Review: 3 Inches of Blood | The Black Dahlia Murder 1.20.2008

#1
Sunday January 20 2008
The Black Dahlia Murder
3 Inches of Blood
Hate Eternal
Alley Katz

I felt so guilty about missing the Baltimore show on Thursday (there was weather!) that I drove down to Richmond for this one (even though I had planned on going to both...). Anyway, I always get lost in Richmond (and this was no exception), but once I finally got into the right part of town, Alley Katz was easy to find (it's right by that horrible Mexican restaurant where I had the worst tamales ever). Alley Katz gets a lot of the same tours as the Ottobar and it's roughly the same size, though it's narrower and has a kind of catwalk balcony all around the second level. The sound system was great though - you could hear all the vocals clearly (uh, once the mic started working for Cam) and it wasn't too loud (I didn't have any earplugs but my ears aren't ringing now, so either I've gone more deaf or it wasn't that loud).
Hate Eternal I think I've seen before with some similar bands. This type of music does nothing for me. Some may be interested to know that the one dude plays a BC Rich.
Jamie's still out of the 3IoB lineup and they had a different drummer than even the last time (some white dude who looked like a HxC kid). Cam's mic wasn't working for the first half of the first song but once that got straightened out, they sounded great. Didn't play nearly enough songs for me though. The redneckiest rednecks ever were standing behind me during their set too....so annoying.
Also, for the record, there were several hot dudes there - neck tattoo, beardo, HxC dude with big chops that I think I've seen at Jaxx before.
Then, finally, The Black Dahlia Murder. I really like them and I've seen them several times before, even if I don't listen to them that often. Of course I always like bands with screaming vocals and bands with growling vocals, so if they have both (and it's coming from the same shirtless guy with a stomach tattoo) so much the better. They had a pretty long set and apparently have a lot of local fans/friends since they recorded one of their albums in Richmond. I chatted with 3IoB Shane for minute during their set but didn't manage to meet up with them later. Oh well.