El Corazon: New Name, New Grub, Same Great Metal
ALive & Kicking
Misery Signals, Remembering Never, Emery, & Eighteen Visions
El Corazon, Seattle, Wash.
February 25, 2005
By Rob Taylor
Upon arrival at El Corazon, it was apparent the improvements made to what used to be Graceland weren’t merely superficial. Outside, it was all the same aside from a new sign. Inside, part of the venue to the left of the stage had been blocked off with only one opening. This wasn’t yet open, but will eventually become another bar by the looks of it. If you had been to Graceland, you’d know the difficulty the staff had getting equipment out between sets. The new wall will stop half the idiots from standing in the way and will likely shorten this downtime. The bar has been painted and has taken on a new look. A better place to get your drink on, for shizzle. The food has also changed, with the addition of Mexican delicacies such as nachos.
The first band to play was Misery Signals. As is often the case, best band = shortest set. They were very well rehearsed and in tune with each other, which was necessary given the progressive metal-influenced hardcore style of music. The timing changes so prevalent in their music would have been impossible to keep track of for most of today’s popular musicians. In the short time they had, they managed to play all of their best songs and throw in an instrumental.
Remembering Never was a great live band, as always, although it was a bit harder to listen to the lead singer spout atheist morals with a Zao hat on. The straightforward, breakdown-filled music was well played and drove the catchy lyrics into the listeners’ heads. This was also facilitated by the band’s stage presence, an obvious general confidence verging on cockiness.
Emery, a local band, drew an amazing crowd — all of whom apparently enjoy boring music. A more melodic and calm band, their songs would have been enjoyable in a certain context, this just wasn’t it. The musical intensity of the hardest of their songs likely fell short of that of the other bands’ softest. The crowd participation inspired awe and the amount of pleasure elicited from the fans was undeniable.
Eighteen Visions was homogeneous, the first song sounding surprisingly like the last. They found their formula and stuck to it. An unsurprising “hit-single” sound loomed over most of their performance. The blinding lights during the first few songs made the concertgoer think perhaps they had walked into a Zao show. The fact that the audience couldn’t see the band through the lights rendered the fact that they were all wearing matching black shirts, pants and ties, moot.
The show was a good one. The attitudes of the bands, the crowd and the staff complemented each other. For us metalheads, it’s ultimate just another great show at El Corazon.