After a few months of absence from the venue, the herald was invited to The Cobalt, where the four selections on offer dubbed it an Emo Showcase night. Regardless of genre, the herald stands prepared to give maximum flail to appease His insatiable desires.
It will be a mix of first-timers and repeats, the perfect mix for the herald to fully enjoy his evening. While his enjoyment means nothing to Him, the herald always performs better when he can personally engage.
CHEER UP CHAMP
Arriving a few songs deep, this trio was clipping along nicely with their pop grunge/emo offering. They were tight, with a solid amount of energy coming off them; it was easy to slip right into the front and find my groove.
The drums were a source of particular note as they were a fucking blast to clip along to. Wicked fun fills and rolls were tight and precise, flowing along beautifully the entire set. They kept that foundation solid, and the band flourished from there.
The lead guitar gave me a great selection of solos to get all squiggly. The tone was gorgeous, and the melody just popped up and tickled those earholes nicely. I love it when a solo can grab me out of whatever flailing trance I am in and completely dictate my movements.
The crowd was a decent size to start this Thursday night, though when I arrived, they were all standing a solid fifteen feet back. They moved some, but it was at the end of the set that they really got active.
SEEING GREY
Next was the band that invited me out this evening. They served up a fantastic, thick, and powerful emo set. The two guitars had a thick, distorted sound that really emphasized the feeling they were going for.
The lead singer had a great voice, with strong and oozing passion poured into that mic. They had enough power to get over the thick sound but not so much that the emotion was lost. Definitely the source of the melancholy vibe throughout.
They had serious swells and flows, a tide of music flowing over the crowd. It would be swaying one moment, head banging the next, though never so far in one direction as to break the vibe. They always got a great flail on despite the ever-present sense of despair and sadness throughout.
No instrument broke apart from the sound; they all worked to service the soundscape. With those great vocals over the top of it all, it was a really enjoyable set to flail around to.
The crowd was more active with this offering. They had crept closer to the stage, filling the empty void of before, and again they got more active near the end, there was little activity throughout the set.
AUTONOMOUS APES
Making their fifth offering, this grunge trio is always an enjoyable treat. Firmly in the genre, I am harkened back to my younger years by their noisy rock good times, which had me moving well, especially that rhythm section that was fire.
With a killer on the drums, they were all smashy smashy tight, with quick fills and great snare work. They worked really fucking well with that bass who was always playing exciting shit. Never content just to play along with the melody, they were really creative as they were all over that neck.
The lead singer brought the quintessential grunge vocals, a little mumbly, and a lot of passion; they were the perfect frontman for this trio. In between, they spoke in a sarcastic yet playful manner, which I found engaging and entertaining. They rounded things out with excellent guitar work to layer on that lovely distortion.
The crowd had relocated past the fifteen-foot mark until halfway through the set when the lead singer invited everyone to come closer. At that point, there was far more engagement other than just my spinning idiot self.
FEEDLOT
Making their debut offering, this quartet finished the night off with a real tub-thumper of a set. They brought a shit tonne of energy to the stage as they enthusiastically rolled through their set, giving a barn burner ending to the night.
It was a full set of garage rock/emo good times, with a bunch of real smash-around bangers to get the feet moving. There were some really intense moments, and there was a cacophony of noise to please the earholes.
The drums were an absolute killer, seemingly the theme of the night. They backstopped at a killer pace as they used their toms a lot, creating some fantastic thumping rhythms—all sorts of sexy rolls and fills.
I skipped and spun for the first bit while I still had the room. The crowd woke up again, this time getting some good moshing going, and I ended the night getting bounced around a little bit.
He was pleased with tonight’s offering.