My hat goes off to Southern Lord Records for putting together an amazing package tour with Enabler, Burning Love, Martyrdod, and Black Breath. The label itself has carved a very cool niche for themselves in terms of the bands on their roster and the style of heavy music that they deal in. And on Friday 6/29/12 the aforementioned bands graced the new Walter’s location in Houston with wave upon wave of crushing, caustic, bleak, and claustrophobic musical tonnage.
On a surface level listen, all these bands would sound same-ish to the average listener. However that is far from the case. Along with the common foundation of D-beat ferociousness and tortured beyond belief vocal style, each band brought their own distinct flavor, textures, and incredible dynamics. Enabler’s dirge like atmospheric passages brought a beautiful juxtaposition against their mammoth like heaviness and speed. Burning Love are a bunch of young bucks from Toronto and they provided the perfect mid-tempo hard-core/punk groove. Their set was an all out Rock ‘n Roll shit fit. Extremely high energy and really fun. Their guitar player’s shredding completely blew our minds. Their record called “Rotten Thing To Say” is fantastic from start to finish and I highly recommend adding it to your musical listening rotation. Sweden’s Martyrdod were more corrosive than an old leaking battery, but the majestic twin guitar harmonies brought an air of respite to their oppressive grey musical landscape and when they would drop to a mid-tempo stomping groove, it was the perfect balance of mayhem and accessibility. The mighty Black Breath from Seattle were the headliner on this bill and rightfully so with numerous releases under their belt and now touring for their latest record called “Sentenced To Life”. Their set was a monumental amalgamation of speed, groove, dizzying drum acrobatics, gargantuan riffs, lumbering bass, and throat shredding vocals.
It was an extremely fun night with good friends, killer music, and equally cool was the new Walters location. The new space is clean, large, drinks were cheap, and it all sounded great in there. The crowd was energetic and yet laid back and there to just have a fuckin good time. I look forward to seeing more great music at one of Houston’s most beloved live music venues.