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 darkwor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label darkwor. Show all posts
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Friday, July 17, 2009
Darkwor with Cursed For Eternity, Ov Dust, and Shabti [Ralph's, Worcester, 7/16/2009]
When I went out to this I was still fatigued from the previous night's gig. Right now, I'm about 87% dead and taking significant advantage of the fact that my place of employment, being full of French people, has a DIY espresso machine. Six hours' sleep in 50+ and counting -- I'm already in festival mode, and got to see a second awesome black metal gig in the process.
As has been all too usual lately, I left right from work, navigated the Pike out without getting killed, and got in to Worcester just as the rain -- coming from the opposite direction -- was arriving. This was right about doors, so I got to stand and sit around for a bit and generally decompress. At this point, it looked mostly like a lot of Metal Thursdays do early on; not a lot of people, and many of those who are there are in the bands or traveled out with them.
Shabti [5.5/7]
This was a seriously impressive performance from a band that people in New England should definitely start paying attention to. The songs are not the most fully developed in the world at this point, but the musicianship that they displayed has to be acknowledged, as does the originality of their sound. Trying to sum it up for Matt from Faces of Bayon, who didn't get in until their last song, I couldn't do much better than the leftovers of a collaboration between 1990-vintage Cynic and 1991-vintage Dissection: a more or less even blend of tech-death and second-wave-black-metal elements that still felt raw around the edges. If they had CDs, I would have picked one up; unfortunately, all they had were shirts, and I'm not sure that they're "shirt-level" yet. I like the band, and will make a point of seeing them the next time they come around, but I already have too goddamned many shirts at this point.
Ov Dust [5.5/7]
I was wondering what band I'd seen the singer for these guys in before, but figured out while they were soundchecking that it was "none of the above", and that it was just the blown-out platinum hairdo, which you tend to see on about every third or fourth dude involved with a German folk/goth/Mittelalter-metal band. So we're clear, this guy is not the same as the dude from Subway to Sally. Similarly, Ov Dust is not the same as Celtic Frost, though the similarities are a little closer in that vein. They opened up with "Dethroned Emperor", which I didn't recognize at first, just thinking, man, these guys are just all over CF's knob, aren't they. Then the lyrics come in and I realize they're opening with another band's song. To their credit, they did play originals for the rest of the set, and got to a point where they just liked Celtic Frost a wicked lot rather than wholesale biting of their sound and catalog with huge gnashing fangs. They also strongly promoted their Myspace and covered the floor in flyers, which was a good thing, because there was a lot of beer spilled during Darkwor's set, and the extra absorption on the floor probably helped the staff with cleanup.
Cursed For Eternity [6.5/7]
This must have been Witch Tomb offspec week; Bone Ritual the night before, then this outfit similarly crushing all a day later and about an hour to the west. Here, though, the return to the primitive took on a different form: this was pure Black Circle music, neither Pure Fucking Armaggeddon (despite ending with an annihilating cover of "Deathcrush") nor Wrath of the Tyrant but somewhere in the middle, solidly within that musical continuum. It was also by far the best set of the night -- maybe only "by far" because of Darkwor's guitar amp issues, but whether you want to play the comparison game or not, the simple fact is that this set killed.
As mentioned, there were not a lot of people in this venue initially. However, that number steadily increased, to the point where, looking around after CFE finished, the entire frickin place was packed, and at about a 60:40 m:f ratio, which is absolutely unheard of in underground metal. This is, one supposes, a contributing factor in why Metal Thursday is where it is: there were more women in attendance by the end of this gig, nearly all of them actually interested in seeing and into Darkwor, than there were at the end of the EoN gig the night before, counting the posse that showed up from Wonderbar and wherethefuckeverelse solely to ambush Nicholas Cage. This isn't a "dude the CHICKS go to this show!!1!" selling point; it's an indicator of a healthier and more diverse scene.....in which this long-running and successful concert series is also probably a contributing factor.
Darkwor [6/7]
Originally I thought that I couldn't hear the guitar because my ears were blown out after Cursed For Eternity. Then other people, some of whom I'd seen wearing earplugs at the show, confirmed that there was a problem with the amp at the start. Either way, Darkwor didn't get off to as clean a start as they might have liked, if only due to technical reasons. They did get cranked up over the course of the set, though, and did up some killer music...that I now don't have the most concrete recollection of, because they didn't have CDs (in "tiny jew cases" or otherwise) available, but mainly because I was pit-tanking throughout their set, which is always a challenge at this place. The usual supsects (modulo Chris, on IR at the bar for this one with a concussion) went completely nuts despite the large crowd, and the janitor/assistant bartender for the club was motivated to climb up one of the poles on the floor and hang upside-down from the light rigging before jumping off and getting circus-carried around the pit by Dan. The dude in question always gets into the bands, but this was a lot more over the top than I've seen before.
Somehow, when they finally finished, the conclusion was universal that it was too soon, and there was much bellowing of MOOOOAR! at the band, but the damn lights went on anyways, and the show was concluded. Already having a belle copine and definitely, in any case, having to work in the morning, I did not stay to work the room but hit the road, and despite extensive construction and humidity high enough that I had to run the wipers to keep the windshield from fogging up, I made it back in time to catch a two-and-a-half-hour nap before the alarm clock rang and I had to be moving again. Show was worth it, though; they usually are, as you can generally leave the sucky ones long before you have to sacrifice anything in terms of rest or stress.
I may or may not be going to Summer Slaughter; I go on call tonight for the next week leading up to when I hit the tarmac at Logan, and I may have other commitments as well tomorrow. Other than that, maybe hanging with the perpetually-expanding-their-universe-of-affiliated-bands originally-Downfall/Summoning-Hate crew Tuesday night, and definitely that last-chance show in Revere Thursday. And somewhere in all this I get to walk a 1/4 marathon, finish packing, and hack up a pair of BDU pants for overseas use.
As has been all too usual lately, I left right from work, navigated the Pike out without getting killed, and got in to Worcester just as the rain -- coming from the opposite direction -- was arriving. This was right about doors, so I got to stand and sit around for a bit and generally decompress. At this point, it looked mostly like a lot of Metal Thursdays do early on; not a lot of people, and many of those who are there are in the bands or traveled out with them.
Shabti [5.5/7]
This was a seriously impressive performance from a band that people in New England should definitely start paying attention to. The songs are not the most fully developed in the world at this point, but the musicianship that they displayed has to be acknowledged, as does the originality of their sound. Trying to sum it up for Matt from Faces of Bayon, who didn't get in until their last song, I couldn't do much better than the leftovers of a collaboration between 1990-vintage Cynic and 1991-vintage Dissection: a more or less even blend of tech-death and second-wave-black-metal elements that still felt raw around the edges. If they had CDs, I would have picked one up; unfortunately, all they had were shirts, and I'm not sure that they're "shirt-level" yet. I like the band, and will make a point of seeing them the next time they come around, but I already have too goddamned many shirts at this point.
Ov Dust [5.5/7]
I was wondering what band I'd seen the singer for these guys in before, but figured out while they were soundchecking that it was "none of the above", and that it was just the blown-out platinum hairdo, which you tend to see on about every third or fourth dude involved with a German folk/goth/Mittelalter-metal band. So we're clear, this guy is not the same as the dude from Subway to Sally. Similarly, Ov Dust is not the same as Celtic Frost, though the similarities are a little closer in that vein. They opened up with "Dethroned Emperor", which I didn't recognize at first, just thinking, man, these guys are just all over CF's knob, aren't they. Then the lyrics come in and I realize they're opening with another band's song. To their credit, they did play originals for the rest of the set, and got to a point where they just liked Celtic Frost a wicked lot rather than wholesale biting of their sound and catalog with huge gnashing fangs. They also strongly promoted their Myspace and covered the floor in flyers, which was a good thing, because there was a lot of beer spilled during Darkwor's set, and the extra absorption on the floor probably helped the staff with cleanup.
Cursed For Eternity [6.5/7]
This must have been Witch Tomb offspec week; Bone Ritual the night before, then this outfit similarly crushing all a day later and about an hour to the west. Here, though, the return to the primitive took on a different form: this was pure Black Circle music, neither Pure Fucking Armaggeddon (despite ending with an annihilating cover of "Deathcrush") nor Wrath of the Tyrant but somewhere in the middle, solidly within that musical continuum. It was also by far the best set of the night -- maybe only "by far" because of Darkwor's guitar amp issues, but whether you want to play the comparison game or not, the simple fact is that this set killed.
As mentioned, there were not a lot of people in this venue initially. However, that number steadily increased, to the point where, looking around after CFE finished, the entire frickin place was packed, and at about a 60:40 m:f ratio, which is absolutely unheard of in underground metal. This is, one supposes, a contributing factor in why Metal Thursday is where it is: there were more women in attendance by the end of this gig, nearly all of them actually interested in seeing and into Darkwor, than there were at the end of the EoN gig the night before, counting the posse that showed up from Wonderbar and wherethefuckeverelse solely to ambush Nicholas Cage. This isn't a "dude the CHICKS go to this show!!1!" selling point; it's an indicator of a healthier and more diverse scene.....in which this long-running and successful concert series is also probably a contributing factor.
Darkwor [6/7]
Originally I thought that I couldn't hear the guitar because my ears were blown out after Cursed For Eternity. Then other people, some of whom I'd seen wearing earplugs at the show, confirmed that there was a problem with the amp at the start. Either way, Darkwor didn't get off to as clean a start as they might have liked, if only due to technical reasons. They did get cranked up over the course of the set, though, and did up some killer music...that I now don't have the most concrete recollection of, because they didn't have CDs (in "tiny jew cases" or otherwise) available, but mainly because I was pit-tanking throughout their set, which is always a challenge at this place. The usual supsects (modulo Chris, on IR at the bar for this one with a concussion) went completely nuts despite the large crowd, and the janitor/assistant bartender for the club was motivated to climb up one of the poles on the floor and hang upside-down from the light rigging before jumping off and getting circus-carried around the pit by Dan. The dude in question always gets into the bands, but this was a lot more over the top than I've seen before.
Somehow, when they finally finished, the conclusion was universal that it was too soon, and there was much bellowing of MOOOOAR! at the band, but the damn lights went on anyways, and the show was concluded. Already having a belle copine and definitely, in any case, having to work in the morning, I did not stay to work the room but hit the road, and despite extensive construction and humidity high enough that I had to run the wipers to keep the windshield from fogging up, I made it back in time to catch a two-and-a-half-hour nap before the alarm clock rang and I had to be moving again. Show was worth it, though; they usually are, as you can generally leave the sucky ones long before you have to sacrifice anything in terms of rest or stress.
I may or may not be going to Summer Slaughter; I go on call tonight for the next week leading up to when I hit the tarmac at Logan, and I may have other commitments as well tomorrow. Other than that, maybe hanging with the perpetually-expanding-their-universe-of-affiliated-bands originally-Downfall/Summoning-Hate crew Tuesday night, and definitely that last-chance show in Revere Thursday. And somewhere in all this I get to walk a 1/4 marathon, finish packing, and hack up a pair of BDU pants for overseas use.
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