Title Fight -- Lawrence, KS -- January 30th, 2013

Title Fight was, by far, the craziest crowd experience I've ever been a part of at a show. More so than Ceremony and Origin combined. I know people always say stuff about how as soon as the band starts, people go crazy? That literally was what happened here. As soon as the band started the intro to "Numb, But I Still Feel It," the number of stage-divers was in the teens by the time the actual song started. It kept up all night long with tons of divers, moshing and surfers. The set contained mostly songs from their last album "Floral Green," but I'm super okay with that. Maybe the hugest response of the night came from "Secret Society." Title Fight is, like all good punk music, extremely bass driven and the sound and mixing was loud but still super clear. When they kicked it into overdrive like with "You Can't Say Kingston Doesn't Love You" and "Symmetry," the D-Beat drums came through and only facilitated more and more stage dives. It seemed like everyone took one last launch off the stage during the closing number "27" and although they ended after that, people stuck around wanting more. Short and sweet, just as it should be. One of the best concert experiences ever.

Opening for Title Fight was KC's Clairaudients. They're one of the more interesting local bands - their sound is very easy to take in but pretty hard to pin down exactly just what kind of music they are. There's elements of post-hardcore, blues, noise rock, shoegaze, melodic hardcore, and more. They blend this all together to switch seamlessly from rocking out to chillaxing in, and they do it all brilliantly. Really looking forward to seeing them again.

The first band to play was Sovereign States. They're the band that plays the cover show at a bar in town every Monday. Their original songs weren't so bad! In the pop punk/melodic hardcore vein, it was pretty good. When they tried to do other stuff, it kinda hurt a bit, but that might be because their vocalist was coming down off a cold. Huge props for covering Saves The Day's "At Your Funeral." Any band who does that gets an automatic pass from me!

Title Fight: 9.5/10
Clairaudients: 8.5/10
Sovereign States: 7.5/10

Title Fight:


Numb, But I Still Feel It
Secret Society
You Can't Say Kingston Doesn't Love You
Leaf
Symmetry
Loud and Clear
Safe in Your Skin
Lefty
Youreyeah
Like a Ritual
Calloused
No One Stays at the Top Forever
Head in the Ceiling Fan
Shed
27

Upcoming show: Cradle of Filth and co.!

I'm not one to have guilty pleasures. I say: don't feel guilty about liking what you like! But if I was to have something that could be called a guilty pleasure, it'd be Cradle of Filth. They finally return to the area after a long absence! They'll be at The Granada in Lawrence on March 17th along with The Faceless, Decapitated and The Agonist. Should be an overall fun show!

Finally, some good news!

Here's a couple of shows that were just announced!

First is Mutilation Rites! They're a pretty awesome newer black metal band from New York. They can blast with the best of them, though, so don't let their looks fool ya! They'll be at the Jackpot in Lawrence on March 12th.

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Second is a pretty special announcement! Fu Manchu, which featured Kyuss' Brant Bjork (I actually don't think he's with them anymore), will be at the Record Bar in KC on April 8th performing all of their album "The Action Is Go", which is a great album! This will be a heavy, HEAVY night. Here's all of the album:

Update on the Soilwork show

The Soilwork show that was going to the (now-defunct) Beaumont Club in April will instead be going to The Riot Room! Smaller venue = more chaos!

Let's Start the new year off with some bummer news

Happy 2013 everyone! Hope everything's good for you, but the KC Music Scene is starting the year off with some crappy news: it looks like The Beaumont Club in Westport is closed! It happened unexpectedly and no one knows exactly why it happened, but it's definitely gone.

http://www.kshb.com//dpp/money/business_news/reports-beaumont-club-is-closed-for-business

I mean, I kinda get it. Kansas City isn't exactly the biggest market for mid-level bands, and I always thought the Beaumont Club was too big for some of those bands. Hopefully something like a few more smaller venues pop up and we still get some more concerts. The only metal show that was scheduled for there was an upcoming Soilwork show in April, but I'll keep you updated as to what happens with that.

High On Fire -- Kansas City, MO -- December 10th, 2012

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This was my first show since Converge on Oct. 20th - so almost my first in two months. Perhaps I should slowly walk back into the world of live music with a low-volume, low-key show? NOPE. It was High On Fire and Goatwhore, and my ears are still ringing. Aside from that, it was one of the most solid shows I've ever been to!

First band was local doom rock/metal guys In The Grove and I just have to say...why have I not heard these guys before?! Honestly one of the best first performances by a local band that I've not heard of before. Very heavy and very catchy, had a whole Boris/Doomriders/Torche thing going on and they definitely weren't afraid to solo it up or crush the audience with riffs. Very impressive all around and a great way to start the night.

Up next was Lo-Pan from Ohio. Another band I had not looked into prior to the show, but they definitely made me and quite a few others fans tonight. Very bass-driven stoner/sludge metal with clean vocals in the vein of Kyuss. Not really in the vein of Kyuss, more like they ARE Kyuss. That's exactly what they sounded like and it ruled heavily. Their bassist also is one of the best bass players I've ever seen. He was shredding on that thing and was matching the equally talented guitarist note for note. Lots of headbanging with them and I hope they start to get huge.

Goatwhore was the first ever metal band I saw live when they opened up for Celtic Frost on their reunion tour on October 16th, 2012. I saw a bit of them earlier this year when they headlined a much too large venue following Hate Eternal, but playing after Erik Rutan and co. didn't do them any favors. Here, though, they sounded amazing. Full of tons of energy and constantly just going from song to song was awesome. Ben Falgoust might actually be one of the better live vocalists I've seen. He sounds almost exactly as he does on Goatwhore's studio work. He would bound around the stage and interact with the crowd during songs. Definitely a great frontman. The rest of the band was on point - especially Sammy Duet. His guitar tone was crunchy and heavier than I expected. They turned out to be a LOT better than I had expected! Despite being a really different genre of metal than the other bands here, they were a great change of pace! I didn't get a close look at the setlist and it looked like a few songs were crossed out, but I'm pretty sure their set was the same as the other dates.

The main attraction, though, was High On Fire. This is one of the smallest venues the band has played at and it made for an immense show. The band is LOUD, but they were mixed extremely well. I was 2 feet away from Matt Pike right in front of him the entire show and it was almost a religious experience. He is such a good riffer and non-technical soloist that I don't want to headbang during the songs just so I can watch him - and I don't even play guitar. But yeah, they sounded very heavy. The guitar was very full and the bass and drums added to it. It's much heavier in person than on album, if you can believe that. The crowd really got going during "Frost Hammer" and "Devilution", but my favorite performance of the night was "Speedwolf." That track just has such a heavy groove that translates so well live. Matt introduced most of the songs and thanked the crowd a few times, but other than that it was all business - just how it should be. They ripped through a great rendition of "Snakes for the Divine" and left the stage while everyone picked their ears and minds up off the floor. A great last concert of 2012.

Picked up a pretty nice brown HoF shirt with a really cool design on it. Wanted the Richard Pryor shirt and also "High On Fire" done in the Masters Of Reality album cover style, but they were out of my size. D: All bands have a TON of merchandise, though.

High On Fire:

Serums of Liao
Frost Hammer
10,000 Years
Devilution
Last
Fertile Green
Speedwolf
Rumors of War
DII
Fury Whip
Blood From Zion
Snakes for the Divine

Goatwhore:


Collapse in Eternal Worth
When Steel and Bone Meet
Parasitic Scriptures of the Sacred Word
Alchemy of the Black Sun Cult
Embodiment of This Bitter Chaos
In Deathless Tradition
Sky Inferno
Beyond the Spell of Discontent
Judgement of the Bleeding Crown
To Mourn and Forever Wander Through Forgotten Doorways
An End to Nothing
Apocalyptic Havoc


High On Fire: 9.5/10
Goatwhore: 9/10
Lo-Pan: 9/10
In The Grove: 8.5/10

Just announced: VEKTOR!!!

In case you missed their excellent show back 8/21, Vektor is returning to the Riot Room on November 6th, a Tuesday! One of the best up and coming bands this century. You do NOT want to miss this! Opening the show are amazing dudes in Hellevate and Vanlade!

Note: It looks like Vektor is NOT headlining this show. They should still get a pretty nice set out of it, though. The headlining band is System Divide. I will save my commentary on them for myself.