Haken at the Token Lounge - Set Review

After missing the chance to see Haken with Leprous (still kicking myself for that one), I had resigned myself to not being able to see them for another couple of years until their next album was out. When they announced a short tour to support their Restoration EP, I jumped on that shit immediately.

Acoustically speaking, the venue (I saw them at the Token Lounge in Detroit) was good but not great -- there were a couple of sound/mixing issues that came up, especially during Haken's set, but they weren't bad enough to derail anything.

Tiles: It was fitting that Detroit's version of Rush opened the tour in their hometown. They're opening song was incredible but the rest of their material wasn't quite as memorable, but the guys kept things pretty entertaining. The highlight of their set (and the show in general, honestly) was Mike Portnoy coming out at the end to play a cover of "The Spirit of Radio" with the band, which was dope as hell. After seeing them live I'm definitely going to give their albums another spin.

Imminent Sonic Destruction: These guys are very new and have only released one album so far, but I really enjoyed their funny mix of slammin' breakdowns and progressive instrumentation. Unlike Tiles who kind of made me sad (especially when Mike Portnoy mentioned them opening for Dream Theater like 20 years ago), these guys clearly having a great time just performing, and it was hard not to like em'.

Next to None: Mike Portnoy has a son named Max who is also a drummer, and Next to None is his band, and they are all 16 year old kids. I had never heard them besides one Youtube video that I didn't like, and I wasn't a huge fan of the stuff they played, but their cohesiveness and playing ability can't be denied (for whatever that's worth). It was a strange mix of Periphery/The Contortionist riffing and the usual mix of clean/screamed vocals, with a bit of noodling thrown in for good measure. Once these guys get more practice at songwriting/arranging they should be pretty interesting.

Haken: The boys from the UK were what everyone came to see, and they did not disappoint. Despite missing their lead guitar player (apparently Richard Henshall's flight got delayed?), these guys really delivered, both performance-wise and setlist-wise. There were big numbers like 'Atlas Stone" and "In Memoriam", deeper cuts like "Shapeshifter" and "Drowning in the Flood" (maybe not a deep cut), but the thing that took it over the top was the back-to-back performance of "Crystallized" and "Visions", both of which were incredible, as were the guys themselves: Ross was totally on point, Ray Hearne was a total monster on the drums, and Diego's keytar solos were ridiculously awesome.

So yeah, pretty badass show.

Crypt Sermon - Out of the Garden

As sweeping and grandiose as the album artwork, new-age doomers Crypt Sermon deliver a promising, yet somewhat predictable debut

With album art straight out of 1987, Philly doomsters Crypt Sermon took "the metal community" (ugh) kind of by storm with their debut full-length Out of the Garden a few months back. It immediately started getting rave reviews and it seems like Crypt Sermon have replaced Pallbearer as the premier pet band of internet metal nerds. The fickle favor of the 'net can't be mistaken, can it?

Emphatically, yes. Out of the Garden is certainly good, but its greatness will depend on your overall opinion of doom music in general, and in particular how much you like Candlemass, because Crypt Sermon is basically a modern American version of them. So, like Solitude Aeturnus? Right. Since I was never a big fan of those two bands in particular (or this style in general) I'm biased against this stuff, so keep that in mind.

Even as a self-professed non-fan, Out of the Garden does a lot of things right. The vocals are at a good mid-point between growling and opera wailing with enough emotion to at least keep me interested. The songs themselves are mostly solid, and I'll give credit where its due, though I have my doubts about how hard it is to write good doom songs when the format is basically built around big bluesy riffs and grooves. Aside from the final song sounding a bit too much like a Heaven and Hell cover, Crypt Sermon do a nice job of mixing it up and not sounding like total ripoffs (which must be very hard in this genre), and tracks like "Holy of Holies" and "Heavy Riders" are seriously quite good, although the 2nd half of the disc is noticeably weaker than the first.

Out of the Garden is a solid debut from Crypt Sermon -- not exactly breaking the mold (or even attempting to, really) but definitely delivering some above-average classic doom to those pining for the genres glory days (the late 80s I guess?). When these guys are ready to step out from under Candlemass' shadow, I'll be interested in what they come up with.