Alright. Last time I posted about a show I went to in the States (In Flames) people griped that it’s not really Israeli. Well, guitarist Kenny Hickey has a (Jewish) daughter named Aliyah. Does that count?

Read the whole review…

Eh.

Anyway, I actually paid for a show for the first time in months due to the fact that it was Life of Agony and Seventh Void, who’s half of Type O Negative, guitarist Kenny Hickey and drummer Johnny Kelly, who also moonlights as the drummer for Danzig and Brooklyn Led Zeppelin cover act Earl’s Court.

You could tell Johnny was happy cause he was grinning the whole time he played (he probably has it written in his contract for Danzig that he’s not allowed to smile onstage). For someone who plays for the two of the most grumpy frontmen imaginable, he’s really a sweetie. “It’s probably in comparison to the company I keep,” he told me once in an e-mail interview I should really dig up.

Seventh Void is depressing and psychedelically concrete with edge, if that makes sense. There’s definitely no escaping it, they sound a hell of a lot like Black Sabbath but it’s like they took the guiding hermetical principles of said band and wrote completely new material accordingly. Vocalist/lead guitarist Kenny Hickey performed well even though he was suffering a relapse of pneumonia (poor guy, pneumonia is a nightmare) and all in all, well, it wasn’t so much amazing as it was to be expected from the likes of them. Bassist Hank Hell and guitarist Matt Brown round out the lineup. Their professionalism is evident and basically, they were awesome. Check out their Myspace site here.

Half an hour later, my beloved Life of Agony hit the stage to a sardine-packed audience. This band was a prime facet in the forming of my personality as an impressionable teenager with their groundbreaking “River Runs Red,” produced by Josh Silver of Type O Negative fame. Sixteen years since their inception, they’re still putting on an emotionally charged show of that special Brooklyn blend of hardcore, groove and metal that comes from no other place (unless it’s being copied). The setlist ran like a “Greatest Hits” album and luckily, they played a lot of ‘River Runs Red” to the joy of many. They also played their newest single off of Epic Records, “Love To Let You Down,” which frighteningly enough reminds me a bit of Velvet Revolver – it’s a great single mind you, it was just slightly strange.

Bassist and LOA mastermind Alan Robert was throwing picks out (I got one!!) wearing a T-shirt touting his new act Spoiler. Vocalist Keith Caputo threw himself out into the moshpit near the end of a show, after a set screaming big pain out of his little body and throwing out copies of his latest solo release. I remember hearing his first demo back in the day where he sounded like a dying cat and now he’s pretty damn good. Joey Z., currently the guitarist for Carnivore as well, was up there shredding in full form – he just opened a recording studio in Sunset Park, Brooklyn called Method of Groove Studios. And drummer Sal Abruscato, Johnny Kelly’s predecessor in the Type O Negative position, is running a bike chop shop.