Eyehategod at Club Lido

This show was way the hell out in Revere, which on a Sunday in February is like the middle of nowhere, but the train drops you off right in the parking lot so at least it’s got that going for it. Club Lido was so dark that at first I thought they forgot to pay their electric bill but soon my eyes adjusted and I was able to make my way to the back bar and begin to grease the wheels of metal. Pretty big place, probably holds close to a thousand people, although this show did not sell out. Good crowd though, just not a sell-out.

Fast Death went on first, an hour late, and proceeded to…I don’t really know. The sound was so atrocious that I couldn’t make out what the hell they were doing. I think it was some kind of thrash metal, maybe? I could see a guitar player up there, but I couldn’t really hear him over the insanely loud drumming. My guess was that whoever was running the soundboard had just woken up, turned on the PA and had the band start playing without checking any levels or even if the mics were plugged in, that’s really the only explanation. Truly horrendous sound. Fortunately, it improved for the rest of the bands. Sorry, Fast Death. Maybe next time.

Full Blown AIDS were next and proceeded to play some of the most downtrodden and oppressive doom there is. It’s not even doom, it goes beyond doom. Seth Putnam plays guitar like he’s trying to kill it, to physically dismantle it until there is nothing left but shards of wood and small pieces of metal. It sounds completely wrong, but it gets their point across so well, which is “fuck off, go die, we hate being here, where are the drugs”. Definitely a change of pace from A.C., the songs of Full Blown AIDS are much longer and slower, sometimes barely crawling along before being out out of their misery. Great set.

PanzerBastard kind of sound like all of the good bands and none of the bad ones. You know what I mean. Celtic Frost, Motorhead, Venom, Discharge=good, you figure out the rest. Head bastard Keith Bennett got the masses riled up and led the charge, and they didn’t let up for a minute. They have a new EP out called “Centurion” which I highly recommend checking out. Goddamn.

Livver followed and played their version of music, which in this case is like a mix of AmRep scumrock mixed with angry hardcore a la Deadguy. Good set. They definitely mean it, that’s for sure, you can tell by the way the veins on the singer’s head bulge out . Simultaneously tight and messy, Livver are a band to keep an eye on.

Misery Index were up next. I gotta admit I don’t know too much about these dudes, although I have heard them before. They’re on Relapse and basically sound like it. A little grind mixed in with death metal and some groove with duelling lead vocalists. They were energetic and definitely pro, and the crowd dug ‘em. Just not really my cuppa tea.

Ah yes. Eyehategod. The granddaddies of Southern sludge. After repeated attempts to have one of the spotlights turned off, with Mike Williams proclaiming that they would not play until the light was indeed turned off, Mr. Bower took matters into his own hands by takng a mic stand and simply pointing the light up to the ceiling. Take that, incompetent light guy! And then the feedback, the feedback that only sounds like Eyehategod feedback. And then, my friends, the sludge. A giant wave of it broke over the crowd and we all bathed in it for the next hour plus, wallowing in the filth and the groove which only Eyehategod can provide. Yes, it’s true. No band sounds like them. Many try to, but none do. As I was watching this glorious spectacle, I realized just how many truly great riffs these dudes have. As in, you could put their riffs up against the best riffs of Sabbath, Zeppelin, Kyuss, anyone you can think of, and Eyehategod would hold their own, sometimes even besting the masters. Lots of old stuff was played, as well as brand new material (which sounded great) and there was tons of stagediving and the pit got pretty big a few times, everyone celebrating the ugliness of the world with Eyehategod providing the soundtrack. Truly epic. They sounded great, maybe better than any other time I’ve seen ‘em, and they showed why they are held in such high regard by people who like their riffs caked in dirt.