since 12/22/98
12/04/98 Merrimack College, North Andover, MA: Cave In, Barrit, Year of Our Lord
Continuing the family tradition of going to Newburyport every year for their Christmas festivities, I arrived about 4 1/2 hours late missing a Positive Outlook reunion, Open Up, Cleo, Prophetic Disclosure, and I think a few others. I was greeted at the door by that totally awesome, radical, def, wackass, cool, rockin', (insert other adjectives here) girl, Carolyn and caught the end of Year of Our Lord.
Wow! I can't describe Year of Our Lord. I can try but... Well for starters, they should have been from the 1980s. They had definite black metal influence, but still fit in with the likes of Barrit and Cave In, but not to the same "metalcore" degree. Argh, this is hard. They could be on almost any metal label and still seem to be at home. I picked up their 7" so I could be ready for their next show. Go buy it.
Barrit play beautiful metal w/ two, and at times three, vocalists. Watching the lead guitarist was almost as much fun as listening to them. He did the screeching scream parts (without a microphone (well, he had the mic but didn't use it), yet you could still hear his voice at all ends of the hall!). He also punched himself in the face a number of times and threw the mic stand over a few times. The second guitarist did the lead vocals and had a much deeper voice, so the two coincided perfectly. Fans of Cave In and Converge should check this band out, even though they don't have the same sound. Oh yeah, this is Zach's (from Bane) other band. Go bouy their new CD released on Ellington Records, "Smiles Upon the Stroke that Murders Me".
Then I saw about the first 15 minutes of Cave In. I can't believe I had to leave before it ended. Jason Pino told me that the show ended at 11:00, so only having a ride from my parents, my dad arrived at 11:05. I missed most of Cave In's set and Piebald. Shit! Playing in the basement of a church, it was only necessary for them to open with their best song, "Crossbearer". Metal that moves to extremely melodic guitars and beautiful singing that almost makes me want to cry. I can't remember, but I think they played "Chameleon" next. After that, I went upstairs to wait for my ride. I heard that after I left, their show moved more towards the sound of "Until Your Heart Stops", more noise than "Beyond Hypothermia". Also the guitarist had on a Sonic Youth shirt, which was pretty neato.
I can't believe I missed Piebald. I met the bassist's mother today and she told me that their set was cut because of time restrictions. Anyway. Great show Carolyn & Steve!