UNDEROATH + Norma Jean +Innerpartysystem @ Club Soda

By Brian Hastie - Countdown To Armageddon - 03/19/2009

Call me an old fogey, but I’ve been attending hardcore and pseudo-hardcore shows for close to a decade, spent many sweaty nights at L’X and Café L’Inco during my time, and have come to watch the scene somewhat closely, and during that time, I’ve noticed the degeneration of “the scene” (as the kids refer to it as) into a muddled mess of wayward children who care more about their bandanas and cool kicks (often looking like a terrible biker gang than true fans of the music they’re there to listen to.) Although this has been happening for years, Thursday night served as a reminder of the disintegration of a once-enjoyable genre of music ruined by the idiocy of the majority of the current fan base, much like how I believe that modern prog rock (think Dream Theater and Tool) is ruined by the rabid, crazed fanbase.

The thing is, though, that every scene goes through the same transformation and degradation that leads to an eventual downward spiral of generic

Things, though, started off rather serenely as the first band of the evening hit the stage of Club Soda promptly at 7. Innerpartysystem, the quartet hailing from Pennsylvania, surrounded themselves with a dizzying array of lights and toys and gave a set that wasn’t entirely un-enjoyable.

Coming out and playing the first two tracks off of their self-titled debut LP, the band was all flash and some substance, as a markedly complex light show was undertaking, bathing the audience (and most of the band, save for drummer Jared Piccone, who spent most of the night in darkness) and sometimes inundating the senses to the point of sensory overload. Their half-hour set was marked with intense electronic interludes, drowned-out vocals and missed marks.

Singer Patrick Nissley (the band’s primary songwriter) seemed to have taken notes while watching And All That Could’ve Been, as his stage persona was a clone of a watered-down Trent Reznor, clutching the microphone as if falling off a cliff and swinging the mic stand with vigour, at times.

The band’s mix of electronics (comprised of a bevy of keyboards and drum machines) and live instrumentation (in particular Piccone’s great tone, which added an edge that is largely absent on the band’s self-titled outing) came off well, although a little too well planned-out and theatrical to be considered a fully live show.

Having seen Norma Jean in a live setting numerous times, I have to admit that their move towards a more melodic direction left the audience (who largely identifies with their chugga-chugga-Botch-loving persona) rather confused. Everything was okay during set-opener (and first single from their newest album, The Anti Mother) “Robots 3, Humans 0” (which had the audience singing along, even as singer Cory Brandan Putman’s mic suffered numerous technical difficulties) and onwards as selections from both 2005’s O God, the Aftermath and 2006’s Redeemer kept the crowd moving. In the middle of the half-hour set, the band launched into their pseudo-signature song “Memphis Will Be Laid to Waste” off of their 2002 initial LP Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child. The response was near-euphoric as most of the floor of Club Soda surged back and forth, and a battalion of hardcore dancers did their thing, catching butterflies and pounding the pavement in time to the breakdowns that mark the song.

Unfortunately, though, the band followed that up with the lead-off track off of The Anti Mother, “Vipers, Snakes, and Actors”, a song whose (relative, for the band) musical complexity confused the kids who would hardcore dance and then abruptly stop as the band switched gears towards a slower downturn. Much of the crowd was unsure how to react to such a composition that found itself switching time-signatures and go from balls-out hardcore to quiet, introspective verses, but points go towards the band’s adventurous new direction, as they carry with it a “damned if they do, damned if they don’t” predilection: how do you branch out into something new without totally fucking over your fanbase? I think the answer is gradually, as the band managed to slip in some different moments in-between breakdowns. They closed off their set with an awesome rendition of “Bayonetwork” (interspersed with some of Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child track “Creating Something Out Of Nothing, Only To Destroy It”). The entire club helped the band chant the now-familiar refrain of “like bringing a gun to a knife fight” until the entire band stood still, a wall of feedback washing over the audience.

I’ll be upfront: I’ve always had a problem with Underoath. Apart from the clean vocals by drummer Aaron Gillespie, a lot of the band’s catalogue sounds entirely identical to me. A friend who had accompanied me to the show had remarked that apart from a mini drum-solo, a lot of the instrumentation was rhythmic in nature: there are two guitarists, but they largely mimic each other. There is no interplay in-between the six-stringers and very little lead guitarwork being displayed, and the same can be said of the rest of the band, musically: solid rhythmic work that strays very little from its original concept. Don’t get me wrong: I happen to think that they have a good song (yes, singular), but the song marked by a sameness that brings the compositions down. I honestly can barely tell any of it apart, and I’ve tried numerous times to get into this band.

The band brought with them an impressive collection of videos that served as both interludes and driving points of the set, as they kicked things off with a spooky video featuring a post-apocalyptic encounter in-between two people before launching into “Breathing In A New Mentality”, the lead-off track from newest effort Lost In The Sound Of Separation. From then onwards, the band’s hour-plus set featured great audio-visual elements that offset the bland nature of the parade of songs played. A lot of the audience seemed to be really into them, though, as lips moved along with every word screamed.

I can see the appeal of a band like Underoath, but was largely left unimpressed by their set, which seemed satisfying on a very basic level but the lack of the band’s ability to diversify left me rather empty otherwise.

Tune into Countdown to Armageddon with Brian every Thursday from 4PM to 6PM