Every so often, the entertainment opportunities in this city really put you into some tough spots, and the choices I had to make last Friday (April 10, 2009) were some of the hardest I’ve had to make in a while. Throughout the week I wrestled between going to one of several shows on 4/10, and in the end I decided to attend the return to the Twin Cities for the progressive rockers in Dredg at the Varsity Theater in Dinkytown featuring highly acclaimed support from the likes of Torche and From Monument to Masses (forgoing the Acid Mother’s Temple set at 7th St. Entry as well as several other local shows that would have definitely been worthy of attendance). Luckily, the open-minded acts playing at the Varsity weren’t short to impress.
I hadn’t seen Dredg in nearly 4 years before their performance on Friday (since Rockstar Mayhem), and despite spending nearly a year off the road, the 
band was on point that night and ready to impress their ecelectic audience. With everyone from heavily bearded metalheads to formally dressed females in attendance, Dredg had to know that their opening acts and their dynamic catalog would be sure to attract a such a undefinable mix of people – which probably is why the band chose to spend fair amounts of time playing songs from all of their albums, including several songs from their forthcoming album The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion. Songs from the recent Catch Without Arms and El Cielo were sounding more impassioned and intimate this time around, and against the back drop of the Varsity their performance was even grander. Even Leitmotif got acknowledged with a performance of “Yatahaze” (video below) that ended with the band proclaiming, “whoa that felt good! We need to do that more often.” Throughout their performance, the entire crowd often sang above the band, and as anyone there would likely agree, we all agreed it was an amazing return.
Honestly, Torche was the band that I came to see, and even as a trio they’re still as massive as you might imagine. The band’s melodic stoner metal was perhaps a little heavier than most fans at the show had expected, but for those in attendance who knew what was up, the show was incredibly intense. Mostly playing songs from their recent instant-classic Meanderthal, the band charged through an energetic set of free-spirited doom rock that theatrically transitioned between mammoth sludge, doom-pop, noise rock, and good old fashioned heavy metal jams. By the time the band left the stage, their set surely won over more than a few people.
From Monument to Masses opened the show, supporting their recent On Little Known Frequencies album. Like Torche, FMTM is a trio that sounds much larger than you’d expect; the post-rock they play is a swirling, entrancing, heavy style of psych-rock that is layered with samples, effects, and multiple instruments by all three members as they push the unrelenting crescendos further and further. More like GY!BE than EITS, From Monument to Masses introduced the night with a beautiful, authentic, organic presentation that had all fans of the guitar quietly attentive.
To cap off the coverage of the show, we are lucky enough to present you with a whole mess of media we captured that night. We’ve got over 40 photos, video from Dredg (“Yatahaze”, “Same Ol’ Road”, and “Bug Eyes”) and Torche, so there’s no reason to stop reading now! Sit back, relax, and enjoy the rest of our recap of the stellar Friday night show at the Varsity…
VIDEO: Dredg, “Yatahaze”, (live at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis, MN 4/10/09)
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VIDEO: Torche, (live at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis, MN 4/10/09)
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(From Monument to Masses)
(From Monument to Masses)
(From Monument to Masses)
VIDEO: Dredg, “Same Ol’ Road” (live at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis, MN 4/10/09)
Like always, keep reading because we’ve got many more awesome photos from this show after the jump (and even another video from Dredg’s set for their song “Bug Eyes”!). Just click the link… Continue reading
St Paul’s technical/jazz metal wizards in 
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(Bring That Shit)
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(The Nina! The Pinta!)
(Totally Harsh)
No matter how old 
to release an album with the word “flood” in the title of one of the songs on the same week that their city was bracing against this very same natural disaster, but something tells me that this album would have made the perfect soundtrack to ride out the storm. For someone fighting against the slow push of a rising flood, the visuals inspired by an experimental doomcore sound like this are only too familiar; waves of noise, unforgiving brutality, building rhythms, reflective anticipation, and the sobering aftermath – it’s all there (and I don’t mean to sound unsympathetic). On their Translation Loss debut, Thresholds of Imbalance, these nearly-local purveyors of experimental doom, sludge, and gloom, take the listener on a cinematic journey that places heavy emphasis on ambiance and emotion as it does on crushing riffage.
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mewithoutYou
MIND INVERSION 