Fuck the Facts, Bastards, Earthburner, Domestic Terror

January 25, 2013 • Carabar, Columbus, Ohio

I promised myself I wouldn't go back to Carabar ever, due to their atrocious booking skills that caused two shows I attended back in 2010 to last until 3 AM. However, they make it darn hard to resist with free shows and some really excellent bands. You may recall from my Disgorge Mexico review that Fuck the Facts is a pretty awesome band too, so I had to check this one out. It wasn't a fantastic show (largely due in part to the horrible audience), but it was fun all the same.

Domestic Terror

I didn't have high hopes for these guys going in, having sampled their stuff online, so I wasn't too disappointed by their mediocre performance. They market themselves as "shitty, but fun to listen to" (direct quote from someone who gave me a CD-R of their album), and at least the first part was right. As far as their sort of juvenile grindcore goes, there's definitely a way to do it right (Anal Cunt) and wrong (these guys). "Funny" song titles is not how you be a good band. Their drummer was actually pretty decent, using an interesting alternating-hand technique for blastbeats, but the guitar work and songwriting was poor.
3 • Most China Cymbals Award, Like Seriously

Earthburner

I did have high hopes for Earthburner, being more of a "sludgecore" band, but I found them to be a slightly disappointing example of it. Their music is very repetitive, as basically every song is the same open chugging over and over, with the occasional hardcore section sprinkled here and there. Decent for a song or two, but it got boring quickly. Still, they weren't horrible, and knew how to put on a decent groove. It might have been better if anyone in the audience seemed to care (aside from the half-dozen drunkards idiotically dancing around).
5 • Fanciest Les Paul Award

Bastards

Now here was a decent surprise. I was ready to dismiss them as being unprofessional after their incredibly long setup time (silly, I know), but they put on a hell of a set. They play a sort of death metal-influenced strain of grindcore, with lots of tempo and rhythm changes for thirty-second songs, and were technically very impressive. Particular praise should go to their drummer, who seemed to be making the fastest snare blasts I've seen by sheer force of will alone.
7 • Nerdiest-Looking Grindcore Band Award

Fuck the Facts

Unfortunately I don't have a whole lot to say about the headlining band's set—basically my opinion on the band was already laid out in my previous review, and their performance was reflective of that. Good energy, great songs—well, see for yourself! Someone was kind enough to tape the show. I don't think you can see me in it, though.
7 • Vocalist Who Looked Most Like a Receptionist Award