On Saturday, I managed to survive two concerts back to back. Starting at four, I went to ABC No Rio for Coffins. Never will I go back there. The place is a tiny, cramped shithole, with no bathroom, alcohol or ventilation. It was disgustingly hot. I lasted fifteen minutes in there before common sense and a bit of chew-my-own-leg-off animal frenzy drove me out to an Australian bar across the street to down beers with other like-minded Australian metalheads. I would have liked to catch the opening bands, but fuck that oppressive shit, I just checked back every couple of beers till Coffins went on.

The band was great, although I had trouble seeing them. A stage to elevate things would have been much better. Coffins was loud enough that flecks of the ceiling were dislodged by sonic vibration, raining down on the people in front of me. They played a good set and I enjoyed seeing them live for the first time, but fuck that venue.

Here’s a few photos of Coffins live.

After leaving that hellhole, I shared a cab with some Australians to Williamsburg (they were going to see the next Coffins show of the evening, at a proper venue) and rushed my ass to the Music Hall of Williamsburg for The Sword. I hung out downstairs in the bar, getting fairly buzzed at this point, skipping the first opening band and a bit of Stinking Lizaveta. Eventually I headed up to the hall and hooked up with a buddy of mine.

Stinking Lizaveta was pretty good, though I can’t say I was really into them that much. Still, they were far from sucky. Torche was entertaining. I’d nabbed one of their albums a few weeks prior, just to check them out and really wasn’t into them at all. Live was a different story, though. They were pretty solid. Good enough that I later revisited the album I had and can definitely appreciate it more. Often, seeing a band live makes you a fan far more than an album will (or vice versa).

Finally, The Sword. Those Texas fuckers tore the goddamn roof off. They were even better than the first time I saw them live. It was one of those “Holy shit, this rocks” moments. My neck is still quite sore from headbanging. Of course, at this point, I was pretty much thoroughly shitfaced, lost and at sea in stupid drunk land, rambling and weaving. At one point I recall chucking a plastic cup with the dregs of my beer out over the heads of the audience, something that horrifies me, because it would have really pissed me off if I were on the receiving end. Oops. Sorry. It was, the booze not me. Swear it.

Here’s a bunch of photos from that show.

Look at this…just look at it:

This a a bacon cheeseburger, beer and onion rings from a bar called Royale in on Avenue C and 10th Street. I popped in there yesterday afternoon, prior to a mammoth evening of two concerts in a row. Since I’d be missing dinner, I wanted to have a rather big lunch. It was the third time I’ve been there. I ordered the same thing I’ve had each time.

Why?

Because it fucking rules. There’s a sign out in front of the place, declaring “Best Burger In NYC”. Whether that statement is entirely true or not, I don’t know, but I do know that it’s one of three burger places in New York (the others being Stand and Schnack) that I personally think are the best I’ve had so far.

This place definitely has the best onion rings I’ve eaten in my life. I don’t particularly like onion rings, being more of a french fry person, but these kick ass.

If you’re in Manhattan, around that area, try it. Do it, if only because I told you to.

Here’s a link to plenty of photos I took of Death Metal bands, Vader and Malevolent Creation at the Death By Decibels tour at The Blender Theater, here in New York. Malevolent Creation were good, but not anything I’d bother seeing again. They put on a good show, but they didn’t really raise my blood pressure. Vader is a damn tight-sounding band live. I was really impressed at how solid and together their sound and all-around performance was. I’d definitely check them out again, but daaaaaamn…do they ever need fashion tips. They were all wearing retarded, Hot Topic, gothic club-baby pants, complete with too many zippers and the dangly string thingies. Think these pants having babies with these ones. Frightening. Guys, you’re a European Death Metal band…black leather pants! In a pinch, camouflage or olive-drab cargos. WTF?

I still think the Blender Theater is a complete and total shithole, comparable to spelunking in an old lady’s colon. The only thing they have going for them is that so far, to my knowledge, no one’s sued the shit out of the place after getting hurt. Their security sucks. I saw two fights, granted they were minor, but security was nowhere. There were a few assholes, getting off on dive-bombing random people, knocking a girl next to me to the floor without so much as an apology or a lift upright. As far as I’m concerned, if the person you hit is not participating in being a psuedo-macho hormonal douchebag with you, than that’s assault and that’s a fucking liability for the club. Accidents happen, but that place lets some rude, bitter, professional dishwashers and reprobates get away with way too much shit. Blender fucking blows.

Here’s about fifty photos I took of Swedish Melodic Viking Death Metal band, Amon Amarth as they played Irving Plaza last night. I can only recall one or two other concerts in my life where the crowd was as frenzied and pumped as last evening. The band seemed pretty amused and appreciative of the sheer amount of enthusiasm jammed into the club and they certainly know how to work a crowd. They are fucking hilarious, kick-ass metal dudes and their sound is just killer. They even drank booze from animal horns. I’m psyched to see them again someday.

Lately, I’ve been going apeshit-overkill with concerts. I blame the internet—it makes buying tickets a little too easy and before you know it, you’ve booked yourself for three shows in one week, which is where I’m at. As I wrote in my previous post, earlier this week, I had a horrible night seeing Kataklysm live at the Blender Theater at Gramercy, a club that I will likely never return to unless it’s something I have to go to. That place fucking blows.

However, the next evening I was at the Knitting Factory, seeing post-Sleep, Stoner Doom miracles, OM with Grails opening and it entirely redeemed the condition of my week. Grails was totally psychedelic good shit. I liked them enough that I bought two of their albums off of eMusic the next morning. OM was magnificent. It was the first time I’ve ever seen them and I had no idea that a man could wring such a thunderingly full sound out of a bass guitar. I was highly impressed and inspired. I tried to buy one of everything at their merchandise table, to the point that I had two guys scrambling through boxes looking for shirts my size. I loved it. I had passed up an earlier concert of theirs in Brooklyn, a couple days ago, figuring I’d rather just see them in Manhattan where it’s easier for me to navigate home, but in hindsight, I should have gone to both shows. It was that good.

I also really liked the Knitting Factory. the sound was great, the alcohol was comparatively reasonable in price and the place is fucking HUGE. I’d never been there before and it was a good experience for a first time. Here’s a bunch of photos of the evening, if you’d like to check them out.

Tonight, it’s Behemoth at Irving Plaza. I’m tempted to bail on it, as I’m not an especially big fan, but I did already buy tickets. I’m old though. I think two concerts, at least two days apart is looking like my limit is these geriatric times that I find myself in.

Last night I went to the Blender Theater at Gramercy for a concert that ended up being a fucking joke. I got there as Divine Heresy was playing and I liked their sound and energy. But, when Terror came on…fuck that shit. Lame, immature, self-absorbed bullshit. They had some good moments, but the whole mentality of their music and personality is like being at an all-ages hardcore show when I was fifteen. I’ve moved on from that lame “Oh I’m so downtrodden, such an underdog. Everything’s a struggle” shit, why can’t they? They’re just as old as I am.

Mainly, I came for Kataklysm. I’d really liked their album, “In the Arms of Devastation“. I figured it would be some super crazy shit, but I have to say I was disappointed. In one sense, they played pretty much all the songs I wanted to hear and played them well, but the sound was flat. It kind of seemed liked they were air-guitaring over their music being piped through speakers - which they totally weren’t, but that’s what I mean by flat sounding. The other thing was their presence, or lack of. They’re kind of boring. Their albums have some really killer riffs and I’d hoped they’d really put some fucking intensity into them, since they were playing live, but they didn’t. They just kinda did their thing. They’re a great band, but I think I’ll pass on seeing them live again.

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This last Wednesday, I went to see Stoner Metal band, Alabama Thunderpussy and the Death Metal act, Obituary at B.B. King here in New York. Early in the evening, I managed to get myself fairly liquidated at an after-work Happy Hour, where I downed something like eight beers and somehow severely bruised the top of my right foot (which at this moment is all swollen and weeping for Jesus).

Once I got to the concert, I laid off the juice and managed to have a pretty good time. I was kind of underwhelmed by Alabama Thunderpussy, but I could see them being a lot better in a smaller venue. Obituary was balls-out fucking awesome. I don’t really get into too many Death Metal bands. There’s a few I like, but generally I prefer other metal genres. Still, Obituary was great, being one of the better Death Metal shows I’ve been to.

I brought my super-cool new camera with me, but I haven’t quite figured out the extremely low-light shooting techniques, so of the 200-ish shots, a little less than a hundred came out worth saving. I’ve uploaded them to a flickr set, feel free to check them out.

A couple nights ago I dragged my still semi-sick ass out to BB King’s on 42nd Street to see a few bands. The main headliner was Nile, who I didn’t know too much about. Mainly I was there to see ChthoniC, the Melodic Black Metal band from Taiwan. Since it was primarily a Death Metal show, graphic band tees were in full effect, there was a hell of a lot of hair, as well as an extremely large representation in the crowd from the South American continent. Rock hard, my Spanish amigos. Eighty-percent of the metal acts on this planet would tank if it wasn’t for your die-hard loyalty to head-banging.

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Last night, I saw Amon Tobin, live on a concert boat cruise around Manhattan. I like Amon Tobin, I have all his albums and I think the guy’s pretty much a genius. However, I had a shit time. After getting patted down to the point of almost feeling violated and having my bag searched, I got onto this cruise boat, outfitted with several bars and a large sound system. I guess just because I like Tobin doesn’t mean I can identify with his other fans. I was disgusted by the wheelbarrow’s worth of human trash. Decadent douchebag posers talking loudly about how they themselves are totally hip DJs and brainless, slutty half-wit chicks whining aloud for someone to get them high. I knew pretty much immediately that this cruise was going to suck and I parked my ass on the top deck and watched the sun go down (the polluted haze over the Hudson is some crazy shit, but makes for a nice sunset) and spent some time checking out the view of Manhattan while super-shitty canned Dub music played inside.

Once Tobin came on, I strolled inside and checked him out. It was interesting to see the guy’s setup and how he does what he does. For some reason, I had figured the guy would be hunched behind a laptop, but was surprised to see a pair of digital turntables. He’s a really talented guy, but the novelty of watching him perform kind of wears at the two hour mark, especially when you’re trapped on a boat and can’t just walk out the door when you’re ready to go. With his kind of music, I fail to see how a live show surpasses a kick-ass stereo or a really good set of headphones. I mean, yeah…neat to see for about 20 minutes but if this bitch doesn’t stop bumping into me with her sweaty, fat ass, I’m going to smash this beer bottle and stab her in the fucking artery.

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Last Friday night, I went to a club on Avenue B. and saw Stoner Doom bands Wooly Mammoth and Weedeater. It was a fairly cool small space in a basement. I dug both bands, having never heard Wooly Mammoth before. Their bassist was mammoth-like and rocked the fuck out. Weedeater was awesome. They play a lot faster live as opposed to their albums and their bass player is a fucking wildman. I was right up against the small stage and as their last song began, he started chugging all the liquor within reach of him, which was a good amount. Mid-song, he leans over and vomits onto the stage, puke-splashing my feet and sandles, never missing a beat. Immediately after he spews the contents of his stomach onto the floor directly in front of me, he goes back to singing. Unbeknown to me, the guy does this every time they play a show.