Make: Make are a local Chapel Hill, NC-based ambient sludge band, and prior to the show I had never had any experience with them. Their music was a relatively decent take on the tried and true ambient sludge of band like Neurosis and Isis. Make's version (mediocre heaviness interwoven with ambient parts that were quite good), while not really revolutionary, was alright, but there was some primordial element missing to really make the music stick out. Overall, not terrible, and in a few years might actually be quite good.
Doomriders: Doomriders, hoh boy. Their set can be summed up with the following: Complete Horseshit. Playing under the guise of some post-hardcore band, they played a boring, unemotional set of screamo/hardcore "metal" that was made worse by their Dave Grohl-wannabe lead vocalist's constant need to remind us we were in Chapel Hill, and make terrible jokes about retarded shit. I spent more time laughing at the band than listening to them. Stay away. Or if you're hitting this tour, I suggest arriving late or start drinking early. The only thing they did right was make me more appreciative of how good Red Sparowes were.
Red Sparowes: And now, the band I came to see. Red Sparowes, for those who don't know, play heavy, soundscape-crafting post rock. I had missed them two times around, and now they were touring without founding member Josh Graham, who left the band to form A Storm of Light, but I still had to see them. They opened with one of the more memorable tracks off their new album: 'A Hail of Bombs.' With beautiful visuals inspired by Rorschach tests, space, the formation of life, subway systems, science, war, industry, and conspiracy theories swirling overhead, they played a non-stop set mostly of tracks from their newest album. They did play one or two older tracks, the most recognizable of which was 'Buildings Began to Stretch Wide Across the Sky, And the Air Filled With A Reddish Glow'. A simple 'Thank you' as their final track came to a close, and the show was done. I would have sat through Doomriders twice to hear that absolutely fantastic set; don't miss these guys if they come by, and if you go, prepare to be transported to parts unknown by their amazing sound.
No comments:
Post a Comment