Windhand + COUGH

Missed the earlier bands but made it to the iconic Crowbar at 9-ish for COUGH and headliner Windhand. It was weird to have the fire department come in to halt the gig, get everyone out to the streets. Apparently there's an electrical fire that probably tripped the alarm. We obediently filed out in an orderly manner. It wasn't anything worrying and we went back to the basement venue within ten minutes.

COUGH was soooo good. Tortured beats. A harder sludge core than headliner Windhand's melodic doom metal. Both bands hail from Richmond, Virginia, USA. Windhand has Dorthia Cottrell on vocals, and her deep husky notes are great for those growling stuff. She also does her solo psych-folk and has released them 11 songs on 's/t'. Those songs are morbid and depressing, and I love them. Teeeeheeeheee. Bassist Parker Chandler plays for both COUGH and Windhand too. I've got no idea how the dude could last for hours night after night on this Australian and New Zealand tour.

I wore solid ear plugs. Nobody goes to a metal gig without a good pair of ear-stuffers nowadays. But at the end of the night, my ear drums still felt like they died. Hahaha. You know the thing about doom metal audiences? They're bloody polite. None of that shoving moshing nonsense. It's all very courteous head-banging, with everyone staying in their own spaces and not infringing on anyone else's. That's why I like going to doom metal gigs.

[Seattle people, Windhand plays at Neumos on 23 April.]