We decided to catch the last part of the Lich King show at Sergio's Place in Wheaton, which is near where I grew up! This Sergio's Place was apparently a restaurant (I've never been), and I wasn't sure how the sound would be, how crowded it was, and if they were still serving food. We saw Heavy Metal Chris, Ruby (AND HER COOL DAD), Robin and her crew (Sarah's friends), Dorothy, and that Spanish guy who I see at a ton of shows but can't remember his name there.
We made it there around 10:40 or so, which was after whomever was on before Possessor. Oh well. Still, for $12 2 bands in a small venue, not bad! The place was a pretty decently sized restaurant (tho limited lavatory facilities), a bit smaller than Cafe 611, but with all the tables and chairs on the side and back it was spacious enough. We also noticed 2 cameramen, Heavy Metal Chris (towering over most of the crowd), a crane/mount with a video camera, and the floor crowded with predominantly Hispanic people (including me). The booze was flowing, and the bartenders were busy and cut off at least a couple people. The guy at the door and one of the cameramen were both friendly and excited about this show, which was really welcoming at this strange new place.
I also noticed Heavy Metal Chris got a delicious looking burrito or something. If I had known they were still serving food I would have gotten some pupusas to make the evening even better! There were also the huge bottles of Regia cerveza, which seemed almost cartoon like in their dimensions.
Possessor's look certainly set my expectations pretty high with the singer's 80's hair (with bangs), road warrior esque garb, and Grim Reaper shirt, the guitarist's tall mohawk, Slayer songs at soundcheck, and piercing wails. They sounded like old school thrash, with kind of messy vocals with the aforementioned soaring wails over top of it. They also had several songs with 'metal' in the title, so you KNOW they are a true metal band and I'm going to dig it. They were very energetic and entertaining. I'm not sure how I missed the merch table, so I need to look into getting a CD perhaps.
Lich King's merch table had 3 CDs ($10), several shirts ($15), patches, and stickers. I got their latest CD and a 'Black Metal Sucks' shirt.
Lich King came on a little after midnight, and continued the hat/mask theme- one guy had a pink Shark Boy mask, and another had a skull mask (perhaps evoking the Lich King). The vocals sounded a bit echoy, but I think that is what the vocal effect they were going for. Their sound was a bit tig'hter than Possessor, and seemed more like controlled chaos. They had a more laid back and comic feel to them, especially with their song content (songs about sci fi/fantasy stuff like Game of Thrones, Robocop, and Predator) and between song banter ( 'That guy at the merch table who thought I was looking in the money box and didn't think I saw you lift that patch!') were rather amusing. The sound, I think because of the venue's speakers, was a bit muddy, but overall decent. The frontman seemed a bit annoyed at some points, and I don't know if it was cause people were tired and were slow at starting (and maintaining pits), or if it was part of his stage persona.
Both bands had pits going on during most of their songs, which remarkably did not interrupt any of the musicians that were less than 5 feet from the pit (Like Cafe 611). The crowd was pretty excited and receptive for both bands, I couldn't tell which was more popular, but I also was pretty tired by the time Lich King came on.
Overall a fun time, at both concerts. I think the Lich King show had better music, but both shows were fun and relatively inexpensive. A pretty fun time out.
On the way back to the car, we saw a guy on the ground, and 2 cruisers inspecting what was going on. It looked like some drunk and/or homeless guy, but we quickly walked by (ain't no one got time fo' dat).
Photos:
Possessor
Lich King
Setlists:
Possessor (10:54-11:43)
- ?
- ? (something with HELL in the title)
- Taste the Blade
- City Built With Skulls
- Reaper of Death
- Champions of Chaos
- Metal Knights (Nasty Savage cover)
- Make Them Eat Metal
- Battle Cry
- Metal Meltdown
Lich King (12:05- 12:45)
- (Unknown Intro)
- Attack of the Wrath of the War of the Death of the Strike of the Sword of the Blood of the Beast
- ED-209
- Predator
- A Storm of Swords
- Axe Cop
- ?
- We Came to Conquer
- Black Metal Sucks
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