Keeping It True To The ‘Core: Bands Circle Up The Hordes At The Brass Monkey, February 2, 2019

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Snow!

Circle pits!

Longer sets by the other bands after the AGONY SCENE were denied entry into the country!

This was the Death To False Metalcore tour which is currently blast beating its way across the continent. Explosive trigger blast beat drumming, 300 mph soloing and vocals about as clean as the AGONY SCENE’s criminal record was the nucleus of the tour as the audience at the Brass Monkey that night was a sea of black T-shirts and skin tight jeans. The trimmed-down lineup didn’t disappoint as the stage was graced with the first of three bands on the bill.

With their stage lights set to the highest level of red as they thrashed through their 30-minute set, local bangers/band who traveled the least distance to the venue, a.k.a. TRIPLE MURDER, were either reinforcing the power of their sonic bloodlust, or they were just eager to celebrate International Ginger Day a few months early. Likely the former if whiplash-inducing numbers such as “Drenched In Murder” and “Cannibalistic” are anything to go by even if the band must’ve felt like they were playing inside a rotating police car light. And being the only local band on the whole bill tonight, this was the chance for TRIPLE MURDER to seize success by the throat and shake their way to recognition. Judging by the shout outs they’d received from the other bands, TRIPLE MURDER’s blinding rock performance killed in threes once more.

https://www.facebook.com/Triple.redruM/

Co-headliners UNEARTH had always had the distinction of appearing on lots of more highly-anticipated headlining bills over the course of their 20-year career – including, in some cases, stepping up to become the headlining band themselves almost each time I’d seen them play Ottawa. They’d subbed for GOD FORBID at a show on their 2001 tour when the latter had lost much of their equipment to theft following a show in Montreal the night before, and again in 2004, they covered for ALL THAT REMAINS on their tour after the original headliners were stranded in Montreal when their bus broke down. Each time, the Boston quintet managed to punch above their own weight and played like they earned the headlining slot through their own merits. And with their first tour underway since the release of their seventh album Extinction(s), the Boston quintet certainly kept true to their reputation of being one of the genre’s most consistent bands. The core of the original lineup – frontman Trevor Phipps and guitarists Buzz McGrath and Ken Susi – perform with as much raw ambition two decades into their band’s lifespan as they have back when I’d seen them conquer the stage at Barrymore’s back on that fateful summer day in 2001. Along with their new rhythm section comprised of bassist Chris O’Toole and drummer Nick Pierce, UNEARTH’s new material from Extinction(s) such as opening numbers “Incinerate” and “Survivalist” delivered as much of a powerful impact as their well-known numbers as “Giles”, “Zombie Autopilot”, “My Will Be Done”, “The Great Dividers” and the closing number “Black Hearts Now Reign”. McGrath and Susi responded back to their new rhythm section’s rapid fire groove delivery with every improvised riff and solo they had in them while Phipps’s voice was raw and well projected, whether he was singing or commanding orders for the crowd to start up a pit. And judging by the crowd’s reception that night, Unearth are still surfacing and above two decades later, poised for headlining status.

That said, I wished I’d pushed harder to get an interview with the band to reminisce about those shows now…

https://www.facebook.com/unearthofficial/

Setlist:

• “Incinerate”
• “Survivalist”
• “This Lying World”
• “Never Cease”
• “Endless”
• “Watch It Burn”
• “One With The Sun”
• “Zombie Autopilot”
• “Dust”
• “Giles”
• “My Will Be Done”
• “The Great Dividers”
• “Black Hearts Now Reign”