Land of a Dozen Losas
Review of Across the Street Bar show on 2-7-04 by Review Natzi

I heard alot of hype about the Hardcore show @ the Across the Street bar on February the 7th so I figured I'd make it out there to catch some of the bands. I got there early and it was a good thing that I did because it seems that the line-up kinda got scrambled up from what I originally had heard it would be.

First up was Losa, I have seen these guys before; most recently @ Trees where they were great. You could feel the intensity coming from the stage while they played that night and the crowd fed off of it, but due to technical problems it wasn't the same this night. For the most part it really looked like the band was having a hard time hearing themselves and couldn't really get into the groove. Looking past all that I still enjoyed their set. The musicianship of this band is great. The vocals remind me of bands like Soilent Green. I really enjoy the music that Losa pushes out, I just wish the singer would be more flexible with his vocals, he obviously has the vocal talent to do it.

Next up was grindcore band from south TX called Highwater waltz. Just for the record, I'm not the biggest Grindcore fan. This band, although extremely noisy, was actually pretty cool. I enjoyed their set all 15 minutes of it. The music was intense the stage show was exciting and the music was chaotic. The thing I liked about them was the fact that amidst all the chaos there were some killer break downs. If you're a grindcore fan check them out, otherwise you may want to stay far away.

Farewell to Shadowlands came out full of energy with I believe seven members in the band and they were all throwing down. The band from start to finish just ripped it up with their two singers pacing around like they were mental patients locked in a cell. The one thing that caught my eye was the fact that they had three guitarists. The only downfall to that is from what I heard, it seems that the music could have been played with only two guitarists. Fans at the show really seemed to enjoy the set with hardcore kids dancing pretty much the entire time. I'm not a big fan of two singers in a band, but Farewell to Shadowlands does it well.

Up next: A Dozen Furies. Ok, first of all, while waiting around I took time to try and find out a little about this band and through speaking to a few folks found out that A Dozen Furies vocalist was going to be the singer for another local band that I enjoy called Plastic Tongue. That really got me interested in the band. Well, needless to say, I was very impressed by these guys. They put on an explosive show and were tight as nails. The vocals were very catchy one minute and then would swirl into violent screams the next. I really enjoyed A Dozen Furies' set because they seem to know what they are going for and aren't going to compromise. Recently opening for As I lay Dying and Sworn Enemy didn't hurt their enthusiasm, I'm sure, but all in all they were a great band. From speaking to one of the guys, they are going to be releasing their CD soon on an indie label and will be going out on Tour, so definately keep your eyes open for A Dozen Furies.