....I have seen too much, wipe away my eyes....

3-31-13

I'm Back...


It was a long, cold, lonely winter...From 2011 to now...I have been on hiatus for metal but the void kept calling...I noticed the denim patch jacket calling from the recesses of the closet....

Purchased new (old?) Skeletonwitch, "Forever Abomination"...Ignited the fire of metal and will now decide what the best of 2012 has to offer...I figure if I look at all of the "Best of Metal 2012" lists, I should have a solid five to review...

Cannibal Corpse, 1349,Skeletonwitch and Lecherous Nocturne, 5-03-10

So I wasn't that into going to Cannibal Corpse show on May 3, 2010.  Truth be told, I really like cannibal corpse.  But considering how little money I had, I just wasn't sure if I could justify going.  What pushed me over the edge to actually attending the show was that my stepson, who has seen the band numerous times, said it would be a great show.  So we drove down to the Gothic and there was quite a mix of people outside waiting in line.  Luckily, I purchased our tickets online the day before as it seemed that the show was going to sellout

It turned out that Cannibal Corpse was going to be filming the concert for a future live DVD release, so there were all kinds of official looking camera types lurking around the venue.  I debated purchasing a shirt from the show but thought better of it because where exactly can you wear a cannibal corpse T-shirt anyway?  Their shirts are fabulously obscene with zombies performing cunnilingus, bodies torn to smithereens, disintegrating corpses you know, the typical obnoxious metal shirt.  Cannibal corpse perfected this sort of covert revolutionary T-shirt design.

The venue filled fairly quickly yet I was able to spot members from the local band Havok and goof off with them laughing about just how obnoxious the T-shirts were and how I would be unable to ever wear the one at my daughter's parent teacher conference.  I started to feel a bit excited about the fact that the camera crews were setting up and the audience buzz was starting to increase.  First up was a band called Lecherous Nocturne.  They were fairly standard death metal and really showed how to death metal can sound boring and trite.

Skeletonwitch is one of my favorite blackened thrash set.  Of those around me, it seemed that I  was the only one to have their records.  They put on a ripping set and implored the audience to "drink beer!" and "smoke weed" which was already in effect considering the contact high I received during their set.

1349 was next and of course, being as it was a black metal band, the fog machines and strobe lights were in full force.  The way the lead singer was headbanging, he looked like an awkward scarecrow careening to his left side.  It was good black metal but I am a bit too punk for the theatrics.

Cannibal Corpse came in to thunderous chants of their name and informed us that this would be filmed.  Corpsegrinder Fisher was rude lewd and banging his head in a furious way.  I wondered what the regular folk looking camera people thought of his antics.

Anyway, I wrote this review MONTHS after the fact; too much drama for months but the wheel is spinning upwards...Hopefully more reviews to come

Overkill 25th Anniversary show with Vader, Warbringer, Evile, God Dethroned, 4-13-10

Man, I'm bummed...

Can't afford this show....

Not much more to say except I hope my finances change soon...

Weedeater, Gates of Slumber and Black Tusk 4-1-10

...I have been very broke lately.  Chris, the disabled gentleman I was paid to take care of and lived with our e not been the family for almost 7 years passed away in early March and my finances and leisure time have not been the same.

Being a bit down, I really needed to go to a cheap show.  Weedeater, Gates of Slumber and Black Tusk was under $20, so, I could justify going.

The venue, the Larimer Lounge is a bit of a hipster dive bar; folks can come in and spin their own records on certain nights.  The stage area is wide open and stickers and posters adorn every square inch of space on the walls.

...And in come the beards...

You know you are in for a stoner/doom show when the beards come out.  Roadies with beards, band members with beards, fans with beards; a veritable beard-o-rama.

I looked at the merch table and only Black Tusk had any patches.  I gave the merch woman behind Gates of Slumber shit in a joking manner about it and she said she's been begging them to get patches.

I had attended the show with my stepson who is much more into black metal than stoner/doom but was willing to give it a try.  He was probably the youngest and most clean-shaven person there.

I met some dudes and we talked about Eyehategod and other sludgy acts. and then the place started to get packed.

I jockeyed to get closer to the front to see Black Tusk.  The bassist's beard was so long he could have subbed for Dusty Hill in ZZ Top.  They played a crazy, aggressive slugde/stoner rock that reminded me of a moshable Kyuss.  The guitarist Andrew and bassist Athon charged at each other, grinning like madmen playing their swamp metal birthed from Savannah, Georgia.  Song duties were shared equally as even the drummer James got into the act.  probably the first time since the Eagles I have seen song duties shared with all members of the band.  I told them I hope I can review their release for Invisible Oranges when it comes out in May.

In addition to beards, all the bands were power trios; tight blues-oriented metal with sludgy tones.  Up next was the one band I actually knew the most about and bought their record months ago; Gates of Slumber lead singer Karl Simon came out with is Gibson and sleeveless 'Devil Baby' t -shirt and absolutely tore it apart. The drummer,Bob Fouts, (any relation to Dan Fouts I wonder?), bashed away like a demented Mr. French (from TVs 'Family Affair').  I perhaps judged the bassist, Jason McCash,  harshly as he was wearing a Burzum shirt but after the set, I was joking with Karl, Bob and  Jason who were super cool and offered me free band buttons and offered to mail me a patch!  I declined the patch because that was waaaay too cool for them to do but took the buttons.

Weedeater was up next and Bassist lead singer 'Dixie' Dave Collins.  Now, I love Buzzov*en and had heard the album "Good Speed and God Luck" and knew I was in for a sludgy time.  Distortion and feedback was the rule as they trudged thru their set.  Dave hopped like a crazy-eyed Poopdeck Pappy as the big, blond dreadlocked drummer Keko pounded away.   I have to admit, Dave looked wasted on something; eyes rolling around and breathing heavy between songs...not that it affected the set one bit.  Maybe it was the altitude.  A great set with great thunderous riffing.

All the bands were good.  The show was a late start but I believe that was due to the fact that Stuck by Lightning didn't play as their van went kablooey.  Otherwise a solid 4 points to the star for this show...It was just what I needed to clear my money blues away.

Kreator, Evile, LAzarus A.D., Lightning Swords of Death, 3-16-10

Coming down with some kinda cold, I was both excited and dreading going to Kreator, Evile, LAzarus A.D., Lightning Swords of Death at the Bluebird on March 16th.

What a difference a concert makes!

I was glad it wasn't sold out becaquse the price was a bit steep ($27!)  and would have been steeper had I paid online.  I walked up to the balcony which was full of folks who looked like old timers (thirtysomethings).  I looked at one table and saw Karl!  The phlebotomist tech that used to draw blood from Chris, the gentleman I used to take care of (RIP). He was there with his wife, Tanya.  They had paid $70 for two tickets online; service charges will screw you every time.

We talked about bands a bit. I told him about Deathspell, and Krallice he told me about Watain's demos, 3 inches of Blood and that I need to pick up the new Gorgoroth.  Karl's black metal knowledge is unimpeachable; if I need to ever find a black metal reference, I should go to him... Being a death metal, thrash metal guy first, my black metal wing is my weakest.  Some holdover from my Baptist upbringing no doubt.

I went to get a patch but Kreator was sold out and the Evile merch guy had to go to the van to get one which he would do eventually.

I decided to take Karl and Tanya's kind invitation to sit with them and get my metal on.

Up first, Lightning Swords of Death.  They were OK; they would have been a revolutionary form of black metal 15 years ago. Now, it was just derivative a bit.  Black metal doesn't always translate to a concert experience save the theatrics.  I had an epiphany about that during their set; it was probably necessary to have the theatrics with some artists because of the punk/drone polemics of the music.  The lead singer had the facepaint of course and the spiky armband of course and was just kinda boring.  I was set to snooze until the last song which was great at the beginning(bass solo? YEAAAH!) and at the end(dark, droning feedback).  I would have been more impressed if these black metal artists didn't try to coast on atmosphere.

Next was Lazarus A.D. which Karl told me wasa Municipal Waste kind of crossover metal thing.  They were absolutely enjoyable with their punky thrash.  They are from Wisconsin and mentioned this and their love of beer to the ho-hum of the audience.  When they replied they liked weed, plenty of whistles and shouts from the crowd.  Their crossover sound got the pit going and the crowd fist-pumping.  Absolutely enjoyable.

Karl and were chatting about how black metal can sometime sound derivative when I noticed the guy at the next table over drop a twenty dollar bill and not even notice it.  I picked it up and went over to the guy and asked if it was his. He looked at me a bit puzzled and rifled through his pockets.  "Yeah.  It is mine! Thanks, man! Really!", he said.  It made me feel good.  Yeah, I am broke and can't even afford a t-shirt but that reminded me I am who I am.

Evile was next.  Now, I have love for this band...I sometimes neurotically fall back to an insecurity about whether bands are racist or not on occasion.  This band with their recently deceased bassist Mike Alexander, who was black, made me open to liking them fully.   That, and that my first metal love is thrash and they do a ripping example of it.  My only problem with them is that they occasional sound too much like Slayer or Metallica.  The lead singer Matt Drake, even came out in black jeans and sleeveless plain, black t-shirt ala Hetfield circa 1989.  They were on their first American tour and did a great job keeping the energy up.  Though not as much sheer, stupid fun as Lazarus A.D., it was serviceable thrash metal and got you where you want to go.

I don't remember how it came up but Karl and Tanya were talking about how they got to the venue (walking and light rail from a Park-and-Ride) and I offered to drop them off at their Park-and-Ride location. They live by Fiddler's Green and are going to have a tailgater before the Iron Maiden show. They're cool and a taxi would've been waaay too much.  I wanted them to get home safe

Of course, everyone was there for Kreator who came out and slayed.  My Kreator knowledge is pretty weak; my early thrash metal tastes don't go far outside of the big 4.  That said, I did pick up "Enemy of God" when it first came out and REALLY enjoyed it.  They came out and had a sense of drama lost to some of their peers and the young, neo-thrash whippersnappers.  I'd love to quote what their set list was and maybe, I'll make an effort to get them from now on, but it didn't matter not knowing all the songs. 

They tore it up.

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.

DREAM: Black Metal Pepperoni

I had a dream last night where I delivered pizza to Varg Vikernes...

...I either am delivering too much pizza or listening to too much black metal...Weird thing is, I have never listened to Burum on purpose nor do I care for his opinions.

...

He lived in some sort of trailer park...I can't remember if he tipped or not.