HIGH BIAS -- Orange Goblin, Alabama Thunderpussy -- live concert review

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Live Concert Review ORANGE GOBLIN/ALABAMA THUNDERPUSSY
@Emo's, Austin, TX
May 10, 2002
Every once in a while, a sane person feels the need to get out there in the clubs and rock. Not sit back and appreciate the innovation going on in front of you, not be present during a rare live appearance in your home town by a mega-star, but just plain ol' balls-out, eardrum-munching, adrenaline-shredding rock out. If that's what you want, this stage-pounding heavy rock tour was the perfect wish fulfillment. London's Orange Goblin and Virginia's Alabama Thunderpussy each offer their own takes on riff-heavy, roar-happy metal, but the two bands sounded remarkably right together.

After desultory sets by NYC no wave combos the Seconds and the Ex-Models (what, exactly, were they doing on the bill?), Alabama Thunderpussy took the stage for a rousing set of its Southern-fried, rocket-fueled whiskey metal. Pushing a new album entitled Staring At the Divine, the dynamic quintet came out pumped and never let off the throttle. Tracks from the new record like "Motor-Ready" and "Ol' Unfaithful" sounded mighty fine, though the crowd yelled the loudest for older tunes like "Ambition" and "Dryspell." The band's unflagging energy and charismatic frontman Johnny Throckmorton's good-natured intensity earned the group an encore; ATP responded with a pulverizing cover of the Four Horsemen's "Rockin' Is Ma Business," which only solidified the inherent coolness of both band and song.

Orange Goblin's grinning metal fits pretty squarely between the occult sludge of Black Sabbath and the no-bullshit rock & roll of Mötorhead, so the quintet is a natural powerhouse onstage. Fronted by garrulous, gravelly-voiced giant Ben Ward, the cheesy horror-loving group grabbed hold of its tunes and shot off like a rocket, inviting the audience to hang on for dear life. The band drew most of its set from its new album Coup De Grace (which hasn't been released in the States yet, though the band had copies for sale at the show); snarling pounders like "Getting High On the Bad Times," "Red Web" (which Ward dedicated to Slayer) and "Your World Will Hate This" would fulfill any rocker's daily requirement of metal vitamins and minerals. Older songs like "Solarshifter" and "Quincy the Pig Boy" stood up nicely to the rock & roll onslaught, while "Blue Snow" (from the seminal Time Travelling Blues) took band and audience out in loudly cosmic fashion. Goblin also earned an encore, sharing it with Alabama Thunderpussy by inviting the good ol' boys onstage to contribute backup shouting to a cover of the Misfits' "We Bite." It was a moment of friendly solidarity between bands and audience that served as an appropriate climax for a sweaty evening of good-time rockin' and rollin'. Michael Toland