Lineup: Intronaut, Scale the Summit, North and Rozamov
Venue: The Middle East Downstairs Cambridge, MA
Rozamov: These guys are the go-to local opener for any sludge/doom metal show in the Boston-area. Last night marked the first time I'd actually seen them and I really hope I don't have to ever again. Every single song featured the same plodding sludge riff, lifeless drum fills and muddled harsh vocals for seven or eight minutes and the entire band displayed an energy level that was reminiscent of the titular character from Weekend at Bernie's. Unless you're looking to learn the basics of how to play the most mind-numbingly dull sludge metal humanly possible, I'd avoid voluntarily seeing Rozamov at all costs.
North: Just about anything would've sounded good after Rozamov had just lulled me to sleep for 30 minutes, but North was seriously great. Their sound was a perfect mix of punishing sludge and atmospheric post-metal and the amount of killer riffs they laid down in every song was flat-out absurd. I'm going to need to dig into their discography ASAP after witnessing this excellent performance.
Scale the Summit: For those don't know, Scale the Summit was added to this tour at the last minute after the original direct support act-Germany's The Ocean-was forced to drop off after not getting their work visas processed in time for the start of the tour. While I was incredibly disappointed that The Ocean wasn't able to do this tour, Scale the Summit was about as perfect of a replacement as Intronaut could've got for this tour. I could ramble on for an elongated period of time about how tight the band was or how warmly the crowd received them, but this set largely served as a gateway to help me rediscover the brilliance of Scale the Summit's music. With the exception of giving their latest album V a few spins at the end of the last year, I've largely ignored listening to them for the past couple of years and for the entire 45 minutes they were on stage, I became overwhelmed with self-hatred for making such a moronic decision. Between their top-notch technical chops and ability to create a consistently rich, dense atmosphere with their music, Scale the Summit is firmly embedded in the upper echelon of instrumental metal bands. Scale the Summit is an absolute joy to behold live and I will never make the mistake of sleeping on their music again as long as I live.
Intronaut: I'd seen Intronaut three times prior to this (opening for Mastodon in 2009, Meshuggah in 2013 and Between the Buried and Me in 2014), but I was extremely excited to finally get the chance to see them headline. As with the previous times I've seen them, Intronaut's performance was freaking outstanding. While their live show has been consistently excellent over the years, this show saw them raising their game to the next level due to their decision to play their brilliant new album The Direction of Last Things in its entirety. The intimacy and note-perfect acoustics of the Middle East Downstairs
maximized the power of the record's striking blend of crushing riffs and jazz-inspired melodies and made all seven songs even more immense and striking than the studio versions.
As always, the biggest highlight of going to an Intronaut show is getting the pleasure of seeing bassist Joe Lester and drummer Danny Walker play in person. As far as I'm concerned, these guys are the best rhythm section in all of music at the moment and seeing them perform live showcases just how exceptionally gifted they are at their respective instruments. Lester and Walker are the backbone of Intronaut's tremendous success as a band and prove that more bands in the present day should put a bigger emphasis on having a strong rhythm section. This show once again reaffirmed my belief that Intronaut is one of the most criminally overlooked bands in modern metal and I urge anyone that can catch a show on the last two weeks of this tour to do so.
Scores:
Rozamov 2/10
North 8/10
Scale the Summit 8.5/10
Intronaut 9/10
Setlists:
Scale the Summit:
Blue Sun
Oort Cloud
Narrow Sailanet
Atlas Novus
Pontus Euxinus
Soria Moria
Kestral
Odyssey
Origin of Species
Intronaut:
Fast Worms
Digital Gerrymandering
The Pleasant Surprise
The Unlikely Event of a Water Landing
Sul Ponticello
The Direction of Last Things
City Hymnal
Encore:
Core Relations
Milk Leg
The Literal Black Cloud
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