Fallen Hope / Cassovita Split

Fallen Hope was the original incarnation of the band that is known today as Cassovita. For those who missed out on golden years of Santa Fe metal, imagine the technical, intricate instrumental compositions that characterize the modern Cassovita, overlapped with deep, guttural growls. I know, it's just as delicious as I remember.

This EP includes remastered classics as well as more contemporary material. As a whole, the music is deviant and unusual. You won't hear anything like this on the radio waves. Soaring consonant soundscapes plummet into abysmal, agitated guitars and  furious percussion.   Rhythm guitars chug confidently while the leads are defined by beautiful, complex melodies. There is also ample and interesting experimentation with rhythmic patterns and tempo changes. Unlike the balls-to-the-wall aggression  into which most metal is unfortunately typecast, these lyrics are pensive and introspective.

The instruments, especially the drums,  can be somewhat choppy, but that has more to do with the production quality than the musicianship of the band. In fact, they play with surgical precision. The anatomy (or should I say architecture) It is extremely structured and technical, but also anchored by a primal, raw, emotive quality. This music reminds me of how the rigid logic of the conscious mind is ultimately guided by the id. Or, to quote Nietzsche: "The will to overcome an emotion is ultimately only the will of another emotion or several others."

The music, is in fact, a tangled matrix of conflicted feelings. Sorrow, anger, and even euphoria are all exemplefied, but the underlying cornerstone seems to be one of sadness. These songs are not the stuff of mosh pits, but they will keep you headbanging like a windmill all night long, baby.

This split, as well as other releases, are available on  Bandcamp. My verdict? Fallen Hope and Cassovita are heavy enough to satisfy purists, but beautiful enough to differentiate themselves from the crowd.  Four stars out of five.

Hell In July *Updated*

 

Hell In July is the  aptly named national tour featuring Six Feet Under, Decrepit Birth, and Cannabis Corpse. *UPDATE*  The show made headline news, and here's a link to the article.

The show got off to a good start with Oscillation. The vocals are uber-deep growls, and occasionally reverb with an effect that resembles Autopsy's sound. The guitars and bass are aggressive and catchy in the vein of the Deathcore genre. This band is comprised of former members of Soul To Rest and Obelisk, keeping elements of both bands. Death Metal Party Sludge hybrid! 

Cassovita Is an instrumental duo of a drummer and a guitarist. The riffs are intricate and technical, complimented by the fast and precise drumming. The result is an extremely dynamic musical style. The audience is kept on their toes with abrupt changes in key and time signature. Some songs transition so intensely that it's almost like getting two tracks in one. 

Desmadre are pretty damn rowdy. No, scratch that, they are fucking RAUNCHY. They are a flashback to old school Grind, with the same fast, catchy riffage of Hardcore Punk. I guess that makes them Grindcore, doesn't it? These guys are straight up scary. Translated from Spanish, their band name means chaos, turmoil, disorder, that kind of thing. It suits them. 

Carrion Kind is another Metal group that emerged from members of broken-up bands. They, like Oscillation, retain aspects of their members' previous bands. So think along the lines of Grinkai's funky beats with Grind inspired riffs and some gutteral vocals thrown in. They are completely wicked. 

Abiotic's music sounds like the name implies: Morbid, dark, and sinister. This band is grade A top quality Tech-Death with elements of Prog.  It was around the time they hit the stage that everyone simultaneously got the munchies. I couldn't do much headbanging, moshing, or thrashing in general. I was too busy eating overpriced chile cheese fries and drinking shitty beer.

Cannabis Corpse was a lot of fun. Their sense of humor was spot on, and their sound was almost studio quality. They sound great on record, and it was the same on stage. The music is hilarious, with themes like getting abducted by pot aliens, or killed by weed monsters. 

Aaaand here's where the bad news starts. Right before they completed their set,  Bill Robinson of Decrepit Birth announced that the whole show would conclude with Cannabis Corpse' final song. The venue stopped the shindig short on account of alleged underage drinking. Instead of doing something reasonable, like kick the minors out of the bar area, they brought everything to a grinding halt. So two of the headliners, Decrepit Birth and Six Feet Under, were screwed out of playing and the audience was screwed out of seeing them. Fans booed, refunds were demanded, sheriffs were called, apologies were offered, but at least it was good while it lasted. Everyone from the promoters to the crew to the bands themselves cranked it to 11 to put on an incredible concert. Although I am disappointed that I missed two spectacular bands, the show was great from start to (early) finish. Oh yeah, did I mention it was fucking raining for part of the show?!  Yeah, those guys kick ass.

By the way, this whole tour was instigated by the release of Six Feet Under's latest creation, Unborn.  Even if you didn't get to see them this time, remember to support them and all the work they put into this album. Also, this is a TOUR. Give it a day or two and the same line up will be playing within driving distance.

Cheryl's final thought: I'm usually not this petty, but $3 for warm Budweiser and then you gyp me out of seeing two great acts? Don't mess with my booze and Metal. The venue gets a rating of a sad face. 

Meanwhile, the concert itself gets four stars. The line up was sick, and the crew worked wonders.  

Cheer Up, Emo Kid

I missed the Gaza show, due to the clusterfuck that passes as "Public Transportation" in New Mexico. Being stranded in the sketchy side of one of the most Meth-saturated cities in the country is pretty Metal, but it's also pretty fucked up. So I cut my losses and drank an ungodly amount of Absinthe while listening to their stuff on Myspace. However, I am severely dissappointed that I didn't get their autographs. I saved my  June '11 edition of Terrorizer Magazine, in which they had a kick ass review, solely for this purpose. It was then that I realized, this has been a pretty false year for us Metalheads.

Flattus Maximus is dead, for starters. Not to mention that May 16 was the anniversary of Ronnie James Dio's death. And when heshers weren't busy dropping like flies, bands were busy  breaking up. In my neck of the woods, we just lost Suspended, the ONLY all female Metal-band in the Albuqurque/Santa Fe area. Fields Of Elysium lost their drummer. This Days Light lost their vocalist. Grinkai decided to take a break from live concerts. Both Cassovita and Futilitarian converted to The Dark Side (Instru-Metal), and The Cast Aside apparently quit before they even started. What the fuck?

Meanwhile, legendary icons of the genre have seriously gone downhill. If you haven't listened to Iron Maiden's The Final Frontier, don't bother. It will break your heart. Same is to be said of Queensryche with thier immensely dissappointing Dedicated To Chaos. Final Frontier somehow manages to be simultaneously predictable and dissonant, whereas Dedicated To Chaos sounds like a "5 Gum: Stimulate your senses" commercial. It is a far cry from the beefy, heavy origins from which the bands had begun. How the mighty have fallen.

I missed many amazing concerts, and yet others were dissappointments. The local scene is in a retarded Catch 22 when the bands don't want to perform for a small or tepid audience, and the fans don't show much support because they think that bands don't want to play. The situation was worsened when we lost venues. Little Wing and The Compound are now defunct, leaving Metalheads under 21 in a really picarious position. And on the offchance that we get the opportunity to see a phenomenal act perform for cheap in an all ages venue... The goddamn train comes only once and an hour late. That is so false that it hurts.

I'm bumming myself out now. I'll look on the bright side, i.e stare at these Death Metal panties. By the way, my birthday is on the 25th. These would make a most excellent gift. Honest.

Ahh, that's better.

Last Minute Review

Last time, I made a last-ditch effort to promote some shows that didn't have a lot of publicity. However, I was under the mistaken impression that only 3 bands were playing last night's gig, whereas I was pleasantly surprised by a full set of five. Anyway, this is what mischief transpired:

 If you're familiar with my blog, you should be familiar with Obelisk. Otherwise, I don't know how to describe them without turning vague or preachy. I guess they sound like catchy, gloomy, party-sludge. I would give you a link to their music if I could, but unfortunately there are about infinity Metal bands named Obelisk. You will be content to have their Facebook page.

Next up was Distances from Albuqurque. Their virtuosity is so trippy that it gave me a fucking flashback. Imagine the sun and moon in the same sky, and the sky itself is a beautiful shade of peachy orange. Now picture an endless flock of doves flying through this setting. Distances is like the soundtrack to this vision, surreal and atmospheric although it is somewhat sinister. Seeing these guys in concert was intense, vivid, and all around amazing. I can't wait to see them again, hopefully in the near future.

After that, I think East Of The Wall played. Sorry guys, but the members of EOTW and North look the same to me, so if I mixed your bands up, feel free to set me straight. Anyway, whoever it was, they were fucking shredders. The style was ambient and heavy, so I'm tempted to call it Post-Metal. If Distances was like a crazy trip, then EOTW was like the mellow, groovy aftermath. Fucking sublime.

Leading into the headliner was (I think) North. Like I said, if I got you guys in the wrong order, it is your duty- nay, your privilege- to correct my sorry ass. At any rate, these guys were another taste of effervescent, melodic music tempered by elements of hard rock. I am perplexed how they combined Heavy Metal with chill vibes so seamlessly. So, as usual, the concert coordinater was right. North was just as badass as I had suspected.

Last on the bill was Cassovita. Unfortunately, due to extenuated circumstances, I was unable to stick around for their set. However, I know from prior experience that these dudes put on a wicked fucking show. The drumming is loud and heavy without being a distraction, and the guitarist is phenomenal. Instrumental, progressive, and occasionally psychedelic, Cassovita is an extaordinary duo.

So... That's what happened last night. If you're sorry you missed it, you can check out Obelisk and Cassovita tonight at Santa Fe Sol. $7 to see 7 bands. Anyway, last night ruled, so I'm gonna say it was four stars outta five.

Last Minute Shows

 Local music scenes rule, and as such I try to promote concerts and events as often as I can. But there were some shows that I didn't even know about until approximately five seconds ago, so I'm gonna hype it up as much as possible within the given deadlines.

First of all, we have Obelisk, Cassovita, and some other third band playing at W21 at 7 PM tonight, so there's like 2 hours to get ready for that shit. There's not even a flyer for me to share with you beautiful people, so you can already tell this gig is going to be a little hectic. However, as Chris Krovatin so eloquently stated, cartoonish crisis is the pinnacle of Metal art. Anyway, the first two bands are from Santa Fe, and they can best be described as "Pretty Metal." Obelisk is groovy, ambient, and a little bit sludge-y. It's like post-metal with growlish vocals. Cassovita is a former Death-Metal band that dropped the "Death" part, along with half the members. Now it is an Instru-Metal duo with trippy, atmospheric melodies. I forgot the other band's name, but the concert coordinater assures me that they rock. Not only has she booked them for years, but she's a musician herself (Check out her band, Drought), so I generally trust her judgement.

Tomorrow we have These Charming Cobras, Venus Bogardus, Torn Between Worlds, Lo On High, and Soul To Rest, as well as Cassovita and Obelisk again. These Charming Cobras aren't really Metal so much as Punk, but they've earned a reputation for bringing a kick ass performance. Torn Between Worlds is old-school Death-Metal, and they're epic as fuck. Soul To Rest is also pretty amazing, and for some reason they remind me of Whitechapel. I don't know much about the other bands, but it's only $7 so what's the worst that can happen? This show isn't at Warehouse 21 but at Sol (37 Fire Place, mapquest it), so that means there's an open bar for those with I.D.

And the next day, we have the Santa Fe half of 2 Days 2 Cities Levelled. This one is at Warehouse 21, so no drinking please. Show starts early, like 5 PM, $10 at the door. I don't feel like listing all the bands, so here's a flyer.

And furthermore...Wait, what time is it?! Damn, it's already 6:05. Sorry everyone, gotta fly.

New Years Metal

Sorry for the half-assed nature of my most recent post. I went on a Fear and Loathing-esque binge on everything and I've been in the recovery process ever since. That being said, don't get your hopes to high (heh) for this latest edition of my ramblings. In fact, on Friday December 30, I had the brilliant idea of treating a hangover with an energy drink infused with nitrous oxide. All these chemicals decided to turn against me at the least opportune time, as I had discovered too late that there was a Metal show scheduled that night. However, I was too enamored with the beauty of traffic lights to give a shit, and ran like hell to the venue. The wicked line-up featured Torn Between Worlds, Cassovita, and This Days Light. Each of these bands have been around forever, yet had undergone several line-up changes throughout the years. They're kind of like the local Deep Purples. At any rate, the show was truer than truth itself, and it went a little something like this:

Torn Between Worlds is a dirty, thrashy death Metal experience. Their music is accompanied by audio clips for intros, and they have amazing technical abilities. The vocals have brutality to rival the likes of Randy Blythe, and the guitars, while heavily distorted, are tempered by subtle hints of melody. Music of this caliber constantly inspires near-fatal mosh pits. Not for the faint of heart.

Cassovita,  Formerly comprised of five members, has streamlined down to a duo. Among the lost members were the vocalist. As a Metal fan and promoter, I am weary of instrumental arrangements, and even more weary of duos. However, their musical talent will always be exquisite, with or without vocal accompaniment. Still, having heard the band prior to their conversion to instrumental, I longed for the screams I knew and loved.

This Days Light are the very definition of heavy metal troopers. Instead of disbanding when their phenomenal vocalist had to move out of town, they stuck to their guns and borrowed lead singers when necessary. Although I doubt anyone can truly replace Roboit, the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the band is admirable. No matter who sings for them, they always put on one hell of a show.

It was a great night. I don't even regret the beast of headache I subsequently suffered. (Note of advice: Hangovers + Headbanging = Pain, but it's always worth it). Five stars outta five!