This is an absolute first for Punkalovich. Despite there being a few shows in Tel Aviv, including friends Almunim Metim, NEAT and Mondo Gecko, I have traveled to Jerusalem to the underground basement known as Strauss. Situated in the very Haredi area of Zichron Moshe/Geula in Jerusalem, this venue is the absolute opposite of its surrounding; a special place where punks come to enjoy cheap beer and noisy music. Tonight, it is the amazing DUST and MooM who have brought me over to the holy city.
Rainbow Cobra
Starting close to 11pm, first band Rainbow Cobra get under way. I was previously unfamiliar with the band but turns out that it is another band involving crazy Juan (Shchurdistan/Dilema/Bat Hayam HaKtana/etc..) on guitar/back up vocals and (South African) Rob (Marmara Streisand) on drums.
With Eran on vocals and Daniella (ex-Mitan vocalist) on bass, the music is pretty much in the same lines as some of Juan's previous bands, playing pretty noisy crust. His guitar skills and evil vocals have always been the best things about everything he's been in and that stays the same with Rainbow Cobra. His riffs flip in between old school thrash and death metal, even sometimes throwing in some classic soloing. As impressive as that is, it tends to feel let down by Eran's vocals which are mostly repetitive shouting that don't always compliment the musical style. Things get more interesting when Juan and Eran do dual vocals. The songs come across more brutal and take me back to when dual vocals/2 vocalists was quite the trend in the late 90s/early 00s. Eran is at least quite a character to witness but his vocals alone just don't impress me.
All round, there seemed to be a few mistakes here and there which they at least laughed off and flowed with, which is better and more professional than stopping and starting again. For someone who seems to have been drumming for a long time, Rob's drumming is still pretty minimal. When it comes to playing grooves, their effectiveness tends to get lost and fills in general come off as weak. But I guess this is what punk was always meant to be; energy over skill. Besides Juan's aforementioned talents, there still isn't really anything in the performance or the songs that make Rainbow Cobra really stand out.
2/5
MooM
Ever since I first saw them some time back, I fell in love with MooM. They play a mixture of crusty powerviolence and sludge a la EYEHATEGOD. The EP (see review) is everything one hopes in an EP of this style; short with both fast parts and slow breakdowns and just extremely heavy. Whereas the EP, recorded originally as a demo, has a raw roughness about it, in a live setting with good enough sound, the band sound so tight that it's unbelievable.
I didn't really make notes throughout the set because I just wanted to enjoy them. Although I've seen them before, this is the smallest setting I've seen them in and managed to get myself right in front of them. This is how MooM need to be viewed; right up close. Every single little movement every member of the band makes is an important and magical experience. The way Sima (vocals) screams with possibly even more gusto than she does in Not On Tour, Gad's (bass) antics as he vigorously plays and how his face goes all demonic as he growls, Ezra's (guitar) cool demeanour and Heshbon's (drums) flailing yet totally rhythmical arms all make MooM's live performance one of the most exciting I've ever seen. I found myself grinning from ear to ear and trying to stop myself from punching anyone or breaking anything. It might be difficult to tell songs apart at the moment but that will change with time.
Obviously, this style is not everyone's taste, but being someone who appreciates the likes of EYEHATEGOD, DOOM and more beatdown bands like Xibalba, MooM give me the hit I need. They're basically the nearest thing Israel has to a beatdown and maybe even the nearest thing Israel has to a tight powerviolence band.
5/5
Side note: After MooM, I decided to go for a walk to try and find somewhere open to just buy a soft drink or something. Not only did I not find anything nearby open, but the streets were an absolute mess. The large trash cans had been set on fire and turned over with rubbish flying all over the place. There were fire engines and also quite a few police vans present. Turns out, this was a violent protest by the Haredi community in response to the death of a baby, allegedly shaken by a carer/nanny, whom the community did not wish to have an autopsy that the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court had ordered. It's all a bit crazy, but it's interesting to know that this sort of stuff happens over things like this.
DUST
I have probably said this enough times on this blog, but I frickin' love DUST, I do. They may have been playing the same set of songs for quite some time, bar a few new ones which I still haven't quite gelled with yet, but luckily the majority are songs that I am more than happy to hear and go crazy to time and time again.
The tracks from their first record, all of which they play tonight, still get me super pumped. Numb still has one of my favourite intros; melodic and a little tribal, giving it quite an epic feel, before smashing into hardcore groove and the shouting of "WAAAAKE THE FUCK UP!" As well as songs like Midas Touch, Slipping Away and PMA bringing out the hardcore kid in me, currently unreleased but already live staples such as Plastic, Role Model and the (usually) set closer Sick and Tired sound as awesome as ever, even in this tiny place. Once again, frontman Eyva was happy enough to let me do that final line of Sick and Tired. Don't really know how it sounded, but I always have fun shouting it.
Dust take after bands like John Coffey and even The Bronx, in some ways; having that hardcore energy and PMA but experimenting with more stoner rock-like riffs and grooves and different time signatures. Most hardcore in Israel is along the lines of straight up hardcore punk or border on metalcore with low toned "chugs", but DUST take all their influences and make hardcore that's a whole lot more interesting.
Ofek (guitar), Guy (bass) and Ran (drums) are all incredibly competent musicians and consistently tight. Evya does have a strong voice but he tends to do the same thing a lot. I'm only starting to notice this after about 2 years of seeing and listening to them. As much as I still like his vocals, I guess I would just love to hear him suddenly try some melody or use some more rhythmical/rap-like delivery. Unfortunately, he is also one of those many frontmen who will walk up and down looking at the floor for most part of the show. He does interact with the crowd at times, which is more than some, but it's maybe something that he and other vocalists (including myself) need to pay attention to.
A DUST debut album is meant to happen soon and I for one can't wait for it. Although some of the new stuff I hear in shows get a bit lost on me, I am interested in any other tracks they might have up their sleeves.
5/5
DUST
03 (Efes Shalosh)
Dam Al Zona
Sick Society
Tonight, I come to Tachles Bar in south Tel Aviv for a night of some of Israel's up and coming hardcore bands, including a band I haven't seen or even heard of before.
Sick Society
First up is fairly new thrash influenced band, Sick Society. I've seen them at least a couple of times before but wasn't really into it. The last time that I remember was at the Zimmer and the whole set was a bit of a mess. Their drummer, Andrey, just wasn't on point; unable to keep tempo and sloppy fills which thus made everything sound very mediocre. By tonight's performance, the band has certainly done some hard work. Andrey's playing is tight, showcasing some impressive blast beats, and the sound over all is better than before.
They might not be doing anything new but there are parts that make me nod my head and other parts that get a lot of the fans tonight going berserk. Songs like All Nazis Are Bastards and Black Penguin Society are more in the vein of simple street/crust punk, making them sound like many of the other Russian/Israeli bands out here. Other songs such as crowd favourite, The Slaughter, has a more crossover backbone and sounds especially impressive tonight.
Guitarist, Johnny, plays some really old school style solos which, when he gets them perfect, fit really well and help them stand out a little bit more. Frontman, Alon, looking as thrash as possible, might not have anything unique about his vocal style or presence, but he loves the music and he loves the crowd. He shows that by crowd surfing, managing to return to the stage just in time to continue the song. He also brought a bit of fun to the party at the very beginning by wearing a Lucha Libre mask, but that quickly lost its charm, as it pretty much always does.
My views on Sick Society have changed slightly and I definitely enjoyed them more tonight than before, they're just not interesting enough right now, although newer songs, The Dancing Monkey and "The Last Song", do show potential and progress.
3/5
Dam Al Zona
Here's the band I'd never heard of before. Dam Al Zona (lit. Blood On A Whore), are a four piece from Tel Aviv who simply play some crazy shit. They look like they should be playing old school death metal but, instead, have that crust/early hardcore punk sound. The songs seem to be mostly in Hebrew, and due to live vocals for this sort of stuff being generally quite unclear, I couldn't tell you much about what they were talking about, but the songs are short, fast and chaotic.
Frontman, Yuval, brings some hardcore punk ethos to the performance. He verges on the line of GG Allin, stripping off to his underwear, banging his head with the mic and even letting crowd members kick him and jump on him while he writhes about on the floor covered in (what I hope was) beer. Sometimes, the time keeping on the whole wasn't also kept in check, but it was certainly an energetic live performance worth seeing.
3/5
03
I've written a bit about 03 (Efes Shalosh) before. They're one of those bands that I've grown to like more and more over time. Especially since taking on guitarist Lemmy (Sintax), the whole stage performance and even the sound are somehow both much tougher.
Frontman Jenia has always been consistent. He has sung for both Instinct and Brutal Assault (maybe even others) and his vocal style hasn't changed. Luckily, 03 are musically more metal than the previous bands and thus doesn't just sound like a carbon copy of either one of them. He moves about the floor space, trying to get crowd members riled up and ready to move, which always helps in a performance.
No Racism is currently the band's stand out track, with cool grooves and some great "chugs" in the middle. They have more songs in their set than before and the newer ones sound even tougher. Comparisons to bands like Terror and Death Before Dishonour are obvious, although I'm eagerly awaiting the band's upcoming album to hear what else they have to offer.
4/5
DUST
Dust! How many frickin' times have I seen Dust now? I can't even count. Over the last few months, I've must have seen them at least once a week (I just didn't bother writing about it.) Yet another band who are meant to be releasing an album soon, these guys and their mix of unconventional stoner time signatures and hardcore aggression just gets me every time. They still practically do the same set over and over again, which, for a band who has to have been around now for at least 2 years already, you'd think would have expanded a little bit more. There are some new songs, but they're harder to get into. I'm ok with odd time signatures but when a song doesn't really settle into a groove, it's hard to follow and enjoy it. That's the feeling I get with some of the newer songs. That being said, I can't wait to hear the new album.
4.5/5
All photos by Sharon Ronen
MooM is a brand new band featuring Sima on vocals (Not On Tour), Ez Ra on guitar (The Orions), Gad on bass (has probably been in bands I don't know) and Heshbon on drums (Zaga Zaga). I first saw these guys at a show at Tel Aviv's central bus station and I was absolutely gobsmacked! Despite having a female singer from a pop punk band and a guitarist from a surf band, MooM play fast paced crust/sludge a la EYEHATEGOD. Having only 4 songs and lasting 4:45 minutes, this First EP still probably isn't the shortest EP or even album ever released but it has to come close.
As a fan of bands like EYEHATEGOD and Napalm Death, this band feed that love of dirty riffs, super speed and venomous vocals. Sima's vocals give a slightly more punk edge and actually remind me of other Israeli band MESS. The backing vocals (I think done by Gad) add a hint of death metal/grindcore to the mix. With the added factor that this is a purely live recording, the whole thing just sounds raw and brain meltingly demonic.
I wish this wan't just a 4 track EP and am looking forward to at least 10 minutes more of this kind of stuff from them. I guess seeing them live will have to do for the time being.
For fans of EYEHATEGOD, DOOM and Extreme Noise Terror.
5/5
