Before
the end of my spring break, I had a dark rendervous at Turbo Haus for
a slow metal evening. The two American west coast bands were accompanied by a local opener
Welwitsch (not even sure about the spelling as it wasn't clear on the event)
A
new Montréal band with nothing released yet, this trio plays sludgey
stoner/doom but do nothing to actually distinguish itself in the
populated doom ocean. The drummer (a member of the black metal band
Perchten, I think?) also handles the vocals but those weren't quite
convincing, they're in the semi-harsh style that Matt Pike is known
for but they lacked conviction and power. The guitar tone was huge
and sounded really good and the compositions, while generic, are
decent enough and for what I assume were one of their first gigs
ever, they knew what they were doing. I'm happy Montréal's doom
scene is starting to grow but I'd like some innovation, still they
were a good opener.
Wrekmeister
Harmonies
The
collective formed by J.R. Robinson (guitar, vocals) appeared here as
a quartet with the help of Bell Witch's two members on drums and bass
and also a woman who handled the keys, some vocals and the violin.
Most of their tracks are long crescendos starting with ambient, post,
drone moments and finishing with heavy parts influenced by sludge,
doom and the likes, the performance offered here wasn't different.
For the first ten minutes or so, we were served some very atmospheric
ambient with ethereal clean vocals( both male and female vocal chords
were used), violin and some clean guitar playing. Things got heavier
when the headlining guys joined as the rhythm section! Robinson
looked like a madman (the alluring and gentle sort) with his grey
beard and his mix of harsh and commanding vocals, he's a strong
presence, that's for sure. The song (50 minutes or so?) seemed like a
track they wrote for the tour since it's not from their latest album
(Night
of your Ascension). Even
if it was a bit repetive at times and they could be tighter, it was
highly entrancing, sombre music and the respectful crowd seemed
really into them, it was profoundly quiet for the duration of their
set.
I
was a bit skeptical about how good can a funeral doom duo be live but
the Seattle based project were convincing. The perfectly
executed six strings bass antics of Dylan Desmond combined
with the blistering heaviness of drummer's Jesse
Shreibman really brought the experience to the next level. Their
set comprised of three long movements such as the 22 minutes opener
of Four
Phantoms, their
latest album, was intense and managed to suck my energy with how
emotionally charged it was. Even if they're only 2 guys, there's
a large amount of subtleties in their performance, from the intricate
bass tapping to the non complex but totally intelligent
drumming.
Drained,
I rode the metro with the feeling that I've spent an happy evening
listening to truly mesmerising music about death.
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