Acrassicauda, The Catalyst, and Gull
Friday, May 6 at Strange Matter
On Friday, May 6th, Strange Matter was graced with the presence of Acrassicauda, the only currently thriving heavy metal band from Baghdad, Iraq. The band has succeeded against insurmountable odds, including constant danger, a bombed-out practice space, lack of available instruments and equipment, and numerous other problems that come with living in the middle of a war zone. These issues eventually ended in their fleeing the country. With the help of Vice magazine, the band has gained exposure through a documentary and book entitled Heavy Metal in Baghdad. There was an official Vice screening of the movie before the show, and that, along with experimental openers Gull and The Catalyst, made for a diverse crowd of hipsters, old-school metalheads, and die-hard nerds. It was an interesting change from the predictable turnout of most Richmond metal shows.
Acrassicauda, The Catalyst, and Gull
Friday, May 6 at Strange Matter
On Friday, May 6th, Strange Matter was graced with the presence of Acrassicauda, the only currently thriving heavy metal band from Baghdad, Iraq. The band has succeeded against insurmountable odds, including constant danger, a bombed-out practice space, lack of available instruments and equipment, and numerous other problems that come with living in the middle of a war zone. These issues eventually ended in their fleeing the country. With the help of Vice magazine, the band has gained exposure through a documentary and book entitled Heavy Metal in Baghdad. There was an official Vice screening of the movie before the show, and that, along with experimental openers Gull and The Catalyst, made for a diverse crowd of hipsters, old-school metalheads, and die-hard nerds. It was an interesting change from the predictable turnout of most Richmond metal shows.
Gull, Richmond’s notorious one-man band, played first, setting up in front of the stage to unleash an onslaught of noisy, groovy psychedelia. When I first saw Gull play, I was impressed with his dexterity, as well as the awesomeness of his creepy mask and one-handed drum and guitar skills, but I considered him a bit of a Lightning Bolt ripoff. The rhythmic pounding and vocals distorted by a mask were a bit too derivative for me, and I couldn’t get as excited about him as everyone else seemed to be.
I was blown away on Friday, however, to hear him incorporating more eerily Eastern beats, and melodies more reminiscent of Flowers of Romance-era Public Image Ltd. The infusion of this with the Lightning Bolt-type stuff and a little of his own twangy, almost acoustic flavor, along with the fact that he is now using more samples and not just pounding away at the drums, made his one-man act a lot more captivating and less of a gimmick. There were enough Gull fans and musically open-minded people in attendance that his performance was well received, and the energy was great, erasing any of the awkwardness of his opening for a straight-forward metal band.
The Catalyst was another awesome surprise. I’ve been seeing their name around on fliers forever and knew they were a Richmond band, but I always kind of just wrote them off as that opener band that no one is too crazy about with a slightly generic name. As soon as they started playing, though, I realized I have been depriving myself of one of the best bands from this city.
They describe themselves on their Myspace as Grunge/Hardcore/Psychedelic, and sound a little like Daughters meets Converge, but they do it with such an intensely unique style that simple name-dropping can’t really do them justice. They have everything I look for in a band; they are catchy, they scream, they are heartfelt, and each song seems to have substance instead of simply rehashing a formula until they get to play their couple of crowd-pleasers. Despite several technical difficulties with the guitars and breaks between songs, and their singer’s apology that the set was horrible, they preformed with intensity and provided an awesome transition from super-experimental to extremely straight-forward. My only complaint is that the crowd did not seem to be that stoked–at one point I was only one of about five people actually watching them.
As Acrassicauda began to set up, the room slowly swelled with the sort of die-hard metal guys more common in the NOVA area than in Richmond, and the tamer crowd of earlier in the night moved to the back. Acrassicauda look like a typical thrash metal band, but they carry with them an energy of survival that shows in the ferocity of their playing and their intense love for their fans and the scene at large. At one point, Faisal, the singer, scolded the people in the mosh pit for being too rough and reminded everyone that they are brothers and need to watch out for each other. Musically, Acrassicauda are straight-forward thrash, but not the overly simplified kind people tend to assume when they hear that a band is from somewhere less musically advanced than the U.S. They weave traditionally Middle Eastern sounding melodies and riffs into their songs in a manner that I would equate with Nile and their Egyptian worship. The haunting, old-world-sounding melodies play alongside the crushing thrash riffs in a similar manner, creating an epic and staggering effect. I fully believe that everyone who came out expecting to simply hear something hard-hitting, or to enjoy the band for the novelty aspect, were blown away by the sheer talent and versatility of the band.
I hope there are more shows with this kind of diverse lineup in Richmond soon, with bands that challenge the perception of what is normal for a metal show. And I hope Acrassicauda will return soon to deliver more much-needed Iraqi thrash to the south!
