S.H.S. Show Review - Old Wounds Record Release, #1

OLD WOUNDS played 2 record release shows...

 This is night 1...

Lineup:

THE BANNER (WELP, HERE WE GO AGAIN)
OLD WOUNDS (From Where We Came Is Where We'll Rest LP Release)
FLESHTEMPLE (MADDEN & THE GANG PLAYING THE HITS) (Cancelled due to a member having hand surgery)
WITHDRAWAL (A389 RECS / WINNEPEG, MB)
EDDIE BROCK (A389 RECS / BALTIMORE, MD)
GODS AMERICA (A389 RECS / LAS VEGAS, NV)

God's America kicked things off. I was excited to hear them since I had just heard about them through A389 Records. The first thing I noticed was the drummer warming up had some serious blastbeat skills. As a drummer, I know what I am talking about. Bomb blasts, hyper blasts, euro blasts - dude had it all down with precision and speed. When they played I was very impressed with the vox & guitars as well - great powerviolence set.
http://www.seedsofrape.blogspot.com/

Eddie Brock, again, was highly anticipated for me, having seen them only once before, at last year's A389 Bash at Sonar. They were sick, as expected - VERY high energy. They played the Slayer cover again too, this time better than before and the room went NUTS!
http://eddiebrockmd.bandcamp.com/

Withdrawal was interesting... I had never seen them live before. It started out as practically straight up thrash metal in my opinion, and I was a little confused as it differed from the sound I heard on the one 7" of theirs that I bought a few weeks ago. Later, they started getting more along the lines of sludge and holy terror sounds, which I was a lot more into. They performed a song from their upcoming split with Young And In The Way, which was their best material of the night. I'm definitely going to buy that, it ruled. When the vocalist explained how far they came throughout the tour, I was blown away. These guys are dedicated to the scene!
http://withdrawal.bandcamp.com/

OLD WOUNDS blew us away with a hell of a set, which included new stuff that I was very anxious to get into! Everyone went crazy in support. I can't believe how much this band has evolved... chaotic, yet at the same time delivering each snarl and crushing breakdown with razor-sharp precision.They seem to be very modest about their success... 

Drummer's plight - always in the back so no photos, sorry ... I can relate :/


I managed to capture a video of the full title track of the new LP... From Where We Came Is Where We'll Rest!

The Banner -  Bloomfield NJ veterans from the early 2000's also play the older style of metallic hardcore, but they've got the NYHC influence and double-bass breakdowns turned up a lot more, and are generally a little more angry and straightforward. Not that this is a bad thing in any way. Formerly on Ferret Music, I feel like I've seen them in their heyday with Poison the Well, Nora, or a similar band, again probably at Club Krome or during my time at Rutgers. They have played the local stage at Warped Tour, and more recently ripped it up in 2010 at RTF Fest at the Warren American Legion. This was my first time seeing The Banner since then. They played a very hedonistic, proudly ignorant beatdown type of set, and the crowd mosh was amusingly belligerent. I hit the ground a few times, and got beer splashed on me, but it was all good! I predict the upcoming show with Suburban Scum going way over the top! Pete August's new band Raw Law will be playing that too, as a side note.

Joey Southside seems worthy of his local legend type of status, as his onstage banter came off as honest and good-humored, rather than actually offensive. CVLT NATION posted a great interview with him a while ago that's worth reading, for more about the band.

 Kevin also got to epically take the mic and do some vox with The Banner, which I was not able to capture on video, of course due to the mosh. I'm sure Old Wounds and the other bands were proud to open up for them, as they would be for GEHENNA, too (headliner of night 2 of Old Wound's record release shows). If only I hadn't gotten next to no sleep for shows the prior 3 nights in a row I would have taken a ride...

Overall, this was incredible, especially for 10 bucks. Totally worth the drive and the Monday night factor. With a couple more bands this could easily have been part of the A389 Bash...

***