Pissing off Scenesters Since 1995
Anon/The Autumn Offering/Bloodsimple/Candiria
February 20th, 2005
Starland Ballroom
My friends and I had 2 reasons for going to this show. The first being that I have wanted to see Bloodsimple since they started to play shows, but always seemed to miss them when they played around my way. And the fact that they had Tim Williams formerly of VOD as the singer was my main reason for going. Candiria has been a band that we all have seen numerous times, but the first since their near tragic accident almost 2 years ago. I’ve heard their new album and wanted to see if they were going to totally forget their past and not play any of their old songs, which made them one of the premiere hardcore/metal bands of the late 90′s through today.
We got inside, after almost not being allowed in for having an inhaler in my pocket. God Forbid a person has asthma in this world and they need to carry their medicine with them, but that’s besides the point. We got inside (With my inhaler) and Anon was setting up on the stage. I’m not really sure where they’re from but they talked a lot about supporting the local music scene, so it’s possible they are from New Jersey or a surrounding area. They were not really my thing. Two singers doing the same kind of music that has been rehashed over and over again. A screaming verse followed by a singing verse, all by the same guy. The second vocalist would throw in an occasional verse here and there, but this was pretty basic stuff. They didn’t Impress me, I thought they were very sub-par to be honest.
Next up was Daytona Beach’s own The Autumn Offering. This band was a punishing metal group from the start. They encouraged hard dancing and had some good tunes to boot. I had heard a song a while ago on a Stillborn Records compilation with them on it. Good stuff, they are actually much better live than recorded. They seem to be one of those bands that thrives on a live audience, and their recordings suffer from that. They seemed to span a bulk of their current album, it was a pleasant surprise to hear a band such as Autumn Offering on this bill.
Next up was Bloodsimple. They came out roaring and ready to go. They breezed through what seemed to be most of their album, which is to be released later on in March. Just a straight forward hard rock band. To anyone who is a VOD fan, this material is similar to their last studio album, 2001′s “From Bliss to Devastation”, which was a transition album, from straight forward hardcore to more of a mainstream/metal/hardcore sound. I loved the energy Tim Williams and had on stage. After every song, he thanked everyone for coming out and tossing out samplers of the full length, “A Cruel World.” I’m not sure of the set list, but I know that they played “Sell Me Out”, “Running from Nothing” and “Path to Prevail”, the last song which totally rocked live. Just a very heavy song that does not have one weak part. I was impressed with their set.
And then, the last band of the night (well the last band my friends and I saw anyway), Brooklyn’s own Candiria. They started to play shows again 6 months ago after the much publicized and very serious van accident while on tour almost 2 years ago. The band still has an insane amount of energy on stage. Carly Coma is one of the more energetic frontmen in hardcore or rock today. The band ripped through a few songs from the last few albums. The songs on “What doesn’t Kill you”, their latest offering isn’t bad, but it’s such a departure from their past releases, old time fans will have a tough time adjusting to it. As they went from song to song from this album, I was wondering if they’d play anything old. surprisingly enough, they played a few songs off 300% which made me happy, and then played possibly my favorite Candiria song, “Temple of Sickness” off of their ridiculous album “Process of self development.” It was a good way for the band to recognize that they have some old fans and were content with keeping them happy.
After Candiria left the stage, we decided it was time to go. We had no interest in seeing American Head Charge or Otep, they both don’t do it for me musically, and their fans at their shows are awful. The show itself was good from what we saw. Three out of four bands were very good. The Autumn Offering were definitely the surprise of the night, Bloodsimple made it worth the trip, and Candiria still has what it takes on stage to rock out. Unfortunately, there were a handful of fights, all of which happened for no reason, and lots of guys in 5X T-shirts who weight about 130 pounds soaking wet trying to act hard to a bunch of 15 year olds. But that didn’t take away the fact that the show was surprisingly good, even if it was more of a mainstream type show.