Don't follow the shadows

The Soilwork show on Friday was amazing! Wisconsin just recently passed a statewide smoking ban, so it was nice to be able to breathe and not have to worry about my eyes watering or feeling light-headed or smelling horrible after the show. The only downside was that it was incredibly hot - even worse than at Hypocrisy. After the show, Sam said the only concert he’d been to that was hotter than this one was in the desert in 120-degree heat.

The Crinn
This band was mostly straight-up hardcore with some metalcore and technical and progressive elements. Before I saw them, I read that their album can also be interpreted as one whole song, and after seeing them I have to agree. You couldn’t tell one song from the next and the band rarely stopped for applause. I’m also not impressed with bands that use weird time signatures. They make a big deal about it because all of them are self-taught musicians, which I find a bit annoying. Once you get the feel for a strange time signature such as 5/7, it’s not much different than playing a song in 4/4, whether you’re classically trained or not. Though I’m not a fan of hardcore, this band was at least tolerable to listen to and their music had a few interesting aspects to it.

Swashbuckle
I could see this band every week and never tire of them - that’s how much fun I always have watching these guys. They were playing “Hit Me with Your Best Shot” while warming up, and some idiot behind me yelled, “Minus 100 metal points for that!” Seriously, fuck you ‘cause Pat Benatar is awesome. Once again, no coconut tree or parrot costume guy, but they came onstage dancing to what sounded like an electronic remix of Alestorm’s “Set Sail and Conquer”. Another funny thing that happened was some guy back at the bar yelled that he wanted some women and Admiral Nobeard said that a metal show is not the place to pick up women ‘cause the ones that are there look just like the men. XD Swashbuckle even dedicated a song to beer, cheese, and bratwurst in honor of Milwaukee!

About halfway through their set, I felt someone tap my arm, and I looked back to see Sam and Elizabeth! I hadn’t heard anything from them about the show, so I assumed they weren’t going, but they decided to come at the last minute. I’m glad they came so I had some people to hang out with, since Dominic wouldn’t be there. I was also feeling too shy to go up and talk to the guys from Mutiny Within when they were hanging out near the buses and vans before the show.

Mutiny Within
These guys were fucking amazing! I had just checked out their video and a couple other songs on YouTube a couple hours before I left to go to the show and I was completely blown away. Beth has been a big fan of theirs and kept telling me to check them out. I just wish I had done so sooner so I could have properly sang along when they asked the audience to at the show. I’ll definitely be ready when they return in a couple months, though! I love Chris’s clean vocals just as much as his growl and both sound flawless live. He’s also a great showman, constantly running around the stage with his cordless mic. The whole band sounded really tight, too! I’m really impressed with them, especially for being so young and a new band. I can’t stop listening to their record. Here’s their video for the single “Awake”:

Augury
As I mentioned in an earlier entry, Dominic ‘Forest’ Lapointe, their bassist, decided to leave the band after their tour with Vader. The band is definitely not the same without him! Their new bassist isn’t as good, and you could hardly hear him. Dominic made sure to really crank it up when he played, as it is an important element to their music and truly put the technical in technical death metal. The rest of the band sounded good, but it was disappointing after the last time I heard them when they were great.

On a side note, Dominic isn’t talking to me anymore, and I’m kind of disappointed about it. He probably realized that I’m not interested in him romantically and stopped pursuing me. Ugh, why do guys always just totally ignore you and never talk to you again after you’ve turned them down? Why can’t they get over it, look for someone else, and still be friends, especially if there are common interests between both parties? It seems like the only men women can really be friends with have to be either already married or in a relationship or gay. Oh well.

Death Angel
The 80’s Bay Area thrash legends did not disappoint! They put on one of the most energetic performances I’ve ever seen, which inspired the crowd, despite the heat. Some smaller pits had broken out during Mutiny Within and Augury’s sets, but they didn’t come close to the massive circle pit during Death Angel. There were constantly 20-30 people in it, and after they were done playing, the floor was covered in puddles of sweat. Their frontman’s ferocious yell and guitarists’ abilities really stood out. It’s also always a treat to see someone playing a Les Paul in a metal band, where the skinny, light guitars are usually preferred.

After I got back from the bathroom after Death Angel’s performance, who of all people do I see at the bar with Sam and Beth? Chris from Mutiny Within! I’d told them earlier that I thought the only cute guy there was him, after Beth and I had a bunch of annoying gross old guys hit on us. Later during Soilwork, one even touched my tattoo like he was trying to read Braille off it. Because of this, Sam made a special effort to introduce me to him, and we actually hit it off pretty well! I had no idea he and one of their guitarists were actually from the UK. He said he liked my haircut because it made me look like a movie star from the 1940’s, which was probably the best compliment I’ve ever received! :D I try to style my hair and make-up from that era, and I guess I succeeded. Then he started singing some Vera Lynn song to me and I was smitten. Seriously, a guy who’s single, a fantastic formally trained metal vocalist, a vegetarian, a few years older than me, AND also likes mid-Century vintage stuff? Why can’t he live around here!? :( This is not good that I only keep falling for guys from bands and no local guys ‘cause at this rate, I’ll be single forever…unless I move somewhere else or by some stroke of luck attract someone who isn’t from here. FML. Anyway, Sam was going to buy him a drink, but I had two free drink tickets I hadn’t used yet, so I bought him one. (Sam insisted on buying me two waters and saving my drink tickets, bless him!) Even though I said it was too hot to drink, he said he’d get a beer if I got a beer, so I caved to peer pressure and got a Heineken. I literally got a slap on the wrist from Chris for stealthily sneaking a drink from a straw so I wouldn’t mess up my lipstick but I got caught. It’s not like it was a particularly good beer anyway, and if they actually had a decent beer selection there, you can be sure I wouldn’t have used a straw. He ended up chucking the straw over the bar, so that was the end of it.

Brandon from Mutiny Within came over after a while, and Chris asked if we’d met his guitarist yet, and I had to tell everyone that I’d hit him with the women’s bathroom door as I was coming out. I’d already apologized profusely to him after it happened, but having to tell everyone made it even more embarrassing. This is probably worse than when I walked in on Blackguard’s soundcheck last year ‘cause I ended up embarrassing the poor guy as well. (I also got walked in on in the bathroom even though I could’ve swore the door was latched, but it was just another chick, so it wasn’t that big of a deal.) In my defense, I have to wonder what the hell he was doing right outside the door because their merch table was a good four feet away from it. Anyway, I had a really great time chatting and drinking with them and Elizabeth and Sam. I’ll be looking forward to their return in October and November with Nevermore and Epica.


I have no idea why he’s making that shifty eyes/raised and lowered eyebrows face in the photo, but he did the same in Sam and Beth’s photos as well. I think I’ve finally been bested when it comes to the “Elrond eyebrow”! XD Also, don’t mind my flushed, sweaty self here!

Soilwork
I’ve never been more than a casual fan of these guys, and their live performance further reinforced my opinion. They’re a good band, but nothing really stood out about their performance. Some people left right after Death Angel, and while I think it was a bit rude, I can also now understand why. They also didn’t play any songs I know, but I was pretty tipsy by then, so it was nice to just lean back on the bar and listen. I was too hot and tired to care at that point.

These are the only two photos I took that turned out due to the damn strobe light. I was too chicken to try to take any before Soilwork’s set (and coincidentally before the alcohol started to kick in). Luckily the venue’s photographer got some decent shots of Soilwork, Death Angel, and Augury.

After the show, I went back over to Mutiny Within’s booth and picked up their self-titled album for only $5! Brandon said if I opened it he’d sign it, and he also got the rest of the band to sign it! :D

( + 3 photos )

Sam and Beth were so kind to offer me a ride home, so we quickly stopped at an East Side coffee shop and were on our way. I felt bad because the concert got out really late and it’s a 45-minute drive to my house when there’s no traffic. They also had to drive straight into a huge thunderstorm and back home in it, too. I have some toys and books for their daughter next time I see them, so hopefully that will make up for it.

A couple weeks ago, I saw Overkill, Vader, God Dethroned, Warbringer, Evile, and Woe of Tyrants at The Rave. Since I’ve already reviewed half of these bands, I’ll try to keep this post fairly short and sweet. This was my first show in the basement, so I had no idea what to expect. It turns out that it’s very similar to the bar, but much larger, and the stage is higher up and has an annoying gate in front of it. It certainly didn’t stop the stagedivers during Warbringer, though! ;) Unfortunately, security was checking bags, so I didn’t want to risk taking any photos. I should really try to get photo passes for shows, but John from Warbringer was in front of me at the box office trying to get one for his friend, and they wouldn’t even let him have one. I should probably start an actual music review website with more professional reviews, so maybe I’ll have a good enough excuse to obtain one.

I hate to start this out on a bad note, but I wasn’t feeling Woe of Tyrants at all, and neither was the rest of the crowd. “Thrashcore” would probably be the term to best describe their sound, and I pray this is not the start of a new “core” trend. The band itself wasn’t too bad, except for some stupid crabcore moves, but I couldn’t stand their ultra-scene frontman. He had good stage presence and seemed like a nice guy, but I’m not about to show any mercy for all this shitty hardcore-fused pseudo-metal that keeps getting thrown in with actual metal bands. It needs to stop. I don’t listen to hardcore, metalcore, deathcore, or any other “core” that might be out there, so I’m can’t really comment any further on this band.

I saw Evile last month with Kreator, and they were just as entertaining and funny this time around. I actually liked their set list better this time because they played a more diverse variety of songs. The band was hanging out by the merch tables again after their set, but Elizabeth, Sam, and John had just arrived toward the end of Evile’s performance, so I decided to hang out with them instead. :p

Next was the band I specifically came to see: Warbringer! I can’t get enough of these guys! John, their vocalist, came out wearing a cheesehead that didn’t stay on for long as the band launched into “Living in a Whirlwind”. They played most of the other crowd favorites including: “Severed Reality”, “Prey for Death”, “Total War”, and finished their set with “Combat Shock”.

I’m not really a big fan of God Dethroned, and I’m still not after seeing them live. They’re pretty boring, but they had kind of a classic blackened death metal sound that was at least listenable. They also played for a really long time, and I have no idea why. I don’t even remember much from the second half of their set because while they were onstage, some middle-aged white trash guy who looks like a clone of Kid Rock decided to drunkenly fall over in front of me and burned my hand with his lit cigarette on his way down. The pain was so bad that it knocked the wind out of me and made my eyes water instantly. I’ve burned my arm on a 400-degree oven before, but this felt so much different and hurt much worse. At first I thought he had a knife and stabbed me, so I shoved him off of me immediately. My friends were freaking out because they thought I was going to catch on fire from all the embers from the cigarette that fell on me, but luckily I was wearing leather from head to toe, so I was okay. My hand didn’t fare so well, and it’s still healing as I type this. I had a pea-sized blister between my index and middle finger on my writing hand and couldn’t draw for a couple days, but the swelling went away fairly quickly and it scabbed over. I have a bad feeling it’s going to leave a scar, but that’s life. I just hope that guy didn’t drive home that night because he was really messed up. He also had the nerve to come back by me after the incident with a few more beers in hand. Ugh! He probably didn’t even realize what happened. Shortly after that, I saw some younger guys helping one of their friends out of the crowd who looked like he was having a hallucination. I really don’t understand people who abuse drugs, let alone use them in public. I’ll just be glad when the smoking ban goes into effect in July and I won’t have to worry about getting burned again at a show. Not smelling like death after the show and having watery eyes and a sore throat will be nice as well.

Vader was up next, and it felt like it took forever for them to set up. Once they finally started playing, it seemed like they only played a few songs in about fifteen minutes and then walked offstage. Everyone was chanting for them to come back out, but the lights went up and the crew started setting up for Overkill. This was the same day the Polish president and other Polish government officials were killed in the Russian plane crash, so I thought maybe they were upset about the whole ordeal. I was told at the Finntroll show last week Thursday from another fan that they had to cut their set short due to technical/equipment problems and that the band went up to the ballroom to watch HIM. Whatever the reason, I was really disappointed that they didn’t play much, since they were one of the main reasons my friends and I were at the show.

Overkill was phenomenal! They played for at least two hours, and didn’t show any signs of slowing down toward the end. They actually riled up the crowd more, closing their set with “Fuck You” after a great call and response chant back and forth with the crowd and advising us not to eat any of the emo kids after the show because they’ll give you diarrhea. XD Those poor HIM fans were completely terrorized by all the trasher dudes before and after the show! Anyway, Overkill’s light show was also absolutely brilliant! It included plenty of their signature bright yellow-green and some cool lightning effects. The strobe light had some great effects on the crowd, where most of the people in attendance were going nuts in the circle pit. Despite the annoying people in the crowd (especially all the bald, goateed middle-aged men who kept hitting on me), it was a great thrash metal show and a fun time hanging out with friends. Warbringer wasn’t so lucky because some asshole stole John Laux’s backpack that had pretty much everything he needed on tour in it.

Speaking of assholes, Terrence was there, but he avoided us because he’s mad I never got back to him about those Diamanda Galas albums and he defriended me on Facebook. I just hope I’m not on his hitlist or anything because Samer swears that he’s the kind of guy to go on a killing spree. All I can really do is try to stay out of his way and hopefully he’ll get past the whole thing because he was the one who approached me in the first place. I wasn’t so lucky in avoiding that guy from high school, but once my friends showed up, he left me alone. He wasn’t as annoying as last time before the show because he was with a bigger group of friends, and some of those guys had more in common with me, so I mainly talked to them.

After the show, Sam and Beth offered to drive John and I home so we all could go out to eat at one of their favorite cafes, even though it’s two hours round trip to my house from Milwaukee. Sam even paid for all our food! Each of us ended up with a delicious falafel pita and Turkish tea from Mona’s Turkish Shawerma House on the east side. It was the first time I’ve been there, but it definitely won’t be the last! The food is very tasty and also very cheap.

Photos of Overkill and God Dethroned are here. (I know…no Vader. :/ WTF?) Since my tattoo will be finished soon, I’m going to start saving up for that digital 35mm I’ve been talking about getting for years, and then I’ll see about getting a photo pass.

Sorry for the novel, but hey, it’s NaNoWriMo.

Last Saturday was the Monsters of Death show at The Rave. Even though I got there an hour ahead of time, the doors weren’t open yet for the show. Everyone else had to wait around for twenty minutes, but I was escorted into the bar, since I was on the guest list for winning a free ticket from The Rave’s online contest. I was surprised to see Swashbuckle doing their soundcheck, as it said online that they canceled before the show. John from Warbringer sat next to me at the bar, but while I was thinking of something non-fangirly to say to him, he left. :/

This has been the smallest room in The Rave I’ve seen a concert in. The stage is about fifteen feet wide and it’s only about twenty feet from the front of the stage to the back wall. The backstage area for most of the bands consisted of a small barricaded area to the left of the stage where their equipment was stored and the lights and sound system were operated. The merchandise area was directly on the other side of the stage and was so small you were practically in front of all the bands’ booths if you turned in a complete circle.

When I went over to the merch area to buy a Warbringer shirt, which I sadly never got around to due to certain distractions, Dominic from Augury immediately approached me. He explained that Swashbuckle was supposed to “crash the show”. I ended up talking to him for the next half hour until Swashbuckle came onstage about anything and everything. He’s from Montreal and speaks English as a second language, and it sounds like he’s only had a couple years’ worth, but he wasn’t too difficult to understand. I was also surprised how easy it was to talk to him compared to other people from bands I’ve met. I feel proud for teaching him the words for ‘goosebumps/gooseflesh’, ‘swimming pool’, and ‘shampoo’. He’s the only guy I’ve met who’s told me they use Redken conditioner, but doesn’t his hair look gorgeous? XD He also told me he was in the basement earlier and saw a type of shadow ghost that I’ve also had a few experiences with in my house. (I will post about that later, but we did finally get rid of it.) He said he was going to go back down there after the show and play a concert for the spirits, which I thought was nice. I’m so glad to have met someone who’s had an identical paranormal experience and doesn’t think I’m nuts.

( Swashbuckle )

( Augury )

( The Amenta )

( Warbringer )

( Decrepit Birth )

( Vader )

Stay tuned for part two, where the saga of Dominic and I continues as we go on a little adventure…

Sorry I’ve been even more aloof than usual as of late. I’ve been working 36 hours each week, which is the maximum for my position. I pretty much get up, go to work, get home late in the evening or at night, eat, read, and go to bed. There are also a couple more issues regarding work, which you can be sure I’ll get around to ranting about later. ;)

I just want to apologize to those of you I said I would be on AIM and Skype this summer when I obviously haven’t been. My hours jump around from day to day and there are no consistent times when I’m on the computer. After dealing with the public for eight hours, which consists of a lot of seedy folks due to the nature and location of the store, I just want to escape from social interaction before I get up the next day and have to do it all over again. Thankfully, they’re hiring more people, so I’m hoping my hours will eventually be cut back. In the meantime, feel free to chat with me on Twitter if you haven't added me already. I love how this site gives me the opportunity to still keep in touch, even if we're not in cyberspace at the same time.

superfin, I have something in the works for you that I will try my hardest to get to you sometime this summer in return for the Blue Mondays manga you sent. Bleu Finnegan is pretty much the embodiment of myself, obsessing over musicians, only attracting men she’s not interested in, academic nerdiness, and all, so I can’t help but absolutely adore the comic. I definitely plan on reading the rest of them in the near future, and I want to thank you again for your kindness.

Now that I’ve posted this, I am hoping I will be inspired to update more often.