Terratism, Raising Kubrick, Summer Dying, Random Acts Of Violence, Gut
It was my first time to the Chopping Block, and I walked in thinking “where the
hell is the stage?” Joe from Not Common Records answered my vocalized question
by pointing to a clear space of floor on the other side of the intimately sized
bar. “Five metal bands are going to play here?” I thought. “This should be
interesting.” The room filled up quick with the bands and all their friends and
fans. Anyone saying that Boston doesn’t have a metal scene obviously isn’t
hanging out at the right shows. Terratism hit the stage in full brutal discharge
mode. The drummer was a fucking madman, driving the ludicrousness. Buzzsaw
riffs split the air and gargling goblin vocals set Budweisers to rippling in
their bottles. They sounded like the precision clockwork to some infernal
machine of hell. The perfect band to open the show with. Raising Kubrick had
dual vocals last time I saw them, a male and a female, but now it’s only the
chick, and I think it was an excellent decision. A female voice doing the death
metal lead vocals just sounds so much more wicked. The music slashed out from
the band like acid rain pouring from a dark, tortured sky, a deluge of thick,
cranky guitars, pierced by the occasional bright, lightning bolt lead. The
kinetic energy of their performance really kicked the crowd energy to the next
level. Summer Dying took that energy and ran with it. There is something deeply
brutal about Summer Dying. Their tribe of fans crowded the floor space before
them, feeding them familiar energy to add to the afterglow of Raising Kubrick’s
set. They took the energy, channeled it through their looming, anthemic sound
and sent it out into the attentive audience. It became immediately obvious that
Summer Dying could take this sound international if they wanted to. Their
compositions are tight, their combined energy capable of handling a much larger
crowd in a much larger room. Their cover of Skid Row’s “Youth Gone Wild” sounded
better than it ever did on the radio. After Summer Dying, Random Acts of
Violence sounded old school. Speed metal has always held a place in my heart,
and these guys are doing their part to keep the genre alive. They came on like a
division of M1 Abrahms tanks speeding across the Iraqi desert—relentless, precise
and invulnerable to enemy attack. The guitarwork propels their sound ever
onward, intricate, high speed runs blazing with thermonuclear intensity. The
desperate urgency that makes for good metal is all there in their music, and they
unleashed it for us all. Headliner Gut has had nothing but drummer problems
since I first saw the band over a year ago. And by problems I mean they hadn’t
been able to find one who wanted to make a commitment. Until now. This new guy
they’ve got possesses a unique, thrash-jazz sound that has transformed Gut and
their entire song catalog into another beast, and that beast is hungry. The
surety and security that a fully committed drummer has brought to Gut expressed
itself in the explosive set they laid down for us at The Block. Jeremy, their
lead guitarist, seemed especially pleased, his sound dancing heavily upon the
complex beats of Gut’s newest member. Their set, and the evening, were over too
soon. This was a great show, and I know I’ll be back to the Chopping Block.
--Melkor