Art of the Flesh, Murdercore, Crackhammer and Seven Signs – Friday, June 1 2012 – High Noon Saloon in Madison, WI
I know I've been out of the scene a little bit. I’ve been
attending shows, but not reviewing them. Either I've been too lazy or it has
been mostly national bands or I find other excuses, but I’m back and ready to
go. Over the weekend, I had the chance to attend two amazing shows. The first was
with Art of the Flesh, Murdercore, Crackhammer and Seven Signs at the High Noon
Saloon in Madison WI and the other was with Seven Signs and Seven Signs and
Acridore. Because I’m already going to
be repetitious in this post, I’ll only discuss the first show.
First of all, I am so sad to see the degradation of the
Madison music scene. The last few local shows I’ve attended have been extremely
disappointing as far as crowd turnout. On the positive side, it seems like the
bands do amazingly well dealing with nearly empty venues. They have fun and put
on a great show for the people who are there. From discussions with a musician,
I have been told that sometimes the empty shows are the best because it gives
them the freedom to experiment and have more fun, like a larger practice. It is
still a little disheartening, but I’m always happy to be there and see these
amazing bands.
Speaking of amazing bands, the first to go on at the High
Noon on Friday was one of my new favorite bands. I have seen them and reviewed them before and didn’t hold anything back. Art of the Flesh is amazing and has a unique
sound. Dan Schulz is one of the best metal vocalists I have ever heard. I have
said it before and I’ll say it again – Art of the Flesh will go far. I expect
one day that they will be a household name and I will to go to a large venue
with thousands of people and see them on stage. On Friday, they did not disappoint.
They were a pleasure to watch (and listen to). They have great stage presence
without being too flashy and obviously enjoy what they are doing. I hope
to see more of them in Madison soon.
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| Photo from this link |
Next up on stage was Murdercore, a metal band from Poynette,
WI. On stage were vocalist Desiree Shaka and guitarist and programmer Chad
Elliot along with a laptop rounding out the rest of the sound including the
drums. As far as Murdercore goes, I am still not sure how I feel. Normally I am
not a huge fan of female metal singers, but have tried to expand my horizons.
At times during the show, I wasn’t sure if I enjoyed her vocals but thinking
back I did like it. She didn’t have as much distinction and variation as I’d
like to hear, but it was not all identical either. She was a beautiful girl,
but did not rely on selling sex in order to make it work and was able to carry
her own.
The guitarist was very good and extremely fast and as the
programmer for the rest of the instrumental, did an excellent job. He was fast
and accurate, with his hands often moving so fast they were just a blur.
Despite all of the excellent points, I was a little distracted by the distinctive
configuration that almost seemed like metal karaoke (metal-oke?) with original
songs and a guitarist. But, they were obviously much more than that and I am
likely to see them again.
Crackhammer came on stage following Murdercore. They were a
5-piece band that sounded like a great cross between Metallica, Disturbed, and
Avenged Sevenfold. The Madison, WI band
made up of Jason Felland and Don Swangstu on guitar, Shawn Alt on bass and Jeff
Grieshammer on drums were led by charismatic Bill Faris, with gravelly and well
developed vocals.
Faris had an excellent vocal talent, but there was a lot of
focus on the guitarists – and for good reason. They were enjoyable to watch and
were amazing and staying with each other. The band was a ton of fun to watch,
the drums were fast and crisp and overall it was the total package of musicians
who were experienced and comfortable on stage.
Last up on stage was Seven Signs from Madison, WI. I have
reviewed them before (see the link above), when they played with Art of the Flesh and loved them
then. On Friday, I enjoyed it even more than the first time I saw them. They
ambitiously played two shows back to back, but it didn’t show in their
performance. They delivered on their music and their interactions with each
other were so entertaining to watch. The vocalist has an amazing range and can
go from beautiful slower singing to the guttural growls and screams characteristic
of metal. In addition to the brilliant vocals, he can draw your attention and
hold it captive.
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| Photo from this link |
Right along with Art of the Flesh, I expect Seven Signs to
be a household name in the metal world. Because of the smaller crowds both
Friday night and Saturday, we had the chance to hear some of the new music the
band has been working on; however, my favorites are still Fuck and Fade Away. I
don’t want to repeat the previous review word for word, but as well as the
great vocals, their guitarists and bassists are great and have a lot of fun on
stage and their drummer is fast with the double bass, but doesn’t overuse it. I
can’t wait until the next Seven Signs show.
You may notice that I say that I would recommend bands and
seek them out off a lot, but honestly I have found so many great bands while
attending these shows. The few shows I have gone into blind, not knowing any of
the bands at all, I haven’t enjoyed all of the bands and am honest about it. I know
that all of the musicians work really hard, so there have been times when I have
chosen not to review them at all, but overall I can enjoy many different bands
and sounds.
Overall, I had a lot of fun at this show and I left with ringing ears, a new Art of the Flesh sweatshirt (which, over the last few days, has become a staple in my wardrobe), an Art of the Flesh DVD and a big smile.
Check out the bands online:
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