By ÆRæder & Iron Mike
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Venue
https://www.zhoradarling.com/ – 509 1st Ave NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413
ÆRæder: Plenty has already been written on mnbleeds.com regarding this venue. Excellent place to take in a show. This time we’ll highlight the set up and overall use of space. It doesn’t feel like it is a giant venue, but the spacial arrangement of the bar/restaurant side and the show room in the back always seem well balanced. Merch tables in the rear of the showroom give plenty of well lit eye candy when entering, and also space to socialize and talk with the bands. Band gear was again toward the back, so floor space was adequate.
Iron Mike: This was my first time at the venue. Nice place. Cool vibe. Good food & drink offerings. Parking options kinda sucked, but it was nice outside so the walk to and from the venue was alright. As mentioned above, the set up with the concert hall in the back is pretty cool. Looking at it through musician’s eyes, it’s definitely one of the better options for shows in Minneapolis. Cool stage, good merch set up location and a room that *should* sound really good when the music gets loud.
Sound
ÆRæder: Usually sound is a highlight at Zhora. But this time things just felt a bit tinny, especially in the back of the room. Sound on stage was an issue, in particular for Deceased. Several dead mics/monitors detracted from the performance. Sound in front of the stage was fine. However, you feel for artists, especially touring bands, when they ask for some assistance to hear themselves on stage, but nothing seems to happen.
Iron Mike: I think a lot of people don’t get just how important the PA system and sound engineer in a venue are for a concert. A great sound engineer can make a good band sound amazing. A bad one can make a great band sound terrible. Unfortunately, when it’s less than good, the band(s) usually get the blame.
Sound Rant
Iron Mike: I’d heard that Zhora has a great sound engineer, but whomever that is didn’t seem to be on site for this gig. The lack of quality sound reinforcement from the venue was a pretty major turnoff for me. One person in the crowd said “the show felt over priced at $20 with the technical issues experienced”. Grand Demise of Civilization had decent sound reinforcement from the house system and sound engineer. Although it wasn’t as loud as most metal shows.
Not sure what happened in the switchover but none of the mics worked when Deceased got on stage. The sound engineer was standing right next to me while King and Walt from Deceased were both saying their mics didn’t work. The guy seemed lost trying to use his iPad to control the system. After several minutes of scanning the controls, he was able to get one mic working. Sort of.
It all made me wonder if the experienced sound engineer had to leave and this dude was a fill-in? Either way, they never got Walt’s mic working, King’s didn’t work well til 3/4ths of the set was over. And, there was a brutal ground hum blaring intermittently between songs. King made jokes about the venue having been built over a sacred burial ground and angering the spirits below, hence the noise. People in the very back told me afterward they couldn’t hear vocals at all for the first several songs.
Crowd
ÆRæder: Show started out light in attendance, but very quickly filled to a comfortable level soon into Grand Demise’s set. No mosh or activity whatsoever, which was a little disappointing because the bands provided some energetic play that opened the door for movement. Crowd was engaged verbally the entire show, so it was still fun.
Iron Mike: I was expecting more people to show up, but it was still a good sized crowd. Was great to see a lot of people from local bands, such as Begravement and Die Hard Corps there supporting the scene. And there was a lot of passion in the crowd, for both bands. The underground scene is alive and well in the Twin Cities!
Band Mix and Performance Flow
ÆRæder: Prefacing this with a note that our focus will always be on LOCAL. When we get a national touring band that is willing to play a smaller local venue, and loop in a local band, we will respect and engage with that. It should happen more often. Anyways, 5/17 at Zhora Darling = Two bands. That was it. In a way this was sort of refreshing in that there was no opportunity for dragging, either on stage or between acts. Deceased and Grand Demise have so little in common sonically it was almost like two different complete shows. A third band that could have bridged the gap would have been appreciated, especially on a Saturday night with nothing better to do.
Iron Mike: I’ll echo that. Would have been killer to see Begravement or Caustic Abyss or Glutton for Punishment or The F*All on the bill. Granted, Alex, the bassist/singer for Grand Demise of Civilization is also the singer for Caustic Abyss, so they were still represented. And, if you aren’t on the tip: Alex is a kick@$$ musician – crazy talented and brings it every time I see him perform.
Grand Demise of Civilization
- – https://granddemiseofcivilization.bandcamp.com/music
- Minneapolis
- 4 Piece (Vox/guitar, vox/guitar, vox/bass, drums)
- Bandcamp tags: aggressive metal, black metal, death metal, metal, Minneapolis
ÆRæder: One of the fastest, heaviest, sharpest bands in the Twin Cities. They were down a vox/guitar due to illness, and still nailed their set. Truly awesome to see the intensity on stage, sweat dripping down guitars, movement and communication among members. As black, industrial, gothy post-apocalyptic as their sound, the performance retains a living, organic feel. Sorta like what you’d expect from survivors of some sort of nuclear catastrophe, or alien/divine act of judgement. INSANE and natural feeling blast beats and overall drumming. A call and response back and for dynamic between hissing and roaring vocals that had my head on a swivel as bass/vox and guitar/vox stepped up to the mic. Clean guitar breaks and solos meshed in smoothly with ragging tremolo chords. I picked up their album released last June (The Blaze of Abaddon), and am thinking it is worthy of 21 spins and a review.
Iron Mike: I had listened to GDC a little bit prior to the show, but wasn’t overly familiar with ’em. They were tight, professional, locked in and gave a textbook performance. I didn’t know they were down a guitar player til afterwards and clearly didn’t know what I was missing. That’s a sign of a killer band right there. Don’t have much more to add beyond what was mentioned above, other than if you’re into their brand of metal, go see them, get over to Bandcamp and grab their stuff and thank us later.
Deceased
- – https://the-true-deceased.bandcamp.com/music
- Arlington, VA
- 5 Piece (Vox, guitar, guitar, bass, drums)
- Bandcamp tags: metal, death metal, thrash, Arlington
Iron Mike: Disclaimer: I am VERY biased about this band. This one was near and dear to my heart. I booked Deceased’s first ever club show at the Safari in Washington, DC many years back. Over the years, I played a few dozen gigs with them. I’ve sang backing vocals for them live more times than I can remember. And written about them in newspapers, fanzines, blogs and on websites countless times as well. Although King was the only original member performing at Zhora, and Mike, Mark and Les did just wrap up their tour with Coroner, it still felt like old times for me. Amos, Walt, Shane and Matt did the original guys proud.
Despite the ongoing sound system issues throughout their set, they rolled through killer track after killer track like the seasoned professionals they all are. Would have loved to see them playing a larger bill with more local support (see above), but it was still great to see them again. Their new album, Children of the Morgue, is by far their best release ever, so hearing the title track to that one live was a high note for sure.
Highlights & Shade
ÆRæder: Again, it’s a highlight anytime a national touring band loops in a local band to play at a smaller local venue. We covered this because of the venue, and because they included Grand Demise. Deceased made some excellent planning choices we would have recommended (sorry about the quality of PA on stage!). And, again, a third LOCAL band that bridged the acts would have been a highlight.
Iron Mike: In the weeks leading up to the gig, Will Maravelas at 14:59 Studios (and guitar wizard in Caustic Abyss, Plague of Stars, Chalice of Suffering, and more) was telling me a lot of people he knew were really hyped for the gig. Knowing what a great death metal scene we have in the Twin Cities, I told King to expect a rabid crowd of death metal loving maniacs. While that was true, it felt light for a Saturday night. Grand Demise of Civilization deserves a bigger crowd, Deceased – one of the world’s first ever death metal bands – deserved one too. And not to beat a dead corpse further, but the sound reinforcement for Deceased was just bad.
Summary
ÆRæder: Short and sweet, and lots of fun happening on the stage, on the floor, and in the back merch/gear storage area. Extended setup time between acts was acceptable in this two band scenario.
Iron Mike: Despite the challenges, it was a memorable night with two killer bands. A killer show that could have been even better. Good on Jane at Zhora Darling for continuing to book metal shows – hopefully that continues and the venue becomes one of the hot spots for local metal bands. And, normalize local metal opening for touring bands!
Final note: If you missed it, local metal maven Housepig video’d Deceased’s performance and uploaded it to YT here.