Marc Rizzo / Unhollowed / Begotten / Höllõ / Rest Among Ruins
Friday, May 14th 2007
Dick's Half Way Inn
Baltimore County

Nestled off the beaten path in Baltimore County, there’s a club that’s got an interesting name..before I mention the club, I wanna preamble this with a story.  I was at a friends house one night & she goes, “You have to see this picture, you’ll laugh your ass off at the name of this club!” & she shows me a picture of a sign that reads Dick's Half Way Inn, & I smiled as I said, “Yeah, I know where that is.” & the name of the club, although it has a dirty joke not so hidden in it’s name, is a cool little place in Rosedale, Maryland that has a bar/dance area that serves food upstairs, & the downstairs area is called “Thunder Down Under” & that’s where the rock shows happen.  Thunder Down Under, where the rocks shows happen, is a small, but groovy place for local bands to cut their teeth & this is one of those places where everyone that works there is really cool, friendly, & I have to say, for a small place, the sound is really good!

Ok, so the night started around 8:30 when Rest Among Ruins took the stage.  They actually soundchecked for a minute & I thought their soundcheck was the beginning of their show because they checked with a song & it was just a check before the show was about to start.  The band played some new material in their set that was actually really good & if you ever catch them live, it’s well worth getting a copy of their EP, which they are selling at their shows, because it captures the band pretty well.  The interesting thing about Dick’s Half Way Inn/Thunder Down Under, is that the stage is not really a stage...what I mean is, the band is not raised up above the crowd, so the bands are in your face the entire show, & this is what really made the show fun, because it had that New York Hardcore/punk vibe at times, & what I mean is, there’s no big rockstar vibe, no attitudes, no bull shit, just rock n roll, in your face, & loads of attitude!  I was commenting after the show that this was the first time I had seen Rest Among Ruins & heard a really good audio mix, which made all the difference in the world, because these guys are really dynamic & there’s alot of melody, harmony, & pieces & elements that make this band really special, & in particular, the vocals just really shined on this night with the right audio mix! 

Next on the bill were area favorites Höllõ.  Just as I stated in my comments about Rest Among Ruins, Höllõ had a REALLY good audio mix, & out of all the times I’ve seen them, this was my personal favorite!  The band played about 45 minutes roughly, & their set was filled with alot of new material that I can only describe as impressive!  LT’s vocals really are interesting because he can sing pretty high, he can get really low, & he can also scream when necessary & there’s not too many guys on the local scene that can match vocals with this guy!  The band mentioned that they have a cd coming out at some point this year, & it was fun to watch bassist Ethan & guitarist Mike joke around with each other & ram into one another as if they were moshing onstage, & Ethan made a funny joke before the song “Role Play” that involved a pizza delivery guy & it was kinda dirty, so I’ll leave it at that.  Russ, the bands drummer, is actually the hidden hand in their live show...it’s easy to get caught up in the guys up front but he’s a powerhouse drummer & what Russ & Ethan do with the rhythm is a big factor in the bands sound, & I also can’t forget that there’s some major guitar leads & solo’s being laid down by lead guitarist Fish who’s got a really clean guitar tone & great style.

Next up on the bill was First Begotten, & this was my first time ever seeing this band, so I was in for a surprise!  The surprise was, singer Joe Wheeler is like an uncaged animal when he’s onstage!  I was standing next to him for the first 2 sets & he was mild mannered, wore glasses, & seemed like a really mellow dude, BUT, onstage, when I first saw him performing, the first thing I thought was, “Holy shit, this guy’s like GG Allin!”  I make that comparison on energy & performance alone..GG Allin was actually out of control, on drugs, & did some very bad things on stage, whereas Joe gives everything he’s got onstage, with the mic wrapped around his neck like a snake, & First Begotten is straight up hardcore & metal with no ballads, no shit, & just total in-your-face hard music that reminds me of Agnostic Front, Full Blown Chaos & Hatebreed in that the band is just so intense, so brutal, & so powerful that if I didn’t know any better, I’d swear they came from the New York underground hardcore scene, because the only thing missing from their show was a HUGE circle pit.  I might add that there was a little moshing at times, but the club does not allow ANY moshing, so that was squashed promptly.  I can’t even tell you how long the band played, because I was too busy trying to soak in every note & their set was really tight, there was no filler other than when there was a small technical problem with a mic cable.  First Begotten is definitely worth checking out if you like your music loud, crazy, & freakin’ brutal on a hardcore level!

The fourth band of the night was Unhollowed, & the fan base for this band was in full force, which made it kinda hard to see them play since the small area where the band was performing was covered in bodies, but their set was good from what I saw..they play a mix of thrash & metal mixed with hardcore, & the 2 covers they played at the end of their set was indicative of what they sound like..they covered “Rise” by Lamb of God & the very last song was a Killswitch Engage song, which are the 2 bands that I would really describe this band as...they definitely got the crowd moving & I was impressed.

The headliner for the evening was Marc Rizzo.  Marc is a versatile player who shreds on guitar for Soulfly, but currently is doing a mini-solo tour where he has a 3 piece band, & he does about an hour long set that has Marc playing metal songs, instrumentals, some flamenco guitar, & the interesting thing about Marc Rizzo is, he’s a small guy that few people even knew was walking amongst the crowd!  The highlight for me personally was Marc's cover of "Territory" by Soulfly.  Marc finished up his set close to 1:30 AM, & it was a great night for hard music!  Whether you realize it or not, there’s alot of really talented musicians in the state of Maryland, & if you’re not out supporting them & seeing their shows you should be, because the performances these bands give are every bit as impressive as a national act, just that they don’t have the major corporations behind them to back them.