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Vader,
Berzerker, Origin, Gaping Anus, and Soulless at Peabody's 11-13-02
Porcupine Tree and
Greg Howard at The Agora 11-15-02
Vader, Berzerker, Origin, Gaping Anus, and Soulless
Peabody's
November 13th, 2002
Reviewed by Bob
Ignizio
I pretty much
went into this one cold, not really being familiar with most of the bands.
Hey, the ticket was free. Anyway, Cleveland's Soulless started things
off well with a solid set of melodic thrash including several numbers from
their forthcoming 'Agony's Lament' CD. Even though they went on early
(7pm) they had a decent crowd and were well received. I stopped by the
second stage briefly, long enough to determine that Neonatal Death were
playing a set of grindcore to a small but enthusiastic crowd. Next up was
Gaping Anus, also from Cleveland. I can't really call them a band, as
that term generally refers to a group of musicians, which GA were not.
Consisting of 3 bass players, two drummers, a pair of dancing girls, and
various vocalists and people simply on stage for the purpose of hurling food
at the audience, the group began their show with the statement, "we have no
talent." They certainly proved their point, but were nonetheless
highly entertaining in a juvenile sort of way. Back on stage two,
Bloodcoven were running through a powerful set of black metal.
Origin were the
first of the out of town acts to hit the stage, and performed a brutal if
predictable set of death metal. Nothing about the band really stood
out for me, but they played well. Ditto for Berzerker, who added some
electronics to an otherwise undistinguished set of - you guessed it - more
death metal. Oh yeah, they wore rubber Halloween masks too. Has
anyone told these guys about Mushroomhead and Slipknot? Next up was
Vader, a death metal band from Poland who actually seem to know how to write
a decent song. Again, I wasn't familiar with the band's material, but
I found them much more interesting than the previous two bands. Their
songs featured some honest to goodness dynamics and melody.
Immolation was
scheduled to close out the show, but my tolerance for nonstop brutality was
pretty much at its breaking point by the time Vader was finished. My
own opinions aside, the show was well attended and all the bands had their
share of fans in attendance who clearly enjoyed themselves. This was
put on as a "thank you" by the area college radio stations (WJCU, WRUW, and
WCSB) and considering the price it was a decent way to kill a Wednesday
night.
For pictures from this show, click
here.
Porcupine Tree and Greg Howard
The Agora Ballroom
November 15th, 2002
Reviewed by Bob Ignizio
Greg Howard started the night off on a high note with a
short set of mostly covers played on a strange instrument called a Chapman
Stick. The stick is a twelve string instrument which has a bass on one
side and a midi guitar on the other, and is played by tapping.
Greg began his set with a medley of "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Norwegian
Wood" and tore through songs by Jeff Beck and Hendrix as well as a few
originals. All in all, a very interesting and well received
performance.
This was my first time seeing Porcupine Tree (only the
second time they've played NE Ohio, I think) and for the most part they did
not disappoint. Drawing their set mostly from their latest album, 'In
Absentia', they played a killer set of progressive/psychedelic rock complete
with the mandatory light show. The regular band was joined by second
guitarist John Wesley for the tour, giving them a fuller, hard edged sound
that at times was almost metallic, especially on songs like "Blackest Eyes"
and the instrumental "Wedding Nails". Despite the band's
tendency for downbeat songs, vocalist/guitar player Stephen Wilson displayed
a good bit of dry humor in his stage banter.
Unfortunately for long time fans like myself, the band
chose to stay with material from their 3 most recent albums only.
Songs like "Even Less" from 'Stupid Dream' and "Last Chance to
Evacuate Planet Earth Before it is Recycled" from 'Lightbulb Sun' sounded
great live. But considering this is only their second time touring the
US it would have been nice to here some older material. Even one
classic like "Radioactive Toy" or "Stars
Die" would have been nice for the encore, at least. Still, it's
really a minor complaint as the band turned in an excellent performance.
For pictures from this show, click
here
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