Show Overview: KEN mode & The Great Sabatini in Halifax
Overview and Photos by Stan BélandFriday, August 1th 2011
@ Club 1668
KEN mode - http://www.ken-mode.com/
Great Sabatini - http://www.thegreatsabatin
A Sight For Sewn Eyes - http://myspace.com/asightf
Burnt Church - http://myspace.com/burntxc
Buried deep within the bowels of the most ostentatiously designed restaurant façade in Halifax is club 1668; a small, somewhat dingy bar that definitely houses more karaoke then metal. Well, last Friday, the doors got blown off of 1668 when Burnt Church, A Sight for Sewn Eyes, KENmode, and The Great Sabatini rolled into town. The line up was as diverse as it was intense. Every band brought it that night, no question.
First up were local Grindcore demons Burnt Church. Unfortunately, due to the massive man strength found in Guitarist Mike Parks strumming hand, two guitars fell victim to string breakage. Luckily, the band was resourceful and soldiered on with a singular guitar attack, lightening fast drumming and solid bass work. Parks’ metal scream/bark is brutal, intense, terrifying, and amazing all at the same time. How this guy talks after a show is beyond me. The jams were tight, fast, and hardcore. I also think that the band might consider making Parks a full time front man; he slipped into the role pretty easily and saved what could have been a disaster of a show.
Next were my new favourite Halifax based band. I’ve seen A Sight for Sewn Eyes twice in the last month and a half, and they have literally blown me away both times. From sharing the stage with Children of Bodom in the Forum Multi-Purpose room, to sharing the floor with their devoted fans, these guys rip it up anywhere they go. Vocalist Josh Hanusiak’s screams are foolishly consistent, consistently brutal, and brutally unforgiving. Never have a seen a live metal guy go this hard for this long and still have a full volume scream going. As for the rest of the band, they have a swagger beyond their years (They all look like they JUST graduated from high school, thus I assume that they are scary young), and KNOW that they own whatever crowd they have in front of them. Guitarist Andrew Benoit’s smug smile for most of the show told the story: We’re here, we’re are melting your faces, and you love it. See these guys live, now.
KEN mode, short for Kill Everyone Now mode, are aptly named. Whether it’s the wall of sound they produce, the maniacal looks coming from vocalist/guitarist Jesse Matthewson, or the surprising screams coming from behind the drumset during brief quiet moments, KEN mode are hear to utterly and completely rip you apart. And thank baby Jesus for that. For 45 minutes, KEN mode did nothing but level the barrel of a brutal metal canon at our faces. Playing to a relatively small crowd, the intensity immediately ratcheted up when these guys got up to play, and the nonstop aural assault did nothing to detract from the overall madness that the boys put together. It’s hard to describe just how…fucking crazy the show was. Jesse would literally swallow half the mic during particularly brutal screams, drummer Shane Matthewson looked as though he was working through a massive amount of personal demons behind the kit, and bassist Andrew LaCour looked unassuming for about 5 seconds, then brought epic lows, backup screams and a general beardiness that was lacking in the rest of the band. I don’t know how I didn’t hear about KEN mode until a month ago; they are monsters, and the authorities need to be contacted. Buy their album, see them live, you will not be disappointed.
I submit to you that The Great Sabatini are epic. Not in the shitty, overused, popular sense of the word that gets thrown around by dudes in backwards hats and basketball jerseys (Yes, I know it’s not 2005, get off my back), but in the sense that band like Isis and Pelican are epic. TGS grind it the fuck out. They are doom, personified. They are what Mastodon would be if they smoked a lot, a LOT more pot. StonerCore, thy name is Sabatini. The other great thing about TGS is that they always look like they’re having a GREAT time, even when unleashing some of the doomiest, grindiest metal around. Super nice guys, brutally slow metal, Quebecois. What more can you ask for really?
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See all Stan's Photography HERE
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