Last night I made my way out to a new venue for me, La Chinois for what promised to be a night of thrash metal madness. Five bands came to play, and lets just say, it made for some interesting times. The idea of having girls in all of the bands was really cool and added a bit of flavor to the whole affair. Unfortunately the beginning of the night was marred by sound problems that messed up the first three bands. More than that, someone decided it would be a good idea to play Black Veil Brides between sets, that definitely didn't engender a positive attitude. Yet despite all of this something magical went down last night, the underground showed it was strong, and will never die.
The first band to take the stage was Beyond Chronicles. Now these guys were fairly tight for such a new group. However there were some grave problems with the mix. It meant that we couldn't hear the vocals at all for most of the set. Their general inexperience showed through too, the general performance was occasionally lacking. Yet, I think their was some good potential shown here and I think with a little work, and some better mixing, Beyond Chronicles might be able to put on a worthy stage show. As is, they started to get a nice vibe going for a night of metal magic.
SINS came on next, I saw these guys a while back when they were still Living Strength. Their music is a powerful sort of traditional heavy metal fused with thrash. They too had a few significant sound issues, but the band did a good job of holding it together and keeping strong. These guys know how to really connect and I think there is a certain magic to the SINS sound that suggests they will keep it coming for years on end. Suffice to say, SINS get how to put on a show, sure they're still a little amateurish at times, but I think with a few more shows as experience they could really get somewhere cool!
Thanatic Eyes came up next and here we started to see a more powerful vibe as sound issues got worked out (Although occasionally the voice dropped out) and a more professional stage show was brought out. The singer from Bleed fronts this band and proved that they are among the greatest in the Parisian scene. Vicious and powerful, Thanatic Eyes bring an unholy energy to the stage and leave a pint of blood on the ground. Here the pit really started up and we even had a small wall of death. I'd really like to see these guys again with a better mix and perhaps more volume.
Up next was Unscarred who were, as usual, a highlight. There is something about this band live that is just utterly perfect. Be it in the top notch guitar playing and tight drum performance or Nelly (The frontwoman) and her charismatic performance Unscarred are regularly my favorite band to see live. So, yes I've seen them four times, but every time it's still incredible and fun. Stage diving and crowd surfing galore took over the evening here, this is thrash metal at its finest. I may just be a romantic, but I think that 20 years from now these Unscarred shows will be just as legendary as some of the gigs that happened in the Bay Area thrash scene in the early 80s.
The final band of the night was Furykane, who you may recall I saw last year at Batofar. I was a little surprised to discover that the band had changed their overall style from top notch 5th generation nu-metal to something a little more rock and funk inspired. Their new material is still great though, just very different from what I had come to expect from this band. Nevertheless I enjoyed their set, tired out as I was after a very long day. After talking to a few friends who heard advance copies of their new album I'm intrigued to discover what they have been up to. A wonderful live band, and now musically renewed the future seems bright for Furykane.
In closing, last night was triumphant and beautiful. Five bands came and all sorts of good times and headbanging fun ensued. All of the bands had some great stuff to show us and I think that even the groups who weren't absolutely stellar have the potential to do much more. Let's just say, the organizers did a pretty good job of putting this show together for us. So, this morning I sit here in bed covered in bruises and with a terrible stiff neck and I think to myself, I live for this.
Find the bands on Facebook!
Beyond Chronicles: https://www.facebook.com/chroniclesband92
SINS: https://www.facebook.com/pages/SINS/415188011934399
Thanatic Eyes: https://www.facebook.com/ThanaticEyes
Unscarred: https://www.facebook.com/Unscarred.Thrash.Music
Furykane: https://www.facebook.com/furykane
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