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Bao Le-Huu
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Black Tusk at Will's Pub
THIS LITTLE UNDERGROUND
Black Tusk, Ether Coven, Gillian Carter and Royal Graves at Will’s Pub, Jan. 15
Nothing, it seems, can stop Savannah sludge punks
Black Tusk. After all these years, they’ve hardly tapped the brakes – on their music, their career or any goddamn thing whatsoever. Given their personal history, that’s a remarkable feat of not just stamina but determination.
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Bao Le-Huu
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Black Tusk at Will's Pub
While their contemporaries have flirted with sonic expansion to varying degrees of success, Black Tusk have kept true to their foundational twin cams of
metal and
punk. And their latest burnout through Orlando proved that this ever-gunning group remain the most pedal-down hot rod of the great Georgia metal renaissance of this century.
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Bao Le-Huu
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Black Tusk at Will's Pub
Ft. Lauderdale’s
Ether Coven, on the other hand, keep things heavy in not just their sound but their very mood. Even though they come live with a more assertive step of doom and boom, a wide and pronounced
emotional palette permeates the sludge. And it’s hella bummed out. With songs that are odysseys that travel and devastate, these guys can turn a bout of depression into an epic.
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Bao Le-Huu
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Ether Coven at Will's Pub
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Bao Le-Huu
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Ether Coven at Will's Pub
Good news about Orlando doom-metal band
Royal Graves.
When last I saw them back in 2018 at
Doom on the Patio, the especially heavy edition of the recently departed
Punk on the Patio, they had the right idea but were undercooked. Since then, they’ve crystallized and are
ready to contend. They carry the melodic expanse of post-metal with sonic mass that overwhelms like a smothering moor fog. And it’s a crushing union of forlorn majesty and tonnage.
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Bao Le-Huu
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Royal Graves at Will's Pub
Adopted local skramz band
Gillian Carter rounded out the night with another one of their reliably powerful performances. Though they’ve finally gotten some good notice more recently by
press other than us, it still isn’t commensurate to their worth. Their tempest of torque, scream and explosion is one of the more
dynamic forces in the heavy underground right now.
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Bao Le-Huu
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Gillian Carter at Will's Pub
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Bao Le-Huu
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Gillian Carter at Will's Pub
Follow Bao on Twitter (@baolehuu)
Email Bao: baolehuu@orlandoweekly.com