um...hey!

holy shit...it's been a while! i know, i know. you're sitting there, in front of a computer, curing my lazy ass for denying you pertinent information on the music you should be acquiring as you chuck out all that bullshit you thought you liked. sorry, i'm back, so continue destroying all non-metal music, and keep it tuned here...insanehinduramblings is getting re-envisioned.

so the flow of things is gonna change a little. as opposed to simply offering up reviews of badass albums and shows, i'm gonna give y'all some insights through a chronicle of one slightly off kilter eccentric metal head growing up, doing the adult thang and headbanging til i snap my neck doing so. so what does that mean for the blog you ask? basically, you'll get regular musings, show reviews, album reviews, show suggestions (all probably shorter than the reviews posted previously), and insight into the way metal has enriched my life and will yours as well...as soon as you quit being such a pussy. posts will be full of listening recommendations and disparaging comments about most other forms of music and folks who's political ignorance is so great that they require instant death and a Cannibal Corpse style postmortem skull fuck. it'll be awesome and everything you need...aside from the many badass downloads available at Illogical Contraption (...wait, you don't read Illogical Contraption?! why the fuck are you wasting your time on this pitiful joke of a blog?! do not pass go, just head over to Illogical Contraption and forfeit your life).

alright, well let's start my blog's zombified return to unlife with a quick recap of 2011. 2011 has been pretty shit kickingly awesome...nuff said. they year began with a new years party at guerrero gallery where some douchy whiny hipster band got totally blown away and musically mauled by Grayceon who brought some real talent to the party. since then, waves of awesome musical brutality have been ebbing and flowing like no other. Red Fang has shattered skulls with two SF appearances in less than a month, Walken has resumed regular (almost monthly!!) black masses (aka shows) in SF, Lesbian came through on tour to brutalize us with tunes from a new album, YOB decimated locals at the great american music hall in support of Neurosis, Unsane has laid waste to both thee parkside and el rio, Hightower pressed 'Tower to the People' on vinyl, germany's Nocturnal raised Satan in the united states for the first time ever at submission art gallery in the mission, Black Cobra (featured in shitty cell phone pictures below) continues to kick the shit outta every local audience they play for, and the 45 minute set of all new material Saviours played on their sf stop of the 'Eternally High' tour showed the band reaching soul shreddingly awesome new musical heights.

Jason of Black Cobra

Rafael of Black Cobra

a couple of new promoters of darkness to keep an ear out for would be the bone marrow guzzling brilliance of Hazzard's Cure (featuring Shane from Walken, Chris from Floating Goat, and a couple other folks that i'm pretty sure used to play for Orb of Confusion [who fucking owned] before they broke up), Pins of Light (featuring Jake from Hightower), Serpent Crown (female fronted awesomeness with Will Carrol [of a buzillion bay area metal bands, but most prominently Death Angel] pounding beats on his signature 'Hail Satan' drum kit), Pegataur (another loud ass, gut ripping bay area heavy metal two piece), Huntress (a collection of california badasses who's unrelenting, thrashy, sexy female fronted power metal stylings leave one seething for more), Hot Fog (who's tasty NWOBHM style goodness helps keep smiles on metalhead's faces), and Night After Night (i'm pretty sure they have the same drummer as Hot Fog, but they rarely play shows and are struggling to get an album recorded and released, so all i know of them is from rumors at shows, blog chatter, and random downloads from Illogical Contraption...but seriously, download this fucking Night After Night album...it owns!!).

wonderin' where to find me rockin' out  next?  shit, after reading this post i would be too.  well you're super fucking lucky, 'cuz next up for sandeep is Walken (dude, these guys are the shit...see previous posts if you have questions) next saturday the 4th at thee parkside.  come check out some awesome local shred slayed by some brutally talented folks      

so there you have it folks. insanehinduramblings is back with plans to be bloodier than ever. keep it gloomy y'all.

Walken/Huntress/Dark Black - Bender's Bar 12/4

"...so, how'd you hear about the show man?" the lead singer of Dark Black asked me as he handed me my freshly purchased copy of their 3 day old EP. i smiled immediately, "well i'm a big fan of Walken", i replied' "so whenever they have a show i try to check out the other bands on the bill as well, they're usually pretty badass too."

holy shit was last night an awesome night for music. i was stoked as hell as i locked up my bike outside of bender's bar, one of my favorite mission dive bars and the site of many a badass show in the past. it was just shy of a month from the last Walken show at the hemlock tavern. Walken, being one of if not my favorite local band (see previous posts for necessary confirmation) always shares bills with badass bands. Everything from big names like Death Angel and St. Vitus, to underground favorites like Lesbian, and often playing shows with other killer SF based indie metal bands like Hightower and Floating Goat. in my last 3 and a half years of living and show going in the bay area i have seen a wide variety of serious amounts of spine crushingly awesome music courtesy of attending Walken shows. yesterday night's show at bender's might have been one of the best though.

opening the show was portland's Dark Black. this may end up a comment i make in many of my future posts, but shiiiiiiiiiit, portland is churning out massive amounts of badass underground metal of various sub genres these days! i feel like i come across a new portland band that totally ends up melting my fucking face off at least once every couple weeks, Dark Black being the most recent addition to that list. belting out tunes that sounded distinctly of vintage power metal with a driving percussive bass, tight stabbing drums, epic double chorused lead guitars and a soaring vocals over the top coupled with sludgy doom riffs, heavy reverb on the vocal mics, and gratuitous use of crash cymbals Dark Black took the show going crowd through a set that encompassed some of the finest aspects of doom, power metal, and straight up good old fashioned 70s hard rock. their 30 odd minute set was hands down (horns up?) one of the most fun show going experiences i've had this year. the only downside of the set was being almost unable to hear the 2nd guitarist. the sound dude was running around the during the show trying to figure out what was up, by the end of the set, the audience was still straining to hear the dude shredding on the pink Charvel.

after Dark Black finished their set i felt a twinge of worry for LA based Huntress as i made my way to the merch tables. Dark Black has just torn it up, Walken would undoubtedly put on a brilliant show, so as far as i was concerned Huntress had a lot to live up to. before i get into some details on their performance, let me just say i never should have fucking doubted Huntress. the band took the stage and went on to bludgeon the audience with a skull crushing combination of rock n' roll attitude and aptitude. let's be honest, it's easy to please dudes at a metal show by throwing a super hot girl with a mic in front of the band, but add the fact that the dudes on strings and skins are fucking amazing and the girl with the mic can not only really sing (REALLY FUCKING SING) but she rocks that metaphorical spotlight in a way that would make Paul Stanley bow down and you have an amazing piece of ass kicking rock n' roll. the musical high i was riding from Dark Black was kicked into overdrive by Huntress' knee to the face, Judas Priest meets Electric Wizard meets Saxon styled heavy metal beat down. after their set i was mouth foamingly eager to pick up a disc or some vinyl and rushed over to the merch table as i saw the drummer sitting down and chatting with audience members. i asked if they had any recordings, but was informed that unfortunately they have yet to record an album, all they were selling were shirts. the drummer went on to mention that he plays in a number of other bands in the LA area and remembered seeing me at shows at annie's before that badass venue was shut down. :) well color me amused, guess i stick out in a crowd. in the end though, i was hoping the supporting bands would be good, turned out they were both fucking awesome.

Walken, of course was headlining last night (did i already mention that?). as i've said before, i'm not sure i'll ever get tired of writing about how fucking amazing i think this band is. i don't know what it is about 'em, but the way they put their music together is pretty much exactly my definition of awesome. to see it done live is always an ass kicking experience, and of course this saturday was no exception. slick sludgy guitar grooves, gut rattling bass, esophagus shredding vocals and intensely heavy handed yet agile drumming set Walken outside any label or box. is it doom? thrash? all and none of the above, it's just badass bay area metal (seriously, if you haven't yet, just go to this myspace page and listen to some samples...they're good for the soul: http://www.myspace.com/walken ). before they took the stage i had a chance to chat with Max Doyle (guitar for Walken and Grayceon) about what was up musically. excitingly, i was told that Grayceon has finished writing a new album (so hopefully that means they'll be recording soon!), but that Walken is still writing and rehearsing with about half an album put together. of course if either band makes any official announcements, i'll be sure to let y'all know. seriously though, i cannot fucking wait for the new Walken album! what unrecorded songs of theirs i have heard played live kick the shit outta me. this band does not stop progressing and growing musically. y'all gotta come to their next show with me. you'll be fucking blown away. Walken started saturday night's show with what i currently consider my favorite of their new songs (and possibly favorite overall Walken song as well) and didn't stop tearing it up until the sheer force of awesomeness caused a broken guitar string leaving Max to quickly replace it so that the show could go on. thankfully it did, and Walken kept the audience groovin' for a few more songs. unfortunately the brief break seemed to ruin any chances of an encore, so we didn't get to hear 'Running Out of Time', but ah well, all the more reason to be sure not to miss Walken's next show! keep it gloomy y'all.

Grayceon/Lesbian/Walken - 11/5

so, how was your friday night? undoubtedly pretty fuckin' lame compared to sandeep's. three of the most badass bands i've encountered in the last 10 years, one show, $8 cover, and it was diwali (and birthdays of members of two of the bands!). i had been stoked about this show for a while, with Grayceon (SF), Lesbain (Seattle), and Walken (SF) playing on one night it was almost an ideal lineup for me.

before coming to the bay, i spent a few years kicking around seattle. upon encountering Lesbian, i made it a point to attend as many of their shows as possible and buy up every recording of theirs that i could. Lesbian forges the way into a delicate metal sub genre of their own. dipping into sludgy doom coupled with intensely psychedelic jams interwoven between math rock-esque break downs, they are more than a little hard to cram into a box.

Grayceon, also being a very uniquely artistic band, has never failed to amaze audiences at every show i've seen them play. i distinctly recall some random dude approaching Grayceon guitarist Max Doyle (also of Walken) after the band had just tore it up on the roof of idle hands tattoo parlor during the lower haight art walk, shaking his hand and saying "i never knew i could like a metal band before today...". there are many qualities that about Grayceon that one doesn't often encounter in metal bands. Jackie Perez Gratz (also of Giant Squid and Amber Asylum) fronts the band as vocalist and electric cello shred mistress. add guitarist Max Doyle's crushingly heavy handed finger picking and drummer Zack Farwell (also of Walken)'s thundering rhythms into the mix and all you're doing is bringing together keen minds for music theory and ridiculous amounts of obvious musical prowess. it's impossible to describe the bands sound without frighteningly redundant use of the word 'epic', so i'm just going to recommend you head to their website (http://www.grayceon.com/) and their myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/grayceon), listen to a couple tunes, and have your credit card ready, you'll be wanting to buy the albums as soon as you're finally able to tear yourself from listening to the songs over and over online...if of course you don't own them already.

Walken...well i'll lay my bias out on the table, i fucking LOVE this band. i don't know what it is, but from the firs time i saw them play, i was fucking hooked. taking some of the greatest elements of doom, math rock, and a healthy dollop of thrash Walken churns out tunes that are just so satisfying to my ears and soul. somehow it's like their music better describes my emotions than words can...it would be fucking sweet if i could walk into work and simply say 'i'm feeling very Thunder Paws today' as opposed to explaining that i feel very intense and mind bendingly groovy with high chances of repeatedly throwing some metal horns...(seriously, look up the song! it makes sense!!)...but i digress. these guys fucking rock. featuring the guitar and drum combination of Max Doyle and Zack Farwell you've already come to love with Grayceon, Walken also hosts Sean Kohler on guitar and backing vocals, with Shane Bergman (also of Hazzard's Cure) rounding the grinding quartet off on bass and lead vocals. together, the band belts out a sound worthy of the badassittude and groovyness of their namesake.

walking in to the hemlock on friday night i could already hear the chug of the cello. it was 10:05 and Grayceon was already on stage! i rushed to the bar, grabbed a beer, paid my cover to gain entrance to the tiny back room with the stage and dashed in, only to be met by a wall of show goers nodding to the hypnotic stylings Grayceon shreds their audiences with. their churning, heavy tunes cutting back and forth between sharp, driving speed sections and grinding, epic, down tempo dirges all within one 5 to 12 minute opus. i have yet to see this band put on a bad show, not even an okay so, Grayceon throws down. add in the fact that it was Zack's birthday, and all the good vibes that brought, and you have one killer fucking set with an audience packed so tightly there isn't even room for a gangly indian dude to slither his way to the front.

next up on stage was Lesbian...i love those guys! i was sure to stake out a spot up front for this, it was maybe april when i saw them last, but being in SF means having way fewer opportunities to see them play, so i jumpon any chance i get! i remember reading once that they first chose to call themselves 'Lesbianwitch' because they were searching for a band name that would be as offensive to christians as 'Black Sabbath' or 'Pentagram', then after a bit, it became Lesbian (i have no idea why, but who the fuck cares?! they tear it up!). Lesbian's set began with frontman Dorando Hodous letting the audience know they only had time for two songs. i smiled, recalling a Lesbian show at chop suey in Seattle more than a few years ago with Book of Black Earth and Melt Banana where their show started the exact same way, it was a good indication that epic slaughter was soon to follow. Lesbian warmed the audience up slowly, weaving intricate, oddly syncopated patterns with more reverb than distortion, creating a pleasant false sense of security before tearing into some intensely sludgy yet mind bogglingly technical riffs, which managed to sound simultaneously hap hazard and delicately crafted. luckily with Lesbian, two songs is a good 30 minutes, and Lesbian utilized that time to batter the audience with two amazing tracks off of their recently released (a month ago maybe) album, Stratospheria Cubensis (which is awesome by the way...more details on that in a later post [oh, and just a side note, but Lesbian is going to be playing in oakland this thursday the 11th at Sugar Mountain Records on San Pablo]).
closing out the show was Walken. since y'all already know how i feel about their music, prepare for more of the same. the show was fucking awesome, AWESOME. Grayceon and Lesbian alone made it an amazing night, but with Walken headlining...i'm struggling to some up with a simile to adequately express how FUCKING AWESOME this show was. let's jsut say, i would have paid 8 bucks to hear Walken play just one song live.

i got a bit of a kick out of the fact that this show was happening almost a year to the day after the CD release show for Walken's most recent full length album (Nov. 6th, 2009 at annie's social club...oh annie's...) . this year, it was celebrating Zack and Sean's birthdays that was adding extra emphasis to the fact that it was bound to be a badass fucking set. i was super excited to see Walken play. i had missed a couple of previous opportunities to see them, and was super pissed at myself each time. after the first Walken show i saw, i made it a point to see them as often as they had shows i was aware of. there was one point a couple of years ago when i saw them three times within two months and i was thrilled as fuck. friday night lived up to and my expectations and completely destroyed any part of me that would ever contribute to missing a Walken show ever again.

y'know when you're chilling right before a show and you tell yourself, 'man, if they start with (fill in your favorite song by the band here) or (fill in your very close second favorite, but possibly actually favorite song by them here)', and then the band totally plays one of the songs? that was my exact situation as Walken tore into 'Right at Home' to open their set. from there it was straight into a five song block with almost no break for applause, Walken wasn't on stage to fuck around, they were up there to melt some fucking faces...and melt them they did (musically). i tried to keep track of the set list in my head, but got way too carried away rocking the fuck out to 'Watch it Burn', 'In the city of No Seasons' and of course getting some serious headbanging in on 'Thunder Paws'. the best part of the show was undoubtedly the new tracks, keeping me eagerly awaiting new recordings from these guys. after an intense and killer set of tunes, the guys from Walken stepped off stage, leaving the audience calling out to hear 'Running Out of Time'. i checked my phone, it was still hardly 12:40,surely there was time for...and before i could finish my thought they were back. the unstoppable machine of metal badassitude that is Walken tore into 'Running Out of Time' and 'Beast Toker' providing the audience their sought after encore.

as with all the bands that played friday night, Walken is a band that strives to play music that is recognizably metal in a way that few metal bands conceptualize their music. in my opinion, Walken owned the show that night. yes i'm biased, but seriously, give 'em a listen and go to a show. you'll be blown the fuck away. seriously, go buy some of these albums. check out some samples of the bands first if you need to:

http://www.myspace.com/grayceon
http://www.myspace.com/lesbianwitch
http://www.myspace.com/walken

alright, that's it, go listen to some music fun new music...and keep it gloomy y'all.