Very Metal

After taking a bit of a nap (was being up at 8 that tiring?), Mary Beth and I went to the Hi-Tone (first time since it's been in its "new" location...we don't get out much) to see my old high school pal Jon's band, Lord Dying. He lives in Portland now (saw him for a minute when I was up there this past summer) and his band's relatively big, they're signed to Relapse and have toured a ton. They keep coming to Memphis and this was the first time it wasn't on a school night. I'm typically not much of a metal dude, but they're pretty darn good. We got there just as Legion of Divine Punishment was starting. That name brings back very strong but very vague recollections from long ago. They weren't good, but they had some moments. They weren't terrible I guess. The singer sounded like the metal voice he was going for wasn't quite meant for him. The next band (I'm not sure of their name) was awful. I quickly dubbed them "blackface metal" due to the "spooky" facepaint the singer had (which, was mostly just black greasepaint covering everything but a little bit of his forehead). He also had a ton of props set up that he stood behind, like a podium with a goat or whatever skull. The whole time he just stood there, I just trying to maintain a meancing presence, but he gave the impressin of being awkward and hiding behind the props that were just sitting there. Other than him there was a guitarist and drummer. The sound was very muddy and indistinguishable (except you could distinguish the drummer's overplaying), which COULD be a positive thing; however, they just didn't sound like anything. I actually took another nap in the middle of their set. As I said earlier, Lord Dying was good. The keep their riffs pretty intricate, but they never overplay. I ended up buying their cd: Summon the Faithless. Now after being out super-late for a Hi-Tone show, we're up pretty late this Saturday morning.