After the Sparta show selling out on saturday night debacle, I purchased my ticket for the Isis show online monday night & picked it up at will call. As it was my 1st foray to The Common Grounds, technically 2nd foray; ok, 1st foray IN The Common Grounds & my 1st metal show in Gainesville, I didn't know what to expect. While The Common Grounds has a name reminiscent of a low level horse racing track in Manitoba or something, it actually is quaint little setup for music shows and pretty decently CLEAN bathrooms. Hooray for that! Couple this with arriving early enough to find a parking spot free of charge on the street a block over & the night had started out much better than saturday's turd of a day. On to the show...
1st band was Intronaut hailing from Los Angeles. I had only heard of them before & was unaware of what type of metal they play. Deadtide.com's (http://www.deadtide.com/index.php) 2 reviews for Intronaut describe them as a mathy Isis or a cross between Meshuggah & Neurosis (http://www.deadtide.com/reviews/albums/page.php?id=3014, http://www.deadtide.com/reviews/albums/page.php?id=3473). I didn't really catch that but then again, the lack of clearer sounds at a live metal show (and the beers!) might be blamed for that. Anyway, I couldn't really pinpoint their brand although there seemed to be elements of grind & groove forms of metal. However, I couldn't really get into too many of their riffs but I will say their drummer was pretty kick ass with the double bass (biddle-biddle-pap-pap! biddle-biddle-pap-pap!). Growling vocals, check. Double bass drums, check. At least one member with long hair, check. Loud, roaring guitar, check. Bobbing heads when band members play, check. Short on pompous & annoying dialogue with the crowd, check. Yep, these guys were full metal. Overall, though I'd only give them a slight above average grade, b/c as stated before, I just couldn't get into most of their riffs apart from a couple groovier things they did.
Devil horns for Intronaut: \m/\m/\m/ (3 out of 5)
Middle band was Torche. Whom I knew absolutely nothing about. After seeing them play, with good reason. Doom-laced Stoner Metal. Ok, now for anybody who reads this & is a Doom or a Stoner Metal fan, don't get all in a tizzy b/c it's just not my cup of tea for a number of reasons: Stoner Metal just always sounds like I could do it pretty easily myself as it tends to sound like one big jam session of power chord progressions & hammer-on riffs. Which isn't to say it's bad, it's just a little too simplistic for my musical taste & if I am going to listen to that kind of stuff I'm going to listen to the great bands of it such as Black Sabbath, High On Fire, Cathedral, etc. They certainly had the most energy of the 3 bands & they definitely hopped up & down & bobbed their heads like they were on angel dust rather than pot! Bwaha!
Devil horns for Torche: \m/ 1/2
Finally, the headliner, Isis, and their interesting brand of almost otherworldy, atmospheric but with still pummeling heavy guitar parts metal. While I only got into Isis about 4 or 5 months ago, if even that long, they are quickly becoming one of my favorite bands. However, personally, this kind of metal is in my opinion better listened to in the quiet, dark where all it's layers & nuances can unravel themselves properly instead of getting lost in the shuffle of live sounds & acoustics. However, Isis on a few occasions last night in a live setting was still able to invoke those sad but slightly hopeful introspective moments that their occasional melodic passages can do on their cds but just not as strongly or with as much conviction as when you're alone & in the aforementioned quiet... Honestly, I was slightly disappointed with Isis, however, I admittedly had pretty high expectations & a disappointing Isis is like winning a silver medal in the Olympics- still pretty damn good.
Devil horns for Isis: \m/\m/\m/\m/
Notes: Very pleased with the # of good looking chicks (albeit of the metal & alternative persuasion) at such a small show. There was at least a dozen in attendance last night counting the gorgeous in a morose metal kind of way chick working the ticket counter & the perky-for-an-emo-or-metal-chick bartender (thanks for the freebie extra bottled water, Angel!)... No mosh pit! Interesting! Either these bands' fans do not mosh or Gainesville has a pretty knowledgeable metal scene where the devotees are more into the music & less into how much de facto fighting they can do in a mosh pit! Or... just a case of lucky happenstance... d'oh (TBD)!... There was a guy in attendance hobbling around on crutches! Either he's a hockey player or he's full fucking metal! How awesome is that? A guy hobbling around on crutches (and drinking!)! You ain't gonna see that at some teenie bopper show, baby!... As always- where does all the money in your pocket go? How can 8 beers & a bottled water cost $50?? 7 Miller lites on special at $2 a pop plus tip every other one is $17. One Blue Moon plus tip was $5. One Wetelgeize,l or whatever the hell that good (albeit too sweet for beer #8) Belgian beer was suggested by Angel, plus tip was $5. Bottled water plus $3 tip for the freebie one puts us up to $32. Stupid idiot move of buying a pack of cigarettes in the hopes it may spark one of the chicks to bum one was $5, I think. I came home with $2 in my pocket which leaves $11 unaccounted for! Damn government accountants and/or pork belly spending! Where'd that $11 go??...
Notable attendees of the show included: Scraggly-Haired Metal Alan, Metal Lindsay, Dreadlocks And Tatted To The Max But Still Strangely Hot Chick, Young Might Be Out Of Place Raquel Welch Look-A-Like, Token Pissed Off Because He Feels He Has To Be Metal Guy, Obligatory Jesus Look-A-Like Metal Dude, Token Quasi-Gay Metalcore Haircut Weenie, and of course, as always, Crazy Fake Hair Color Chick.
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