Good morning, good evening, or good day to you, and welcome the first edition of the South Sound Stronghold. The Pacific North West guide to everything metal. As yours truly hails from the country side of the Oly area, I'll mostly be covering the southern hard rock scene, but will occasional talk about some northern events as well. In some rare instances we might even dive into some lighter stuff. Case in point, I'm taking my wife to see the Brian Setzer Rockabilly Riot tour in Seattle this month for our anniversary & I'll definitely be reviewing that show afterwords as I love to do. I'll also mention a killer food joint now & then, so if your in the area, you'll know what to look for. (I'll bet “Killer” & “food joint” aren’t meant to go together but WTF, it's casual Metal lingo going back to the 80's;)... This week I'll be talking up a featured band & hopefully (help) get the word out on these guys, so sit back & enjoy the ride...
So as mentioned, I'm gonna give some big kudos to this month's featured band: A((WAKE)). Now I know that our intentions here are to discuss Puget Sound Scene(ery), but I'm gonna start out by making a big exception as I'm finding these guys quite worthy. A((WAKE)) are actually from Portland so that’s not too far a stretch anyways.
My work buddy & I drove down to Portland last month to see Mastodon at the Roseland Theater and as we poured out with with rest of the crowd after the show, I was handed this CD. I figured it to be just another demo, but hey, it's free music! And in this day of “begging” everyone you know to buy tickets to your local band's show, I was fully impressed with them for doing it the old fashioned way & giving out the album outside a bigger concert.
I was way-wrong on the “just another demo” premise! This album is highly progressive and in my opinion, very much on the conceptual side. Each song seamlessly moves from one track to the next & I don’t say that lightly. There are hints of prog-rock with a touch of some really fine musicianship.
The track titled “Landslide”, is true highlight. A turning point when you know your absolutely along for the ride. The fifth track starts with an audio clip that I'm fairly sure is from the movie ”The Edge”. I wont give it away, but I'm thinking this is a big part of the theme here...Super Cool effect! By track 6, I was fully hooked on this stuff. The vocals really reminded me of old VoiVod. I have to mention, (probably from my own drummer's perspective), that on Track 9 at the 1:37mark, these guys hit a genius note from what I'm thinking is the guitar & drummer hitting the bell of the ride to create One Fucking Awesome effect!
So to sum it up, this album is killer progressive, super chops musically, tastefully done throughout and not to give to give it away, but the last track on the album has a surprise effect that left me feeling like I was hunkered down in a tent in the cold, cold woods. I'm really hoping these guys can find their way the short trip up to the Puget Sound area. Find this album and listen all the way through!
So as far as any cool shows coming up in the (southern) end, I walked into McCoy's Tavern, downtown Olympia), last night & was told by the bartender that the mighty Blistered Earth was to play again this Saturday night. I saw the show last time they played here & also caught a bit of a show they played at Hells Kitchen in Tacoma. If you have not seen this Metallica Tribute band before, make a note now! You'll get no closer to the band than at McCoy's as it's not a large stage to say the least, but the shows that happen,(like this one), tend to bring tons of adrenalin and memories for sure. By the way, that drummer is in my top 5 Washington state drummers list. Way funner to watch than Lars now for sure, sorry Lars;) These guys tour a lot, so see this band if you like Old School Metallica and great musicianship/showmanship...the real deal.
As I mentioned, I live, work, & breath in the greater Olympia area and as such, this will be what we talk about the most here at the South Sound Stronghold. But please, feel free to interject, supply any thoughts or call my shit on any info I've provided because as they say...this is one mans opinion.
Featured Band: A((WAKE))
So as mentioned, I'm gonna give some big kudos to this month's featured band: A((WAKE)). Now I know that our intentions here are to discuss Puget Sound Scene(ery), but I'm gonna start out by making a big exception as I'm finding these guys quite worthy. A((WAKE)) are actually from Portland so that’s not too far a stretch anyways.
My work buddy & I drove down to Portland last month to see Mastodon at the Roseland Theater and as we poured out with with rest of the crowd after the show, I was handed this CD. I figured it to be just another demo, but hey, it's free music! And in this day of “begging” everyone you know to buy tickets to your local band's show, I was fully impressed with them for doing it the old fashioned way & giving out the album outside a bigger concert.
I was way-wrong on the “just another demo” premise! This album is highly progressive and in my opinion, very much on the conceptual side. Each song seamlessly moves from one track to the next & I don’t say that lightly. There are hints of prog-rock with a touch of some really fine musicianship.
The track titled “Landslide”, is true highlight. A turning point when you know your absolutely along for the ride. The fifth track starts with an audio clip that I'm fairly sure is from the movie ”The Edge”. I wont give it away, but I'm thinking this is a big part of the theme here...Super Cool effect! By track 6, I was fully hooked on this stuff. The vocals really reminded me of old VoiVod. I have to mention, (probably from my own drummer's perspective), that on Track 9 at the 1:37mark, these guys hit a genius note from what I'm thinking is the guitar & drummer hitting the bell of the ride to create One Fucking Awesome effect!
So to sum it up, this album is killer progressive, super chops musically, tastefully done throughout and not to give to give it away, but the last track on the album has a surprise effect that left me feeling like I was hunkered down in a tent in the cold, cold woods. I'm really hoping these guys can find their way the short trip up to the Puget Sound area. Find this album and listen all the way through!
Featured Show
So as far as any cool shows coming up in the (southern) end, I walked into McCoy's Tavern, downtown Olympia), last night & was told by the bartender that the mighty Blistered Earth was to play again this Saturday night. I saw the show last time they played here & also caught a bit of a show they played at Hells Kitchen in Tacoma. If you have not seen this Metallica Tribute band before, make a note now! You'll get no closer to the band than at McCoy's as it's not a large stage to say the least, but the shows that happen,(like this one), tend to bring tons of adrenalin and memories for sure. By the way, that drummer is in my top 5 Washington state drummers list. Way funner to watch than Lars now for sure, sorry Lars;) These guys tour a lot, so see this band if you like Old School Metallica and great musicianship/showmanship...the real deal.As I mentioned, I live, work, & breath in the greater Olympia area and as such, this will be what we talk about the most here at the South Sound Stronghold. But please, feel free to interject, supply any thoughts or call my shit on any info I've provided because as they say...this is one mans opinion.
ROCK ON!!!...
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