What do you get when you cram tons of people in a small venue with super-deathy hardcore music? No - not square shaped jelly doughnuts with sprinkes. You get blood, carnage, and that weird concert smell that seems to creep up...
Okay, I didn't quite catch this band due to my tardiness. OKAY, it's wasn't my fault! I was sitting there all day Sunday playing Dragon Warrior VII, awaiting some sort of phone call from mah brothah's. Well, this finally did happen around 6:50 PM or so (the show starts at 8:00 PM), and I said to myself, "You know self, they won't get here 'till about 7:45."
7:50, there they were! With FOOD! We watched the Simpsons, then left for Boston's. By the time we got there, the first band (Fallguy) was playing their last song or two, and I was cramming a Double Quarter Pounder (with cheese, no onions) down the hatch. Then we proceeded towards Boston's.
(I won't give these guys a score since I didn't catch 'em, but they did sound rather good from outside).
After Joebob gave a CD to the Hatebreed vocalist (I think his name is Jamie or something), whom I might add was a very nice guy, we headed into Boston's. Tons of people. Again, not enough females at these shows. It's just not right.
Uhh, right. Anyway, we all headed to the front. Gawkman, Joebob, Mike Hawk, and yours truly snuck up front and bumped into a few buddies. Not long thereafter, the Northside Kings took the stage. The main vocalist guy had a very thick NY accent, and a very dry sense of humor (hurray for humor!). The very SECOND the first riff was strummed, a brutal pit of blood, guts, and knuckles broke out. Being that I'm just your average sized joe-guy, I got pushed back to the side of the crowd, away from mah brothah's, and suddenly found myself fending for my own life. ROAWRRR! These pits were a little too much for me though - I'm not really into all the fists and kicking as much as these guys were. Saw a lot of faces getting smacked around in there. Yeaaouch...Guess this makes me a wuss. Eh well. :)
Oh yeah, the band. :p
These guys are your slightly above-average hardcore band. Fast beats, some decent grooves, and a lot of intensity. Well, from the singer at least. The other three guys weren't quite energetic as the vocalist/guitarist was. Then they mentioned their lead guitarist newfound wed-lock. Boo to getting married. Boo to it a lot.
All in all, these guys were pretty good. They have a decent following too, which added to their show (it's always cool to see people singing the words with the band). I think they should work on getting a more unique sound, which is what I think a lot of bands are lacking nowadays. Wee!
3 out of 5
Pros: Cool to watch, heavy!
Cons: A little repetitive, not really that different than most good hardcore bands.
Well, after nearly losing my life to a bunch of 300 pound skankers, I found my g-moneys hanging out near the back of the venue. We started to goof around all retarded-like (as we always do), and as a result, we got strange looks from other people around there. Not that we cared. This is standard for any show - act goofy, get weird looks, scare people away. TEH!
After setting up and looking mean, Diecast walked on the stage and...killed teh warld. At first I was like, "these guys are okay," but then the heavy shit broke out. CHUGS OF DEATH! LOUD DOUBLE KICKDRUM CHEST POUNDING! THE WHOLE PLACE ERUPTING IN A PIT!
Diecast, despite some of the weaker singing parts (which sounded influenced from some 80s bands), were DEATHY KILL BLOOD GUTS! At one point in their set, they got the entire crowd completely in a state of bloodshed and carnage, followed by a hint or two of flying bodies erupting from the pit. We were in the back, but still somehow involved in all the deathyness.
Diecast is a badass band, and I recommend seeing them. Joebob picked up their CD, which we might just have to steal from him and review. ROAWRRRRRRR!
4 out of 5
Pros: HEAVY! LOUD! AGGRESIVE!
Cons: Singing parts...those need ta be touched up and thangs.
Before I continue this review, I have to mention the pure SHIT CDs that they were playing between sets. They went from this hip-hop shit (BOO A LOT) to some weird ass industrual techno dance-a-thon gimp fest. Here and there, they would play some old Hedshel (woo!) and System of a Down, but those were the only two good-uns that came out of those speakers during setup times and stuff.
Anypoo, Hemlock eventually danced out on stage in their dreadlocky glory. It's been a good while since I've seen these guys - they were signed to Epic (I think) not too long ago. We even got to open for them once upon a time last year, so yeah, we're familiar with 'em. :)
Those boys haven't changed one bit - they were all over the place! The guitarist on the right side continued to slam his guitar into his knee, and Chad (the frontman) did his dreadlock tuggy-thing as usual, which has a comical/psycho appearance to it. They kept the crowd into it by continuing to tell them, "Get the f*ck up! Jump up! JUMP JUMP!" They responded by not only doing that, but also by beating the living shit out of each other. Ahhh...it was beautiful. *tear*
My only complaint about these guys was their overall sound. They just didn't sound very tight. Their wasn't a lot of togetherness and clarity in their overall mix and playing. They were fun as hell to watch, and that pretty much made up for their messy/chaotic sound.
They did good. Quite good, I might add.
3.5 out of 5
Pros: Excellent stage presence, crazy, they said, "The Wall of death" when splitting the crowd in two.
Cons: Not a lot of togetherness with the music...
HATEBREED! Yeah! Well, you know...HATEBREED!
We all waited near the back of the crowd again. Impatiently. Joebob, after purchasing a new Hatebreed hooded sweatshirt, was going into some weird craving for more death. More. Hatebreed will KILLS YUO!
And that, they did.
Boom, they came out, and everyone went nuts. Joebob and Gawkman especially. I don't remember exactly what songs they played, nor the order of them. But they did play a few off of their upcoming album (coming out March 26th I believe), along with tons of their older ones off their first CD. After about halfway through their set, we all started to go insane. We ended up fairly close to the stage, on the side, having our own little pit (away from the guys that like to kill everyone), and having a blast. We were all chanting the lyrics along with 'em, and jumping, slamming, spinning, and...stuff-ing. It was much good.
The only thing (here I do again) was that the sound completely cut out after their third song or so. I think Joebob was about to break into tears...but not long thereafter, a big-guy ran buy and went to fix it. AND THE DEATH RETURNED! ROAWWWWWR!
"BURN ALIVE!
BURN AT THE STAKE!"
It was...good. No wait, it was damn good. HATEBREED! *attacks chair*
5 out of 5
Pros: Hatebreed will destroy you.
Cons: I will destroy you if you do not go see them.
All in all, it was a damn good show. Can't wait to see 'em again!
Comments!
Arem splats:You gotta log in or register to post stuff!