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We’ve reviewed both Parker Street Cinema and Silian Rail recently, so I’ll be brief:

PSC’s cinematic take on post-rock can be serene one minute and abrasive the next, and the boys were in fine form this evening. Though they’ve obviously crafted each second of music with great care, there is a spontaneous vibe to a lot of their music – especially when Kevin starts to really lay into his bass. It was a fun trip indeed.

Silian Rail combines densely layered guitars and intensely loud and pounding drums. I say “densely layered guitars,” but it’s usually just Robin on guitar – she’s just that good, playing complex chords structures with melodious ease. Eric some times takes a break from the drums to throw in some glockenspiel. It’s a deceptively simple formula. The music is subtle in some ways and ear-grabbing in others, making for an intriguing, cerebral live experience.

And, if you can believe it, this was all prelude to an acoustic set by Judgement Day – their last acoustic show, apparently, before drummer Jon Bush returns to bring the thunder back to what the band calls their “string metal.”

Even without the drums, Judgement Day was incredible. Anton and Lewis Patzner play violin and cello, respectively. And by god can they play. Chugging, monster riffs; ripping solos; eerie, ethereal melodies – it really is pure metal. Some of the most ingenuous and creative metal I’ve heard in a long time, in fact. It has all the energy and intensity, the power to move you to your very core, that true metal can offer. But it doesn’t have any of the mind-numbingly boring or clichéd attributes that you frequently get with your standard Viking-looking meatheads shredding away at ear-splitting volumes.

I mean, don’t get me wrong: I love metal. But I also love music as an art form.

Judgement Day is making art and metal in the best sense of both terms.

[Mike G.]

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