Concert Review: Silent Nightmare, David Wilner Trio

Ultra lounge: (3/6) It feels like a bar, partly because it is one. Dark, but clean this little hole in the wall would be very easy to miss if you weren't looking for it. While the sound system was not the worst I've heard it really did not suit the main act. I suspect the lead vocalist's ridiculously wide range was too much for those speakers.

David Wilner Trio:(3/6) low production pop with heavy-handed metaphors and a an average voice. While it was far from horrible, I didn't find his music caught my attention. The music had a wholesome goody-good feel to it and a nebulously Christian feel. It was bland, but not bad. The keyboard work was decent, if forgettable.

Silent Nightmare (4/6): This little band has come a long way from their debut album back in 2011. They are a little all over the place, combining operatic vocals and nu metal guitar work. I feel like they are still trying to find their sound within a genera that is uncharted territory (there aren’t many operatic metal bands out there that aren’t symphonic). While they are much more cohesive than some bands I’ve seen, I think they really need to focus in and hone what makes their particular style.

Tara Duhan has a voice like a sultry angel and a range that puts most other artists to shame. She’s got the looks to match. While she is still finding her sweet spot, I’m confidant it is there. It is very clear she has both talent and training in spades. Duhan also has a lot more presence than most artists. I don’t think there was a single person in the room that didn’t have their eyes on her.

The music itself was oddly enough where the band got shaky. It took me quiet a while to figure out what was off. First off they haven’t quite gelled into a cohesive sound which will come with time. There were two big issues however. First the guitarist’s skill level varied greatly between songs, some songs he was solid on, others he was just plain off. (I think his g string wasn’t tuned right, I could be miss hearing). It wasn’t just the newer songs that were rough, either. The bassist was flat out subpar. She wasn’t terrible, just not on the caliber the rest of the band. The drummer was the savior of the low end. When the basest didn’t pull through, he was there to fill in the sound.

Fortunately for them, no one other than the critic in the audience was paying attention to the bassist. Duhan was a complete showstopper. Once she really hits her stride, she’s going to be amazing.  

Coheed and Cambria with Between the Buried and Me and Russian Circles(not reviewed) at The Congress Theater

Subtitle: “Don’t close the Coffin yet, I’m Alive”
The Congress Theater:(3/6)
The Congress is like that old pair of jeans with the holes in the knees and the thinning seams that you love because they are comfortable, but you know they aren’t in the best shape. Wonderful atmosphere, very defiantly a venue meant to be a concert venue, but the sound system is woefully bad and the place is in utter disrepair. (Though maybe they’re fixing this--they were renovating the balcony) The bars feel temporary, the bathrooms are almost frightening, and the traffic flow both inside and out is laughable. But it’s home.

The show:

Between the Buried and Me (3/6): While not untalented, Between the Buried And Me made one of the classic new band mistakes. They tried to before they had a good grip on the basics of their genera. This is the double-edged sword of the modern music industry, especially in young bands. Innovation and genre blending are avidly encouraged, and fighting for your sound is considered the pinnacle of strength. I’m all for those things, in fact, nothing impresses me more than a band that doesn’t sound like anything else I’ve ever heard. However, you have to master the basics of your primary genera (in this case metal) before you genera blend. And these guys were all over the place too, with pieces of blues, punk, and (I shit you not, dear readers) something that could only be described as a metal ho-down. It could have been amazing had they really trained at any one of the genres they were using so that they had a really solid platform to experiment from. They were technically decent, the guitar work was good, the vocalist knew what he was doing, but the band as a whole fell apart.

Coheed and Cambria (4/6):
Not Coheed and Cambria’s best show by far, but these guys were amazing. This time they added in yet another layer to their already intense performance: they introduced stage effects. Normally, the set for Coheed and Cambria is minimal, including maybe a lighting effect or two; largely it’s just the band performing, so this was a real change. They also used the voice of the All Mother (a character from their most recent album set) to transition between songs. The effects were carefully orchestrated in a way that did not interfere with one of the most badass bands I’ve ever heard. As a unit Coheed and Cambria has amazing, intricately laired, yet seamless instrumentation toped with a unique and otherworldly vocals makes for a very powerful show.

This show ran the gamut of emotion, from charged fearlessness to quiet sorrow by way of demented mania Coheed and Cambria has really solidified their sound and continues to innovate without losing sight of the fundamentals that make them a fantastic band. Looking out at the crowd was quite a sight. Not many bands can get the crowd pumped on a song that is over a decade old, then turn around and have them sing back verbatim a song that is less that six months old.

The Coheed and Cambria audience, in general, is a fervent lot. The band’s energy is contagious, and the energy the crowd gives back just amplifies everything. This show was no exception. It was wonderful.

Album Review: Afterman: The Descention "This Selfish War Machine"

(4/6 for the album, 5/6 for the album with the book.)

Last October, The first half of this album was realased (Afterman: The Ascension) marking the final chapter in The Amory Wars. The Deluxe Edition included a gorgeous coffee table book, which contained the story and commentary from creator Claudio Sanchez. I waited to finish reading the book until I heard this album. I went back and read the second half of the book along side the album. So, I apologize if this review is a little less streamlined than my other reviews. I also apologize if my hard edge goes soft. There is so much about Coheed and Cambria’s music that hits me somewhere very personal.

Onward, then. 

Musically, Afterman: The Descention does not hold up to Afterman: the Ascension.  Coheed and Cambria’s famous layering is overused in places. However, this piecemeal sound is a reflection of the jarring events unfolding in Sirius Amory’s story. I'm still not personally a fan of how some songs sound Namely, "Iron fist," was far more upbeat than its lyrics called for. I first heard this song several years ago as a stripped down, raw, acoustic track. It was heart rending. I never envisioned this song as up-tempo and discordant as it came out.

I should add this: The album is absolutly brilliant and the story is beyond anything I could ever create. When I criticize this album,it  is always as compared to their other albums. I would call it brilliant in any other band’s repertoire.

Even in it's all of its flaws, Descention still weaves in brilliant throwback to No World for Tomorrow and Second Stage Turbine Blade. Musically, it is deeply complex (wich is a double edged sword in this case) and richly layered.. In addition to the story elements, some of the discordance comes from Coheed and Cambria trying to redefine their sound.

Lyrically, Descention is pure art. Creator Claudio Sanchez may occasionally get caught up in cool sounds and musical effects, but lyrically he is consistently ingenious. Evocative both of the story itself and something raw and human the lyrics are simple and incredibly profound. I could rave on for ages about the brilliance in the analogy of the artist as mad scientist. The current of raw, yet surprisingly precise emotion in the lyrics are just outstanding.

Two tracks took me by complete surprise, not because they were particularly bad or good, but because they were so out of character for Coheed and Cambria. They are happy tracks-- one is an actual love song. In the armory wars stories, it is a very rare thing to see hopefulness, and “Away We Go” and “2 Is My Favorite 1” are saturated with hope and love, a rare thing in the Amory Wars saga.

On the whole Descention was a good, but clumsy album that I suspect is a set up for something bigger still.  

And then there was the book. 

Just like with Ascension, I sat down with the book and read along side the album, as it was meant to be. The art alone is poetic, when you combine it with the lyrics that go straight to your core and the little pieces of commentary Sanchez leaves at the bottom of the lyrics of each song. It is both brutal, and striking. I got about three quarters of the way through the book and Iron fist --the very song I had issues with-- started to play. I lost my ability to act as a detached critic, leaned my head in my hands, and cried. I will admit Sirius Amory's story hits far too close to home for my own liking, but even without the personal element it is an elegant and beautiful story. I was sobbing for the rest of the album despite the fact that both of the above mentioned hopeful and upbeat songs are in that last quarter. It is simultaneously polished and unspeakably raw. It felt like I was reading the notes on someone’s diary. 

Amory Wars is not the war story it started out as. It is a love story with a demented, warped shell. Well played, Mr. Sanchez, well played.