Wednesday, March 10, 2004 | 13:10
Fireside Bowl - Tuesday 9 March 2004
the early show at Fireside Bowl last night was loud. it was very very loud, in fact, and i forgot my ear plugs so i'm still ringing. i am not sure the ear plugs would have helped.
the noise began with Fallout Project, this sludgy metal band. i'm told they sound like Neurosis, but as i don't know that band i really can't say. what i can say is that it was loud, heavy, and ok. it would have been better if the lead guitar had stood out more, or if the howler (who never faced the crowd, by the way) had sung something instead, but that's just me. it wasn't bad, but it tended to sound the same, and thus got boring.
following them was Illuminati. this band looked like a cooky punk band. with their guitars up high and their indierock clothes i expected them to sound something like The Strokes, or maybe given the bill The Beautiful Mistake. what came out of those amps, however, was definitely not garage or emo. no, it was a more varied version of metal than the first band played. they used fewer blast beats and threw in a few chorused guitar licks here and there. also, the singer could actually sing, though he dit tend toward the howling side of things. the drumming was better, with faster fills and a greater sense of dynamics. i would have liked more chorused guitars, but it's tough to do those without sounding cheesy. the trick is to make it sound like an homage to early 80's metal, back when it was all (mostly) good. when there was new ground to break.
speaking of new ground to break, i think Inshi does precisely that, or at least follows on ground broken just a few days before. last night's show was the second time Inshi has played the Fireside, and damn was it good. it was definitely an improvement over their previous show here. that was a good show, though there were instrument problems and other glitches, but this one was much better. for starters, the sound was better. everything was louder, and once the bass volume got sorted out it was well balanced. becuase this bill was more consistent than the last one they played, they had a larger audience to blow away (though the turnout still wasn't very good). and blow away they did.
if you haven't heard Inshi, or read my writings about them, then i'll give you a quick description. their webpages calls them "brutal prog" or "epic grind" (no one's quite sure which term fits better), and when i try to describe them to people who don't know much about the fringes of the music world, i say they're a combination of King Crimson and Napalm Death. that's not entirely accurate (they're a three-piece with no singer, for instance), but it's as close as i'm going to get with limited terminology. i think right now their ambition is to catch up with The Flying Luttenbachers as purveyors of sonic madness, but by their own admission they have a ways to go. if none of that is helpful to you, then try to imagine intricate guitar lines, thumping spastic bass, and insane drumming at high speeds for eight minutes at a time. fill those eight minutes to the brim with time changes and crazy detours (all of which are composed, not improvised), turn up the volume to eleven or twelve, and you've got something like Inshi.
i will admit right now that i am friends with the drummer (Phil), so i am slightly biased about this group (hence their longer description, too), but i'm not alone in admiring their prowess and truly stunning playing. at one point in their second song, after shooting through a bit that must sound like random terror to those not paying attention, Inshi stopped on a dime for half a second before launching into another sonic assault. in that brief moment, this blond guy (who i was told plays bass for hewhocorrupts, though i cannot find any information on a band with that name), who had been following Inshi enthusiastically, let out an "awesome!" at other points he would laugh, or say "wow!" or something like that. others in the crowd showed their enthusiasm, but he seemed the most excited.
after the show Joe the Inshi bassist was upset with his performance, but aside from a few missed cues (which i wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't groaned at each one), he sounded pretty good. as usual, the drumming just blew me away. at one point Phil broke his "unbreakable" drumstick and threw it at his friend in the crowd who found such a prospect unbelievable. i think they should auction off the broken stick, but probably it will just get thrown out. the drums sounded much better this time, which probably was because Phil just put on new heads for the show, though maybe the sound guy mixed things better this time. Bill the guitarist thought his guitar sounded wrong, that the tone was off, but i could't tell. what's important is that the show sounded good, and people were duly impressed. whether holdovers from previous sets or waiting for the next band, most of the people there at least tried to get into Inshi (and believing me, Inshi is far from accessible). overall, it was a much better show for them than the last one was.
to round off the early show was Seyarse. this crew, a four-piece, plays loud and fast and heavy, brutally heavy. as an added bonus, the guitarist has two cabinets, one on either side of the stage. few bands do this, so they clearly stand out. the songs were fast and raging hardcore, with no real breaks. because Inshi had gone over time (they figured a few minutes, the soundman said twelve), Seyarse was asked to play a short set, but since they can fit ten songs in twenty minutes, it wasn't much of a problem. again, i have to be honest and say that while i was impressed with the sound, i was also busy with the Inshi crew selling merchandise and representing for epic grind. thus, i have no real details for the Seyarse set, but i liked it enough that i'll have to check them out.
in conclusion, i wholeheartedly recommend Inshi to any of you who have a chance to see them (the next opportunity you have is 28 March when they play with The Coughs at The Empty Bottle). you should also check out Seyarse and Illuminati when you get the chance. this is loud, heavy music, yes, but it's good music too.
