Sunday 23 November 2014

THE BODY POLITIC/QUARTERED LOGANS PUB OCT 24TH

BODY POLITIC/QUARTERED/THIS DAY BURNS/SYNAPSE/VAULTRY  LOGANS OCT 24TH

I showed up and the venue was already half full. pretty good being that the bands hadn't even started up yet. And much to my surprise the first band started right on time. First up was a local hardcore band doing their new school approach to the genre. They're really energetic and a little on the screamo side of things but they put a lot into their set. For a band that's been together less than a years they play a tight cohesive set. Couple more screams and a couple more breakdowns and the short set was over.
Synapse have been their particular brand of melodic hard rock for a lot of years now and the experience shows through. You might not be into it but these guys are all pretty good musicians, they have kind of an Against Me sound but I like them better. The set they played tonight was a lot more mellow than the last few times I saw them, I think they might have been holding back a bit because they were just in the second slot.
This Day Burns is kind of all over the place as to the style they feel like playing. It's mostly a hard rock kind of thing but then its female singer/sonwriter style quickly followed by a song of screaming and spastic time-changes. It totally works for them though and keeps you wondering what's up next. And then to top it off they brought up even organizer Clayton Rourke to share vocals on the last song. And with the show keeping on time the set was over pretty quick. The fact that they were all dressed as ninja turtles did make me like them a lot more.
Next up was Vancouver's Quartered and they started full on with intensity from the first note. They are that mix of rock and post hardcore that still can find a place on the radio. The crowd got right into it and a solid moshpit was going by the second or third song. Whoever wasn't moshing and jumping around seemed to be singing along to a lot of the words. I guess I've been missing what's been going on the last few times they've been in Victoria because they look like they have a good following here. And with this show I think it's been assured that they will be booked again here, probably going to get booked in a lot of other places too. I'm new to this band but I'm going to listen to them again and might check them out the next time they hit town.
The Body Politic is a Vancouver Island band that's been generating a lot of buzz over the last year or so. The six piece band took the stage with a tonne of confidence and a sea of cheers. You notice the proggyness right off the start and all the instruments are at the forefront with equal levels. There's a lot of crowd interaction and I can only assume it's because this band has a lot of fans that are regulars at their shows. They had a song "Wait for the sunrise" that involved every girl in the bar singing the chorus. They play a pretty radio friendly style, or maybe poppy is a better way to put it. They look like they're working really hard and putting the time in to be successful and I'm sure they will be. If you can get a bar full of girls to sing your chorus for you then you're probably going somewhere.
Most of the show wasn't really my style but it ran without a hitch which is a lot to say. The bands went all out and played their set-times and didn't fuck around getting on and off the stage wich is pretty nice to see. Justin and Clayton at Arbutus Promotions have their shit together and run a tight show.


Michael F Carnage


http://www.soundofsynapse.com/
http://www.thisdayburns.com/
http://www.quartered.ca/
http://www.thebodypolitic.ca/

ONSLAUGHT/ARTILLERY/VX36/TORREFY NOV 21 VICTORIA BC

THRASH INVASION TOUR NOV 21  V-LOUNGE VICTORIA

Early shows at the V-lounge are always fun because you can hit up the strippers first. Afterwards I got upstairs to hear some awesome metal.  Torrefy was starting the night off with the release of their album "Thrash and Burn". From the first note it was the kind of energy you get from a young band fighting for attention. Hearing the bassist Simon start the vocals on a Game of Thrones inspired song was definitely unexpected but put a grin on my face. The duel vocal work got the attention of most of the bar. They thrashed it up for most of their set getting a mosh pit going. There was a lot of headbanging and drinking and I would bet that Torrefy got more than a few new fans tonight.
I'll have to be honest, I have never heard of VX36 before and based on their name I was expecting to hate them. For some reason I thought I was going to get some sort of shitty thrash-core band and I was totally wrong. What I got was three pieces of deafening thrash monstrosity. Vocalist Nate had a lot of stage banter but I couldn't really understand much of it so I just assumed he was saying "Here's another awesome fucking song" because that's what we got. Their set was fast, tight and short so I'm likely going to spend some time searching them on youtube.
Artillery is a band I know a few songs by and I like a lot of the 80's essence they have going on and they brought a lot of that to their show tonight. A lot of thrash bands you see now don't even look like they were born in that decade but this band had the vibe that goodtimes and parties just followed them everywhere. Being Europeans they usually make sure of their showmanship and Michael Dahl was all over it. He made sure to keep the crowd fist-pumping and hair-spinning right along with him. They had a bit of a mix in eras with the songs but seemed to play more of the newer catalog. Probably has a lot to do with the new members.
Onslaught started without a lot of introduction, they just started playing. They are of the harder side of old school thrash with gruff vocals and lots of attitude. These guys meant business and played the songs with the forcefulness that would win any argument. Vocalist Neil Turbin has the presence of that 80's tough guy that you didn't want to fuck with but you also totally wanted to be like. The rest of the band followed him in behind like a musical gang of badass through a set that didn't seem like it lasted long enough. They crushed every song they played with a confidence of a band that knows you're there to see them.
Heavy Metal UVIC put together a great show and Victoria should be thankful that we had this lineup here. I doubt that anyone in the bar had a bad tie except maybe the bartenders, but they're always a little grumpy. Hopefully the V-lounge keeps letting metal shows play there because I'll keep going to them. And to Heavy Metal UVIC, I hope they keep putting on good shows.

Michael F. Carnage

http://www.myspace.com/onslaughtuk
http://www.artillery.dk/
http://www.vx36.com/
http://www.torrefy.bandcamp.com/