AllMusic Concert Review
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
It is amazing on how long concerts have gone on in the twins' lives, and even after the life-changing summer of 2010, there are still surprises happening in them. Submersed, once linked to springs and summers of the middle years of the 1st Era of Concerts, made a surprise return in this concert, with the very melodic "Better Think Again" and the power hard-rock ballad of "Answers". It is rare to hear such approachable vocals to such hard rock, and it is this unique combination that makes Submersed both a good concert band, and a good listening band. "Vegetable" by Radiohead---a song that made leeway during Spring 2006---had Gary with his mouth open upon it's play in this concert. The song's catchy verses and rather anthemic bridge of "I'm not a vegetable!" is an ode to boycotting the norm. The jewel of Andy's show had to be the opener, "Forsaker" by Katatonia. Outstanding vocals flood the verses, and the chorus soars to stunning heights, while maintaining the band's signature dark tonal sound.
The Deutsche Bank Championship does have a very small collection of music associated with it, or, more specifically, with that time of the year. The transition from August to September has had a long history with music, and with memories, dating as far back to 1999. If there is such a thing as post Post-Hardcore/indie-emo, Castor certainly has that genre all by itself. Songs, like the dainty percussion on “Lo Pro”, or the secretly beautiful guitars on “The Taste of Metal” go a long way in defining that very small collection of music that can be richly experienced during a final week of August, or a first week of September. The songs aren’t perfect, nor are they melodic, but the bare music itself is pretty special.
Failure is still rearing its head, as “Undone” has a terrifying coldness to it---it just sounds uncomfortably distant and dark to the Nth degree. Breaking Benjamin is a band out of left field in this concert, with a little known song off their 2009 album, “Crawl”, which has the listener in a head-banging state on the chorus, with its pounding snare and heavy guitar chops. But overall, the song doesn’t offer much in melodicy as anything on Phobia (2006). "The Anthem Of Angels" is the superior song of the two, since it's chorus is much better. A song is about handling the death of a partner, and how their presence can be felt long after. Nirvana was another surprise, and what better time than now for them, with the B-side “Sappy”, in which, ironically, Kurt Cobain never mentions that song title, and instead uses the word “happy” throughout. It’s a standard fare alternative-pop midtempo song with plenty of percussion and hard, standard chords with high levels of distortion.
This was a concert that continued to build the momentum and identity of Fall 2010. We see artists coming into the picture, and sticking to the scene. This is what the performers are looking for right now: consistency, and continuity.
written on September 3, 2010