Elliot, The Love, and Metroschifter played at the Flashback on Sunday, August 10. The show was very good.
I reviewed Elliot last month, so I will just give a short explanation of this band. They are a very rock 'n' rolly band with very catchy singing. They played very well and much more energetically than at their last show at the Flashback. This was their last show with their present drummer, Ben Lord.
This show was the first time I had seen The Love play. They kicked rump. Describing what they sound like is pretty tuff, 'cause it's weird. It is like a little hard core mixed with a lot of blues and some extraneous noise. There are vocal solos, guitar solos, drum solos, and, although I can't remember clearly, I would imagine there were probably bass solos too. One person was quoted as saying, "This band has all 'dem solos." If you have not already seen this band, do so immediately.
Metroschifter played a splendid set which incorporated not only songs, but witty jokes as well (well, maybe the jokes weren't all that witty). Metroschifter's music consists of very rhythmic guitar and bass accompanied by interesting, crackle-y vocals. Unfortunately, Metroschifter uses a lot of guitar effects, which often makes it difficult to decipher notes.
This was the first time I had ever been to a show at Sparks. It is a pretty neat place, but it's hard to see the stage unless you are in the very front. It was also very difficult to hear because the P.A. system they had was fairly lame.
The Experimental Pollen Group has improved a little since the last time I saw them, although on that occasion all they did was feed back for an hour. As Thumper's mom told Thumper in the film Bambi, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."
I had a hard time seeing and hearing Blangk because I could not get very close to the front. Blangk was a wonderful metal band with lots of chunky guitar and upbeat drumming. Also present in their music is an abundance of ripping baselines. The singing is good and goes well with the music, but it is not what makes the band. If you have never seen Blangk, tough luck, this was their last show.
Delta 72 is a pretty good band. They have a very unique sound which utilizes slide guitar and organ. They have a semi-bluesy indie-rockish sound which features both male and female vocals.
It's always pretty weak when people who used to be into hard core come to hard core shows and make fun of hard core. Unfortunately Delta 72 exhibited some of this scrub-like behavior.
Guilt played a very complete set for their last show. They played the most memorable of their new songs, and even included the Step Down song "Giving Tree." This was not the most technically perfect set I have seen them play, but it didn't really matter because there was so much energy in their performance. Guilt was a very heavy band with a little bit of artsyness thrown in. No other band really sounds like they did. They will be missed.