Tijuana Goat Ride, Brother Ares, Dawn, and Black Table (NY/NJ) at the Hymen House

Ah yes folks, it's time for another show review! This show took place at the thoughtfully-named Hymen House, which is named for the street upon which it sits: Heiman street. Longtime NashVile readers will recall that this is the very same household in which I interviewed band members from a plethora of different bands, including Brother Ares and Dawn. Coming back again was a delight. In the few times that I've been there, the Hymen house has been full of fun and interesting people. It's cozy, and the walls are covered in fliers from shows past. There's also a wall featuring a shrine to a complete stranger, including pictures and some of her graded papers. But enough about the venue, let's get to the bands.

First up are local bangers Tijuana Goat Ride. This band contains members of former Nashville gut-rumblers Seawitch, whom you should definitely check out. But do that later. Read about TGR now, because they kick ass. Sonically, they're thick and heavy and loud and just everything nice. They have kind of a stoner sludge sound, but they're not satisfied to stay at a crawling pace all the time like most stoner-y, sludgy bands. These guys mix in angular if not downright technical runs in with meaty riffs, all while effusive drummer Chris Fox hammers away. These guys have a fantastic mix of galloping fast and thundering slow parts, all while keeping a head-nodding groove. And have I mentioned Niki Carolan's vocals yet? This girl can scream! It's somewhere between a hardcore scream and a black metal shriek, but regardless, it's effective. Bassist Christopher Frey throws some cleaner vocals into the mix, strengthening the stoner metal aspect of the music. Check out some show footage here:



Next up was Brother Ares. Sheesh, for the amount of press I give these guys you'd think I'd be at least band girlfriend by now. But really, these guys end up playing with a lot of cool dudes, and guitarist/vocalist Blake Conley always invites me to the shows, so how can I refuse? Anyway, on this night, they were as good as ever. It felt like a shorter setlist, until I remembered how long a single song is. Blake's octaver pedal and his three different distortion pedals give a really full, powerful tone to his guitar (especially the TurboRAT pedal) that you wouldn't always expect from a two-piece group. I also don't mention drummer Nick Gore's vocals enough: they're quite powerful, and really what blew me away the first time I saw them. When he's at full power, it's a quite impressive thing to behold. Watch all 32 minutes of their set here, including their fucked-up-in-a-good-way cover of Black Flag's "My War":



Band number 3 of the night was Black Table from the border of New York and New Jersey. I scratched my head at the name too until I saw these guys perform. Holy shit, they are awesome, and a delight to hang out with, to boot! I had a wonderful conversation with vocalist and guitarist Mers (pronounced like "nurse") Sumida about human evolutionary divergence, quantum physics, favorite pyschedelic experiences, and Hawaiian ladyboys. Quite a treat. As far as their music goes, Black Table is a smorgasboard of heaviness. They take cues from post-metal ("ambient sludge" for genre purists) and black metal, as well as sludge metal and hardcore. They even throw in a death metal-style chug or two. Guitar duty is split between Mers and Ryan Fleming; one usually shreds while the other plays in a more legato style. Drummer Mike Kadnar is a beast, and has the handlebar 'stache to prove it. I didn't get a chance to talk much to bassist Matt Mellon, but this doesn't diminish his playing one bit: this guy is fantastic, and his 6-string bass adds a really interesting, almost Intronaut-esque quality to the sound. The overall sound itself is surprisingly deep and intricate. These guys keep you interested throughout, adding nuances here and there and switching things up before you can even think of getting bored. Some parts reminded me of Isis, others, the indomitable Deathspell omega. I kept wondering what profoundly awesome shit they would play next, and they never failed to deliver. Check out concert footage below.


In addition, without a doubt one of the coolest things these guys have is their "Deepwell" package. It's a CD that contains a 22-minute ambient track, but with what's essentially a séance kit included. I'm not going to say all what's inside, but it's definitely worth tracking down and getting your own copy. I tried the ritual myself and found it to be pretty wild. To tide you over until you find your own copy, check out their brand-spanking new EP "Sentinel." It's absolutely, positively worth the price of $Name-your-price, only so cheap for a limited time. Stream it right here:


Last up was Nashville hardcore staple Dawn. This group features Ivan Doerschuk and Jordan House of Sky Burial and Alraune (among others) on drums and bass, respectively, and Jesse Mowery of Altar of Complaints and Nut Collector (among others). They kicked ass when I saw them at the Owl Farm, and they kicked just as much ass on this night too. Combining elements of hardcore, mathcore, sludge, powerviolence, d-beat, grindcore, and maybe even a whiff of black metal, this trio rains down an onslaught of intense music. The screams are strong and visceral, but also somewhat enticing. The drums were really punchy and tight. The use of feedback fits the style perfectly. Overall, these guys have a really restless style, with a sense of urgency felt throughout. This music gets your blood pumping. Since Jesse Mowery was manning the video camera during the show (credit goes to him for all the videos posted here), I don't have any footage from their set (sorry), so here's a stream from their last release.

Alraune, Thetan, Dawn, 16, and Tombs at the Owl Farm

On Thursday, October 18th, I went and saw Alraune, Thetan, Dawn, 16, and Tombs at the Owl Farm. The Owl Farm is a new venue that opened up this summer out in northeast Nashville. It's meant on some level to be a successor to the Little Hamilton, which shut down not too long ago. I was never fortunate enough to make it out to Little Hamilton, so I was excited to see some of the bands associated with that scene, since they tended not to play too many other places around town.

On a metascriptive note, I've decided to change how I review live shows by deleting one element: the number out of 10 at the end. They just feel too slapped on there, too arbitrary, and too extraneous. I'd like to give 9s to every local band I ever see, because so many of them are so talented, but if everybody gets a 9, what's the point? Too often people look to the numbers to glean how I feel about a band, and that's not representative at all. So no more numbers, unless any of you feel strongly about them.

Anyway, first up at this show was Alraune. These guys feature members of Sky Burial, Yautja, Gnarwhal, Vesicus, etc., and they kick ass. These guys played fast heavy black metal. Really great, interesting stuff, with the bassist and both guitar players each contributing on vocals. I thought that the bassist (Jesse from Sky Burial, I think) had the strongest vocals out of all three. They had some cleaner and softer parts to break up the mountains of metal; the best quieter moment came at the end, when it really had an impact. My only complaint is the same one I'm starting to have with most local bands is the fact that they're vocals were often lost in the mix, and though I could see their mouths grimacing, I could barely hear their darkened cries. Also, I'm not sure if this was the venue or what, but the guitars sounded a little murky. This is a smaller complaint though; aside from these two minor issues, these guys were great. I'd put up a streaming thing right here, but these guys must be too kvlt for any of that nonsense. I can't find a single thing. So get your ass to a show of theirs, because these guys are good.
Update: streaming things!


Next up was Thetan. Despite being a  two-piece that consists of a drummer and a bass, these guys sound nothing like Om. If Alraune was murky in a detracting way, then Thetan was murky in just the right way. Bassist/screamer Dan Emery's wall of amps rumbled your guts at high speed. It's almost like these two tried the full band experience, got sick of it, and said "FUCK IT we can do this just the two of us!" And they absolutely can. The energy put forth by Dan was incredible. He wailed on that bass like it was a dog that had just chewed up his favorite slippers. Drummer Chad L'Plattenier is no slouch either; he kept up with Dan the whole way. Together, these two make you want to raise your fist and bang your head as fast as you can. Until the slow parts, that is. The heavy, sludgey bits were absolutely satisfying. These guys played through with zero banter, zero talking to the crowd, as if their sole focus was on playing and absolutely nothing else. There was no jokes, no bullshit, just fucking awesome fast and heavy music. And they don't give a shit about money. Their merch sign said "7" for $3, shirts for $I don't care." These guys are all badass and no bullshit. If you like Tusk or Trap Them, you'll love Thetan.

Next up was Dawn. When I did the interviews at the Hymen house in February Jesse Mowery talked about his band Dawn (albeit after my phone had stopped recording the interview), and the guys and girls from Fenris said they were an amazing supergroup of some of the best players in Nashville, so you'll imagine my excitement at getting to see them play. They feature Jesse on guitar/vocals, Jordan House (of Sky Burial and also played guitar earlier in Alraune) on bass, and Ivan Doerschuk (also of Sky Burial... christ, is this the supergroup or is Sky Burial?) on drums. Their sound is definitely hardcore, but it's not always straightforward. They'll be rocking along at a quick tempo, then throw an interesting time signature into the mix. Something to interrupt your headbangery and make you listen closer. The vocals were great, nice and intense. These guys are relentless, barely giving you time to think or breathe while they erupt dynamic, hard-hitting riffs. When they do slow down for a brief bit, your body will move with it whether you want to or not. Sludge interludes like theirs make me cream my pants. If you like Converge, High on Fire, or any metallic hardcore band, you will adore Dawn. I know I do.

Now it was time for the "big name" bands. 16 was up first. I'd heard about these guys a few years ago and I enjoyed what I heard, so I was looking forward to seeing them. They put one a pretty damn good show. Their vocalist was fairly animated, though I had trouble hearing him very well. The guitarist had a sweet setup, with a stack of amps behind him, and a big Orange cab off to left that he send a drier output to. He would often send a signal to only the far amp, and then send it to both to make big hits even bigger and meatier. Their riffs were slow, fuzzed out, and heavy. Really good stuff, apart from my douche-o-meter going off for a split second when Tyler from Alraune (and also Gnarwhal) came to help the vocalist with the PA system, and said vocalist backed away and said "Guess it's his PA guys..." to which Tyler gave a pretty good "What the fuck?" face. Still, a little blemish isn't enough to discolor this review. These guys have been sludging it up for many years, and they know what they're doing at this point. Crunchy, heavy stuff.


The last band of the night was Tombs. I'd heard a little bit of their stuff before, and everyone was pretty gaga over their album last year, but when I went to check them out I was pretty turned off by their 'Gossamer' video. Still, I thought I'd give them another chance, and even if they suck, all the other bands would be sweet. Man, what a difference a show can make! These guys were absolutely stunning. They were just so heavy and fast and just everything I could've hoped for. Much more black metal than that awful Gossamer video, and I loved every minute of it. The vocals were sick, and the tremolo-picked guitars lined up with the drums more precisely than maybe any band I have seen live. Now that I think about it, this was my first black metal show! I hope they're all this awesome, and fine-tuned. I had to borrow money from friends to get it, but there was no way I was going home without their Path of Totality LP. Stream it for yourself right here, and see what all this fuss is about. I don't think you'll be disappointed.


Feels good to be writing again. Sorry for the lack of pictures; the ones I took before my phone died didn't come out at all. Look for my reviews of Bobbaroo (7 bands!!), and Loss/Bell Witch/Clorange/Brother Ares at the End coming soon!