While the caravan rolled into town late for this show at the Ottobar, as the bands were driving in from Chicago, the brutality did not get cut short by any means.

The show openers, Shat, come complete with a very apropos name. Covered in phallic novelty items like sexual warlords and wearing no clothing other than their Hanes, Shat intends to be funny and over-the-top, but falls short, managing to be nothing more than degrading to anyone with an iota of moral fiber.

Genghis Tron from Philadelphia are a hyperactive and possessed, synth-heavy glitch-metal band with a new album in the works for mid-February. Lots of keyboards and screaming bloody murder combined on this night for strangely pleasant experimental music. Priming the young Baltimore crowd dotted with college-age guys in Baroness t-shirts, A Life Once Lost started out with a number of technical difficulties which broke up the blasting hardcore hardcore introduction. A testament to the notion that looks can be deceiving, the stoner-metal persona of ALOL's singer, Bob Meadows, dissapears as soon as he unleashes his guttural howls.

The bands on this bill should be acknowledged for their do-it-all attitude. Bringing their utmost effort into their performances, each band was responsible for loading, unloading, and setting up their own gear. Seeing the newest members (Gil Sharone and Jeff Tuttle) of one of the most respected metal bands setting up and tuning on their own, it was almost too late before anyone realized that the crowd had emptied from the rear bar area of Ottobar and packed into the stage and loft area as everyone wanted to get their piece of this breakneck, daredevil set.

At the time Dillinger Escape Plan, the headliners of the night, were ready to make their presence felt, newest members Gil Sharone (drums) and Jeff Tuttle (guitar) were setting up their gear, LED lights were shining bright, and the crowd was pulsing with intensity. Blasting into the show, a hometown appearance for singer Greg Puciato, anyone who had not heard about the legend behind Dillinger's live show was likely trampled by the singer's running dash straight into the front-row audience. Baltimore native son Greg Puciato wasn't much for talking early in the set, which was a blessing as the band raucously pummeled and progged their way through favorite tracks like "Destro's Secret" and "43% Burnt" from Calculating Infinity. Of note is that Puciato's invitation to join Dillinger was from a tryout based on an instrumental of "43% Burnt" posted after original vocalist Dimitri Minakakis left the band.

Segue into the performance of "Fix Your Face", the opening track from DEP's latest album, Ire Works (Relapse). The album version features a cameo by Minakakis, but Puciato owned the song on this small stage as he performed amateur acrobatics from climbing structural supports and hanging upside-down from suspended PA speakers. As the band loosened up and Greg Puciato warned the crowd to stay in school ("or you'll end up hanging upside-down like us for nothing"), newcomers Sharone and Tuttle succeeded in their audition before this audience. Puciato did manage to knock Sharone down a couple pegs, mentioning Sharone's appearance on an episode of Full House as he asked the audience how Sharone was doing.

Smoking the Ottobar with "When Good Dogs Do Bad Things", not only was the band stage-diving, but the audience was jumping from the loft into the crowd below. The only remaining founding member of the band, Ben Weinman, dove into the crowd still playing through his part, audience members climbing on stage and jumping on top of him. That everyone seems to have escaped without real injury was a mystery to behold. The most daredevil act of the night: Puciato breathing fire, symbolically closing one of the most scorching sets at Ottobar in recent memory.

Tags: A Life Once Lost, any given tuesday, dillinger escape plan, Genghis Tron, Ottobar