REVIEW: Better Lovers, Full of Hell, Spy, Cloakroom at Warsaw | 11.17.2024
In April of last year, I was in the midst of my weekly playthrough of Spotify’s All New Metal playlist when something happened. A song came on so powerful that I was hooked before I even fully processed the riffs blasting in my ears. Over the span of four minutes, my list of "things that make me love a song" was checked off to near completion. I'd found the perfect song, as it were.
I'm talking about "30 Under13" by Better Lovers, and I know that my sentiment about the song shared above, albeit poorly poetic, is anything but an isolated viewpoint. "30 Under13" is one of the best introductions to a band that I've ever heard. Better Lovers had no interest in knocking at the door to introduce themselves with that song; instead, they kicked that door right the fuck in. It was an undeniable declaration of badassery, and I knew immediately that I had to see this band live.
Here comes my embarrassing regret: I had a ticket to see Better Lovers at Saint Vitus in Brooklyn earlier this year. My cameras were charged, memory cards wiped and ready, and then a few hours before the show, I bailed. Chalk it up to parenting a toddler and the subsequent exhaustion from sleep deprivation, but I knew the intimacy of Saint Vitus, and I knew the power of Better Lovers. The room was going to be shaking with intensity, and I just didn't know if I had the stamina to capture it.
Sitting out that show is a regret, especially now with the recent permanent closure of Saint Vitus. But thankfully I was given another chance; this time, about a mile down the road from the late Saint Vitus at the legendary Warsaw. And what a night it was.
CLOAKROOM
Opening the evening with a barrage of warm fuzz and grungey riffs was Cloakroom. The stage lights were sparse but the sound from the Indiana-born shoegaze outfit was abundant; pulsating, powerful, and passionate.
They were a perfect way to warm your ears up to blistering volumes while saving you physically, if only for a moment, from the inevitable chaos and moshing that was to come.
SPY
If anyone in attendance watching Cloakroom thought the tone and tempo was set for the remainder of the evening, Spy’s set delivered to them a wake up call by way of a sonic kick to the face.
The band’s hardcore punk anthems moved a mile-a-minute and the band members did the same as they performed, turning the energy in the room up a considerable number of notches.
FULL OF HELL
Continuing the carnage was Full of Hell who delivered a set full of brutality and raw aggression. The band went absolutely balls to the wall for thirty minutes straight, showcasing tracks from a handful of albums with a particular focus on their newest release, Coagulated Bliss.
BETTER LOVERS
After the house played a medley of songs about love that sifted through an endless library of material as if turning a radio dial, the stage went dark and gave way to the power of Better Lovers. The band opened with “Lie Between The Lines” and broke the energy dam in the room, unleashing a torrent of crowd surfers and mosh pits in their wake.
Better Lovers gave the crowd everything they had, both in terms of energy as well as material. Vocalist Greg Puciato noted that he looked forward to the band having another record's worth of material to perform so that they could play a longer set. Even still, Better Lovers still delivered an unstoppable hour of power where they played nearly every song in their current discography. It's rare that you can go see a band and when asked the next day, "what songs did they play?" you can confidently reply with "just about all of them."
The tour continues for the next four weeks and will wrap with a hometown show at Buffalo RiverWorks in Buffalo, NY on December 14th. Are they coming to your town? Find out here!