MetalSucks

Alcest’s new album, Écailles De Lune so relaxing to listen to… it’s like an aural tongue massage. Even when there’s screaming, it’s, like, the most mellow screaming ever. In fact, I’m making a MetalSucks Mansion Monkey rub my shoulders while we crank it right now. He offered to add the tongue massage part, but even I have standards.

ANYWAY, I’ve never seen Alcest live before, but I’ll get my chance in the spring, when they come to North America for a string of dates. I expect it to be the most chill show I attend all year. There’s also gonna be a string of various excellent bands playing support: Velnias, Liturgy, Clad In Darkness, Woe, Monarque, and Have A Nice Life

Dates after le saut:

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First show of the the new year for me proved to be a great one. Local black metallers Woe, who recently signed to Candlelight Records, opened the night up a little early with hypnotizing riffage, closing the set with “Condemned with Prey.” In spite of the starting times having been changed, Woe’s creator Chris Grigg commented, “Despite the venue’s unprofessional decision to make us play 40 minutes prior to the advertised start of the show, we are confident that those who were in attendance were suitably deafened and offended.”

Next up, Metal Blade’s Lightning Swords of Death proclaimed their evil with gauntlets on and shirts off. Definitely one of the most epic performances I’ve seen in a while. Septic Flesh were welcomed to the stage by the ever-growing crowd as they expertly melded live music with pre-recorded
backing vocal and synth tracks, making the more intoxicated audience members scream for more in a pretty demanding way. The photo pit started getting crowded at this point, so I apologize for a lack of shots of the drummer.

As the kids began getting antsy, a chorus of “BE-HE-MOTH” chants began to rise from the floor, finally erupting in a wave of guttural screaming once the band finally took stage. While some kids just head-banged, otherss found it necessary to run around like oafs, knocking each other down, spinning, and generally being meatheads.

Photos after the jump.

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The arrival of June means that all the big metal bands are over in Europe playing the festival circuit, but this isn’t all a bad thing. For one, it means some much-needed R and R (that’s rest and relaxation, fuckos) after a hectic Spring show season. It also means more time to go to smaller shows; ya know, ones that aren’t in huge concert halls where beer costs $7, and ones that are in real places where actual real / non scene-kid people hang out. The DIY (by comparison) shows of late Spring and early Summer offer a welcome respite from the big headline tours of early Spring and the packaged, brand-sponsored traveling festivals of Summer. This weekend I went to see the debut of NYC’s Motheater — a wicked brew of southern soul and northern fury — and a four-headed best of underground metal at Pitchfork’s “Show No Mercy” show serie, featuring Salome, Woe, Black Anvil, and Snake Sustaine.

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