Let’s face it – with its connotations of evil and warfare, Antichrist Siege Machine is a great name for a metal band. And it’s also a fitting one as the Richmond, Virginia-based duo does perform with a certain machinelike efficiency, playing a relentless and brutally heavy set over the course of their relatively brief 25 minute set.
Touring behind their latest, the recently released Vengeance of Eternal Fire, alongside 1349, Spectral Wound, and Spirit Possession, Antichrist Siege Machine (ASM) put on an impressive show at Lee’s Palace on Monday night. Taking the stage to a soundscape composed of rumbling distortion, the duo went full throttle from the very first note and kept things at that level for the duration. Considering there’s only two of them in the band, ASM proved themselves capable of making quite the racket. It was especially impressive to watch drummer SB do his thing, especially when he was also taking on lead vocals at times while blasting away on the kit.
There’s not much in the way of subtlety or nuance in ASM’s music – just straight up brutality played fast and hard. But sometimes that’s exactly what you want. The band may have only played for 25 minutes, but they packed a lot into those 25 minutes and definitely made an impression on the crowd.
With five years having passed since Wayfarer were last in Toronto, vocalist/guitarist Shane McCarthy took a moment near the beginning of their set to comment on how great it felt to be back in the city again before adding, “Let’s do some cowboy shit.”
Touring behind their latest, 2023’s American Gothic (which made #3 on Decibel Magazine’s Top 40 albums of last year), the Denver-based four-piece took to the stage at The Garrison on Friday night alongside tourmates Sonja and Valdrin. And the aforementioned “cowboy shit” was on display on this evening in both the band’s visual aesthetic (bassist/vocalist Jamie Hansen was sporting a bolo tie) and in their music, a mix of black metal and Western/Americana influences – the band has cited fellow Denver bands 16 Horsepower and Slim Cessna’s Auto Club as a couple of the non-metal acts who’ve inspired them. Live, the band’s performance is suitably epic, as sprawling black metal meets slide guitar and moody, cinematic passages.
After playing for roughly one hour, the band ended off their set with “False Constellation,” the closing track on American Gothic and, to my ears, the absolute highlight of the album. Lyrically, it’s an examination of American history and culture with lines like “You’ve got a shadow on your grave” and “A beaten tattered flag/Raised in honor of a dream/A memory/Of what had never came to pass” delving into the dark side of the American dream.
When a band comes through your town on a tour that they’ve labelled “The Incessant Drone of Misery Tour,” it’s a fairly safe bet that they’re not going to be singing tunes about sunshine and lollipops. And sure enough, when UK funeral doom five-piece Esoteric took to the stage at The Garrison on Sunday night, there was a distinct lack of good-time party rock anthems. Rather, true to their name, the Birmingham band was instead offering up something a tad more, well, esoteric.
Doomy, trippy, and most definitely heavy as hell, Esoteric offer up an interesting blend of crushingly heavy riffage and somewhat proggy psych elements in their sound, all of it delivered at a funereal pace. The band is currently touring behind their latest album A Pyrrhic Existence, their seventh, which came out back in 2019 via Season of Mist. It’s the kind of album that opens with a 27 minute track and just keeps going from there for 90 plus minutes of epic doom. After 30 years as a band, Esoteric have definitely mastered the art of the slow burn.
While Esoteric may not make the kind of music you’d throw on to get the dance floor moving, it definitely sets a mood and I will admit that there were more than a few times during their set that I found myself smiling and slowly nodding my head in approval to the music. So, I guess this is proof that (the incessant drone of) misery really does love company.
Another year, another SouthBy. Team Panic Manual has been coming to Austin in some shape or form since 2009 and while some things have remained constant, much has changed over the years.
This year, it was hard to ignore the controversy caused by the presence of the U.S. Army as a sponsor, which led to many bands cancelling their official showcases. Oh, also, every other panel seemed to be about AI, so maybe next year will be brought to you by Skynet and HAL 9000 will be playing his hit single “Daisy Bell” at Stubb’s. Who knows? Anyways, here’s a rundown of how our week in Austin went.
Best Act
Ricky: Most entertaining acts were Faux Real and Wolves of Glendale, both of those groups made me smile. Faux Real’s endless energy and their incredibly fun dance shows really kicked off SXSW in a a great way. Wolves of Glendale blended humor and ’80s inspired music in a perfect way and were just super fun. My favorite musical act was probably Bubble Tea and Cigarettes, whose music was perfectly suited to a dark church backdrop.
Gary: Emily Barker. I knew some songs but was not expecting the quality of songwriting that shone throughout.
Paul: Simply for putting on one of the more unique shows, I’ll give it to Tommy Stinson for jumping onstage mere minutes before his set time and seemingly just winging it – I don’t think he was even scheduled as an official act until that very day. A special shout out to Hinds as well for giving me a much needed boost of energy on Wednesday night after an unplanned (but much needed) nap that almost took me out of commission for the rest of the night. They’re always a fun watch.
Ricky: My favorite discovery was Poo-pourri, this random product that takes the stink out of #2. Every SXSW, the 4 of us hole up in a hotel room for 8 days, with 1 bathroom. Previously this led to some problems, but with Poo-pouri, the bathroom problem was instantly resolved, much to my amusement. Musically, I haven’t really digested it yet, but I had written down to check out Vital Powers, a rapper from England, Chinese American Bear – a pop duo from Minnesota or something, and Automatic, a buzzy band that had lots of kids really energized.
Gary:Earth Tongue. I am still not computing how robotic, heavy psych chants of “Bodies Dissolve Tonight!” became so good.
Derek: The Lottery Winners were such a pleasant surprise. I didn’t expect to be blown away by any music since I was leaving town just as music was getting started, but The Lottery Winners at BME (and later that same night at Seven Grand) scratched that itch and left me feeling like I got to experience some of what makes SXSW so great.
Biggest Disappointment
Ricky: Bar Italia had a lot of hype and I was not into their performance. One of their members had major microphone issues so maybe that played a big part but considering their hype, they didn’t really do anything to stand out. The biggest disappointment was actually just me, letting work greatly disrupt my focus and mood during the entirety of the week (again).
From a festival perspective, the quietness of the festival was extremely loud. The lack of big bands to anchor a night really stood out.
Gary: Bar Italia? It was mostly due to hype from others … I wasn’t even going to see them. So in all honesty I had not been “disappointed” this year.
Derek: I’m old and can’t drink like I used to. Maybe that isn’t disappointing, but there it is.
Favourite SXSW Moment
Gary:Mogwai playing a cadenza on “Rano Pano”… or was it “Dry Fantasy”? Regardless, it’s still one of the best sets this year.
Derek: Being called “Simon Cowell” by Lottery Winners frontman Thomas Rylance.
Paul: Watching The Appleseed Cast close out their set with a motorik noise jam before calling it quits, apparently due to an amp that was on fire. It made for a big cathartic end to their set and also a memorable way for me to close out my SXSW 2024 experience.
Ricky: I can see Ash over and over again, so probably that. Or the giant tuna collar we ate at Kemuri Tatsu Ya.
Final Thoughts
Gary: If I am not going back next year, it would be an anticlimactic note on which to end a decade-plus of riotous music, film, poster, and food discoveries in Austin. This year felt particularly sparse and disconnected, more so than even 2022, which is hard to fathom. So many venues are going their own way and old, reliable sources are evolving past each other and the festival itself, and the model of music discovery is still shifting, even beyond the pish of Spotify. If I am going back, I would be setting myself up for an expectation of impossible proportions. We are all addicts now, grappling with the decision whether to take that one last hit… all I know is that going cold turkey will not be something my system would take lightly to.
Derek: After attending every year since 2010, I finally feel like 2024 is probably my last (despite having said that since 2018). During this trip I found myself looking at photos of years past and remembering the many amazing shows we’ve seen, surprise acts discovered before they blew up, great food we’ve eaten and the unlimited free drinks we consumed. Over the years, we got to know which parties or venues offered the best free booze and free food (shoutout Péché for that one time but never again).
My age showed as I reflected on how much the city has changed since we started attending the festival, engaging in plenty of “I remember when..” conversations – I guess it’s that thing dudes do as they turn into old dudes. For me, SXSW has always been equal parts professional development (during interactive), indulging in Tex-Mex or BBQ and hanging out with the PM crew while catching some amazing bands up close. And even if this is my last year, it’s been a pretty great run.
Paul: Fifteen years. That’s how long Panic Manual has been going to SXSW. I don’t think any of us expected to be doing it for this long, but as Derek said, it has been a pretty good run. And while we’ve talked about whether to come back for the following year or not for at least a few years now, it seems this might be the last year that the four of us will all be in Austin at the same time with two of our party likely calling it quits after this year’s edition of SouthBy. So to quote The Rolling Stones, this could be the last time, I don’t know …
Though in all honesty, the other two of us might still be good for at least one more time. The AI that is T-800 said he’ll be back. So … see y’all next year? Possibly.
