Tag Archives: black cobra

Sunday: The Sword @ Outland

Gonna be a heavy-ass weekend in Columbus. Start off with with the sludgy/stoner/’70s-rock Saviours at Ace of Cups on Saturday night (w/ Ramming Speed, Charlie Hustle, and Yeti) and follow it up with the head-bashing triple bill of The Sword, Black Cobra and Mount Carmel at Outland on Liberty on Sunday. Both of these shows are the ONLY Ohio shows on these individual tour itineraries. Take that Cleveland and Cincinnati!

The Sword’s 2010 release, Warp Riders, is an unironic slab of monolithic Sabbath-y riffs as interpreted by a Texas band with early ZZ Top flowing in their bloodstream. At least that’s the way I hear it. This is The Sword’s first appearance in Columbus since a sold-out January 2009 date at the Ravari Room. The Sword is on tour with Kyuss Lives (too bad we couldn’t get THAT bill here) and doing Columbus as a one-off. Not to be outdone, Black Cobra’s latest, Invernal, sounds like Ministry without the industrial noises. Pretty hardcore and in-yer-muthafuckin-face if you ask me (did you?).

Tickets for The Sword show are $15 at the door.

Thursday @ The Summit: Pelican / Black Cobra / Disappear / Brainbow

I always find instrumental rock hard to describe. If Sunny Day Real Estate’s Jeremy Enigk fronted Pelican, I’d say their style lends itself to the emo genre. Likewise, if the Deftones Chino Moreno lent his screaming pipes to this four piece, I’d be inclined to call them a post-metal band (or something like that). It wasn’t until track 7 (“Final Breath”) of Pelican’s latest album, What We All Come to Need, that everything fell into place for me and I was finally able to categorize Pelican’s music (at least in my own head).

Featuring guest vocals by Allen Epley (Shiner, The Life and Times), “Final Breath” swims in the same alternative space/rock pool as the since-departed Failure did back in the mid-to-late ’90s. I have a feeling that if Epley or Ken Andrews (Failure) fronted Pelican full time, they’d quickly become one of my favorite bands.

Pelican’s one and only Ohio show takes place Thursday night in Columbus at The Summit. But wait, there’s more. For $13 not only do you get a performance by Pelican, but we’ll throw in sets by metal kids Black Cobra, the post-hardcore Boston band Disappearer, and Columbus’s very own favorite instrumental band Brainbow. You won’t find a better deal in town on Thursday night.

Set-times:
Brainbow – 9:30
Disappear – 10:15
Black Cobra – 11
Pelican – 12