Octiger

Octiger

It’s a night of hard-rock and metal, fresh new bands and a convergence of talent. Annabell’s is packed with Akron music fans getting their first glimpses of two brand new amalgamations of the Akron music scene: Duunes and Octiger, with the increasingly popular Megachurch sandwiched between them.

Duunes are up first, priming the crowd with ear-splitting distortions before diving into their brand of aggressive rock. The riffs go from funky to metal, and their range keeps it interesting. The Duunes are made up of ex-members of Sofa King Killers, Six-Parts Seven, Hell’s Information and Beast. It’s only their third show, but their sound was solid.

Band member James “Matt” Haas said their music is a product of “too much practice,”

“I don’t get out of the house much,” he said. “And when I do, it’s for practice.” Drummer Brad Thorla is pleased with the crowd turnout.

“This is great man, I wasn’t expecting this.” The crowd was equally receptive, as the Duunes left the stage with booming cheers from anxious fans.

The stand-out band Megachurch plays next, wearing their Sunday best, setting out to be a religious experience or a gospel for the misguided. Their sound is hard and loud, but tight and very clear. Their bassist, Brian, throws in sound-clips with a tap to his foot-pedal from evangelical sermons, “The Exorcism,” and other famous voices. The music goes right along with it, creating an awesome, hard-rock sound with a message.

“We’re not anti-religion or anything, we’re just kind of anti-hypocrisy I guess,” Brian says. It’s a different kind of band, hard to define even for its own members. “Basically it’s two basses and drums, and it’s really loud.” Brian says.

But it’s more than that. It’s teeth-grinding, smoother-than-metal, hardcore romp of biblical proportions, producing a greater diversity of sound than should naturally come out of two bass guitars and a drum set.

They do most of their songwriting as a collaborative effort, by messing around at practice and letting the music write itself. Their cohesion and their ability to play off of one another all comes down to trust.

“If you don’t trust your band mates or if there’s a clash of egos it’ll send you into a downward spiral. That can be the death of a band,” Brian says. “We just don’t have that.”

Last up is Octiger in their “first public display of affection,” as they call it. Only their second show, Octiger produces eardrum-shattering metal for the Annabell’s crowd, packed like sardines in the basement. Made up of ex-members from Interfuse, National Suicide Day and Concordia Discors, the band is unmistakably metal. With two drummers and two bassists, along with the slashing, gnashing, grinding lead guitar and screaming vocals, Octiger leaves its brutal mark on Akron’s metal scene.

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