October 28, 2006 - Averse
Sefira and Vex at Redrum in
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Averse Sefira, Vex, and six completely worthless bands The Vex To this
reviewer, Vex was both a welcome relief and a source of frustration. The band
was the first of the night that was able to craft something remotely
interestingly musically, which was appreciated by this reviewer on a night
that had henceforth been filled with emo-core, nu metal, and third-rate
Pantera rip-offs pretending to be extreme metal. However, according to one
who was present at the concert, in their seven years of existence, Vex has
rehearsed as a complete band maybe once or twice- and it shows. Technical
problems plagued the set, the members all seemed to want to go in different
directions, and the vocalist provided too much chatting between songs, which
killed all intensity. Musically, Vex is reminiscent of middle period works
from The Chasm- a fusion of traditional metal styles into death and black
metal, but unlike most lesser bands that attempt this, who merely simplify
extreme metal into the same old pentatonic patters, Vex combines the
imagination and sense of harmony of classic Iron Maiden into a potent extreme
metal base. If the band members manage to unify themselves into one entity,
it will be a force to reckon with. Averse
Sefira
Predictably,
shortly before the best band to play this night took the stage, all of the
scenesters and whores who were populating the venue left, leaving only a few
die-hards left. In this almost empty venue, Averse Sefira blasted out an
intense set that would have been completely lost on the untermenschen
anyways. The band opened with Plagabraha, and after finishing that and
quickly dealing with some sound issues (Sanguine's vocals were inaudible in
this first song), they tore into the rest of the set, made alive by tiny
improvations- a pick scrape here, an accented vocal line there, used in
master-planned material, combining the best of spontaneous energy and emotion
with studied composition. Multiple generations of metal combined in a fiery
explosion of energy, tempered by the emotional wisdom of the Norse greats, in
a celebration of coming conflict and death acting as the smith’s forge,
melting and reshaping a world made weak through entropy. Militantism
prevailed, both in sound through the march battery of The Carcass, in
physical presence, with Sanguine and Wrath in full regalia, wielding
instruments as weapons, conducting themselves as field marshals on the front
lines, and in words, through the lyrics of the songs. Highlights of the set
were the awesome renditions of "Helix in Audience" and "The
Nascent Ones (The Age of Geburah)", and "Homecomings March",
the latter of which was vastly improved through the band’s use of dissonant
and inverted chords in line with their newer material, which helped ease some
of the saccharine that the original version had, as well as through a more
adept, if more subtle, use of dynamics, and truly inspired vocal
performances. The full setlist was: Plagabraha Bands: Promoters: -Cynical |
