December 16th – Conyers @ The Pointe

Metal Watson is producing an Atlanta rock band compilation disc and one of the bands discovered in the process is Guillotine. All the more reason to check these guys out. Fortunately the venue is close, unfortunately not one of the better ones. I had heard of The Pointe before and the stairs, now I know what was meant. You come into a small bar with a stairway that you go up to get to the stage. Alongside pool tables and the stairway itself, there is not much room up there for guests. Invite a soccer team and the place is full (for those unfamiliar with soccer, a team is 11 players). And don’t dare get drunk cause you have to walk down the stairs to get to the bar which can cause severe accidents while being intoxicated.

The show was supposed to start at 9pm, at 9:45 it finally did. No idea what took so long, one guy said the vocalist of Wicked King is notoriously late. I felt like I smoked a whole pack of cigarettes while I was waiting (and usually I am notoriously late, but the one time I am not…)

WICKED KING

This band from Athens, GA consists of Rick Andriola on guitar and vocals, Evan Posey on drums and Adam Miller on bass. I would classify them as a Megadeth meets punk hardcore band. They blasted away right from the beginning and were worth the wait. Rick shredded away on his guitar and blasted the lyrics in the mic with a passion. The second song “Down In the Dungeon(?) reminded me of M.O.D. (Method of Destruction). Some mic problems during the third song, the fourth song was “Gun In Hand” followed by “Ain’t No Way” and “The Point of a Gun”.

“Terminators” had a strong hardcore touch from the start and “In the Face of Death” has to have been my favorite by this band. It has that speed/thrash touch I love. I was able to get the end of it on video.

The band does seem to bounce around the genres a lot playing elements of speed metal, thrash metal, punk and hardcore during the set. Their last song was a cover, I think. Nothing familiar to me.

The band has 2 CDs out, “Absolute Monarchy” and “No Rest”. You can check them out on their homepage, Facebook and Bandcamp as well as Twitter @WickedKingRocks

GUILLOTINE

This was the band I came for. Ever since I received their track for the compilation CD I knew I had to see them live. Funny fact, same band as the last, they just swapped the guitarist, which in this case is Lance Miller. Adam Miller, the bassist of Wicked King and bassist of Guillotine is the vocalist for this death doom formation from Georgia (and yes, they are brothers).

A small wait again after bassist and drummer were missing (possibly needing a short rest between bands) and then the Guillotine struck. The first tunes sounding like Black Sabbath, in my opinion the growling vocals went a bit under and could have been provided more output. That did nothing to stop the enjoyment though as they blasted track after track with changing tempo between death and doom and brilliant instrument playing, Lance knew exactly how to manipulate his guitar and use the acoustic feedback to provide a Slayeristic atmosphere. Adam’s growling with occasional vocals on Lance’s side are a good move, I really liked the combination of them both.

The band has just recently released their debut album and Adam mentioned it to be a concept album, and announced the next song as some “weird shit”. Did I mention how they change the tempo during the songs? This is a piece of “Death Culture”.

“Kraken” had the machine gun bass drums that I so love about this type of music.

Towards the end I was feeling tired as I had unfortunately been at work, but it was definitely worth seeing this band and I will go check them out again when they are scheduled to play. I need to get a hold of the CD and can only emphasize to check them out if you are into the harder death metal acts. You can visit them on Facebook and Bandcamp or on Twitter @guillotine_atl

The evening was well worth it, both bands delivered and I can easily see them playing festivals. I suggest you see for yourself when they play in a venue near you.