Landmine Marathon, Salome & Batillus played Cake Shop, NYC (pics & video)

July 16, 2010

words by BBG, photos by Chris La Putt

Landmine Marathon

Salome, from northern Virginia, is a doom-metal band with no bass player: one of the few… At Union Pool on Tuesday night, early in the band’s second song “Master Failure” [vocalist] Kat brought the microphone to her face with both hands, enveloped two small fists around it and began a deep, dreadful growl, altering the tone with the shape of her mouth, something like yawwheeawhhhheee… It was more an earth sound than a body sound; the imagined howl of undersea canyons.

… Before Salome came Landmine Marathon, from Phoenix, dealing out a combination of death-metal and hardcore punk… The band’s music can be rushed and impersonal, with riffing and shifts of tempo predetermined by its genre. But [vocalist Grace] Perry’s real-time reactions to it were extravagant. In “Shadows Fed to Tyrants” she opened her eyes wide and rolled them back in her head, drew her hand across her neck, beat her fists on her collarbone and finally went marauding through the crowd for a few quick turns, pushing and being pushed. She’s magnetic as she re-enacts boiling over, but then leaves her work at the office. Quickly after the last riff, she was smiling, gregarious, normative. – [The New York Times]

The above review comes from the Union Pool show which was the first of two NYC shows in three days for Salome & Landmine Marathon. That show wrecked upper Brooklyn with the assist of Wetnurse on July 13th.

Last night, July 15th, the two marauders destroyed Manhattan, specifically Cake Shop, where they teamed up with Batillus (Cleanteeth unfortunately was forced to cancel due to a funeral). As to be expected, both Salome and Landmine delivered, but I found myself transfixed by Batillus who seems to grow by leaps and bounds every time I see them. The band showcased three new songs, one of which was captured on video which you can watch below. In addition, Batillus was joined by Salome’s Kat on vocals at one point, a special treat which added a touch of grimness to the proceedings.

More pictures and some video from Cake Shop below…