I’m glad I brought earplugs to go see Om at the Middle East. As I may have mentioned about another band, any group featuring members of Sleep will be heavy and loud as hell. So it’s no surprise that Om are just that, even if they aren’t as forthright about it with crushing riffs or things like that, but instead play it much more subtle and even handed. On the last night of their current tour, Grails and Om certainly shook the foundation of the tiny Middle East Upstairs, while pissing off the venue at the same time. Read on after the jump!

Instrumental act Grials took the dimly lit stage with their brand own take on experimental post-rock. Before they had played a single note, the guitarist had created a wall of fuzz and noise with just guitar pedals, slowly building the level of tension before the group started. With a middle eastern-infused guitar style that featured beatiful strummed chords backed by thunderous drum hits, the band was able to make the crowd get their necks ready for the headbanging they were about to experience. Varying between monstrously crushing and lightly treading, Grails proved they are fully capable of keeping things interesting.

Drum and bass duo Al Cisneros and Chris Hakius certainly had a lot to live up to after forming Om when Sleep disbanded. Even if the too haven’t taken a full on metal approach like ex-Sleep member Matt Pike in High On Fire, the two still keep things incredibly heavy. Cisneros body-rippling bass slams through you, while Hakius steadily plays along without missing a single beat. Sabbath inspired riffs, combined with Cisneros’ droning voice mesmerized the audience for an hour and a half with lengthy tracks  like “At Giza” and “Bhima’s Theme.” However, things started to get somewhat tense when continued bass issues kept plaguing the group, while Cisneros was clearly getting annoyed at the sound guy. Eventually, the lights came on due to curfew and the band was forced to stop playing. Al stormed off stage amid cries of “We can still play, we have got plenty to play,” while the audience pleaded with group to stay. Eventually the venue relented and Al then began to rant about people not being able to smoke a certain substance inside the venue (”We’re from North California, man!” he cried), which of course immediately gave the audience the go ahead to light up, creating an eerie haze as Om kicked back into their “encore.” Now keep in mind that the average length of an Om song is about 15 minutes, so as the group continued to play their repetitive parts over and over with the occasional experimentation or tempo change as the sound guy and venue staff grew more annoyed. Eventually the houselights came on and the sound guy came up to the stage, trying to get them to stop. Cisneros kept singing along, despite the lack of a microphone, while the crowd chanted with him. The bass still raged on, even as the sound man kept turning it off and urging the group to stop playing. The staff forced everyone out, citing the fact that they could get in trouble for violating curfew and potentially losing their license (a completely fair excuse mind you),  but some in the audience just weren’t having it. It’s a shame the group didn’t get to play longer, but their hour and a half of pure headbanging heaviness certainly made up for it. I just hope they’ll be able to book a show in this town again.

More photos up here.

Grails

Om

The sound guy trying to get Al Ciseneros of Om to stop playing!

Tags: Live, News, Review, grails, om, photos //