Loverboy's hit single "Working For The Weekend" was blasting out of the stereo at Baltimore's dive-club the Ottobar when someone from somewhere in the audience caterwauled, "The 'Hour' is upon us! The Darkest Hour."
Five scrawny, scruffy-faced guys, who looked more like computer technicians than D.C.'s most promising death metal band, Darkest Hour, mounted the 20-foot wide stage. Jump starting the Ottobar crowd into a frenzied pit of kung-fu kicks and two-stepping Slayer fans, Darkest Hour pummeled away at "The Sadist Nation" the first track on 2003's "Hidden Hands of a Sadist Nation."
John Henry's guttural growls cut through the thick smoke and beer-stained chaos on the floor while the Twiggy look-alike Ryan Parrish assaulted his drums. The dueling guitars of Mike Schleibaum and Fred Ziomek enticed the crowd away from thrashing toward finger pointing and gawking with the nonsensical metal noodlings and dance steps of both six-string slingers and bassist Billups Allen.
After this pummeling, the entire show moved to the floor for Avail, the headlining band. Avail has been churning out powerful punk-hardcore anthems for the better part of 10 years. Always known for putting 110 percent into live shows, the band never disappoints, and Sunday, Sept. 28 was no exception.
Avail cut through its tracks, including "Scuffle Town," "Sanctuary," and "August," off of its final Lookout record "Over the James," as well as older classics "Model" and "Simple Song" off of earlier records "Dixie" and "4 a.m. Friday," respectively. Since each track is so unique in style, the fans reactions varied from one polar end to the other. On tracks like "S.R.O." the pit ranged from people finger pointing to muscle-bound gorillas throwing down, while mellower tracks like "Tuesday," had people dancing around happily.
Proving to be even more impressive than the fans' reactions to these songs, these five middle-aged men from Richmond, Va. - Gwomper!, Tim Barry, Joe Banks, Erik Larson and Beau Beau - put the kids in the crowd to shame. Not only did they out-energize every single person, but they did it with finesse uncharacteristic of bands that age, except Sick Of It All.
For those who missed the show, Avail will be back in D.C. area in the near future. Anyone who is new town and wants to see an amazing show, or any old fans that haven't seen a gig in years, should catch Avail and be prepared to rock out.
