Girl at the Rock Shows

For those who think metal music is only shouting matched with loud and aggressive instrumentation, I challenge you and wish that you had been at The Turf Club on Tuesday night. I’ll be honest, I prefer the more shouted vocals and the intense blast beats when it comes to my metal but, on Tuesday night, I walked into a whole different world which left me a bit confused but also completely intrigued.

Opening up the packed show in the intimate venue was Aberration. Featuring members of Void Rot, Suffering Hour, Tvaer, and Nothingness, this band is a bit of a super group for those in the scene which made them the perfect way to start the night. Aberration’s music was intense and as dark as the room we were in. With very little light, it was hard to see exactly what was going on on stage but you didn’t need to see anything to hear the true musicianship that we were getting treated to. Epic guitar parts mixed with frantic bass lines and intense drumming, I felt that, out of the three bands that performed on Tuesday, this was the closest I got to something familiar.

Although it was slightly familiar, there were elements to Aberration’s set that felt completely foreign to me. The biggest element would be the slight ambiance that could be heard throughout the set. I honestly don’t know where the sound was coming from or if it was even a sound but I just got this calming vibe from the music even though everything was intense and chaotic. Blame it on the dark ambiance of the room or maybe there was something in the music, regardless, as mentioned, it had me intrigued and was an element that I was going to get a lot more from when it came time for the headliner.

Following Aberration was Spirit Possession. Spirit Possession is a duo that leans a bit more into a straight up heavy black metal sound but, like the rest of the bands on the line-up, their sound came with a twist. When it came to this duo, it was the vocals that left me a bit confused but absolutely captivated. In most black metal that I’ve heard, the vocals are very guttural and, for the most part, incoherent. That was not the case when it came to Spirit Possession. The vocals had this effect on them that almost gave them a grainy grunge vibe yet the words were being shouted keeping it in the black metal vein of things. As I was driving home with my partner, I was trying to explain what I heard but realized I sounded a bit crazy as I described it so I’m not going to keep going on this here but I will say that the vocals of this band is what really makes Spirit Possession stand out from other bands in the scene.

Another thing that makes them stand out is their performance. Although the two members rarely addressed the audience or even really moved much, there was something about their show that had me stuck. It was as if I didn’t want to look away but, looking back, there wasn’t anything out of the normal to see. Much like the vocals, I feel like I am purely grasping for the words to describe this phenomenon so I won’t stumble around this too much but will just say that this band has something about them that left me both with a new favorite act to dig into but also a lot of questions.

Dylan Desmond and Jesse Shreibman are Bell witch and Bell Witch was clearly the reason for the packed audience at The Turf Club on Tuesday night. Although I knew nothing about this duo or what they were going to bring to one of my favorite venues in town, the excitement as the stage was turned over for this headlining act was palpable and, as they started into their set, the attentiveness from those around me had me absolutely floored.

Bell Witch is a doom metal band from Seattle, Washington. They have been around since 2010 and have released five full length albums since their conception. Tuesday night’s show was in support of their newest album, ‘Future’s Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate’. Reading more about this album this morning helps make more sense of what happened during their set on Tuesday night. Long story short, this album is actually less of an album and more just one single song. Okay, that’s not quite right because the movements throughout this 83 minute release are contrasting and dynamic but it really is just one song that goes on, and on, and on.

That feeling of things going on, and on, and on seemed to be a bit of a theme from their set on Tuesday night. I don’t mean that in a bad way at all but I definitely figured out about thirty minutes in that it wasn’t for me. Like Aberration, there was a sense of ambiance throughout Bell Witch’s set but, in the case of Bell Witch, it was much more apparent. I felt like throughout the set, there was a constant build up. That came in the form of a buildup of energy, dissonance, anticipation– everything yet there was never any sense of resolve or climax. It was weird and kept me on my toes for sure but I just felt that I was left wanting something so much more than what I was given.

That being said, everyone else around was completely into it. It was dead silent throughout the room. Even at the beginning as the band started into their dark and ominous set, there were two men next to me talking fairly loudly. They were quickly asked to pipe down by someone else in the audience. I don’t see this happen often but it didn’t surprise me that Tuesday night was the night for that. People were so into what was happening on stage and although to me, it didn’t seem like much was happening at all, the rest of the audience was absolutely enthralled giving the night that super intriguing vibe that I mentioned at the beginning.

I honestly don’t know much about doom metal and definitely went into the show Tuesday blind. After experiencing it, I’m not sure if doom metal is my thing. It’s just a bit too slow moving and too ambient than my short attention span will allow but I will say that immersing myself in that world on Tuesday night was a very unique experience.

Line Up:

Aberration

Spirit Possession

Bell Witch

Venue: The Turf Club

Smell-O-Meter: Nothing Notable

Average Age of the Crowd: 35

Crowd Surfers- 0

Stage Divers- 0

Mosh-ability- 3 out of 10

Amount of Beer Spilled On Me While Walking Around- 0

Broken Bones- None Noticed

Spotted Flying Through The Air- Nothing

Fights- None Witnessed

Pukers- 0

Passed Out Kids- 3

Idiots Taken Out By Security – 1

How Irritated I Was With The Audience – 0 out of 10

How Many Times I’ve Seen These Bands Before (or at least how many times I can remember)-

Aberration– 0

Spirit Possession – 0

Bell Witch – 0

Celebrity Sightings – None

Overall Score –7 out of 10

Show on Deck — Amigo the Devil / Tejon Street Corner Thieves / Nate Bergman

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