08/28 @ Lark Hall, Albany

“As someone who’s not traditionally a fan of anything remotely hardcore, Friday night’s bands took me to school, sat me down at a desk, and gave me a rousing presentation on the past, present, and future of the genre.”

The first thing I learned on Friday night was that Flatwounds are about to take over the world.

No, seriously, I mean it. Lead singer Colin O’Hare took the stage with his band, took one look at the hesitant crowd, and declared, “I want you to be so close [to the stage] that I can grab your scalp.” Several eager fans took to the front, including some other local musicians — a sign I was at the best show of the night — and stood at the ready to mosh, headbang, and overall get into the grungy, fast, calloused tracks that Flatwounds would be throwing down. While many would remain at the back throughout the next 30 minutes, many more would walk or run up to the pit, or at least inch their way closer to the sound of this much harsher version of classic grunge.

In between their tour opening for Lip Critic, their appearance at the third weekend of Milwaukee’s Summerfest, and now their upcoming East Coast tour, they’d managed a spare night to come home to Lark Hall and open for ‘90s legends Helmet alongside Spirit In The Room. They were energetic, ambitious, and confident, owning every yell, hit, and chord without shoving it down everyone’s throats. They created a unique dynamic on their side of the hardcore spectrum where their songs, though loud and filled with sharp, intriguing edges thanks to Matt Degnan on guitar, don’t force themselves on you. Their sound attracts you, lures you in, and catches you thrashing around or at least jumping up and down before you even realize your feet have left the ground.

Ending with one of their bigger hits, “Drenched,” and one of their newer tracks, “Inertia,” they had turned what was once a reluctant crowd into a room thrumming with energy and anticipation. If approval from Lip Critic and Helmet aren’t clear enough for you, it’s pretty obvious that their predecessors are encouraging the new shape that their taking rock and grunge. I was severely disappointed to see their set come to an end.

If the first thing I learned was about Flatwounds’ impending dominance, then the second thing I learned was that trances might be real. As Spirit In The Room wound through their set, deftly transitioning between dark melodies and tightly played breakouts of pure metal, lead singer Dennis Sanders enchanted the crowd with his haunting persona. Dressed in all black pants, collared jacket, gloves, and sunglasses, accented by silver necklaces and bracelets, he appeared like a punk vampire that was both cooler and more eerie than anything they came up with on all seven seasons of True Blood (at least, I think so; I haven’t actually watched it).

While their attraction was different than that of the rambunctious Flatwounds, I looked around and realized that Spirit In The Room had almost the entire crowd nodding their heads in unison with one another to the beat. While this isn’t entirely unexpected, it’s a bit of a weird thing to watch when you take yourself out of the scene for a moment — everyone truly looks possessed. Yet, I was possessed, too. I was entranced by Sanders’ angular motions as he sang darkly-tuned verses, then bent over to scream into the mic, then turned around with his back to the audience as he sang, only to come back grimacing and growling at the crowd. It was more nuanced than just a metal or just a rock set; the bass from Olivia Sanders sent chills through the room, while Nick Willman sped and slowed the beat to allow for Dennis to pick and choose his moments with the crowd.

Soon, of course, the trance broke when the band left the stage, now replaced by pure expectation and excitement. The third thing I learned on Friday? Helmet is very much still cool with the kids. While much of the crowd was of the age that indicates they were teens or early 20s when Helmet was really big, there were plenty of college-age students and even younger adults there, sporting Helmet t-shirts, hats, and bags. Naturally, they began with “Unsung,” because nothing both hypes up and teases a crowd like a distinctly recognizable, 40-second instrumental opening. Admittedly, I’m no Helmet fanatic, but even I knew what song they had begun and a huge smile crossed my face. It’s a certified banger.

I spent the set in awe of Page Hamilton’s guitar playing, staring in rapture as he nailed every note, sometimes with relentless speed, all while delivering vocals that were pretty damn strong for being nearly 40 years into this endeavor. It didn’t matter if he didn’t have the same energy that O’Hare had brought an hour and a half ago with Flatwounds; his stage presence was made up of his own love for the music, evident in his expert playing, and the clear reverence the audience had for him.

For an hour, they covered their entire discography, going all the way back to 1991 with Strap It On’s “Blacktop” and as recent as 2023 with tracks like Left’s “Gun Fluf.” And, tracking it all, just impressive as Hamilton, was drummer Kyle Stevenson, putting on one hell of a show. His movements were large, drawing your eye to the back of the stage, but it wasn’t a grab for attention. Stevenson was deeply locked in, pressing the tempo in a way that ensured no one could accuse the band of slowing down in these later years, lest they be met with shock and indignation. Sure, they weren’t jumping off the stage, but most of the crowd wasn’t either. Rather, it was a true appreciation for these rock legends who could still play their songs like they recorded them yesterday. In fact, maybe even cleaner. The space between the notes where a reprieve is quickly offered, then snatched away is an impressive tool in creating tension and desire in the audience, and it was done flawlessly.

As someone who’s not traditionally a fan of anything remotely hardcore, Friday night’s bands took me to school, sat me down at a desk, and gave me a rousing presentation on the past, present, and future of the genre, and anything else that falls close to its Venn diagram. I’ve got a long way to go before I can even think about calling myself a student of the game, but these guys all made me want to go out and start studying up.

Disclaimer: due to an unforeseen camera issue, some of the images below have an unintended “defect” overlaid on them. Regardless, they still capture the essence of an epic show.