LIVE REVIEW: ZOROASTER

Zoroaster
When: Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Where: Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL
With: Black Tusk, Dark Castle

by Andrew Wilhelm (CHI)

This was my fourth time seeing Zoroaster, which pretty much confirms that I am a volume slut. You do not know what loud is until you've seen these guys roast your synapses. The Atlanta trio also brought the Durrrty South to Chicago by bringing along fellow Georgians Black Tusk and Floridians Dark Castle. All we needed left was a big pot of grits and tubs of purple drank.

Draped up and dripped out, know what I'm talkin' bout?



As I've gushed before about Black Cobra, I am a fan of bands who make the most out of minimal personell. Dark Castle is another one of those bands. Guitarist/vocalist Stevie Floyd and drummer Rob Shaffer cranked out a half hour of hazy, psychedelic sludge. There are hints at boogie, but overall, the music lives up to their name sake: foreboding and sturdy. Despite the differences in pace, like Black Cobra, they don't overstay their welcome. For the last song, Chloe Puke from Crustcake favs Atakke, who was also doing merch for Black Tusk, doubled the vocal assault. I could hear her clearer than Floyd! That's especially an achievement with a sound as bass-heavy as Dark Castle's. I spoke to Puke a bit after the show, and while Black Tusk did not have any fatboy-size shirts (a band's need to sell merch is more important than my need to work out), she did inform me that Atakke may be hitting up Chicago in the fall. Schwing!



Compared to the other two bands on the bill's taste for sludge, Black Tusk sound like Lynyrd Skynyrd on a thrash bender. These dudes put the Southern in Southern Comfort, thrashing out songs where the riffs in one of em equaled the amount of riffs total from the other, doomier bands. A little twang there, a little speed here, a whole lotta attitude everywhere. They also appear to have a lot of fun on stage, guitar-sword brandishing and grins aplenty. The band that drinks and tatts together, stays together.



I will need hearing aids at 28 (I'm a couple weeks shy of 23, FYI) after witnessing Zoroaster. My mantra in metal, and in life since metal is my life, is that you should do anything by halves. Furthermore, if it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing. Zoroaster were preachin' it, brotha! TESTIFY! And I'm not saying that cause they played our party back in March. Zoroaster are not just about volume, they've also got groove to back up their top-shelf rig. "Ancient Ones," off Zoroaster's new record Matador, combined the band's tried-and-true plod with a speed run every often. They're playing more than two chords a minute here? Well, I'll be. "Bullwhip," a staple of Zoroaster's set - yes, I've dug through the feedback to know what constitutes as a "staple" for them - sounds like something Black Tusk would play had they had their hands on Zoroaster's gear. Their stage lighting resembled David Lynch taking over a Syd Barrett fronted Pink Floyd's live show. It was bright and warm, but also dark and menacing. Disorienting at times, but the crowd and the band held up. Finishing the night "Spirit Molecule," and Floyd came back on to belt out backing howls. I still wonder, though, what is with bassist/vocalist Brent Anderson's reverse-Lemmy hunchback pose. He's ignored some medical advice in favor of the audience, I am certain.

The day after, I caught friend of the 'Cake Carm at the Landmine Marathon show at Ronny's. When I informed him that it was a loud show, he was astonished. "It was loud at the Bottle?" Zoroaster can make anywhere loud. Th' south will rise again!