Concert Review- Witchtrap at the Drunken Unicorn

Back after a week and a half of crazy!  Hey, I have a life...  

This show was particularly interesting because I never thought I would see Witchtrap live.  I have been listening to them since 2006.  They are a great old school speed/thrash band.  I was deeply looking forward to this.   It was a clear night so on we traveled down to Atlanta!  The last concert I went to was... lackluster.  We'll see if this one changes things up.  I knew very little about the other bands before this show.


Thoth Nemesis-  Atlanta natives and a one man band.   I have heard this guy called black/thrash.  I love the black/ thrash style and relate it directly to bands like Nocturnal Breed and Aura Noir.  Well, the one dude in the band has an Aura Noir shirt so... We'll see.  Last review I lamented the lack of stage presence of the bands.  This guy hand huge stage presence.  I was wondering how he'd solve the "one man band" issue live.  He set up a drum machine his guitar and amp.  He was dressed head to toe in black.  He was wearing a couple of armored pieces on his left arm and was covered in dark eye makeup kind of like the old school band.  He then proceeded to turn his amps on, get his guitar feedbacking and held up an upside down cross.  He stood there for 5 minutes letting his guitar feedback and holding that upside down cross for around 5 minutes.  It was actually pretty effective.  and then he blasted through several songs of very riffy, melodic black metal with no hint of thrash that I could see at all.  He was more Dissection than Nocturnal Breed.   But it was good black metal and he was entertaining for a one man band.  It was a very good opener for the proceedings.

Summoner's Circle-  On their bandcamp page these dudes call themselves epic doom metal.  They took the stage in grey monks robes and black and white face paint.  They claim to be from another dimension.  It's a fun amount of theatricality that seems to have left extreme metal a few decades earlier.  Its fun.  The music is less epic doom to me and more like if My Dying Bride fell in love with the moog instead of the violin.  Or if Deep Purple came out in the early 90's and came from the doom/ death scene.  Its really good.  They play, interact with the audience and even do a fake ritual sacrifice.  Really enjoyable.  I hope to see them again very soon.

Ectovoid-  These guys are an Atlanta based death metal band.  They're making some waves.  They're ok old school death metal but with zero stage presence.   The songs blend together and they just aren't that interesting live so we step outside before the actual headliners come on.


 Witchtrap-  Its time... I never thought this wonderful thing would happen.  These guys get billed a lot as "Black/thrash" but that doesn't feel right.  I always referred to them as speed/ thrash.  There music is fast headbanging glory but absent of the atmosphere I relate to black metal.  But they stepped up and destroyed the place.  There was almost no theatricality to them but they played to the audience.  They talked to us and introduced the songs.  They played a healthy smattering across all four records including my favorite "B.L.M.D".  They fed the crowd energy and the crowd responded.   It was light and darkness between this and the Bolzer show.   The crowd surged, danced and banged away.   The place was levelled.

Thank you, Witchtrap.   Thank you for restoring my faith in live music.   The scenes, local, national, and international, are lucky to have these bands.  May all of them do more and have long careers.

The next one of these I will make sure to write up closer to the show date.  My memory is not what it used to be.

Axed and Smashed- Gimmick Life(demo)

I love it when this happens... A band asked me to listen and write an opinion about their music.  I feel it is a great honor and responsibility and I take it very seriously.  As always, I will endeavor to give my honest opinion.

I came to punk as my first style of "extreme music".  I had been exposed to earlier punk rock but really preferred the hardcore of Minor Threat and Black Flag as a more straight ahead, no nonsense style.  As I grew I started adding metal but I was one of those kids that loved both styles.  Yeah, I got into a lot of fights at shows in the late 80's/ early 90's... Anywho....

Axed and Smashed are a hardcore punk band from Orlean, New York... My redneck ass has no idea where that is but its far away... I know that.  This is a demo that was recorded last year.  They also have a split with the fine gentlemen in Vermin Warfare and Insomniax and a live recording.

So to the music... This is great! Its raw as hell, oldschool hardcore that hits you like a fist full of nails. Its short, fast and just rude as hell.  Only one track is above 2 minutes and that one is a slow grinder about, apparently,  a terrible woman.  I also think its a cover.  The tracks come hard and fast and grind you down.

The production is demo level and is raw as hell.  They mention something about that on their band camp and I have to agree with their point.  However, if you don't like raw and violent, I honestly don't know why you're here as a cursory look at this blog shows my love for raw and violent.

These guys are a great raw punk band that are trying to keep that great, nihilistic punk vibe alive.  These guys could surely give a shit about you, or me for that matter, and that's exactly what its about! DIY violence done right.  And they even put this recording up for basically free... I ask you how much more can you want... go give them a few bucks to make sure these gentlemen stick around for a minute.

Highlights: Looking like shit, Work, Continuous Cycle.

Visit their bandcamp: https://axedandsmashed.bandcamp.com/album/gimmick-life-demo
And they're even savvy enough to have a facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AxedandSmashed/