Lights Out America tour @ Brighton Music Hall

Fantastic and chaotic. Ever since I first listened to United States of Horror last year, I knew the album would be high on my list for the year and I've been itching to see HO99O9 ever since. I wish I could've caught 3TEETH but due to my responsibilities as a stupid adult I had to leave early but I promise this review is still worth it, and yes I went full goth jock at this show.

    

    I gotta say, this was my first real industrial show and I didn't feel that much out of place. A colorful cast of characters, mostly goth kids, but a few punks and black metal fans as well and everyone was really into the bands. Only thing I would change is 80% less drinking.

    Street Sects opened the night. I listened to these guys once before and thought "They're probably better live". The first member walked on stage dressed as a cop, like full on, badge, gun, handcuffs, everything. You would've thought he was the real deal. When the bass drop began, the second member walked up looking like a super villain wearing a duster and his gray hair poofing outward. The vocals were incredibly muffled and almost over powered by the bass drops. Dare I say it, I think I could compare it to The Body. 

   The second song, the supervillain went among the crowd holding a REAL chainsaw (chain excluded). He would scream un-amplified into peoples faces and rev the chainsaw at them while the beats would play in the background. When he got back on stage, he would scream even more violently while whipping the saw around, then stood triumphantly when the song was over. For the most part each song was heavy bass drops with different beats throughout, while the vocalist screeched over it all. Eventually He removed his wig revealing he was bald and everyone cheered. They only played I believe like 4 or 5 songs but the performance was what made it. I think I count this as my first rave as well.

    Now HO99O9 was the project I needed to see. Al the lights shut down except for one. theOGM walked on stage towards his soundboard, and then began the theme from Halloween. He began rapping the song "Street Power" and then Eaddy walked up to the front of the stage glaring at the crowd with his colourless eyes. Then you heard the words: "KILL FOR POWAH!" and Eaddy jumped into the crowd the moment the drums began and a mosh pit was started. Of course for the punk songs, the guitar and bass was sampled, however there was a live drummer and damn could he drum. 

    With the energy these kids had, they could fit right in at the average Boston hardcore/punk shows, if not a little more chaotic. The entire set was just wild. HO99O9's merch guy was even in the pit filming the whole thing. Aside from the punk songs, the creepy rap songs were just as ignorant and raw as they are on record. What really does is the energy that the two MC's have when performing, headbanging into oblivion, shouting like maniacs, and the miscellaneous antics Eaddy would pull . They stated "It don't matter if we play to two or two hundred, we still give our all". 

   Now if we're talking stage antics, Eaddy would stage dive multiple times throughout the night. Eventually he got out in the crowd and made a gesture that looked like he was parting the Red Sea. Eaddy said " The moment it drops, show me what you got Boston" He let out a bloodcurdled screech and it looked like the crowd charged him like an old school game of kill the man with the ball. Eaddy was panting getting back on stage and "Alright Boston you passed, A fucking plus". The highlight of Eaddy's antics was definitely in the next song which was more of a rap song where he jumped and climbed the rafters like it was nothing. He just sat there for a while rapping his part, and then drop the mic to a girl standing up front, then jumped from the rafters into the crowd and some how got the mic back, WHILE CROWDSURFING, and finished the song.

    theOGM introduced everyone including the live drummer who he said has two nicknames but only explained one: Corrupt. He stated "He's a good kid, but we are trying to fuck his life up." and the second being Gator. He also said, for anyone who didn't already know, their name is pronounced "Horror" not "Hoe-99". I could see theOGM almost tear up when he said that music is his only freedom because we are restricted from politics religion, etc. They had one more song, and it was a cover of "Attitude" by Bad Brains.

    Infuckingcredible. I'm calling it number one of the year so far.

Primitive Man, Spectral Voice, Scaphism, & Mourned @ the Middle East Downstairs

    This show straight up weighed 5000lbs. Primitive Man and Spectral Voice made the earth shake with local support from Scaphism, who I haven't seen in years, and of course Mourned, everyone's favorite. Sound quality was definitely at its best all night for each band.

Mourned

Genre: Death Metal FFO: Dying Fetus, Behemoth, Napalm Death

    I've lost count how many times I've seen these guys play. For the longest time Mourned have been recognized more among the hardcore crowd, despite being a death metal band, but more and more I see them get added to some awesome metal shows and getting a great reaction every time. This show is definitely a highlight for them. 

    I recall a man known as "Legs" telling me " wait till you hear Dave's drums, I could compare it to The Cleansing by Suicide Silence". These words were not lies. The drums were pounding like it was your new heart beat. Those guitar solos were clear as day and metal as fuck. As for Billy's vocals, disgusting and demonic.

    The pause in Ravenous torment caused motion among the crowd to the point where I thought there would be a few fights. Heavy riffs and shredding solos all throughout the set gave off a ton of energy from the crowd. I swear Mourned get better and better each time I review them but this is gonna be a tough one to top, especially since they were getting praise from Primitive Man.

Scaphism

Genre: Death/Thrash/Grind FFO: Abominable Putridity, Haemorrhage

     I haven't seen Scaphism in probably five or six years and not much has changed. If I searched my parents house I could probably find the threeway split between them, Composted, and Boarcorpse. Scaphism still retain that awesome and gross death metal sound chock full of blast beats with a few slams sneaked in. Granted all I really heard from these guys recording wise was on that split but hearing some of the songs they had to offer last night definitely brought me back. 

      Scaphism sounded just as professional as Mourned. The drums were thundering, the riffs were heavy and evil, and the vocals sounded like he would puke any second. I can't say too much about the crowd reaction as I was far in the back just enjoying the music.If you enjoy death metal I would recommend these guys for your next family gathering.

Spectral Voice

Genre: Death/Doom Metal FFO: Undergang, Inverloch, Hooded Menace

    Woah. All I can say. Number one set of the night hands down. Let me set the scene for you, the vocalist/drummer demanded that every light in the venue be shut off leaving only candle light. You have now entered the eroded corridor of unbeing.

    Spectral Voice were destructively heavy, high on my list next to Conan for heaviest live band. You could almost see the vibrations in the air. The vocals were incredibly echoed to the point where it sounded like you were in a cave. Each song more evil than the last, the whole set was very esoteric, you could use a ouiji board and probably re-enact the movie Veronica. 

     Punches were thrown during the slow heavy parts and more ruckus was summoned from the blast beats. People were flying back and forth. There are absolutely no other bands I could compare this performance to. Incredible just incredible. I can still hear those vocals ringing in my head.

Primitive Man

Genre: Sludge/Doom/Drone/Noise FFO: Indian, Lord Mantis, Thou

    This is gonna be a short one. If you know Primitive Man, you know two things: heavy and loud. Thats what you paid for and thats what you get. Everything I said about heaviness with Spectral Voice can also be applied to PM. Primitive Man was definitely 10x louder. You could feel your entire body vibrate like an oldschool gamecube controller. This is tough to give a write up for simply because most songs sounded similar and PM's gimmick is just being really loud. Definitely an interesting experience and worth seeing, just hard to write detail.

Fuck Paul Cronin

Norma Jean, Gideon, & Greyhaven @ The Middle East downstairs

     The time finally came for Norma Jean to play my personal favorite album of theirs in its entirety. Redeemer was a daily album I would listen to in 2006-2007 and had a heavy influence on my music taste later as most of you could probably tell. I will start this by saying Toothgrinder dropped and I missed Chuggernaut. 

Greyhaven

Genre: Mathcore/Southern Rock FFO: Every Time I Die, Maylene and The Sons of Disaster, Heavy Heavy Low Low

Greyhaven are probably the only reason I'm not only writing a review about Norma Jean. I heard one song of there's prior to the show and thought, 'these guys are worth checking out' but hearing more of their stuff live, I was very impressed. half the songs had that classic HHLL breath catching vocals followed by spastic screaming with chaotic ETID style riffs mixed with southern smoky bbq riffs reminiscent of He is Legend and Maylene. The vocalist asked who's heard them before and four people responded. "Four people huh? I think thats the most so far on the tour you guys are the best." Greyhaven is definitely a good blast into the past and an escape from 2018, brought to you by Myspace.

Gideon

Genre: I don't care FFO: I don't know

Around the time Gideon started I wasn't about it, so I went back to my car to play the game I've been binging for about a month, Fire Emblem: Warriors™ for the Switch. I thought that a level 50 recruitment mission in history mode would provide enough time to kill until Norma Jean would go on. With the map having the rival army consist of mostly dragons and archers, I considered using Lyn, Chrom, and Marth for their dragonslaying weapons along with my powerhouses Corrin and Navarre for good measure, and Frederick and Lissa as unplayable characters. I primarily used Lyn to takeover the forts with dragon captains and ordered chrom to do the same and sent the rest out to take out the archers, while keeping Lissa at the allied base. Darios appeared and began recruiting rival Commanders. I quickly switched to Navarre who was close by to Darios to escort him and defeat the reinforcements who were after him. Getting to the first commander, which was another dragon, went well until reinforcements came and begun an assault on my base, so I sent Lissa to heal the fort captain and quickly switched to Marth and used his warrior special to clear out any threat. Darios was on the move again to continue recruiting so I switched to Lyn who was the closest to him and we successfully recruited Elise and Anna. Word of advice, Lyn's speed matched up with her sixth strong attack makes for a great way to fill your warrior gauge quickly to make your battle a breeze. The enemies base opened reveal the commander to be defeated, Robin. Nothing Lyn's warrior special couldn't handle. Just one Warrior special depleted half of Robin's health. While dodging Robin's magic attacks, I was able to used Lyn's speedy strikes to kill enough of Robin's army and fill up my wrrior gauge once more and take him out. Victory was achieved with Lyn as the MVP. As soon as I got back to the middle east, Gideon ended and Norma Jean was just setting up.

Norma Jean

Genre: Mathcore/Metalcore FFO: Zao, Botch, Symphony in Peril

    Norma Jean's setup was similar to when I saw The Dillinger Escape Plan's last Boston show. They had the same style stage light setup along the amps flashing chaoticly with the music. Aside from that, there were two blinding lights that were basically like the type a carpenter would use but brighter. Anyway, the carpenter lights were the only lights in the room shining bright when The Almighty Norma Jean triumphantly walked out, and without hesitation presented the crowd with A Grand Scene for A Color Film. the crowd jolted forward screaming along, myself included. The pit was a combination of hardcore dancing and old school 2005 circle pits. Immediately after they began Blueprints for Future Homes, I made it my mission to get in Cory Brandan face and scream "you're killing me, just bury me" most of my friends know that when I plan this, it happens and surely enough it did.

     Cory stated that he was excited to be doing Redeemer and said it gives him the chance to actually talk about what the songs are about. For example, A Small Spark vs. A Great Forest is basically about how a disagreement can escalate to drastic proportions, or Cemetery Like a Stage is about how Cory was at home cleaning his house only to find out his father had been killed. Many more of them were mentioned and I apologize for not remembering them all. 

    Sometime between The End of all Things Will be Televised and Songs Sound Much Sadder, I believe, Norma Jean decided to throw in two songs from their newest album, Polar Similar. Personally I had yet to hear the album but hearing the song, I, the Planet, all I can say is: HEAVY. The other song was Synthetic Sun, which definitely impressed me as well.

    One thing I can't help but point out, certain parts of the songs, Cory would make his voice sound like its cutting in and out through a vocal effect, but he was actually doing it himself, very odd but he could pull it off.

    Surely enough Redeemer was played in full, from A Grand Scene to No Passenger, No Parasite. Each song had endless energy coming from the crowd, enough for Cory to state that Boston stage dives more than New York and we were just wild (Thanks Cory!). Norma Jean walked off stage in the dark with feedback playing over the speaker. The crowd was cheering "ONE MORE SONG" "NORMA JEAN" MEMPHIS". A few moments later....

    The band came back out. Cory stated Norma Jean is a collective and the fans are heavily involved. Cory finally said "This song, is the foundation of Norma Jean. Bless the Martyr...Kiss the Child. MEMPHIS WILL BE LAID TO WASTE!" For a christian band, Norma jean spawned more chaos than any band I've ever seen play the Middle East. A mountain of fans went for the mic. Eventually Cory said "If you know the words..." the feedback stayed in the atmosphere but the music was paused. Cory was holding on to a pipe overhead, a second vocalist appeared, kids were jumping on top of each other  and NOTHING EVEN HAPPENED YET. momemts and moments and moments later....NOW YOUR DOING THE WALTZ WITH YOUR MURDERER! the Kid doing Aaron from mewithoutyou's part crowd surfed while screaming in everyone's face as did everyone else for basically the entire song. Tons of energy you would think the earth was shaking. Norma Jean ended with a nice big " God bless you, God bless you all!" and the show ended.

    This was incredible. A very important show for me by one of my favorite bads playing my favorite album, I couldn't be happier.

Conan w/ The Ditch & the Delta, and Churchburn @ the Middle East Upstairs

     Absolute sonic destruction wielded by UK heavyweights, Conan, crushed the Middle East into oblivion. I've seen some heavy bands but this was something else. Joining them was The Ditch & The Delta, a band I believe most were unfamiliar with including myself, and Rhode Island doom devils Churchburn. This show was so heavy and loud you could probably hear it from miles away.

Churchburn

Genre: Sludge/Doom Metal FFO: Noothgrush, Grief, Brainoil

   Despite being from Providence, Churchburn are no strangers to the Boston metal crowd. A great beginning to the show. Churchburn played their evil sludge metal sound just as you would expect others to, long 5-7 minute songs, each heavier than the last, but with a few riffs that somewhat remind me of something Death would write hammered into the music adding an occult flow into the atmosphere. I can't help but point out how muddy that bass sounded. I definitely mean that in a positive way. The bass paired up exceptionally well with the drums making you think that a nearby church was probably well....burning. Churchburn played a few new songs that that keep their natural sound in check. 

The Ditch and the Delta

Genre: Sludge/Doom Metal FFO: High on Fire, DoomRiders, Khemmis

    I have asked multiple people I knew at the show if they heard these guys and every single one said no. After they played, everyone was amazed. I want to say these guys were like early Mastodon, but I would be off. Like the other bands playing, these guys were heavy. Heads up, you're gonna see the word "heavy" a lot in this post if you haven't figured it out. When the band got on stage, my first thought was "these guys look like they're naturally always drunk and aren't affected by alcohol". When they played, It was like Doomriders decided to play slower and open a blackhole on stage. Definitely impressive. Just about everyone enjoyed the band just as much as I did. Fun Fact: According to The Ditch and the Delta, "Utah" is actually pronounced "Yu-tahr". Very interesting.

Conan

Genre: Stoner/Doom FFO: Monolord, YOB, Cough

     If I were to name they heaviest bands I've heard live, I would say: Windhand, Suffocation, Full of Hell, Deftones, Neurosis, The Body, Saint Vitus, and maybe Cloakroom. I think after last night, Conan might be the number one contender. They played so loud I could feel my entire body vibrate to the point where I was starting to get sick and feel like I was gonna puke. Conan live up to their label "caveman doom" in more ways than one. The guitarist's Ozzy sounding vocals sounded even more powerful than they do on record and the bassist's low warcry was echoing like the venue was a cave. You would think they were leading an actual army to war. The crowd reflected the sound and created a battleground of neanderthals fighting over who gets to eat the mammoth steak. Absolutely wild. The drums were thunder, the guitar and bass were hammers, the vocals were savagery. You would think you were watching a viking documentary. Welcome to 10000 BC where everyday is a battle, you must kill to survive!

Marilyn Manson @ House of Blues

       The freak show finally made its way to Boston. This was one hell of a show. After being postponed for 4 months, the wait was 100% worth it. This was my first time seeing Marilyn Manson and as blown away as I was, most considered this a half-assed performance, but still phenominal nonetheless.
        I've first became a Manson fan at a young age like most, I recall my aunt giving me a list of metal bands to listen to one of them being Manson. I heard The Beautiful People and it terrified me and I was hooked. Ever since I've watched live performances and I was amazed and hated christianity from then on. Accompanying me to the show was my long time friend, Connor, who worships the ground Manson walks on and has seen him three times now. He showed me a video he took when Manson opened for Slipknot and he stood upfront on a podium, cut himself with a beer bottle and burned a bible. After seeing that I knew I needed to see him live despite what venue it is, so when I heard about the original date in October we both knew we'd be going.
    Some random DJ warmed up the crowd playing heavy metal hits, afterwards you saw nothing but curtain, and I swear nothing happened for a good hour. Eventually the lights dimmed and you heard someone yell "BOSTON!!" and the crowd screeched with joy. Curtain hasn't risen yet but over the speakers began what Connor said was $uicideboy$ for a short period until you heard once more: "BOSTON!!". The song change to something I didn't recognize. After another short period we heard "BOSTON!!" once more and Cry Little Sister began playing. Connor and I looked at each other knowing what happens next. Surely Enough we hear the words: "The World is an ashtray" and the curtain fell revealing Manson sitting on his throne with two gigantic pistols on each side and the double inverted cross banners on each side of the stage. I cant get over that he opened with The Reflecting God. During the pre chorus, he rose from the throne and approached the crowd screaming looking like he was puking on the crowd. Manson fans are always screaming along with so much passion.
        Immediately after The Reflecting God, Manson said: "Deep Six" then proceeded to play his new song deep six. Two people dressed in surgeon uniforms walked on stage and appeared to be trying to tell him something. Manson shoved them off and just said "These guys are fucking worthless all they're good for is drugs..." and the crowd cheered for him. You could honestly tell how cocked he was just from that one statement. The doctors walked off stage and Manson began the song "The New Shit" and the crowd reaction was EXACTLY like the video. It honestly felt like I was watching the video. Manson would constantly be doing some antics like throwing the mic stand to the ground, throwing mic , swinging the mic and even throwing random things into the crowd, one of them being Kanye looking shutter shades.
     Eventually the doctors came back out and gave him a fedora. He walked up to the mic and said "We came for the fucking mOBSCENE". Manson threw the fedora in the crowd and two new banners dropped showing a picture of Manson dressed in a tux wearing a bandana over his face and hold a machine gun. the Entire crowd chanted: "Be obscene!" at full volume.
     Manson performed another new song, Kill4me, and then stood on stage with an empty look on his face and said, "We're gonna get biblical, Revelation 12". Manson sat back in his throne with nothing but one red light shining down on him, and the chair began to circle around the stage. Everything about just seemed unnatural, he rose and began the song. When the time came, he began talking about drugs once more praising them and saying "I don't like drugs but the drugs like me, I mean this is The Dope Show". Manson walk away as the crowd cheered and the came back wearing another pair of shutter shades and a thick feather coat (hopefully fake feathers) and began The Dope Show.
      The lights shut of, and music that you hear play in a horror movie began playing, the backdrop fell revealing a new one that looked like a child scribbled all over it, but if you looked closely you could see his inverted cross logo multiple times drawn like a toddler did it. Manson walked out holding a lantern and the guitar riff in Sweet Dreams began. The way he sang the bridge of the song was very creepy with his spastic movements and hoarse vocals. The crowd screamed in excitement and shouted every word. It was incredible. Manson played a few new songs and a short snippet of Lunchbox and walked off stage awaiting an encore.
      Manson came back and played The Nobodies constantly pointing the mic into the crowd while the crowd sang their anthem. After that endless praise from the crowd continued, Mansons bassist walked over to him holding his bass up to Manson's face. Manson started tapping it and eventually played the drum beat of The Beautiful People. The drummer followed suit and began playing the song. If you know Manson, you know The Beautiful People, I mean everyone their certainly did. I don't know who was louder, the crowd or Manson. You could see the fire in his eyes, in the right light you could say he had the eyes of a killer, and his movements with the chorus would make you think he was having a seizure. A perfect way to conclude his performance was with this song.
     So as my first time seeing Marilyn Manson, I gotta say I'm impressed considering he just came back from having however many broken ribs. I'm sure his act is gonna be even better next time. I can't help but say it, he was so fucked up this night and still played flawlessly, I've seen so many talented bands play drunk, on acid, stoned, you name it I've probably seen it and 2/3 times it's awful, but Mr. Manson really pulls it off and I'm astounded he can.

Vantage Point, Pummel, One Step Closer, Kind Crew!, Kidnapped, and Anxious @ Upton VFW

     Another night of hardcore at the vfw in the middle of nowhere, aka Upton. Punks from all over Mass made the drive whether it be close or far, as well as two CT bands and One Step Closer from Wilkes-Barre PA. This review will be written differently due to the fact that I have trouble with reviewing hardcore bands individually (and on top of that 6 bands played), so this will be a review of the entire show.

     The Upton VFW may be a little out of the way for those coming from Boston and the south shore, but that won't stop them from seeing their friends and supporting the bands. Luckily it wasn't far from me ever since I moved closer to the area. I'm sure Anxious, Kidnapped, and One Step Closer were more than happy to make the drive after the performance they all put on. 

     Anxious are a band from what they called "a tiny town in Connecticut". My first reaction: these kids are young. Gotta say I dig the logo, the name, and of course the youth, but I was very curious to hear what they had to offer. To my surprise they had a very Title Fight sound. You could see the confidence and effort these kids have and it was astounding, and the the only lights in the room coming from behind them was a very appropriate visual. I can't get over the old school 2005 breakdown that was randomly played in the last song, really brought me back. Gold star for these guys, and bonus points for the drummer's bucket hat.

     All throughout the night I was hearing about Kidnapped, all good things. Discussing them with my buddy Cam, he told me I would like them, even though I can be very skeptical about the genre. To my surprise they were a 3 piece and the moment they began, it was a sonic force of powerful earaching destruction. Connecticut was really showing off at this show. Screeching guitars, drums faster than your heart rate, and rash vocals all played at violent speeds, with slow parts that got kids moving. I can't help but think about Wound Man while these guys played. Cam also brought up to me that the drummer uses marching sticks (very impressive). Can't wait for Kidnapped to come back around.

     Kind Crew are the next big thing for Massachusetts hardcore just you wait. You could tell they were a highly anticipated act for the night. Kind Crew began with vocalist Fernando stating its been hard week for him after experiencing two deaths, a coworker and his grandfather, and dedicated the set to both of them. the first song made the crowd erupt into motion. after the first song one the the amps stopped working and while solving the problem Fernando gave a shout out to the other bands. Each song they played followed suit with plenty of mic rushing and moshing with smiles on everyone's face, and Kind Crew even delivered a cover of Stop and Think. I'll say it again, these guys are the next big thing for Boston hardcore and definitely proved it at this show.

     This show was my first time hearing of One Step Closer and I wasn't sure what to expect. The sound reminded me of three bands: Have Heart, Praise, and Ten Yard Fight. Definitely unique compared to the average hardcore punk band. OSC stated this was the first Massachusetts show they played and never even been here before. Needless to say I'm sure we made them feel welcome. Gotta say this show made me appreciate these out of state bands more, these guys along with Kidnapped and Anxious all seemed to have young ass kids making some incredible music and bring variety to the world of hardcore and I love it.

    I've done reviews of both Vantage Point and Pummel before already. Both bands are great and I will never get tired of seeing them, but I may keep it brief for this one, my apologies to both bands but it really is hard for me to write reviews of hardcore bands more than once without being repetitive. I think the last review of Pummel I said they were some what crossover sounding but this time I think they were more hardcore punk, but still with an Age of Quarrel style sound. Definitely more on the hardcore side. Pummel delivered the same reaction as usual with tons of energy from the crowd and just as much from the and as well. 

     Vantage Point I honestly just can never get enough of. I love seeing these guys and the amount of passion put into the performance. The crowd shows plenty of energy and Russel's pacing back and forth and screaming to the point of exhaustion just shows how much he cares about the act. Alongside Kind Crew, Vantage Point are becoming a staple in Boston hardcore and I could compare the sound to bands like In My Eyes. 

      

https://pummelhardcore.bandcamp.com/

https://vantage-point.bandcamp.com/

https://kidnappedpv.bandcamp.com/

https://anxious18.bandcamp.com/

https://kindcrewhc.bandcamp.com/

https://onestepcloserxxx.bandcamp.com/

True Widow and Kal Marks @ Great Scott

True Widow brought Boston into another universe at Great Scott. Relapse Records knows the right bands to sign and true Widow's performance proved it. Locals Kal Marks opened the show definitely readied the crowd for what was to come. A great night with great sets from both bands and really felt like a late night in the city.

Kal Marks

Genre: Alt Rock/Grunge FFO: Nirvana, Skin Yard, Tad, Weezer

I had no idea what to expect from these guys. Never heard them, seen them, or even heard the name. I got to Great scott early enough to hear them sound check and just from that, I was dreading the set. Each member walked on stage, the guitarist looked like the classsic plaid wearing 90s grunge kid, the bassist looked like he worked at either nike or Vans, and the drummer looked like an ordinary drummer. The first two songs sounded a little like Weezer but as they went on, they played songs that had that raw aggressive grunge sound you would expect to hear from bands like Tad. I'm sure that sound check song wasn't serious because it sounded very different from these. they would be switching off between alt rock songs and grunge songs. They could've snuck a non single Nirvana cover, like Negative Creep or something, and I would not even notice (definitely a good thing). I remember one of the grunge songs had an abrupt stop and the crowd cheered without realizing it was a long pause. The vocalist looked like he was ready to pass out but probably a full minute later he yelled into the mic with his raspy voice and the instruments followed back into raw grunge. Kal Marks is definitely an experience live and will take you back to the 90s.

True Widow

Genre: Shoegaze/Stoner Metal FFO: King Woman, Cloakroom, Nothing

Welcome to a different dimension is all I can say. I only just found out about True Widow a year or two ago but regardless I was really looking forward to this set being a big fan of both shoegaze and stoner metal. Each member walk out very sharply dressed as the vocalist said "We're True Widow" and began playing. The band played very loud but I feel as the set went on it either toned down or I just got used to it (probably got used to it). You could just feel the bass causing an earthquake throughout your entire body, I swear it could cure heart failure. The vocals for both vocalists were equally filled with reverb that made you think they were standing right next to softly singing into your ear. The atmosphere would trick you into thinking you were in a completely white room sitting alone falling into a trance and slowly putting you to sleep. One thing I just can't get past is that bass. I could compare some parts to when I saw Weedeater last year. True Widow played for an hour maybe a little longer but all the fans were hypnotized by the band until the end. I can't believe how incredible they sounded. For a band that writes music honestly as simple as this, it really shows a huge impact live that make you appreciate it even more.