Black Mastiff, Shooting Guns, Free Judges - in review.

March 24^th 2012 – New City Legion – Edmonton, AB

Black Mastiff, Shooting Guns, Free Judges
18+ $10 Advance, $12 Door

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deadcity.ca/press / onthewall-mag.blogspot.com

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Oh Saturday evening in Deadcity with many bands playing, and of those, quite a few that i wanted to see, however none more so then the show at New City. It isn't often i wander to the west side of the tracks on a Saturday evening, as the jocks, and preps, and general drunk frat boys just take a lot out of me, and I think back to when i was that age (early 20's) and hope that i was twice as drunk and half as much an ass hole. At any rate by the time we found ourselves walking through the red door on Gateway Blvd. and down into the basement that has become New City Legion. After squaring away the price of admission for MRD, I showed my deadcity.ca press pass, and my note book, and after being advised that New City has their own press passes (aka the Golden Ticket) and that I'd be required to earn one or work for one (I presumed through writing,) My wrist was stamped and I was let in. Almost immediately ran into the cats from Görgön Hörde, and Lindsay bought us a round of drinks.

FREE JUDGES

See we walked in part way through the Free Judges set, my first impressions before seeing the stage were big drums, Replacements style guitars, and droned out vocals. A couple songs later they certainly had started sounding more like Big Black say Headache EP era, and maybe it was the band, possibly the crowd but I’m just not sure that Free Judges were a good choice to open up the show, especially knowing what was coming next. Had this been a bill with Sangsara or Cockatoo they would have fit right in. The obvious lack of a drummer that had been replaced with samples became more and more apparent to me, and those around me as they neared the end of the set, and the crowd just wasn't really getting it. Closing out their set with a Nine Inch Nails inspired tune in dropped B ave me pause for thought, as i found it to be a promise that next time I saw them they would be better.

SHOOTING GUNS

Having never heard of Shooting Guns, I was going into this on the concept that Black Mastiff hand picked them for the bill, and rumour had it that they are an instrumental metal band. Leaning heavy on the doom side of the spectrum, chances are I would quite like them. At 11:20 they started the set, with five guys on stage,all decked out like a mid 90s logging company, and some classic metal drone over taking me, I knew i was in for a good ride. The crowd inched forward toward the stage as though they were about to be attacked by a black bear cub, but they still want to see it up close and give it a pet. Just before the second song takes off the only words spoken are “There's never a better time to get broken.” Something resembling the Melvin's + Witch – Vocals drenched in the sweat of hard working men emanates from the stage. Like a doom version of the ventures with a lead guitarist that reminds me of Tad Doyle, and a bass player that resembles Kim Thayil whacking out riffs like Mike Watt on the thud stick. The overall impression left on myself, my room mate, and a few others that i chatted with was that “They're really fucking good, `cept someone should sing.” Now to add a vocalist to this group might be a bit of blasphemy to say, but it would require a certain type of singer, not that scream/singing shit, but the pacing of Mike Patton, or King Buzzo to turn these amazing riffs into true songs. Placed on stage right before Black Mastiff this band makes perfect sense, and knowing that when they usually stroll through town they rock out with BM or Krang it all makes perfect sense. Certainly a band worth checking out, and required listening for anyone who has spent a winter at -30C.

BLACK MASTIFF

I'm going to lay this right out, I'm a fan. I dig these guys, though I've only seen them play live once before, and with an average song length of 4 – 6 minutes, not something folks would think I'd really be into. Either way, this worked out to be a perfect way to spend my Saturday night, being the broke son of a bitch that I am, I was unable to pick up a copy of the new LP but I suspect it will be found at all the usual Deadmonton haunts and record shops before long. I did attempt to buy a couple stickers with the $2.75 that I had in my pocket, and that worked out all right. 12:23AM the show really starts, Green pyramids emit a light from stage, three guys, huge sound, and a crowd that was ready to rock from the moment those drum sticks counted off a four count. The crowd tonight isn't one that I'm used to seeing, nary a spiked leather jacket or belt to be found, instead replaced with healthy looking, beef eating, kids in college sweaters, a lot of plaid (myself included), and people just looking to enjoy a show. The smell of bad, cheap, weed wafts through the air, people keep on piling in, rocking out, and Black Mastiff stands up and delivers. Personally I haven't really listened to much “new” “rock n' roll” in the most recent years, I've found most of it to be uninspired and BORING, and too damned long. Much like the guys in Görgön Hörde, Black Mastiff gives me hope for a genre I had given up on. Gone are the giant egos, and synthetic plastic, replaced instead with huge sound with each note given a chance to breathe, each word sinking into your skin, and it feels as though the drums are beating in place of your heart. Black Mastiff represents everything that I love about music, like I said, I'm a fan. Looked to me as though a lot of the audience was as well, and those that weren't when the show started certainly were by the time the band hit the mid-way point of their set. Maybe its that attitude that one is used to finding more at a punk gig then at a rock show, or the haze of weed and a groove so deep you could feel it's Black Sabbath roots, and a couple pauses for tuning that are used to thank the audience, the families, and dedicate a tune or two. As the crowd started to wait, either for beer, lack of sleep, or who knows around 1AM, Black Mastiff, brought out the big guns, four on the floor, in your face, doom rock that they built their name on, picking up the pace, and getting all of those that were there to come down into that groove with them. Lyrically dense and vocally strange each singer on his own isn't much to write about, sonically, but combined it feels as though they are channelling the late Layne Staley, tearing out their soul for you on stage dripping it into a dropper and shooting it up. “Feel it through the pyramid power” says more about it then it needs too, much like Black Mastiff, it's something you'll either get, or you won't.

-Jim Nowhere
Shooting Guns photo by MRD, Black Mastiff photo by Jim Nowhere