I'd been waiting for this show for quite a while, and by all reports it lived up to its billing for those who stayed for the duration. Unfortunately, much to my chagrin, I had to bail for a decent if ultimately run-of-the-mill party that resulted in a miserable hangover in addition to missing more than half of the bands on the bill.
I got up a bit early despite having to do some other errands on the way, and the gravel lot by the venue was great craic as might be expected, something that continued on throughout the gig because, utterly as expected, cramming 40+ people into Anchors Up on a hot summer night turns the place into a sauna. Much fun was had by all, with the new addition of the wooden fence and gate at the top doubtless contributing. I'll keep an eye peeled for Jesse/Carmine's crew at Wacken this year; it's good to know that even if, as I suspect, this is going to be my last year at that particular fest, there's going to be people from this area carrying the flag forward.
The gig didn't start anywhere nearly as early as planned, but people had a good enough time hanging out waiting for the bands to get in, and Nachzehrer got things rolling soon enough.
Nachzehrer [6/7]
They were a little off the pace from the last time I saw them, but some of that can probably be put off to the PA setup, and the rest down to natural variance. Nachzehrer set out a quality performance of hammering black thrash that provoked the most floor movement of the three bands I was able to stay in for: some of that is that the musical style fits it more naturally, but you also have to credit the band for playing well in that style, and also the singer getting out on the floor (as before, so it's not entirely because of the very limited stage area) and getting things going.
After Nachzehrer closed up, I hit the merch table area to see if I could do some financial-supporting, because I was going to skip out before half the bands on the bill played, likely, and was feeling guilty about it. I picked up some Sewer Goddess and Witch Tomb stuff; nobody else had anything out yet, and I had no idea how I'd managed to not buy Crippled Messiah up to this point. Seriously, I go to enough Witch Tomb (and associated bands) gigs; how did that even happen?
Nightbitch [5.5/7]
I was really interested to see this band, largely because Ryan (aka His Emissary) has a rather distinctive approach to guitar composition that, at least in Ipsissimus, results in an immediately distinct sound....and one that it's difficult to immediately see meshing into a "rock" context. Mesh it did, despite a somewhat weird start that occasionally sounded like Roger Waters fronting a No Prayer For The Dying-era Iron Maiden (seriously, that's what the guitar tone sounded like, though the identification isn't quite as anorakish as it sounds, because I actually like that record and regularly listen to stuff off it). As the set went on, though, the sound got more unified and more rockish, though, as observed elsewhere, anyone using the Motley Crue definition of "sleaze rock" has, to turn a reference appropriately on the band's final song, another thing coming. (No, they did "Never Satisfied", but same band, still counts.) Good stuff, any way you cut it.
It will be interesting to see how this band goes forward, with Ipsissimus coming off hiatus and a "special announcement" in the works that has probably been spoiled for anyone who saw the flyer for that band's gig supporting Destroyer 666 in Providence. I'm not going to add to the spoilage here, just note that anyone, really, should have seen this coming after picking up The Three Secrets of Fatima, and will withhold congratulations until the band makes it official.
In this break, I pawed through a couple distro tables and came up with, among other stuff, a Bestial Mockery record and some tapes from Vault and Revenge, which I need to get a working tape player again in order to use. It's for this reason (and, also, already having the demo on CD) that I didn't get one of Nachzehrer's tapes; also, other people may appreciate having the mag version more than I would, and I owe it to them to give them that chance, in addition to not using the word "Pokemans" in reference to the way they assemble their music collections. Srsly, I buy worn-out Iron Maiden recordings mostly because they say "Harvest" on the back, I'm nobody to judge.
Sewer Goddess [5/7]
I could have cut out before this combo started, but remembering back to January, I was pretty sure that they weren't going to go more than 10 or 20 minutes. Ten minutes was what we got, but it wasn't a completely optimal ten minutes, as I'm sure the band will be the first to agree. The crowd was more up for it than earlier this year; some maybe knowing more what to expect, but others more drawn in by -- at least as I remember by comparison -- a much more accessible set. The hate and spite were still there, but not as much of the deliberately and aggressively unlistenable that is the serious draw to this kind of music. Hence the rating, where the prior performance wasn't; some of this is probably intentional to play this selection in this venue, on this bill, and some of it was probably due to outside factors.
Those there no doubt noticed Paul CNV hopping up on stage at times and communicating with the band, and the negative body language that followed; no bad blood or drama here, though, just the extremely unfortunate reality of the HPD being on the prowl, and the venue ops not wanting their show space closed down. This cut down on, presumably, the selection available as well as the volume: the point of this kind of industrial music is to synthesize something creative and independent out of a lot of very loud and very threatening noises, which happen to be the kind of noises that attract cops, who aren't much for the way of standing still and letting the synthesis form. In a different environment, Sewer Goddess will be less restrained; here, the constraints applied to the sound made it less exhausting, and should have led to a longer set, but that wasn't possible either.
At this point I cut out, missing, regrettably, Martyrvore, Witch Tomb, Cold Northern Vengeance, and Midnight in order to show up at my brother's moving-out party, which ended in the aforementioned miserable hangover (protip: don't pour Irish cream liqueur onto a "base" of cheap industrial-chemicals beer, and especially don't eat uncooked shit ravioli after). Really, really, not sure it was worth it, and I need to make it up to the bands involved at some point in the future. For CNV, the most I can do is a hearty hail; they're leaving for their Euro tour in the near future and won't be getting back till about right when I leave to go over.
I picked up some Darkwor CDs to pass out overseas from the band at this gig; there's still space left, but that as well as time to get stuff into my pack is running short. Next show is Metal Thursday tonight, and after that there will be a calendar of remaining opportunities.
Showing posts with label sewer goddess. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sewer goddess. Show all posts
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Monday, February 01, 2010
Cold Northern Vengeance with Sewer Goddess, Deathgod Messiah, and Vaettir [Anchors Up!, Haverhill, 1/30/2010]
So the other shows this week fell by the wayside for various reasons, but there was no chance that this one was going to suffer the same fate. CNV does not play out a lot (though hopefully this will change with them getting some more in the way of label support, and with the turnout alluded to below), and Vaettir is too good to be teetering in and out of existence/activity as they've been doing. So it was a brisk hike back from class to Green Street, with a few minor detours to get some food down and in an ultimately unsuccessful search for a spare car battery, and then the long run of 93 to 95 to 97 to get up at doorsish, stow the car deep in the T lot, and hike over to the venue the long way round to try to mislead the cop sitting right in the damn driveway about my misuse of MBTA resources.
As it turned out, I was one of the first non-band people in the door, which resulted in a fair bit of standing around, browsing Matt/Gemini's distro pile, and getting admiration and mock threats from Keith PanzerBastard over my Tankard sweatshirt. If there was any justice in this world, Gerre and co. would have been over here recently, playing a warehouse gig to a mixed bunch of fitba and hockey hooligans, but as it is, only frustration and vain hopes that eventually, I'll hit them on some festival or another.
Eventually, Vaettir started, and those in attendance, which at this point was still mostly just members of the other bands on the bill, went down the well to support.
Vaettir [6/7]
As noted above, I was pumped to see Vaettir back again, and the band didn't disappoint. Their sound had a more death-tinged edge to it than the last time I recall seeing them, resulting in an atmosphere strongly reminiscent of classic Emperor, but this may also be down to better acoustics here than at the Midway, standing straight in front of the band, and not being as gilled. (This was a dry, all-ages show, being a dry, all-ages venue that has to deal with the Haverhill PD and their dislike of DIY shows, which has been documented on several occasions here, mainly back in 2007.) The CNV and Sigh (especially) touches remained, but the final result was Vaettir establishing very much their own sound and their own identity as a band. Though they're still looking for a permanent bassist to let the vocalist concentrate on vocals, this lineup works pretty damn fine as well, and they can't get that demo out soon enough. This is what NEBM is: we are so deep in good bands around here that even the ones that flicker in and out of active phases like Vaettir are currently doing are worth tracking and listening to.
As Vaettir changed out and DGM loaded their gear in, more and more people started trickling in. Some of this has to do with the dry nature of the show, and people's desires to get a little lubricated before coming over (or to arm up their flask to stay buzzing covertly), but more of it, likely, has to do with this gig being a 7:15 start in Haverhill, well out of the normal catchment areas for metal in eastern New England. There are a lot of metalheads in Haverhill itself, and the local dudes did a hell of a job getting it shouted up, but more than a few of the attendees were either up from Boston or down from New Hampshire, and couldn't, obviously, get moving as early as I did. Price to pay, though; when shows go too late in Haverhill, the HPD get antsy, and that's not good for venue operators.
Deathgod Messiah [5/7]
I'd been jamming Apocalyptic Raids and Carnivore in the stereo on the way up by pure chance, so as immediate as the comparison was for me, it probably does the band a disservice to just come out with "Hellhammer playing Carnivore" as a shorthand for their sound, though an introduction to first-time listeners could be a lot worse. This was the other, urban, side of NEBM, raw, blasting, dirty noise from the streets and alleys of Boston, in contrast but also in complement to the colder and more mystic sounds from the NH-based acts on the bill; the distinction's pretty artificial, as those who know the provenance of Bone Ritual and Martyrvore will recognize, but it works for illustrative purposes here. This was a fairly short and kind of slack set, but still well-delivered, and the crowd, which was now filling up the venue, was definitely appreciative.
It was around here that the venue ops confirmed that turnout had met the 'success' threshold to Paul CNV; this was a good indication, as (as commented before the show) a good crowd here was likely to have a knock-on effect in terms of getting other Bindrune bands booked into here. CNV is going to be on the road in Europe this summer with Wodensthrone; a return match with them coming over here would be a draw and a half at this place.
Sewer Goddess [NR]
The floor crowd stayed fairly thick for Sewer Goddess, though it's an open point as to how many people, or to what extent, appreciated what they were doing. Though the recording lineup was supplemented with several members of Deathgod Messiah, this was still extreme chaotic industrial noise, power electronics rather than anything immediately distinguishable as metal, and thus not rated. I like Scorn and Thrones, and will listen to Eyescale and Terror Organ just as readily as Wormphlegm, so I dug this, but I'm not sure how many others this was true for. Their set was also rather short, maybe 15 to 20 minutes, tops, but I don't have a lot of experience with this band, or, really, power electronics in general, so I'm not sure if this was normal or cutting things off to be accomodating to an audience that was hearing the band, and perhaps the genre, for the first time.
More odd and dissonant sounds were provided by Keith's bass amp as CNV started setting up; with shades of Spinal Tap at the Air Force base dance, it independently started blasting salsa from a nearby radio transmitting tower while he was tuning up. ¡Ay, caramba! This generated its fair share of laughs as La Frija Venganza del Norte continued to warm up, but it also got dialed in by the time the band formed up, put their backs to the audience, and the lights went down.
Cold Northern Vengeance [7/7]
When you try to describe CNV these days, you generally end up with a word soup: adjectives that apply, but must be stacked in careful and precise order to build an approximation, a low-polygon skeleton model of a whole that is difficult to describe directly and concretely. You can say 'doomy cold thelemic blackened heavy metal', but this, like trying to describe a sphere by the isocahedron of closest volume, both undercuts and overruns the band, and does not mesh in with the actual experience of seeing the band live and being within that evocation. With the exception of "Black Metal Isolation", this was all Domination and Servitude material, and though there are rumblings about a new CNV record sometime in the near future, if this is the set that goes over the ocean, Europe will be just as strongly bound as this record store basement was. This was their night -- Paul/Heathen set up the show and booked the bill -- but they thoroughly made it theirs, as much as they've taken over at least the DIY portion of every bill I've seen them on. The future is indefinite as much for them as for any other band, but if the music can get out, the rest of the underground, not just us in the regrowth forests and on the rocky shores of New England, is going to have to pay attention.
Eventually, CNV wound "Heathen, Heretic, Scapegoat" down and the lights came back up, and folk started clearing out; I nabbed a shirt off Vaettir and pounded pavement back to the T lot in time to find my car neither towed not ticketed, which was a relief, and the ride back down the winding roads to the south ended up without incident. This update is late due to Robbie Keane signing for Celtic, and then not winning us the first game; between one thing and another, I'm on call for the next week, but this doesn't rule out Witch Tomb on the coming Friday. Missing Revocation at Unit 11 is going to suck, but such are the bargains I make to be able to go afield in the summer without having to quit my job every year.
As it turned out, I was one of the first non-band people in the door, which resulted in a fair bit of standing around, browsing Matt/Gemini's distro pile, and getting admiration and mock threats from Keith PanzerBastard over my Tankard sweatshirt. If there was any justice in this world, Gerre and co. would have been over here recently, playing a warehouse gig to a mixed bunch of fitba and hockey hooligans, but as it is, only frustration and vain hopes that eventually, I'll hit them on some festival or another.
Eventually, Vaettir started, and those in attendance, which at this point was still mostly just members of the other bands on the bill, went down the well to support.
Vaettir [6/7]
As noted above, I was pumped to see Vaettir back again, and the band didn't disappoint. Their sound had a more death-tinged edge to it than the last time I recall seeing them, resulting in an atmosphere strongly reminiscent of classic Emperor, but this may also be down to better acoustics here than at the Midway, standing straight in front of the band, and not being as gilled. (This was a dry, all-ages show, being a dry, all-ages venue that has to deal with the Haverhill PD and their dislike of DIY shows, which has been documented on several occasions here, mainly back in 2007.) The CNV and Sigh (especially) touches remained, but the final result was Vaettir establishing very much their own sound and their own identity as a band. Though they're still looking for a permanent bassist to let the vocalist concentrate on vocals, this lineup works pretty damn fine as well, and they can't get that demo out soon enough. This is what NEBM is: we are so deep in good bands around here that even the ones that flicker in and out of active phases like Vaettir are currently doing are worth tracking and listening to.
As Vaettir changed out and DGM loaded their gear in, more and more people started trickling in. Some of this has to do with the dry nature of the show, and people's desires to get a little lubricated before coming over (or to arm up their flask to stay buzzing covertly), but more of it, likely, has to do with this gig being a 7:15 start in Haverhill, well out of the normal catchment areas for metal in eastern New England. There are a lot of metalheads in Haverhill itself, and the local dudes did a hell of a job getting it shouted up, but more than a few of the attendees were either up from Boston or down from New Hampshire, and couldn't, obviously, get moving as early as I did. Price to pay, though; when shows go too late in Haverhill, the HPD get antsy, and that's not good for venue operators.
Deathgod Messiah [5/7]
I'd been jamming Apocalyptic Raids and Carnivore in the stereo on the way up by pure chance, so as immediate as the comparison was for me, it probably does the band a disservice to just come out with "Hellhammer playing Carnivore" as a shorthand for their sound, though an introduction to first-time listeners could be a lot worse. This was the other, urban, side of NEBM, raw, blasting, dirty noise from the streets and alleys of Boston, in contrast but also in complement to the colder and more mystic sounds from the NH-based acts on the bill; the distinction's pretty artificial, as those who know the provenance of Bone Ritual and Martyrvore will recognize, but it works for illustrative purposes here. This was a fairly short and kind of slack set, but still well-delivered, and the crowd, which was now filling up the venue, was definitely appreciative.
It was around here that the venue ops confirmed that turnout had met the 'success' threshold to Paul CNV; this was a good indication, as (as commented before the show) a good crowd here was likely to have a knock-on effect in terms of getting other Bindrune bands booked into here. CNV is going to be on the road in Europe this summer with Wodensthrone; a return match with them coming over here would be a draw and a half at this place.
Sewer Goddess [NR]
The floor crowd stayed fairly thick for Sewer Goddess, though it's an open point as to how many people, or to what extent, appreciated what they were doing. Though the recording lineup was supplemented with several members of Deathgod Messiah, this was still extreme chaotic industrial noise, power electronics rather than anything immediately distinguishable as metal, and thus not rated. I like Scorn and Thrones, and will listen to Eyescale and Terror Organ just as readily as Wormphlegm, so I dug this, but I'm not sure how many others this was true for. Their set was also rather short, maybe 15 to 20 minutes, tops, but I don't have a lot of experience with this band, or, really, power electronics in general, so I'm not sure if this was normal or cutting things off to be accomodating to an audience that was hearing the band, and perhaps the genre, for the first time.
More odd and dissonant sounds were provided by Keith's bass amp as CNV started setting up; with shades of Spinal Tap at the Air Force base dance, it independently started blasting salsa from a nearby radio transmitting tower while he was tuning up. ¡Ay, caramba! This generated its fair share of laughs as La Frija Venganza del Norte continued to warm up, but it also got dialed in by the time the band formed up, put their backs to the audience, and the lights went down.
Cold Northern Vengeance [7/7]
When you try to describe CNV these days, you generally end up with a word soup: adjectives that apply, but must be stacked in careful and precise order to build an approximation, a low-polygon skeleton model of a whole that is difficult to describe directly and concretely. You can say 'doomy cold thelemic blackened heavy metal', but this, like trying to describe a sphere by the isocahedron of closest volume, both undercuts and overruns the band, and does not mesh in with the actual experience of seeing the band live and being within that evocation. With the exception of "Black Metal Isolation", this was all Domination and Servitude material, and though there are rumblings about a new CNV record sometime in the near future, if this is the set that goes over the ocean, Europe will be just as strongly bound as this record store basement was. This was their night -- Paul/Heathen set up the show and booked the bill -- but they thoroughly made it theirs, as much as they've taken over at least the DIY portion of every bill I've seen them on. The future is indefinite as much for them as for any other band, but if the music can get out, the rest of the underground, not just us in the regrowth forests and on the rocky shores of New England, is going to have to pay attention.
Eventually, CNV wound "Heathen, Heretic, Scapegoat" down and the lights came back up, and folk started clearing out; I nabbed a shirt off Vaettir and pounded pavement back to the T lot in time to find my car neither towed not ticketed, which was a relief, and the ride back down the winding roads to the south ended up without incident. This update is late due to Robbie Keane signing for Celtic, and then not winning us the first game; between one thing and another, I'm on call for the next week, but this doesn't rule out Witch Tomb on the coming Friday. Missing Revocation at Unit 11 is going to suck, but such are the bargains I make to be able to go afield in the summer without having to quit my job every year.
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