If you were there, you just knew it was awesome. Pictures!
https://picasaweb.google.com/113056343942734663331/MetalfestNightTwo
Yes, this is laziness.
-Love Liz
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Deicide - The Pyramid Cabaret March 12th, 2012
The day of Deicide, tickets for the show were selling like hotcakes at War on Music- which is a pretty exciting prospect, all things considered. I was looking forward to the show at the Zoo, which always offers a very metal atmosphere and good angles for pictures. Mid-afternoon, however, Cory came in asking about whether we had anymore tickets, and restocked us as well as taking his hard-earned cash. He then informed me of the unfortunate reality of the border officers being dick-faces and not accepting the work permits that the bands possessed, so the show might have to be moved. In the end, the show was moved from our beloved Zoo, to the Pyramid. You know if Cory has to change the venue the day of show, he has had a baaaaad day. Poor Cory!
Not only did the venue change, but the show time too... 9pm doors, and the show started at 9:30 sharp. Lecherous Nocturne were up first, and what a good opener! They were a generous helping of technical and impressive death metal. Their bassist James O`Neal used a Spanish guitar style of picking for the bass. Finger picking not only up, but down as well, to get the quick six-note progressions he doled out like they were nothing but the blues. Their vocalist, Brent, didn`t do a hell of a lot of talking between songs- more just song titles then the metal began again. Sometimes that`s nice, when all you want to hear is some head-bangingly awesome metal, but in this case, it might just have been due to lack of charisma or even fatigue! After all, the bands and crew spent six hours at the border that day. Bad day for everyone. At one point, the vocalist for Abigail Williams did the vocals for a song, and it was a treat! Over all, I would recommend seeing Lecherous Nocturne, and they were generous enough to give me two of their CD`s, which I will gladly promote on Rock n` Roll Damnation and Radio Active METAL.
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| No faces - Just hair |
One thing I can say about Abigail Williams was that they were really freaking loud. It was different depending on where you were standing, but they were the band that likely hurt my hearing the most. They didn`t sound bad, they were just cranked. Atmospheric and doomy as well as shrouded in mist, Abigail Williams played an interesting set with only three members of their expected five member group. I was not very familiar with their work, so my expectations were non-existent. They disappointed friends of mine, but personally, I thought their delivery was strong and really spoke to the doom metal fan in me that enjoys the slow glowing production of eerie sounds. For me, it was wave after wave of smoke machine and hard-hitting mysticism that I have only gotten once before with the band Russian Circles, whom also had a diminished group with no vocalist. Awesome!
Jungle Rot was the band I came that night to witness. I had heard so many good things, and any time we had a Jungle Rot CD at War on Music, it was either sold immediately, or put on hold. I wasn't too sure of what to expect, since I had only heard a scant amount of their extensive discography- with Kill On Command being supported for this tour, and incidentally, the only one they had for sale.
So I strapped in and prepared for a death metal barrage that I was sure my ears would be delighted with. I would like to point out that Dave Matrise is a mean looking and fitting frontman for a band with such attitude and a formidably austere and aggressive sound. He looks like the war part of the band, while Geoff Bub has hair like jungle vines and they both really struck me as being exactly how this band should portray itself. I can't discount the energy James Genenz put forth on stage as the bassist, and moved around and was actually interesting to take pictures of. Jesse Beahler, former drummer of like... five other bands is the newest to the group but fits right in and plays like the rhythmic and constant beating of a war drum should. War drummer, you could say. Jungle Rot was the whole package, in terms of stage presence fitting how they sound. I was personally extremely impressed- which is why I bought five copies of Kill on Command afterwards! The whole room was booming and thrashing while Jungle Rot played. They really got the crowd riled up before Deicide took the stage, and they're the right kind of band to have supporting any old school death metal veteran band. Jungle Rot has been around since 1994, so why hadn't I heard of them before? I'm still baffled at their relative obscurity, despite their obvious strengths as a metal presence. I urge any one of you who might read this, to go pick up a copy of one of their albums, or steal it from the internet, then buy it. They're awesome, and they're the right kind of stuff to have in your death metal collection.
Ahh, Deicide... a band that has eluded my interest since I got into death metal. It's not that their sound is poor, it's just that I've never really cared for it. I'm being very honest, when I say I was excited to see the explosive crowd more than the band itself. Everyone who likes Deicide REALLY likes Deicide, and that makes it enjoyable either way. When they first started, I knew I had permission to get on stage and take pictures, but I was going to wait until there was a break before another song, so that when they started playing, I knew I had at least a few minutes of actual music to cover, just in case they abruptly stopped and I was caught on stage like an asshole. I saw that there was actual security, so that also prompted me to wait before hitting the stage. They played for about fifteen minutes before stopping, and then I made sure the security guy behind me knew what I was up to, before he deemed me dangerous and dragged me, half-nelson, off the stage. Steve Asheim is probably one of the coolest drummers I have ever photographed, and he's also wicked to hang out with- very friendly! I literally only had to go on stage once to take about five pictures of him- all of which were freaking awesome. Without a guard rail typically provided at the Zoo, it became a pretty volatile place for me to take any pictures. When a mosh pit forms, I know enough not to try and get to the front for fear of being slammed and losing my camera. The room was getting pretty warm by the time it was half way through Deicide's set, and everyone was fairly randy and riled up. So the crowd became a swarm of moshing, violent, surly and yet angrily affectionate metalheads who came out to see some death metal bands. It was a good night, even if I don't particularly care for Glen and the gang.
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| Good times had by all |
All Pictures found here ---->
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Manitoba Metal Festival, Night One
First up was Annex Theory whom played a pretty enjoyable and killer set of rather technical and fast-paced sort of prog death metal, if I can even be permitted to generalize and tag a band as any sub-genre. Going from one vocalist, Trevor, to two, was effective and entertaining musically, and they clearly had a blast doing this together. Their guitarist, Wade, although a shred-meister, was pretty stoic and boring to photograph. The two vocalists, one of which was a guest, were exceptionally amusing to record on single images, as well as their eclectically dressed bassist Jordan, whom was fondly referred to as Spiderman for his tattoes. This certainly wasn't their first manitoba metal fest either- these guys have been doing it for several years, and it shows! Both their guitarists shred like madmen and their keyboardist, Matthew was also superbly entertaining to photograph. Not a small band by any stretch, as they have six members. I'm impressed by their ability to coordinate so many people to make such an awesome sound. The Despised Icon influence is obvious, and it works! I would recommend seeing Annex Theory and checking out their stuff. They have a relatively new EP out called Beneath The Skin which was physically released in December.
This time around, I thought Abhorupt played even better- not to say they played poorly at battle of the bands. They were slightly more interesting to take pictures of this time as well! Trying not to beat a dead horse with too many words, you should just come out and see them, to get an idea for their brand of technical death metal.
The most disastrous and horrifying part of my night came when the irrevocably awesome band Seventh Sin hit the stage. I was minding my own business, taking some wicked shots of their Keyboardist, Dan Klakowich, and some crowd shots when my memory card stopped agreeing with my camera! I was shocked, angry and all sorts of confused. I thought my night of photography was over, and that would not impress my "boss" Cory Thomas. So I scrambled to come up with a way to get back in the game. I couldn't secure another memory card in time to get the rest of Seventh Sin's set, which was stellar in a very 70's heavy metal influenced sort of way. This is also Shane Barron's other band, aside from Grand Master (whom I RAVE about all the time). Shane puts on a different persona as a guitarist for Seventh Sin, with different garb and movement, but all the while still just as charming as when he's nerding it up- Grand Master style! However, I must apologize greatly to Seventh Sin, because I really wanted to capture their professional essence on camera, and I couldn't do that for metal fest- so next time they play, I will make it up to them with some pro-bono photography, and play the hell out of their new material on Rock n' Roll Damnation.
It's always a blast seeing The Legion of Liquor perform, even if it's the same catchy drinking tunes every time, always starting off with Hops. Jared Weiss, whom I spoke with before, is the mastermind behind this titillating notion of a drinking and singing choir of men with some very talented musical accompaniment. The Legion are very much a crowd pleaser, and you can't help but sing along. I really, REALLY hope they get an actual album out soon, because that would just be the only thing playing at my next beer pong tournament. Oh shotgunnin'! I would also like to add that they have new shirts! I know I love mine.
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| Loving the Legion, clearly |
The War on Music merchandise got a primo table to set up on, right next to Into Eternity's, where a very pretty young lady in a leopard print jacket and shiny black pants was working. I didn't think much of her, and of course just made short polite conversation. Little did I know, that when she got on stage and got behind one of the Into Eternity banners, that this was the Amanda Kiernan I was so eager to see and hear that night. There was no way she was much older than I was, and I went up to her saying "Hey, pretty lady. I am so excited to see you perform!" and she just glowed and had one of the nicest smiles. I know I sound like I have a crush on her, but she was just one of those remarkable people you only meet a couple of times in your life. She had an aura or energy about her, and I knew that this was going to be something extraordinary and special. Amanda fucking slayed on stage. She hit all the notes, was louder than anticipated, which was awesome, and just had all the chemistry with the rest of the band that you would see with thirty-year stage vets. Amanda had been a part of her other band The Order of Chaos for some years, so she obviously isn't completely new to the stage.
I took some wicked pictures, and thoroughly enjoyed the amazing new beginning of Into Eternity. Although Amanda is currently listed as their touring singer, I think they would be fools not to record with her. I was told they will be, so that's even more exciting! Stu Block was quoted saying that Iced Earth is home to him now, so let the two bands move in amazing new directions, and perhaps down the road the two shall meet. And so ended night one, with new excitement in the metal community and a wonderful turnout that promises, perhaps someday, the Manitoba Metal Fest will be something to stop into Winnipeg for! Like, actual tourism! Thanks again to Cory Thomas, who perpetually kicks ass by drumming and bringing amazing bands to this frozen shithole.
ALL of the First night's pics can now be viewed here!
https://picasaweb.google.com/113056343942734663331/ManitobMetalFestNightOne
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