Conjurer
Last night, Conjurer headlined a "night of post metal" at the Dominion Tavern. They were joined by Pains, Snooze, and Sadness.
Sadly, I left home late and totally missed Pains, who went first. I checked them out on Bandcamp. Modern grindcore, noisy, wall-of-sound type stuff. I think I would've enjoyed them live.
Next was Snooze, a math rock band. I find math rock pretentiously annoying, to be honest. But Snooze was great. They were "mathy" in just the right way. Asymmetry and intricacy at the service of musical narrative, not as ends in themselves. And the boy-next-door vocals added a layer of sincerity I really liked.
The next band was Sadness, a solo studio project by Damián Ojeda. According to Encyclopedia Metallum, Sadness recently started touring as a nine-piece band. In Ottawa, Sadness was comprised of "only" seven people. The Dom's stage is so small, half the band had to be on the floor with the rest of us.
When I discovered Sadness, it was like a revelation. I'm a fan of atmospheric black metal, blackgaze, DSBM, etc., but I'd never heard black metal that sounded as innocent and pure like Sadness. Just listen to "i want to be with you", and you'll see what I mean.
You can tell Sadness live was "Damián and his buddies" rather than a super tight, well-rehearsed group that's been together for a long time. But it was no problem for me. Loved the music all the same.
Conjurer closed the night with an awesome set. Probably the hardest I've ever headbanged in my life. Amazing stage presence. Amazing energy. One great song after another. Loved the tracks they played from Unself (2025), which is my favourite LP of theirs.
But my favourite moment was hearing "Retch" live, almost at the end of the show. It's sooooo sludgy.
