LIVE REVIEW: EYEHATEGOD, KEGCHARGE, MAMMOTH GRINDER, CURSE THE HEAVENS

by The WZA'd (ATX)

Eyehategod
When: Friday, November 6th, 2009
Where: Emo's Inside, Austin, TX
With: Kegcharge, Mammoth Grinder, Curse the Heavens

After the Eyehategod show, I got home and looked at my shirtless self in the mirror. Bruises covered my ribs and sides. There was a dark spot under my right eye where my face collided with the back of somebody’s head. With the arm-band I had on for Fun Fun Fun Fest (which took place the following morning), I looked like an escaped hospital patient.

It was a hell of a night. Three local bands opened for New Orleans’s Eyehategod, but they weren’t your usual 6th street bar bands – Curse the Heavens, Mammoth Grinder and Kegcharge each played strong, straightforward sets. Curse the Heavens started the night with some noisy, up-tempo sludge and were really good for the first 15 minutes, but they would have benefited from a more concise set. Mammoth Grinder, on the other hand, rocked Emo’s with relentless bottom-heavy death metal. Kegcharge changed the mood with a bit of classic D-beat crust, which brought out all the punks in the audience. Much headbanging occurred for each band.

Then it was time for Eyehategod. True to form, each member slowly made his way to the stage. The speed at which they began their first song was agonizing. Drummer Joey LaCaze took his sweet time bringing his sticks down, and after every hit came a wave of feedback-laden drone. Tension built in the club until finally, after a minute or more, the band jumped into “Blank” and I jumped into the pit, happily doomed to suffer physical pain.

Everything was perfect: the pit was violent, the band was in time and loud. The crowd roared with the beginning of each familiar song (they played all the good ones, of course) and the pit surged with enthusiasm. Stagedivers turned into crowdsurfers turned into moshers and headbangers. Mike Williams didn’t pass out until the end, after they played “Take as Needed for Pain.” He fell, but landed on a cushion of hundreds of gentle, admiring hands.

It all makes sense now - there’s nothing close to seeing Eyehategod play live. Simply put, their records do not do them full justice: drunk or high, sloppy or together, conscious or not, Eyehategod are meant to be experienced up close and personally. And you can't get much closer or more personal than standing in the pit, receiving a high-five from a beyond-messed-up Mike IX and screaming “burn her!” with the rest of the audience.

Special thanks go to Chuck Loesch for getting Van and I into the show. He DJs No Control Radio on 101X every Friday from 10pm – 1am. He plays metal. You know, the good stuff.