Jucifer w/ Machete, Gloominous Doom
The Milestone
June 6, 2010
The Deal: Trio of loud, heavy bands invade The Milestone.
The Good: The night started off with a set by Pennsylvania's Gloominous Doom. The band tore into its set and left little in its wake — heavy riffs, gargle-with-glass vocals... Due to Jucifer's setup, the band was mostly on the floor in front of the stage, but that up-close adventure made you pay a bit more attention. Singer Jeff, who apparently loves to stick his tongue out every chance he gets, found the time to pull up his pant leg, expose his prosthetic leg, and hammer the hell out of it with a cowbell.
Next up was the drum and bass combination of Charlotte's Machete. The duo plays mostly instrumental music — and found their way into some fantastic grooves during their set. Sporadic lyrics are screamed at full volume into the microphone — I couldn't tell you one word that was said, but it really doesn't matter. The duo found a balance between the raw, tribal and ragged.
The lights went out and Jucifer guitarist/vocalist Amber Valentine, in a long black cloak, scrambled to plug things in and get set up. Standing in front of their infamous wall of speakers, Valentine plucked a few notes while Edgar Livengood got behind the drums... and then it started. The notes and beats rushed from the speakers like a tidal wave and didn't stop until the set was over roughly 35 or 40 minutes later.
Livengood was screaming, standing, hammering away on his drum kit, dumping beer on his back and pouring it on his drums as Valentine writhed, and swayed through her riffs.
The Bad: The amount of time it takes to set up your equipment shouldn't be longer than your set. As soon as Jucifer started really getting into the swing of things and the crowd was thoroughly warmed up, they gave hugs, blew a kiss to the crowd and walked off... the crowd stood silent for what seemed like an eternity — was that it? Valentine walked off stage and you could hear the sighs of "really? That was it?"
The Verdict: Not as loud as I expected — Motorhead still remains the loudest I've seen. As for the music, it was better than I expected and I was disappointed that it ended so quickly. I couldn't tell what was being sung, or screamed, or what songs were being played, but it was more about the atmosphere created and the aura of music that swallowed you.
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