Last night at The Knitting Factory was the first stop in the Metal As Art tour, a month long tour taking Hypno5e, Revocation and Binary Code from New York to California back to New York again with shows every single day and a promise of a second run of the tour starting in February. The highlight of the line up was the chance to see Revocation, a relatively new band whose first major label release, Existence is Futile on Relapse records made its way to me and was music of constant companionship for commutes for a few weeks, something that rarely happens in my music saturated life.
I found Existence is Futile to be a technically solid death / thrash metal that was, oddly for the genre, fun. Solid riffs, a layer of bass funk that burst through on the first single, “Dismantle the Dictator”, and some great solid drumming. The use of the studio to layer guitar tracks to make the melodic and counter melodic elements made me extremely curious as to how they’d pull it off live. The solos are great, but something that doesn’t come through on listening to just one song, which is why I suggest checking out their MySpace and going through all they have available to you.
I didn’t really do much research on the opening acts, or even on the headliner. To me, the only act that I was going for was Revocation. Everything else was bonus. If I liked it, that would be great, if not, no big loss.
The first act of the night was a local New York City band resting comfortably in the hardcore / metalcore / sludge genres. Tiger Flowers is a four person band playing an organic version of metal which rested more comfortably with hardcore’s musical aesthetics than with those commonly associated with metal. The atonal hollering of lyrics, emphasis on rhythmic elements, but then there are the elements that bring to mind metal. The songs are long and complex, snaking through several disparate phrases to make a whole, the vocals can get a bit full throated “cookie monster” (a style that I really can’t get behind). It pulls the threads from both to make a whole, while varying the tempo and style greatly even within individual songs. It sounds familiar, but not repetitious. Doomy, Grindy, Brutal, Intense, but not boring. Never boring.
They have two songs on their Myspace, but they new songs they played last night are better, my favorite of which was “Cuts”. In talking to vocalist Jesse after their set, they expect to have new tracks up next week with a release coming shortly thereafter. Their next show is The Studio @ Webster Hall on January 18th. It’s a free show and it’s worth your time.
The Binary Code was not really up to snuff and tragically it’s not really their fault. When they started performing I sensed a degree of unfamiliarity or discomfort that lead to some technical sloppiness further poorly served by what sounded like bad sound work by whoever was manning the board that night. After their first song, things began to improve until the final song was really quite good. A few songs in, we were told that their van “blew up” and so they had to play on mostly borrowed equipment explaining the performance.
Looking pas that, the songs were technically proficient served by both guitarists’ ability and a bassist that played as though trying to channel the spirits of bassists gone by into an iconic urbassist. I absolutely cannot get behind the vocal elements of most “extreme metal” bands, and unfortunately The Binary Code was no different. With a vocal range that swam between Cookie Monster to Gollum, each time lyrics came out, it was more a distraction to me, and oddly, there was some kind of resonance that made all of the instruments then sound out of sync. When he ceased, everything would align again perfectly. It was surreal.
Going back this morning and listening to the tracks on their MySpace, it’s really a shame because I can now here what they were trying to do, but a great conspiracy of physics seemed intent upon preventing from happening. Good stage presence, really committed, friendly band, but I just can’t get past the vocals to recommend them.
Revocation took the stage with four people. A second guitarist to take up the “studio” elements of their albums, and the three original members of the Boston based band. They to had a terrible tour tale. Apparently their tire blew out on the way to the venue, so all merchandise money went to that. With two thirds of the bands experiencing issues like this on the first day, it makes you feel like it’s cursed, but thankfully they were able to thrash their way out of it and absolutely destroy The Knitting Factory.
With a set list pulling from the best of Existence is Futile, Revocation went on a bit earlier than their set time to play a bit longer and the audience was extremely appreciative as every song solo and major phrase change was greeted with roars of approval and by the end of the set had the typically stoic Brooklyn crowd busting out the hardcore dances we all know and love.
The first thing I would say about Revocation live is that it’s fun. Though the songs are the typical Death Metal fare about death, destruction and collapse while also channeling the political elements of 80s Thrash to discuss economics and such, there’s also songs dedicated to the unholy union of The Re-Animator and The Animaniacs.
The second is that the technical ability found on the album is usually there live as well. There were times when David’s finger work slipped, but recoveries were swift. There wasn’t much organic experimentation on the songs, as they were all done pretty much as recorded, but with the obviously playful side of the band, I don’t expect them to stay that way for long.
The stage presence usually fell onto David Davidson and he is a good frontman, but an extended tuning session left a kind of dead air on the stage, which was eventually filled by bassist Anthony Buda and Phil Dubois’s impromptu jam session. A show with two guitarists playing so tightly knit as last night does make tuning important, so I can understand the desire for precision, but bringing the show to a dead stop was really unfortunate and kept a good show from being an absolute great show. I did however love it enough to buy both CDs and a hoodie. Probably the first band clothing I’ve purchased since the 90s.
I didn’t stay for Hypno5e, unfortunately having other commitments elsewhere.