Moth Eater is a new Doom Metal band that’s comprised of some cool dudes and former members of the bands Dirty Rig, Scar Culture and Year Of Confession. New to the scene in name alone, these guys were making their debut at the Ace Of Clubs on a very dismal night. To learn more and see photos from the debut just click the logo to be taken to our item on the main PiercingMetal.com site.
Artist: Moth Eater
Venue: Ace Of Clubs
Opener: unknown
Date: 6/5/2009
Label: Independent Artist
It might sound a bit cliché but it truly was a dark and stormy night here in New York City as the weekend began and to be honest it was not fun to be trekking anywhere for anything in this weather. It was a rain that seemed to be enjoying the fact that it was dumping on everyone as they sought some peace or recharging activities now that the work week had finally ended. My view was that the cure for such a dismal night might best be found in an ice cold beer and a whoop ass dose of Doom Metal as served up by the newly formed band Moth Eater. The band was actually performing their very first gig at The Ace Of Clubs this evening and this is a cool club to catch a band so we headed down to the space on Great Jones Street and arrived just prior to their hitting the stage. Here is how the night went down.
Moth Eater: The guys that make up Moth Eater are already known to the Metal music community from their previous lives in their other bands. For starters, we have both Steve “Buckshot” Seabury and Dave Ardolina formerly the bassist and drummer of Hard Rock outfit Dirty Rig. That was the band once fronted by Warrior Soul’s Kory Clarke before they disbanded. Next up we have the vocals of John Alaia who was a member of the Death Metal meets Hardcore band Year Of Confession and closing out the lineup is guitarist John Conley of Scar Culture. This was also a Death Metal meets Hardcore band and they were signed to Century Media Records. The room was reasonably crowded and I think in total it fits about one hundred people and while I didn’t count each and every head there seemed to be at least half of this number in place for the guys. Alaia introduced the band and informed us that they had been not doing much for a number of months so to go easy on them. Needless to say they hit the stage with a solid level of Doom Metal force and for a new group did come off as pretty tight. This genre is all about locking into the groove and I had to say that the guys were winning the crowd over. There was head banging from the first note and a lot of joking from them since the crowd was many friends and well wishers. Buckshot would say how out of shape he was and then kick back a Budweiser beer. Don’t worry Steve, those hot stage lights will trim you up again I am sure.
I had never seen Conley’s band nor him before tonight and was enjoying his level of technical ability as he crunched out each super heavy riff. Given their previously working together as a rhythm section, both Ardolina and Seabury are pretty in sync with one another and that’s something that is going to help the band work out material going forward. Alaia sings with a very growling register and there are a lot of similarities in his vocal style to when bands like Lamb Of God’s Randy does his higher pitched growl. Since this stuff is Doom and a lot of the classic stuff used clean vocals, I admit that I would like to see John give this style a try. It will be the perfect combination of the Old School under the guidance of the New School. The set was a short one tonight since there was still another band but everyone was playing their hearts out and most importantly, enjoying themselves as they did it. When John A. spoke about finding the band online, he joked that their My Space was labeled as such because they are one more number evil than the devil. They would play all originals and one cover from the band Four Horsemen this evening and while there was no recorded music available for the fans that was to be expected given this was their first gig. They did have an extremely limited edition t-shirt up for sale and there were only 50 of these made. A new design will follow when they run out so of you snoozed you most certainly would lose for this one if you chose to wait. After the band was done they packed up and chilled out with the friends who were in the room. One such fan happened to be the new vocal power of Anthrax, Dan Nelson. He was also very cordial and happy to meet anyone who felt like talking to him. I think the band has some promise for the Doom Metal genre and its fans. Of course like anything new it requires work, and I am confident that the band will be putting their all into making this new project work. It’s rather different from all of their previous musical incarnations but if you are a fan of crushing and grooving riffs and drums then Moth Eater is a recommended way to spend some of your time so check them out.
The actual closing band tonight would Gods Green Earth who I had never heard of before this evening, but much like the Saints of Pain who I caught about a year ago at this same club, would have Go-Go Dancers on the stage with them doing their thing while they played. This was not a headlining situation because in the fashion that the club sets up the shows, each band gets their slot and often leaves with their audience following them. Of course given the night, there was some cross-pollination of audiences for each of these final two acts. In my opinion the Gods Green Earth stuff was ok and I liked the heaviness they were delivering, but I had to admit that I was enjoying the dancing girls Pariah and Abby a whole lot more. They were gorgeous. Maybe Moth Eater can use their talents the next time around. Some food for thought if the band is reading this article. These days anything that gets a band attention should be investigated.
Set List:
1. Wendigo
2. The Aftermath
3. Our Time
4. When Bruises Leave Scars
5. Rocking is Ma’ Business (Four Horsemen cover)
6. In the Mirror
Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/motheater667
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