After a pair of reasonably good opening sets from locals Locus Amoenus, who have improved vastly since the confused prog-metal set I saw them do at Rhino's over the summer, and The Hiatus Flux, who want very badly to be Between the Buried and Me but have settled for being The Human Abstract, black metal brigade unveiled their entire new album, Sea of Trees Forest of Gallows, on stage. It was very good.
Some kinks still need to be worked out in the live execution of the material, which totally blows away their earlier 2011 release Upon the Oaken Throne out of the water, but the potential is there for this to be one of the most ripping local metal sets in recorded Bloomington history. The guys aren't completely comfortable with the material onstage just yet, and that's fair. The album contains only two songs. One is 20 minutes long; the other, 15. The band doesn't take a break between them. Guitarists Mike Lang, Dean Reed and Adam Fisk don't stop playing for 35 minutes, bassist Kevin Foran follows them through every twist and turn of the music, and drummer/vocalist Bryce Marley looks on the verge of dehydration as he blasts away at his double bass pedals while screaming lyrics.
The Sea of Trees Forest of Gallows set is probably a few trips to the stage away from being at the level they had their Oaken Throne-centric set at by the end of this past summer, but once it gets there, look out.
Post by Brad Sanders
