15/02/14

The Ding Dong Lounge was packed to the grills on Saturday night for Dead Teach The Living’s The Feeding Begins release party. Who could resist going since the incredible Blackleaf Gardens and the Legendary Shardsof Sky were opening guaranteeing the night one to remember. Upon arrival, suffice it to say that the metal tunes, anxious crowd and the atmosphere at Ding Dong weren’t the only thing driving the crowd into frenzied excitement. 

The night was kicked off with the promising Blackleaf Gardens, taking to the stage with well deserved confidence playing their finest tunes from their debut album Key to Infinity. Blackleaf surely got people dancing from the neck upwards. The set itself was an atmospheric dynamic range of songs that certainly had me interested the whole set although thought that this set in particular lacked a little stage presence but their heavy ass riffs, deep growls and epic bass and drum solos totally made up for it.

Shardsof Sky are a band I honestly haven’t seen enough of and I have to admit I showed up a bit late to their set but from what I did see I was completely blown away. Their melodic progressiveness got people moving in all directions with everyone’s set of eyes stuck on them. The well placed time signature changes astounded me and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one amazed. I can’t wait to hear more from them live or in the studio.

And now for the feature presentation…

Dead Teach The Living were up next and the crowd were already preparing themselves. My new 12up Doc Martens and I were ready for the pit and by the looks for everyone around me, they were too. A cool row of lights lit up throughout the stage setting the atmosphere for the much anticipated headliners. Dead Teach The living walked up to the stage from the back of the room with people cheering them on. They got up on stage all dressed in a carnival type attire with the Bassist Luke as a clown and the lead vocalist Kurt as a drum major which and everyone else in suspenders which was awesome.

They began the show playing some carnival music with Kurt welcoming people to the show in a field commander type style grabbing everyones attention creating an epic introduction for their debut single Cycstic Eyebrosis which released a monster of energy that spun everything into a heated mosh pit that devoured the crowd and liberated us from the rigid stance that was common up until now. There wasn’t a chance in hell that you would be standing still… The band were all perfectly locked in time with each other and looked like they were enjoying themselves.

It wasn’t just the exhilarating music they were playing that got the crowd jumping up and down but the presence of the band was just epic. They interacted with the crowd well, encouraging us to bring the roof down. When they played the song I was waiting for Blood to Dust the mosh pit intensity just ten folded with people jumping, air guitaring/drumming and headbanging. Unfortunately their last song had finished and before they could even put their instruments down i could hear “ENCORE! ENCORE! ENCORE! ENCORE!” So DTTL make an epic comeback with Cannibal Corpse’s Hammer Smashed Face which tied up their set perfectly.

By the end of the night, Dead Teach the Living, Blackleaf Gardens & Shards of Sky put on one hell of a show in a night of nice vibes, Sweet crowd, good people, Awesome bar, laughter and drinks. Can’t wait till next time. 

-Rodrigo