The sound and the fury

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Last Saturday night, les Saints hosted one of the more eclectic tours on the road right now when High on Fire, Mono, Panthers and Coliseum pulled into town. Showing up at the early hour of 8:30 p.m., I was only able to catch the last two songs of Coliseum. Shame, too, because with the exception of the odd Mono fan who wrinkled their nose at the band’s brand of pulverizing metal, most of the half-filled room seemed to love them.

Panthers were introduced by a disembodied voice coming out of the P.A., dripping with all the fromage of a strip club DJ. As if on cue, after the weird intro, plumes of chemical smoke started billowing out and gave the unsettling sense that we were all trapped in a cover-band bar. Here’s the real problem, though—after people have paid 25 clams, would it be too much to ask for adequate sound? Panthers’ fuzz-fuelled set was utterly destroyed by massive low-end frequencies overtaking the entire mix, the guitar getting neutered and a cranium-crushing snare that sonically resembled a calypso steel drum as the band blatantly winced through a bad monitor mix. Sorry if I’m being a dick here, but this amateur hour killed any chances of anybody digging these poor New York troopers.

That ghostly infomercial voice returned to let us know to get ready to rock out to Mono as the Japanese post-rockers stood on stage for another 15 minutes, trying to fix on-stage sound issues. After simply unplugging the drum kit’s overhead mics due to feedback issues, Mono rose above a lacklustre start and absolutely destroyed, with the sound thankfully much crisper and clear. Although not as bewitching as their last show at la Sala Rossa, largely due to hesher dudes in Venom and Mastodon shirts squashing their quiet sections with chatter, Mono’s dynamics still induced sonic vertigo. It has been argued that they are just a low-rent godspeed!, and you can set your watch to their rising crescendo formula. Truthfully, I can’t offer much of a defence, but when they bury themselves in the eye of cacophony, and stop on a dime to masterfully soften their blows, they can still conjure up their own magic.

With all sound issues well taken care of, High on Fire took the stage armed with an almost hour and a half of music that pummelled and punished to the bitter end. High on Fire are truly hitting their stride now and easily surpassed their previous shows at Foufounes and Sala, with guitarist Matt Pike actually unable to hide his grins between genre-bending riffs and guttural caterwauls. With a banter-free, non-stop set that absolutely gutted everyone in the room, High on Fire proved why they are indeed one of the most exciting bands in metal right now—and if there was one band that could follow the brilliance Mono brought, it was them.

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Unfortunately I must report the sad news that Psychic TV’s Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge, the “better half” of band leader Genesis

P-Orridge, died suddenly from an undiagnosed heart condition on Oct. 9 at the couple’s home in Brooklyn. Psychic TV have cancelled their upcoming tour, which would’ve included a date here on Nov. 16 at les Saints.

Smoking in bars: sometimes not a good thing… Jonathan.cummins@gmail.com