Tag: power trip
If Ever A Band Was My Home: Ceremony’s HOME SICK Festival At The Phoenix Theater
Rob Shepyer
January 18, 2018
I have been waiting for so long to write about Ceremony that referencing their performances in completely unrelated articles just became a habit of mine. If I was writing about hardcore punk moshing and stage diving then I’d compare the peaks of that violence to the bar set by Ceremony when Anthony Anzaldo strums the first notes of “Kersed” or when Jake Casorotti starts the kick drum intro to their cover of Red C’s “Pressure’s On”. If I was talking about Joy Division’s many offspring, like in my Cloak and Dagger review, I’d talk about how Ceremony’s “L Shaped Man” is the only derivative of that style worth its weight. If I was talking about what I feel is the spirit of America as expressed in music, I would say it’s when Ceremony plays “Hysteria” and you can almost transport yourself back in time when Bill Haley & His Comets performed “Rock Around The Clock”, it’s that same desperate need to let loose, still in the air after half a century. “…The only young band I’ve seen come close was Ceremony performing “Kersed” at Sound and Fury 2016, when the entire audience erupted when the opening notes of the song
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The Battle of The Bays: Obituary & Exodus Clash At Teragram Ballroom
Rob Shepyer
October 12, 2017
Thrash is the father of every form of extreme metal on the heavy metal family tree. If it wasn’t for Slayer there would be no death metal or black metal. There have always been bands that have teetered on the border of death and thrash metal, german thrash bands like Kreator and Sodom brought death metal vocals and heaviness into thrash, while bands like Obituary brought thrash metal accessibility and groove into death metal. Perhaps that was always the secret to Obituary’s longevity, of all the original Florida death metal bands, beginning with Chuck Shuldiner’s Death then continued with Morbid Angel and Deicide, Obituary is the only band of the bunch still reigning. What separated Obituary’s music from these other bands is that they took a more accessible, groove and rhythm approach to death metal, it wasn’t a total noise fest of blast beats and guttural vocals. The band was always more seeped in their southern rock roots than the rest. Almost like how Weedeater is to stoner metal. related content: Weedeater And The Obsessed At The Regent: Blaze It Up, Fool The Florida death metal sound was born out of Tampa Bay in the Morrisound Recording studio but then
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Power Trip & Destruction Unit Leave The Teragram in Ash & Rubble
Rob Shepyer
April 11, 2017
Being a music and live show junky has made me a frequent visitor to the Teragram Ballroom. Quite simply- it’s the shit. Big stage. Perfect acoustics. Good booking. Excellent bathroom and bar placement. I’ve noticed though, they don’t have many metal shows. So, it’s a shame for the venue that the one time a metal band gets booked, Power Trip rolls into town with Destruction Unit and just completely leveled the venue into rubble. Power Trip is probably one of the best young bands to carry the thrash torch after the big 4. In fact, along with Iron Reagan, Toxic Holocaust, and Havok, they’re part of the new big 4. That said, I came to see Destruction Unit. Destruction Unit was close to becoming the Berkserktown house band after tearing down the house at 2 but then being unable to play at Berserktown 3. The void Destruction Unit left for Berserktown 3 gave me that disturbed feeling in my gut, that burning desire that you get only when you miss a band you want to see because of circumstances beyond your control. You wait at the edge of your seat, for years sometimes, waiting for them to announce the next show
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