And we do this again come Thursday; Composted, Hivesmasher and Parasitic Extirpation in Worcester. One expects many fewer hipsters, and a much, much lower chance of getting through without injury in the absence of appropriate leg armor, but about the same levels of skullcrushing metal.
There was some lineup flux in the show going in, and -- always a sign of good bands on a successful tour -- the merch selection was not biased towards the convenient and the portable. I missed the last Volahn pin, but scored an Ashdautas record (good stuff, nearly as impressive as their live effort) and some Bone Awl cassettes. I was thinking about maybe getting a 7" or two as well, but the awkwardness of hand-carrying them through the rest of the show, and the certainty that they would end up snapped if I put them inside the back jacket pocket, put the nix on that until it was too late.
Witch Tomb [6/7]
It'd been a while since I'd seen these guys last, but the performance proved that I hadn't just been building them up in my head all this time; just as black, brutal, and hateful as might be desired. They allegedly had some new material, but I'm not sure that I heard anything I didn't recognize; if there was new stuff, it's solidly in the dominating tradition of the old, still holding up the vicious end of NEBM. Cody was, as often, the only one on the bill blacked up, but either as a new angle or as a concession to how hot it gets inside O'Brien's around this time, he had a more conventional corpsepaint design reminiscent of Alan Nemtheanga (Primordial) or Sarcofago. With a limited supply of data points over a long time axis, it's difficult to determine if this is a manifestation of developing ideas on what image Witch Tomb should present, or a postmodern (and thoroughly old-school BM) refutation of the idea that image, or indeed anything except what's coming out of the speakers, matters when considering a band. In regards that most important dimension, though, the sole shortfall in this performance was that there wasn't enough of it; Witch Tomb got a good thick set for an opener, but any time you've got a good band cranking along and hitting their stride, it's a bummer when they have to close up and make way for the next.
With Mind Eraser not on this show (they'd previously been announced, then dropped, then reannounced, then dropped again), there was a nice symmetry of brutal-mystic-mystic-brutal as regards the emphases of the bands, which meshed well with the crowd that showed up. As seems to be the case for black metal in Allston these days, the venue was packed, in about equal proportions of hipsters, normal people, and aspirational militants. ('Normal' here, of course, being normal metal fans.) I try not to judge people by appearances, or begrudge anyone the right to support touring bands, and my black metal militant days are long behind me, but you look at some of the conduct seen here, and think back to the days when people used to huff dead animals and fuck up their own lives permanently for this music and think, how do we get from A to B? No declaration of genre death, though; eventually, people who are into black metal because it's kvlt rather than because they love the music will move on, and DIY shows like this show that the music will continue to go back to its deep dark wellsprings to reinvent itself whenever it needs to.
Volahn [6/7]
The first of the touring bands, they'd been billed as sounding like early Immortal, but while I'm not sure how accurate that is as a description of the music, as an indicator of quality it was pretty much dead on. The band (in this live iteration) included nearly all of the same members, in nearly all of the same positions, as Ashdautas, and as someone who didn't take notes but did take several pints of beer while at this show, it's not always the easiest to discriminate between these two bands. Volahn had a little more instrumental bite to them due to having two guitars instead of one, and more screamed than shrieked vocals -- and if you're asking yourself what the difference is in that regard, you don't listen to enough underground black metal. They also felt like they could have gone on a few more songs longer, but unfortunately did not; this, as seen above and below, is kind of a theme of this show.
I got another beer, sat down for a bit, and turned back around to find virtually the same band setting up on stage. It's like Composted and the last TYAG lineup, except that the singers in the aforementioned band usually have baked goods or dildo hats or something on top of their heads, rather than rendition hoods.
Ashdautas [6.5/7]
The general expansive Norwegian-first-wave sound was common with Volahn, but the slightly sparser instrumentation meant more space in the sound, which was a plus in this mystic and ritualistic outing. The singer also delivered with some of the best absolute shrieking I've heard from a band not named Bethlehem, and did it while wearing a bag over his head for the entire set. Some cynics may correctly observe that wearing a tentlike bedsheet cloak does not make you Wormphlegm, it merely makes you a guy under a black bedsheet with armholes, these people weren't in the audience, obviously, because if they were, they'd see how well this one bit of costuming works in this particular context. The sound, of the instrumentals and of the expressive vocals, really goes out and grabs you, and then you stop thinking about Jawas and shit and concentrate on how awesome the band is being.
Bone Awl [6/7]
A return to the dirtier and more brutal sounds that Witch Tomb had started off with, Bone Awl brought the proceedings full circle with a nice thick set of thrashing, vicious black metal. There was, as might have been anticipated, not a whole lot of movement on the floor at this shindig, but Bone Awl saw the most intensity and most collisions of the few that were. They may not have had the musical highs that Ashdautas did, at least from my perspective, but they did lay out a hellish fun set of crushing music, and what turned out to be an appropriate conclusion to a damned good show that will probably turn up among the year's best.
The "turned out" part is in there because after Bone Awl wrapped, I and a bunch of other people hit the sidewalk to chill out and cool down, not certain if Mind Eraser was going to play or not. Eventually, I decided that even if they did, it wasn't worth the extra time spent, so I hiked back across the bridges to pick up my car, drive home, and get to sleep a little after 2AM, leaving barely four hours before I had to get up and go to work. And we do this again come Thursday; Composted, Hivesmasher and Parasitic Extirpation in Worcester. One expects many fewer hipsters, and a much, much lower chance of getting through without injury in the absence of appropriate leg armor, but about the same levels of skullcrushing metal.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Deathamphetamine with Witch Tomb, Zircon, and Razormaze [O'Brien's, Allston, 7/27/2008]
Though I didn't end up picking up any merch for export, this was still a killer show and a first-class personal sendoff before what is shaping up to be about the biggest and best Wacken ever. More on that, of course, when I get back from said fest.
For this one, I got in a little early, despite a bit of traffic and having to do the two-mile march in wearing my normal jacket; it had been raining earlier, and I also needed to get into festival shape of wearing the full-weight kutte despite the heat. It wasn't so bad, and though I was probably about the first paying entrant, it gave me time to sit and rest up before the bands started.
Razormaze [5/7]
Probably more due to bad luck than anything else, I hadn't seen this band yet -- and based on this set, not seeing them is something that metalheads ought to generally avoid. Drawing from old Metallica, mid-period Testament, and classic Iron Maiden, this was a ripping set of old-school thrash that, if it didn't exactly provide much new (or, admittedly "noticeably different from Warbringer or, say, Fastkill"), still definitely rocked. Very few of the thrash revival (or, to kill a meme flat dead, the NWOHSTM -- new wave of high school thrash metal) bands do melodics the way these guys borrow from Maiden and Ride The Lightning, which will help set them apart to the point where they find more of their own voice instead of the echoes of yesteryear.
I love thrash metal, and I think that people playing it in the old style in the present day is awesome, even when they're significantly younger than me and weren't alive when Reign In Blood was released. I'm not sure why old thrash has come back; hopefully, this isn't just a trend, and these bands will continue and develop, and maybe take their later direction in a different, but just as interesting path, than the way that thrash evolved at the turn of the '90s.
Since Razormaze had patches, in addition to more normal merch, I had to pick one up; unfortunately, I don't have the time before I hit the road tonight to figure out where the hell I can fit it on one or the other of my jackets, let alone do the requisite sewing. If you buy kutte parts, people will make more of them.
Zircon [7/7]
Wow. I hadn't seen Zircon in nearly a year, since their gig with Wolven Ancestry at Ralph's last year, which was the first show after Wacken 07, with this being the last one before the 2008 iteration. In that time, they'd been pretty quiet, mostly known for members being out on loan to bigger bands. Anthony may be with Belphegor near-full-time, and out of Zircon now, but Scott is back, and the time spent as the voice of Vital Remains definitely shows. The band had amazing presence, putting up large-hall force in a dive bar, and the music was viciously awesome, covering, if I heard it right, mostly new stuff since their last split, as well as some older stuff. The tone may be reminiscent of Immortal in some places, but that's seldom a bad thing, and the music is Zircon alone. Looking ahead at the show calendar, it looks like these guys are going to be active again, and, like Revocation (get well soon Anthony) extended activity at this level is going to lead to interest from good labels if any kind of justice prevails.
Witch Tomb [6/7]
Zircon set the bar damn high, but Witch Tomb nearly equalled them, putting forth a top-class set of raw, dirty black metal. As either a concession to the heat, or an assertion that the music dominates over the visual, they weren't blacked up, not even Cody, which is interesting considering how their more usual visuals meshed with the music, and was probably the one implementation of corpsepaint that actually worked in an American underground context. It, of course, didn't have any negative effect on the music, but the one significant takeaway from this set was that it felt too damned short. Though I eventually appreciated getting home earlier, another 10 minutes from Witch Tomb (and also from Deathamphetamine, later) would have made the later time worthwhile.
Deathamphetamine [6/7]
At their last last show, back before the Skybar closed, Deathamphetamine was a five-piece; they're down to four now, more thrashy with less death and hardcore, and looking for a new name to distinguish the new era of the band from the old. It's tough picking a name that's both good and original, but in point of fact the band has a bit of freedom in this regard given how good their fusion of thrash, death, and hardcore is. Again, as with Witch Tomb, it was a little surprising and disappointing when they closed up; I really thought they were good for another couple songs. Abstractly, it's better to leave the audience wanting more than to leave them glad you finally stopped, but the way these guys were going on this show, it's difficult to think of someone who could get bored with them, and more difficult to consider this hypothetical wet blanket coming out to O'B's in the first place. There will be other shows, though, and this one certainly didn't lack for awesome.
Afterwards I hung about talking with some of Summoning Hate's crew -- and apologizing because I'm gonna miss them at the Midway on account of At The Gates opening for Carcass opening for Kreator 4000 miles away -- and then stumped back across the bridges to go home. Good show, and my gear is packed; barring luggage loss, injury, or other accidents, I'll have notice of how Wacken went up in about a week, and pictures and a full writeup after.
For this one, I got in a little early, despite a bit of traffic and having to do the two-mile march in wearing my normal jacket; it had been raining earlier, and I also needed to get into festival shape of wearing the full-weight kutte despite the heat. It wasn't so bad, and though I was probably about the first paying entrant, it gave me time to sit and rest up before the bands started.
Razormaze [5/7]
Probably more due to bad luck than anything else, I hadn't seen this band yet -- and based on this set, not seeing them is something that metalheads ought to generally avoid. Drawing from old Metallica, mid-period Testament, and classic Iron Maiden, this was a ripping set of old-school thrash that, if it didn't exactly provide much new (or, admittedly "noticeably different from Warbringer or, say, Fastkill"), still definitely rocked. Very few of the thrash revival (or, to kill a meme flat dead, the NWOHSTM -- new wave of high school thrash metal) bands do melodics the way these guys borrow from Maiden and Ride The Lightning, which will help set them apart to the point where they find more of their own voice instead of the echoes of yesteryear.
I love thrash metal, and I think that people playing it in the old style in the present day is awesome, even when they're significantly younger than me and weren't alive when Reign In Blood was released. I'm not sure why old thrash has come back; hopefully, this isn't just a trend, and these bands will continue and develop, and maybe take their later direction in a different, but just as interesting path, than the way that thrash evolved at the turn of the '90s.
Since Razormaze had patches, in addition to more normal merch, I had to pick one up; unfortunately, I don't have the time before I hit the road tonight to figure out where the hell I can fit it on one or the other of my jackets, let alone do the requisite sewing. If you buy kutte parts, people will make more of them.
Zircon [7/7]
Wow. I hadn't seen Zircon in nearly a year, since their gig with Wolven Ancestry at Ralph's last year, which was the first show after Wacken 07, with this being the last one before the 2008 iteration. In that time, they'd been pretty quiet, mostly known for members being out on loan to bigger bands. Anthony may be with Belphegor near-full-time, and out of Zircon now, but Scott is back, and the time spent as the voice of Vital Remains definitely shows. The band had amazing presence, putting up large-hall force in a dive bar, and the music was viciously awesome, covering, if I heard it right, mostly new stuff since their last split, as well as some older stuff. The tone may be reminiscent of Immortal in some places, but that's seldom a bad thing, and the music is Zircon alone. Looking ahead at the show calendar, it looks like these guys are going to be active again, and, like Revocation (get well soon Anthony) extended activity at this level is going to lead to interest from good labels if any kind of justice prevails.
Witch Tomb [6/7]
Zircon set the bar damn high, but Witch Tomb nearly equalled them, putting forth a top-class set of raw, dirty black metal. As either a concession to the heat, or an assertion that the music dominates over the visual, they weren't blacked up, not even Cody, which is interesting considering how their more usual visuals meshed with the music, and was probably the one implementation of corpsepaint that actually worked in an American underground context. It, of course, didn't have any negative effect on the music, but the one significant takeaway from this set was that it felt too damned short. Though I eventually appreciated getting home earlier, another 10 minutes from Witch Tomb (and also from Deathamphetamine, later) would have made the later time worthwhile.
Deathamphetamine [6/7]
At their last last show, back before the Skybar closed, Deathamphetamine was a five-piece; they're down to four now, more thrashy with less death and hardcore, and looking for a new name to distinguish the new era of the band from the old. It's tough picking a name that's both good and original, but in point of fact the band has a bit of freedom in this regard given how good their fusion of thrash, death, and hardcore is. Again, as with Witch Tomb, it was a little surprising and disappointing when they closed up; I really thought they were good for another couple songs. Abstractly, it's better to leave the audience wanting more than to leave them glad you finally stopped, but the way these guys were going on this show, it's difficult to think of someone who could get bored with them, and more difficult to consider this hypothetical wet blanket coming out to O'B's in the first place. There will be other shows, though, and this one certainly didn't lack for awesome.
Afterwards I hung about talking with some of Summoning Hate's crew -- and apologizing because I'm gonna miss them at the Midway on account of At The Gates opening for Carcass opening for Kreator 4000 miles away -- and then stumped back across the bridges to go home. Good show, and my gear is packed; barring luggage loss, injury, or other accidents, I'll have notice of how Wacken went up in about a week, and pictures and a full writeup after.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Witch Tomb with Herugrim and Die On The Steps [O'Brien's, Allston, 6/13/2008]
This show took a long and torturous route to get where it is from wherever it started, and if I recall correctly, wasn't even initially on this date, but at every step of its evolution, it was a solid bill and a sure promise of a good time, and this it definitely turned out to be.
The last lineup change was Blessed Offal dropping off, and not getting replaced, and while this was kind of a downer in that I didn't get to see them, I was able to get moving a little later and still make it down to the venue in plenty of time. There were already a few people on hand, but this show was one that filled up gradually as it went on, rather than starting off packed and dropping down as in a couple other gigs I've seen here. The bands set up (two at the same time, since Die On The Steps is kind of modular gear-wise), I drank some beer and watched some baseball and wrestling, and eventually dropped a fair bit of change on obscure music, and presently the show got underway.
Die On The Steps [5/7]
This one-man project was a late add to the bill, with even the band unsure of how exactly it'd translate live. Fortunately, the answer to that was "really well"; a guy singing over a four-track playback of mostly synth instruments is not automatically the most successful opener to a black metal show, but Die On The Steps pulled it off well. There was a fair bit of post-punk/darkwave to be heard as well as the black metal and oi elements, with the ultimate product being an interesting fusion the likes of which you really have to see at a show like this to get at all. The world needs more bands like this, though maybe playing fewer Skrewdriver covers, even if "this isn't a political project, it's a personal one". Of course, who the hell am I to talk -- I not only knew all the lyrics to "Hail The New Dawn", but sang along nearly all the way through, me and the giant Metalheads Against Racism patch on the shoulder of my featherweight kutte.
Herugrim [6/7]
The good stuff continued with Herugrim's first Mass show, and about their second or third overall, which may have set a new high-water mark for the overall quality and awesomeness of a two-song set. Rising from the ashes of several prior black metal bands and drawing inspiration from the rawly epic early works of Borknagar and Enslaved, they poured about half an hour into two songs and made it abundantly clear that this particular style isn't an exclusive preserve of European bands. Though this performance was really good, it wasn't perhaps quite their optimum setting; think about it: Cold Northern Vengeance, Herugrim, and Aura of Aquila, maybe Wolven Ancestry and/or Ancient//Master in the picture as well, up in an adirondack on some mountain in New Hampshire, big pagan bonfire a ways back, a gas generator for the PA set back in the woods to keep the noise from cutting through, towards the end of October as the frost comes in. It could happen -- probably won't, but still could.
Witch Tomb [6.5/7]
This was one of the better outings I've seen from Witch Tomb, and given how good they've been in the past, this is definitely saying something. Their black/death chaos was dead-on and graveling, the samples that they had been working in previously now seamlessly integrated with the sound. Herugrim left them a high standard to match, but they did manage to overtop it, and if the set seemed a little short at the end, it was probably either just club rules or that the audience just didn't notice the time passing for the music. I still haven't run across their split with Martyrvore, but that's no excuse for those who don't have it yet not to run down Mocking Jehovah from the band or other fine distributors of underground music.
The festivities concluded, I stumped off on the two miles back to Cambridge and the car park. Maybe I should bite the bullet and learn to park closer, but the exercise is a nice bonus, and the 40 minutes or so gives me a little leeway in when I need to safely stop drinking; otherwise, I'd just have to hang around at the pub after the show to dry out before heading home, and past experience shows that I generally stop drinking at a bar only when I leave said bar, and breaking this habit when buzzed and hanging around with a bunch of metalheads who may only have to walk home doesn't look to be an especially successful endeavor.
Next show's tonight, a fundraising gig for Autumn Above before they do their first East Coast tour, and after that, probably Metal Thursday next week. If you know me IRL, catch me at one of these gigs, I'm trying to move my brother's Iron Maiden ticket since he isn't going next Friday. More WOE TO YOU O EARTH AND SEA for the rest of us!
The last lineup change was Blessed Offal dropping off, and not getting replaced, and while this was kind of a downer in that I didn't get to see them, I was able to get moving a little later and still make it down to the venue in plenty of time. There were already a few people on hand, but this show was one that filled up gradually as it went on, rather than starting off packed and dropping down as in a couple other gigs I've seen here. The bands set up (two at the same time, since Die On The Steps is kind of modular gear-wise), I drank some beer and watched some baseball and wrestling, and eventually dropped a fair bit of change on obscure music, and presently the show got underway.
Die On The Steps [5/7]
This one-man project was a late add to the bill, with even the band unsure of how exactly it'd translate live. Fortunately, the answer to that was "really well"; a guy singing over a four-track playback of mostly synth instruments is not automatically the most successful opener to a black metal show, but Die On The Steps pulled it off well. There was a fair bit of post-punk/darkwave to be heard as well as the black metal and oi elements, with the ultimate product being an interesting fusion the likes of which you really have to see at a show like this to get at all. The world needs more bands like this, though maybe playing fewer Skrewdriver covers, even if "this isn't a political project, it's a personal one". Of course, who the hell am I to talk -- I not only knew all the lyrics to "Hail The New Dawn", but sang along nearly all the way through, me and the giant Metalheads Against Racism patch on the shoulder of my featherweight kutte.
Herugrim [6/7]
The good stuff continued with Herugrim's first Mass show, and about their second or third overall, which may have set a new high-water mark for the overall quality and awesomeness of a two-song set. Rising from the ashes of several prior black metal bands and drawing inspiration from the rawly epic early works of Borknagar and Enslaved, they poured about half an hour into two songs and made it abundantly clear that this particular style isn't an exclusive preserve of European bands. Though this performance was really good, it wasn't perhaps quite their optimum setting; think about it: Cold Northern Vengeance, Herugrim, and Aura of Aquila, maybe Wolven Ancestry and/or Ancient//Master in the picture as well, up in an adirondack on some mountain in New Hampshire, big pagan bonfire a ways back, a gas generator for the PA set back in the woods to keep the noise from cutting through, towards the end of October as the frost comes in. It could happen -- probably won't, but still could.
Witch Tomb [6.5/7]
This was one of the better outings I've seen from Witch Tomb, and given how good they've been in the past, this is definitely saying something. Their black/death chaos was dead-on and graveling, the samples that they had been working in previously now seamlessly integrated with the sound. Herugrim left them a high standard to match, but they did manage to overtop it, and if the set seemed a little short at the end, it was probably either just club rules or that the audience just didn't notice the time passing for the music. I still haven't run across their split with Martyrvore, but that's no excuse for those who don't have it yet not to run down Mocking Jehovah from the band or other fine distributors of underground music.
The festivities concluded, I stumped off on the two miles back to Cambridge and the car park. Maybe I should bite the bullet and learn to park closer, but the exercise is a nice bonus, and the 40 minutes or so gives me a little leeway in when I need to safely stop drinking; otherwise, I'd just have to hang around at the pub after the show to dry out before heading home, and past experience shows that I generally stop drinking at a bar only when I leave said bar, and breaking this habit when buzzed and hanging around with a bunch of metalheads who may only have to walk home doesn't look to be an especially successful endeavor.
Next show's tonight, a fundraising gig for Autumn Above before they do their first East Coast tour, and after that, probably Metal Thursday next week. If you know me IRL, catch me at one of these gigs, I'm trying to move my brother's Iron Maiden ticket since he isn't going next Friday. More WOE TO YOU O EARTH AND SEA for the rest of us!
Friday, June 29, 2007
Witch Tomb with Hekseri, Baphomet's Horns, and Blessed Offal [Skybar, Somerville, 6/28/2007]
Burned by missing part of Revocation Sunday, I got down right around 8; unfortunately, none of the bands were anywhere in sight, which led to basically just hanging out for an hour and a half. This sort of thing has allegedly been a problem for the Skybar lately; despite being allowed to play out the string, some bands have taken the hopeless view and just canceled, which is really weird as the place is still perfectly open for now. When I heard about this from the bartender, though, I immediately gainsaid it; I didn't know Blessed Offal yet, and it had kind of slipped my mind that Baphomet's Horns were the second band on this gig, but I could definitely vouch for the professionalism and commitment of Hekseri and Witch Tomb. These aren't bands that will back down from a tough gig, or bands that'll just cancel day-of without telling anyone, and soon enough, Cody and then Megan came in minutes apart pushing gear.
The positive of the bands taking so long to get in and set up was that I had the time to paw through the distro table -- or maybe this was a negative, at least from my wallet's perspective as it was estranged from a majority of its cash. I got three tapes and three CDs split between Angkor Vat, Attacker, and a couple other bands that I knew more by reputation than actual music, and if it wasn't for concerns about it getting broken, I might have picked up this Sabbat 7"; buying vinyl at the start of an often violent underground show is a real throw of the dice -- in this case, it would have been OK with regards to movement down front, but there's seldom an easy way of knowing that. I also saw that they had a copy of the Adolf Satan record in the rack; I thought about picking it up, but decided not to: I don't have a driving interest in the band, and there's been a lot of chatter on RTTP lately about people wanting it and not being able to get a copy for love nor money. Better to let it lie in that case and let someone who wants the record get it; sure, I hog rarities, but only rarities that I have a strong interest in listening to.
The really raw part of the deal, though, was that I didn't pick up Toxic Holocaust's album because I wasn't sure if I already had it or not. I have good recall over most of my nearly-1400-record collection, but it's not perfect...and in this case, it prevented me from getting the CD, because it turns out that I don't own it already. I'd almost think about getting a PDA to put my catalog on to refer to in situations like this, except for the fact that this would be the lamest thing ever.
Eventually, all the bands got in and got their gear assembled, and the show got going in earnest.
Blessed Offal [5/7]
The only band on this bill that I hadn't seen previously, these guys blasted out a tight, compact set of dirty, necro NEBM that may not have attracted as many people as the headliners who followed, but definitely caught people's attention. Unfortunately, some of that focus may have been artificial, as they barely got 15 minutes as a result of the performances starting so damned late. The passion and the potential are definitely there, even as seen in this small sample, and though their sound at this point tends to establish stuff that's been done already rather than break new ground, this is definitely a band that I'm interested in seeing a full set from, not restricted by time constraints.
Baphomet's Horns [5.5/7]
It wasn't until they announced themselves from the stage that I remembered that Baphomet's Horns was supposed to be on the bill; I certainly didn't recognize them setting up. Of course, the only time I ever saw them before was almost 6 months ago at DeeDee's, and though I'm not positive, I think they've had some lineup movement since then. This set was more solid than I remembered from them (well, yeah; five months has a lot of time for improvement), and though their influences from Celtic Frost and the Black Circle showed through rather transparently, the external elements were well-blended, making a sound that's almost completely this band's own -- and at the very least very well-executed. In sound and skill they've come a ways since their split with Amputator; this is definitely a band to look for on the rare occasion that they play out in this area, and any future recordings will also be worth looking into.
Following this set, I had officially seen more bands in the first half of 2007 than in all of 2006. I'm off the "see more sets than days in the year" pace I was on earlier, but the difference made by being in a country that does local shows and being motivated and able to go to them is striking.
Hekseri [6.5/7]
Tonight saw Hekseri back to their full complement, but more strikingly, this was one of the best solo guitar outings that I've ever heard from Megan. I've seen shows where her lead playing could only be charitably described as "Kerry King-esque", but in this set she was dead straight on, nailing everything and really taking the performance to the next level. With Jason back and the lead guitar basically on fire, their sound shaded more towards Immortal than I recall hearing from them previously; the dirty roots are still there, but the epic is lurking in the way that the riffs go together, and this set like few previous that I've seen really brought it forward. They had to cut a few songs from their set for time, but this didn't really detract from a fairly incredible outing.
Witch Tomb [6.5/7]
My initial impressions were that this set was incredible, but not quite the 'peak outing' they had opening for Watain. Then I went back and checked my notes, and found out that I had rated this one significantly better than that. While Witch Tomb wasn't as concertedly visual on this outing (Cody and Mike somewhat blacked up, but still in their normal clothes), the music was simply crushing, and this is what made the difference. The keys and samples are more streamlined into their material, and the new stuff, both from their forthcoming Martyrvore split and from the rumored full-length to succeed it, is really cool, combining their vitriolic black metal with ten-ton death grooves. The fusion works, as music an sich and within the context of the rest of their material, and the result is quite impressive.
Right around midnight, the bands closed up, and then it was back off to the north for the night. There's another black/death/grind gig down here tonight, and while I'm still hoping for a good time, I'd be flat stunned if it reached the levels of this one, despite both Hirudinea and Watchmaker on the bill -- though of course it would hella rock to be proven wrong.
June is wearing down into July, and thus festival season approaches. Unfortunately, this is Boston, not Gelsenkirchen, so "festival" does not mean tents and mud and bad smells and astronomical amounts of beer under the open sky, but smallish, crowded clubs, beer doled out by the bottle, and long tired drives home with a different kind of stink. This aside, there are four fests in the planner for July, with something like 50 bands total playing, in addition to the usual salting of normal gigs. That's basically one a weekend, but there are actually two on the second weekend; the final weekend in July is at the moment show-free....though I kind of need it that way to rest and pack up for the fifth fest of the summer.
The positive of the bands taking so long to get in and set up was that I had the time to paw through the distro table -- or maybe this was a negative, at least from my wallet's perspective as it was estranged from a majority of its cash. I got three tapes and three CDs split between Angkor Vat, Attacker, and a couple other bands that I knew more by reputation than actual music, and if it wasn't for concerns about it getting broken, I might have picked up this Sabbat 7"; buying vinyl at the start of an often violent underground show is a real throw of the dice -- in this case, it would have been OK with regards to movement down front, but there's seldom an easy way of knowing that. I also saw that they had a copy of the Adolf Satan record in the rack; I thought about picking it up, but decided not to: I don't have a driving interest in the band, and there's been a lot of chatter on RTTP lately about people wanting it and not being able to get a copy for love nor money. Better to let it lie in that case and let someone who wants the record get it; sure, I hog rarities, but only rarities that I have a strong interest in listening to.
The really raw part of the deal, though, was that I didn't pick up Toxic Holocaust's album because I wasn't sure if I already had it or not. I have good recall over most of my nearly-1400-record collection, but it's not perfect...and in this case, it prevented me from getting the CD, because it turns out that I don't own it already. I'd almost think about getting a PDA to put my catalog on to refer to in situations like this, except for the fact that this would be the lamest thing ever.
Eventually, all the bands got in and got their gear assembled, and the show got going in earnest.
Blessed Offal [5/7]
The only band on this bill that I hadn't seen previously, these guys blasted out a tight, compact set of dirty, necro NEBM that may not have attracted as many people as the headliners who followed, but definitely caught people's attention. Unfortunately, some of that focus may have been artificial, as they barely got 15 minutes as a result of the performances starting so damned late. The passion and the potential are definitely there, even as seen in this small sample, and though their sound at this point tends to establish stuff that's been done already rather than break new ground, this is definitely a band that I'm interested in seeing a full set from, not restricted by time constraints.
Baphomet's Horns [5.5/7]
It wasn't until they announced themselves from the stage that I remembered that Baphomet's Horns was supposed to be on the bill; I certainly didn't recognize them setting up. Of course, the only time I ever saw them before was almost 6 months ago at DeeDee's, and though I'm not positive, I think they've had some lineup movement since then. This set was more solid than I remembered from them (well, yeah; five months has a lot of time for improvement), and though their influences from Celtic Frost and the Black Circle showed through rather transparently, the external elements were well-blended, making a sound that's almost completely this band's own -- and at the very least very well-executed. In sound and skill they've come a ways since their split with Amputator; this is definitely a band to look for on the rare occasion that they play out in this area, and any future recordings will also be worth looking into.
Following this set, I had officially seen more bands in the first half of 2007 than in all of 2006. I'm off the "see more sets than days in the year" pace I was on earlier, but the difference made by being in a country that does local shows and being motivated and able to go to them is striking.
Hekseri [6.5/7]
Tonight saw Hekseri back to their full complement, but more strikingly, this was one of the best solo guitar outings that I've ever heard from Megan. I've seen shows where her lead playing could only be charitably described as "Kerry King-esque", but in this set she was dead straight on, nailing everything and really taking the performance to the next level. With Jason back and the lead guitar basically on fire, their sound shaded more towards Immortal than I recall hearing from them previously; the dirty roots are still there, but the epic is lurking in the way that the riffs go together, and this set like few previous that I've seen really brought it forward. They had to cut a few songs from their set for time, but this didn't really detract from a fairly incredible outing.
Witch Tomb [6.5/7]
My initial impressions were that this set was incredible, but not quite the 'peak outing' they had opening for Watain. Then I went back and checked my notes, and found out that I had rated this one significantly better than that. While Witch Tomb wasn't as concertedly visual on this outing (Cody and Mike somewhat blacked up, but still in their normal clothes), the music was simply crushing, and this is what made the difference. The keys and samples are more streamlined into their material, and the new stuff, both from their forthcoming Martyrvore split and from the rumored full-length to succeed it, is really cool, combining their vitriolic black metal with ten-ton death grooves. The fusion works, as music an sich and within the context of the rest of their material, and the result is quite impressive.
Right around midnight, the bands closed up, and then it was back off to the north for the night. There's another black/death/grind gig down here tonight, and while I'm still hoping for a good time, I'd be flat stunned if it reached the levels of this one, despite both Hirudinea and Watchmaker on the bill -- though of course it would hella rock to be proven wrong.
June is wearing down into July, and thus festival season approaches. Unfortunately, this is Boston, not Gelsenkirchen, so "festival" does not mean tents and mud and bad smells and astronomical amounts of beer under the open sky, but smallish, crowded clubs, beer doled out by the bottle, and long tired drives home with a different kind of stink. This aside, there are four fests in the planner for July, with something like 50 bands total playing, in addition to the usual salting of normal gigs. That's basically one a weekend, but there are actually two on the second weekend; the final weekend in July is at the moment show-free....though I kind of need it that way to rest and pack up for the fifth fest of the summer.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Watain with Angelcorpse, Nachtmystium, Cold Northern Vengeance, and Witch Tomb [Middle East Upstairs, Cambridge, 5/13/2007]
Despite leaving a little late and getting backed up on 128 going down to 93 for some bizarre reason, I managed to make it in right about doors, which was a definite positive seeing that given the size of the upstairs and the profile of the bands on this bill, this show was a definite risk to sell out, and I didn't have a ticket. While this was good luck and good practice, it turned out not to matter so much, because actual entrance was delayed by about ten minutes or so; I paid and got banded, then spent the intervening time skimming lemon bits out of a hefeweizen. It's been a long time since I was in Germany, but I persist in the belief that it's a good idea to call doors Einlass to remind the venue that that's when you lass the people ein, and I just can't understand the compulsion to throw fruit wedges in a perfectly good unfiltered beer. WAT ISS DAT FA KACKE?!?
Soon enough, though, they did let us in, and there was time enough to go rummaging for some obscure records at the merch table before Witch Tomb went on. I wasn't initially quite sure what all I got, but if they're selling it at a show this cult, it's almost certain to be cool. (It was, nearly all of it.)
Witch Tomb [5/7]
Despite the fact that this is the same score they've gotten both other times I've seen them -- I don't remember these things so hard so I can just experience the show as it happens and then react to it later -- this was a definite step up for Witch Tomb, both musically -- they've added a fourth member to do effects and second guitar, and the overall sound from the rest of the band is up a notch in general domination as well -- and visually, as Cody's no longer the only one blacked up. As remarked before, it's a cool difference from normal corpsepaint, and in this case it worked especially well with the setup of the venue; four filth trolls in a hellcave howling hate at the world. Of course, all the presentation in the world wouldn't help if the music underneath wasn't cool; as it is, this was a really good set, with some Enslaved touches that I hadn't previously heard/noticed in their crushing necro assault, and I'm definitely looking forward to that coming split with Martyrvore. The set ended a little weirdly, with them throwing a filth-befouled Bible into the audience and then walking off as the effects guy wound out the outro, leaving people unsure as to whether they should cheer yet or not, but it was a kickass performance and a sign of more cool things to come.
Witch Tomb brought Devin from December Wolves up on stage for one song; my ears were still adjusting and I didn't catch what band he's with now, and I also probably lose True Points en passant for admitting that I didn't recognize the song. I can live with this; I've already recognized that not picking up various December Wolves records when I could have was one of the more significant mistakes I've made this decade.
Cold Northern Vengeance [6/7]
Cold Northern Vengeance playing "A Past Forgotten" [7/7]
Fortunately, this show was too cult to be disturbed by leftextremists. And if there were any in attendance, they were likely shown the error of protesting this band by another great set from CNV. The sound here was better than at Mark's, giving the music fuller rein, and the result was definitely impressive. All of CNV's material is really strong, some of the best stylistic succession to the less necro side of the Black Circle done outside Norway, but there are few more sublime experiences in this genre than CNV on a good, solid night like this doing "A Past Forgotten" through good PA. The song eats almost half their set time in a slot like this, but every second's worth it. If you live in New England and pass on their shows, either out of ignorance or because somebody's been lying to you to the effect that they're a political band (which they're not), you need to get your head turned around and come out to see them.
Between the local and touring parts of the bill, I hit the merch table again and picked up a pair of cassettes as well as two Watain patches, which were as well-finished and well-manufactured as you'd expect from a European band. It's a good thing I've got that ultralight that I'm working on, because both patches are too cool not to feature, and there's a limited number of feature slots left on my main jacket. BLACK METAL MILITIA!
Nachtmystium [6/7]
Someone described this band as "psychedelic black metal" since the last time I saw them, and the description does fit at least a little, even with the more necro sound that they were driving here. Overall, they still inherit strongly from Celtic Frost (if not as strong as Goatwhore), but the sharper and more malevolent sound helps them step forward on their own, and to really good effect. This was probably about the best set I've seen from this band, who I've now seen three times in the last month and a half. If this keeps up and Nachtmystium becomes the next on-every-show band after Goatwhore now and Krisiun a couple years back, I don't think anyone's really going to complain.
Angelcorpse [6/7]
I was pretty sure that they were the headliners going in, and it was written up as such on the set times, and they definitely kicked out a headliner-quality set of graveling black/death metal. The sound was tight and focused, more so than you might expect from a band that took most of the last seven years off, and the most prominent death metal elements of the night also drew them the most significant moshing. When they finally closed up, people were still yelling for more; if, as on one of the previous dates, Watain ended up canceling this one, people would have been disappointed, but also would have to be honestly satisfied with the bill so far and Angelcorpse's dominating performance.
Watain [7/7]
Watain, though, did show up, and also showed that there was a reason that they were headlining beyond "we lugged all this stage-dressing crap over from Sweden and it takes too long to clean up". There were a lot of banners and backing props, but the music taking place in front of them, necro but still complex and driving black metal inheriting most strongly from early Dissection, was the real attraction, delivered with straightforward power and conviction. The Dissection influence was made a little more solid towards the end of their set, with a superb 'cover' of "The Somberlain"; 'cover' quoted because more of this band (at least the live lineup) has been in Dissection more recently than any competitor, and in not only heritage but in spirit they're probably the most suited to carrying on Jon's legacy (with, hopefully, less suicidal crazyness). They promised to return -- and given the response from the packed house here, this isn't by any means out of the question -- but more preferable would have been just returning to the stage to do, say "Thorns of Crimson Death" and a couple of their own songs as an encore, but unfortunately at this point the club put the lights on and started encouraging people to evacuate out the back door into the street. Oh well. The immediate general thought was that this sucked, but it was just a small touch of venue bullshit that didn't materially affect the result of a really great, kickass show.
Before I went down, I ran into Ken (MPD); the new record is finished and mixed, and I'm definitely amped up to hear it. Hopefully, it'll be out presently and they'll gig aggressively behind it; My Pet Demon is good stuff, and people beyond the salting of metalheads that we've got on the North Shore need to find out about them.
Soon enough, though, they did let us in, and there was time enough to go rummaging for some obscure records at the merch table before Witch Tomb went on. I wasn't initially quite sure what all I got, but if they're selling it at a show this cult, it's almost certain to be cool. (It was, nearly all of it.)
Witch Tomb [5/7]
Despite the fact that this is the same score they've gotten both other times I've seen them -- I don't remember these things so hard so I can just experience the show as it happens and then react to it later -- this was a definite step up for Witch Tomb, both musically -- they've added a fourth member to do effects and second guitar, and the overall sound from the rest of the band is up a notch in general domination as well -- and visually, as Cody's no longer the only one blacked up. As remarked before, it's a cool difference from normal corpsepaint, and in this case it worked especially well with the setup of the venue; four filth trolls in a hellcave howling hate at the world. Of course, all the presentation in the world wouldn't help if the music underneath wasn't cool; as it is, this was a really good set, with some Enslaved touches that I hadn't previously heard/noticed in their crushing necro assault, and I'm definitely looking forward to that coming split with Martyrvore. The set ended a little weirdly, with them throwing a filth-befouled Bible into the audience and then walking off as the effects guy wound out the outro, leaving people unsure as to whether they should cheer yet or not, but it was a kickass performance and a sign of more cool things to come.
Witch Tomb brought Devin from December Wolves up on stage for one song; my ears were still adjusting and I didn't catch what band he's with now, and I also probably lose True Points en passant for admitting that I didn't recognize the song. I can live with this; I've already recognized that not picking up various December Wolves records when I could have was one of the more significant mistakes I've made this decade.
Cold Northern Vengeance [6/7]
Cold Northern Vengeance playing "A Past Forgotten" [7/7]
Fortunately, this show was too cult to be disturbed by leftextremists. And if there were any in attendance, they were likely shown the error of protesting this band by another great set from CNV. The sound here was better than at Mark's, giving the music fuller rein, and the result was definitely impressive. All of CNV's material is really strong, some of the best stylistic succession to the less necro side of the Black Circle done outside Norway, but there are few more sublime experiences in this genre than CNV on a good, solid night like this doing "A Past Forgotten" through good PA. The song eats almost half their set time in a slot like this, but every second's worth it. If you live in New England and pass on their shows, either out of ignorance or because somebody's been lying to you to the effect that they're a political band (which they're not), you need to get your head turned around and come out to see them.
Between the local and touring parts of the bill, I hit the merch table again and picked up a pair of cassettes as well as two Watain patches, which were as well-finished and well-manufactured as you'd expect from a European band. It's a good thing I've got that ultralight that I'm working on, because both patches are too cool not to feature, and there's a limited number of feature slots left on my main jacket. BLACK METAL MILITIA!
Nachtmystium [6/7]
Someone described this band as "psychedelic black metal" since the last time I saw them, and the description does fit at least a little, even with the more necro sound that they were driving here. Overall, they still inherit strongly from Celtic Frost (if not as strong as Goatwhore), but the sharper and more malevolent sound helps them step forward on their own, and to really good effect. This was probably about the best set I've seen from this band, who I've now seen three times in the last month and a half. If this keeps up and Nachtmystium becomes the next on-every-show band after Goatwhore now and Krisiun a couple years back, I don't think anyone's really going to complain.
Angelcorpse [6/7]
I was pretty sure that they were the headliners going in, and it was written up as such on the set times, and they definitely kicked out a headliner-quality set of graveling black/death metal. The sound was tight and focused, more so than you might expect from a band that took most of the last seven years off, and the most prominent death metal elements of the night also drew them the most significant moshing. When they finally closed up, people were still yelling for more; if, as on one of the previous dates, Watain ended up canceling this one, people would have been disappointed, but also would have to be honestly satisfied with the bill so far and Angelcorpse's dominating performance.
Watain [7/7]
Watain, though, did show up, and also showed that there was a reason that they were headlining beyond "we lugged all this stage-dressing crap over from Sweden and it takes too long to clean up". There were a lot of banners and backing props, but the music taking place in front of them, necro but still complex and driving black metal inheriting most strongly from early Dissection, was the real attraction, delivered with straightforward power and conviction. The Dissection influence was made a little more solid towards the end of their set, with a superb 'cover' of "The Somberlain"; 'cover' quoted because more of this band (at least the live lineup) has been in Dissection more recently than any competitor, and in not only heritage but in spirit they're probably the most suited to carrying on Jon's legacy (with, hopefully, less suicidal crazyness). They promised to return -- and given the response from the packed house here, this isn't by any means out of the question -- but more preferable would have been just returning to the stage to do, say "Thorns of Crimson Death" and a couple of their own songs as an encore, but unfortunately at this point the club put the lights on and started encouraging people to evacuate out the back door into the street. Oh well. The immediate general thought was that this sucked, but it was just a small touch of venue bullshit that didn't materially affect the result of a really great, kickass show.
Before I went down, I ran into Ken (MPD); the new record is finished and mixed, and I'm definitely amped up to hear it. Hopefully, it'll be out presently and they'll gig aggressively behind it; My Pet Demon is good stuff, and people beyond the salting of metalheads that we've got on the North Shore need to find out about them.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Hekseri with Revocation, Witch Tomb, Volatile, and Mortalis [Great Scott, Allston, 2/13/2007]
This should have been up earlier, but with the storm and all, this was kind of a tough week. Driving on ice sucks.
Despite the high marginal cost of this show in terms of driving effort and nearly brewing up my car skidding in a snowstorm, this show was worth the hassle; the bands kicked ass, and I didn't get towed, get frostbite, or actually bang into anything on the way back.
I thought I was getting in about on schedule, as it wasn't snowing yet, but I somehow got turned the wrong way round getting off Storrow Drive and had a time of it finding Comm Ave again. I still like Boston; I just get really exasperated with driving around it at times. I ended up parking about 6 blocks away from the venue in one of the few zones that didn't threaten interlopers with towing, and got down to the club probably close to the start of Mortalis' set.
Mortalis [5/7]
I think I saw most of their set -- set times were shortish and pretty uniform -- and they gave a good impression, doing some cool groove-death. This band is still developing, but they've definitely got their feet under them in terms of skills and riffage. Though they were probably the least immediately different band on this lineup, they still put up a good performance and left a positive impression. I'm bummed that I didn't catch their whole set, but hopefully I'll get a chance to see them again -- and at that time, they'll hopefully have something recorded.
Volatile [5/7]
You don't see too many bands, especially on this continent, playing primal thrash metal with high vocals. The best comparison for this band is probably "3 Inches of Blood except not a gag"; the rediscovery by modern thrashers of the first wave of power metal -- King Diamond, Grim Reaper, Helloween, Grave Digger, etc -- and the accompanying realization that done right, this stuff can be pretty cool. They opened up with Slayer's "Tormentor", setting the stylistic tone; it's always cool when people cover stuff off Show No Mercy, though I'm still waiting for someone to do "Evil Has No Boundaries". This was a fairly loose set, but still well-performed and fun to thrash along to, even if they didn't dust off their Grim Reaper to close with.
During the set break, I talked with Dave from Revocation and got the approximate location of the basement gig they're playing on Friday. It sounds like a cool show, and I'm almost not sick any more, but whether I get down is going to depend a lot on the conditions of the roads. If the various DPWs involved get their shit together, it's a definite possibility, but if the storm hangs around or the state/city halfasses things, I won't be crazy about taking on 93 and Storrow under such conditions. (I didn't end up going...more due to still being sick than road conditions.)
Witch Tomb [5/7]
Another cool set, and it was definitely interesting to see the band still set up in burnt cork and sunglasses despite the change of scenery to a much larger and better-maintained bar (the last time I saw them was about the last show that DeeDee's had). The innate black metal vibe from the surroundings was gone, but the band's own black metal spirit soldiered on and put on a cool performance. To my ears, the sound system here didn't quite treat them as well as DeeDee's' necro setup, but this might have had as much to do with where I was standing at each venue as anything else, and it was still a cool set. It felt a little short, but this was the only point that could really be picked in an overall good performance.
Revocation [6/7]
Hooray, Just Another Awesome Revocation Set. Dave didn't throw any new guitar wrinkles into this one, but the total performance was great enough that they weren't really missed, and he's also leveled up his stage banter, providing more lulz around the totally sick thrash epics. There were some calls for "Mother Man" during their set, showing that I'm not crazy, and other people also can't help thinking of Atheist when hearing these guys. The Atheist-driven elements were especially prominent in this set, so it's more understandable why people should start yelling for it now. They were discussing adding some Unquestionable Presence material to their repertoire with some of the people who had been calling for it after the set, and while I'm sure they'll do a decent version of any song or songs they end up working up, having seen Atheist, there's not a lot of stuff that you can do from Atheist without having two guitars to play the two guitar lines. The more new stuff that Revocation gets together, though, the more they construct and develop their own vision of that same idea of technical insanity, so it's a moot point: either they spend time working up some Atheist, or they put that time into originals and parallel evolution takes them on the same path, to the same levels. The awesomeness is the same regardless.
Between Revocation and Hekseri, I got my last beer of the night, a Pabst, and the regret was immediate. Contrary to my prior perceptions, I'm still not healthy enough again to get away with drinking stuff that's not nach dem Reinheitsgebot. Aus mit schwulen "Wasser mit kunstlichen Biergeschmack", wir wollen echtes reines Bier! Given my Tankard spree of late, I'm really questioning why I didn't just correct the bartender. Fucking chemicals.
Hekseri [6/7]
Megan's protestations to the contrary, this was not the worst set that Hekseri's ever done. Of course, it could have been better, but this is largely an intellectual conclusion; I've seen Jason play with them, and he wasn't there last night, so obviously it would have been better had he been on hand slaughtering his bass. However, I can't really think exactly where those lines might have gone that would have resulted in an obvious improvement. As a three-piece, Hekseri feels perfectly balanced between black and thrash metal: on this gig, as of late, they seemed to favor their thrash side more, but the treble-high focus of the sound without the bass guitar kept the black metal vibe current. It wasn't the best set I've seen from them, but it certainly wasn't the worst either, and in any case it was a cool take on their sound.
I wanted to hang around, but environmental factors pulled me away; I had to get back north before the snow turned the highways into skating rinks. I collared the ten-dollar parking fee that the BPD left on my windshield (cheaper than some garages), then made my way back. I nearly achieved my objective; just after getting into Danvers, I came out of about the last technically demanding turn on 128, then went slaloming for about 100 yards or so; fucking climate iced the road and then put snow down on top of it. Unlike last year, I didn't spin out or hit anything; this was greatly aided by the fact that the closest car was about half a mile behind me when I hit the skids, but it's all improved technique (or, more likely, improved luck) that I kept the nose facing forward and was able to recover as soon as I slowed down enough that the tires would bite again. This was not fun and put a bit of a damper on the night, but I didn't damage myself, my vehicle, or anything else, and did manage to make it back in one piece.
Much more of a buzzkill was only getting 3 hours of sleep before I had to get up, play car tetris, and go to work...hopefully, this junk will clear off and this won't be a problem for either Revocation this weekend or God Forbid onTuesday. It's a shitty time for a show, but at least the Middle East is pretty accessible, and I'll get to see them, Arsis, and Goatwhore again -- and get one of those "The Real Black Metal" shirts, both for the cool factor and potentially to wind people up with at 1349. Of course, this is is presuming that they notice it under a jacket that currently has four Immortal devices on it, plus a bunch of kit from Sigh, Mayhem, Celtic Frost, and Dissection.
I went through my parents' basement over the weekend with a fine-toothed comb and found my old demos; there's like 80 minutes of crummy music on those, so now all I need to do is get a MD player, and I can convert them into crummy digital files, potentially to be released as a long and terrible CD-comp. Of course, I haven't listened to them in forever, so I'll have to do that, along with probably some post-prod cleanup, before I make the decision on whether to inflict them on anyone else.
Despite the high marginal cost of this show in terms of driving effort and nearly brewing up my car skidding in a snowstorm, this show was worth the hassle; the bands kicked ass, and I didn't get towed, get frostbite, or actually bang into anything on the way back.
I thought I was getting in about on schedule, as it wasn't snowing yet, but I somehow got turned the wrong way round getting off Storrow Drive and had a time of it finding Comm Ave again. I still like Boston; I just get really exasperated with driving around it at times. I ended up parking about 6 blocks away from the venue in one of the few zones that didn't threaten interlopers with towing, and got down to the club probably close to the start of Mortalis' set.
Mortalis [5/7]
I think I saw most of their set -- set times were shortish and pretty uniform -- and they gave a good impression, doing some cool groove-death. This band is still developing, but they've definitely got their feet under them in terms of skills and riffage. Though they were probably the least immediately different band on this lineup, they still put up a good performance and left a positive impression. I'm bummed that I didn't catch their whole set, but hopefully I'll get a chance to see them again -- and at that time, they'll hopefully have something recorded.
Volatile [5/7]
You don't see too many bands, especially on this continent, playing primal thrash metal with high vocals. The best comparison for this band is probably "3 Inches of Blood except not a gag"; the rediscovery by modern thrashers of the first wave of power metal -- King Diamond, Grim Reaper, Helloween, Grave Digger, etc -- and the accompanying realization that done right, this stuff can be pretty cool. They opened up with Slayer's "Tormentor", setting the stylistic tone; it's always cool when people cover stuff off Show No Mercy, though I'm still waiting for someone to do "Evil Has No Boundaries". This was a fairly loose set, but still well-performed and fun to thrash along to, even if they didn't dust off their Grim Reaper to close with.
During the set break, I talked with Dave from Revocation and got the approximate location of the basement gig they're playing on Friday. It sounds like a cool show, and I'm almost not sick any more, but whether I get down is going to depend a lot on the conditions of the roads. If the various DPWs involved get their shit together, it's a definite possibility, but if the storm hangs around or the state/city halfasses things, I won't be crazy about taking on 93 and Storrow under such conditions. (I didn't end up going...more due to still being sick than road conditions.)
Witch Tomb [5/7]
Another cool set, and it was definitely interesting to see the band still set up in burnt cork and sunglasses despite the change of scenery to a much larger and better-maintained bar (the last time I saw them was about the last show that DeeDee's had). The innate black metal vibe from the surroundings was gone, but the band's own black metal spirit soldiered on and put on a cool performance. To my ears, the sound system here didn't quite treat them as well as DeeDee's' necro setup, but this might have had as much to do with where I was standing at each venue as anything else, and it was still a cool set. It felt a little short, but this was the only point that could really be picked in an overall good performance.
Revocation [6/7]
Hooray, Just Another Awesome Revocation Set. Dave didn't throw any new guitar wrinkles into this one, but the total performance was great enough that they weren't really missed, and he's also leveled up his stage banter, providing more lulz around the totally sick thrash epics. There were some calls for "Mother Man" during their set, showing that I'm not crazy, and other people also can't help thinking of Atheist when hearing these guys. The Atheist-driven elements were especially prominent in this set, so it's more understandable why people should start yelling for it now. They were discussing adding some Unquestionable Presence material to their repertoire with some of the people who had been calling for it after the set, and while I'm sure they'll do a decent version of any song or songs they end up working up, having seen Atheist, there's not a lot of stuff that you can do from Atheist without having two guitars to play the two guitar lines. The more new stuff that Revocation gets together, though, the more they construct and develop their own vision of that same idea of technical insanity, so it's a moot point: either they spend time working up some Atheist, or they put that time into originals and parallel evolution takes them on the same path, to the same levels. The awesomeness is the same regardless.
Between Revocation and Hekseri, I got my last beer of the night, a Pabst, and the regret was immediate. Contrary to my prior perceptions, I'm still not healthy enough again to get away with drinking stuff that's not nach dem Reinheitsgebot. Aus mit schwulen "Wasser mit kunstlichen Biergeschmack", wir wollen echtes reines Bier! Given my Tankard spree of late, I'm really questioning why I didn't just correct the bartender. Fucking chemicals.
Hekseri [6/7]
Megan's protestations to the contrary, this was not the worst set that Hekseri's ever done. Of course, it could have been better, but this is largely an intellectual conclusion; I've seen Jason play with them, and he wasn't there last night, so obviously it would have been better had he been on hand slaughtering his bass. However, I can't really think exactly where those lines might have gone that would have resulted in an obvious improvement. As a three-piece, Hekseri feels perfectly balanced between black and thrash metal: on this gig, as of late, they seemed to favor their thrash side more, but the treble-high focus of the sound without the bass guitar kept the black metal vibe current. It wasn't the best set I've seen from them, but it certainly wasn't the worst either, and in any case it was a cool take on their sound.
I wanted to hang around, but environmental factors pulled me away; I had to get back north before the snow turned the highways into skating rinks. I collared the ten-dollar parking fee that the BPD left on my windshield (cheaper than some garages), then made my way back. I nearly achieved my objective; just after getting into Danvers, I came out of about the last technically demanding turn on 128, then went slaloming for about 100 yards or so; fucking climate iced the road and then put snow down on top of it. Unlike last year, I didn't spin out or hit anything; this was greatly aided by the fact that the closest car was about half a mile behind me when I hit the skids, but it's all improved technique (or, more likely, improved luck) that I kept the nose facing forward and was able to recover as soon as I slowed down enough that the tires would bite again. This was not fun and put a bit of a damper on the night, but I didn't damage myself, my vehicle, or anything else, and did manage to make it back in one piece.
Much more of a buzzkill was only getting 3 hours of sleep before I had to get up, play car tetris, and go to work...hopefully, this junk will clear off and this won't be a problem for either Revocation this weekend or God Forbid onTuesday. It's a shitty time for a show, but at least the Middle East is pretty accessible, and I'll get to see them, Arsis, and Goatwhore again -- and get one of those "The Real Black Metal" shirts, both for the cool factor and potentially to wind people up with at 1349. Of course, this is is presuming that they notice it under a jacket that currently has four Immortal devices on it, plus a bunch of kit from Sigh, Mayhem, Celtic Frost, and Dissection.
I went through my parents' basement over the weekend with a fine-toothed comb and found my old demos; there's like 80 minutes of crummy music on those, so now all I need to do is get a MD player, and I can convert them into crummy digital files, potentially to be released as a long and terrible CD-comp. Of course, I haven't listened to them in forever, so I'll have to do that, along with probably some post-prod cleanup, before I make the decision on whether to inflict them on anyone else.
Monday, January 22, 2007
two nights, two shows
Fortunately, it's only snowing now, not over the weekend, and it's not enough that the snow ban lights are on. This means I can stay in and collate two show reviews here instead of having to go drive somewhere, or be worried about moving my car off the street.
Revocation and Deadlikedeath
Caralilly's, Quincy, 1/19/2007
--
Technically, the bill should be flipped, but Revocation did put this show up, and the two bands here were about equally supported. Two bands on a DIY bill, the order basically doesn't matter.
I got down roughly on time, though before most of the band members got there, despite the usual 93 shenanigans and a couple blocks of walking to get over from the North Quincy T. The venue in question is a nice place, normally a piano bar, but it converts well into a DIY venue. It's a decent place for a local show, and proof that we do have the technical capabilities on the North Shore to host 18+ and 21+ shows...provided that someone gets off their ass and does it. Someone who isn't subject to randomly getting shuttled off to the ends of the earth, just so we're clear on this.
Before the bands got going, I unwittingly provided some opening entertainment by ordering a beer that had to come out of the wrong cooler. Said beer was partially frozen, and detonated on opening, covering the bartender and a fair stretch of the bar in an explosion of beer slush. She was a good sport about it, though, and it gave everyone something to laugh about while the bands were setting up.
Revocation [6/7]
Another show, another casually awesome performance from Revocation. This performance presented more of a relaxed, Bay-Area feel around the more technical or death-influenced parts of their sound, but the set was still unmistakeably in their usual style. Dave brought out some new guitar tricks, Anthony didn't take his shirt off, and a large number of people bought CDs when they finished; I wasn't anticipating this last, because their disc's been out for a while, and Revocation doesn't exactly hide in the forests building their kvlt credits as opposed to doing shows. This band is so good and performs so relatively often that you'd think most people who go to local shows in the Boston area would have Summon The Spawn by now. Regardless, a bunch more people have it now, and well they should.
Deadlikedeath [5/7]
Midway through their set, Murph likened following Revocation to pissing into a wind tunnel, but it wasn't as bad as all that. DLD gave a good performance, more grind than last time I was them either because that's how they're developing, or more likely because I've been listening to more grind lately and know what to listen to. They didn't seem any more or less comfortable in this venue than at the Middle East, but they were definitely a little looser. There were some stops and starts, but mostly just a kickass set. Unfortunately, I couldn't -- or more accurately, didn't -- stick to the end of it for the car-related reasons mentioned above, so I missed probably about 15 or 20 minutes of rockin' and a light fixture getting whacked. Next time, next time; this one, even just what I was able to stay for, was still a cool show and a pretty sweet Friday night.
Hell's Infinite 6 with Baphomet's Horns, Hekseri, Martyrvore, and Witch Tomb
DeeDee's, Quincy, 1/20/2007
--
After talking a good game about not parking at the T station like last night, I turned around and did it again. This of course was enabled by the fact that this venue is located directly behind the Wollaston Red Line stop (which I know of old), and there was no easier option. It also helped that it shortened the walk in sub-freezing temperatures in a non-insulated kutte. I can do this grim-and-frostbitten-north thing, but it's physically draining to do for too long at a time.
I didn't get in that early, but still got time to sit and regenerate before the bands started. I wouldn't sit down much the rest of the night, not only because there was a minimum of latency between bands, but also because the place filled up gradually throughout the night, to a level that most people probably wouldn't expect for a local black metal show -- provided that people can get over the idea of a local black metal show even happening.
Witch Tomb [5/7]
I was very impressed by this band, despite not hearing much about them going in. Their mix of drone and aggression was the closest that this night would offer to the 'typical' sound of USBM, but different enough to announce how the rest of the show was going to sound. They had a good long set for an opener, which the first three bands would all benefit from, showing off their abilities well.
Martyrvore [5/7]
Another good set, though more pointed and driven, despite being the first of the 40 percent of bands on this bill not to employ a bass player. Black metal by nature is treble-heavy, and the sound worked for both these guys and Hell's Infinite 6, but srsly, we may need to get a union going or something. The singer of this band, at least, is in Cold Northern Vengeance, but unfortunately I haven't listened to the CD I got off him yet, so I can't point to any differences or similarities in sound. Still a good set, plenty abrasive, and the rest of the audience was also into it.
The first two bands here are doing a split sometime in the near future, so something to watch out for.
Hekseri [6/7]
This slot on the bill was about right, and does credit to Megan for putting her own act in the right place while also putting up the show. However, the real story here is the performance that the band put on, a solid set of raw and dirty black metal highlighted by some excellent guitar work. Megan's solo style is clearly rooted in Slayer, but it blends well with the rest of the band's attack, which was at a comparably high level. This was a performance that built up rather than immediately starting and staying awesome, but this shouldn't diminish the quality of the music or its delivery. Very cool, and of course as gimmick-free as expected.
Baphomet's Horns [5/7]
There seemed to be a crowd surge for this band, with more people packing into the floor immediately in front of the stage to see them, then fading back when they finished. They were definitely worth everyone's full attention, providing a cool and fully developed set of nice brutal black metal, though it's always better, from a general scene standpoint, when fans of one band stick around for everyone on the bill. This is of course nothing on the band themselves, who gave a great performance that managed to feel cut off at the end; I'd gladly have watched them go on for another 15 or 20 minutes, but maybe next time. Next time, definitely, I'll get a shirt off them, as their designs are pretty killer, but all I got from them merchwise was their split with Amputator.
I also missed out on Hekseri stuff, but I'm definitely seeing them in like 2 weeks opening for Destruction, so I should be able to make it up at that time.
Hell's Infinite 6 [6/7]
Another ultimately killer set from a cool band, but also one that didn't employ a bassist. The dual guitar sound worked well, and the blending of riffs and feedback/general noise definitely enhanced the experience. Despite two guitarists and one of them wearing a Dissection shirt and a Dissection-derived arm tat, they held mainly to the brutal line that hs dominated the show so far, and did turn out a cool performance that also felt cut off. I'm not sure whether my internal clock starts going off after 23:00 or if it's just different expectations for headliners, but for whatever reason, this band also overcame a slow start to a point where I could have gone for another 15 to 20 once they finally closed up.
I probably could have hung around for a little after, but that would probably mean at least one more beer, and then more time off before driving, and I was again concerned about the Quincy PD booting or absconding with my car. I've got to plan better and/or find different places to park, but these Quincy venues are so convenient to the mass parking lots of our mass transit system that it's difficult to not be lazy and just use them. There's been some post-facto comments about the sound at this show from the bands, but I didn't notice much wrong with it; necro sound is something I've grown accustomed to from black metal, and all of the bands on this bill sounded fine with the sound as it was. Of course, that does mean that they'd all probably come off better with a good sound system, but that's something to look forward to; this show, now in the past, was pretty cool and a definite good experience to look back on.
In other news, I got my ticket for Enslaved off CNV, and several people, including one of the guys from Hirudinea (who was one of several with a better-built kutte than mine there), were rumoring about Rotten Sound playing at some Elks lodge in the area. No idea on the timeline for that one, but if it's north of the MA southern border, I ought to try and get to it; probably going to see them at MDF anyway, but that's pending how much vacation I have to take for Metal Winter Break.
Next show is hopefully going to be on Wednesday -- Godless Rising, Goreality, Downfall, and Mortis Dev down in Somerville -- but I'm fighting a cold right now and don't want to be fucking sneezing all over people. If that fails, I might go up to Metal Church at Mark's on the weekend, but I really don't want to go to a P2P show without getting a ticket off one of the bands. Sure, if I went I'd grout through everyone's merch table, but it'd still feel like I was picking Ravage or RAOV's pocket. Of course, the better step is to simply get rid of P2P shows, but as long as good nationals keep getting booked into them and good locals keep knuckling and playing them, it's going to be a devil's choice. Most likely I'll do the Wednesday show, then take the weekend off to regain my health (there's no way I'll see a better set from Metal Church than I got from the first row at Wacken this year) and hope to corral Ravage's CD releases later.
Revocation and Deadlikedeath
Caralilly's, Quincy, 1/19/2007
--
Technically, the bill should be flipped, but Revocation did put this show up, and the two bands here were about equally supported. Two bands on a DIY bill, the order basically doesn't matter.
I got down roughly on time, though before most of the band members got there, despite the usual 93 shenanigans and a couple blocks of walking to get over from the North Quincy T. The venue in question is a nice place, normally a piano bar, but it converts well into a DIY venue. It's a decent place for a local show, and proof that we do have the technical capabilities on the North Shore to host 18+ and 21+ shows...provided that someone gets off their ass and does it. Someone who isn't subject to randomly getting shuttled off to the ends of the earth, just so we're clear on this.
Before the bands got going, I unwittingly provided some opening entertainment by ordering a beer that had to come out of the wrong cooler. Said beer was partially frozen, and detonated on opening, covering the bartender and a fair stretch of the bar in an explosion of beer slush. She was a good sport about it, though, and it gave everyone something to laugh about while the bands were setting up.
Revocation [6/7]
Another show, another casually awesome performance from Revocation. This performance presented more of a relaxed, Bay-Area feel around the more technical or death-influenced parts of their sound, but the set was still unmistakeably in their usual style. Dave brought out some new guitar tricks, Anthony didn't take his shirt off, and a large number of people bought CDs when they finished; I wasn't anticipating this last, because their disc's been out for a while, and Revocation doesn't exactly hide in the forests building their kvlt credits as opposed to doing shows. This band is so good and performs so relatively often that you'd think most people who go to local shows in the Boston area would have Summon The Spawn by now. Regardless, a bunch more people have it now, and well they should.
Deadlikedeath [5/7]
Midway through their set, Murph likened following Revocation to pissing into a wind tunnel, but it wasn't as bad as all that. DLD gave a good performance, more grind than last time I was them either because that's how they're developing, or more likely because I've been listening to more grind lately and know what to listen to. They didn't seem any more or less comfortable in this venue than at the Middle East, but they were definitely a little looser. There were some stops and starts, but mostly just a kickass set. Unfortunately, I couldn't -- or more accurately, didn't -- stick to the end of it for the car-related reasons mentioned above, so I missed probably about 15 or 20 minutes of rockin' and a light fixture getting whacked. Next time, next time; this one, even just what I was able to stay for, was still a cool show and a pretty sweet Friday night.
Hell's Infinite 6 with Baphomet's Horns, Hekseri, Martyrvore, and Witch Tomb
DeeDee's, Quincy, 1/20/2007
--
After talking a good game about not parking at the T station like last night, I turned around and did it again. This of course was enabled by the fact that this venue is located directly behind the Wollaston Red Line stop (which I know of old), and there was no easier option. It also helped that it shortened the walk in sub-freezing temperatures in a non-insulated kutte. I can do this grim-and-frostbitten-north thing, but it's physically draining to do for too long at a time.
I didn't get in that early, but still got time to sit and regenerate before the bands started. I wouldn't sit down much the rest of the night, not only because there was a minimum of latency between bands, but also because the place filled up gradually throughout the night, to a level that most people probably wouldn't expect for a local black metal show -- provided that people can get over the idea of a local black metal show even happening.
Witch Tomb [5/7]
I was very impressed by this band, despite not hearing much about them going in. Their mix of drone and aggression was the closest that this night would offer to the 'typical' sound of USBM, but different enough to announce how the rest of the show was going to sound. They had a good long set for an opener, which the first three bands would all benefit from, showing off their abilities well.
Martyrvore [5/7]
Another good set, though more pointed and driven, despite being the first of the 40 percent of bands on this bill not to employ a bass player. Black metal by nature is treble-heavy, and the sound worked for both these guys and Hell's Infinite 6, but srsly, we may need to get a union going or something. The singer of this band, at least, is in Cold Northern Vengeance, but unfortunately I haven't listened to the CD I got off him yet, so I can't point to any differences or similarities in sound. Still a good set, plenty abrasive, and the rest of the audience was also into it.
The first two bands here are doing a split sometime in the near future, so something to watch out for.
Hekseri [6/7]
This slot on the bill was about right, and does credit to Megan for putting her own act in the right place while also putting up the show. However, the real story here is the performance that the band put on, a solid set of raw and dirty black metal highlighted by some excellent guitar work. Megan's solo style is clearly rooted in Slayer, but it blends well with the rest of the band's attack, which was at a comparably high level. This was a performance that built up rather than immediately starting and staying awesome, but this shouldn't diminish the quality of the music or its delivery. Very cool, and of course as gimmick-free as expected.
Baphomet's Horns [5/7]
There seemed to be a crowd surge for this band, with more people packing into the floor immediately in front of the stage to see them, then fading back when they finished. They were definitely worth everyone's full attention, providing a cool and fully developed set of nice brutal black metal, though it's always better, from a general scene standpoint, when fans of one band stick around for everyone on the bill. This is of course nothing on the band themselves, who gave a great performance that managed to feel cut off at the end; I'd gladly have watched them go on for another 15 or 20 minutes, but maybe next time. Next time, definitely, I'll get a shirt off them, as their designs are pretty killer, but all I got from them merchwise was their split with Amputator.
I also missed out on Hekseri stuff, but I'm definitely seeing them in like 2 weeks opening for Destruction, so I should be able to make it up at that time.
Hell's Infinite 6 [6/7]
Another ultimately killer set from a cool band, but also one that didn't employ a bassist. The dual guitar sound worked well, and the blending of riffs and feedback/general noise definitely enhanced the experience. Despite two guitarists and one of them wearing a Dissection shirt and a Dissection-derived arm tat, they held mainly to the brutal line that hs dominated the show so far, and did turn out a cool performance that also felt cut off. I'm not sure whether my internal clock starts going off after 23:00 or if it's just different expectations for headliners, but for whatever reason, this band also overcame a slow start to a point where I could have gone for another 15 to 20 once they finally closed up.
I probably could have hung around for a little after, but that would probably mean at least one more beer, and then more time off before driving, and I was again concerned about the Quincy PD booting or absconding with my car. I've got to plan better and/or find different places to park, but these Quincy venues are so convenient to the mass parking lots of our mass transit system that it's difficult to not be lazy and just use them. There's been some post-facto comments about the sound at this show from the bands, but I didn't notice much wrong with it; necro sound is something I've grown accustomed to from black metal, and all of the bands on this bill sounded fine with the sound as it was. Of course, that does mean that they'd all probably come off better with a good sound system, but that's something to look forward to; this show, now in the past, was pretty cool and a definite good experience to look back on.
In other news, I got my ticket for Enslaved off CNV, and several people, including one of the guys from Hirudinea (who was one of several with a better-built kutte than mine there), were rumoring about Rotten Sound playing at some Elks lodge in the area. No idea on the timeline for that one, but if it's north of the MA southern border, I ought to try and get to it; probably going to see them at MDF anyway, but that's pending how much vacation I have to take for Metal Winter Break.
Next show is hopefully going to be on Wednesday -- Godless Rising, Goreality, Downfall, and Mortis Dev down in Somerville -- but I'm fighting a cold right now and don't want to be fucking sneezing all over people. If that fails, I might go up to Metal Church at Mark's on the weekend, but I really don't want to go to a P2P show without getting a ticket off one of the bands. Sure, if I went I'd grout through everyone's merch table, but it'd still feel like I was picking Ravage or RAOV's pocket. Of course, the better step is to simply get rid of P2P shows, but as long as good nationals keep getting booked into them and good locals keep knuckling and playing them, it's going to be a devil's choice. Most likely I'll do the Wednesday show, then take the weekend off to regain my health (there's no way I'll see a better set from Metal Church than I got from the first row at Wacken this year) and hope to corral Ravage's CD releases later.
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