Show Review: Agalloch: 12/22/10

The main points of going to this show were to FINALLY see Dispirit, and to take my little brother to a show at Great American Music Hall, because he was on vacation from High School and he wanted to see a show there, at the spot which I have always told him I believe is the superior live music venue in San Francisco.

I failed in my first goal right off the bat by missing Dispirit AGAIN. Fuck. They ended right when I got to the front door. I was left hanging in between band limbo trying to stretch the little money I had on pints of beer. Me and the bro actually ended up spending most of the show in the far back, upstairs balcony which is is unusual for me. It would have been rather pleasant too, if the spectacle being witnessed below was almost anything other than Alerseelen.

Alerseelen would be the perfect soundtrack for being strapped down to a table and shit on repeatedly by gay sadomasochistic Nazi mad scientist. His shaved head hovers in the distance, he adjusts his creepy little glasses and croaks "Vud you like von more?"

Agalloch were tremendously better, although that's not really saying much. Everyone with an opinion to share about music seems to be all up on this band's jock these days, many saying that "Marrow Of The Spirit" is one of the year's best albums... blah blah... Whatever. While there was some extremely competent and forceful drumming from local celebrity Aesop, the songs themselves were not that heavy, seemed anticlimactic and leaned heavily on what could be termed "post rock" or "emo" sounding parts. Yawn. If Black Metal puts me to sleep then I better have some fucking nightmares. Give me me some heavy riffs. This is safe metal for old people who used to listen to Mayhem, but now that they have kids they can't reconcile with the idea of total satanic annihilation, so they find "heavy" music instead that has songs about spirits and nature and other vaguely inoffensive mystical things, then they burn some sage and meditate on their inner sadness.

I promised my brother that I would take him to a better show next time we went to Great American.