HUNG AND IKILLYA: TWO NYC METAL BANDS YOU NEED TO PAY ATTENTION TO
New York City has a burgeoning metal scene, and the nearly packed house at Brooklyn’s trash Bar on August 31st is proof. Two of the area’s premier metal bands Hung and IKILLYA put together a bill also featuring Indiana stoner-metal-groovesters Devil to Pay, and the results were without a doubt one of the best “local” metal shows we’ve seen all year.
Descriptions of bands’ sounds rarely do them any justice, but I’ll do my best. Hung’s sound is some sort of death and black metal fusion that incorporates elements of progressive metal, like intricate and non-standard song structures. They even have a devilish, shredding violin player who is in fact the band’s namesake. Our own Axl Rosenberg summed Hung up best in a review of their show back in April: “This is brutal, take-no-prisoners melodic death metal that isn’t afraid to stretch beyond the usual boundaries of the genre and incorporate more progressive, creative elements.”
IKILLYA’s performance marked the debut of their new guitarist Eric Jackson. Boy can this dude shred. Despite the guitar slung just beneath his throat (or maybe because of it), Jackson is a wicked, wicked player and a fine addition to the already solid band. IKILLYA’s sound is some sort of American thrash/groove/metal hybrid, a very aggressive approach that isn’t afraid to incorporate melody in non-standard ways; make no mistakes, nothing here is generic and this bears no semblance to metalcore. Frontman and somtimes MetalSucks-commenter Jason Lekberg tore across the stage like a madman, displaying a variety of wicked growls to suit the musical backbone the band provided.
These two great performances did not overshadow Devil to Pay, who bring some sort of nasty hybrid of Corrosion of Conformity, Clutch, and Black Label Society. You get the point, right? Dirty, alcohol-fueled, ass-kickin’, southern-style metal, and a tight as hell band. Nuff ‘said.
The show was the first of a three-day regional tour featuring all three bands, but sadly was also Hung’s NYC farewell to drummer Alex Cohen; the band is currently seeking a replacement and is accepting submissions through their MySpace page. IKILLYA already have two NYC dates booked for this fall, and once they’ve got a drummer, presumably Hung will join them for another killer show.
-VN
[Visit Hung on MySpace]
[Visit IKILLYA on MySpace]
[Visit Devil to Pay on MySpace]
