If my evenings this week could have been bottled, the only name they could be marketed under would be 'awesomesauce'. looking back over the past week i've seen awesome performances, been privy to opportunities to purchase awesome new underground metal vinyl, cassettes, or cds, and hopped around in a couple of pretty prolific pits.
the week of epicness began last saturday, october 9th at the hemlock tavern. on the bill were Serpent Crown (sf), Spellcaster (portland), Evil Survives (manitoba), and Midnight Chaser (sf). going in the only band on the ticket i was familiar with was evil survives, and even then it was mainly due to the fact that serpent crown is one of the many local metal outfits featuring Will Carroll (of Death Angel, Scarecrow, Old Grandad...) on drums. in all of my eagerness to see them, i naturally miscalculated my bike commute to the hemlock and totally missed their set. fuck you murphy and your fucking laws (i'm flipping off the hypothetical "murphy" as i type).
as i entered the back of the hemlock where the stage is after wading through crowds of fleet week yuppies (though, with all the sailor outfits i just assumed it was some pride event) on my way in, i arrived to a band assaulting eardrums as their front man thanked everyone for coming and that they hoped to come back soon...yup, i missed the second band, Spellcaster, as well! worried that my $7 dollar admission fee might have been for naught (as just that brief glimpse was enough to convince me i needed to buy Spellcaster's album...what if i had missed the best bands?!) i nervously sipped my beer awaiting Evil Survives. what came next, did not disappoint.
from the instant they took the stage Evil Survives proved themselves a force to be reckoned with. slashing speed licks supported by a skull rattling bass and gut pummeling blast beats with searing vocals tearing through the mix in a style that exemplifies some of our favorite aspects of classic NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal...y'know, the prolific post Black Sabbath stuff like Iron Maiden, Saxon, Judas Priest...). despite an audience that seemed content to hang back as far away from the stage as possible, Evil Survives rocked it as if playing to a packed arena. fortunately the small performance space that is the hemlock tavern was put to full use as the lead singer belted lyrics from the pit occasionally using audience members standing idly by as supports during vociferous headbangs. as far as the riffage went, the guitar talent of Evil Survives clearly showed strong influence from the likes of Dave Murray and KK Downing, augmented by a tangible love for thrash and early american death metal. in many ways, at the end of Evil Survives' set i felt like i had just been treated to a performance by Helloween in their prime.
as Evil Survives left the stage, I was already telling myself that Midnight Chaser's performance would have no bearing on the fact that the night had already reached extreme levels of badassitude. luckily, Midnight Chaser brought it with the same over the top energy that had defined the night thus far. at that point in the night, the crowd was warmed up (and boozed up) enough not to need much more than some loud driving rock. Midnight Chaser tore through some old school power metal styled party rock that had the audience grooving right away. the only downside to the show came about 20 minutes later when Midnight Chaser had to end their set abruptly due to a broken guitar string. audience members waited, unmoving, as the guitarist scrambled around looking for a replacement string, but as the search continued last call was, well, called, and the music had to be shut down for the night. despite being unable to see Midnight Chaser's entire set, missing most of Spellcaster and all of Serpent Crown, it was a seriously epic night at the hemlock, and just the beginning of a show going week so epic, my ears are still ringing. what happened next?! keep checking back and you'll see, otherwise, keep it gloomy y'all.
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