A diverse line-up of sludge, hardcore and noise bands hit the 460 on September 25th. It was disappointing to see such a small turnout at the tiny club (a converted garage nestled next to the El Mocambo) but it was still one of the most intense shows I’ve been to in awhile.
Hamilton’s Sexbeast completely slayed the opening spot, a guitar-and-drum duo that played punky, up-tempo sludge metal with both members screaming out ragged vocals. When they went onstage I was expecting some straight-ahead, Black Cobra-style riffing, but these guys threw in spacey intros, clean guitar breaks and some insanely tight loud-quite passages that made their songs way more dynamic than any two-piece band has a right to be. Adding the incredibly thick, bi-amped guitar tone to the mix and the result was one of the best sludge bands I’ve heard in some time. 8/10
Lung was up next, a hardcore punk act that managed to draw the biggest crowd of the night. The songs were twitchy, dissonant, and insanely loud, and the music’s unsettling effect was compounded by the 460 stage, where just five people can look like an unruly mob. The frontman jumped into the crowd early on and stayed there, pacing around and screaming his lungs out in the face of whoever ventured close enough to the stage.
Although Lung play with intensity and fury, the songs and vocals were spazzy and uneven, and didn’t really hit me in the gut the way most hardcore shows usually do. 6.5/10
Although the Saskatchewan doom-metal quartet Lavagoat were billed as headliners, they took the stage third, leaving the headline slot to the hardcore punk of local boys Teethmarks (who I was unable to stay and catch, but you can check out a review of a recent show they played.
Despite the shuffle, Lavagoat played a killer set that was far too short; an awesome fusion of psychedelic stoner-metal, heavy doom riffs and hoarse vocals. This is the kind of band that’s just pure fucking fun to catch live; heavy, dragging riffs played with the energy and spirit of trad-metal. This is the kind of band that seems to make genre descriptions sound ridiculous, like the best bands out there, it’s just fucking Metal! 8/10
**Sorry for the poor photo quality, the venue has almost no light and I was fucking around with a new type of film!**
