Deadsea, Landmine Marathon @ The Blvd

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Those who missed seeing Deadsea and Landmine Marathon last Friday at The Blvd – which was pretty much everyone – missed out. The 20 who attended probably left happy. But the bands deserved better.

Cheers to powerviolence openers BruceXCampbell for (a) holding my attention, and (b) having great cinematic taste. The drummer, a small version of Tommy Victor, brutalized his kit and had the loudest snare of the night. That’s an important award in my book.

The Blvd is one of my favorite places in Los Angeles to see shows. It is bare-bones, with a dive bar for one room, a performance space for another, and a smoking/hangout area in back. Normally its walls house a great photo exhibit of past shows. That night, even that was gone. The place felt almost-moved-out-of.

Deadsea – “Killing Faith (Crying Death)”
[audio: DEADSEA_KILLING.mp3]

But thankfully some bands from far away moved in for the night, and didn’t mind playing to each other. Columbus, OH’s Deadsea delivered some of the most face-melting shredding I’ve ever experienced. I have seen some world-class shredders – Skolnick, Loomis, Ryan, Kolesne, Azagthoth – and Adam Smith is up there with them. Not the father of modern economics, but a guy called “Smitty” who’s like Eddie Van Halen in the body of John Christ. Actually, he’s more like Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Ron Jarzombek rolled up into one. He should have taken Jake E. Lee’s job after Randy Rhoads.

I don’t know how old Smith is, but the lines on his face showed that he’d been around. He soundchecked with old-school metal riffs, and even when he was seemingly turning the room into a sonic kaleidoscope, the spirit of metal held fast. Smith’s brand of shred was an older kind, where guitarists still played chords and used fundamental techniques like hammer-ons and pull-offs, only at warp speed. In Deadsea’s trio format, Smith flew high. He unloosed torrents of grease and grit. Never once did the question of a second guitarist arise.

But this was not a guitar clinic. Smith sang with conviction, often abandoning his axe to gesture passionately with his hands. He invoked spirits, exorcised demons, and quivered as these forces passed through him. Unlike so many of today’s technical shredders, Smith was playing for his life. It was clear that this was his calling – to channel joy, fear, love, and hate, with nimble-limbed compatriots for support.

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American football once employed a formation called the Flying Wedge. In it, the runner moved forward with blockers arrayed around him in the shape of an arrowhead. The arrangement was essentially a human battering ram. It was so dangerous that it caused not only injuries but also deaths, and was eventually banned.

Judging from the crowd for Landmine Marathon, Grace Perry was a one-woman Flying Wedge. People lined up in an exact V away from the stage. It was one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen. Perhaps Perry’s reputation for kicking people preceded her. She seemed to know this, as she unsuccessfully tried to get the crowd to move up. “I won’t kick you in the balls”, she said. The crowd wasn’t so sure.

She didn’t kick anyone anywhere. This was because the crowd gave her a wide berth, and also because she knows what she is doing. She is not some out-of-control hellion. Although she is renowned for mixing it up with crowds (and occasionally kicking people in the process), she has developed good spatial awareness. To test this, I stepped a few times into her way, and each time she stopped short of contact.

So this show was not about socking it to the crowd, since there wasn’t much of one. Perry still ran around as if possessed, but she clutched at herself, curled into a ball, and uncurled to face the sky. It was, as always, a complete absorption into an artistic persona. Despite the energy she exudes, Perry does virtually no between-song banter. She’s completely into the music.

Her band has become a well-oiled machine. It switched drummers recently, but new addition Andy York, to my ears, isn’t a major change. (To be fair, he was un-mic’ed and mostly overpowered by the guitars.) He does push the beat more than his predecessor. The resulting urgency fits Perry’s approach well. Even without her, Landmine Marathon would sound like a mighty wall of dirty death/grind. After their sets, the air feels charred. It’s a feeling they’ll bring again, starting one month from today, when they tour with Skeletonwitch and Withered (see dates here).

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DEADSEA – GRAND DELUGEON US TOUR 2010
Remaining dates

10/19/2010 Pine Box – Midland, TX
10/20/2010 Headhunter’s – Austin, TX
10/21/2010 Nightmare – Dallas, TX w/ Christian Mistress
10/22/2010 TBD – Nashville, TN

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