Local Music 2-for-1: Of Brothers and the Bear (Jan. 8) and Reaper (Jan. 13)

[DethMaiden]

This week I had the fortune of witnessing not one, but two, awesome local shows. I'll keep these brief.

First, I went to see a show that I sorta helped book, as in I got the headliners to go to the show. Big mistake on my part, as they were very anticlimactic following a band that they did. Here's a rundown of the five band bill:

When the Tigers Broke Free- Named for a song that didn't make the final cut of Floyd's THE WALL, WTTBF were a post-rock band that used a violin, and quite affectively. I really enjoyed them, probably the second most after a certain band who had yet to play.

The Juniper Wait- Drunken and sloppy post-rock, but post-rock nonetheless. Pretty cool shit, especially since they took guitar solos. Who the hell does that in post-rock?

The Ascent of Everest- Holy shit, Batman, here's a band to keep an eye on the radar screen for. The only touring band on the bill, the Nashvillian septet (is that a word?) played downright bludgeoning ambient/experimental/folk/country/metal/classical/orchestra music that blew everyone's mind in that particular basement. I bought their album "HOW LONELY SITS THE CITY", and it's just about as great as their show. Check these dudes out for one hell of an experience.

Romance of Young Tigers- Blah. Second time I've seen them, still just painfully discordant whale noises. Next.

Of Brothers and the Bear- Upbeat indie rock from my high school. Nothing to write home about.

AND THEN THERE WERE REAPER

Tonight I went to a church, but I wasn't worshiping. I was watching the second best local band from my area, REAPER. An instrumental thrash trio, the dudes from Reaper play straight-up, no-nonsense, breakdown-free thrash fucking metal. Brady, Addi, thrashers in general: this is for you. Think Annihilator complexity meets Slayer soloing meets King Diamond melody meets anything and everything UltraBoris loves. They don't have anything recorded but the second they do I'll be letting everyone know. This shit kicks ass. The only thing that sucked was that they chose Pantera as their band to cover. Setlist was as follows:

Reaper Overture
Grimoire
Cowboys From Hell (Pantera cover)
Poltergeist
Nile's Curse
Domination
Guitar Solo
March of the S.S. (this song fucking ruled)
Hellfire
Thou Art Dead
Drum solo (really bad one)
Apocalypto

So there.

[powerslave_85]

Originally Posted by DethMaiden

March of the S.S.

[ADD]

Thanks for the read

[DethMaiden]

Originally Posted by powerslave_85

Well, they don't have vocals, therefore they don't have lyrics. The title clearly came from the fact that they used a military march drum beat. They aren't Nazis or anything like that, they were playing a damn church.

[DethMaiden]

I forgot to mention that Reaper also have a groove akin to that of Overkill or Corrosion of Conformity (though I realize these bands are completely different). It's quite foot-tappable.

[Maiden33]

"Of Brothers and the Bear" ???
We really are running out of band names.

[ADD]

Originally Posted by Maiden33

"Of Brothers and the Bear" ???
We really are running out of band names.

[powerslave_85]

Originally Posted by DethMaiden

Well, they don't have vocals, therefore they don't have lyrics. The title clearly came from the fact that they used a military march drum beat. They aren't Nazis or anything like that, they were playing a damn church.

It's still stupid as hell. I don't care what their beliefs are, using Nazi imagery/language in songs is just bad.

[DethMaiden]

Originally Posted by Maiden33

"Of Brothers and the Bear" ???
We really are running out of band names.

Yes.

[DethMaiden]

Originally Posted by powerslave_85

It's still stupid as hell. I don't care what their beliefs are, using Nazi imagery/language in songs is just bad.

I hope that when they write lyrics for it, it's told through the eyes of a victim and viciously attacks Nazism. Then I can say I told you so