Saturday, June 9, 2012

Gig review: Tragedy, Momentum


I'm back again with yet another review of an absolutely amazing show. This year has been quite generous to me in regards of throwing mind blowing gigs my way, leading me to a point where I am thinking whether or not I will ever encounter a not so impressive band performance. The blog has seriously become a place where band members can come and get a confidence boost, since all my words end up as being praises. Trust me when I say that this show and review will not be any different.

Two days ago, 7 June 2012, the legends of crust came to the city of Nijmegen after having a show in Amsterdam the night before. It was time to conquer the venue named "De Onderbroek", a place about which I heard many stories before the gig and I was really looking forward to checking it out. After ten or so minutes of walking from the train station you stumble upon the venue, found in a really nice looking neighborhood and under a small sign where the name of the place is written. Once inside you are greeted with a ticket desk, although "tickets" were actually stamps on the hands of visitors, and a staircase on the right leading underground into the actual concert room. To be honest, despite being excited about visiting the venue, I ended up not paying that much attention to it due to the fact that I was thrilled about meeting dear friends from "Reflections Of Internal Rain" who had a free day amid their tour. In case you didn't know, they still have a lot of touring to do, so check out their dates here if you are interested in grabbing a show! Either way, what I did notice about the place was that it had a really cool atmosphere about it, dim light, dark walls and lots of stickers and posters everywhere. When you descend the stairs, the first thing you see is a merch desk, followed by a door on your left. Pass the door and you are greeted with an extremely low stage on the other side of the room, a bar on the left and clothing hangers on the right. There is also a small corner with zines and fliers which visitors can freely browse. Overall, a very underground look and feel, although the main problem is that the venue IS underground, which makes the air during the gig turn extremely hot and humid. 
At 9:30 PM, exactly on time, "Momentum" took the stage and opened the evening. Despite forming in 2011 the band managed to clear the way for itself and grab attention immediately. Known for having members who were and are involved in "Light Bearer", "Plague Mass", "Fall of Efrafa" and "XZieglerX", this project brings fast and melodic epic hardcore/crust inspired by the work of Carl Sagan, the Zeitgeist movement and the message present in the movie "Earthlings". Judging by the influences, this band proved to be both gentle and extremely angry. In case you are, for some obscure reason, unfamiliar with the band you can check an interview I did with Matthew, found here. First song in row was "Prelude", sadly without the amazing Carl Sagan speech sample, immediately showing that the performance will be intense and furious. The band sounded as powerful and as clear as on the recordings, creating a strong wall of sound which stood steady during the entire set. Songs like "Void", "Emergence", "Mercy" and "Vast" were played, if I remember correctly, the quintet continuously lashing out at the audience with its tunes. The only thing I found a bit astray was the fact that the vocals seemed more high pitched than on the recordings, although still being great and enjoyable. Needless to say, their set was highly entertaining, the venue providing a superb amount of sound quality so that everything was heard clearly. Both the melodic and the more violent song sections held their ground, melding into a truly unstoppable force and showing that "Momentum" is here to stay. A rather young band, but with already a really bright future ahead. Once again, if you missed out on them, be sure to check them out.
A short break ensued, which I used for diving into the distro section and talking to the guys from "ROIR", trying to fill in the void between the bands since I was really anxious about the upcoming performance. Soon enough the band managed to set up and it was time to send the audience to an unbelievable ride. There really is no need for any special introductions for this legendary quartet from Memphis/Portland, since there is absolutely no explanation why you wouldn't know about this band. "Tragedy", along with other hardcore punk/crust bands like "His Hero Is Gone", "Wolfpack" and "Amebix", is the project that initially and thoroughly shaped me into what I am today, thus seeing them live for the very first time is a rather world shattering event for me. Ever since their formation they have been an insanely active touring band and I have always envied a lot of my friends who had the privilege to see them perform, all of them having only amazing things to say about a particular show, so on last Thursday I got a chance to assure myself of their claims. Pounding drums, slowly building up guitar playing, lots of distortion, noise and microphonics, "Conflicting Ideas" exploded in the venue. I cannot explain the amount of shivers down my spine and the savage beating in my chest at those initial moments, the band managing to completely strike at me without remorse. When the song was over I expected at least a short breather, but "Tragedy" went full on with their assault and hitting immediately with "Not Fucking Fodder", followed by "The Hunger". Before the gig I found some of the band's past setlists and they mostly played songs from their newest output called "Darker Days Ahead", which I didn't listen to a lot of times and I remained unfamiliar with it. The setlist from last Thursday was abundant with older songs, which blew my mind completely. An excellent repertoire with songs like "Beginning Of The End", "Crucifier", "Vengeance", "Products Of A Cold War" and "You Are An Experiment" successfully fed the needs of the crowd clinging to their older material. Needless to say, the band proved equally passionate and merciless with their new songs as they combined "The Grim Infinite" and "The Feeding Hour" into what seemed  like one epic track, showing growth and expansion of sound in a marvelous fashion. I watched and listened to their entire set with pure amazement, just swallowing the waves of sound that were flooding from stage and entirely realizing why and how this band managed to sculpt me and legions of others, creating a real cult following in the process. Their performance ended in a crescendo of sound, coming in the form of an encore song "The Point Of No Return", curiously enough the very first song I heard when I found out about "Tragedy". Inexplicably epic.
How to properly end a review of a show which left you entirely speechless? I will surely remember that night and all its details perfectly, hoping that one day I will be able to witness these bands live once again. I give my endless thanks to "Tragedy" for providing inextinguishable flames of inspiration and motivation through all these years. Thank you. Hope you enjoyed the review.

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