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Agalloch, Obsidian Tongue & Beneath Oblivion; June 22...

6/23/2014

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Black metal bands playing in an old, converted church…what could go wrong? Though marred by a 30 minute fire alarm delay and building evacuation, last night’s Agalloch/Obsidian Tongue/Beneath Oblivion show at The Southgate Revival was a rousing success. And really fucking loud.

Local openers Beneath Oblivion kicked things off with a strong 30 minute set that contained all of 3 songs. I’ve covered these guys in the past, so I don’t want to get into a lot of detail, but it was nice to finally hear them in a big room where their sound could just absolutely take over and devastate everything in its path. By the time the band kicked on the siren that signaled the closing of their set, heads were bobbing all around and ear drums were throbbing. Doom at it's finest and heaviest.

Unfortunately, the alarms included in the Obsidian Tongue were not part of the show. Due to excessive smoke from the fog machines, the SGH alarms started screeching midway through Obsidian Tongue’s first song. The two-man band cut the song short after a couple of minutes of the siren blaring and strobes flashing all around. Once the alarms were silenced, the house lights came on and Obsidian Tongue made two short, aborted attempts to get the show going before the fire department showed up and evacuated the building. Once the all-clear was issued and we returned inside, Obsidian Tongue blazed through another half hour or so of solid atmospheric black metal. It’s really a shame that the set was interrupted because I really enjoyed what I heard. The band didn’t seem fazed by the delay, but I don’t think they really had time to conquer the audience properly. With only two albums under their belts, Obsidian Tongue is a relative newcomer so I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for future shows in the area.

Due to the apparently sensitive smoke detectors at SGH, Portland blackened folk metallers Agalloch had to abandon their usual stage setup, which usually features a bunch of candles and incense and wood smoke. That was kind of a bummer, but once they got going it was easy to forget the inconvenience and focus on the music. As cheesy as this sounds, you don’t really watch an Agalloch show; you experience the show. The term atmosphere kind of gets overused (I even used it the previous paragraph), but I can’t think of a better description for what Agalloch brings to the table. I’m not familiar enough with the band’s catalogue to know if they were playing new stuff, old stuff, fan favorites, or deep cuts, but whatever it was, I was definitely digging it. I’m always impressed with ridiculously fast tremolo picking, and it’s even more impressive if it involves some melody. I believe the band brought their own sound guy on tour and it showed. Every instrument and vocal was mixed perfectly. It’s kind of cool to hear bass prominently in a black metal-ish mix. The lead guitar player’s solos were stunning, in an emotional way, not the typical shredfest. The drumming was fast and heavy as shit and the vocals, while screamed in typical black metal fashion, had enough variety to keep me interested. Without gushing too much, let’s just say I was really impressed with Agalloch, overall. The crowd was great, too. I hope promoters take note of the huge turnout and realize that there is a market for this type of stuff in Cincinnati.

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Black Pussy & Mothership; June 19, The Southgate House Revival...

6/20/2014

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I don’t generally leave the cozy confines of Blog of Doom Headquarters on a weeknight, but when two of the baddest stoner rock bands in the country are co-headlining a show nearby, I tend to bend the rules. That was the case last night when Black Pussy (Portland) and Mothership (Dallas) invaded The Southgate House Revival for an evening of retro-tastic metal that still has my ears ringing 12 hours later.

With no local openers on the bill, Black Pussy took the stage around 9:00 and proceeded to blaze through an hour long set of fuzzed-out 70’s metal that was every bit as catchy as it was heavy. The absurd amount of Sunn amps along the backline was the sexiest thing I’ve seen on stage in a long time and provided ample wattage to deliver the bands riffage. The drummer just beat the shit out of his kit the whole show, while the bassist kept to the shadows and cranked out some super melodic bass lines. The lead guitarist can shred for days and his leads evoke images of Pink Floyd. The keyboards add a cool, spacey effect on top of everything and the frontman is just a rock star, plain and simple. Also, I usually don’t take note of a band’s sartorial prowess, but the Black Pussy guys pull off a retro look that’s so cohesive and complete and that you would swear that you woke up in 1974. The guitar player from Mothership joined the boys onstage for a 10+ minute space jam entitled “Galaxies” that closed out the set and was arguably the highlight of the whole evening. It’s quite obvious that Black Pussy has grown in leaps and bounds since I saw them last time, and I thought they were killer then.

On a side note, I saw these guys open for Vista Chino all the way back in September and they were already shifting away from the mellow stoner rock featured on their debut release, On Blonde. The band has added an assload of heavy to their sound in the time since the debut was recorded. It’s kind of weird to see a band stray away from the recorded material on stage, but I’m digging the newer stuff way more than the debut, so I’m definitely looking forward to getting my hands on a new release as soon as possible. Stay tuned.

Dallas power trio Mothership strips the sound down a little and goes for more of a classic metal vibe with some serious blues influence, which is to be expected from a band of Texas gypsies. Co-fronted by a pair of brothers, Mothership takes the vibe from 60’s and 70’s rock and adds a touch of early 80’s metal to create a fairly unique sound that still manages to melt faces. The guys played a mix of stuff of their self-titled debut and songs from their upcoming release (Fall 2014, I believe) and everything sounded amazing. The bass player handles the bulk of the vocals, and his voice is not what you’d expect from a big dude with a killer beard. He’s not exactly in the high register, but he has a smooth, mellow voice that blends in perfectly with the sound. Killer bass fills, too. His brother has more of a rough-edged voice, but when he took the mic, it just sounded natural. His lead work was astounding and the interplay between the two brothers was almost telepathic; the kind of cosmic mojo that only brothers can manufacture. The man behind the kit laid down a solid foundation for the heavy maelstrom and gets credit for the band’s super tight stops and starts. I think those guys just got back from Europe, which shows in the absolute lack of rust in their performance. It appears that I’ve been missing out on these guys for too long. Killer band with killer tunes.

There are still plenty of dates left on this tour and I encourage every single one of you in the Midwest and West Coast to check out these two fine bands. You’re just not going to get more bang for your buck in one evening and all the dudes are super cool, too, so that’s a bonus.

21-Jun The Outland Springfield, MO
25-Jun Duffy's Tavern Lincoln, NE
26-Jun Moon Room at Summit Music Hall Denver, CO
28-Jun Bar Deluxe Salt Lake City, UT
29-Jun Neurolux Boise, ID
1-Jul Soda Bar San Diego, CA
2-Jul Backstage Bar & Billiards Las Vegas, NV
3-Jul The Satellite Los Angeles, CA
9-Jul Harlow's Sacramento, CA
10-Jul Volcanic Theatre Pub Bend, OR
11-Jul Kenton Club Portland, OR
12-Jul Highline Seattle, WA
18-Jul Yucca Tap Room Tempe, AZ
19-Jul Leftwoods Amarillo, TX
20-Jul Backstage Lubbock, TX


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Grey Host & Yautja; 06-07-14, Backstage Cafe

6/9/2014

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I headed out Saturday evening to catch local doom lords Grey Host at Backstage Café and I was treated to killer performance from Yautja, a grind/sludge band out Nashville who were stopping by on tour in support of the debut album, Songs of Descent. Unfortunately, I missed show openers Smoke Signals, who I’ve been meaning to check out ever since I saw some of the members’ other band, Ethicist, play at Iron Fest last year.

I got there just as Yautja was setting up. I hadn’t heard anything from those guys prior to the show, but I was familiar with the band name from researching something else. They turned out to be a pleasant surprise, loud as fuck and heavy as can be. All three members took turns singing, even though they all had basically the same vocal style. That was weird. The songs were brutal, though. They combine the basic sludge sound with some interesting stop/start riffs, some thrashy riffs and some cool drum & bass parts. I heard enough good stuff to grab a copy of the band’s album on my way out, so I’ll be reviewing that at some point.

Grey Host closed out the night. Due to schedule conflicts, this was the first time I was able to catch the Host in quite some time and I think they’ve made tremendous strides. I thought they were pretty damn good before, but I don’t remember the keyboard being so instrumental to their sound. I’m not usually a big keyboard guy, but I thought it sounded fantastic throughout Grey Host’s set. I’m assuming that the guys were playing mostly new stuff, but I can’t confirm that because it’s been a while since I’ve listened to their album. Regardless, everything sounded great and you could even hear the vocals, which is hit and miss at Backstage. Grey Host’s combination of heavy doom and melodic interludes is really only surpassed in the American doom scene by Pallbearer. Until I hear someone better, I’m sticking with that assessment. Hopefully I won’t go another 6 months without seeing those guys and I hope they have some new material coming out soon.


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