by RamonLP4

Let me just say that there is nothing better than walking into Rudyard’s and hearing Slayer’s “South of Heaven” blasting. Sweet!

Sure I missed Keno Sims (who had filled in the slot vacated by the Talk Sick Brats) but watching Krullur set up was kind of its own entertainment. The drum kit was this huge monstrous beast of cherry-red toms rigged with a crazy array of drum triggers. The microphone stands were chains - I shit you not! And, behind them, they unfurled a huge banner with the band’s name on it. The oddest things about Krullur was how bad the drums and bass sounded by themselves. The bass tone was thin and midrange-y and the drums sounded flat acoustically then almost metallic when blasted through the PA via the drum triggers. Yet, despite that, once the band started-up, it sounded pretty awesome. Perhaps the guitar just filled enough of the frequencies where the rest of the band just had to lay off the low end but whatever the case, it worked pretty damn well. Flailing solos, fists raised in the Dio devil sign, and a whole lot of beer flying - what more could you ask for? Krullur is a band who clearly has mastered its craft. Hell, they’ve been doing this for two decades!  They can drop a crazy-ass solo, crunch a heavy riff, and growl into the microphone with the best of them and at the same time aren’t ashamed to just have a good time with the crowd who they had whipped into a frenzy.  Sure a glass of beer may break on the floor or maybe you get a nasty bruise but that’s all right; this isn’t church after all, it’s metal!  Let the beer and riffs flow!

After Krullur, I was told that HRA had also canceled their appearance. No explanation was given and I half expected this to be a short night but then it became apparent that PLF was setting up on stage. Holy Shit!

I don’t know about you guys but I think PLF are one of Houston’s most ass-kicking grind bands. I hadn’t actually seen them in a while and what is really cool about their current set-up is that they are just a duo and, man, are they ever punishing. The set-up is awesome, Davel Callier places a bass amp and a guitar amp at either end of the stage and splits his signal between them - one handles the low end and the other the mid and high range. The result is that I didn’t miss the bass guitar at all - it was just this punishing barrage of sound that was indescribably brutal. And then Frank Faerman drums!!! Oh man that guy is a force of nature! Even before the microphones were positioned, his kit sounded massive and amazing. That guy has this ability to not just be able to beat the crap out of his kit but also play with finesse in his drumming – it’s a quality you can’t overlook. It only goes to prove that you don’t need a huge kit to sound amazing!

Personally, I’d love to see a show of PLF and Golden Axe. With Golden Axe’s more metal leanings and PLF’s grind style, I’d expect that the two would create a powerful singularity that would cause a black hole to appear taking the universe with it. That would be awesome!

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