God bless true metal fans. Nothing gets in their way as exemplified on this modestly attended albeit powerful evening of dirt, drone and doom metal. It's tough to get people out on a chilly Wednesday, affecting a band's ability to motivate the sinew. When you're a real metalhead though, it doesn't matter. Questionable weather and hump day be damned, those who ventured out ensured it was worthwhile.
Kicking off with tight, enthusiastic local power trio Ball Harness' Motörhead-meets-Venom-meets-more Motörhead distortion, bellowing and bombastic half-times, a vicious pace was set at the early hour of 9:00 p.m. Rightfully, eager beavers still meandering in immediately picked up the cause, heading straight for the stage.
Switching gears into the avant-garde, beefy duo Lullabye Arkestra were equally amusing and devastating. Featuring a drummer suffering from an A.D.D./Tourette's cocktail and diminutive bassist with enough scorching girth to shake the brown note out of an asshole soaked in lye, their hybrid death/groove metal was entertaining and raucous.
Still, the extremity and bombardment that is Vancouver's Bison B.C. reigned supreme. Loud, aggressive and imposing, the quartet seemed on a mission to reduce the club to splinters. Naturally, the audience, forming a mutually inspiring union, reciprocated such grandiosity. Every soul packed the stage front, smashing about with abandon.
Bison B.C. were thick, pummelling and vicious, inciting the crowd into action. However, the opposite also took place, the hirsute band inspired by such motivation and spirit; forced to step up their performance exponentially. Even guitarist/vocalist James Farwell's earnest, "This is fun guys," was an amusing about-face from the rough 'n' tumble exterior and gut-wrenching grunts he'd been unearthing for the previous hour.
With three solid bands and an equally impressive crowd, sometimes the less-attended gigs are the unforgettable gems.
Kicking off with tight, enthusiastic local power trio Ball Harness' Motörhead-meets-Venom-meets-more Motörhead distortion, bellowing and bombastic half-times, a vicious pace was set at the early hour of 9:00 p.m. Rightfully, eager beavers still meandering in immediately picked up the cause, heading straight for the stage.
Switching gears into the avant-garde, beefy duo Lullabye Arkestra were equally amusing and devastating. Featuring a drummer suffering from an A.D.D./Tourette's cocktail and diminutive bassist with enough scorching girth to shake the brown note out of an asshole soaked in lye, their hybrid death/groove metal was entertaining and raucous.
Still, the extremity and bombardment that is Vancouver's Bison B.C. reigned supreme. Loud, aggressive and imposing, the quartet seemed on a mission to reduce the club to splinters. Naturally, the audience, forming a mutually inspiring union, reciprocated such grandiosity. Every soul packed the stage front, smashing about with abandon.
Bison B.C. were thick, pummelling and vicious, inciting the crowd into action. However, the opposite also took place, the hirsute band inspired by such motivation and spirit; forced to step up their performance exponentially. Even guitarist/vocalist James Farwell's earnest, "This is fun guys," was an amusing about-face from the rough 'n' tumble exterior and gut-wrenching grunts he'd been unearthing for the previous hour.
With three solid bands and an equally impressive crowd, sometimes the less-attended gigs are the unforgettable gems.
