The cigarette scented magic of matinee shows at ABC No Rio speaks to a very special kind of person. Their is a certain nostalgia I have for the underground as my career continues to advance and I'm left with fewer and fewer opportunities to go back to the roots and honor why I got myself into this mess in the first place. So now - slightly sick, and very tired, I'm taking a chance to look back and reflect on four bands I got to see tonight that gave me a refreshing glimpse about why we call this scene our own.
Hellreign are the first band that I've seen play in full corpse paint in far too long and their sound - reminiscent of truly old school black metal, a la early Mayhem or even Venom was wonderfully executed and very fun to watch. Taking themselves very seriously these young bucks thrashed across the stage with some crunchy riffs that definitely got the increasingly rowdy crowd off to a nice start. Though the audience skewed younger (This was an all ages matinee after all) Hellreign definitely pull of something that could appeal to metalheads of all ages, it's buzzing and glorious - speaking to an oft forgot part of the beauty of black metal.
A big part of why I came was Night Rite and their extremely talented and lovable guitarist Jeff Monge. Playing stripped down and groovy blackened crust punk (Or something - at this point genre designations start to break down) these guys slalomed their way through their first set ever. While it certainly felt like a first set the band seemed to be fairly comfortable with the whole thing and delivered accordingly. There are some very solid ideas here and I get the impression that Night Rite could be a very valuable addition to the New York City scene. These guys get what it means to deliver punky black metal to the masses and the world certainly needs more of that!
I was really impressed with Sentience, a death metal band who wear their Swedish influences on their collective sleeve and proudly rocked their way through a forty minute set that left the whole crowd smiling. Sentience are a lot of fun to watch live because they understand the pure bombast that death metal can have. They get to the spirit of the genre and leave you headbanging with your fist in the air and your voice screaming along to every chorus. This is a band that understands the pure sonic poetry of their work and create music that is surprisingly fun to listen too given how dark it is and leaving you wondering what more is in store for this band.
At first I was a bit pissed waiting around for Abstruktor. Their was a huge gap between them and Sentience and I was cold and wanted to go home...until they started to play. As one fan said after the show "They must be the closest you can get to having seen Metallica back in the day" and I have to agree. Abstruktor put on an incredibly energetic live show, spewing out thrash metal inspired by Nuclear Assault, Motorhead (In fact multiple members of this band have Motorhead tattoos), and of course Metallica. Abstruktor get what thrash metal is all about and it's impossible to watch them and not have the time of your fucking life.
And so the night came to a close and I took the subway on home, watching all sorts of demons and ghouls pass me by. It had been an interesting afternoon and certainly one I won't soon forget. That's what makes this scene special - waiting around all day to see a band you've never heard of, and then instantly falling in love. But fuck it - I never know what to say in these closing paragraphs other than that local shows are a huge part of what makes this whole thing work. If we want to continue to allow the magic of metal to spread - this is what we need to help make it survive.
Find the bands on Facebook!
Hellreign: https://www.facebook.com/Hellreign.official/?fref=ts
Nightrite: https://www.facebook.com/NightRite/?fref=ts
Sentience: https://www.facebook.com/sentiencedeathmetal/?fref=ts
Abstruktor: https://www.facebook.com/Abstruktor/?fref=ts
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