Locrian made three New England stops on their current tour making The Alchemy in Providence, RI the first up on the list with support from the Cleveland-based composer High Aura’d and A Monolithic Dome featuring members of Elizabeth Colour Wheel of Boston. I went into the show kind of blind since I had only been asked to review it maybe 48 hours previous and had no previous knowledge of either of the supporting bands.
When A Monolithic Dome began at first they had me confused. I couldn’t really make heads or tails of what the heck they were up to but by the second song they completely hooked me. The only way I could put it into words was to call it freeform experimental sludge and yeah I hate that I just put those descriptors together too so don’t worry, I am aware of what I just wrote. Trust me though it would make sense if you were there. The riffs were akin to some kind of dirty sludge not unlike something you would hear on the first few albums by (the) Melvins. They just land in all the right places and make you grit your teeth. Add that to the experimental sounds, screams, and leers by the singer who looked as if at any moment they might break something or punch someone in the face, and a drummer who must have had a fight with his drums and was trying to teach them a lesson. It was raw, violent, pure emotion being tenuously held back just by a hair and it felt that at any moment things would just explode.
High Aura’d was completely at the other end of the spectrum. Experimental yes, but ambient. At times it was exceptionally soothing and in other moments it was as if the music demanded something. With a guitar, numerous boards of knobs, wires and switches, and a board of foot pedals, this one-man band created sound landscapes that washed the venue into another world. Voices combined with droning and a faint piano then evolving into something completely different. Once I heard something that reminded me of the Blade Runner score, then sampled voices brought flashes of a conversation I had with a friend but none of these thoughts kept my attention for long. Instead, I just let everything go. Now this isn’t to say that what I was hearing was like some meditation tape. It was simply enjoyable but it was still interesting and kept my attention.
Locrian is a band I had not kept up with for a very long time. I had heard there was a new album (End Terrain, out now via Profound Lore), but to be fair I had not heard it. The three-piece took the stage with the drummer and screen behind him covered with a digital projection of distorted images and lines. The singer went from ferocious screams to soft vocals all the while producing powerful drones and noise from the synthesizers. The root of the music still held a lot of what I remember the band to be about a long time ago but now the music has more of a simplistic quality to it. Less metal or metal adjacent. The small crowd enjoyed it all and there were even a couple of “kids” kind of head-banging a bit. Their presence on stage was very energetic and the projection added visual noise that was appropriate and complimentary. If it was at a bigger venue with massive sound, I can only imagine how they would make the walls rattle.
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https://linktr.ee/endterrain
WORDS AND PHOTOS BY HILLARIE JASON:
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