Zack Olander - Halloween at the Murder Barn, or How I Almost Broke My Foot
This blog post is about my third show at the "Murder Barn," so named because the guy who lives there is in a metal band called Murder. Sound enticing? No? Good.
I've hung out with these guys here a lot, because they decide to throw house shows there in the barn on the property. This time, there were three bands: Rotten, Throne of Botis, and finally Murder.
First was the finest death thrash metal band to come out of Virginia Beach: Rotten. The five piece band is lead by frontman Zach, who's known in the local metal scene as being influenced by death metal's most classic and well-known bands. Their sound is akin to something straight out of the American metal underground in 1987, and all the people at the party were VERY into bands like that. I enjoyed it so much, I actually fractured a bone in my foot in the middle of the mosh pit, which I didn't notice until after the set was over due to the adrenaline.
Next was Throne of Botis, who I am personally friends with in addition to the aforementioned Murder. They are what is called "slam" death metal, which employs rapid and frequent time signature changes, usually to build up to and then go into passages in the song where everything slows down as seen in the musical style of bands such as Suffocation and Devourment and the guitar riffs make you want to jump and push people around. It's like the soundtrack to an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. It was one of the final shows that the band played (they have since separated), so everyone went nuts. At some point, someone threw a smoke bomb from a fireworks set that was left over from the Fourth of July that produced red smoke and then started chucking pool noodles at people. Within minutes, everyone in the barn was battling everyone else with pool noodles while stimulated by thick red smoke and slamming brutal death metal riffs.
As the smoke cleared, it was time for Murder to play. They are the finest grindcore band from the Hampton Roads area, even only having released a couple demos and a cassette tape split with another band called Tomb Warden. Their frontman, Tim, had filled up tons of water balloons filled with (washable) fake blood, and he started pelting people with them in between verses in the frantic and spastic songs. By the end of the set, everyone and everything was covered in red, which fueled the energy of the crowd.
The main thing that I took away from all of this is how fun it can be when a bunch of friends come together to play music and have a good time and later bond. After the show, people found out that I had fractured my foot and literally every single person at the show came up to me to see if I was okay or to offer me a beer at some point during the night. It felt good to have such a tight community of music fans, despite the proclivity with covering each other in blood and body slamming each other during the bands' sets. Every time I see any one of these people, it makes me think of the shows at the Murder Barn, and the good times we have had with each other.
I've hung out with these guys here a lot, because they decide to throw house shows there in the barn on the property. This time, there were three bands: Rotten, Throne of Botis, and finally Murder.
First was the finest death thrash metal band to come out of Virginia Beach: Rotten. The five piece band is lead by frontman Zach, who's known in the local metal scene as being influenced by death metal's most classic and well-known bands. Their sound is akin to something straight out of the American metal underground in 1987, and all the people at the party were VERY into bands like that. I enjoyed it so much, I actually fractured a bone in my foot in the middle of the mosh pit, which I didn't notice until after the set was over due to the adrenaline.
Next was Throne of Botis, who I am personally friends with in addition to the aforementioned Murder. They are what is called "slam" death metal, which employs rapid and frequent time signature changes, usually to build up to and then go into passages in the song where everything slows down as seen in the musical style of bands such as Suffocation and Devourment and the guitar riffs make you want to jump and push people around. It's like the soundtrack to an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. It was one of the final shows that the band played (they have since separated), so everyone went nuts. At some point, someone threw a smoke bomb from a fireworks set that was left over from the Fourth of July that produced red smoke and then started chucking pool noodles at people. Within minutes, everyone in the barn was battling everyone else with pool noodles while stimulated by thick red smoke and slamming brutal death metal riffs.
As the smoke cleared, it was time for Murder to play. They are the finest grindcore band from the Hampton Roads area, even only having released a couple demos and a cassette tape split with another band called Tomb Warden. Their frontman, Tim, had filled up tons of water balloons filled with (washable) fake blood, and he started pelting people with them in between verses in the frantic and spastic songs. By the end of the set, everyone and everything was covered in red, which fueled the energy of the crowd.
The main thing that I took away from all of this is how fun it can be when a bunch of friends come together to play music and have a good time and later bond. After the show, people found out that I had fractured my foot and literally every single person at the show came up to me to see if I was okay or to offer me a beer at some point during the night. It felt good to have such a tight community of music fans, despite the proclivity with covering each other in blood and body slamming each other during the bands' sets. Every time I see any one of these people, it makes me think of the shows at the Murder Barn, and the good times we have had with each other.
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