It had been a while since I had been to a metal show. On Thursday my friends Ian and Dave called to remind me that Nile was playing, so of course I had to go. I like Studio Seven - small, but a nice layout, with the bar upstairs with a full view of the stage. And of course having seen Nile before and knowing from firsthand experience how awesome they are live, I was pretty excited. I hadn't heard any of the other bands who were playing, but Ian had told me about the Taiwanese band Chthonic and I was excited to see them too.

When Bob and I arrived we were pretty late; the concert had already been going strong for a good long while. We met up with Ian, Michelle, and Sarah, and were informed that we really hadn't missed anything. Ian told us that one of the bands had a vocalist who "squealed" instead of "screamed", so we weren't really too bummed about being late. ^_^ Deciding that we really didn't care about seeing anyone but Chthonic and Nile, we decided to go to Busch Gardens and get some food.

Upon our arrival back we darted into the venue for some quality Taiwanese metal. We had misjudged time and unfortunately missed most of Chthonic's set, but what I saw was amazing. Adding a unique flavor to the band is a stringed instrument. I didn't even know what the thing was when I first saw it, but after checking out one of their myspace page I learned it was an oriental two string violin. I appreciate just about any band that does something a little different and unique, but even aside from that, the band was very, very good. I hope they tour the US again - I would definitely like to catch their whole set. And of course there is the humor aspect of seeing them live - the crazy makeup and masks. Yay! ^_^ I always get a kick out of metal bands and their costumes. But definitely check out this band at their Official Page (English) or their Myspace Page.

Back outside to avoid listening to the next band. Not sure who they were, but they weren't worth listening to. Then back inside for a drink before Nile actually started. Bob, Ian and I were upstairs in the bar while Nile was being set up, and we could tell then that the sound was going to be deafening. The sound checks alone were ear-piercing. But we still trooped downstairs to be in the crowd as soon as Nile actually took the stage.

Nile opened with The Blessed Dead, first track from their 2002 CD In Their Darkened Shrines. I love this CD. I love this song. I love hearing this song live. I did NOT love instantly feeling my hearing deadening. And I mean instantly. I have been to tons of metal shows, shows that have left my ears ringing for days, and this felt easily twice as loud as any show I had ever seen. I made it through about three quarters of the song, but when I could hear the ringing in my left ear over the music, I decided it was time to leave. I was quickly followed by Ian, another metal show veteran, who said the same thing I did - way too loud.

Since way too loud is not generally a common complaint among metalheads, I hope you have some concept of just how damn loud this show was.

I ended up going back inside for another three songs or so, but was again driven back outside by the unbearable volume, joined this time by Bob - Ian never went back inside. Bob had the same complaint that we did, and we decided to spent the rest of the show outside the venue, since we could actually hear the music way better outside than inside. And so we [passed the rest of the evening outside, listening to, but not actually seeing, Nile play. If admission had been any more than the $17 that it was, I would have been pissed. As it was, I learned about a great band, got to hear a lot of stuff from Nile's upcoming album Ithyphallic and some of my favorite songs from In Their Darkened Shrines, and got to spend hours hanging out with Ian and Michelle, friends that I don't get to see very often.

All in all, it was a good night.