Skip to main content

Earthen Grave

Mark Weiner


As part of Ottawa chamber music and multi-disciplinary festival, tonight we went to see... a heavy metal band. Yes, Chicago doom band Earthen Grave performed at Saint Brigid's Centre for the Arts. The link comes by their resident violinist, classical (and metal) virtuoso Rachel Barton Pine. A very refreshing evening, as we haven't been to a dirty-guitar live gig in far too long. Not that I am criticising the excellent Apocalyptica!

It seems that something got lost in the promotion, as Saint Brigid's wasn't that full and most of the audience were festival-goers, though this was somewhat balanced by the very enthusiastic metalheads at the front. We did find it rather weird to go to a metal gig in a former church that is still very much a church (plus no alcohol), though there was sufficient space to stand near the stage rather than remain seated. Most of the set comprised songs from the band's self-titled album, though there were covers of Trouble's 'At The End of My Daze' and Black Sabbath's 'Children of the Grave'. Rachel's violin solos and extended riff mid-set drew enthusiastic applause. Frontman Mark Weiner did a very good job of energising the crowd - a predominantly non-metal crowd, sat down - such that by the time 'Children of the Grave' rang out there were a fair few people near the front.
Jason Muxlow
Rachel Barton Pine

All in all an evening of good fun; I can recommend both the band and the album. In particular, having a violinist (and such an instrument - an extended range violin called the Viper) Following on from last year's Classical Heavy Metal night, the festival have the right idea, but maybe more cross-promotion is needed, either with Bluesfest, Spectrasonic, Punk Ottawa or someone similar.  
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pigeon Funk

Notes on a very random purchase. Earlier today I acquired Venetian Snares 'Rossz Csillag Alatt Sz ü letett ' purely on the basis of the language and artwork. Its certainly something different - and most definitely not pop. After a bit of searching: Venetial Snares is, according to Wikipedia, the performing name of Aaron Funk, who seems to specialise in experimental tracks in odd time signatures. Article here . The sleeve notes for this album (whose title is Hungarian for 'Born under a bad star') poses the question: what if, for just a day, we could both be pigeons? Interessant. Apparently this concept (a day in the life of a Hungarian pigeon) is non-typical of Venetian Snares sound, but one could ask, does Mr Funk do 'typical'? On first listening, the sound of this CD mixes classical/traditional Hungarian sounds and breakbeats. but aside from that? Definitely a 'listen for yourself' artist; try the website , fan site or myspace .
4 comments
Read more

Piano salons

Catching up on LinkedIn after a vacation, I came across a link for The Saturday Piano Salon . This caught my eye as I organise and attend an adult amateur piano group here in Ottawa. The Saturday Piano Salon, based in London, is an impressive step up from our friendly afternoons, giving amateur (and semi-professional, according to their site) pianists an opportunity to perform on a Steinway Model D at Steinway Hall. I read the review of their first Saturday event with interest. Maybe next time I find myself in London...
2 comments
Read more

Bits and bobs

Bit of a gig lull these past few weeks but we did go and see Walk The Line, the new film about Johnny Cash. Really enjoyed the film - even if you're not a Cash fan its a good story (and need I mention about the Oscars?) Something else to add to my list when next browsing! Back to new music, recently acquired the new Arctic Monkeys (me too) and Kooks albums (on vinyl). Not quite got all the songs stuck in my head yet but I would recommend them (despite the hype). Bonus disc with the Kooks is an acoustic session of their album recorded at Abbey Road, which I really like as acoustic that's not James Blunt!! Final bob (fraid its unrelated to music): http://www.no2id.net/. I'd like to keep my rights!
1 comment
Read more