By Delia Macpherson, Staff Contributor
Your ears are ringing, your head is banging. You’ve just had a great view of the lead singer’s crotch as he leaned forward into the crowd screaming unknown lyrics into a mic that isn’t turned up high enough. You’re front row, centre at the Priestess concert.
Priestess performed on Saturday, Nov. 7 at The Paragon Theatre in Halifax. Cover was $15 and the venue was about half full.
The type of music Priestess play is tricky to define. It’s not heavy metal. It’s not mosh-pit music. It is heavier than The Trews or Billy Talent, which are both considered rock bands. Yet Priestess is still a rock n’ roll band through and through. Because of the uncertainty of genre, the audience at the show included two groups: the strong, silent, head nodding type, and the drunk, joker, mosher, hair-swinging type.
The Montreal band members are on tour promoting their new album titled Prior to the Fire. Their newer music has the same dirty rock ‘n’ roll sound as their former albums, though a bit heavier.
You may know Priestess by the single “Lay Down”, which is included in Guitar Hero 3. The band is made up of four guys. They wouldn’t quite make People Magazine’s 100 most beautiful list, but they could make it to Rolling Stones 100 best bands.
Priestess delivered an incredibly good performance. The band members’ energy was high and the instruments sounded great.
Opening for Priestess first was East Coast band Motorleague. They were mediocre at best and seemed a bit too into themselves for the sound they were producing. The second band, Trigger Effect, also from Montreal, were much more entertaining. They played heavy, head banging riffs. They were all in tight, low rise jeans and three of the four members were shirtless by the second song of their set.
The boys in Priestess were more simply dressed. Garbed in jeans, sneakers and rock ‘n’ roll T-shirts with hair no shorter than shoulder length. The bass and lead guitar players had hair to their bellybuttons and thrashed it about on stage. The one complaint anyone seemed to have about the night was that the microphone wasn’t turned up enough.
Why, oh why does almost every rock band on the face of the earth have their vocal mics turned down too low? The singing sounded as clear and tight as the CD recordings, at least what could be heard of it.
They kicked their set off with “Firebird”, the fourth track on the new album, soon followed by my personal new favourites “Gem” and “Murphy’s Law”. They closed the night with their single off the new album “We Ride Tonight”.
On the album you can find heavy, fast-paced drum solos, which are complimentary and slightly offbeat, and really interesting guitarmonies, especially on “Gem”. The track pumps thick bass through you, and has powerful vocals bellowing themes about death, birth and escaping from something. You’ll find a mix of fast paced and slower paced music that remains true to what rock n’ roll is about.
Prior to the Fire is refreshingly good rock ‘n’ roll music. It’s loud, in your face and it shows talent.
The boys in the band seemed modest and focused on their music throughout the night. Their sound has obvious stoner-rock influences, but it’s still as sweet sounding as Zeppelin, with high-pitched guitar riffs. Check out the new, killer album Prior to the Fire.
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