COMBICHRIST

Even though I'm known as The Heavy Metal Thundergod, I've always dwelled just as much into the electronic side of music. From Gary Numan to Front 242, electronic industrial music has always been a big part of my life. The only problem was that the industrial live show was weak compared to the aggressive, brutal metal live show. There have only been a handful of really good Industrial shows in my 27 years in the pit that I could brag about. KMFDM was one of them, so when KMFDM and Combichrist went on tour together, you could damn well be sure that Tgod was on the guest list when they came through NYC. Combichrist has become my favorite Industrial / EBM band, as I am still heavily into the electronic scene as much as always. I was certainly psyched up for this one!! However, once again the premier venue for Industrial shows in NYC, Avalon / Limelight, was seized by the state of New York and shut down and the show never happened.
F**k was I pissed! Luckily, the other premier spot for Gothic / Industrial, that being Albion (former Batcave) is alive and kickin' in the underground and just opened a new room with a stage for shows and Combichrist would play a one night only show there. Faaaawwk yeah!! I contacted Andy LaPlegua, the man who is Combichrist, and got on the guestlist and much, much thanks goes out to him for hookin' me up.

The NYC Gothic / Industrial scene is a whole different world from that of the Metal scene. It's over 18 and the clubs don't even open till 10 or 11 and the shows start in the wee hours of the morning. Albion is amazing. It's got different DJ's in different rooms and the underground Goth crowd was out in full force. Combichrist was supposed to come on at 1 am in the downstairs one. The place was hoppin' and you can't beat the NYC Gothic fashion. It wasn't till after 2 that they finally opened the downstairs and revealed the new room where Combichrist was playing. It was a long wait, but Andy and company would make it well worth it. The room was small and packed with a good NYC crowd. Goth girls dancing in cages. F**k yeah.

Combichrist hit the stage with their new single “Get Your Body Beat” and the place was pandemonium from the beginning. Freakin' nuts! Then they flew into “Today I Woke to the Rain Of Blood”. It was the shiiiiaaattt!!!! Everybody sang the words to every song. “Electrohead” blew out the walls. This was not the boring live Industrial show of the nineties. This was aggressive, sweat and stomp. And I sure was. Crazeeeee!!! I'm up front, jumpin' around and takin' pics and havin' a blast at freakin' 3 in the morning. They did all my favorites from the Everybody Hates You cd. “Enjoy The Abuse”, “Blut Royale”, “Feed Your Anger” were absolutely amazing. The band was equally as aggressive as Andy in the front. They all had bullet-proof vests on and the usual Combichrist warpaint. Shaun F. played the keys from on top of them, jumping like a madman. Joe Letz played the sit down drums and Jon H. the stand up ones and they rattled the roof. The stage crew guy had the endless job of constantly having to pick up and put back their drums as they constanly kicked them and threw them about the stage. Freakin' awesome ass band behind Andy, who mastered the crowd with his stage presence. Aggressive live Industrial like never before. “This Is My Rifle”, “Lying Sack Of Shit”, “Without Emotions”. AWWWWWWWWsome!! Listening to this cd would never be the same again after seeing it performed live. They tore down the brick walls with “Like to Thank My Buddies” and left the stage to a roaring crowd. Then, the crowd began to chant “This Shit…Will Fuck You Up” – “This Shit Will Fuck you Up” and they came back out to completely demolish the place with this song. It was a truly amazing performance. Yeeeeeesssss Sir!!! I hope this is a good sign of things to come. The Industrial NYC scene needs to be lifted from the underground and hopefully Albion will have alot more live shows in the future.

Be sure to check out all the amazing live pics from the show in the Gallery.