As another Saturday evening rolls around, the herald returns to the primary source of His feeding, Red Gate, which he attended more than any other venue last year. There, a selection of hardcore offerings is being presented for His acceptance.
With the promise of an intense night ahead, the herald enters the darkened corridors, where a fantastic turnout has already arrived. As the house music stops, the initial offering prepares to unload the first of four assaults on his waiting senses.
FREAK DREAM
Opening the night, this trio’s first offering in over a year was a fine selection of industrial/hardcore goodness that immediately got the earholes popping. The pit was empty to start, with a semi-circle of folks waiting for the match to be struck, which did not take long.
In my compulsion to serve Him and an open floor to entice, the flailing started aided by that groovy, bouncy, yet hard and thick bass ripping off the sexiest riffs. They were on fucking fire and the source of my feet moving, though those fantastic drums certainly did their part.
So much delicious thumping, with a killer pace and an industrial rhythm, facilitated the flailing nicely. I love that industrial sound so much, and you add the lead singer layering on those beautiful tones from their sexy guitar and more than a few choice riffs, and fuck yeah, what a set.
With clean vocals giving them a pop vibe, the lead singer also had some excellent screaming, bringing great energy to the stage. As they fed the crowd their pulsating, energetic show, it took maybe two songs before the match was struck, and the crowd lost their shit.
The highly energetic crowd went full-blown, with a solid mass of humanity roiling around in the center while I pranced and flailed on the periphery. It was a delicious start to what will certainly be a sumptuous night.
APE WAR
It’s always a treat to receive an offering from one of my favorites in the city. This quintet combines thrashy metal and hardcore as no one else can. The intensity presented in every fucking show is god damn impressive as they leave everything out on that stage.
With the deep growl scream they unleash with enraged animal intensity, the lead singer regularly mixes down in the pit. A rather large human, they effortlessly wade through the mass of humanity, screaming into that mic without missing a beat; the crowd eats that shit up.
The bassist and one of the guitarists also get in on the screaming, adding their own fantastic vocals to the mix. I love multiple screamers, giving me that delicious ear blast and distorted strings so thick that I am compelled toward the stage by their gravitational pull.
Backstopped by a truly impressive drummer, owner of the physically largest tom set in the city, brings the entire low end into the depths of hell as they thunder and thump through what felt like a short set. It probably was a regular length, but once one is ensnared by APE WAR, all concepts of time and self are lost.
Instead, you are transformed into a flailing maniac, careening wildly off the other humans who are all lost in the insanity before us. Fuck me, does this band ever bring the fire.
Never skip out on this band.
GUILE
Another band making their first offering in a while, this quartet didn’t waste any time and went full bore into their set of hardcore bangers. Other than a few brief pauses to play some things off an ancient tape deck the singer held the mic up to, it was an unrelenting stream of thunderous noise that was a fucking blast to flail around to.
The crackly sound emitted from the tape deck was a nice touch, adding to the rough and gritty sound they emitted. Sometimes face smashing blasting, others time stomp around head banging, they would switch it up all the time, and I fucking loved bouncing back and forth.
Fronting them, the screaming, high-energy lead singer regularly joined us down in the pit, getting in on the flailing fun. They carried a chain that they smashed against the ground a bunch. Other than looking cool as fuck, not sure of the purpose, and frankly, my brain immediately went to, “I’m gonna get smacked by that for sure.”
Luckily, they were an experienced chain whipper, and all were safe.
The crowd continued their intense flailing, barely missing a step, with the whole crowd still giving it. This night is definitely kicking my ass a little bit. Fucking love it.
BEAVER FEVER
Finally, to close a fantastic night of music, it was a solo act grindcore offering joining us from Edmonton. Using ridiculously fast pre-recorded drums that sounded more like a motorcycle or a lawnmower than any individual drums being smashed, it was the next level of intensity on this one.
Those drums were so fast that they lost all sense of rhythm, just a consistent blast hammering away on the earholes. The BPM was so high any standard moshing or dancing simply didn’t cut it. So much so that the crowd was somewhat confused about what to do with themselves.
The lead singer, also playing guitar, screamed their way through the set with a staccato-like rhythm, each word distinctly screamed to go along with the furious guitar, barely keeping pace with the drums as the intensity reached critical heights on this one.
With the usual pit crowd unsure what to do, this opened up prime real estate, allowing me to headbang, flail, and spin with abandon, gathering up all the remaining energy scattered across that floor.
He was most certainly pleased with this evening’s offerings.