Primitive Man / Bell Witch at Nine Spices, April 13th 2019

This was my first time at Nine Spices, a nice small venue on the outskirts of Kabukicho. I got there early. Doors opened at 2:30 with a show starting time of 3:00. After paying for my reservation at the front I walked inside and immediately bumped into Dylan Desmond from Bell Witch who said “hi”. He seemed like a really nice person. In contrast to the intensity and somber mood of their music, those guys are chilled, laid back and approachable. I saw the guys from Primitive Man working the merch table from the very beginning, patiently dealing with some of the awkward cheesiness of a few of the patrons (in one exchange they were asked where were they from and if there was weed in their hometown). Despite this sort of giddy exchanges, when they walk onto that stage they mean business and they proved it that night.

The first band on the bill was Coffins, the main reason I got there early. The organizers did a very smart thing and spread the acts throughout the day not necessarily in the billing order. There were nine bands total and the three main acts, Coffins, Bell Witch and Primitive Man played first, in the middle and at the end, respectively. In their 30 minute set Coffins delivered in spades. They might not be AC/DC, but they do have riffs to give to the children. For that brand of death doom metal sound, their music is quite infectious. It grooves without sacrificing ferociousness and darkness. It was a great start to the show.

I got to step out for work and missed the following three bands: Granule, Leecher and She Luv It. Got there on time to find a spot up front for Bell Witch. It was fascinating to see the amount of detail involved in setting up all that’s needed for the performance. Jesse Shreibman, drummer and co-lead vocalist had to make sure in the short amount of time allotted between sets that the effects mixer he uses on stage, the organ bass pedals, mics, that everything around him works properly. Not to mention Desmond, his pedalboard -no exaggeration- is the size of a coffee table. The wait was worth it. They delivered a sublime take on their Mirror Reaper album from a couple of years ago. In about 55 minutes they reproduced the crescendos and dynamics the piece is renowned for. That minimal pounding that slowly builds to an explosion was thoroughly crafted on stage and it was a blast to witness it.

Blackphone666 had the difficult task to follow them and delivered a solid set of noise a la Merzbow with the added gimmick of using literally a black rotary phone as a mic. The lead singer of Enron joined the sole artist on stage and standing just centimeters away from him gave me a renewed appreciation for what he does. Singing like that definitely requires a vast amount of energy. A couple of bands followed and I stepped to the back of the room. Best decision I've ever made. Not to sound stereotypical, but there were plenty of wild karate moves in those pits. Honestly I’ve never seen anything like it. After Horsehead Nebula and Kruelty it was time for the evening’s headliner.

The imposing figures of Ethan McCarthy and Jonathan Campos on guitar and bass, along with drummer Joe Linden, walked on stage and for the next 50 minutes a pummeling cascade of sound ensued. The two American bands on the bill are prime examples of minimalistic doom metal but they have completely different approaches. While Bell Witch engages in the more traditional and therefore pathos inducing gradual increase that reaches to a climax, Primitive Man goes for a more cerebral approach. They will go from slow to blast speed fast without any transition to speak of. They’ll stay at one speed for a couple of bars and then switch suddenly to a different one bypassing any kind of build up imaginable, deconstructing the metal cliches to their primal level, honoring their name. Theirs it’s true unapologetic avant grade metal and it was the perfect ending for an event covering some of the best of what doom metal has to offer.

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