Ringworm & Nile Review by Jay Frost

Around quarter of eleven, Ringworm began to sound check. This evening’s show was as well attended as Crown of Thornz a few days earlier, and many of the faces I’ve grown accustomed to seeing these past few weeks were present, along with many others I hadn’t seen in ages. Whether enticed by the main event or a free show, Albany was in full effect tonight.

 Unlike the other bands on the bill this evening, the members of Ringworm were long-haired, denim or cammo-clad and downright intimidating. In short: real metal bad-asses hell-bent on bringing forth a hail-storm of shrapnel and gun-powder. I watched it all unfold from my perch above the crowd: as the green stage lights flickered, the drums rattled off a sinister beat. When the soundman called for bass, it cut through the chatter and noise like a clean scalpel through flesh. Human Furnace (all five feet of him) took his place at the helm, center stage, mic in hand. This is when the tension started to build; though I kept off the floor for the sake of accurate notes, anxiety and anticipation ricocheted off of every wall. It was time: ready or not, Bogies would soon be leveled by a nuclear blast.

Ringworm’s brand of apocalyptic metal is unique in the respect that though it shares a common home with other notable acts like Integrity and In Cold Blood, it borrows little, if any influence from the hardcore realm. With an axe-duo as succinct and sharp as Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, deafening, explosive percussion, and the Human Furnace’s unrelenting lunatic wail, Ringworm is the perfect soundtrack to the apocalypse. There were no pretty guitar melodies, only crushing rhythms and scathing leads. There’s no drum solos or other showboating; each and every element of Ringworm works together to form precision instrument of destruction. I’ve never seen a band this focused, this driven. It was frightening.

 The principle onslaught lasted two songs before the Furnace addressed the crowd. He possessed all of the knuckle-headed charm of Billy Milano, but with a certain wry wit that separates him from the other “loud-mouth” front-men of the metal world. He made it clear that they were not accepting requests, but was sure to send a dedication to the ladies shortly before tearing into “Madonna/Whore”. When a woman in attendance informed him that it was her birthday and she was getting pissed off because they hadn’t played any of her favorite songs, the Furnace scoffed and said that he hoped that her birthday was ruined. To quote him: “Oh yeah? Well here’s something that’ll piss you off even more, ANOTHER song you don’t want to hear!” Brilliant.

Ringworm played an hour set consisting of material spanning their twenty-two year career, including classics from their pre-Victory efforts as well as more recent songs: “Madonna/Whore”, “Unravel” and “Self-Destruct” were particularly memorable. Before ending the evening, Human Furnace christened Albany “the ugliest city in New York” (and this is coming from a native of a city that is notorious for being one of the most violent in the country). Further, he expressed his gratitude to Mike Valente for making the evening possible, and in turn the Upstate Black ‘N’ Blue vice-president made his way to the front of the room with two shots of high-octane whisky, toasting the evening’s success with the Furnace in yet another display of the respect and solidarity that permeates our underground music scene, one that transcends borders - from Albany to Cleveland, to California and back. This was, indeed, one hell of a night.

From start to finish, both of Nile’s sets showcased their enormous talent: crushing, technical sweep-picked rhythms and leads that sprinted up and Arabian scales courtesy of the guitar tandem of Karl Sanders and Dallas Toler-Wade was complemented by the equally proficient low end thunder of Todd Ellis as drummer George Kollias provided a wall of double-bass. Like others in the death metal world, Kollias did more than keep the time, he manipulated it. Every hair-pin signature-change was executed brilliantly, and being that the average Nile song rarely repeats riffs, a drummer of Kollias’ caliber is a necessity.

            A great deal of Nile’s material also includes grandiose, synthesized introductions and fills of an Ancient Egyptian flare. Picture a flourish of trumpets and strings in the Pharaoh’s receiving room, accompanied by primitive percussion – hand drums and finger-symbols. They were able to reproduce this live with the help of rack-mounted effects processors controlled by a laptop running Sonar (NOT Pro-Tools, but Sonar). I learned this from a friend and gear-head in attendance who had taken a spot up front, stage right. He also informed me that Kollias had been wearing headphones during the performance, which would account for his accuracy. As mentioned in the beginning of this article, Nile drew a much more diverse crowd than the average hardcore show. Aside from the dance floor in Bogies being packed wall to wall, the mosh pit was a slaughterhouse. It was difficult to dance, primarily because of the all the time changes, but also because of the rage and brutality that Nile evokes in its listeners. People launched their neighbor’s three rows deep into the crowd. Many were knocked down, but swiftly helped to their feet. Granted, this was not the sort of pit that I was used to, but that didn’t diminish the sense of mutual respect among those in attendance, and needless to say, there were no fights.

            Celebrating two decades of brutality, Nile played a variety of material dating as far back as Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka and Annihilation of The Wicked, as well as later efforts like Those Whom the Gods Detest and At the Gate of Sethu. The effects processor that triggered the introductions to songs was also used to control pitch the pitch of Dallas Toler-Wade’s voice and add effects during said introductions, adding to the over-the-top pageantry that is synonymous with Nile. The band finished around 12:30 that evening, and the weary crowd dispersed, completing yet another successful show courtesy of Upstate Black ‘N’ Blue Productions.