#30-#33

Another batch I'm going to try and knock out of the way. And how fitting that they're all within a week as well.

#30

Mortal Man
Witch's Tit

@ Reggies 05/24/09

I can never pass up a chance to see Mortal Man. Even though they've played less than a dozen shows, they're probably one of the best bands we have in this town. In Loving Memory played first, but I avoided them as much as I could. Very nu-metal. Ick. Witch's Tit were pretty cool. Had a very EHG vibe going on, and they shared members with Deadbird. Mortal Man headlined, and for a show announced less than a week before it happened, they had a pretty good turnout. I was pretty happy to hear that Nash, the former drummer of Beer Wolf, was their new drummer now. He did a damn good job too. I just want MM to release an album already. Their blend of stoner/NWOBHM would probably sound just as monstrous on record as it does live.

#31

Miss Daydream

@ The Soapbox 05/25/09 (part of WE Fest)

Ms. Daydream is a blues/singer-songwriter project of sorts comprised of 3 friends/acquaintances of mine. I figured I'd go to their first real show, being that they're good folks and I even did their photoshoot. Despite the oh so wonderul Jessi having a cold, she sang wonderfully. Will and Taylor did great jobs too, though I kind of wish Will didn't unintentionally hide from the camera. Whatever the case, it was a good job. And they ended with a cover of "I'm on a Boat!" Can't ask for much more.

#32

Battle!
Never Knows Best (formerly known as A Shot Below the Belt)
2613

@ Luckys Pub 05/26/09

For $5, I figured it couldn't hurt to hit this up. Battle! is always fun live, and it's cool to see ASBTB (excuse me, Never Knows Best now) getting better. I tried to avoid 2613 by showing up late, but I still ended up seeing 2 songs or so. Still not my thing. Still trying too hard to be "emotional." Never Knows Best were on next, and they did a good job. It's rare to see people not mosh for them though. Then again, the turnout for this show was NOT good. I spotted more people outside than inside. Battle! closed and I was really impressed by their new songs. From what I heard of their old record, it's a case of good music, average vocals. These new tracks seem to correct that mistake. They seemed to be happy just playing here, regardless of the lack of people around.

After the gig, I ended up going to 16 Taps for karaoke, which has become a sort of regular thing for me now.

#33

Rotten Sound
Maruta
Man Will Destroy Himself
Bile Nephrosis

@ Slim's 05/27/09

Never heard of Slim's? That's alright, nobody else seems to have either. For those in Wilmington reading this, imagine a more narrow version of East Coast Opera House. The stage was barely big enough to fit the band and there wasn't a whole lot of room to move around. Meaning this was going to be quite awesome.

Bile Nephrosis were on first and they were pretty okay. There were some slight deathcorish elements that I could have done without, but it was overall pretty entertaining death/grind. They're also the first band I've seen to play with an ipod acting as their drum machine. Interesting to say the least.

Maruta were up next and ripped pretty hard. They were a three piece like Pig Destroyer is, but they were much heavier and more unintelligible than PD are. The singer was pretty nuts. He loved jumping around a lot and really getting into it. Some technical difficulties brought about some awkward silence at one point (it was only awkward when you consider that the band was so loud, and then suddenly it's quiet for an extended amount of time). I'll have to give these guys a download.

Next, the band I came to see. Finland always seems to have a knack for giving birth to great bands, but their extreme metal scen has always been captivating. Rotten Sound have always reminded me as the heirs to the throne of modern grindcore. I knew I was in for something special when just the mic check yell startled me so bad, it actually almost scared me. The band absolutely ruled. Their written setlist was quite large, but not everything from it was played. I loved hearing "Targets" and "Corpornation," the latter being from last year's amazing Cycles. Have you ever felt like you got your ass kicked after a performance? That's what Rotten Sound felt like. Holy hell. It's no wonder I picked up two shirts.

Man Will Destroy Himself were set to close, being the bigger band in this area at least. Try as they might, they just couldn't top the awesomeness of the two bands before them. I think most people needed to recover from that onslaught of a job done by RS. Shame because I usually like MWDH too.

On a side note, if you're a beer drinker, give Wild Blue a try. Slim's had bottles of it and while being 8% alcohol, it tastes like a dang blueberry! Sweet.


#34
Isis
Pelican
Tombs

@ Cat's Cradle 05/29/09

I gotta thank my friend Lauren for being awesome enough to buy me a ticket for this and being the driver for me, my friend Mario, and herself. I think I officially love the Cat's Cradle, except when it comes to drink prices.

Tombs opened the gig with their post-metal/black metal/experimental craziness. I like some of Winter Hours, their Relapse debut, but I wasn't in love with it. They did a good job live though, giving off enough energy and passion to keep people's interests. I was surprised they only played for 25 minutes. Yes I know they're the opening band, but this audience would have appreciate lengthy sets from every band there.

I've been waiting about 4 years to see Pelican, and admittedly, I went to smoke some pot with my friends for a quick bit before they went on. I really wanted to be into this set. And I was, for about 70% of it. Pelican is really damn good, don't get me wrong. Post-rock/post-metal live though, is real choosy and I think you have to be pretty patient or else you might get bored like I did for a little bit. Also, nothing off of The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw? C'mon now.

And of course, the mighty Isis were set to close. I still haven't listened to Wavering Radiant, their newest release, but most of the material in the set was from said album. They threw in a few surprises that made me quite content, such as "Dulcinea" and "In Fiction," the latter which drew the only real headbanging from me that night. The band was incredibly tight live, and I have to give some extra kudos to their keyboardist Bryant, who pulled double duty for the set and performed third guitar in addition to playing the keyboard. They closed with what I think most people would expect Isis to close with: Celestial (The Tower), albeit drawn out into a 13 minute version of the song. It was quite a sight to behold. Speaking of sights to behold, that brings me to my only real complaint of the night: Tool fans. I think touring with Maynard and co. has tainted the post-metal fanbase, or at least the Isis fanbase. There were quite a few meatheads and dumb "frat" type of guys who were just drinking and being loud, pushy jackasses. Seriously, who moshes to Isis? You've got to be a pretty big douche to do such an act.

But alas, Isis were still really damn good. This week put me out of commission for a few days though. But man, it was worth it.