Where: All Asia Club, Cambridge
When: Saturday, December 18
Who: The Grave Reviews, Domestic Artillery
Rocks like: The Misfits, Strung Out, Alkaline Trio
The Grave Reviews and Domestic Artillery put on one of the shortest shows I have seen in my young life. When I arrived at the All Asia there wasn’t a single soul inside apart from the bartender, who was also the owner of the place. It is important to note that I was not even close to being on time. The listing said 12 pm, so naturally I arrived at 12:40, expecting to see the opener up on stage or at least sound checking. I was disappointed by the silence, but I decided to stick around and see how things went. Although the time they had to play was limited, I was glad I hung in there.
Domestic Artillery kicked it off without much warning or ado, and I was pleasantly surprised to hear a fast skate-punk sound infused with metal, along the lines of Strung Out. All the band members clearly knew their way around their instruments, including the singer with his voice. He ranged from melodic to gravelly to purely primal. A cover of “Linoleum” by NOFX was lovely as always, but the set was lacking in two things. Unfortunately they could not have been helped by the boys of Domestic Artillery. First, there was almost no audience, just a few friends and the Grave Reviews sitting at tables and at the bar. This was especially disappointing because these guys could have whipped up a serious pit given the right crowd. The other issue was that the set was just too short; I would have loved to hear more.
Luckily the Grave Reviews wasted no time in jumping on stage and they kicked off with a song straight from the horror punk lineage called “Don’t Ask”. The lyrics about “burning bodies at the grocery store” and “the stuff of your nightmares” were belted in a deep melodic bellow while the rhythm section took off at light speed. This may have been my favorite song in the set as it combined Misfits-style imagery with an upbeat guitar riff that brought to mind parts of the Alkaline Trio album, “Good Mourning”. The set continued in similar fashion with the delightful injection of a couple Misfits tunes, “Astro Zombies” and “Saturday Night”, the latter being a personal favorite of mine. I couldn’t resist the urge to sing along with these classics.
I look forward to seeing both of these bands again, hopefully at a venue where I can get out and mosh. This show felt like an appetizer, and now I’m champing at the bit to hear more. At this point, a full-length from either would be a heavenly gift, because I can’t get these bands out of my mind.--PS
Wanna know more about/hear music from the bands mentioned here? Here's the links you lazy bums:
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