Getting the night started at Red Gate this Sunday evening was a first-ever offering from a brand new band, the quartet CHRONIC FATIGUE. Bearing witness to a band’s first show is always an honor.
Their set was mostly originals, with a couple covers in there. It was fun rocking stuff with an energetic lead singer doing the screaming/singing. It was their first time playing to a crowd, but not a nerve in sight.
The drums were delicious. A whole bunch of smashy smashy and great grooves to flail around to. It was those drums that commanded my feet for most of the set.
Next was the newly christened NATLAK -formerly NATURE LAKE- bringing their screamo/noise offering straight into our waiting earholes. The lead singer/guitar had a wicked scream they often employed to deliver delicious results.
Shit luck, they broke a string on the first song and had to borrow a guitar, losing their whammy bar, which, from past offerings, I know they use heavily. They lost a little bit in the songs from this.
Furthermore, the kick pedal was falling apart, and the last few songs were marred by this problem, eventually causing them to cut the set short as the pedal exploded.
Killer set, despite this, had the crowd going full mosh often, and it was a joy to flail too.
Finally, one of the premier bands that gets the Herald moving like no other is the murderous hardcore/metal trio MEDIASLAVES, who absolutely tore that place down. With punishing rhythms, this was an intense set that set my feet on fire.
Lead vocals screamed their way through this tornado of a set, with bonkers drums being bonkers as the source of my maximum effort flailing. Not content with the floor alone, I found myself spinning around the entire outer rim of the crowd in a sweaty, manic flail, a living embodiment of the whirlwind occurring on stage.
They were tight, loud, and fast, with the crowd doing their best to keep up, but even the most experienced moshers couldn’t muster the strength to go the whole set. Fucking love this band.
As I left a sweaty mess of goo, He was pleased with the night’s offering.