Bell Witch: Mirror Reaper (2017)

First of all, I have to say, this is the best cover art I have seen in years.  It is incredibly creepy and imposing.  I would have probably bought this album just for the cover alone.  It looks so much better on the double gatefold vinyl sleeve.  But there is also the music, as Bell Witch has been rising as one of my favorite funeral doom metal bands over the last few months after picking up each of their recorded releases (including their demo) on cassette and vinyl.

Bell Witch's third album is an exercise in patience and attention as it is technically just one 84 minute long song called "Mirror Reaper (As Above, So Below)".  Several bands have attempted the one-song album over the years with some impressive results.  Just look at Edge of Sanity's Crimson, Sleep's Dopesmoker, and Insomnium's Winter's Gate, for examples of projects done well.  And Bell Witch have added their name to the list with this sprawling epic. 

It is not just the length of the album that requires fully immersing oneself into the music however.  As a funeral doom metal band, the music is painfully slow (in a good way) and drawn out.  There are no hooks, no memorable choruses, no real melodies.  It is just pure melancholic dread set to eerie, atmospheric, monolithic music.  Bell Witch accomplishes this task with just two members and no actual guitarist.  Their sound is bleak and massive without being heavy and loud.  It is a tribute to a former band member who had died.  In fact, one of the most poignant moments on the album is the use of previously unused vocal tracks recorded by the now-deceased band member, giving that much more weight to the heavy theme. 

Bell Witch have put out one of the great funeral doom releases with this.  It is so much more than just a terrific cover.  The music really fits in with the cover art and the music is dark and complex.  In my own opinion, it is much harder to make terrific slow music.  Bell Witch have made it an art form.

Jackyl in Sioux City: November 17

For now, my concert experiences have come full circle.  The very first rock concert I ever attended was Jackyl back when I was a junior or senior in high school.  At the time, Jackyl was going on an ambitious plan to play 50 shows in 50 days and they were playing a free concert in the parking lot of the local record store, back when we still had those in my hometown.  It was free, so I went, despite not knowing a ton about Jackyl.  I was a little late because I was at a basketball game before going, but I managed to catch six or seven songs, and again, it was free.

Now, Jackyl is not a metal band, but I figured I would make an exception for the blog, mostly because my wife really wanted to go to this one.  They were playing at the Hard Rock Casino, which makes three weekends in a row that I have attended a concert there.

The opening band was a group called Screaming for Silence from Omaha, Nebraska, and it is just like Nebraska to produce a band that is 15 years behind the times.  They were about as stereotypical a nu-metal band as you could possibly get, complete with guy with weird-colored hair, guy wearing sideways baseball cap, jumping around while playing, and vocalist wearing flannel shirt.  The green-haired guitarist was pretty decent, but by and large, the band was ultimately forgettable.

Jackyl took the stage next and played through all of the songs one would expect the band to play.  "Dirty Little Mind", "When Will it Rain", "Mental Masturbation", "Down on Me", and "I Stand Alone" are the band's biggest hits and were all played last night.  Jackyl sounded damn good for being a band that has been around for 25 years.  Their brand of southern hard rock has aged well and they can still bring it after all this time.  Jesse James Dupree's voice is as bourbon-soaked and raspy as ever.  Of course the band closed things out with "The Lumberjack" complete with chainsaw accompaniment, which was to be expected as they did the exact same thing when I saw them almost 20 years ago. 

I have never really been a big fan of Jackyl, but they do put on a pretty good show.  My wife really enjoyed it, which is the important thing.  I do kind of owe after that whole Mayhem concert thing.

Mayhem in Omaha: November 12

Well, this one was certainly interesting.  If you had asked me even a year ago if I ever thought I might see Mayhem live in concert, I would have laughed.  I never expected the band to come anywhere near here, yet there they were at The Waiting Room in Omaha last night.

Black Anvil was the opening band, and I honestly was not familiar with them.  I had heard the name of the band before, but maybe I had them confused with Black Tusk or something, because I had no idea they were a black metal band.  I was actually pretty impressed with them.  Their sound was definitely hateful and aggressive, but they are clearly not a pure black metal band.  There were a lot of hardcore and thrash influences in their sound, which is borne out by reading into the band's history, coming from Kill Your Idols.  They also had some softer moments reminiscent of the latest Watain album.  Black Anvil was definitely impressive.

The second band was Immolation, who have been a favorite death metal band of mine for many years.  They played a diverse set covering a number of their albums.  Immolation is mostly well-known for their jagged riffs and chaotic sound, and that was definitely on display on Sunday night.  Combining that with the fact that Ross Dolan is still one of the better death metal vocalists out there made this one of the better death metal performances I have seen.  My wife though was less than impressed and seemed annoyed with the facial expressions of guitarist Alex Bouks, commenting that duck lips had no place in metal, other than Steel Panther's Lexxi Foxx.  I did not notice.

After a long wait and a message about not using flash to take pictures so as not to upset the atmosphere, Mayhem was up.  The band definitely got some use out of their fog machines and burned some incense, which also annoyed my wife.  She says she has been sneezing all day.  Singer Attila Csihar was mesmerizing, with his theatrical movements, and his varied vocal styles.  He was wearing corpse paint and at one point moved around the stage holding what looked like a human skull.  At times, Attila seemed to be attempting to channel evil spirits on stage.  I was a little disappointed that his mic was not turned up a little higher as he was sometimes very difficult to hear.  Mayhem played the entire legendary De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas album, which ended up being their entire set.  I was happy about this as it represents the best of Mayhem's catalog.  Between the fog, lighting, and the intense music, this was probably the darkest atmosphere for any concert I have ever attended.

This concert was probably one of the most memorable concerts I have ever attended.  It was truly an experience to see Mayhem live.  As much as I enjoyed the Immolation and Black Anvil performances, Mayhem's performance was incredible.  This was a concert I will never forget.

Arch Enemy and Trivium in Sioux City: November 10

For the second time in less than seven days, I found myself at the Hard Rock Casino in Sioux City, Iowa for a concert.  This time it was a co-headlining show with Trivium and Arch Enemy.  I have seen Trivium once before, so the reason that I chose to go to this one was to see Arch Enemy.  My wife did not come to this one with me.  She had to dog-sit for her parents this weekend.  I am not sure I care much for going to concerts alone. 

The opening band was Fit for an Autopsy, a group that has started to make some waves.  I did not care much for their brand of deathcore personally.  The entire performance was basically one long breakdown.  There were a couple of decent songs, but this is not likely a band I will be seeking out in the future.  The second band was a metalcore group called While She Sleeps.  Now, this is a band I likely would have enjoyed quite a bit more in my early 20's.  They had some decent material and the singer was undeniably charismatic on stage, but again, I am not likely to seek them out further.

Arch Enemy was next on stage and they performed a fantastic set, dedicated mostly to their material since Angela Gossow took over as vocalist and extending into the Alissa White-Glutz era.  White-Glutz is a powerful vocalist, but the true highlight of the entire night was the incredible guitar performances by Jeff Loomis and Michael Amott.  Those two really put on a show.  Arch Enemy was absolutely worth seeing.

Finally, Trivium closed things out.  They played a little shorter set than I expected, and certainly shorter than last year's set.  They have a new album out, which I have not heard yet, and which I am not sure I will be checking out.  The new songs they played were catchy enough, but not as good as some of their earlier material.  Matt Heafy sounded as if he might be suffering from a little bit of a cold as his melodic vocals were not quite up to snuff.  But, Trivium had some impressive songs, just not as impressive as Arch Enemy.

This was only the second time I have ever gone to a concert alone.  Quite frankly, I do not much care for it.  Maybe if it had been a better lineup I might have liked it better.  Trivium sounded a bit off and neither of the opening groups were really impressive.  Arch Enemy was pretty much the only really good thing about the night.

Gwar in Sioux City: November 4, 2017

Well, I finally had occasion to see Gwar over the weekend.  I have missed out on several opportunities in the past to see them, but I decided that it was not going to happen again.  Of course it is a little disappointing to see them without the great Oderus Urungus fronting the band, but Blothar still does a pretty damn good job.  This concert occurred at the Hard Rock Casino in Sioux City, Iowa a venue I have not previously been to.  My wife was a little interested in this one too, given Gwar's theatricality.

The opening band was U.S. Bastards, a band fronted by Gwar guitarist Brent Purgason, aka Pustulus Maximus.  Their style is drenched in dirty, raw, Motorhead-influenced punk rock 'n roll.  To drive the point home, they even covered the Motorhead classic "Killed by Death".  I enjoyed them quite a bit more than I thought that I would honestly.  I am not sure my wife agreed.  She did not look up from her phone once during their set.

Up next was Doyle, a band named for bandleader, former Misfits guitarist and certified gigantic human being Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein.  Misfits were a rarity, a punk band that I truly loved listening to, due to their infectious songs, presence of Glenn Danzig, and crossing over into metal on occasion.  Their later material with Michale Graves was very close to metal and Doyle's solo band continued in this style.  Oh, there is still quite a bit of horror punk, but a lot of metal riffing as well.  Singer Alex Story introduced almost every song with "This next song is a bit of a love song, you can dance to it, if you like", a joke which got a little old after about the third time.  My wife liked Doyle, the guitarist, for reasons other than his musicianship.

Ghoul came next, and honestly I was more excited to see them than Gwar.  I just generally enjoy their music more.  This is where things got more theatrical as two people in costumes began doing a skit about finding some sort of portal to another dimension and talking specifically about the band, who then showed up, complete with burlap masks covered in blood over their faces and decapitating one of the people, spraying the crowd with blood.  Some of the prop usage left a bit to be desired.  One of the "soldiers" clearly had no idea how guns were supposed to work.  The show went on like this, eventually peaking with a Nazi-esque leader discussing building a "bigly wall" to keep out all the aliens before beating one of the Ghoul members with a nightstick.  Yes, the music was damn fun too.  Ghoul's sound is a mix of thrash and grind with very few moments of melody.

Gwar was next on the stage and they delivered exactly what I was expecting.  Lots of costumes, some sick humor, lots of body mutilation and fake blood spraying into the crowd, and some damn catchy songs.  They played a lot of material from the new album, but peppered in classics like "Black and Huge" and "Saddam A Go-Go".  Gwar brought out a Trump character as well, before disemboweling him and Blothar taking over as President of the United States.  About the only down side was that Gwar no longer feeds the World Maggot on stage.  But they still put on one hell of an entertaining show all the same.

This show was a lot of fun.  I am not a huge fan of any of the bands for their music, but Gwar and Ghoul in particular are bands that must be experienced live.  I am definitely glad we had the chance to go.  My wife enjoyed it quite a bit as well.