Beer and metal music go together like coffee and pie, so what better way to celebrate the largest beer festival and competition in North America than to throw a concert. In this case it was four esteemed breweries from around the country – Denver’s TRVE Brewing, Indiana’s 3Floyds, Texas’ Real Ale, and Minnesota’s Surly – bringing in the preeminent gods of sludge metal, New Orleans’ Eyehategod. Besides it being the Great American Beer Festival, a love of the gnarliest of jams and headiest of brews brought these beer peddlers together for a night of heavy, brutal rock.
After sets from Call of the Void and a handful of other acts, Valient Thorr cranked up the crowd with their style of Motorhead-influenced skate metal. Despite sound issues, the band powered through their set and got the audience ready for the night’s heaviest attraction. Upon taking the stage, Eyehategod wasted no time, careening straight into a set of crushing riffs courtesy of one Jimmy Bower. The beer fest crowd may have been too drunk to mosh for the most part, but that didn’t stop them from getting down and falling right in line with Eyehategod’s loose, slippery groove. Mike IX belted out his flawless, blood-curdling vocals on older EHG tunes like “Dixie Whiskey” and the explosive “Lack of Almost Anything,” while new tunes like the feedback-laced, punk-esque “Medicine Noose” showed that even after going hard for over twenty years, the NOLA band can bring the brutality. One of the highlights of the set came when the band busted out the ominously awesome “Sabbath Jam,” an EHG rarity that they claimed to have never played live. With its heavy, pulsing base and monstrous shredding, the song paid ample tribute to one of EHG’s biggest influences and saw the audience collectively head banging right along.
Few bands – both in the metal scene and beyond – have created such a powerful, abrasive sound as the members of Eyehategod. More importantly, there sound is completely and totally their own, and there is not a single band that has ever even come close to ripping them off. Onstage in Denver, Mike IX’s deep-throated scream seemed stronger than ever, and seeing him live only solidified the fact that his vocals and the sludgy guitar tag team of Jimmy Bower and Brian Patton were made for each other. Even with the unfortunate passing of drummer Joey LaCaze just over a year ago, the members of Eyehategod have only charged on, playing as many shows as they can as hard as they possibly can, and ripping new assholes wherever they go. The floor of the venue was sticky with craft beer when Eyehategod finally called it a night, but with the first show of their fall tour under their belt, the band appeared energized and ready to spread the gospel of Southern sludge metal once again.
Photos by Steven Jackson.
