Emeralds – Tonight at El Corazon
February 27th, 2009 BrianEmeralds – Seattle Band that reminds me of Corrosion of Conformity. Maybe I’ll go see them tonight.
Edit: Ok some of the other bands sound decent too
Full bill at El Corazon Calendar
A smattering of it all
The Faceless, Cynic, and Meshuggah – concert review
February 7th, 2009 BrianHere’s a quick review of the concert I saw last night at El Corazon…..
The Venue: Tough to describe when you spend most of the time stuck behind a pillar in a room filled with metal fans young and old. It has a small, dirty metal club feel, a pretty decent PA, and is impossible to transit during a sold-out show. I was impressed the most by the sound since most venues that aren’t particularly deep in front of the stage often get muddy and distorted during a metal concert. I guess they have their act together since they are predominantly a hard rock, metal, punk venue. Security seemed pretty reasonable during some very intense moshing in front of the stage – they take action only when they have to, so don’t be an idiot. Lets just say if its a highly moshable band stay out of the pit area unless you are prepared for a few bruises. Only issue…where the fuck was the bar (is it that tiny thing stage right) and how the fuck do you get to it…
The Crowd: A broad cross-section of age for an all ages show, though mostly men. You pretty standard metal fanbase. I don’t think you go see Meshuggah if you are simply a Disturbed fan.
The Bands: I arrived partway through The Faceless, which was a pretty typical Hardcore metal band in the Bloodsimple variety, which a little less mosh emphasis – but maybe it was just early. Lots of tempo change and screamo…
Cynic was really interesting and musically/sonically awesome. I didn’t know much about them before the concert but they are definitely worth checking out more. Their Drummer has serious skills, definitely owing to a lot of the jazz timings in many of their songs. Everything was purposeful and composed keeping the complex music accessible. The lead guitarist used lots of a dissonance, also jazz like, that added a eerie and new sound to their songs. The vocals were predominantly clean, though the guitarist provided some subtle backup growls, that are much more prominent on the albums. A little change is very welcome after all the cookie cutter acts that are out there now.
This brings us to Meshuggah. They were brutal, in a good way of course. There music was fast and furious, with a lot of seemless tempo change. They provided plenty of foder for the moshers who managed to eccompass the entire floor of the club at times. The Drummer looked like he was busting ass to keep up with the horrid pace. Some of the drum fills/solos were simply monstrous in their rhythym and sequence, and I think I’d give him a raise. The guitars and bass laid down a very good base for the vocalist who had a great growl that wasn’t just screaming to the point of throat dismemberment. If it is even possible to conceive, there was some melody to his growling.