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Okay, so this is a really punky/hardcore/metal kind of show, and not really actually my scene at all, besides which I've flown from Miami today and I'm tired. But there are arguments to be made for this show: for various reasons, I haven't seen any live music for weeks, and I'm in an advanced state of withdrawal, and besides, Doug from Clickers is in The Hound, so they're worth checking out, even though he calls them "my metal band." (Once again, not an inherently bad thing, just not my scene.)
The Refuseniks start the night is a pretty hardcore sort of way. The frontman is silly and fun between songs, and screams a lot during songs. The guitar parts are fast, strummy, and sharp-edged, with lots of biting, screaming distortion. The bass is simple, fast, and pounding. The drums are fast and there's some interesting stuff going on in them, but also a whole lot of stumbling around trying to play faster than he can apparently manage. That's kind of hard for me to get past.
The Hound really do have a very metal sort of sound, overall. It's mostly in the dual guitars, and if I had more of a metal background, I could perhaps give you a sub-sub-genre and give you a better idea of what they sound like. I'm left with none-too-useful words like "fast" and "heavy," and the perhaps-ever-so-slightly-more-useful "florid." This band also has a screaming frontperson, who sweetly and winningly gives out presents between songs, (it is the holiday season, and she's even wearing a big red bow) and then unleashes some serious Exorcist-level shit on us during the songs. A deep, growling, rhythmic roar, that could possibly have words in it, not that I could tell one way or the other. The songs are masterpieces of rhythm and structure, with all manner of crazy breaks and swerves, and the drummer is really awesome. (He's also got a variety of fun, goofy facial expressions, which provide a nice complement to the demonic frightfest going on downstage.) Late in the set it gets a bit same-sounding to me, but much of my attention is distracted by the guy who's decided to start a mosh pit. Since I'm told that this is the form that enjoyment of the music will take for the remaining bands, unless one wishes to move to the back of the club, I head on home.
