A summer time Monday night found me at a venue that I had never been to before, the Royale in Boston, MA. It was a good size and actually pretty nice inside with a few large couches and suits of armor hanging on the walls. I’ve since been told that it doubles as a (dance) club, but it makes a fine metal venue as well.

We kicked things off with a performance by a band new to me called Venomous Maximus based out of Houston. They are yet another one of those bands that deserves to be seen live rather than just compared to their studio recordings. Their studio work is your standard, run of the mill doom-y stoner-y heavy metal. On stage is where the band really starts to come to life. They’re energetic and the music itself is far heavier. A CD or mp3 doesn’t capture that. Next to the masters in High on Fire themselves, Venmous Maximus was the most entertaining band on the bill for me.

I was not a fan of Lucifer. They had been described to me as a sort of female-fronted Black Sabbath but I found them to be just another generic doom band and lost interest quickly. They did have a projector with some old films running which I’ve always thought can be a nice added touch. To be honest, I probably spent more time watching the movie than I did watching the band’s actual performance.

I had a similar reaction to Pallbearer. I have plenty of friends that worship them, but they are just not my thing. I need something with a little oomph to keep my attention which I guess kind of defeats the purpose of what they’re trying to do but, hey, I need more fuzz and more grooves.

High on Fire opened their set with ‘The Black Plot’ off of Luminiferous (eOne) and with me foolishly thinking that I would simply admire their performance from the back of the crowd in order to protect my injured wrist. By the end of their second song, I knew that I was nothing but a filthy liar as I ran through the pit and began snaking my way through the crowd towards the front row. Injury or not, I was there for a helping of Pike Juice and it wasn’t long before I found myself in front of Matt Pike yet again. As expected, the set was heavy with songs off of the last album including ‘Carcosa’ and ‘The Dark Side of the Compass’ which are two of my favorite tracks. I would have loved to have gotten ‘Bloody Knuckles’ again as it holds a special place in my heart but there’s always next time.

 

 

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WORDS BY ALEIDA LA LLAVE

PHOTOS BY EVIL ROBB PHOTOGRAPHY