By Carlos Detres

The Good News: A Place to Bury Strangers didn’t blow my ear drums. Even better news, they kicked so much ass. My experiences with APTBS has taken place at either their home turf of Death By Audio or a venue slightly larger. This was the first time I had seen them at a venue of this size. Usually when you go to APTBS show at Death By Audio, the lights are bright, flickering, and — dare I say it — even at times colorful. During some moments of their performance, the band was swathed in a coat of darkness lit only by a film collage projected over them, bringing down the tone of the atmosphere just enough to invite their audience into their ritual. I’m not trying to be cute by using the word “ritual.” I’ve written about the phenomena of their performance many times, stating that what they do is ritualistic like some violent Druid ceremony to heap worship and offerings to their gods. The thrashing of guitars, the wild-eyed look and the intensity of their sound is always refreshing to experience. It separates our world of social networks and computers and the one that is more attuned with the powers of sonic energy. It is a beautiful thing to witness and the band really proved themselves to be capable of headlining any show rather than opening one up.

The Bad News: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and The Kills just seemed kinda mismatched for this gig. Especially when the first band (APTBS) opens up with such ferocity. How does one follow an act like that? Maybe I didn’t drink enough or was too occupied with dodging photographers while entrenched in the pit. I don’t know. Either way, I was glad to see APTBS again.

FOR PICTURES OF THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART AND THE KILLS, PLEASE CLICK HERE.