Chuck Schuldiner Project

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Thera Roya, Secret Cutter, The Banner and Cult Leader at The Acheron


The momentous nights are sometimes the most routine - the nights you go to a show and see your friends are the nights that makes this all worthwhile. I lucked into seeing a very good friends band this evening as well as the triumphant Cult Leader and a couple of locals. The point being - The Acheron is truly a special place to see a metal show, and watching a band as intense as Cult Leader guide the crowd into a stunning, orgastic climax is truly triumphant - after all - nights like this are what makes metal all worth it.

First up were the dudes in Thera Roya. Their unique brand of doomy and quasi ambient black metal blew me away. Though I was previously not familiar with the band Thera Roya's performance left me scraping my jaw off the floor. These guys are truly a band to watch - one of the most exciting out there, dudes who know what it means to tour all over the country and make sacrifices for their art. Thera Roya live is a simply transcendent experience, you find yourself bathing in the unholy beauty of this band and it is impossible to tear yourself away from what they do. This is what metal should be about - pushing boundaries and creating brilliantly unique art that will never be forgotten.

Up next was Secret Cutter, a band who by and large defied definition. While there were some noise elements you also got tastes of black metal and hardcore in the bands rather distinct blend of genres. Watching them create art that was both highly engaging but also distinctly intelligent was a lot of fun and left me grinning, pleased with the sublime madness that they had managed to invoke. Secret Cutter are one of those bands who push boundaries and expect something more from the listener, the way that they drive forth - unleashing powerful sonic exaltations to he dark forces that guide us all is stunning and leaves you reveling in the murk.

The Banner played a short and fun hardcore set that started to get the crowd moving and featured the kind of high energy anthems that make the genre so goddamn appealing. I had forgotten how much I miss the vibe at hardcore shows - there is a special kind of magic that this music generates that gets you feeling strange and destructive vibes that resonate with something distinctly American. This is part of what heavy music is all about and it's incredibly refreshing to watch a band as fast and loose as The Banner tear up a venue as great as The Acheron. This is what hardcore is all about - and after a long break from the genre I fell in love again.

And at last the hour was ripe for the almighty Cult Leader to take the stage -storming forth and unleashing an incredibly intense set that I doubt I will ever forget. Intimate and crushing these guys tore the crowd a new one and led them in crazed moshing and gang vocals. Cult Leader understand the true magic of all that is loud, proud and triumphant. There is no escape from their sonic annihilation and as you watch them you realize that they may very well be the best grindcore band of 2015. Utterly indefinable and endlessly exciting these guys understand what it means to put on a life changing live show and they seem ready to explode.

So the night came to an end - I got home, read an extremely exciting email, cried a little and then realized that this is what makes this whole thing so special. Heavy metal and loud music in general is more than just the music but instead a life changing and powerful music, an art form meant for the past, present and future. There is something incredibly visceral about a band like Cult Leader, they come out and blow your mind, changing the future of a genre and forcing you to realize that there is no end to the madness.

Find the bands on Facebook!

Thera Roya: https://www.facebook.com/TheraRoya?fref=ts

Secret Cutter: https://www.facebook.com/SecretCutter/

The Banner: https://www.facebook.com/thebannernj

Cult Leader: https://www.facebook.com/CultLeaderMusic

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