Chuck Schuldiner Project

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Valve, Dragged Into Sunlight, and Eagle Twin at Glazart in Paris


It's been far too long since I went to a show, two weeks to be exact. The general misery of this situation was starting to really overcome me. Fortunately, Stoned Gatherings had organized just the right cure for my calamity, three top notch doom metal bands who would overtake my soul with loud and powerful music that transcends the boundaries of common life. Before the show I got in a couple of interviews in (To be published shortly), first with the esoteric Eagle Twin, where we discussed everything from William Blake to Black Sabbath. Then I got into it with the vocalist of Dragged Into Sunlight and started to get a better sense of what those guys are all about.

Of course, before either of those bands could take the stage, we were treated to the most excellent Valve, the type of group who are not afraid to mix in punishing black metal blasts into their doomy dirges. They provided refreshing and cleansing blasts, the sort of thing that prepares your body for the heavy oppression to come. While they may not have been the best band on the night I certainly would like to see them again as they had a great grasp of what they were doing and their set was pretty exciting. As the band evolves I'm sure they'll get tighter and more powerful, prepare to headbang along with these masters, Valve are rapidly on the rise!

Dragged Into Sunlight were up next, and let me preface this by saying that I've wanted to see these guys live since I was sixteen, so their full immersion experience was glorious for me. What I found interesting about this band was that, for most of the set, they don't actually face the audience, creating a sort of break between the band and the crowd. The way that they speak to the heart is impressive, their music is loud and ferocious and the lights show is simply transcendent. It gives the entire thing an otherworldly magic which gives the band a new element. As you watch them you start to fall into a bottomless pit of metal madness, the sort of cathartic release that dominates the soul, they are, simply put, one of the best doom bands I've ever seen live.

Last up was Eagle Twin, now they had impressed me beforehand with their intellect, and of course their recorded output is very impressive. This duo understand what it is to be loud, and the quasi-improvised nature of their songs helps to keep things fresh and exciting. Frontman, Gentry Densley screams into his guitar and is not afraid to play with his teeth. There is something very animalistic about their music, it will take you in and keep you there, throbbing at the heart of the collective unconscious. This is the kind of doom metal band who capture souls, simply because they understand what defines every single one of us as human beings and that makes them great.

So was tonight crazy? A little bit. Was it transcendent? Most definitely. All three bands will doom you to death, but Dragged Into Sunlight were especially triumphant. Their only setpiece, a skull adorned candelabra defined the night for me, atavistic, mysterious, yet somehow bright within all the darkness. This is the kind of underground magic that doom thrives off of and I would love to see all of these bands again in the near future. So let your hair down and lose yourself in void worship (Points if you get the Pilgrim reference). If you're in area, be sure to stomp on down to the next Stoned Gatherings show featuring Satans Satyrs and Sasquatch!

Find the bands on Facebook!

Valve: https://www.facebook.com/VALVE.PARIS

Dragged Into Sunlight: https://www.facebook.com/draggedintosunlight

Eagle Twin: https://www.facebook.com/eagletwinmusic

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