Sep 20, 2017
Special “upcoming shows” set – showcasing bands that are on tour and will be playing in the bay area soon.
0:25-9:05
COBALT (Sunday,
October 8, Elbo Room)
Hunt The Buffalo
— The original duo of Cobalt ended
2015 in public social media battle, sort of like CNN and Trump. It
ended with one of them holding the reins of Cobalt, and adding the
vocalist from Lord Mantis. What a boon, the vocalist is expert in
intensity, desperate and emotional. For a duo, this strong of a
vocal is a must. And holy shit, the original member did all the
instrumentation.
9:05-12:19
VERMIN WOMB (Friday,
October 13, Thee Parkside)
Rank & File
— Vermin Womb won my 2016 Best Grind
album of the year. “Shit yeah bro” is what you say when you hear
this debut full-length Vermin Womb album. Vocalist from Primitive
Man fucking howls perfectly. Fortunately, Vermin Womb is way more
dynamic and furious than Primitive Man. Maybe purists will say
there is too much sludge and crust to make this truly grind, but
fuck that. Shit just makes the album great.
12:20-16:32
NOISEM (Sunday,
October 8, DNA Lounge)
Cascade of Stars
— Noisem is ambient, death, thrash,
grind, punk and technical hardcore. Tons of grind, but their young
energy breaks it up into a ripping hardcore album. They won my Best
2016 Hardcore/Punk-influenced.
16:33-21:17
STATIQBLOOM
(Tuesday, October 10, DNA Lounge)
Despair Are Shadows
— Fade from Batillus is the modern
EBM/Industrial leader. His industrial offerings are relentlessly
danceable and dark. I fucking love this new album.
21:17-25:27
CULT LEADER (Friday,
October 13, Thee Parkside)
Sympathetic
— Members of Gaza. Suffocating grind
infuses this album, breaking into pummeling hardcore. Produced by
Kurt Ballou.
25:27-32:51
WARNING (Wednesday,
October 18, DNA Lounge)
Footprints
— Warning broke up in 2009 after
releasing two albums, including a critical favorite in 2006
(Watching From a Distance). Two members went on to form 40 Watt
Sun. Highly influential in the genre of emotional, dense,
down-tuned doom.
32:52-37:18
ALTAR DE FEY
(Friday, October 13, Hemlock)
Veil Of Death
— Old school deathrock in a new album
from 80's band Altar De Fey, proving that the Bay Area indeed had a
thriving deathrock scene in the 80's. You can tell they existed at
the same time as Christian Death. This album is a mix of new and
newly recorded old; and the vocalist strikes that perfect note of
whine and badass.
37:18-41:07
ARTIFICIAL BRAIN
(Tuesday, November 21, DNA Lounge)
Anchored To The Inlayed
Arc
— Artificial Brain is mostly
technical, raw, pummeling and painful all around. They incorporate
just the right amount of progressive to keep your neck in a
whiplash from the tempo changes. Vocalist scrapes the bottom of his
throat and vomits it out. Just a stunningly talented
band.
41:38-49:09
ATRIARCH (Saturday,
October 21, Golden Bull (Oakland))
Inferno
— Atriarch have a great twist of
retro industrial and post-punk mixed with intense bleak sludge
leadup to a black hole in your heart. The album contains
traditional industrial “remixes” to their songs, including one by
Statiqbloom!
49:09-56:05
PILLORIAN (Sunday,
October 22, Cornerstone (Berkeley))
Forged iron crucible
— Lead singer from defunct Agalloch.
This album contains pretty melodic atmosphere and shining moments
of black metal density with a diversity of vocal styles.
56:05-END
MY LIFE WITH THE THRILL KILL
KULT (Tuesday, October 31, Brick and Mortar)
A Daisy Chain for Satan
— One of my favorite industrial bands
of all time, and on Halloween? Come on.