Black Dahlia Murder, Obscura, Augury and Hatesphere, 3-12-10

...Its been a hard couple of weeks....

If I had been of a superstitious and cowardly lot, I would think that listening to all that Deathspell Omega opened a portal in my house or something...

One of my other jobs is as a Host Home Provider for 2 developmentally disabled adults...Its a bit like foster care for adults with moderate to severe cognitive disabilities.  Anyway, Chris Benson, who lived with my wife and I for nearly seven years passed away on March 4th.  I was the one to discover him and my wife; the EMTs and I all tried to revive him to no avail...

So,  the funeral was March 11th and I probably needed to go to Friday's Black Dahlia Murder, Obscura, Augury and Hatesphere  to purge a bit.

I bought my ticket only the day before and almost thought better of it.  Luckily, my wife gave me the clearance to buy it early and, as it turned out, the concert was sold out when I arrived.  I went thru the usual brandishing of my I.D. to prove I was over 21 which, given a cursory examination of the crowd, was EXTREMELY rare.

Now, I had figured that the Black Dahlia Murder's fans skewed young; I was a bit shocked as to how young.  I was far and away in a group of probably no more that 15 people above the age of 30 and in a group of no more than 10 that were over 35.  Shows like these create deep questions for me as to whether or not I should continue 'My Metal Year'; I didn't care for teenagers when I was one.  The false non-conformity, the willingness to follow trends while mocking other trends, the sloppiness in their consumption of drugs and alcohol(try to have some class while wasted! PLEASE!), the lack of sub-culture etiquette(pick up a person when they fall in the pit!) and all the other judgments leveled at me 20 some years ago, I find myself now repeating.

The reason why I question my metal mission at such times is one thing teenagers lack often is taste and am I a pathetic loser trying to recapture my youth?.  I admit, I was there for Obscura and really no one else.  The times I heard Black Dahlia Murder I just felt kinda 'meh' about them; they weren't going to make me forget Entombed or Dismember or At the Gates or anything.  Plus, I was 'blah' about all the faux-mook, Red-Hot-Chilli-Peppers-in-1990 photo spreads I've seen.  I don't need all metal artist photo shoots to be in the woods on some rocks grimacing; but I get it, "THEY'RE ZANY"...

After wading through the teen-aged throng, I went to the Obscura merch table.  I asked Steffan Kummerer, lead singer and guitarist if he had an Obscura patch... "You're the first person on this tour to ask for one.." he said.  WHAT?!? No-one is rocking the patches?!  We had a brief chat about how patches are big n Europe.  A couple of folks next to me also thought that was unfortunate about the patches... I bought a very reasonably priced shirt from him ($15!).  He chatted me up joking about Hatesphere being from Denmark and Augury being from Montreal but how everyone was getting along.  After negotiating through enough folks with tight black levis to fully stock a Hot Topic, I got to the perfect place to stand right on the top step leading down into the Marquis' concert floor.  I am rather small so I always have to find a bit of height at shows. (damn tall, lanky metalheads ).


I looked at the crowd and saw the aforementioned teenage wasteland but also noticed a preponderance of teenage women at the show.  I am by no means a misogynist/ sexist; quite the contrary, but this was in some ways strike two for the show.  Why you ask dear reader?  Because metal, while not the exclusive domain of XY chromosome holders, does seem to be mostly male-dominated.  Now, this is not necessarily a good thing and there are plenty of notable exceptions in terms of authentic and creative metal done by women.  However, when I see teenagers and teenage women in particular in a show, then I really start to wonder about the quality. It was the most teenagers at a metal show I have attended this year thus far.

Metals' aggression and non-conformity seem to be diametrically opposed  to the type of negative conditioning this country seems to aim at young women.  Teenage women are such targets for all of our society's neuroses; beauty obsession, superficiality, materialism, a misogyny that demands them to be pretty and nothing else...On and on.  I would have to say that any show with a sizable teenage woman audience would have a headlining act that was dominant paradigm 'acceptable', which doesn't always bode well for daring creativity.  Now, before you burn me at the stake, hear me out.  I have already established that teens suck (well, some) and have no taste(grumpy old man voice).  So, I am already a judgmental asshole.  To introduce teenage women into the mix?!  Please! You could look and just tell some had just gotten out of liking Hannah Montana/Brittany Spears a couple of years ago and now just want to piss their parents off by liking metal. Thusly, whatever is the most 'seemingly' authentic yet 'popular' metal would be the first destination for the folks that I judged (rather harshly) as being attendees at this show..

It would be different if I saw a bunch of teenagers in Carcass and Death shirts(I did see two!).  I should add to my previous observation about the teenage women in the audience to say they seemed to be folks that weren't a bit rougher looking.  Dressing up to go to a metal show just reeks of "Oooh!  We're going out!  I have to look nice."  Its a bit like folks that say they like jazz and name-check Yanni or Kenny G...You ask them about Coltrane or Monk and they're like "Who???"  Its b.s. I know but wear a metal shirt to a show although really that looks poseur too.

There should be a commitment to the 'outsider art' of metal; sure it treads the line of conformity and one must be careful (including judgmental guys looking derivatively and judging books by their covers like grumpy old me). Looking the 'part' however, sometimes establishes your cred and indirectly, the cred of the band you are there to see.  Sucks I know, but there you go.  (I guess I should look into why too many pretty people make me think the band is, well, less dangerous. And my nascent ageism)

OK judgmental old guy hat off, what about the show? I really liked the energy of the show but in terms of being impressed, I was impressed to varying degrees by all of the acts....Let's get to it.

First up was Hatesphere from Denmark... They brought a great deal of energy with a sort of neo-thrash/death-y metal. Sometimes, it bordered on being a kind of hardcore...Thoroughly enjoyable but short.

Augury from Montreal was next.  Plenty of thick accented banter. I really enjoyed their tech-y progressive death metal but you just know it sounds waaaaaaaaaaaay better on CD.  Part of the problem is the venue; the Marquis is just not that great a place to see shows.  Their psychedelic elements were hampered by the acoustics of the Marquis and the crowd didn't seem to have the patience for this sort of Opeth-y experimental band.  I was upset that their sound check was almost as long as their set.

A guy probably in his late 30s or early forties was there with his kid who was about 16 and we started to talk about Obscura who was next.  They asked if I was a musician, which I get a lot when talking about bands and their technicality.  I'm not, but my ear gets bored with predictable and derivative sounds.  We discussed some bands and proceeded to name check bands we like(Decrepit Birth, Chasm).  Another guy next to me started discussing jazz and tech death.  I would find out later this is Peter's roommate (Peter from "Angelo's CDs")

Obscura came on and even though their brand of progressive/technical death may have been a bit heady, their sense of dynamics and stellar musicianship got the crowd moving.  When you see a fretless bass, you just know there is a command of their instruments you don't often see.  I couldn't quite make out whether or not Steffan, lead singer and guitarist, was playing a seven string (like Patric Loisel of Augury) but I believe so.  Both Augury and Obscura had members who were very proficient at their instruments(fretless bass was played in Augury too). 

The mosh pit was going pretty much non-stop starting at the beginning of the show...I just didn't have the energy to participate but I send a 'hail' to the folks plugging and flailing away inside the pit.


There was no question that the majority of folks were their for Black Dahlia Murder.  Just before they came on, the music played between their set and Obscura's was a mix of 1980's tv theme songs.  The ageist in me wondered how many folks were even born when these shows aired.  Apparently, some of the folks around me wondered the same thing and we joked a bit about it.

The floor went mad!  I hadn't seen that energetic pit at a metal show probably ever. Crowd-surfing and being dumped on your head seemed to be the norm.  It was bad enough that Trevor Strnad, lead singer, had to break down the rules of picking up someone when they fall.  Black Dahlia ran thru old hits and tracks off of the new album 'Deflorate' and it was all entertaining but...

OK, here goes...The problem with many artists in metal is that unless you already like them, the 'sameness'  of the tracks begins to wear on you unless its a band with a sense of dynamism, tempo change and contrasts.  When I first heard Black Dahlia in 2003 or so, I knew that their sound was a bit derivative.  They are original but not so much that if you had an ear towards our Scandinavian brothers, you hadn't heard it all before.  That said, being a fan of a band when 10 songs or more gets played, is a plus.  When you hear the same sounding songs and aren't wasted/young , it becomes tedious...FAST.

I liked the concert but I really couldn't hear any solos during their set, the guys looked high or bored or tired/hungover and so their energy was muted and even though they played a ton of songs, the effect was tedium.  Had I been moshing or had I known the lyrics by heart like the kids all around me, the effect might  have been different. As it was, I was impressed by their playing and the enthusiasm of Trevor, but really was lukewarm on the set as a watcher.

I know what you're thinking...I came in, didn't like all the teenagers and wrote the band off because of it.  Well, I have softened somewhat on my view of the audience.  (What a difference a few paragraphs make!) The set was still kinda same sounding.  I guess Opeth and Emperor have ruined me because of their sense of dynamics.  Maybe I wasn't in the mood so, I'll give the show a solid 3 points of the 5 pointed star, taking my crotchetyness into account.