It's been a while since I've been to any local metal shows. Back when I was writing for WTD it seems like I was going to shows once a week or so. After taking a bit of a break, I got back into the habit of going to club shows while I was running Review to a Kill (RIP). After that site went down I kind of lost interest in "the local scene". At least part of that can be attributed to having two little kids now. It makes it harder to stay out late and still get up early.

Not too long ago through MySpace I discovered that a guy from my old neighborhood ("Willo" now, although most of my old schoolmates would remember him has "Boner") was now playing guitar in a local metal band. I got a message earlier this week that his band was playing a show Saturday night, so I decided to get out of the house and check 'em out. The price was right -- five bands for five bucks -- and the club wasn't too far away.

Without going into a full-length review, I'll just say Willo's band ("Self Inflicted") was pretty good. They definitely had a sludgecore thing going on, a Crowbar-esque vibe with a little Winter and Pro-Pain thrown in. Of the other three bands I saw, one was straight-up death metal, one was pretty brutal death metal (almost black metalish), and the last one reminded me of Clutch. I guess I've been listening to metal so long that every band sounds like some other band to me now. I left during the fourth band's performance and missed the fifth; not that they were horrible or anything, but it was midnight, I'm old, and my ears were ringing pretty good by then. But anyway ... good beer, good music, good times.

Willo, from Self Inflicted