Published Tuesday, January 17, 2012 By amanda_caines. Under Editor : Amanda Caines, Photographer: Alan MacNorton, Photos, Show Review, The Money, Writer: Amanda Caines Tags: Absoulute Convixtion, Amanda Caines, Anna Love, Descendants of Chaos, Eyes Down, Heavy Metal in the Carolinas, Lifecurse, Neverfall, The Money, Wicked Addictions
This past weekend, 13 bands and a handful of metal-promoting organizations showed their charitable sides in raising money for a 20-year-old guy with leukemia, Cameron Flotow. Anna Love from the Facebook-run group “Heavy Metal in the Carolinas” got all of these bands together for a good cause, and The Money presented a willing vessel to hold all of that metal. While I missed day one of the 2-day benefit because I was busy geeking out at Amy Lee in Clemson, SC, I came in for day two, and even 24 hours later, I’m still working on un-melting my face.
As I pulled in to The Money’s infamous parking lot, I heard NeverFall doing their sound check. I hustled in and took my usual skulking spot to have a listen. The bar teemed with good friends of mine and new friends yet to be met, and I met in-person a bunch of people with whom I’d only exchanged snarky Facebook comments until now. It seemed almost like a heavy metal episode of Cheers in there.
NeverFall took the stage and started their set to a tsunami of excited applause. People in the crowd converged on the edge of the stage to have their faces melted with some well-selected metal covers. I highly enjoyed the guitar solos wailed out masterfully by lead guitarist Drew Durham. My only beef with the set was the intro to their Metallica cover of “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” which I thought could have used a little more rehearsal. It’s not an easy song to crank out, granted, but the bass intro was a little dicey, and the guitar lick was off-time from the drums until they broke into the main riff of the song. After that, NeverFall went back to kicking ass. The guys also pulled out a cover of Slayer’s “Raining Blood” that got venue owner David Kiser all kinds of excited.
Next came Lifecurse with possibly the most brutal performance of the night. This was certainly the band to catch when you like your metal ultra-heavy. Think an extra-brutal Slipknot without the poppy choruses. Screamer Will Moss engaged the stylistic range from low, demonic gutterals all the way up to rabid wildcat on a moment’s notice and grabbed the audience’s attention at every turn. With the amount of hyped-up movement coming from every band member onstage, it’s no wonder the crowd got amped up and started moshing along.
With a wildly different style, Absoulute Convixtion grabbed the mics for the next segment of the show. They definitely presented the most melodic vocals of the night, complete with some vocal harmonies. New singer Corey Tossas makes a fantastic addition to the band, creating a deeper dimension of hard rock for the band than ever before. Overall, the band’s sound is a cocktail of Creed and Cold with a twist of Deftones, and I enjoyed every minute of it. The band’s cover of Tool’s “Stinkfist” definitely got the gist of the song, and I am betting they will hone in on it with even more detail as they break in the newbie vocalist. The high point of the set for me was the ballad “Nothing Is,” with soaring vocals over catchy, chunky riffs. This band definitely can do the heavy rock ballads with the best of ‘em.
Bearers of murderously heavy breakdowns, Descendants of Chaos, kicked off their set with some bone-crushing riffage from guitarists SIC and Solice, dressed up with nifty cymbal-work by drummer Justin Page. Vocalist Trip Hodge wins the prize for the night for crowd participation. He had us all screaming along with his mantra of “Save your republic!” in the politically-charged anthem, “Remember the Scar,” that challenges people to stand up against politicians’ attempts to strip us Americans of our rights. With vigor like that coursing through the veins of a bunch of metal-heads, it goes without saying that there was some serious moshing to be had with the Descendants. While pretty much everyone else was enjoying the hammering double bass drums, I was most impressed with the slower songs with great vocal harmonies—that goes to show you the kind of versatility these guys have in their metal styles.
Wicked Addictions stepped up next to deliver a highly-energetic dose of head-banger delight. The crowd at the edge of the stage was just a blur of thrashing long hair, flying through the air, while the band, deeply in-tune with each other both musically and in their movement onstage, batted out some seriously intense tunes. DJ Griffin’s vocals boast a full-throated screaming tone with lyrics bursting with fiery hatred and malevolence that would strike terror in the heart of any opponent. While songs like “Method to Murder” and “Stalk and Kill” stirred listeners into an absolute frenzy, I was more partial to the grooves of “Lost Cause.” Clearly well-rehearsed, Wicked Addictions definitely wins the “Tightest Band” award for the night.
Tying up the ends of the night came fresh-on-the-scene band Eyes Down. These guys stood out among all the other bands on the bill with a unique sound that was kind of like the result of Nirvana turning industrial. I definitely heard a lot of early Deftones-esque riff constructions alternating with thrashy passages akin to those of Static-X. Darrin Crane’s reverb-soaked vocals perpetuate the Deftones parallel, and his outer-spacey guitar solos contribute to the Nirvana vibe—but with a bit more technical prowess—while drummer Michael “Digi” Biggerstaff lays the industrial beats as a foundation. I greatly enjoyed the wide variety of experimental elements present in the songwriting. Tracy Putnam’s screams and rap flows interjected a cool, new angle to the music. Not only did Eyes Down kick ass musically, but they put on one hell of a show. Putnam and bassist Andrew Bujorian, especially were all over the stage and Putnam even ventured into the mosh pit for a bit. All four of the guys in the band had a common uniform of a disheveled white dress shirt garnished with a loosened black necktie as if they had all just gotten off from their jobs at Evil, Inc. They also had an interesting twist on the concept of a backup dancer with a hooded guy in an orange inmate jumpsuit with “YOU” emblazoned on the back like some kind of sick sports jersey. He banged his head and stood mostly obedient to his musical masters. I would definitely say Eyes Down was my favorite all-around production of the evening.
I was fabulously impressed with this shindig that Anna Love of Heavy Metal in the Carolinas put together, and Cameron Flotow definitely has a big chunk of change to put toward his mounting medical bills now, thanks to a bunch of his charitable, head-banger brethren. I look forward to checking out each of these bands again in other settings, and I will definitely hit up the next benefit that Heavy Metal in the Carolinas puts on because I know it will be a rockin’ good time.
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