Opening Thursday's show was Bring The Misery, the new local death metal quintet featuring members of the now defunct Bring The Fallen and State Of Misery. If you weren't there, you may be wondering which of the two bands they sound like more. Myself, I think they sound like a heavier version of State of Misery, and I find that Dan Souliere's guitar work and backing vocals helped bolster that for this new band. In terms of songs, their set was almost entirely covers, including songs by As I Lay Dying, The Black Dahlia Murder, and All That Remains, although one new original was included in their set. Now I am giving Bring The Misery the benefit of the doubt, so to speak, as this was their first show after just weeks together, but their set was underwhelming. Their chemistry seemed fairly stiff, you couldn't hear Steve Rhodes really well over the guitar, their stage setup was pretty cramped, and the lack of BTF or SOM originals was glaring. I can understand if they're trying to carve a new image, but hearing the new band cover "Defiling Despondence" or "Pray For Me" would be cool! They weren't bad though, Ray Cowan was on form, Tyler St. Amour had a good first showing on bass, and Steve had good energy! So it was a good (but flawed) debut, but they'll be even better with time!
Despite being advertised as the headliners, the Soo's resident "crash band" Sykotyk Rampage took the stage second last night for their first ever metal night appearance, and how'd they do? About as good as you'd expect from a band as unique as them! Rocking out in honour of a Becker family wedding this weekend, this creative quartet jammed out a good selection of original material ranging from bluesier fare like "Li'l Crocochild" and "Called In Dead" to harsher metal-influenced songs like "Lowest Of The Low", and lots of drinking songs! Those seemed to go over the best, as the night went on and the fans got drunker. Their cover of the Dropkick Murphys "Fuck You, I'm Drunk" returned as well from their St. Patrick's Day concert, which got a very good response! Their style is still not for everyone, with their improv-based jam style garnering interesting and varied responses, but they had fun! I liked seeing drummer Paul Becker more to the front of the stage this time too, seeing as he is their lead singer on most songs, though it did kinda downplay Brian Cattapan to being behind the action in many respects. I was entertained though, and even if Sykotyk Rampage are so different from the usual sights at metal night, they sure left their mark!
Headlining the show were The Bear Hunters, in their first show with their new lineup! Now I'm sure many of you are wondering how now rhythm guitarist Josh Stephney (ex-Bring The Fallen) did in his Bear Hunters debut, and I'm happy to say he fit in well! Dean Razorback aside (great guitar), he had a good feel for all of their originals and added nicely to the band's style, though I'd loved to have heard him give backing vocals. We all know he has the chops, imagine if he added some growling here and there? The rest of the band were in their typical good forms, even Nik Deubel, whose voice sounded fine despite his own admission of suffering from a cold. If he wouldn't have told us, we surely wouldn't have known! Their set (as printed) was almost entirely originals, including newer additions "Karma" & "Render This Void", older tracks like "Collapse The Sun", and only one cover, Amon Amarth's "Guardians of Asgaard". However, the band (minus Josh) played an encore set of covers which sounded good, even if missing a guitar! Though there was some fears that they might not sound 100% due to the quick turnaround following their lineup change, The Bear Hunters sounded really good, though Mitch Sirie's guitar was tuned kinda low. Solid set, I can't wait to hear their melodic death metal stylings again soon!Solid night of music, and though the quality could be uneven, I appreciated the new sounds and sights that we got last night! And yes, I have photos and videos, taken with my new camera that I got for my birthday! The photo quality's not bad, though I need to get used to everything so the shots can be more consistent. The videos are much better quality than my old camera could get, with HD dimensions and zooming during videos, though the size makes them much harder to convert and upload. I'll get the hang of it though! Check out my photos from Thursday at this location, or at our Facebook page, and here's my videos: Bring The Misery covering As I Lay Dying's "Nothing Left", Sykotyk Rampage's original song "Lowest of the Low", and The Bear Hunters' song "Karma"!
That's all for now, but stay tuned for a new news post later tonight! Thanks everyone!
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