Friday, June 21, 2013

Golers/Destroilet/Algoma Concert Review!!

For the first time in 4 months, we have a review of a Roosevelt Hotel metal concert tonight, as local promoter J.D. Pearce brought three bands to The Rosie last night that have never played there before, let alone on a Thursday! Medium attendance at best though, peaking during Destroilet's set, but there was some pit action and a good response to the bands, despite some audio twinges later in the night. Now, let's talk about each band's set, and check out our all-Sault Michigan post featuring new concert announcements and our LemmaFest preview in the post below this one!

This concert opened with just the second live concert (and first in three months) from newer local doom/sludge metal trio AlgomA, and I'm pleased to say they had a better set last night than at their debut! Aside from being longer, they seemed to have less of an obvious disconnect from the crowd than in March, and I liked that Kevin Campbell (a.k.a. Marty Chase) talked to the crowd a bit more and introduced some songs. As well, they had the least issues with the audio, and their locally unique blend of metal sounded clearer and heavier! Kevin's vocals seemed stronger too (though I'd have liked to have heard Boyd Rendell sing more), and on songs like "Reclaimed By The Forest", their aggressive (yet very slow and deliberate) sound left a good impression, definitely unlike other modern day local metal bands. I would like to hear some more solos, or maybe a faster stretch occasionally, but AlgomA have a good thing going, and hopefully they'll play somewhere again this summer, as they're a band to watch!

Next up was old school local hardcore/punk quintet Destroilet in just their second show since early 2011, and despite early issues with the microphones being inaudible, they had a fun and chaotic mix of originals and covers for the peak crowd of the night! Destroilet packed 18 generally short songs into their set, including every song from their newest album (except "Mile 58") and 7 non-album covers, and they tended to rock them with the same reckless fury from their other concerts (though on a smaller stage, they were a bit restricted in movement.) Musically, the guys were on form, though I think Mike Hull's vocals needed to be brought up louder in the mix, as even when the microphone worked, he was hard to hear. Other than that, the guitar work was solid and fast paced, Adam Larocque's bass work was low and heavy, and Matt Waples' drumming was really good overall! Things seem to be going good in the Destroilet camp, and hopefully their next shows this summer keep up the good vibes!

And finally, your headliners last night were Vancouver crossover thrash/hardcore punk quartet The Golers in their first local stop, and they definitely tore it up with their extreme hybrid original sound! Similarly to Destroilet, they had plenty of very quick but intense originals and select covers that reminded me of bands like Superjoint Ritual at times, and on tracks like "Lemon Eyed Devil", "Disconnect", and "Behind The Sun", their extreme sound and often amusing lyrics were definitely well received by the remaining fans!  This was despite some audio twinges that frontman Chainsaw Charlie Goler noted in between a few early songs, but to fans, they weren't overly noticeable. His vocals are very diverse in what extreme yells he can pull off, and both his and Henry Goler's guitar riffs were very brutal and fitting of their style! Punk and thrash fans had a lot to like, and they fed off the energy of the crowd well, so overall, The Golers put in a very solid set, but hopefully they'll get a bigger turnout if they come back!

Overall, this was a very fun concert full of metal subgenres you don't see every day in town, and despite some patchy audio, Dirk Becker and the Sykotyk Sound Company did a solid job, especially for AlgomA's set! I did get a bunch of photos of each band, so click here to check them out or visit our Facebook page, and as for videos, here's AlgomA's set opening new song "Bedsores", Destroilet covering Fistmagnet's "Evil God Hater" and Nirvana's "Tourettes", and The Golers playing their song "Hoe" and a cover of Poison Idea's "A.A."!







That's all for today, but stay tuned for two posts tomorrow, including this month's YouTube Channel Profile, and a new news post featuring a late notice concert for this weekend! Thanks everyone!

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