Lucifer
Lucifer is one of those bands that crept in, maybe you didn’t notice right away, and maybe you had to hear about through a friend of a friend or some online forum and one night you find yourself alone, bored, stoned and you hear the music. The gears of life grind to a halt and you realize that you no longer understand how you could have gotten by WITHOUT hearing this music. Lucifer is that band, that amazing, crazy band. I was very high the first time I heard them, and I had zero preconceived ideas as to what the sound may be like. So what does Lucifer sound like? Lucifer sounds like a combination of Coven, Black Sabbath and the soundtrack to Devil’s Rain mixed by DJ Aleister Crowley at Satan’s bachelorette party. Lucifer sounds like doing cocaine off a bible while wearing a black velvet robe. Johanna Sadonis, the flaxen haired spell casting singer is not only a total babe to behold but was able to thoroughly bring out that black magick splendour while opening for Pallbearer and High on Fire. The crowd was already rowdy and way way too excited and Lucifer brought out all the demons. Clad in black spandex and an all seeing eye robe that I am intensely envious of, Johanna demonstrated her power as a front woman and conjured some serious Black Sabbath vibes. I kept wondering through the set if the whole thing was a cocaine haze that I had found myself stumbled into, this amazing and totally on point 1970s esque occult rock show. I had a total blast shooting this band, and the performance was short but so so sweet. Can Lucifer please open for Ghost at some point, because holy fuck. If you haven’t already, you need to go buy the Lucifer debut album on iTunes or you are dead to me.
-Robin
Pallbearer
Pallbearer, even short a member due to border issues, managed to bring as much doom as you would expect of such a pedigreed band could given their situation. Given that they were playing at a deficit, Pallbearer none the less managed to please the subdued by marijuana crowd more than one would have expected given the circumstances. I can’t say that I was an active listener before, but I CAN say they brought their “A” game to the show at the Rickshaw and became a band I need to be watching.
High On Fire
If I was charged with using only a single word to describe High on Fire’s live show, that word would be sweaty; sweat is ever present in their live show both on stage and off. So ever present in fact that our intrepid photographer Robin got Matt Pike’s gut guitar god stomach sweat on her face! Usually Tuesday shows are fairly subdued affairs but this is High on Fire so those expectations should get tossed out the window as soon as you step foot in the venue. A crowd that was rowdy before the first bands set even ended, they are the embodiment of HoF’s music – unbridled aggression mixed with marijuana to keep it at a low boil.
They tore through a set that leaned heavily on their newest album , proving at least in my mind that the new material from Luminiferous is just as strong as their earlier work. I’ll submit the ferocity of the audience as my evidence. The set list, a full half of which came from the new album acts as a Coles notes of High on Fire songs that you should be familiar with. For those that aren’t, these are the songs that will make you a fan and cause you to rabidly consume their back catalog.
