MIKE GITTER is the man and continues to prove that with every post he writes over here. I love our buddy Gitter! -Editor
New York: New York. Once every Fall, the College Music Journal stages its annual confab on the increasingly gentrified streets of NYC. Where CMJ was once THE annual event for unsigned greats, hipster coolies and cutting-edge major label signees, Metal is sparse and the indie contingent dominates Manhattan’s increasingly gentrified streets.
Regardless, a few shards of the heavy stuff could be found on a near-nightly basis starting on Tuesdayat the Gramercy Theater with a brilliant show from Nevermore. Whatever incidents have plagued their first headlining tour (onstage fights, Warrell Dane losing his voice in LA), from the onset of “Narcosynthesis”, the long-running Seattle quintet were energetic and on-point, maintaining their post as one of America’s long-running pure metal greats.
Unfortunately, my evening was topped off by a visit to the local impound after my rental car was towed away at 11:00 PM. I had gotten back to it at 11:10 perhaps and it was a total “Dude! Where’s Your Car?!?” scenario. Apparently, the local tow companies have a percentage deal with the city. Let’s just call it “Valet Parking In NYC”…VERY EXPENSIVE valet parking that is.
Wedndsay brought the party to Brooklyn’s Club Europa for the first of two showcases courtesy of metal’s best sites: Metal Sucks and Metal Injection. The evening’s headliner A Life Once Lost emerged from a year and a half dormancy to blow the crowd away. Where you could once peg the Philly band of jumping on the Meshuggah bandwagon, all reports of their Swedish allegiances should be taken as old and grossly misinformed. Backlit by pillars of harsh white light behind them, it was clear: A Life Once Lost have not merely scaled new heights. Now with a handful of new songs – four of which were played – A Life Once Lost sound like a band once criminally ahead of its time that the world has finally caught up with.
Car Bomb seemed lackluster by comparison and This Or The Apocalypse showed signs of becoming a formidable metal-scraping hardcore mob earlier in the evening.
