With that said, this was one of those shows. With only about 100 or so people in attendance, there was plenty of room to maneuver around, and stay away from the spin kicking retards in attendance, which there were many unfortunately. More on that later, rant mode will ensue.

We arrived to the venue a bit late, and missed one of the local opening bands, the better of the two from what I understand. Drag the Dead is their name. I spoke to one of the members while the second band, whose name I never got, was on stage entertaining those fucking pit ninjas. He described their sound as brutal death metal, so that surely would have been better than the atrocity that went on after them – bummer. On a positive note though, I also got the opportunity to chat briefly with Misery Index guitarist Mark Kloeppel – good dude.

OK, a few beers down, jackasses off the stage, it was time for some Revocation! They played 7 or 8 songs (I really need to bring a pen and pad to these shows with me) from both of their albums, Empire of the Obscene and Existence is Futile, both of which are awesome, awesome albums, so check them out if you get the chance. My buddy Casey that attended the show with me who was new to Revocation, kept commenting on the guitar work, particularly the solos, of David Davidson, which as I knew already from their CD’s, is spectacular – seeing him do it live – and so, so spot on, was a whole new experience. Incredible. The band was tight as a nuns ass – on fire – and full of energy. On thing I was really looking forward to seeing live was just how they handled the vocal situation. As it turned out, I was right in that both David, bass man Anthony Buda, and live guitarist Dan Gargiulo handled vocal duties live.

Revocation tears it up.

Back to the bar, more beers. It was at this point we discovered there was another bar at the back of the stage room (the bar we had been at was in separate room, which was good for avoiding bullshit at least), so we decided to head back there to drink a beer as Misery Index was starting. Beers finished, we finally made our way to the front of the stage. Turns out we made it up there for the second half of the last song! Talk about wanting to kick yourself in the ass! We literally drank their set away! Oh well, we could still see and hear from where we were, so it’s not like we truly missed it, but it could have been way cooler. I recall hearing a lot of stuff from the two newest albums and a couple older tunes as well. The only songs I remember for sure by name are “Traitors” and “The Carrion Call”. The whole set was scorching though, and once again, they were tight as fuck and loaded with energy.

Killing, Misery Index style.

Of course, this was actually a Despised Icon tour, but neither of us had any interest in seeing them, so at this point we bought shirts and hightailed it out of there early. Now why did we not want to see Despised Icon? Well for starters, neither of us are a fan of their music, so it was a no-brainer to leave. But upon closer inspection, it’s those damn pit-ninja retards who will no doubt be spin kicking themselves into oblivion during their set. There are few things in this world that I hate, no loathe as much as I do hardcore dancing. It’s fucking retarded. So many of these trendy scenester fucks are actually looking to “accidentally” hurt someone with that stupid shit. What happened to moshing? You know the kind of moshing when someone gets knocked down, you lend a hand to pick them back up? Like a fucking brotherhood – a brotherhood of metal people bonding over music by bashing each other around but coming right back to say “it’s all good, get up and lets do it again!” It seems to be a lost aspect these days, or at least when looking as this younger generation of certain bands and fans. I’m waiting for the day that one of them ninja fucks hits or kicks me so I can come right back at ’em. Fuckers. Then you have their dress style, with the straight-billed caps on side-ways, backwards or cocked, jersey’s, shirts with ironic or “witty” sayings, extra baggy pants – it’s all retarded, and seems to borrow heavily from another pop-culture movement that I hate equally, if not more so. Ugh. Rant mode over.

So anyway, we had a great time at the show, both bands we came to see destroyed the place. I can’t wait to catch either of them again! I’ll leave you with a pic of me and my buddy Casey, chilling at the bar drinking some Newcastle while Misery Index was destroying the stage. Until next time.

Newcastle rules!

(Sorry about the crappy cell phone pics, we forgot to bring a proper camera, doh!)