Gig Review - Sleep, A Storm of Light and Wizards of Firetop Mountain at The Button Factory Dublin, May 23rd 2012

The Button Factory was nicely full when we arrived for a night of riff worship and Doom with a capital ‘D’; a good crowd to welcome Sleep for their first visit to Ireland, and if the night was as successful as it looked, it won’t be the last!

The ever-energetic Wizards of Firetop Mountain took the stage just a few minutes after our arrival and wasted no time in diving into a full-on performance even by their standards. Wizards are gradually becoming one of the representative bands of the small but sturdy Irish Doom scene and no doubt this gig will earn them enormous credibility, I mean what band doesn’t want to support someone like Sleep?!? Wizards burst through a fiery set in what seemed like no time at all, crowd pleasing songs including ‘Sonic War’ got the open-minded even more on their side while signature track ‘Onwards Towards the Sun’ solidified the effect. Wizards’ party atmosphere brings a fresh buzz to the occasion and makes for a good way to begin the night. Frontman Dunchee stands proudly at the edge of the stage only a few feet from the crowd with his characteristic “I own you right now!” attitude and expression to match, while behind him the band bring the noise and don’t let up ‘til it’s over. If you’re up for a bit of rock ‘n’ roll craic, grab the opportunity to see Wizards of Firetop Mountain live.

Welcome A Storm of Light. The last time this band were in Ireland I went to see them in Whealan’s, and to be honest, I came out a little shaken. The noise was so intense and the projections so vivid that one couldn’t help but feel the impact. Since then I have been at the barrier at a Melvins’ gig during which Phil Anselmo appeared on drums, after that I could handle anything! On that occasion A Storm of Light played to about two dozen people, this time round they had a full house. Another new thing was the addition of Andrea Black on guitar. Again the projected visuals were stunning (founder Josh Graham is the full-time projectionist for Neurosis) and the music is as hard-hitting as last time, but I felt that even with the new addition to the band there was very little new about the performance. Nonetheless they played beautifully and A Storm of Light are one of the masters of that tightly refined energy characteristic of good Post-Metal, it can be as clear as a melancholy bell one moment and change to an utter torrent the next.

A brief wait before the headline act, during which we were given a lesson on the wonder of physics by Carl Sagan. Guitarist and comedic genius Matt Pike begins his stand-up act by stumbling around the stage playing with his pickup switch and feedback before launching into the slow beginnings of ‘Jerusalem’, possibly the heaviest thing ever committed to record. Above their heads is footage of the Saturn 5 rocket slowly lifting off its launch pad. Given the loose nature of Sleep’s performance, it seems unlikely that the projection and the playing were carefully synched, yet in the same moment that the bass and drums joined Pike in the riff ritual, the bright yellow flame of the rocket’s jet came into view and lit up the stage in a reflected amber hue. It was a perfect marriage of audio and visual; the most powerful machine ever built by man with the heaviest sound ever made by man. The band played well into Jerusalem Part 2 before moving into the ‘Holy Mountain’ album for some more groovy tunes. Fan favourite ‘Dragonaut’ raised a tremendous cheer from the crowd after those first four notes that mark its signature.

The note of low C will forever be audible in the heads of those who attended that gig, it was pure riff worship the likes of which Sleep do best. The bass was so much that tinnitus didn’t set in until hours later whereas usually is comes almost immediately. Instead there was this peculiar weighed down feeling at the bottom of the ear which I can’t say I’ve ever had before. Between the good time grooves of Wizards of Firetop Mountain, the contemplative shock of A Storm of Light and the journey to the outer limits that was Sleep, this was a five star, ten out of ten gig all round!

In case you didn't believe the comedic genius comment...

Edward Gerard Brophy,
bornagainnihilist@gmail(dot)com

'2007- What A Year' by Edward Brophy

Allow me to set the scene:

Me, 2007.

17 year old long-haired Black Sabbath enthusiast (the latter is even more true today.)

In 5th year in an all-boy/all-jock rugby school in Dublin (no one reading this from outside Ireland will know the term “D4”, but to those Irish readers I need say no more...)

Still an expert in all things Metallica, but at this stage my interest was waning.

Similarly I had decided that Motorhead held little appeal for me despite all the opportunities I gave them.

No girlfriend.
No car.
A recently split band and the toughest school year still looming on the horizon the following year.

All in all, while I won't be so spoiled as to say a terrible situation, I can safely say, a boring one! Yet thinking back to that time I am always faced with an almost nostalgic feeling, a voice saying contentedly; “ya know, that was a fuckin' good year.” Yet you have already read the setting-the-scene portion of the article, so where is the joy?
The fact is that I can only pin down one thing as a suspect to account for the fond memories of that year; that is discovering that most colourful spectrum of music between Rock and Metal (two ancient terms that seem to become less meaningful everyday), the part of the spectrum that I like to refer to simply as 'Heavy'. The stonery, the psychedelic, the groovy, the droney, the sludgy, the weighty, the fuzzy, the terms go on and on precisely because the music does likewise!
I believe it began with Dave Grohl's under the radar 'Probot' project. On that record I came across names I had never heard of. There were the isolated few including Sepultura's Max Cavalera and Motorhead's Lemmy, but who the hell were The Obsessed, Cathedral, Trouble, DRI, Corrosion of Conformity???
A track called 'The Emerald Law' demonstrated an approach to riffing and soloing that were alien to me at the time. I was still convinced at that age that Kirk Hammet had a decent vibrato technique! I resolved to investigate.
My YouTube based inquiry yielded a few live videos all featuring this large shouldered man with hair down to his arse, tattoos down to his hands, (before Suicide Silence and Bring Me The Horizon made it 'in vogue'!) and armed with a black Les Paul. This is of course, you guessed it, Wino.
Saint Vitus videos linked me to Spirit Caravan, Caravan to The Obsessed, Obsessed to The Hidden Hand, then it grew wider; The Hidden Hand to The Sword, The Sword to High On Fire, High On Fire to Sleep, Sleep to OM, OM to Neurosis, on and on and on..... One of the videos that stick in my memory best have to be a fan-made video for The Hidden Hand's 'The Last Tree' made up of live footage from the late 'Emissions from the Monolith' festival and stock footage of hardy men cutting down Giant Redwood trees by hand. Another would have to be a the music video for Sleep's 'Dragonaut', a strangely edited black and white affair featuring a young Matt Pike with blonde dreadlocks.
I could continue on with videos, discoveries on Myspace, etc. etc. but it I think the point has been made that the ball had begun to roll. From here the bands came into my scope one by one like and endless parade of pure quality with no end in sight. Today my personal favourites are still as strong as they ever were, Mastodon, The Hidden Hand, Baroness, Melvins, The Obsessed, High on Fire and of course Black Sabbath, all occupying the ruling tier in my subjective hierarchy.
This was my 2007. What better way to begin maturity of taste? Turning on, tuning in and dropping out just in time to catch The Hidden Hand's last release 'The Resurrection of Whiskey Foote', Baroness' 'Red Album', and not forgetting the slick monster 'Death is This Communion' from High on Fire.
Freeing themselves from the limitations imposed by the Rock or Metal categories, the musicians are free to explore whatever they fuckin' want, (an attitude much advocated but rarely practised!) therein lies the beauty of this music that in an ideal world would be true of all music. Until that ideal is realised let us privileged few sit back, stick on the Sabbath LP, engage our inner Taoist and lose ourselves in Absorption................................

For Bornagainnihilist 2011
Edward Gerard Brophy