Black Trip with Ravage and Iron Will [Ralph's, Worcester, 5/17/2012]

Being on a vacation burn -- not going anywhere except "not to work" -- I got the chance to start a little later out to this, but between one thing and another, mostly the longer trip and less dense traffic, got in about the usual, with the bands starting later as there were only three on the bill.  You'd think, especially on a CD release, that fewer bands would still imply a normal start, and then the releasing band doing a longer set to play most of the new record down and/or get their friends to sit in for covers and other shenanigans.  This turned out not to be the case, partly because Black Trip was only putting out a 3-song EP, and partly because it took a while for all the members of Iron Will to actually get down to the venue.  It basically balanced out, though, as all of the bands got at least adequate sets when they finally started playing.

Iron Will [4.5/7]
I'm not sure if they've tweaked the lineup since last time (I would go with 'yes', since the potentially-new bassist is also the new bassist in Ravage, who I'm not sure I've seen twice in a row with the same bass player since 2003; if the Firicano brothers found a reliable bassist who digs power metal, it stands to reason they'd try to get him into this band as well), but Iron Will has taken a step forward in the intervening.  Some of this is just general tightness, but more of it is Tony improving his elocution; the dude sounds a lot more pro now, and a lot less like a guy from the block in Revere, which helps with bringing in an epic feeling to some of their more expansive stuff.  However, the songwriting is still pretty much where it was: second-run and consistent across songs to the point where it gets samey and hard to separate.  Iron Will brought it technically, and their cover of Witchfinder General's "Friends of Hell" was well-done as well as well-received, but their material continues to be that of a second-rank local trad-metal band: another reminder of just how fucking hard it is to even get up to average.

Iron Will driving on.

The set breaks on this night were pretty short, partially a function of the later start and partly due to Iron Will and Ravage backlining, which basically eliminated the need to change mic positions, let alone move gear around.  It was still enough, though, to pick up another beer and nab a short stack of Sonic Pulse promo cards to take over.

Ravage [5.5/7]
As is pretty much usual for Ravage, this was another good solid set, with yet another new rhythm section.  Dan and Rich held it down well, and this may have been the motivation for doing a fair amount of old stuff, as well as their Metal-Blade-era material -- even going so far as to resurrect "Wyvern", which not only pleased the old fans, but also neatly cut out my usual avenue of being "Play Old Shit!" Guy.  This in some ways was more solid of a set than I've seen from Ravage since they signed to Metal Blade, so hopefully the lineup sticks, and the label gives them another shot that doesn't involve their van simultaneously disintegrating.

Al gets out from behind the kit as Nick rips it up on "The Shredder".

On the subject of bands getting unexpectedly signed to major labels, congrats to Vattnet Viskar on getting picked up by Century Media -- and on getting their formerly in-joke-ridden metal-archives page fixed.  Like Pilgrim, this may end up being too much too soon, but the band does have the chops for it, and if they can kick merely Liturgy to fuck, it'll be a uniform upgrade.

Ben ripping it.

Black Trip [6/7]
After the last time here, I was quite skeptical about how Black Trip was going to do headlining this one.  Fortunately, though, they've used the intervening time well, and they put together a well-finished, well-rounded set that didn't overrun the set time or overdrive the sound system, both areas where they've had issues in the past.  This one, like the three-song EP they put out at this gig, was a little more power-metal-influenced than they've been in the past, but their former death metal crunch is still there and still firms up the sound.  Black Trip is not quite where they want to be yet, but they're moving in that direction, and the full-length that is scheduled to follow on from the current record, if they continue to improve, will get them a lot closer.

Avengers Assemble?

As on prior gigs with multiple north-of-Boston bands, this one saw another song added to the library of Manowar covers I've seen live, as Black Trip brought up Al and Tony from the openers to guest on "Thor (The Power Head)".  The crowd got into it, as did I -- if I want to hear "Guyana" or "Mountains" off that record, I'd have to have my own band, which is a long way of saying "not going to happen".

In time, though, Black Trip wrapped up, I dropped a couple bucks in the box of CDs while grouting out the record (free, at least on this gig, so there's no excuse not to pick it up), and I hit the road back, getting back in fine condition with minimal caffeine interference.  Not having to work in the mornings gets you that -- and then coming back to work with a vengeance makes stuff like this terminally late.

Hessian with Black Trip, Skull Hammer, and Triforium Dawn [Ralph's, Worcester, 11/3/2011]

The last show before yet another on-call stand that was going to endanger the schedule, this was also a strong bill in and of itself; the chance to see Hessian again does not go missed lightly. I was a little late getting out of work, but managed to get through the roadworks without much difficulty and in to Ralph's about as Triforium Dawn was finishing setting up. Some days you cut it close, some days you twiddle your thumbs for half an hour. This turned out to be one of the former, probably due to the need to keep things rolling for the headliners, down from Maine on a one-off.

Triforium Dawn [5/7]
I hadn't seen this band before, and if nothing else they were immensely interesting, doing what at times seemed to be a fusion of Final Chapter-era Hypocrisy's rhythm section with Dickinsonian vocals. The concept behind this band, though, is a little better than the execution at this point, as showed clearly in their cover of Emperor's "I Am The Black Wizards"; the abundance of guitar mistakes in the faster first half of the song and their almost complete absence in the second half is a really clear indicator that the weird fit in a lot of places in their originals is down to the guitar parts having an effective speed limit, beyond which the guitarist/vocalist can't play with predictable accuracy. The best performance, musically and vocally, though, came when he put down the axe and was able to concentrate on vocals, with the bass filling in both melody and harmony; this band used to be a four-piece (established by later research), and would probably benefit from getting back to that configuration, at least on the evidence offered here. This was still a good set, and showed off some incredible bass skills, but this band has the immediate potential to become much better.

In here, I went back to get another beer, and the barman had it to hand before I even got belly-up. I remain as ever embarrassingly predictable in my ongoing dedication to being cheap.

Skull Hammer [5.5/7]
Skull Hammer's slightly changed their lineup up since the last time I saw them, bringing in Matt from Seax on the four strings. This, though, didn't make as much of a difference as going from the Champions' PA to the much better Ralph's system; unlike the bands before and after them, Skull Hammer didn't have any problems with the vocals (or anything else) cutting in and out, letting them blast out a quality thrash battering. Nobody's going to accuse this band of doing anything particularly new or groundbreaking any time soon, but their execution isn't to be questioned; there's always going to be an audience at the DIY level for well-delivered straight-ahead thrash metal, and as long as Skull Hammer can keep executing, they're going to continue to satisfy that audience.

About here I did my merch for the night: a couple buttons off Skull Hammer due to already having both of their records, and another shirt from Hessian, which is a little more general-use-friendly than the last one, which I can wear out pretty much only in northern Europe, where standards of how much vagina you can show on a t-shirt are a little looser. Still a cool design, still will probably make it over to next year's Party.San.

Black Trip [5/7]
Most of this set was done instrumental, because the PA was not working; this cut off the vocals almost entirely, but since this was a DIY show, there was still plenty of sound coming out of the cabs and off the drumkit regardless of the micing. Ralph's has had equipment problems in the past, but in retrospect this one is probably down mostly to the band overloading the system: while the PA cut in and out intermittently, it was fine for Skull Hammer and also fine for Hessian. Regardless, the band still executed decently, doing, as previously mentioned, endZone with some tweaks for localization, and Ben continues to establish himself as one of the better and more underrated lead guitarists in eastern New England. I'm not 100% sure that this set would have been notably better with vocals in, but their absence was a definite distraction, and if they're turning up to an extent that habitually overloads the venue's circuits, this is something the band has to work on, if only from the logistics standpoint.

Hessian [6/7]
This was a little more developed of a Hessian set than last time, a little longer, with a few more covers, and some more new originals, but pretty much of a measure. The band's taken it up a notch, but the previous level was pretty damn high, and in some ways there's only so much that you can tinker with this sort of first-principles heavy metal before it mutates into something else entirely. Hessian are continuing to fully explore that space, though, and the next record, at least on the evidence that we got here, will at least be a worthy successor to Old, Wild, and Free. Hopefully, we'll see them down again sometime before that point; they got a strong response here as in Boston, and probably made a few converts who hadn't seen them here back in July. They played right up until the limits, taking an encore or two when offered by the soundboard, but eventually did have to close up; one of the perils of playing licensed establishments.

The bands having closed up, I beat feet back to the east, getting back in time to take a quick nap before work, then have my weekend hogged by production tickets, which meant neither Mayhem nor The Binary Code. No good; hopefully nothing catches on fire tonight before the end of Cynic. Work has to come first, but that doesn't mean I enjoy walking out on good bands.

Hate Eternal with Origin, Vital Remains, Abysmal Dawn, Sexcrement, and Black Trip [Worcester Palladium, 7/9/2011]

I was getting a little eye fatigue on the way out to this; charging hard on various fronts had been the order of the day, so I was still incompletely recovered from Humanity Falls the night before. What worked to cut down on it, though, was the car's AC, which boded ill for the gig itself. The Palladium is always wicked hot, especially in the upstairs, and especially for a death metal show with a lot of motion in the audience.

I got up just about doors, which meant only about a 15-minute wait or so at the end of the line. This was necessary because the Palladium has previous for being nebulous about what actually "doors" means, and since I'd gotten my ticket off Black Trip back at Destruction, I wanted to make sure I at least saw them. After getting processed in, I got a beer, looked over the merch selection, and found myself a decently close spot on the floor where my Old Person knees wouldn't end up getting absolutely killed.

Black Trip [5/7]
The sound was pretty good to these guys, and while they have a host of structural debits that I'll get into in a sec, they put out a decent performance that brought me a lot closer to being able to concretely describe their sound. With crunchy death grooves and a lot of prog/power metal influences in the guitar leads, Black Trip resemble nothing so much as a less blended, less-finished endZone, though that is a hopelessly impenetrable reference because nobody listens to Russian metal that isn't NSBM, and fuck-all nobody was listening to Russian music at all at the turn of the century when these guys were actually active. There's promise for this kind of music, but not in slots or on bills like this. Black Trip didn't really match in with the rest of the bill soundwise, which explains the lukewarm reception they got from the audience, and they didn't really appear to have a handle on the time demands on their set; despite nearly running over their slot, it looked like they were cut off midway through relative to expectations. This, though, like the better blending of their heavy and melodic influences, is something that should get better with experience.

The only really major sticking point in this set was at the end, when they called out for noise for every single band on the bill except Sexcrement. This is really, really bad form; it might be just honest tunnel vision, but when you're one of two local openers and ignore the other one to call out for appreesh to yourselves and the touring bill, it looks like you're trying to get over on them, and this is a bad idea generally -- but especially when the band getting dissed by omission is as high-profile as Sexcrement. It's not just being a long-running, fun, well-liked band that includes members of other well-liked bands and leading promoters; Sexcrement is pretty much the one band that people ask me about first when I'm on the road overseas, after they find out I'm from New England. It's bad form anywhere, on any bill, to single out bands by omission, no matter how well or poorly they played, but in this case, that omission might have specific and significant negative consequences, and they could have easily been avoided by going "oh yeah, and SEXCREMENT!!!" in response to the audience yelling "what about Sexcrement?!"

Sexcrement [6/7]
Sexcrement also got a pretty short set, as expected from opening, but handled it in a simple and effective way: they came out, set up, and fucking killed it straight across. Their fairly simple, always solid grooving slam-death battered the audience and got the pit nice and proper violent. Though they cut against the more tech-oriented grain of the bill, they were effective and enjoyable, and that ultimately is what playing live comes down to. Killer.

The sole disappointing thing about this outing was that when I went up to hit the merch deck, Sexcrement was sold out of the XXX Bargain Bin EP. Bad luck, but a good lesson: when good bands put something out on their own hook, go see them and get a damn copy, because it's going to sell out and not get re-pressed sooner rather than later.

Abysmal Dawn [5.5/7]
Maybe it was the sound -- which was kind of inconsistent here, good for some bands, less good for others -- but for whatever reason Abysmal Dawn didn't really translate live. A lot of the more technical stuff from their Leveling the Plane of Existence record either didn't end up in the setlist or, more likely, didn't make it through the mix, leaving them sounding like a less-varied Immolation. This was still a good set, with enough of the music making it through to get the crowd into it, but it could have been better, at least according to the recorded evidence, with a better presentation.

Speaking of that recorded evidence, I went up for the third time after Abysmal's set to try and purchase it, but they still didn't have their merch desk manned. I did get a copy a little later on -- which bore out the impression I got, live, of technical parts that should have been there getting lost or buried -- but with the heat and attendant attrition, they may have missed out on some sales to people who wanted to support the band, but packed it in early for whatever reason.

Vital Remains [5.5/7]
The course of the last few years has not been kind to local perceptions of Vital Remains. This was the third time I've seen the band, and for the third time, an almost completely new lineup. Tony is still there, of course, and Scott's been retained on vocals, but with new members in the other three positions, seeing Vital again under these circumstances can approach seeing Vital again, for the first time. They got off to a very, very, rough start, though this was probably due to bad house sound, as they improved steadily through the course of the set to close with "Dechristianize" as completely expected. Vital are still a good band, and I still like "Dechristianize" and "Hammer Down The Nails", but the former song and how the band has developed since the album of the same name came out really emphasize the huge effect that one hit can have on a band's career. Vital is, catalog-wise, an extremely deep and varied band, but nowadays, practically all of their set is done to emulate "Dechristianize" in sound: tons of speed, a lot of blasts, thick riffing and relatively clean leads over the top. I still like what they do, but I continue to hope against hope that the next Vital show I go to -- hopefully the "fest" on the 23rd -- we'll finally get to hear "Forever Underground" again, or "Isolated Magick", period, as I don't remember them playing said song back in '06.

Origin [6/7]
Despite having them down in the notes from some Metalfest or another, I apparently haven't actually seen this band before, as Jason (Mucopus, ex-Skinless) claimed that they hadn't been to this building since 2002, and I'm not sure that I recognized the members from previous "Origin" sets. Regardless, good sound, great execution, and a wall of triggers so fast and pervasive that they might as well have connected the drums directly to a strobelight allowed Origin to completely pulverize the crowd, and comprehensively meet and surpass expectations. Jason's a good addition, solid on vocals and with tons of character and presence; most of the mad stagediving and crowdsurfing is down to the music, but some of it surely was amped up by his persistent insistence on the DIY ethic and removing the gulf of the raised stage and front fence. In a venue like this, it isn't really "our stage too"; the bodybuilders in white shirts and walkie-talkies will still eject people if certain lines are crossed. But the thought still counts.

This was a strong set, but those fuckin' triggers, man. Doin' ma nut in. I can understand that this is kind of what Origin does, and like and appreciate the other stuff they do regardless, but the conversion of the drumkit into, effectively, a wicked loud metronome is the chief reason why I don't own any Origin records past Echoes of Decimation. I should, abstractly, listen to more of their stuff and see if there's more variation lately, but the content of this set kind of argues against doing that. I can take Origin a set at a time, or in that specific 25-minute dose, but more, like the triggers themselves, seems like overkill to these old and crabbit ears.

In between Origin and Hate Eternal, I, like about 40% of the crowd, got the hell out of the main room, ending up in the much cooler foyer while others ducked outside for a smoke or some fresher air. People had been doing this earlier -- when I originally went forward for Sexcrement, the heat in the moshpit area was like there was an oven open at shin level -- but this is where it really started to reach critical mass. The venue had the fans/AC going, but the system couldn't move enough air fast enough to deal with the body heat of 300 or so furious thrashers packed in at close quarters and running around like madmen. This didn't affect the bands -- on stage, you're pretty much melting all the time just from the lights -- but would have an unfortunate effect on the audience for Hate Eternal.

Hate Eternal [6/7]
This was one of the better sets I've seen from Hate Eternal in this building, but the issues that've plagued them here in the past were still evident as they, like a lot of the bands on this bill, got jobbed by the soundboard, losing a significant amount of clarity. This, as the foregoing observations indicate, is kind of a bad thing for technical death metal where lines need at least occasionally to stand apart rather than get smashed together, but the debit wasn't uniform, and the band's material, even muddied, is still strong enough to get through. Unfortunately, people were continually slipping out from the half-hour mark on; this set didn't deserve it, but with the heat being what it was, eventual fatigue was probably inevitable. Count me among the weaklings; I made it to two songs from the announced end before slipping out. I saw most of a very good Hate Eternal set, but missed out on not only the closer but any encore, which sucks. More training definitely needed; the requirements are different, and I'll be benefiting from "festival mode", but you need to be able to handle the heat in order to be able to do open airs.

The upside of leaving early was that I didn't get killed on the way home, and I've bounced back and marginally trained up enough to realistically look at three shows in four days over the weekend, starting with Truckfighters tonight. The merchpack is getting closer to its limit as well.

Roadhorse with Black Trip, Myopia, and Red Blade [Ralph's, Worcester, 6/2/2011]

Despite not really knowing any of the bands, I headed out for this one after about the normal amount of whiling; I tend to see basically the same selection of bands over and over again, and it's good to broaden your horizons and also to see some stuff that's less extreme once in a while.

I got in on time, got a beer or so -- Red Blade kind of falsestarted in soundchecking and then taking a 10-minute break before starting their set, so I went up front and looked dumb in that process -- and soon enough the bands got cranking.

Red Blade [5/7]
Up from Connecticut, these guys set out a decent set of radio-ish thrashy metal with a strong hardcore flavor. The room was practically empty when they started, but they were game about it, and people filled in as they went on. Nothing earth-shattering or ultra-kvlt, to be sure, but this is a good spot as any for a band to start to climb out into the MA scene, and they got a good response from those gathered. Maybe they'd do better at the Fat Cat or whatever venue's still operating out of Springfield (out of my normal stomping grounds), but as far as I know, other venues in this state don't have a series like Metal Thursday.

I talked with some of the guys after and picked up a CD and some stickers; all of the above are still in my jacket and need to get unlimbered at some point, but the collection of stuff to take across continues.

Myopia [5.5/7]
This band, though, I really regret not being able to scare up flyers or something from, at least, because Germany, especially Wacken, would eat them up without bothering to go for the forks. "Du willst die neue Sonata Arctica entdecken?" Well, maybe not quite; they had a few more thrashier parts and some of the compositions were a little rough, but this is what you get, generally, from bands at this level, and it's more noteworthy when an extreme-power metal band can play a bar show and not have stuff like this come up. This was a really good performance, and it got a really good response; as noted, on the music, they'd get a good response across the water as well, but I'm not sure I'll have the drive to do up flyers for them on my own hook.

Some of the response, though, was probably due to them bringing their own people with them; the crowd density went down sharply after they packed up, which is kind of a shame. It's always good to support the bands you believe in, but if you go out for a show, try and stick with it. The other bands might be just as cool, but you won't know if you hit the road as soon as your friends close up.

Black Trip [5.5/7]
Though the crowd was a little smaller, those who remained made up for it in energy. Black Trip's relatively straight-ahead thrashing metal went over well with the remaining stalwarts, with the result of ceaseless if not exactly Dysentery-level mosh throughout the set. I did listen to the band as well, and they were good enough to vindicate the decision to get a ticket for Hate Eternal off them, but the crowd action was the main feature of this set, at least for those of us who were down in the middle of it.

Despite talking rather extensively with various dudes in here, and despite having stopped drinking before Black Trip for highway-patrol-related reasons, my mind is almost a complete blank about it. That which isn't forgotten will be followed up on, but work and other shit this week has been kind of intense, as the lateness of this writeup shows.

Roadhorse [5.5/7]
It's fair, if not exactly complete, to describe this band as "total Motorhead worship". (Ok, there are Sabbath elements too but.) However, this then leads to the question of when, exactly, this became a bad thing in the metal scene. Roadhorse kicked out a good, worthy set of whiskey-and-motorcycles rock and roll, took a couple anti-corporate cues from later thrash metal, and wound up with a cover of "Iron Fist" (rather than "Ace of Spades"), which is what you get from an actual metal band that draws on music from this period rather than a bar-rock combo. Sure, it's not exactly original, but it's good music, well done, and definitely worthy of the headlining slot. (Note no room for additional points from the bassist getting his house blown down; hopefully insurance and/or state/federal disaster relief will cover that.)

With Roadhorse finished and the lights gone up, it was time to head out; I got back in decent time, fucked over my weekend by waiting (and drinking really, really heavily with a mix of Irish and Paraguayans) to find out where to meet up and trade my flag over, and eventually managed to get this written up. I'm not going to be able to make it to the Tombs release show tonight, but Born of Fire tomorrow is go; meet up, gie me your band's leftover stuff to pass out overseas.