2017 local shows recap

Ugh looking at all the shows that happened this year and all the shows I didn't make it to fills me with sadness and regret. But what is done is done, let's look at the awesome shows I did make it to! In mostly chronological order, these are most of the shows with at least one or two local bands on the bill I saw this year:

Nordjevel (Nor), Imperial Triumphant (NY), Sivad, Oubliette: Good god this night was insane. Oubliette from Murfreesboro (featuring members of Battle Path and Enfold Darkness) eerily lit the place up with their grandiose melodic black metal epic waltz styling. Imperial Triumphant were almost as free jazz metal as those Pyrrhon psychos but with a much heavier dose of black metal majesty. The golden masks and black hoods were a nice touch. Nordjevel brought the true Norwegian black metal sound all the way to Nashville in full corpsepaint. At the height of their set, going full speed with body-butchering blastbeats, these guys were untouchable. Sivad from Memphis definitely gave them a run for their money though, complete with DIY spiked gauntlets, a big ass hunting knife, barb wired wrapped around the mic stand, candelabra, and skull and tibia. Their sound definitely lived up to the theatrics, these vile fiends were absolutely relentless.

Malevich (Atl), Pinion, Vile Desecration, Ghost Of Mars: This night was so rad, I finally got to see both Ghost of Mars and Opinion Pinion. Ghost of Mars were an absolutely entrancing fusion between members of Sovereign and Mothyards/JNN. Their sound perfectly matched their name, emitting riffs that sound like they were picked up from human martian explorers long since dead. Pinion  sounds like throwing elbows you never knew you had. Social unrest, pervasive discontent, and furor over power structures are the oozes that drip from Pinion's metallic hardcore shockwaves. Malevich absolutely floored me with their energy. This show was at Blackbird Tattoo and these guys filled the whole place. Jesus I don't think I've ever seen a band with this much conspicuous energy; these guys moved throughout the whole space, no place was safe from getting run into. At one point the guitarist was piggybacking onto one of the guitarists while screaming himself hoarse while the drummer stood up and headbutted a cymbal. I think he headbutted the rest of his kit throughout the night, goddamn. As for Vile Desecration, I love these boys so much it could be considered a conflict of interest. Best black metal riffs in the whole goddamn state, if not the whole South. Unfuckwithable.

Dendera Bloodbath, Bonemagic, JNN/J.Carter collab set, Pure Land, Owen Ni: I need to make it to more shows. I really do. Making it to this one made me purely lucky. Dendera Bloodbath busted out at least one Kaoss Pad mini and layered vocals over top of it. Suddenly from out of a suitcase she produced - I still don't know what the fuck it was. It was like one of those lights you hang from from an open car hood while tinkering, but it had like a bullet shell casing around it? And it sounded like it revved like a fucking motor! And inside the suitcase it looked like she might have had some big springs attached to different sides. Boy when she used that engine bullet wand on those springs, it made a rumble like an engine the size of a god. Bonemagic was an absolute treat. Using a box covered in switches and arcade buttons and a few other devices, he started out harsh but then pulled out a lightbulb and fucking screamed into it. At one point he was shouting over what could have almost been vaporwave instrumentals, like The Body had just drank a SeaWorld of lean. JNN/J. Carter's set felt abstract as hell (wires everywhere!) but incredibly compelling. Tbh it was hard to keep up with what I was hearing for a good bit what I was able to parse was absolutely delicious. Pure Land's drones were as pure as the name implies. Like standing in a desert in the winter when the external temperature matches your body and the lines between begin to disappear. Owen Ni was the most straightforward bleep bloop act of the night. He was clearly competent and even talented, but his style of techno just felt tame by contrast in regards to the at times completely wild offerings of the other acts.

Antichrist (Swe), Act of Impalement, Shill: God bless BlackBird Tattoo, they put on some fully kickass shows. Shill were a brand new act from members of Act of Impalement and Fucked Ethos (and a few more I'm forgetting). PUNK AS FUCK. Raw, oldschool, elemental punk.You cannot stand still listening to this band, even if you don't jump into a moshpit you gotta pogo or just flail or SOMETHING. Act of Impalement were a GREAT band before their LEADER and STAR BASSIST had to leave for college or something and went on to make the MONUMENTAL blog called NashVile. It's really awesome to hear these guys hone and tighten their sound while still somehow just getting heavier, nastier, and crushing...er. Antichrist is what I wish with all my heart what Slayer could have been. Blissful thrash with almost black metal vocals? Like a Swedish Vektor. Like Shill, these guys made it impossible to stand still, but with 200 proof Thrash Metal riffs.

Couch Slut (NYC), Yautja, Watcher: Watcher's brand of hardcore-muddled noise rock keeps me guessing in the best ways. Listening to these guys is like trying fight a 3-armed dude, you never know how you're gonna get hit but each punch hits hard. If you're reading this, y'all already know what Yautja are all about. If you're not reading this, Yautja are the band that make me so goddamn proud to be involved in Nashville heavy music that you can brag on to people from out of state. Too hardcore for metal, too metal for hardcore, these guys grind better than anyone else. Couch Slut brought their noise rock disguised as sludge and shoved it ferociously in your face. If you ever thought feminism couldn't be aggressive or threatening, Couch Slut forcibly peel your eyeballs open to the harsh realities women face every day, in such a way that you cannot help but be compelled.

Moon Tooth, Husbandry, Sheep Shifter, Itinerant: Hoo boy I thought I was prepared for this show but I was mistaken. I came out for my boy Braden in Itinerant, whose dreamy brand of Djent did not disappoint. Captivating and engaging, these guys get my "hey this is almost as good as Cloudkicker" seal of approval. Why was Sheep Shifter on this bill? I have no idea but god they were fun as hell. To call them noise rock or post-hardcore doesn't really seem to capture them fully, they make an out of control rock and roll style all their own. The singer was all over the goddamn place, even upside down on the drums at one point. Husbandry were a dark horse for me, I was very pleasantly surprised at these Brooklynites' mix of heavy prog instrumentals acting as a foundation for their singer's almost soulful singing, offering a package similar to the voodoo Clorange used to do so well. Moon Tooth are my favorite prog band I saw this year. Mixing elements from every other style of rock, metal, and hardcore, this band is a beautiful stone soup of styles. Their dedicated clean vocalist soars over top of fierce string tapping and boogieing riffs. Tasty like Mastodon or even Between the Buried and Me but with a sort of playful giddiness.

FUCK that's so many words. Did you read all of them? I probably didn't once I get them out of my head. Again, apologies to all the bands and beautiful wonderful people I didn't get to see play, but as we end this year and begin the next, I'm going to try even harder to make it to more shows and then actually write about them! I wouldn't do this unless I love it, and all the fucking awesome sounds Nashville has to offer. Look for NashVile to hopefully getting back into writing regular articles again.

In the meantime, look for the one article I've managed to put out each year, our Albums Of The Year list, coming soon!

Act of Impalement; Anodes; Regret, The Informer; Altar of Complaints at the Hymen House 2/2

Update! Jesse Mowery has been kind enough to post the videos for these performances on Youtube. Check out the performances beneath each review!

Ah the Hymen House. Every time I come, it's like hanging out with friends, and then all of a sudden awesome bands are playing. Everybody is laid back, and there's never any unnecessary bullshit or drama. Posters of shows past coat the walls, and there's even a shrine to a stranger in the music room. Out of all the venues I've been to in Nashville so far, this one feels the coziest. Perfect for the show tonight, which consisted of three (mostly) post-hardcore bands and one "war doom" group.

That war doom group was Act of Impalement. Back when I first started this blog back in January of last year, I was inspired by Brother Ares' sonic power and obscurity to start writing. While I was at this show, I was approached by a trio of  amigos who asked my friend and I, "do you guys like Electric Wizard?" and smoked us out. As it turns out, two of those dudes would go on to form a band of their own called Act of Impalement, and I am happy to report that these guys rule (and not just for guitarist Ethan's apt Varg impression). They were the only band I missed at the exhausting Bobbarroo show last year, so I was excited to finally see them perform. Talking to Zack and Ethan before the show, they labeled their sound as "War Doom", a mixture of war metal (which itself is, according to Kim Kelly, "a blasphemous, violent black/death metal hybrid so extremely fast, raw, and chaotic that it often borders upon grind") with doom metal, whose definition I'm hoping you already know. These two blend the two styles fairly seamlessly, winding up with varying tempo and drumming, rough and raw guitar tone, and a low growl (though I would associate it more with black metal than death). With only two members, these guys don't have a whole lot of extra bells and whistles. What they do have are some absolutely killer doom and black metal riffs. Despite their professed inebriation (or maybe due in part to it), as soon as they started playing, they got right in sync and in the zone. Moving from lumbering doom passages to sprinting black metal with surprising efficacy, these two weave together extreme metal in earnest. With song titles like "My Warhorse Awaits" and "Now Your God Has Fallen", it's not hard to figure out what their agenda is. Churches beware. Look for their debut album coming soon, as well as a side project with Erik of Black Tar Prophet called either Wolf Pope, Vomit Wolf, or War Bong also coming soon. Check out their awesome meh-fi demos here:



After AoI was when the post-hardcore began. When I was growing up and beginning to explore metal, my only exposure to post-hardcore was horribly whiny groups that were even lamer than the "modern hardcore" bands of the time. I thought that post-hardcore, and to an extent, hardcore as a whole was about skinny jeans and feathered hair. Thus, my exposure to good post-hardcore has been severely delayed, so my knowledge on the subject hasn't quite caught up to my knowledge of metal (of which I still have volumes to go), but shows like this one are a powerful example to what amazing post-hardcore sounds like. I'd even go as far as to say that this was the best post-hardcore show I've ever been to, and St. Louis artists Anodes are a big part of that. I didn't hear much about them beforehand, but I was impressed by their performance. They blend heaviness with a sense of soul-baring personal truth by shout-speaking emotionally during the soft parts, and then not holding anything back during the loud and heavy segments. Bassist Katie Brown would often hold the melody while guitarists Sean Survant and AJ Hofstetter would scream and play delicious flowing harmonies over top. Very epic stuff reminiscent of Rosetta and one of my current favorite groups, Light Bearer. Stream their recently released album here, and make sure to pick it up on vinyl if you've got the rupees. (Apologies for lack of picture, none came out well)

greatest picture I have ever taken

Third up was Regret, The Informer from my old stomping grounds, Kansas City. I have in my show notes that these guys are "Post-hardcore with great bassist foundation under wonky and evil shoegaze." Damn, there must have been some good shit at this show, because in listening to their 7" "Less Than Three" that I got, I don't hear much shoegaze at all. Regardless, these guys were really energetic and interesting, with sometimes melodic sometimes noisy guitar shredding, and a thrumming bass that held everything together. The vocals were shouted in almost a D.R.I or Kowloon Walled City style, and even screamed at some points. At some points, I'd say they were heavy enough to border on post-metal (ambient sludge for the purists). Really fantastic and varied stuff, I was not disappointed. It's also worth nothing that these guys have some of the most clever and humorous lyrics I've read, lyrics like "you can hold my hand but you can never hold my heart/ stay the fuck away from me/ baby, i'm a work of art/ you can never hold my heart" (from "Good Morning Drug" off the aforementioned 7"). Check it out for yourself right here, right now.

guys wrong way

we're over here guys

Last up was some new voodoo from right here in Nashville, Altar of Complaints. I'd been looking forward to seeing this new band since Jesse Mowery's other band Dawn broke up. I'm happy to report that these guys absolutely kick ass. Vocals are shouted and screamed over noodlesome, flowery, and even spacy guitars. These guys are all over the place, but in the best way possible. Elias MacDonald from local death metal band Axis (and others) provided the low-end foundation with some gorgeous 6-string caressing, and said "fuck mics" and screamed without one. The drums were really powerful, especially considering how "pretty" the guitars could be at time. These guys managed to bring together some pretty unlike parts into a surprisingly cohesive package, especially considering how unseriously these guys apparently take themselves. From their facebook page description, "...we don't consider this to be a band but more of an on going experiment in having fun and not taking ourselves too serious. Cause let's face it, our music isn't saving the world from shit. And we are fine with that. You want enlightenment?, go see Deepak Chopra and LSD." Sounds pretty apt. To experience their delightful musical dickery, stream their newly album album aquí:


Jesse was too busy playing to record himself, so there's no live video of this performance that I could find. So instead, have this video of AoC chortling about tambourines recording at Black Matter Mastering:


Another one in the books. Next on the docket, a show with a few multiple-bass bands, and one without! In the meantime, if you need me, I'm going to be working up to doing DNA work on these guys this summer:

Bobbaroo 2012 at the Rebel Bass

This was the second of 3 shows in a 5 day period. Hopefully I'll get to #3 someday, seeing as I'm already 10 days behind on this one... such is the life of a procrastinator. And really, can you blame me? Genetics class is fucking hard! Well, not that hard, but it sure does eat time. If you want to see what I've been squandering my time with, watch this movie I helped make for class: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2HdCvIXZtk

Anyway, Bobbaroo was fantastic. The lineup consisted of Act of Impalement, Cannabisis, Flummox, Scott Fernandez, Kit Fistu, Soliam, and Axis. There were things to drink and smoke all over the place. The whole night was just a hazy blast.

First up was Act of Impalement. And wouldn't you know it, I fucking missed them. For all 1 of you that's been keeping up with this blog since the beginning, at the very first show I covered, I met a couple dudes that were badass. Me, my friend Caleb, and these other guys were the only ones hanging out before the show, so we met. We talked about Electric Wizard and one of the guys, Ethan, did a stellar impression of Varg talking about cornflakes. Most importantly though, they smoked Caleb and I out, like true gentlemen. What does all this have to do with Act of Impalement? It turns out that they're the same guys! So you'll understand that I'm inexorably disappointed that I missed them. No matter, I'll just have to catch them with Brother Ares, Joey from Hellbender's Poor Faulkner, and dark horse First Baptist at Springwater on the 24th. Until then, I'll just have to satisfy myself with their bandcamp.



Next up, and really the first band I saw was Cannabisis. Don't let their name fool you, even if these guys are potheads their music definitely doesn't have any "stoner" genre tags. These guys were fast, heavy, and mean. Lots of black metal, with a touch of metallic hardcore. The drums were great, really meaty and fast. Guitars were tremolo picked most of the time, and had a great mean edge to them, really visceral. Even the bassist, who looked pretty mild-mannered, was on top of his game, and fit the music better than I expected. In such a tiny venue (the Rebel Bass is just Harrison "Bobby" Fox's apartment with bands stuffed into it). I still can't believe this was these guys' first show. I absolute, positively cannot wait to hear more from these guys. If I could find somewhere to stream their shit I would, but at this point, all you can really do is take my word for it, hope, and wait.



Next was the artists formerly known as The Fallopian Dudes, Flummox! These guys remind of early Electric Wizard and Cathedral, if they had said "hey guys, were not playing nearly enough notes!" I could almost go as far as to call them Technical Doom metal. I see you scratching your head there at the computer, asking yourself "wait, what the fuck? Technical doom metal? How the fuck does that even make sense?" I'd be asking myself the same question if I hadn't seen Flummox embody it. The tempos themselves weren't necessarily fast, but these guys were definitely playing complicated stuff. When he's not tapping all over his six-string bass, Blake is belting out vocals that aren't entirely unlike those of the guy who sings "Ballroom Blitz." Their style is definitely groovy, but just a little too busy for my tastes. Still, darn good stuff. Check it out for yourself.

LOOK AT THIS FUCKING
THING 

Next up was Scott Fernandez. These guys have a lot of balls using this name, which is taken from a norseman who murdered his whole town, and didn't even seed his torrents. What a monster. Nah, I'm just fucking with you. Scott Fernandez is one of the coolest, most wrongly modest and humble guys I have ever met. Talking to him outside, he made it seem like he never practiced, and just jammed for fun. But holy shit, once he got a bass in his hands, I knew all of his words about not being that great were the filthiest of lies. This man is a goddamn prodigy. He was impressive on a 4-string bass, and then HOLY MOTHER OF GOD WHAT IS THAT BEHEMOTH WITH 12 STRINGS. His fingers moved over it like water over a rock, like moths to a candle, like bees telling each other where to find pollen. I was all at once infinitely jealous, mad, and sad that I could probably never play that well, but mostly just completely enraptured. This guy. Just, this fucking guy. Watch this video for just a glimpse of what went on.




After Scott, on what I heard was something of a last-minute whim was Kid Fister Kit Fistu. This was the apartment owner Bobby Fox's own band, and as it was also a [belated] celebration of his birthday, Bobby looked like he was having the best time out of anybody. Almost everyone was red-eyed, rosy-cheeked, or both. We were all ready. With Brian Laws on drums and Jef (who played guitar Kit Fistu when I saw them at the Muse) on bass, this trio was fun. I'm not saying that as an at least, as in "at least they were fun". These guys kicked ass and were fun. Jef seemed especially animated, even running out into what little crowd there was. Elias from Axis came up and screamed into the mic with Bobby for a few songs. The amount of fun these guys were having made up for lack of anything else they could have had. This stream probably isn't representative of their sound as a whole, since they've been through so many iterations, but it's worth posting just to give a glimpse.



Next up was Soliam. These guys had been talked up by nearly everyone at the gig, so I was curious to see what they were like. I know I'm gonna get flack for this, but aside from interesting bits here and there, they really weren't my thing. They were definitely good at what they did, but it was just too much raw technicality and breakdowns, without much else that I heard. They just lacked enough depth for me to really sink my teeth into. I gave them a shot, I was up banging my head along with everybody else, but that's all they made me do. And they were very good at it, I definitely banged my head hard. But I'm just not that big of a fan of this type of technical or progressive death metal. Sorry guys. I liked the softer, more dynamic bits and the singing, but the rest just didn't suit my tastes. What do you think? Have I gone full retard this time? Listen for yourself.


The last band of the night was Axis. By the time these guys are going on, it's 2 AM, my phone has died (hence the lack of pictures here and for Soliam), and I'm in a nice comfy leather chair. One thing leads to another, and I've started to doze. This is no slight against Axis, these guys kicked fucking ass. But after 5 bands in 7 hours, I was absolutely out of it. What I was awake for was stellar. Spencer on drums absolutely killed it; I'm sure I heard a drum riff straight out of Cryptopsy's catalogue. That alone should tell you how much ass these guys kick. But that's just the baseline. Elias (also in Intoxicated Male) takes care of bass duties while Austin shreds on guitar; both string players scream and growl when moved to do so by Satan. The vocals were just right for the music. I can't quite put my finger on it, but though these guys are progressive death metal, I vibe with their style much more than that of Soliam's. It just clicks with me much better. If someone can figure it out, I would love to know what it is about these guys' sound that clicks with me so much more. Until then, I'm just going to keep following my gut instincts and call it like I see it. Er, hear it. Hear it for your own damn self here:


Whew! Just writing all of this out has made my brain tired. I'd say it was a very successful Bobbaroo. I mean, Bobby got drunk and had a great time, and that's the important part. Look for my review of Brother Ares, Clorange, Bell Witch, and Loss at The End, next!