For four straight hours last night I was indoctrinated into the world of "Doom Metal". If someone asked me to describe what this genre is in one word, I would have to say... Eeyore. Yeah, that donkey thing from Winnie the Pooh.

I walked into the club with very minimal previous exposure to doom metal, and after spending much time staring blankly (and yawning) into it's eyes, I would have to say that I have found a genre of metal I do not care for whatsoever. I say it reminds me of Eeyore because the angle of the music seems to dwell on the pit of dispair, yet those involved seem to love living in that pit.

BUT, because I want to make every effort to be an "unbiased jounalist", I am going to try my best to report to you what you might have felt if you are a fan of doom. I will be scoring each band in hopes of "looking through a fans eyes", so to speak. Let's give it a shot, shall we? "Yessss Pooooh......"

Within five minutes of my arrival at Jaxx, Daylight Dies took the stage. I have to tell ya... I spent the majority of their set looking for ANYTHING positive to say about them. The only redeeming factor to this band was that the bass player was bouncing around like a rabid monkey. The singer was boring and out of key. The guitarists could play, but I can't say I was able to make out any of their solos because of the mix and one of the guitarists guitars seemed to be out of tune all night. While the music was very melodic, it drove me nuts when they switched off the distortion boxes because there was no sustain on any of it and it sounded completely limp. Score? 3 of 10. Din't dig it at all.

Next up was a band called Thurisaz from Belgium. This band featured two singers, which both played guitar amazingly. The two singers contrasted incredibly. One being a growler/melody guy like you would hear in Opeth, and the other dude was a hellbent screacher that looked completely wicked when he howled. The backing vocals were supurb as well. Another cool as hell thing about 'em was the Belgian accent. The singer talked like Dracula. It was awesome. The songs were intereresting, had many tempos, and the vocal arrangements were some of the most original I have heard in a long time. I tried like mad to think of a band to compare them to and I couldn't think of a single one. The drummer was inventive as hell too! I found him to be very jazzy. The only downside to their set was mostly technical. The keyboards and drums were too heavy in the mix and it was hard as hell to hear the guitars. Of the four bands I saw this night, THIS band was by far my favorite. I would love to see them again. I score 'em 9 out of 10, and thats NOT using my "doom eyes". Thats the berube score!

While the next band was technically an opening band for Novembers Doom, Saturnus was who just about all of the 200 or so people came to see. From what I gathered, seeing them is nearly impossible in the U.S., and there was a thick excitement in the air about them being at Jaxx. Now I will tell you right up front that I didn't like this band's music at all. BUT! They were absolute masters of doom. You don't have to be a fan of... let's say... country music, to be able to tell who a master of country is do ya?! These guys were doom incarnate. The band from Denmark took you on a a neverending journey, that gave you the feeling of attending a Scandanavian funeral. They impaled you with a constant dirge. The songs were incredibly slow and downtrodden. The singer pelted you a quiet groaning and growling through the whole set while the lead guitarist buried you in masterful, sad solos that highlighted incredible feedback work. The sound they had was huge. They compressed the room with their tone and the band was incredibly tight. To prove that the members also had a lighter, human side to them, between songs the band was extremely happy. Their smiles were beaming on the breaks. Hell, they and the crowd even sang Happy 30th Birthday to their drummer, so in reality I guess they aren't as doomed as they portray. Something that I found funny was that the bass player was guzzling Rolling Rock beer and with every chug he would smile and shake his head at the bottle as if to say, "I can't wait to get back to Copenhagen, so I can get some real beer!", but you could see on his face that he thought his moments with the Rolling Rock in the U.S. would be a great nostalgic memory in his old age. The score on these guys is 10 out of 10. Not because I liked their music, but because the fans felt blessed to see them and because it was apparant that they might very well be the best band ever in the genre.

The last band of the night was Novembers Doom. At this point I was completely "doomed out" and had to get out of the club soon, before I felt the need to dig a hole and bury myself in it. I managed to stay long enough into their set to at least get a feel for what they had to offer. It seemed as if a lot of the doom fans felt worn out as I did, because a lot of them left after Saturnus. The Chicago based band wasn't too bad overall, but I found them to be pretty boring to watch. Their drummer had a ton of power and you could feel each drum he pounded. The singer was off-key from time to time. When he was doing the growling thing, I thought he sounded a lot like Max from Sepultura, without the accent of course. The music had some good riffs and some nice tempo changes. The thing that grated my nerves was their attempt at ghostly vocal arrangements in the chorus parts of the songs, which the singer would sing one harmony and the bass player would sing along in a ghoulish dissonant key. Overall, I scored this band as 7 out of 10, with the "doom caveat". They did their schtick well.

In my next report I hope to give you the scoop on the Bury Your Dead show on 4/29! Stay tuned.

Go to the BGR gallery (CLICK HERE) and check out my pics from last night's the show.

BE SURE to check out our friends at JAXX NIGHTCLUB! www.jaxxroxx.com

If you would like to attend a Jaxx show please let me know. I might be able to drag you along with me.

Comments Questions or Concerns? Hit me up! berube@braingell.com

And oh yeah...

Peace and Metal Grease!

berube