READER’S CHOICE: METAL FROM SEATTLE (NO NOT GRUNGE) EDITION
So after yesterday’s latest geographically themed edition of “Reader’s Choice,” I got three more helpful e-mails from readers suggesting bands from their local scene. I picked Louis Steffen’s e-mail pertaining to Seattle because of the three locations, it’s the one I most want to visit — I’ve been there and have family there and like it there, and besides, at this point in my life, it’s hard to get excited about Vancouver or Peoria.
So we’ll do Seattle today, and then hopefully I’ll get to the other two next week. Sound good? Great. Here we go.
So this band is actually from Tacoma. The only thing I remember about Tacoma is “The Tacoma Aroma”… but I digress. So anyway, this band plays doomy death metal, and they’re actually pretty good. It’s not exactly singular or whatever, but it’s fun! I wonder if this band is fun live, too. I’d bet they are. Yeah, this isn’t bad. I hope they find their own “voice” at some point, but we’re off to a pretty good start here.
Hey, this is pretty good, too. It’s black metal of the silliest variety — dudes from Washington should not be calling themselves “Lord Serpent” and “Bloodhammer,” I don’t care how overcast and forest-y it is there — but the music is pretty good. If they tone the schtick, they might really be onto something.
Proggy black-metal. At first I wasn’t really into it, but the more I listen, the more I like it. Some of it is pretty epic, and the vocalist has a lot of variance in his screams, which is always nice. There’s some cool guitar stuff going on here, too. Yeah, I’m really digging this now, actually. Thumbs up to this band.
Taking your moniker from my favorite childhood cartoon villain/the best performance Frank Langella has ever given in his damn life will definitely get you points in my book. Playing retro-metal that displays a complete lack of ingenuity? Not so much.
Okay, so there has to be another band called Irony, right? It doesn’t even sound like the name of a metal band. But whatever. It doesn’t matter because this band is awful. If you told me this was someone trying to parody black metal, I’d believe you. Maybe the members are being… dare I say… ironic?
The name might make you think that these dudes are Mastodon fans, but no — this is even more black metal. These guys look really young. I wouldn’t be surprised if in a few years one of them is in a good band, but this ain’t it.
Alright, not bad, not bad. And I guess next week we’ll take a little trip to Vancouver and… oy… Peoria.
-AR
