We Die Alone, Kill LeBaron, Vitriol, Sound the Surrender, Atilla @ The 7 Venue 01-25-08
Monday, January 28, 2008
We Die Alone
Kill LeBaron
Vitriol
Sound the Surrender
Atilla
After looking forward to it all week it is finally Friday and finally time to go to the Sound the Surrender CD release. I had been trying to get one of the guitarists, Marty Eason, hyped about the show all week and now it was time to see if it paid off. There was a good line up of bands this evening, with a total of five metal bands. In an unusual course of events, Bret and I actually showed up on time for an event. As soon as we showed up we spotted the people we were familiar with and got the run down of how things were going for the evening. We talked to the sound guy, Justin, to make sure it was ok to set up our recording equipment near the sound board which he agreed to. Being that this venue is an old movie theater, we were directed upstairs to the projection room located above the sound booth that was perfect for filming. The guys running the venue were very laid back and extremely gracious even though we were not performing with the bands that evening. We even got free wristbands and the pleasure of sitting in on the venue band meeting to get the complete rundown and rules for the evening. It was very encouraging to us to be treated as such and I spoked with several people that had heard of O Team Press prior to this even.
The first band on stage this evening was “We Die Alone”. Being the first band to play at a show can sometimes be nerve racking because one of two things can happen, you can set the standard for the evening or you can totally bomb and set the sub-standard for the evening. These guys definitely set the standard. One thing I noticed while this band was warming up and getting on stage is that they were really young. This is inspiring to see many young musicians out there chasing the dream and composing art. “We Die Alone” had a good sound and pretty entertaining music, the actual sound quality was a bit muffled, these kids need bigger amps to blast a venue this size. Although they are a younger group, they showed confidence and presence on stage that usually takes a while for a band to build. The heavy kick/double bass and thump of the bass guitar in this venue was very good and could be heard clearly through the music which is important at a metal show. The guitar work was not anything that blew my mind, but was constant with the rest of the music coming from the other members and had a nice sound to it. “We Die Alone” is not a band that is going to blow you away and make you wonder how they got as good as they did, but they are a band that will hold it down and make your body move with every song. This band has a lot of time ahead of them and it will be interesting to see how the skill level progresses over the years.
Second to take the stage was a band that I knew nothing about previous to the show, however the vocalist introduced them as “cowboy metal”. The vocalist of the band definitely reflected this wearing tight blue jeans, a flannel shirt, and cowboy boots. I thought to myself, “ok they have a style now let’s see if they are any good.” When the music started it sounded to me like just another metal band. The stage presence was really not there, the music was fairly generic and easy to listen to, and I couldn’t stop looking at the singers too tight jeans. Don’t get me wrong this band was still a lot better than most stuff I hear on the radio and television, but I think these guys have a lot of work to do as a band to get their sound and show on point. The crowd was feeling the music though and reflected it through a good bit of slam dancing during the songs and cheers after the songs. If these guys keep working at it, they have the talent to completely rock a crowd that is into their music.
While filming above the sound board I had talked to and spent some time with a few of the guys in the third band, Vitriol. Mainly the drummer and guitarist had taken time to talk to me before their set. The change out of band equipment went very quickly this night and I was impressed with the bands ability to not get distracted by the crowd after a show. I really enjoy Vitriol’s music, lyrics, and show on stage. These guys were really into their music and you could tell by their energy on stage. The drummer had some very cool dreads and they were flying everywhere during the show. The vocalist had a very strong voice that could be heard over the rest of the music and had a very intense scream to go along with the jams. About halfway through the set I noticed that the guitarist looked a lot like Mitch Kramer from the movie “Dazed and Confused”. This made me laugh but definitely did not take anything away from the skill level of the guitarist as he ripped up and down the guitar in wide metal stance. I enjoyed every song this band played and I will be on the lookout for other shows this band plays around the Atlanta area.
Next on stage was “Sound the Surrender”, it was their CD release. We received a copy of the CD earlier in the week and which gave me some time to get familiar with the music. The CD is very good and very well put together, but that review will be coming at a later time. Being somewhat familiar with the music I was excited to see how the band would perform the songs. I had seen Sound the Surrender before at another venue and enjoyed the show they put on there and expected to enjoy this show, I was not disappointed. The music that Sound the Surrender plays is far more advanced than all of the other bands that played that night so I did not expect a perfect set even if the members of the band did. Right at the beginning there was not enough lead guitar for the drummer to hear so the song had to be stopped and the lead turned up. After that the songs were all started and completed without stopping. That is a big accomplishment for a band playing that level of music. There were a few noticeable mix ups by the band which I’m sure were only noticed by a few in the crowd that had heard the music before. Someone in the crowd that had never heard Sound the Surrender play before would not have noticed the small mistakes made by this band. The lead and rhythm guitar were tearing up the guitar necks of their instruments the entire show, as the bass player and drummer held down the rhythm for the other two to play off of. I was very impressed how much the skill level of the band members had increased since the last time I saw them. The only thing Sound the Surrender has left to do is perfect their music for live shows so the crowds mind can then be blown away properly.
Last on stage was Atilla. I have seen this band perform two or three times before and have always enjoyed seeing them play. Unfortunately something happened one day and one of the members of the band sent out a very unfriendly message to their fans. I do not know who or why it was done but telling your fans to fuck off isn’t exactly the best way to do business. There have been apologies handed out due to this incident but that does not change the way I think about the maturity of this band. Therefore all I will say about the Atilla performance is that it lived up to the rest of the performances I have seen by them which was good. Audibly Atilla sounded better than the rest of the groups, this is just something that comes by spending time with your gear and with your band, tweaking over and over until everyone can hear everyone else.
- Oriax aka Steven Mosley
Labels: ShowReviews
posted by oriax @ 3:40 AM,
