Last Wednesday, I took off my heavy metal blinders and ventured to Club Nokia to see The Darkness perform. I really like their music, especially Justin Hawkin's screeching vocals, but I wasn't sure what to expect from a live show. Fortunately, the show was hellaciously awesome and blew away all of my expectations!
Maybe you don't like The Darkness because you think they don't take themselves seriously enough as musicians, but my response to that would be that you take yourself too seriously. Like a lot of glam bands and hair metal, The Darkness' musicianship gets over looked because of the band's silly, over the top glam style and the fact that they're not really "heavy". But that doesn't mean that these guys don't know how to shred! Everything I saw Wednesday night demonstrated that they can and do play guitar (and bass and drums) very well. If I had to make a comparison, I'd say that the Hawkins brothers' guitar style is little reminiscent of AC/DC's Angus Young. Maybe it's not full of sweep picking but it's original, competent, and respectable. And when Justin Hawkins plays a solo, it's still an impressive guitar solo.
Even if you're a super serious metalhead, you have to admit that it would be nice to see mainstream rock go more in this direction than the horrendous path it's taken towards DJ point 'n click music that's composed on a Mac or PC. I hope that more bands like The Darkness, Gypsyhawk, and Scorpion Child can start to gain momentum in the popular and alternative music realms because a hard rock and glam revival is just what this world needs. It's more palatable to the generic masses than thrash metal and it's genuinely good music. Who knows? Maybe The Darkness fans of today will become the Accept and 3 Inches of Blood fans of tomorrow?
Showing posts with label The Darkness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Darkness. Show all posts
Monday, October 29, 2012
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Dreaming Dead, Isolation in Infamy at The Stardust Club
I was chased by zombies for about three miles last Saturday but it wasn't enough to stop me from going out to see a metal show later that night. It was a close call which show I went to, though. I had already committed to seeing Dreaming Dead play and then my buddies from Gypsyhawk surprised me with a last minute show in Pasadena that was taking place at the exact same time as the Dreaming Dead show. Damn. I ended up sticking to the Dreaming Dead show with promises that I would see the next two upcoming Gypsyhawk shows. I still felt a little cheated at the end of the weekend.
Regardless of that, the show at The Stardust Club was totally killer! A band I had never seen before, Isolation in Infamy, played right before Dreaming Dead, and they put on a great show. It was technical -extremely technical- death metal, and a bit progressive. Isn't most technical death metal also progressive death metal? Well maybe not, but I think that's the only kind of death metal I listen to and enjoy. This band showed a lot of scorn for the luke warm audience response, which I suppose was understandable. They really killed it on stage but most of the crowd was sitting down, half-asleep. I tried to make up for everyone else's lack of spirit by screaming and clapping loudly. I still got scorned. That's death metal for you. Of course, I bought a CD later and talked to the band in between sets and they were actually really nice guys!
Next up was Dreaming Dead. I'm a big fan of front woman Liz Schall's shredding and screaming skills and I think anyone who likes death metal even a little bit will LOVE Dreaming Dead. Everyone in this band has chops. Their music reminds me of some sort of primordial horror rising from the swamps to devour humanity in the middle of the night. Really, it's amazing! The sound was a little weak for the first part of the set but Liz turned up halfway through and all was well. I took off pretty soon after Dreaming Dead finished their set since I was utterly exhausted from the zombie race, but I did make a quick stop at El Taco next door for some amazing Mexican food. Apparently, it was the heavy metal taco shop that night.
The next events on my concert calendar are The Darkness tonight at Club Nokia, then Future Villains at The Viper Room on Friday, October 26th...but I also heard that Gypsyhawk might be playing that same night at an undisclosed location in Rosemead! Too much good shit goin' on!
Regardless of that, the show at The Stardust Club was totally killer! A band I had never seen before, Isolation in Infamy, played right before Dreaming Dead, and they put on a great show. It was technical -extremely technical- death metal, and a bit progressive. Isn't most technical death metal also progressive death metal? Well maybe not, but I think that's the only kind of death metal I listen to and enjoy. This band showed a lot of scorn for the luke warm audience response, which I suppose was understandable. They really killed it on stage but most of the crowd was sitting down, half-asleep. I tried to make up for everyone else's lack of spirit by screaming and clapping loudly. I still got scorned. That's death metal for you. Of course, I bought a CD later and talked to the band in between sets and they were actually really nice guys!
Next up was Dreaming Dead. I'm a big fan of front woman Liz Schall's shredding and screaming skills and I think anyone who likes death metal even a little bit will LOVE Dreaming Dead. Everyone in this band has chops. Their music reminds me of some sort of primordial horror rising from the swamps to devour humanity in the middle of the night. Really, it's amazing! The sound was a little weak for the first part of the set but Liz turned up halfway through and all was well. I took off pretty soon after Dreaming Dead finished their set since I was utterly exhausted from the zombie race, but I did make a quick stop at El Taco next door for some amazing Mexican food. Apparently, it was the heavy metal taco shop that night.
The next events on my concert calendar are The Darkness tonight at Club Nokia, then Future Villains at The Viper Room on Friday, October 26th...but I also heard that Gypsyhawk might be playing that same night at an undisclosed location in Rosemead! Too much good shit goin' on!
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