Goatwhore/Ringworm/Black Breath/Theories
July 12, 2015
Atlanta, GA
The Earl
New Orleans music undeniably possesses an element that can’t be found in music from any other city in the world. It’s hard to define exactly, but it pervades songs from every genre that are born and bred in the Big Easy. I could call it ‘soul,’ but that word has been so overused that it has lost its meaning. Suffice it to say that the folks from New Orleans know good music. I grew up visiting New Orleans often, since my parents grew up there and most of my extended family still lived there when I was a kid. I’m so busy now that I don’t get to go back nearly as often as I’d like, so when bands like Goatwhore bring a piece of New Orleans to me here in Atlanta, I am always thrilled. This was the last night of their North American tour, along with Ringworm, Black Breath, and Theories, and with The Earl packed out on a Sunday night, it was certainly not a show to be missed.
THEORIES
Seattle death/grind trio Theories started off the night early, playing loud and fast to a pretty small audience at that early point in the evening. Unfortunately it sounded to me like the mixing was off because the guitar and bass drowned out most of the drums–I couldn’t really hear anything but the snare and bass drum, which was disappointing because it looked like the drummer was really pounding his heart out back there. Most of the set sounded muddled to me, which I know is intentional to a point with grind, but I do think some adjustments from the sound board would’ve make things a little clearer. Regardless, I really dug the vocals and what I could make out of the other elements of their songs. I appreciated the fact that they weren’t playing as fast as possible one hundred percent of the time, like some death/grind bands do. They seemed to have a little more variety in their songs, and I’d like to hear what they sound like when they aren’t the sound board guinea pigs for the evening.
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BLACK BREATH
Apparently the sound issues (or what I perceived as such, although I might just be out of touch with grind) had been fixed by the time Black Breath went on. Another Washington-based band, Black Breath specializes in not specializing, drawing influence from a variety of metal subgenres, particularly thrash and hardcore, while not fitting neatly into any one. Only having heard the name before but never the music, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but halfway into the first song I was sold. I loved it, and so did the rest of the audience that was starting to fill the room during their set. Obviously I had been missing out–there were guys up front who knew the lyrics to half their songs, and the other audience members I spoke with who had never heard them before were equally impressed. I’m generally not a big hardcore fan but I enjoyed the way they fused it with thrash, of which I am a huge fan. They paid homage to classic thrash without ripping it off. It was the perfect beer drinking metal, the kind you listen to when you’re at a house party in someone’s garage and everyone is fucked up, chugging beer and doing air drums and terrible yet awesome imitations of thrash metal screams. I know you know what I mean.
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RINGWORM
Old school hardcore kings Ringworm brought their legendary sound from Cleveland and raised the energy at The Earl from excited to feverish. I saw them open for Napalm Death a few months ago and have been a fan ever since. I said before that I’m not generally a fan of hardcore, which remains true, but something about their powerful sound really reaches me. They are masters of their genre, but they don’t fall victim to monotony or simply appease expectations. Their songs are rhythmic without being full of breakdowns, which is generally one of the things that bores me about hardcore and metalcore. They seem to be heavily influenced by thrash, and even their faster riffs are notably catchy.
I will say I enjoy the album version much more than seeing them live, not because of the sound but because of the inevitable ‘hardcore dancing’ that occurs every time they play. It’s just not my thing. I’ll never understand it, and I find it makes the entire experience kind of suck (except for the people doing it, I guess). Anyone who has seen me at a show knows I’m not afraid of a mosh, but I’d rather not deal with some 300 pound dude intentionally karate chopping me in the tits or kicking me in the shins. But whatever, that comes with the territory, so I deal with it. End rant. Aside from that complaint, which has nothing to do with Ringworm’s sound itself, I was once again thoroughly impressed with their set. They are seriously fucking intense. They played a lot of their newer stuff and a few older songs, and they even covered the Motörhead song, “Iron Fist,” which Sammy from Goatwhore came on stage to help out with. They won’t convert me into an outright hardcore fan, but I will always enjoy good musicianship, regardless of what label people slap on it.
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GOATWHORE
Enter the amazing, indescribable New Orleans element that no one can define but everyone can recognize. Goatwhore is one of my favorite New Orleans bands–actually one of my favorite bands overall–and I had never been so lucky as to see them at a venue as small as The Earl before. They opened with a newer song, “Poisonous Existence in Reawakening,” and the crowd was hysterical. Throughout their set they moved through a variety of older and newer songs, all of which the crowd received with equal frenzy. Of course one of my favorite parts of the set was when they played “Fucked by Satan,” which they endearingly dedicated to all the ladies in the audience. And I’d be remiss if I wrote this review without mentioning the lovely performance by some of the members of Theories and a few others who graced the stage in nothing but their “Fucked by Satan” panties and twerked their skinny asses off.
Frontman Ben Falgoust has a way of connecting with his audience that is refreshingly authentic, like he is as excited to be there as we are. Maybe it’s because he plays air guitar as much as we do in the audience. Guitarist Sammy Duet is another crowd favorite, and I’m always impressed to hear the complexity and fullness he achieves with his guitar, without needing a rhythm guitarist for support. Drummer Zack Simmons delivered a crushing performance as the band’s heartbeat, and current touring bassist Rob Coleman did an exceptional job filling in for James Harvey. Extra points to Coleman for wearing a Hellgoat shirt in Atlanta.
Overall this was an amazing night of metal. I was happy to see that there was a great turnout despite being a Sunday night show. The energy was buzzing from beginning to end, and the bands all delivered an amazing, high-intensity performance to end their North American tour.
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