Cool Moon Archives

VA Shows You Must See This Week: January 29 – February 4

Marilyn Drew Necci | January 29, 2020

Topics: A Deer A Horse, Cary Street Cafe, Chubby & The Gang, Cool Moon, Deadculture, Degrader, Dogfuck, Don't Look Back Triple, Dont Look Back, Dozing, events in richmond va, events near me this weekend, events richmond va, Fuzzy Cactus, gallery 5, Grivo, Hammered Hulls, Hardywood, Harli & The House of Jupiter, Haybaby, Horse Culture, Jawbox, Kaos Reign, Keese, Mike Bizarro, music, must see shows, Mutant Flesh, Nervous System, New Lions, Order, Paint Store, Plastic Nancy, Positive No, richmond events, richmond va, richmond va bands, Riffhouse Pub, Rough Age, RVA, RVNT, Sanji the Hedgehog, Sensual World, shows this week richmond, shows you must see, Slow Crush, Snack Truck, The Broadberry, The Royal Hounds, The Southern Cafe, things to do in richmond va, things to do richmond va, Timelost, Twin Drugs, Ultra Dolphins, Unmaker, Violent Life Violent Death, Weird Tears, Wonderland

FEATURED SHOW
Saturday, February 1, 6 PM
Snack Truck, Ultra Dolphins, Order @ Hardywood – $20 suggested donation
Whoa boy, this is a real treat. While the mid-00s in Virginia underground music is better remembered today for Municipal Waste’s party thrash and the no-frills USHC of the No Way Records crowd, the fact is that a whole bunch of really incredible bands in Richmond and around the state were getting excellent results with a strange brand of psychedelic math-punk noise-core… or something like that. This show brings together fully THREE leading lights of that era, constituting some of the best music ever produced along the I-81 corridor. So whether you were there back then or had no idea about any of this until right now, it’d be a really good idea to come to this show and see what it’s all about.

Snack Truck are at the top of the bill, and this band’s decade-long history saw them grow from a speedy, chaotic two-piece with riffs for days into a dual-drummer quartet generating instrumental space epics for days. What lineup this reunited group will give us, and what era of Snack Truck’s music they’ll be playing, is anyone’s guess. But regardless, their set is sure to be riveting, because they always brought the fire, no matter what phase of their evolution you caught them in.

One Snack Truck member (besides guitarist, leader, and only constant member Matt Krofchek) I’m sure will be in the house this Saturday night is Nate Rappole. He may or may not be drumming for Snack Truck, but he’s certain to be strapping on his guitar and fronting spastic noise-rock trio Ultra Dolphins, which makes him a good candidate to appear behind the drums during Snack Truck as well. If you’ve seen Rappole’s work with Gull, his current one-man exploration of music’s outer limits, you know he can do it all, and more besides. Come out to this show to see where he started out.

And of course, make sure you catch Order, the maniacal garage-noise combo from down Blacksburg way, who also evolved so significantly during their lengthy career that it’s hard to predict who will be on stage for this performance or what era of the band’s career they’ll sound like. By now, you know I’m going to tell you that it’s worth seeing regardless. On top of all that, this event is a benefit for Bronwen Zwicker, who is currently living with ALS. We all know medical bills are a nightmare even at the best of times, so come help out someone in need, and get a chance to rock out in the bargain.

Wednesday, January 29, 10 PM
New Lions, Cool Moon, Rough Age @ Don’t Look Back Triple – Free!
It’s Wednesday night, and if you’re having as much trouble getting through this week as I am, you certainly need a break and some great music to keep you getting up for work the next day. Don’t Look Back has exactly that sort of thing for you tonight, and what’s even better is that it’s free — so you can spend your cash on their delicious tacos. At the Triple location over in Scott’s Addition tonight, three excellent bands will take the stage, with Richmond mainstays New Lions at the top of the bill.

After their recent EP, End Story, took their catchy, complex post-hardcore sound to a new level of awesomeness, New Lions’ brand new single “How Do You Feel?” shows that they still have plenty of room to grow. Houston’s Cool Moon offer a tough yet melodic take on catchy alt-rock sounds that we can never have too much of. And brand new RVA band Rough Age finds two former members of Lightfields coming together with former Exploder guitarist Jesse Lyell to bring us the same sort of loud, chaotic, yet fundamentally catchy post-hardcore sound that both bands were so good at before. All of this is going to be great — it’s sure to improve your mood. And so will the tacos.

Thursday, January 30, 9 PM
The Royal Hounds, Chubby & The Gang, Sensual World @ Fuzzy Cactus – $8
When you think of punk rock, you probably think of something harsh and confrontational. A lot of it is exactly that. But one thing that marked a lot of the best early punk bands was their flair for a sort of no-frills tunefulness that had really been lost by mainstream rock groups of the time. You can hear a lot of those early, catchy punk bands in what the two out-of-town bands playing at Fuzzy Cactus this Thursday night have to offer.

First, there’s The Royal Hounds, an NYC band that harks back to the catchiest, most rocked-out of the early UK Oi! bands. If you love Blitz and Cocksparrer, this is the band for you. Meanwhile, London’s own Chubby & the Gang are much closer to that spitfire energy and massive catchiness of the first few Damned LPs — and they’ve got some velocity to their attack as well. Richmond’s own Sensual World open the evening up, bringing a bit of a gothic feel to their dark, jangly punk tunes — like Gun Club jamming with the Wipers. Dig it.

Friday, January 31, 7 PM
Jawbox, Hammered Hulls, Positive No @ The Broadberry – $28 (order tickets HERE)
It’s a good time to be an aging 90s kid, especially if you were able to parlay your college degree into a job that gives you a fair amount of disposable income. I wasn’t, but those of you more fortunate than myself are in luck this Friday night, as reunited 90s legends Jawbox storm the Broadberry. This DC post-hardcore (I’m using that term in the column a lot this week… give me a break, I’m tired) quartet is best known for “Savory,” which got some play on MTV back in the day, but anyone who has spent some time with their four great albums knows that there aren’t any weaknesses anywhere in the catalog.

And that’s what’s great about this reunion tour; there isn’t any new album to dilute the legacy, it’s just gonna be all the classic Jawbox tracks you know and love. So get ready to rock out like you did at that roller rink show back in the summer of 95 (I missed that one — had to work a shift at Taco Bell). Jawbox is bringing Hammered Hulls, the latest project of Mary Timony (Ex Hex/Wild Flag) and Alec MacKaye (Faith/Ignition), with them to add some bonus awesomeness. Plus, in a bittersweet note, this evening will feature the final live performance by Richmond’s excellent Positive No. You certainly won’t want to miss that — because if you do, you’ll never get another chance.

Saturday, February 1, 9 PM
Slow Crush, Grivo, Haybaby, Twin Drugs @ Wonderland – $10
This Saturday night at Wonderland, it’s time to embrace the haze. Belgium shoegaze crew Slow Crush are coming through, and they’re fully prepared to envelop you in a simultaneously crushing (no pun intended) and beautiful wall of anointing guitar fuzz gorgeousness. 2019 EP Ease shows that this band knows how to wield dynamics to their advantage, incorporating moments of quiet beauty and enormous volume into the same song with aplomb.

Texas’s Grivo, the other touring band on this bill, shares a spiritual kinship with Slow Crush. However, they move more in the direction of a glittery, slow-motion hypnosis. On 2018’s Elude, their songs proceed deliberately and create a lovely ambience, which they fill with the same sort of reverbed guitars that delight fans of the Chameleons and The Cure circa 1983. These two groups will find some of the most appropriate support possible in Richmonders Haybaby and Twin Drugs, making this whole evening an opportunity to dream away… at top volume, of course.

Sunday, February 2, 8 PM
Unmaker, Timelost, Dozing @ Wonderland – $10
The Super Bowl has become such an overwhelming thing that it’s almost impossible to find good live music on the first Sunday night in February because every bar wants to show the game instead. Fortunately, there’s one music venue in Richmond that is immune to the charms of America’s most monolithic sporting event; leave it to Wonderland, the punkest bar in Shockoe Bottom, to come through in the clutch. And that’s exactly what they’ll do with this Sunday night refuge for everyone out there who’d rather rock than watch the “big game.”

Unmaker top the bill for this one, and their brand of gothic, metallic postpunk has been one of the most reliably great times available on the Richmond live music scene for a while now. If you’ve missed out to this point, you should really unfuck that now before you waste any more of your life. Meanwhile, Timelost brings us members of post-rockers Set And Setting and black metallers Woe doing something much catchier and more easily approachable. Their debut LP, Don’t Remember Me For This, has a somewhat shadowy atmosphere, but fills it with downright toe-tapping melodic hooks; the result, far from being an odd pairing, is just about perfect. The evening is completed by up-and-coming Richmonders Dozing, whose catchy rock n’ roll tunes should round things out quite nicely.

Monday, February 3, 9 PM
Mutant Flesh, Paint Store, Plastic Nancy @ Cary Street Cafe – $10
Bombastic sludge is never a bad thing, and Philadelphia’s Mutant Flesh are bringing that exact sound to Cary Street Cafe this Monday to shake the dust off the tops of the deadhead posters over there. While Mutant Flesh share members with the legendary Stinking Lizaveta (who were a regular and welcome presence on the RVA noise-rock scene during the heady days when Hell Mach Four and More Fire For Burning People ruled the roost), their current sound is much closer to Saint Vitus or Candlemass. If this is your kind of thing, you know it, and you should definitely make it out to Cary Street Cafe this Monday night.

You’ll also be lucky enough to see Paint Store, the instrumental math-metal group that lit things up around Richmond a while back but have been keeping a low profile recently. I for one am glad to see that they’re still out there, and looking forward to more from these talented shredders. Youthful psychedelians Plastic Nancy will kick off this event, bringing a delightful retro sound to get things started off right. Chase away the Monday blues with this one — you’ll be glad you did.

Tuesday, February 4, 7 PM
A Deer A Horse, Horse Culture, Weird Tears @ Gallery 5 – $8 in advance/$10 day of show (Order tickets HERE)
Doom metal’s chill, but I always like it when a band finds a way to be slow and heavy without falling into too many classic doom tropes. Therefore, I definitely approve of what Brooklyn trio A Deer A Horse are up to. Sure, they definitely traffic in doom, but they mix so many other things in there, from driving punk riffs to sudden dynamic shifts, always topped off with Rebecca Satellite’s powerful, unforgettable vocals. It’s heavy, it’s foreboding, and best of all, it’s unpredictable — something too many doom bands are not.

A Deer A Horse are joined on this bill by another “horse” band that messes with doom tropes but ultimately subverts them — Richmond’s own Horse Culture, who can get sludgy at times but also love to explode into harsh, uptempo punk moments and generally entertaining doses of noise madness. With Weird Tears, the group of Richmond all-stars doing the best Replacements-style downcast pop sound the river city’s got right now, kicking this whole evening off, you’re in for an entertaining time from moment one til closing time.

Elsewhere Around The State:

Friday January 31, 7 PM
Harli & The House Of Jupiter, Keese, Dogfuck, Mike Bizarro, Sanji The Hedgehog @ The Southern Cafe (Charlottesville) – $7 (order tickets HERE)
Taking a closer look at the Charlottesville music scene might not have found you much back in the late 80s when I was a bored high school student living there, but that’s changed in a big way over the past few decades, and we’re all better off for it. Harli Saxon is the exact sort of talented songwriter that Charlottesville’s always needed, and her work with the House Of Jupiter definitely enriches the sound of that city and the state as a whole.

On their 2019 LP, Deja Vu, Harli & The House Of Jupiter combine a mishmash of different sounds from various far-flung genres into a unique style that shows clear influence from blues, soul, jazz, metal, and classic rock, but feels very much of the moment. You may not know what’s coming next at any given time, but you always know that it’s gonna rock — and isn’t that what we all want? This evening features a variety of Virginia hip hop creators opening things off, which should strike a pleasant contrast with what Harli & The House of Jupiter are bringing, and serves to remind us once again that Charlottesville has it going on.

Saturday, February 1, 7 PM
Deadculture, Degrader, Violent Life Violent Death, RVNT, Kaos Reign, Nervous System @ RiffHouse Pub (Chesapeake) – $10
I don’t know what to call the heavy music the kids make these days. I hear everything from Earth Crisis mosh to Meshuggah math and nu-metal groove in what Ohio’s Deadculture are doing, and I must ask: does this count as deathcore? I’m honestly not sure, but I am sure that these guys make me want to headbang. And really, where metal’s concerned, do you need anything else?

Massachusetts boys Degrader are bringing even more of that sort of thing to Chesapeake’s RiffHouse this Saturday night, and I can’t help but smile when I hear the brutal, nearly sludgy power of their monolithic riffs. There’s some vaguely industrial-sounding notes here, which reminds me of Harms Way just a bit, but as with Harms Way, what I really get from this band is that they’re heavy as fuck. Paired up with Deadculture and several of the Tidewater area’s heaviest local bands, they’re doing more than enough to create an evening of headbanging nirvana. Be part of it.

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Email me if you’ve got any tips for me about upcoming shows (that take place after the week this column covers -– this week’s column has obviously already been written): [email protected]

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Ladygod, Rikki Shay, Ben Shepherd, Cool Moon @Flora

RVA Staff | November 1, 2017

Topics: Ben Shepherd, Cool Moon, Flora, Ladygod, Rikki Shay

They’ve cultivated an air of mystery around themselves throughout their time in the RVA scene, which stretches back at least three years now. Releases have been few and far between, with too few songs on them. It’s always been hard to pin down who is actually in the band. And recently it’s become tough to even determine whether their band name is one or two words. But Saturday night at Flora, Ladygod (Lady God?) will finally reveal themselves with the release of their debut full-length, Rock n Roll Kaliphate.

In fairness, those who’ve seen the band have surely grasped at least a little of what was going on. The group’s hazy, “Exile-era Stones fed through a Brian Jonestown Massacre cloud of psychedelia” sound becomes clear over the course of a full set. And regardless of who is singing, it’s obvious that singer/guitarist Skye Handler is the Anton Newcomb of the group — as various talented, noteworthy members have come and gone, he’s held things together, regardless of how much of a mess he himself seems during any given performance.

These days, Handler’s band features Peace Beast frontwoman Kelly Queener as well as some other capable if slightly lesser-known players. The sound they churn out on their new LP has a stumbling, louche glamour to it, and is sure to slowly entrance you as its tendrils work their way from the Flora stage into your waiting mind. Ladygod will be joined on this bill by Rikki Shay (and the Martin Ruthless, I guess?), whose indie hipster-lounge funk sound was clarified on their own debut full-length of a few months ago, The Mixed Tapes. Opening sets will also be provided by local singer-songwriter Ben Shepherd and Houston’s Cool Moon. You won’t even dance, you’ll drift blissfully across the floor.

RVA Shows You Must See This Week: 11/1-11/7

Marilyn Drew Necci | November 1, 2017

Topics: American, ASM, Ben Shepherd, Blitzen Trapper, Carry Fisher, Champion RVA, Chino Amobi, Confidence, Cool Moon, Crurifragium, Demoncy, Don Fredrick, Earthling, Everview, Flora, Fontaine, Homesafe, Knight Terror, Knuckle Puck, Ladygod, Left Cross, Lily Hiatt, Lore, Lotus, McKinley Dixon & Friends, Movements, Pinact, Rikki Shay, shows you must see, strange matter, Teen Death, The American Indie, The Broadberry, The Canal Club, The Firnats, Toxic Moxie, Ululatum Tollunt

FEATURED SHOW
Saturday, November 4, 7 PM
Ladygod, Rikki Shay, Ben Shepherd, Cool Moon @ Flora – $7
They’ve cultivated an air of mystery around themselves throughout their time in the RVA scene, which stretches back at least three years now. Releases have been few and far between, with too few songs on them. It’s always been hard to pin down who is actually in the band. And recently it’s become tough to even determine whether their band name is one or two words. But Saturday night at Flora, Ladygod (Lady God?) will finally reveal themselves with the release of their debut full-length, Rock n Roll Kaliphate.

Wednesday, November 1, 8 PM
The American Indie, Fontaine, The Firnats, Don Fredrick @ Strange Matter – $10 in advance/$13 day of show (order tickets HERE)
I admit it–I’m a bit flummoxed by a band calling themselves “The American Indie.” It feels sort of like a band from Oslo calling themselves “The Norwegian Black Metal.” But hey, this is the United States, after all, where anytime we seek to give something profundity, we put the word “American” in the title (American Hustle, American Gangster, American Gigolo, American Idol, American Horror Story, American Dad, etc. ad nauseam). So hey, why not?

The American Indie have a pretty good sound, after all, with a surprising smoothness and some killer melodies that bring together power pop guitars with silky 80s synth-pop keys and killer vocal calisthenics. Their When Money Swallows Up Your Time EP is full of killer tunes that’ll have you hitting the dancefloor the way you normally only do at 80s nights. And then there’s Fontaine, the Boston band joining with Nashvillians The American Indie for this tour. In a geographic surprise, they’ve got a bit more of that heartland jangle than their Southern counterparts. But it all evens out in the end, right? Hot new locals The Firnats and Don Fredrick will get it warmed up in fine fashion, so get set for some good ol’ American Fun!

Thursday, November 2, 6 PM
Pinact, Teen Death, Carry Fisher @ Champion RVA – Free!
Another Thursday, and once again, we’re back at Champion gaining fortification for the last work day of the week with a shot of heavy-duty musical salvation for the low low price of nothing at all. There’s even beer, if that’s your kind of thing. But more importantly, there’s rad music, this week featuring a performance from touring Scottish act Pinact, who just released their second album, The Part That No One Knows. Its killer punk riffs incorporate the sorts of awesome post-Nirvana early-90s alt-rock influences that have been showing up across the indie underground for the past few years to outstanding effect. It also features some excellent choruses that will stick in your head and refuse to go away, keeping your toes tapping all night. Who can complain about that?

Pinact are excellently paired with local rockin’ punk trio Teen Death, who have been back on the radar after a relatively quiet last year or so with a bunch of local shows and a recent trip to The Fest in Gainesville, FL. These guys mix early 90s influences of their own with some crunchy garage sounds that crank up the punk quotient and give you something to snarl about. Recent Woodbridge transplants Carry Fisher kick things off with what promises to be the noisiest, sloppiest set of the night–and if you don’t think those are good qualities, I’ll have to ask you to re-evaluate what you look for in good music. Come to this one ready to rock, because the heavy jolt of energy this show is packing is sure to get you moving.

Friday, November 3, 8 PM
Chino Amobi, McKinley Dixon & Friends, Toxic Moxie, Lotus @ Strange Matter – $8
Chino Amobi has remained steadily fascinating throughout his lengthy tenure as part of the RVA music scene. Beginning in his days performing under the name Diamond Black Hearted Boy and continuing to his current solo work, Amobi’s had a constant sonic thrust paired with an intense political message, all of which added up to rejecting of current political realities through genre-spanning works of experimental gothic noise pop. Or something like that. Deep dives into his recently released album PARADISO, the sonic environments of which often give the lie to the sunny-sounding title, will yield a variety of strange electronic grooves, which sometimes bring a hypnotic funk sensibility sure to charm any listener, and other times disrupt themselves with harsh explosions of found sound. It changes from moment to moment, and while the change can wrong-foot you a bit, it’s always an engrossing experience, reflecting Amobi’s noted antipathy towards passive listening. Your listening experience at Strange Matter this Friday night will be an active one–Amobi guarantees it.

In this performance, he unites with several other Richmond artists to raise funds for Advocates For Richmond Youth, an activist group dedicated to preventing youth homelessness in our area. A worthy cause, one that it’s no surprise to see uniting POC and LGBTQ artists who themselves are members of marginalized groups more likely to encounter the grim reality of homelessness than the average person. It’s not just words on paper to them. And not only is this clear from listening to Amobi’s music, it shines through just as brightly from the music of hot local rapper McKinley Dixon, who’s brought a notable social consciousness to his meteoric rise through the ranks of Richmond musicians. Meanwhile, disco-punk ragers Toxic Moxie have always shown a dedication to moving bodies with tremendous grooves backed by sincere conviction. I’m not as familiar with newcomers Lotus, who open this night of noise for a cause, but their position on this bill alone is enough to speak well for them. Come catch this whole show, and dance your ass off for a good cause!

Saturday, November 4, 7 PM
Blitzen Trapper, Lilly Hiatt @ The Broadberry – $15 in advance/$18 day of show (order tickets HERE)
I’ll say this for Blitzen Trapper–they haven’t settled into some sort of mid-career rut. No, the band’s recent days have seen them putting together a full-on stage production, debuted in their Portland, OR hometown earlier this year. And you can make cracks about the fact that of course it’s a band from the setting of Portlandia who are the ones to do something like this, or how go figure that a band with major Springsteen influences have finally done what Bruce’s critics always accused him of, i.e. turning rock n’ roll into a Broadway show, but the songs that are part of Wild N’ Reckless are enough to hush up any such wisecracks in a big hurry. The seven-song rock opera joins with five more songs on the band’s new album of the same name, and its title track has a real Desire-era Dylan fed through, yes, 70s Springsteen sound, but I can’t imagine why anyone would complain about that.

Make no mistake, these songs have a real darkness at their heart. Blitzen Trapper is older and wiser now, finding themselves looking back at their younger days and wondering if they can somehow recapture the energy of those days and feel truly alive again without reliving the mistakes they made back then. It’s kind of an alt-country Beach Slang move, if anything, and fans of groups from The Band to the Drive-By Truckers should find something to enjoy here, both musically and lyrically. And you know, it’s always a great to catch a band at the moment of their big statement, so if you were ever gonna go see Blitzen Trapper, you couldn’t do better than going this Saturday night. You’re sure to feel some feels.

Sunday, November 5, 6 PM
Knuckle Puck, Movements, With Confidence, Homesafe, Everview @ The Canal Club – $17 in advance/$20 day of show (order tickets HERE)
OMG, y’all. This show almost escaped my notice, because I had forgotten to check the Canal Club’s website. Thank god I headed over there randomly this morning as I was getting this column together–I would definitely never want to miss a show by one of my favorite melodic punk bands of the past several years. If I’d missed this show I would have cried–just like I have done more than once while listening to their records. Hey, I’m not too proud to admit it. The brand new Knuckle Puck LP, Shapeshifter, was also news to me, which is if anything embarrassing in light of my long-professed fandom for this group. But if you need any reason to actually take the plunge on this show, one listen to the new album should be enough to give you plenty.

While the band has steadily grown from the rawness of their early EPs, this full-length follows on the heels of their debut LP, Copacetic, in its simultaneous leavening of the band’s harsh teenage momentum with heartfelt melody without doing anything to dull the powerful emotional punch their music packs. If there’s only one pop-punk band you’re still willing to hang with in this post-Fall Out Boy world (and who could blame you, with what that band sounds like now? We all got burned by that one), Knuckle Puck are an excellent choice. And I’m right there making it with you. Get down there early, because all-ages shows don’t observe “rock time,” and make sure you catch the excellent opening bands as well. But yeah, I admit it–this show is all about Knuckle Puck for me. If they play “No Good” I’m gonna freak out.

Monday, November 6, 8 PM
Earthling, Knight Terror, Left Cross, Lore @ Strange Matter – $8 (order tickets HERE)
It’s a Monday night double whammy, as two local labels present two Virginia bands that just released albums on their respective labels to an always-rabid RVA metal scene. We start off with headliners Earthling, who’ve been around the scene here in the Commonwealth for years and have returned to Forcefield Records for a follow-up to their 2013 Forcefield release, Dark Path. The new record, Spinning In The Void, sees the band carrying on its tradition of epic riffs and intricate songcraft complete with an always jet-black vein of crust, doom, and black metal running through things. And really, could you expect anything less?

You’re in luck, because there’s not less but MORE! Local thrashers Left Cross have their first full-length on deck for you as well, this one coming from fellow local powerhouse label Vinyl Conflict. Chaos Ascension finds these guys continuing to ply their trade in late 80s death metal moves, channeling Scream Bloody Gore and Slowly We Rot with abandon on this brutal full-length. A special bonus appearance by Knight Terror, who hail from Brooklyn, feature members of Mutilation Rites, and are every bit as raw and ripping as these two facts would lead you to expect, is sure to thrill all assembled.

Tuesday, November 7, 8 PM
Demoncy, Crurifragium, Ululatum Tollunt, ASM, American @ Strange Matter – $12 in advance/$15 day of show (order tickets HERE)
I hope you didn’t think that last show is as brutal as things would get in this column. Sure, Earthling, Left Cross, and Knight Terror are all pretty blackened, but the unutterable horror of Demoncy takes things to another level entirely. Their killer 2012 album Enthroned Is the Night was released on Nuclear War Now (so you know they’re for real) and features a constant low-end pummeling rumble laden with blast beats and topped with a sinister, throaty growl that speaks of Satan and infinity with sinister intent. Halloween was last Tuesday, but this band doesn’t care for your petty holidays–they’re terrifying all the time.

Fellow Seattle-ites Crurifragium (which seems like the sort of name a band picks mainly because of the ways its letters flow together to create a totally brutal logo) bring more high-end guitar buzz than Demoncy on their most recent full-length, Beasts Of the Temple of Satan, but the result is essentially the same–and really, how could you expect anything less from an album with that title? Prepare to throw the horns and bang your head, because this show is going to bring the beast out of you.

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Email me if you’ve got any tips for me about upcoming shows (that take place after the week this column covers–this week’s column has obviously already been written): [email protected] [yes, my email is through GayRVA, don’t get weird about it]