A whole tour based off a TV show? I’m sure this isn’t the first time it’d been done. At least they took the best 3 bands. I hit up this show when it rolled through town on Tuesday. First off, I have to say how much I enjoy shows in the Ascot Room at The Quest as compared to the main room. That and even though I’m all for less government, the new indoor smoking ban rocks! I don’t mind it in restaurants since I often sit in no smoking anyway, but being able to go to a show and not be bothered by smoke all night kicks ass. Anyways…
Some local band I’d never heard of named Enola Grey kicked things off. I later found out they’ve got former members of Martyr AD in the band, which is/was awesome. Go MN Metal! The sound was a bit muddy, too much bass, but they rocked hard. Apparently their vocalist was in Italy, so they had 2 other guys trading off songs. While they were a good metal band, the rotating vocalists took away from their set. I would see them again if that counts for anything.
Up next was CYN (AKA Curse Your Name, AKA Cynder). I was surprised to see Big Dave from the show introducing them. I know no one else cares, but he seems like a cool guy so I thought I’d mention it. As for CYN’s set, I thought they rocked pretty hard. Even though I wasn’t that stoked to see them, they still got my head moving. One thing that stuck me was how diverse the band members were. The one guitarist and bassist were straight up NC backwoods redneck looking while the lead vocalist and keyboardist were more pretty southern boy looking. But who cares about looks? As I said, they rocked some fierce tunes.
Manntis took the stage next. Now if you’d asked me about 3 months ago if I cared at all about this band, I would’ve said no, but lately I couldn’t get enough of them. They are extremely talented and are a great metal band in every aspect. Unfortunately, one of their guitarists was at home because he’d just had hernia surgery (OUCH!). The guys in A Dozen Furies and CYN helped out though. Again, the rotating band member thing was a little annoying since they had to announce a new guy every other song, but it worked out ok. It definately wasn’t as distracting as the (pun intended) musical vocalists from earlier in the night. About the music: Manntis was everything and anything I had expected. I head banged my, well, head off. For their last song, Sleep in Your Grave (also the title to their album), the vocalist got everyone to scream the lyrics at the end. It made for a really great end to a rockin performance.
Probably the most known band A Dozen Furies hit the stage next. I figured they’d be the biggest draw since they did win the competition on the show and they were more well known before the show. I was surprised to see the crowd had dropped in size by about 1/3. This kind of made me sad since I really think ADF deserves better respect. While their performance was pretty good, you could tell they were somewhat disappointed. I was also surprised to find that their new material is MUCH heavier than their EP. I think a lot of people passed them off just another radio friendly metal band, but I think they’re way more than that. I stuck around for a while after the show, bought a CD and got it signed by 3 of the guys in ADF.
Good times, good show! I was having second thoughts all day about going. I figured for $14, I was only seeing 2 bands I was excited about. I turned out all 4 were really good. Check the tour out if it’s in your area. A Dozen Furies is on Ozzfest this summer. That’s your second chance to check them out. Manntis just signed to Century Media, so I’m sure they’ll line up some dates this summer. As for CYN and Enola Grey, I have no idea. Props to them for entertaining me.
