The Market Hotel in Bushwick has been a D.I.Y. Rock staple for many years. It is also one of the few D.I.Y. venues to survive foreclosure and resurface in the scene. With the continuous loss of venues in New York City that cater to Extreme Music, the Market Hotel, is making its mark on becoming the new home of Metal in Brooklyn.

Located centrally in Bushwick and directly right under the J/M/Z subway line, many Metalheads took the pilgrimage to the Market Hotel to watch Canadian Metallers, Kataklysm, tear down the house for the “Meditation’s Over North America” tour. On the bill supporting them were New Orleans’ own Exhorder, Brazilian Death Metallers, Krisiun, and the Bay Area’s own Hatchet.

Up the stairs and into a dimly lit room, fans filed in for some Monday night chaos to relief a hectic workday. With a fully operating bar in the back, some good company and some heavy distortion, fans were given a treat with this stacked line up. Hatchet got the crowd started and pumped with their sets. They knew how to work the crowd. I noticed more people getting excited and the room going from half-empty to being nearly packed. The crowd really began to move once Krisiun got on stage. What I loved about their set was the sound quality. I could hear everything so clearly. The room was intimate, yet the sound quality was noticed and felt throughout their set. Something that says a lot of the venue and the productions they put together.

Up next was NOLA’s very own, Exhorder, who came on stage and delivered some cajun flavored chaos. What I noticed about their set, in particular, was the amount of fans that came to see them play specifically. When they went on stage, all hell broke loose. This was when the intensity of the crowd increased and more movement occurred in the pit. Like the previous bands, their sound, too, was amazing. The vocals were top-notch and I could hear every instrumental clearly. When they played ‘Unforgiven,’ the crowd went insane! This is when I saw the mosh pits beginning to form for the first time since the show started. The room lit up when they ended their set with ‘Desecrator.’

For the main event, Kataklysm entered the stage to music consisting of Mongolian throat singing. They opened their set with ‘The Black Sheep,’ which give them a great command over the audience. The crowd really exploded during their set. During their set, upon noticing the location of the venue, vocalist Mauricio Iacono states “I’ve been doing this for 28 years and I’ve never played a venue where I can hear the train go by every two minutes.” Then they played ‘As I Slither,’ which got the audience headbanging in unison. Then they treated the fans to an assortment of hits throughout their career which included ‘Outsider,’ ’10 Seconds From The End’ as well as ‘Crippled and Broken.’ Lastly, the band ended their set with ‘At The Edge Of The World,’ which made the room erupt into madness.

All in all, it was a great show. I really enjoyed myself considering that this was my first time being in the venue for a show after walking past it several times before and being curious about what they had to offer. In a city where finding a home for Extreme Music is becoming more and more scarce, The Market Hotel is truly making its mark on the NYC Metal scene.

WORDS BY KIM GILL