I regrettably was a touch late, but I got my fill of the opening band nonetheless, and that band was The Bear Hunters! This was the second time that I've seen them live in a week, so you'd think I wouldn't have much to add, but I have a few things! The audio last night at The Rosie was MUCH better than at the Icy Metal For Aborted Therapy show, so that was great to hear, and I could hear singer Nik Deubel much clearer this time! Vocally, he's a very good death metal singer, and compared to other local frontmen of that style, I find his growling is deeper, but also not quite as diverse. I'd like to hear him attempt clean singing a bit more too, he's not bad at that! As a whole, the band were on form again, but with the better audio, it really complimented and helped their sound! Mike Vincent's work on the guitar deserves credit as well, I don't find he gets as much praise as he could locally. We even saw some guest singing from other Bear Hunters members last night, including drummer Johnny Belanger helping sing their cover of Arch Enemy's "End of the Line". He actually didn't do a bad job, he could sing black metal if he really wanted to with his tone! And, of course, fans were eager to hear the live debut of "Squirrel Buddy", guitarist Mitch Sirie's humourous song from his (newly re-renamed) solo project Animas! Let's just say it lived up to the hype, you'd have to listen to it to appreciate it!Good solid set of melodic death metal, they're quite a heavy band and I imagine they'll be one of the more prominent bands to look out for going forward in our suddenly stacked death metal scene!
Following them were the first of two replacement bands, as As It Stands stepped in on hours notice to replace Desbarats death metal band For All That Is Lost. Despite the short notice, I honestly wouldn't have been able to tell that they only just confirmed for the show, as they sounded tight with good chemistry for their whole set! I'm always impressed with As It Stands' energy level, maybe they're still riding the wave from their successful Southern Ontario shows! They opened up a hard hitting set of their originals like "Big Bucks, No Whammy", "Conception", and "Rise Above" that continue to show the growth and increasing heaviness they've seen over the years! Compared to their set in December at Soo Music Mash-Up, they didn't sound much different, which is a good thing, as they can consistently deliver an entertaining hardcore set whenever needed! Justin Pregent's aggressive screaming and intense presence helped keep everything entertaining, and the whole band, especially Angelo Huckson, shown their energy well while playing their songs as good as I would expect! I'd still like to hear more guitar solos from As It Stands, but for their style, they delivered again!
And headlining last night were another short notice band, State of Misery, who replaced fellow local death metal band Bring The Fallen earlier this week. This was the third time I've seen State of Misery live in the past 15 days, so I sure feel accustomed to seeing them live! I probably can't add much that I haven't already stated in the last two weeks, but there are a few things! I really find that State of Misery do a better job on originals than covers, as many of their covers sounded off to me. The Lamb of God ones in particular seemed to have some timing issues, but they did unveil some surprise covers! Hearing them cover Motley Crue's "Kickstart My Heart" was a complete surprise, and it was pure fun hearing that! Despite Steve Rhodes' derision of this song, their cover of "Down With The Sickness" was alright, but it was off sounding as well. Their originals are great and very heavy though, and the band deserves lots of credit! Plus, they pulled in an active crowd of their own to rock out despite dwindling crowd totals, proving their growing popularity! Good stuff, nice and brutal, I see big things from them very soon! Oh, and congratulations to drummer Nick Kainula on winning our Rad Zone contest!Overall, this was another fun metal night, and if we're being honest, it was better musically than the Icy Metal For Aborted Therapy concert! Better audio and more preparation really do benefit things! I had fun, here's hoping I back for another of these real soon! I did get lots of pictures, so click here to check them out or visit our official Facebook page! And I did get videos, so here's The Bear Hunters' long awaited cover of Animas' "Squirrel Buddy", As It Stands playing "One Last Chance", and State of Misery playing their amusingly titled original "I Fucked A Smurfette Once, Now My Dick's Blue"!
That's all for tonight, but I have a HUGE post tonight, so stay tuned for that! Thanks everyone!
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