Mob Mentality - This is a local thrash band with a vocalist, rhythm section and three guitarists. Three guitarists. That had me thinking of how many hardcore bands I saw with three guitarists. Articles of Faith came to mind from the early Chicago scene. They were very good and their guitarists did not play the same barre chords for every song. This band played for eleven minutes and had some friends up front who enjoyed the set. Three guitarists.
True Head - There is a bit of groove in this brand of rock music presented by this DC area quintet. They give the music a chance to breathe and it works well for most of the 22 minute set. It is towards hardcore, but plays it pretty straight and mid-tempo for the most part. Not bad, but not quite at the memorable stage at this point for them, but they can get there.
Lower - This twin-guitar quartet has joined their fellow countrymen for the US tour. It is easy to see why as they share Iceage's dark, forboding, chilling intensity. But they indeed take it lower, as they churn out a slow to mid tempo post-punk series of songs. Imagine crossing latter day Die Kreuzen with Flipper and a strong dose of Savage Republic (particularly in the vocals) and you may have an idea of what this set was like. The crowd has exceed a hundred by now and seemed to receive this band well, although music this dark keeps excitement rather muted. But this was an effective set by an interesting band that I am glad made the trip over.
Iceage - Denmark's Iceage has been quite the rage with the release of their excellent debut album. They are touring it hard and pretty much push it out there with little else in this 35 minute set. I have to agree with my friend who saw them last month who was surprised at how young they looked, but marveled at how fully formed their sound was. Somehow they manage to sound both punk and post-punk at the same time with a dark intensity that will also shake you up and get both body and mind moving. The singer adds a second guitar for a couple of songs, and amazingly sounds like Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott at times, but has the moves of a classic punk singer. The band quietly but intensely churns out a hard and fast brand of rock that has undertones, overtones, and straight-up tones that hook into you with firm barbs as they steadily pull you into their world. I can't wait to see what they do for an encore, as this band is the real deal both live and on record.
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