Artist: Loudness
Venue: B.B. King Blues Club (New York, NY)
Opener: Bronx Casket Company
Date: 3/26/2006
Label:
Loudness would return to New York City for their 25th Anniversary tour and as expected one of the stops on the trip would be B.B. King Blues Club. The past two years have seen this venue in particular rise to the occasion and offer the die hard music fan a healthy dose of Metal music. Everything from Black Metal to Death to Progressive and now the greats from the past have crossed this stage. Loudness while reunited in 2002, have been out of the public eye at least as far as the U.S. is concerned for almost 20 years. Tonight however those who remember them fondly and have enjoyed some of their songs would be able to relive some of this bands magic. Opening the show would be The Bronx Casket Company and this is an interesting band all around because the dark and gothic musings they perform is not really a perfect match for classic Hard Rock/Metal. The BCC fits right along side that of Type-O-Negative and Beseech with their sound and its main players themselves who might surprise you. The core members are Jack Frost (guitarist of Seven Witches) and D.D. Verni (bassist of the legendary Overkill).
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Artist: Bronx Casket Company
Title: “Hellectric”
Label: Candlelight Records
Release Date: 10/18/2005
Genre: Gothic Metal
Rating: 7.5/10
When you think of a band that combines the talents of Overkill’s D.D. Verni and Tim Mallare as well as the guitar work of Jack Frost you envision some stellar Power Thrash Metal band to be result of the teamwork. However when you add the keyboards of Charlie Calv and vocalist Spy (Myke Hideous of Misfits/Empire Hideous) you get something entirely different. Instead of raging thrash or things along those lines you find this release to be more in tune with Gothic Metal. I liked this change for it added the level of interest to these players’ collaborations and did not give me “Seven Witches 2” or “Overkill 2”. However one of the main points that stand out very early in this release is the dead-on sound of Type-O-Negative. This caught me off guard as it was not only in some of the vocal tones that Spy offered but also the feel of the overall groove especially in the area of keyboards and guitars. Type-O-Negative was known for certain feels during their songs and their music is something that many have missed while the band works on new material. This void made the CD a welcome listen but it was also because this was something that was totally unexpected from Verni and Frost. The BCC does maintain a level of heaviness throughout the album but they do not take the levels of heaviness up to the notch that TON does insofar as high speed riffing. This heavy groove comes through most prominently on the songs “Little Dead Girl”, “Everything I Got” and “Dream Of Angels” among the others and I have to say that these became my favorites right off the bat. With the song “Sherimoon” the band delivers a sense of Rob Zombie under the Gothic grind that is laid down and there is a quirky little instrumental which employs some of “The Munsters” theme. They perform a cover of the Lynryd Skynryd classic “Free Bird” and while it’s given a Gothic twist that works I am not sure how this will be received by the larger public. There are some songs that should not be changed and I think most will agree that this is one of them. The band does a nice job of it and I am sure it was more an homage than anything else.
I have to say that I enjoyed this record as a whole and I really think fans of Type-O-Negative and music that falls into this specific genre will go for it as well. Perhaps it was those similarities that I spoke of that made this win me over so quickly but perhaps it was also the fact that I enjoy the musical output of Verni and Frost in their other bands. I like to give quality side-projects a thumbs-up when it is deserved. In a time when so much crap is issued it is nice to see something that is worthwhile and fun come from several standouts in the industry. Give it a listen I think you will be caught as well.
Track List:
1. Little Dead Girl
2. Everything I Got
3. Dream Of Angels
4. Sherimoon
5. Bleed With Me
6. Motocrypt
7. Let My People Go
8. Free Bird
9. In My Skin
10. Can’t Stop The Rain
11. Mortician’s Lullaby
12. Live For Death
Official Web site: www.BronxCasketCo.com
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