BROOKLYN BAZAAR

KRALLICE + PYROLATROUS + YELLOW EYES + FÓRN @ BROOKLYN BAZAAR /  by Christopher Wiezorek

An extended trip out of town, a couple of missed shows, and a return to a much busier schedule have delayed me some here, but I am always game for a little catch up. July 21st marked a headlining show from Krallice at Brooklyn Bazaar. Doom and Black Metal were the flavors for the evening. All four bands were absolutely awesome. Fórn brought a slow and weighty doom performance. Yellow Eyes played a sort of gut churning, nauseating, hypnotic style of Black Metal. Despite sharing a drummer, Pyrolatrous and Krallice play distinctly different yet wholly satisfying styles of Black Metal. Pyrolatrous smash the audience with a relentless, and attacking style that gallops through their set. Krallice are a technical player's dream; they bring the weight, heft, and the brutality that one would expect, but they do it with supreme musicianship and precision playing. Overall, it was a heck of an evening to send me off onto vacation the next morning.

I will be catching up soon with my two evenings spent seeing Spirit Adrift!

SARGEIST + WAYFARER + ORDEALS /  by Christopher Wiezorek

I have tried to make it a rule that if there's a band coming from out of the country to one of the venues I like I try to go to the show. The announcement of Sargeist coming to Brooklyn Bazaar on July 12th enticed me, then Wayfarer was added to the bill so the deal was done and I knew I would be attending. Ordeals, a black metal band local to NY, opened the evening. Ordeals are a band that lets their music speak for them. There is some makeup and corpse paint going on, but the main attraction is the confrontational nature of their battering set. Wayfarer are a band that had my attention with their most recent release being on Profound Lore Records, and then a good friend giving me the "you have to check these guys out" put them right on my radar. Being skeptical, one may think that Wayfarer is just another death / doom / black metal hybrid to come from the Denver metal scene that is absolutely booming right now. That would certainly be a skeptic's right, but it would be entirely wrong. Wayfarer bring a sort of Western soundtrack element to their brand of black metal that gives them their own unique soundscape. They captivated me from start to finish and set a high bar for Sargeist. Aside from knowing Sargeist are a black metal band hailing from Finland, I knew very little about them coming in. Performance is the key word when describing the show that Sargeist put on that evening. There is an air of ritualism to what they do; incense burning, a singing bowl, the corpse paint, and even a rug all add to the flavor of the show that they put on. The music itself is absolutely crushing and intense. I have to say I am thrilled to have been able to see this show.