Not even Barney Simon is as evil as Architecture of Aggression
by: Captain Awesome

By Ravensview

February the 26^th 7PM sees the mission to the Architecture of Aggression CD launch begin in the Ravens Korean made sedan. With much pre-emptive hype and excitement off we zoom down the pot holed highway and into the offerings of the evening before us.

Upon entering the hallowed land of Pretoria, an overwhelming sense familiar to all band worshippers and followers descends us. Where the heck are we and where is the venue??! Needless to say being part of a normal media team would have made me panic. But having Captain Awesome on your side just makes you kind of go… no problem. Fast forward an hour and stopping at the most impossibly upper crust restaurant you can find. Cappie Awesome demonstrates just how he earned his nickname by finding the only Metalhead in a 100km radius. And so we happen upon the lovely lady bass player of the band Blood of Horus who kindly directs us to where we need to be. Big credit goes out at this point to Captain Obvious for making out and taking in everything the hyper young miss said! Respect to you sir…obviously!

Soon we arrive at the Full Moon Alternative Lounge and greeted with…practically no parking in site. Normally this would be seen in a bad light but come on, at a CD launch what a winner!!! Usually the venue I am sure is of decent size with plenty space…but tonight it resembles a sardine can packed to the brim. The bar was hard to reach but the service forth coming once you caught the bar persons attention. To this reviewer this is the most critical point of any review as metal cannot go down smoothly without a beverage in hand. Good turnout, great attitudes and for the first time I ever witnessed…no underage posers either!

Regrettably due to our extended tour through Pretoria we missed one of my top local bands live performance. The incomparable Rhutz were first to hit the stage and I believe we missed it by mere minutes. Our sincere apologies gents…though I did revel in actually meeting some of the guys in the…wait for it…wait for it…V.I.P. area! Thank you for setting the MSN team up right Architecture of Aggression’s manager: Genevieve Watkins and inviting us to your awesome event! Free stickers, booze, cold drinks on offer in the V.I.P. section…free stuff always awesome! Yay!

First band we managed to see taking the stage was the Make Some Noise stalwart…Bile of Man! Certainly the most dangerous band I have seen to date by far…the vocalist came stalking by me with 9inch nailed arm guards. Darn nearly impaling me and carrying me off with him to the stage. Taking the stage the Bile of Man crew point out the obviousness’s of the evening…PTA boys are f***ing huge and the stage a tad too small. Once the evil Bile launched into their set like a primed and p***ed off beast, one cannot ignore the talent on the instruments before us…holy sheeshkabab! Blistering solos and thundering drums and other clichés inserted here…let it be known this is not my favorite genre of music. But credit due where credit is due… the vocalist owns the most demonic expression ever seen since… erm… since… … Since Steve Hoffmeyer was interviewed by You magazine and he threw his tea in the editor’s face!

Definitely enjoyable for fans of the extreme and for a younger audience looking for that mythical shock rock tactic mixed with…dare I even mention it…satanic element?? Good performance and not for the weak of heart!

And on we move to the heroes of the day (blatant Metallica copyright infringement! :-0) AOA or Architecture of Aggression took the more creative approach, to my taste personally of course, and instead of taking the stages and claiming heads of the bat, we are introduced to guest speaker Steve J. Hurlin, the author of the newly released “Courage to Doubt “book, where he seized the moment to promote his book and enlighten all to the concept of freedom from religion being the main theme of the evening.

 “Courage to Doubt is a brave, eloquent and well-reasoned plea for the freedom of conscience and the drive for knowledge-real, testable, logical knowledge." - Dan Barker, co-president of the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

No matter your thoughts on religion, everyone is entitled to an opinion. But once pushed aside by the thunderous intro to the AOA set with effects and televised imagery…nobody cares anyways! Much in the same extreme vain of the Bile of Man set…it’s for the grind core fans. And if not…it freaking sounded grind core to me in terms of extreme and loudness! Overall the sound being polished and tight and members looking into it every step of the way made for an enjoyable sight to behold. Beers flowing, heads banging and sweat flying in all directions was the order of the day here. Tremendous effort on the part of the band and of the manager as mentioned before.

Before the set was over the MSN team rallied to the V.I.P. lounge to prep for the recorded interview. There not only did I personally get to meet the of higher I.Q. math core giants of Rhutz butted drunk chatted to them at length. Not easy to do once beer number 5 or 6 has slipped down the hatch. Then two Captains( Obvious/Awesome) were challenged to a game of Foosball, the non electric game table. And who would have known we actually have some formidable talent in them. I vote for a MSN league, with the Captains as the ambassadors!

AOA turned out most accommodating and open at the interview and as most veterans in their field are…way funny! Although our favorite mohawked bassist Mr. William Tempest Bishop was harder to track down than Bin Laden, eventually he was found like Sadam and the interview came to full swing. It all came together fantastically with Captain Awesome conducting the interview ad lib. No rehearsals and no hesitation at all on his part made not only for a great interview…but a stunned and admiring team too! Catch their interview on the Make Some Noise TV channel soon.

Gents of AOA and the behind the scenes crew…especially Genevieve Watkins…we salute you for your effort and thank you for the great evening! And just how cool a band are you if you have Granite the Gladiator as your bouncer!!!

P.S. Interesting to note, side by side Granite and Captain Awesome bare a remarkable resemblance?

[Captain Awesome's Last Say: Please note that no Barney Simon's were harmed during the writing of this review. And yes... we used Barney Simon's name in vain to catch your interest. Ha!

But we do support people that support Alternative music so check out his site for updates on the latest on what Barney Simon is up to.]

 For your viewing pleasure below is the tv station with the interview done with Architecture of Aggression. The interview is in Episode 1.

Drop us some comments and go check out some more content on the Dead Phoenix Underground show...

For Flash version of above video please click this link

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Chief Rebel Angel (19 Apr 2010 02:22 PM) AOA are soft and skinny....

CaptainAwesome (23 Mar 2010 10:52 PM) Ravens view, you owe me another Breakfast Burger for having the first ever episode of Dead Phoenix Underground on your review!!! You rock awesome moments of happy lunch days :D

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