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Music

Overkill, Nile, Amorphis, Swallow the Sun at Starland Ballroom

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When trying to get free tickets to Monster Mania Con failed, I decided the next best thing was see this awesome New Jersey bill. I had only been to the Starland Ballroom two other times, once in 2010 (the first time I saw Overkill with Forbidden and Bonded by Blood) and again in 2013 for Goblin and Zombi. Both were some of my favorite shows out of the many I’ve been to. The day came, I got my hair cut,  did some errands then went to my buddy Jay’s house where our friend Ray picked us up and we left for the venue. When we  got to the venue at around 8 p.m., it was during a random intermission between the last local opener and Swallow The Sun.

Swallow The Sun

Being the only main band on the bill I had never seen, Swallow the Sun was the one I wanted to see the most. After taking what felt like forever to set up, the band only got to play three songs. While I was disappointed that the set was so short, they sounded great for the amount of time they were able to play.

Amorphis 

Next up was another Finnish band, Amorphis. I had seen these guys once before at Maryland Deathfest 2015, where they played Tales from One Thousand Lakes in its entirety. This time they had a set of mostly new material, which as a fan of I was kind of excited to hear.

Our friend Steve who was also at the show went mostly for Amorphis, while Ray and Jay didn’t care for them. As with Swallow the Sun, the sound guy took forever to get their sound right, cutting the band’s set time to about five songs. The songs were mostly later era such as “House of Sleep,” but we did get two older classics “Into Hiding” and “Oh Rich and Poor.” Similar to Swallow the Sun, they sounded great but deserved a longer set – especially since it wasn’t their fault that it was cut short.

Nile

Nile was Jason’s main reason to go and I was curious to see how they would do without longtime and iconic singer Dallas Toiler Wade, who surprisingly left the band just before the tour. I had seen them two other times and his stage presence was part of what made those shows so good. Unfortunately, their sound check again took too long and they only got to play five songs, though they sounded great and still had great presence (not to mention considering their length, five Nile songs is still a decent amount of set time).

Overkill

At around 11:30 came the main event. When I first saw them in 2010, I was blown away by how insane the energy and sound was from these Jersey locals in their home state. Just like last time, acclaimed heavy metal DJ Eddie Trunk introduced the band as they are one of his favorites and close friends. Overkill’s set consisted of mostly later work, from the 2010 album Ironbound and onward as well as some old school classics such as “Feel the Fire,” “Hello from the Gutter,” and “Rotten to the Core” as well as some great covers such as Thin Lizzy’s “Emerald” and, of course, the Subhuman’s  “Fuck You.” This was a pretty cool selection as it showed that Overkill is a band that continues to write great songs 30 years into their career.

 

Music

Mayhem, Inquistion at The Chance

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While The Chance gets some pretty cool metal shows from time to time, no one saw it coming when black metal icons Mayhem was announced with support from their Colombian counterparts, Inquisition. We then found out they were playing all of their 1994 album De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, making this show an immediate must. After work, I grabbed my friend Jay and we left for the venue. When we got in the parking lot we saw that many a fan had also arrived early. We ran into Branden (another friend) and all headed for some food at Nutty’s, where we again ran into other friends who are normally mentioned in my articles. Prime time came around and we entered the venue. Although no band had started playing yet, the venue was already packed. Taking advantage of the open balcony, I headed up and found a sweet view before the first band started.

Black Anvil

I had seen Black Anvil once before when they opened for Watain at The Loft. I was never a fan, and wasn’t impressed at their performance then. Here it wasn’t much better. They had a new sound that had clean vocals that didn’t seem to match the music. After their set Inquisiton got on.

Inquistion

This legendary duo has always been one of my favorite black metal bands. Every time I’ve seen them they were killer – including this one. Their sound was spot on and they had a great setlist. Nothing that night could match the power of their set as Inquistion stole the show once more.

Mayhem

Last but not least, Mayhem got onstage. I had seen the controversial band once in 2015 with Revenge and Watain. At the time, I really enjoyed Mayhem’s set (though not as much as Revenge’s) as I finally got to see them and hear classics such as “Chainsaw Gutsfuck” live. Looking back, their sound was pretty off and they spent too much of the set promoting their last album (2014’s Esoteric Warfare), which wasn’t very good. Here, they were amazing. Mayhem brought out an altar while all the members wore robes. They performed De Mysteriis from front to back while doing over-the top-theatrics. The sound was much better this time around. The only problem I had was that they only played the album, making for a short set. Overall, it was a great show and made up for the near two month streak of not seeing any touring acts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Music

Bonesaw’s Top Non-Metal Shows of 2016

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Although 2017 has finally arrived, we’re still not done with our best shows of 2016 countdown. Being metalheads, we tend to be a little more diverse than most give us credit for. To polish off our countdown, here are our favorite non-metal shows of last year – with hopefully many more to come in the new year.
Chris – Cypress Hill and Naughty by Nature at Terminal 5
Chris: I caught Cypress Hill and Naughty By Nature for their annual Halloween tour. They ruled and the place reeked of weed to the point where I reeked of weed even though I stuck to beer. You could not get away from it. My only complaint was that it was my first rap show and there were mostly white people there.
Anthony: My first rap show was Hopsin two years ago and he had mostly white people watching him. Oddly enough, it was the same type of crowd when I saw Mobb Deep.
Chris: Oh Hopsin is amazing. I’d love to see him. Such a talented guy. Perhaps I will get him on the pod in 2017.
Birdman – The Beach Boys and The Temptations at Bethel Woods

Anthony: Nice. Bethel Woods is such a cool place.
Lyon: And historic.
Birdman: Went more for The Temps, and was disappointed that this wasn’t a co-headlining tour even though it was marketed as the “Surf and Soul” tour.
Anthony: That happens a lot I’ve noticed.
Birdman: The Temps played all their hits and I bought a shirt of theirs.They had two. Meanwhile, The Beach Boys had two dozen designs.
Anthony: You should wear that when you play in Roargh! How did The Beach Boys sound for their age?
Birdman: On point. Their set was in chronological order.
 Lyon: Sick.
 Birdman: Problem is my dad was getting tired and we left as they were just beginning the songs from Pet Sounds. Mike Love’s a great frontman even if he’s no Brian Wilson.

 

Tony – Prophets of Rage at Barclay’s Center

Lyon: Oh awesome! I was hoping they would be good.
Anthony: The two openers weren’t my thing but this show was basically equal to seeing Rage Against the Machine, Public Enemy and Cypress Hill on one bill since they played tracks from all three.
Lyon: Any originals?
Anthony: No, I don’t think they had any at the time. But it was cool to hear all three acts classics.
 Birdman: Must’ve been. They have an EP out.
Anthony: That EP is mostly covers. There is an original song on it but they didn’t play it. Maybe they want to wait until they have an album. Mid-set they even had B-Real and Chuck D walk into the audience and rap Cypress and Public Enemy songs with the DJ doing the beats.
Birdman: Sick.
Lyon – Bad Religion with Against Me at Irving Plaza

Lyon: I’m not the biggest fan of the first band, but I understand why people are and everyone was really digging their set. Bad Religion is still fucking amazing and I pitted ’till I couldn’t pit no more.
Birdman: Bad Religion’s a band I really wanna see.
Anthony: Does Bad Religion still play a decent amount of their 80’s stuff?
 Lyon: They sure do. It’s my second time seeing them.
Antony: Nice. I’m sure hearing “We Are Only Going to Die…” live would give me Tony Hawk memories.
Birdman: Any chance they played “Leaders and Followers?” Brings back another type of memory.
Lyon: Their energy is unmatched and every song is like, “Oh shit.” They played most of Generator, a few songs from True North, a few Against the Grain and some other sick shit.
Music

Bonesaw’s Top 5 Metal Shows of 2016 Countdown: Part 4

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As we near the end of 2016, we also near our number one spot of our top five countdown of metal shows for that year. While there was an arsenal of spells, speed and sonic bliss, these are the ones that were our second favorite. For our number one’s, check back tomorrow.
 Chris’s #2: Spellcaster, Exmortis and Holy Grail at St. Vitus

Chris: I ended up interviewing all three, meeting the guy behind Heavy Artillery Records and some hot chick who I went on a disater date with a few weeks later. They (the bands) are all extremely talented. It was really nice to catch up with Alex Lee as I hadn’t seen him since he was in Bonded By Blood when I was interning at Earache. He still does the crazy yo-yo tricks. And Spellcaster has been one of my favorite modern bands since their first album.
Birdman’s #2: Fear Factory and Soilwork at The Chance

Birdman: Plus a lot of unmentioned openers
Lyon: That’s likely the show I most regret  not going to this year.
Birdman: The Chance failed to mention Spades and Blades and Without A Martyr who were touring mates. I didn’t care for either of those bands, though Crazy Dan liked Without A Martyr.
Lyon: Diverse representation of sound has its advantages at a show sometimes, which I’m positive we will both mention again later.
Birdman: And it was great chance to see Dirk drum for Soilwork before he found his life’s calling.
Anthony: Dude’s in Megadeth now. Great job on his part.
 
Lyon: Fear Factory is, at this point, I would argue iconic in metal.
Birdman: Yeah, seeing them live put me on a Fear Factory kick.
Lyon:  They were one of the first really heavy bands I got into.
Birdman: Also made Demanufacture a must for my vinyl collection. Their drummer was kind of boring though. Wish they had Hoglan for this tour.
Anthony: Every band should have Hoglan for every tour.
Birdman: Bring out the cloning device.
Lyon: Yeah, if they made that stupid fucking sheep they can make Hoglan.
Lyon’s #2: Aether Realm, Nekrogoblikon, and Alestorm in NYC

Lyon: I’m a big fan of all three bands. The opener has an exciting new album on the release and the previewed tracks were great. Hilariously, Evan and I hung with Nekro during the show and did shots with them. Scorpion, their singer, actually took and listened to our demo, sending us constructive and positive criticism. It was a real fuckin’ nice and cool thing. Also, their set was amazing and I slayed bodies in the pit
(“murder” always makes pits better). Lastly, Alestorm definitely still has it. It was my first time seeing them since their second album. The new songs are a lot better live than on record. There were a lot of magical moments, and it definitely made up for the last time they came around and were down a guitarist and at a much shittier venue.
Music

Bonesaw’s Top 5 Metal shows of 2016 Countdown: Part 3

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If you’re still with us on this countdown to 2016’s extinction, congratulations! As we progress with our roundtable of top metal concerts from this past year, we get to our number three spot, and we’re sure to have you wondering what could possibly top these prime candidates.
Chris and Birdman’s #3 / Tony’s #2: Black Sabbath with Rival Sons at PNC Bank Arts Center

Chris: Number three is Black Sabbath at PNC Bank Arts Center.
Birdman: That’s my number three too. Didn’t know you were there. Sucked going there with just myself, but all that matters is I saw Black Sabbath before they stopped touring.
Chris: Yep I was there, so was Rob.
Anthony: That show is my number two, although I saw them at Madison Square Garden.
Chris: Not only was that one of the best shows, it was also the best possible birthday present, so thanks Dad. They must have sounded great at the Garden. Even though I edited your review, words can’t describe the experience of seeing Sabbath live. The only thing that annoyed me was that they didn’t play “The Wizard.”
Anthony: “Hand of Doom” – I can’t belive we got that. Even Sabbath tribute bands skip “The Wizard.”
Lyon: I’m pretty jealous of you guys.
Anthony: My goal of seeing Maiden, Priest and Sabbth is complete. It was fun chilling in NYC with Doug, Rob and Jason too.
Lyon: I imagine expectations were at an all-time high. How did the actual show hold up?
Anthony:Rival Sons was a decent opening act. Wish they got someone better but at least they didn’t suck. 
Birdman: Yeah about that. I noticed Witchcraft’s vocalist sounds a lot like the Rival Sons singer, wouldn’t that be a better match?
Lyon: They will likely go down in history as the Beatles of metal.
Anthony: I’d love to see Witchcraft.
Lyon: I would have picked Skull Fist to open. What’s your number 3 Tony?
Tony’s #3: Venom INC and Necrophagia at Webster Hall

Lyon: Wow that sounds like a ton of fun. Big mosh pit?
Birdman: Now Venom Inc. has Mantas and Abaddon, right?
Anthony: Yes. They are both in it and not really much moshing, just screaming along to Venom classics. Necrophagia has been one of my favorite death metal bands since high school and seeing them live and interviewing Killjoy in person was such an amazing experience.  I saw both Venom and Venom Inc. this year and I’ll say that Venom Inc. had the better set and performance.
Birdman: They didn’t play anything from the Dolan albums?
Anthony: Other than Prime Evil’s title track the whole set was songs from the first two albums as well as singles from that era like “Warhead” and “Bloodlust.”
      Lyon’s #3:  Fallujah and The Black Dahlia Murder at The Chance

Lyon: I have to say this show was godly.
Birdman: Plus Disentombed, an Aussie slam band that sounded heavier than Ingested.
Anthony: I almost went to that but school and money kind of got in the way. Plus, I’ve seen Fallujah and BDM before, both great live though.
Lyon: It was on the “Unhallowed Resurrection” tour where TBDM played Unhallowed front to back and fucking nailed it.Oh yeah, Disentombed is nuts too. What a nuts show. I’m a huge Fallujah fan, and this was basically within days of “Dreamless'” release. They played a few great songs from it.
Birdman: Still don’t see how Unhallowed is so influential, maybe cause it’s the first of it’s kind. There’s only one track on there that I genuinely love.
Lyon: I’m a huge fan of it.
Anthony: I could never get into it. Another reason why I didn’t go. More into Nocturnal and later BDM
Lyon: Unhallowed is my favorite American death metal album. I’m into most TBDM.
Birdman: Yeah, this just means I gotta see BDM again. Fallujah were great with their longer set.
Lyon: I think “Dreamless” is easily in the top 10 metal albums of the year, like, objectively or some shit.
Anthony: I need to hear it then. Their 2014 album made my top list of that year.
Lyon: But yeah, I love those bands and they all nailed their sets.
Music

Bonesaw’s Top 5 Metal shows of 2016 Countdown: Part 2

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If you read the first part of our best metal concerts  countdown you’l notice things are a bit different from other sites. With so many shows, we enlisted some help from RÖÄRGH and Minotaur’s Redemption guitarists Birdman Dan and Lyon. Without further ado, we continue to go against the grain with this roundtable discussion.
Chris’s #4: King Parrot and Child Bite at St.Vitus

Chris: Here I also interviewed both bands. Some of my favorite humans.
Anthony: King Parrot is a lot of fun live. I saw them open for Superjoint Ritual last year.
Chris: So funny and Shawn Knight from Child Bite not only has a cool name that rhymes with his band name but hes also extremely intelligent.
Anthony: Nice. Parrot is hilarious.
Chris: It was there that i noticed the 1988 painting of Donald Trump with the world in his hands in the basement. Youngy mooned it and I took a picture. I have no idea why he even bothers wearing clothes. As soon as I saw the painting I said to Youngy “If he becomes president then this might be proof that time travel exists.”
youngy
Birdman’s #4: Diamond Head at the Chance.

Anthony: Oh God, yes. That show ruled.
Birdman: I love how they stuck to songs form the metal records instead of the wanna be prog-rock records.
Anthony: Agreed. Almost the whole debut was played.
Birdman: I’ll bet if Metallica didn’t make “Am I Evil” famous, their “legacy” would’ve been “Sucking My Love.”
Lyon: Bands recognizing their good shit is important. I’ll segue that in like 30 mins.
Birdman: If I ever start a Vinyl collection I’ll grab lightning to the nations before I grab the Iron Maiden debut.
Anthony: I could see that sounding great on analog.
Birdman: They have a great new frontman as well and it was awesome getting a pic with Brian, who I interviewed earlier this year.
Anthony: He seemed like a pretty chill dude.
Lyon: When was that show?
Anthony: November 19th. Two days before the both of us went back for Carcass.

Tony’s #4:  Belephegor, Shining and Origin at the Gramercy Theater

Lyon: Sick. I saw Belphegor a few years ago – fun show.
Birdman: Did Niklas cut himself during Shining’s set?
Anthony: Very fun night. All of those bands ruled live and it was cool to see my friends Coco and Herb who I rarely see. As for Niklas cutting himself, no he didn’t but it didn’t bother me because they sounded great. He did do some goofy improv live too. For a psycho Niklas seems nice. He was hanging out with fans at the bar and letting people get pics with him. He remembered my interview with him where he talks about making a Christmas album. He then sang Christmas carols to me.
Lyon: Live shenanigans are like half the reason to go to a show.
Anthony: Yeah but music is most important. Anyone who hates their set just because he didn’t cut himself isn’t a real fan to me.
Lyon: Oh, for sure music is #1. I was mostly referring to whatever goofy live improv you mentioned.
Birdman: They’re especially not a fan if they didn’t like their set because he cut himself lol.
Anthony: Belephegor stole the show though. They are just a heavy choking machine live, and of course, Origin is always great.
Lyon’s #4: Dead City Crown, Necromancing the Stone, Allagaeon, Battlecross at Dingbatz

Lyon: It’s not because we’ve played there before – DCC, Necromancing and Battlecross all put on blisteringly raw and fun sets.
Birdman: Anthony did you hear the Necromancing the Stone record that came out this year?
Anthony: No I haven’t.
Birdman: It’s got James Malone from Arsis shredding it up.
Anthony: I saw it has him and members of Black Dahlia Murder and The Absence so I’m sure I’ll like it.
Lyon: Allagaeon basically didn’t play because of band mates having to go home on family emergency, but the rest of the show slayed. I knew Battlecross was gonna be fun (third time seeing them), but Necromancing really blew me away.
Birdman: What you basically witnessed is how hard the band will actually work in times of pressure, Allegaeon I mean.
Lyon:Yeah – it’s nuts they even played three song with no drummer and a failing backtrack.
Birdman: Including the Rush cover
Anthony: Which song did they cover?
Birdman: Subdivisions.
Lyon: It’s actually my favorite Rush song.
Birdman: It was how rob and I used to play RÖÄRGH shows, except Allegaeon put up a picture of a stick figure.
Lyon: They kinda lost it at the end, but for the most part it was sweet.The dudes from ‘cross were as nice as ever, too. The show just had a real “we are all here for the metals” vibe.
Birdman: I made it rain in Allegaeons tip jar twice, I had to. And the singer gave me a hug each time.
Music

Bonesaw’s Top 5 Metal shows of 2016 Countdown: Part 1

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 As 2016 comes to a close we reflect upon our best metal shows of the year that we attended. It was such a good year for shows that Staff Writer Anthony Caroscia and Editor-in-Chief Chris Butera had to enlist help from Alternative Nation writer and guitarist of Roargh and Minotaur’s Redemption Birdman Dan and Minotaur’s Redemption guitarist and vocalist Lyon in a roundtable discussion. Seeing as we don’t have all day, let’s start at each person’s individual number five:
Chris’s Number 5: Moontooth at St.Vitus

Chris:  My fifth is Moon Tooth at St. Vitus for their CD release show.

Anthony: They are a  band I hear about that I never checked out.
Chris: Chromaparagon is one of the best albums this year. So proud of them. I was shown them by a friend who saw them at a house party years ago. They are one of the best live bands period. They deserve everything amazing that happens. I honestly hope they have more success than Metallica.
Anthony: That would be a shock for anyone. Even today’s biggest metal acts have never got the success level of the classics.
Birdman: I got to see them on their massive summer tour. The Binary Code was headlining at Dingbatz but I went just for Moon Tooth.
Chris: Netherlands also played the release show but I didn’t see anything special about them. They relied way too heavily on their projector.
Anthony: I know they play around here a bit. I’ve seen them listed for shows in New Paltz and in Warwick.
Birdman: Every time Moon Tooth comes up here they ALWAYS request to play with INNIS, and they always shout for encores.
Anthony: I hear a bit of stoner rock in their sound as well.
Lyon: Definitely. I know I’m in the minority amongst local metalheads, but I actually prefer INNIS to Moon Tooth.
Birdman Dan’s Number 5: Trivium, Sabaton and Huntress
at the Chance

Birdman: I mainly went for Sabaton and my mates in Minotaur’s went for the other bands. Sabaton were so kickass live and all wore matching camo pants.
Lyon: Sabaton was really fun. Huntress slayed and was largely who I went for. Trivium sucked donkey balls but I saw that coming. I’m mostly glad I was there with Birdman and Evan from MR – shows are good with good mates. We bonded over how much fun Sabaton is and how painful Trivium has become.Real pop arena rock.
Birdman: It was cool of them to play “Entrance of the Conflagration” though.
Lyon: Yeah, they played a few things of significance.
Tony’s Number 5: Summer Slaughter at the Chance

Anthony: My Number five is the Summer Slaughter Tour at The Chance.
Birdman: Not in my top five but it was great.
Lyon: I’ve never been to it. Is big death metal fun at The Chance?
Anthony: Yeah it is. Almost all of our Northeast metal buddies where there. It was awesome.
Birdman: Also Sarah from Cherry St. Station was there.
Anthony: I mainly went for Suffocation, Revocation, Krisiun, Nile and Cannibal Corpse. Though I’ve seen all of them before, it was nice seeing them in one big package.
Birdman: Yeah, it was good to see CC on my home turf.
Anthony:That was my fifth time seeing CC all together and my fourth at that venue
and of course interviewing Terrence Hobbs from Suffocation was great. Such a nice guy.
Birdman: The only thing that disappointed was that Ingested only got a three song set since either they had technical difficulties or couldn’t get the sound they wanted
Anthony: I don’t care for them but that sucks for any band. I walked in from the interview/dinner while they were playing and only heard three songs. I thought it was the end of their set until now.
Birdman: Yeah, their soundcheck bled into their set.
Anthony: That’s what happens with long bills/fests.
Lyon’s Number 5: It’s not Night: It’s Space at Snug Harbor

Lyon: August 20th – “It’s not night: It’s space” at Snug’s. Seriously.
Anthony: I wasn’t there but I’ve seen them a few times. Pretty sweet band.
Birdman: Was it a release show?
Lyon: Their new album is absolutely killer if anyone hasn’t heard it yet – it’s their most aggressive yet. It wasn’t a release show but they played new jams and the new jams are meant to be heard live. Definitely post-rock, but also definitely metal. They really straddle the line between Mogwai, Godspeed, and Sabbath, wherever that may lie.
Music

Ross The Boss at Brian’s Backyard BBQ

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After seeing Rogue One the day before, it was time to catch the one and only Manowar’s original guitarist Ross The Boss at Brian’s Backyard BBQ – only five minutes from my home. Once this was announced, I told as many friends as I could that I knew would be interested as hearing classic Manowar songs for only 15 bucks. At around 6:30, I met up with a bunch of my normal concert going friends like Birdman, Alyssa, and Jay as well as a few I haven’t seen in awhile, Kevin and Destin. At around 9pm the only opener came on

Metal Inc.

First on was the local metal cover band, Metal Inc. They covered a variety of metal tracks from greats including Accept,  Judas Priest, Dio, Alice in Chains, Black Sabbath, Danzig, Metallica, Pantera, and Motorhead.  They sounded good playing the tracks while also keeping the crowd interested and pumped for the feature presentation.

Ross The Boss

At 10:30 it was time for The Boss to take charge. I was excited knowing that the whole set was going to just be songs from Ross’s era of Manowar, which is the older and more traditional metal sounding Manowar that I prefer. Playing in his backing band was none other than ex- Manowar drummer, Rhino. This was the first show  to feature him as well new vocalist Marc Lopes and bassist Mike LePond of Symphony X.

They started their set with “Blood of Our Kings,” a good indicator of where the set was going. I stood right up front next to Andy from thrash legends Prime Evil and this one guy who seemed to be REALLY into Manowar. We saw more classics such as “Fighting the World,” “Each Dawn I Die,” “Kill with Power,” and “Sign of the Hammer.” The energy of the show was unbelievable and almost everyone in the crowd were screaming along to the band’s awesomely cheesy lyrics, while the guy next to me was adding to that by trying to act out the lyrics such as swinging his invisible Thor’s hammer. They ended their set with “Hail and Kill” followed by an encore with “Battle Hymns.” To me, this was the best way they could have ended it as those are my two favorite Manowar songs. After saying goodbye to my friends and telling Ross that he did an awesome job, I went home from my favorite show at that venue to date.

 

 

 

Movies

Hudson Horror Show XIV

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Once again, the bi-yearly fest known as the Hudson Horror Show came around to the town of Poughkeepsie. As is tradition, I got there about an hour early to look at merch. In my conquest, I bought cheap DVD copies of the films Mutant, Futurekill, The Killing of Satan and Redeemer:Son of Satan. I met up with my friends David and Joe, who I normally hang with at this event and we grabbed some popcorn and soda before checking out the first film. The line up this year was I Spit on Your Grave, Deathrace 2000,a mystery movie, The Howling, The Hitcher and Robocop.

I Spit on Your Grave

Before the film played, the host, Chris Alo warned the audience, which did include several teenage girls about how extreme this movie is. For those that don’t know, I Spit on Your Grave is a highly controversial film that is Roger Ebert’s most hated movie of all time. I’d seen this film once before a few years ago after buying it at Wal-Mart.

It’s the story about a young writer named Jennifer who moves from New York City to the country side to work on her novel. During her writing, she’s stalked by a gang of thugs who lust after her and also want to use this lust as the perfect way to get their mentally challenged friend laid. One day while outside on a hammock in her bikini, she is gang raped by the guys and crawls to her house. When she tries to call the cops they find her, rape her again, tear up her book and leave her to die. Two weeks later she is revealed to have not died and goes about getting revenge on these dogs.

While the film is very disturbing it is also very entertaining. The rape scene is one of the most gruesome out there thanks to character development. The ways she gets back at the guys are really fun to watch as these guys deserve everything she gives to them. The film’s lack of score also gives it a really eerie mood.

Death Race 2000

After the intermission came on the film I was mostly here to see, the Roger Corman classic Death Race 2000. The film is a set during a 1970’s look at the future where the world’s most popular sport is a race where contestants race cross country, but unlike traditional racing, the goal is too get as many points as possible before you make it to the finish line. The racers get points by running people over, where the age of the person killed depends on the score they get. Among the racers are then-unknown Martin Cove, David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone.

I had not seen this film since I was around 15 years old, so seeing it again was refreshing. It reminded me how hilarious and over-the-top the film is, and I’d consider it to be Sly’s best film that isn’t Rocky or Rambo. After this was the mystery film, which I won’t reveal, but I will say it was a real treat as it is the best film to involve a box and one of my all time favorites. As great as Robocop, The Howling, and The Hitcher are, I was getting tired and decided to go home after another fun night at Poughkeepsie’s Cinema 8.

 

 

 

Music

Carcass at The Chance

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carcass-2015

Only two days after seeing Diamond Head, Birdman and I headed back to The Chance for godfathers of goregrind, Carcass.

We arrived shortly before it started and ran into many of our friends inside. Unlike Diamond Head, however, the venue was pretty crowded.

Dissolve

First one were the Poughkeepsie-based hardcore/ noise rock band Dissolve. I had seen these guys once before two years ago play with All Out War. I found them to be one of the better openers on that bill. Again, they did a pretty good job. They sounded better than last time as the sound at The Chance is better than The Loft, and had great energy. The band made for a fun warm up.

Inter Arma

Next up was Inter Arma. I’d always heard good things about this band and had many friends who liked them, but never took the time to check them out. Inter Arma played a pretty interesting mix of death/doom, sludge and black metal. They were crushingly heavy and made me regret not checking them out sooner.

Deafheaven

After a crushing set from Inter Arma, came on the main support for Carcass, Deafheaven. Neither Birdman or I were ever fans of this band and weren’t excited to see them. We were both open-minded enough to wonder if they could at least be good live (they weren’t). The songs sound just as bad as they did in the studio and their performance was corny. The band all looked like Hawthrone Heights and seemed like they didn’t want to be there. The vocalist also moved his hands in a corny Broadway style.

Carcass

After Deafheaven got off the stage, all of the young hipsters started leaving the crowd leaving it a venue of mostly metalheads. I had once seen Carcass two years ago with Gorguts and The Black Dalhia Murder, and that show was amazing.

This time around, their live tone was unbeatable and Jeff Walker’s banter was hilarious. They had a great set covering greats from Surgical Steele, Heartwork, Necrotism, Reek of Putrefaction and Symphonies of Sickness (and believe it or not, they even played a track from Swansong for whatever reason). All these songs sounded great and I was glad to see them once more. After the show, we left and we both do plan to return in Febuary for Mayhem and Inquistion.