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Pre-show, the crowd of 200-or-so people who came out to the Great American Music Hall on a chilly Wednesday night seemed to give of an air of curiosity, more than anything. It is safe to say that little of the audience had experienced up-and-comers Alberta Cross or Dead Confederate live before, as each band is fairly new on the scene, with little recorded output. But their quality debut albums had clearly generated enough buzz to bring a decent-size crowd out to see how well their music translated to the live experience.
To start the night, Dead Confederate came right out and blasted us with a sonic wall of distortion-laced, grungy space rock. The trudging, druggy pace of their songs was transfixing, their overdriven guitars washing the half-filled room in sheets of cacophony. Unfortunately, the sheer power of the guitars often drowned out the reverb-laced wails of vocalist Hardy Morris, and made it easy to forget that there was a keyboardist on stage, as he was barely audible for most of the show. The band often evoked 90’s grunge with their sheer love of sludgy distortion, though there was a spacey edge to their music which made it unique and appealing. The band seemed to be aware that they were introducing most in the crowd to their music for the first time, and unapologetically gave us their all. I understood the chaotic sound they were going for (with gusto), and many in the crowd seemed to be converted after their intensely rocking performance, but their music’s lack of melodicism didn’t affect me too deeply.
After a break spent remarking how freaking loud the P.A.’s were, Alberta Cross took the stage with their game faces on, ready to win over a new batch of fans. They dug right into their epic-sounding repertoire, the songs having their backbone in soaring, crunchy guitar lines contrasted with the high, heavenly, Jim James-like vocals of Petter Ericson Stakee. Throughout the show, Stakee’s amazing voice imparted a mythic quality to the songs, and gave the band its distinctive sound more than any other element. His vocals were the focal point of show: though the band rocked out furiously, the instruments were never showy, and always supported the song itself. Though the guitar lines ripped, there were few heroic solos to speak of. For the most part, the distorted, feedback-laced riffs lended an ethereal, otherworldly air to the band’s heavy sound.
At its most rip-rocking, the band crushed it like early Pearl Jam. Other times, like during their debut album’s title track “Broken Side of Time,” the music haunted you, creeping up the back of your neck to knock you upside the head with its heavy-hitting riffage. But hands down, the most emotional tune of the night was the least rocking of all: “Ghost of City Life” was an affecting, eerie ballad that soared like OK Computer era Radiohead – beautiful, yet unsettling. Hopefully there are more tracks like this one in the band’s future, as this tune stood apart from the rest in it’s majesty.
As hard-rocking as their show is, the biggest feeling that I got from Alberta Cross’ performance was one of massive potential yet to be realized. They are only one album deep into their career, and it is clear that this band should become much bigger as they hone their songcraft and build their strengths as a group. While I watched them, I could see all the talent onstage, but felt that it was not yet fully formed, as the songs and melodies didn’t quite reach out and grab you like they could. As they add to their currently-scant arsenal of tunes and further develop their unique sound, I predict that this band will grow by leaps and bounds over the next few years. If this is true, those in attendance on this night at GAMH will hopefully be able to say that they caught Alberta Cross during their “little known early years.”
