A Quick One While He’s Away

Dear City of Devils,

Been out of town on a work junket a couple days, and I miss you already, especially after the wild times we had Saturday night.  It’s all a little blurry, but I believe the SCORPIONS played a sold out show downtown, Black Math Horsemen were at Spaceland, and Three Clubs featured (for free): BASTARD, HUNTRESS, VALDUR and EARLY MAN.  That’s a ridiculous amount of choice for one town, one night.  I’m currently in a bigger town, an uglier town, a noisier town—a town whose name shall not be spoken—and I doubt that so many bands good bands will be playing here this week, not to mention this evening.  The Three Clubs show was like a full metal smorgasbord: Motorhead-bangin’, modern NWOBHM, black metal and thick sludgy layers of doom.

A good black metal band like VALDUR is so much fun to watch, especially when you realize they are actually paying attention to each other and trying to stay in some sort of time signature.  “One-and-two-and-three-and-hyper double bass roll ride cymbal snare blast beat thing going on while bassist plays chords—four—and-one, etc.”  VALDUR went beyond wall of noise into wall of din, challenging my brain to assemble cohesion from the frayed edges of musical insanity.  And these guys are from Mammoth.  I’m hoping, City of Devils, that you coated VALDUR with just enough grime to send them back to their mountainous enclave with food for musical thought, without disturbing their natural, pristine beauty.  And this weekend you offer to us the “Power Of The Riff” festival.   And Slayer, Megadeth and Testament at the end of the month?  I don’t know how much more we can handle or what to call this run of shows, but Blue Oyster Cult tells me what it’s not:  This ain’t the summer of love.

Until we meet again,

PB