Shit Liver/Therapists/Bear Hunters Concert Review!!

Hey everyone, it's time for our fourth post in four days, so if you're done Black Friday shopping, here's our review of last night's Shit Liver-headlined concert at The New American Pub! Given the Thursday night scheduling (well past the Rosie metal night era) and cold temperatures, attendance wasn't spectacular, but a decent enough crowd filled out the New A for this one, and by the last two bands, the mosh pits certainly felt much larger! Remember, Destroilet dropped out of this show and were not replaced on the bill.

Opening last night's show was local death metal band The Bear Hunters in their first live concert appearance in over a year, and while I don't know why they took so long off, they roared back to life with a brutal set of more recent originals that surely began the face melting process! Sticking to songs on their still-forthcoming album "The Dead Testament" like "Servitude", "Deception", and "The Dying Den", their brief 6 song set even began with the live debut of their original "For Glory", which even featured guitarist Mitch Sirie on backing clean vocals! Rare to hear him sing on a song that's not about his squirrel buddy! Aside from Justin Lam's new short haircut and Nik Deubel's increasingly impressive beard, everyone looked as expected and brought the brutality at a level equitable to their other Josh-less sets, with Mitch shining on guitar, Justin handling the low end as well as ever, and Johnny Belanger's drumming was a great match!

Nik acknowledged during their set that "The Dead Testament" is done mastering, and that they recently shot their first ever music video, which will be old news if you follow members' personal Facebook accounts, but marks their first public acknowledgement of this fact. I'll hold on saying more until the band does, but I can't wait to see the album and video completed! The Bear Hunters picked up where they left off nicely, I just wish it was longer!

Next up last night were Sudbury "party violence" quintet The Therapists in their Sault Ste. Marie concert debut, their first regional show since this year's Oh!No festival in Leeburn, and the first of a two night run with Shit Liver in Northern Ontario that wraps up tonight in Sudbury. Many fans who were at Oh!No II spoke very highly of The Therapists, and aside from the absence of their astronaut guitarist, it looks like they picked up right where they left off with a wild and hard to explain set! Musically speaking, The Therapists played an in-your-face brand of hardcore punk with ribald and sometimes specifically topical lyrics, but always with an irreverent edge that played to the crowd well! Frontman Pat Sauve was dressed to the nines in his Shit Liver patch-covered vest and a plastic tote full of hats and masks (worn as hats) as he mingled with fans mid-song, even using an old air conditioner as a stool! Yes, other band members were dressed up too, including as Jesus.

In the process, bubbles were blown, plastic army men were distributed, smoke machines billowed, and a can of silly string even got sprayed around! Needless to say, this was a raucous show with a huge reception, to the point where fans demanded one more song, and that stretched out into three or four more! With solid ripping guitar work and intense vocals, The Therapists arguably stole the show, and hopefully we see them back on a local stage in 2019! Imagine them and Bookakee on the same bill?!

And finally, your headliners were local/St. Catharine's grindcore trio Shit Liver in their second and final local concert stop of 2018, ans they brutalized with a no nonsense blitzkrieg of original songs to end the night with! Sticking largely to their new album "Hitting The Fan" with songs like "Evacuation" and "Cirrhosis", plus select older material like "It's Not My Problem", Shit Liver brought their crusty mixture of death metal and hardcore punk back with full force, and as the mosh pit behind me indicated, things were hectic and full of energy even after The Therapists wrapped up! Of course, the triple vocal attack from Josh Penno, Mike Kyle, and Matt Baic was as ferocious as ever, and their fast riffs, pounding bass, and well timed drums were all highly complimentary as you'd expect. Their set went by very fast, but in a good way, and this was a brutal and fun way to end a busy year for Shit Liver! Here's hoping for more!

Overall, this was a nice and brutal concert full of hard hitting original material, and how can you not have fun with The Therapists' wild stage show? You can check out our photos and videos from the show at this link or at our Facebook page, and apologies for the hazy pictures of The Therapists, I don't think any camera I've ever owned likes smoke machines. As for videos, here's The Bear Hunters opening their set with "For Glory", The Therapists playing "Shotgun Anus" (they titled it, not me!), and Shit Liver playing two short originals ("It Won't Change" & "Wait"!)







That's all for today, but stay tuned for the last of this weekend's concert previews and more updates tomorrow! Thanks everyone!