This turned out to be a nice show, I was skeptical about it and how it would fair. And as usual with some packages like this it did not pull very many locals. Still the show managed to bring in a few 100 people. And damn there was a lot of doom metal fans at that show, I wonder where they all come from.
Raleigh's own doom metal band Soul Preacher opened the night in front of a very nice sized and very responsive audience. The uniqueness of Soul Preacher's brand of Paradise Lost doom with heavy goth and death rock influences floated perfectly in the atmosphere of the night. The band played well and sounded great but sadly they will probably be forgotten after the night until the next show since no one was able to walk out with any merch.
Afterward Soul Preacher the crowd dwindled considerably to the bar and outside. A fair amount of younger kids were left scattered in front of the stage all looking around as if very new to the surroundings, though one could tell they have been out at least once before from the Pagan Fest shirts.
Orphan Land took the stage and the crowd packed in a little more but there was still no problem navigating though. Of the three bands orphan Land certainly had the smallest audience at attention. This is not surprising considering the size of the bands name in the Stats, and the fact that their sound was pretty band. I love Volume 11 but sometimes the sound is rough and the one out of the four last night who had the roughest sound was one of the two bands I wanted to see on the bill. Still it was an energetic set, the crowd was bouncing as they often do to chants in languages they dont understand. Really does put in to perspective the cult mentality of blindly following. The band seemed full of energy a in good spirits especially considering the ruthless crime against them the night before. So I do applaud them for carrying on, but what else could they do.
I was outside when Swallow the Sun took stage. I could hear some of them, enough to get an idea of what they were about. Then some female vocals caught my ear that reminded me of Gitana Demone on an old Christian Death song. I was disappointed to find that she was not on stage it was just a recording. Which brings me to another Orphan Land matter; I could hear the recording with Swallow the Sun from outside but not OLs recording standing in front of the stage, someone dropped the ball there.
When I went in to see some of Swallow the Sun I noticed the crowd had returned packing in a little tighter than the previous band. I must admit I have an automatic aversion to most bands with a sentence fragment title but figured I would still check the band out since I have heard so much about them. They just seemed like typical doom, nothing terrible but nothing overwhelming great either.
Katatonia is about to go on and the area in front of the stage packs in tight, if it was not obvious before who all these guys in My Dying Bride shirts and goth chicks came to see then it was now. Maybe a couple of people left at the bar and that might have been the bartenders.
The set sounded great and seemed to run smooth. The band pretty much stuck with the latter half of their catalog but this was really no surprise, yet a disappointment to several.
All in all it was a good show and very nice turnout for a Weds day night.
Raleigh's own doom metal band Soul Preacher opened the night in front of a very nice sized and very responsive audience. The uniqueness of Soul Preacher's brand of Paradise Lost doom with heavy goth and death rock influences floated perfectly in the atmosphere of the night. The band played well and sounded great but sadly they will probably be forgotten after the night until the next show since no one was able to walk out with any merch.
Afterward Soul Preacher the crowd dwindled considerably to the bar and outside. A fair amount of younger kids were left scattered in front of the stage all looking around as if very new to the surroundings, though one could tell they have been out at least once before from the Pagan Fest shirts.
Orphan Land took the stage and the crowd packed in a little more but there was still no problem navigating though. Of the three bands orphan Land certainly had the smallest audience at attention. This is not surprising considering the size of the bands name in the Stats, and the fact that their sound was pretty band. I love Volume 11 but sometimes the sound is rough and the one out of the four last night who had the roughest sound was one of the two bands I wanted to see on the bill. Still it was an energetic set, the crowd was bouncing as they often do to chants in languages they dont understand. Really does put in to perspective the cult mentality of blindly following. The band seemed full of energy a in good spirits especially considering the ruthless crime against them the night before. So I do applaud them for carrying on, but what else could they do.
I was outside when Swallow the Sun took stage. I could hear some of them, enough to get an idea of what they were about. Then some female vocals caught my ear that reminded me of Gitana Demone on an old Christian Death song. I was disappointed to find that she was not on stage it was just a recording. Which brings me to another Orphan Land matter; I could hear the recording with Swallow the Sun from outside but not OLs recording standing in front of the stage, someone dropped the ball there.
When I went in to see some of Swallow the Sun I noticed the crowd had returned packing in a little tighter than the previous band. I must admit I have an automatic aversion to most bands with a sentence fragment title but figured I would still check the band out since I have heard so much about them. They just seemed like typical doom, nothing terrible but nothing overwhelming great either.
Katatonia is about to go on and the area in front of the stage packs in tight, if it was not obvious before who all these guys in My Dying Bride shirts and goth chicks came to see then it was now. Maybe a couple of people left at the bar and that might have been the bartenders.
The set sounded great and seemed to run smooth. The band pretty much stuck with the latter half of their catalog but this was really no surprise, yet a disappointment to several.
All in all it was a good show and very nice turnout for a Weds day night.
