Concert Wed Feb 18 2009

Whole lotta Shaking Going On...in Hell

Ever been to Metal Shaker? Its existence is news to to me, I'll admit it. The bar (3394 N. Milwaukee) bills itself as "A heavy venue on the northwest side of Chicago," and looking at its lineup for these next two months, which are of course the heaviest of all months, I feel it is no hyperbole, friends. Nearly every day in the month of March seems to have an opportunity to see bands with names like If He Dies, He Dies, Embryonic Devourment, and Arbogast, as well as every Sunday's "Blackened Sabbath" nights, where local musicians spin their favorite death and thrash metal.

This Friday (February 20, 9 p.m.), the Metallic Shaking ones will encourage the ever-shifting barriers between black metal and experimental noise crumble just a bit further with a lineup of bands that work the necessary nexus between riff and wail, distortion and dissolution.

Acting as a record release party of sorts, the night's lineup will include the blessedly infernal Locrian, who will have copies of the their first pro-pressed CD release, Drenched Lands, available (co-released by Wisconsin's Small Doses label and At War With False Noise in the UK). I've written about them before on this site, and with the release of each new album, including their great CD-R on Bloodlust!, Rhetoric of Surfaces, the band hones their barbarous approach to drone-played-as-doom-metal to a jagged edge, capable of inflicting wounds that don't close. Soak 'em up, folks, this is the last Locrian show until summer, at least.

Also on board: The similarly-blackened duo Winters in Osaka, recent Ohio transplant David Russell (also head of the A Soundesign Recording label), and new duo Ratatosk (Jason Soliday of Enemy Space, Magic Missile, Coeurl, etc., and Ben Billington of Druid of Huge) will all lock hands and close the circle.

None of the signs I've seen say anything about cost of admission, but it is a bar (21+, yes), so make sure you have $5 in your pocket. If they don't ask for it at the door, buy yourself one of those newfangled beers the kids are drinking these days.

— Chris Sienko / Comments (0)