Aphasia, live at The Paramount, Moncton, New Brunswick - July 11th 2002 - 7 / 10 The afternoon of the concert day, I drove by the venue and saw the Marquee said "Black Frost". Considering Aphasia was supposed to be the headliner, I phoned the venue (The Paramount) upon returning to the office. I mentioned the marquee to the chick on the other end of the line, inquiring specifically as to whether Aphasia was playing or not. She replied that the band had cancelled! I was quite disappointed, as were several coworkers I had primed into coming with me. Since we all had already made plans to go out, we had decided to go see Misery, the Metallica tribute band, which coincidentally was playing the club adjacent to the Paramount. When we arrived at the club (Oxygen), I learned that Aphasia HAD in fact come down for the concert at the Paramount. I was FURIOUS, considering I had already paid (wasted) 8 bucks to get into the tribute show. At around 23:00, Misery took the stage and opened with Creeping Death (they intro'd with a sample from a horror film, but I could not recall which one). They played a few songs lasting 45 minutes or so, then took a break. I took the time to go to the washroom and maybe check out the Paramount to see what was going on. I told the doorman that I wanted in to go buy an Aphasia CD, so he let me through. At the merchandise table I met Louise, the VERY COOL editor of Sang Frais, a french metal magazine from la belle province. We chatted for a bit as I picked up Arcane in Thalassa, a couple of stickers and a copy of her magazine. I considered buying a T but I was low on cash with more beer to buy! ;) On the way back to the Oxygen, I made another washroom stop (the facilities are shared between both clubs) where I bumped into Chris, lead singer for Iron Giant. I explained the situation to him, so he spoke to the doorman at The Paramount to ensure that my buddies and I could get in to see Aphasia. I was primed! I reported this great news to my cohorts, but they didn't seem to share in my excitement. They asked if I minded waiting for 3 more songs by Misery. I agreed to this, glad I did as they played great renditions of Sanitarium and Leper Messiah, then as the latter track came to an end I promptly made way to the other side... Aphasia had already started! I'm not sure what I missed, but I suspect we arrived midway through Aphasia's opener. By the time the song came to an end, I could see that my coworkers were not impressed. I told them to go back and see Misery - I was sticking around for the real deal. Bunch of poseurs. I had front-row seats to this spectacle, as there was barely anyone in the club. Aphasia were SOLID, Stephane's high-pitched growl dominating the vocal arena while he unleashed his guitar magic; Philippe complimenting the vox with his deep, guttural growls (which I prefer), fingers dancing on his bass punching the Aphasia groove; Simon was the mad scientist behind the drumkit, concocting potions of technical mayhem, the pace shifting often especially on the new material. These guys played their souls out to a small, unappreciative Moncton crowd. Highlights for me were Passion of Time (easily their best track), Cries of Despair, Devastating Wind (I think) and L'Absolu Ment, apparently the only french-sung song in their catalogue (as if one could tell!). After the show I was the only person talking to the guys (scooping up there signatures on my new CD along the way!) - I explained how I almost didn't get to see them. They were really cool, down to earth guys; Philippe especially appreciative of my feedback. He invited me to the after-party, but alas I had to work the following day. I pressed the guys to see if they would ever return to Moncton, and I got the feeling they would not, given the hesitated responses. It is unfortunate that the turnout was so low - I wonder how many others were misled by the marquee and an uninformed Paramount staff? Irregardless, it sure was nice to see a REAL metal concert in this city, my first in 18 months of living here (I consider Iron Giant and Sea Of Green to be kickass stoner rock). Now if only I can convince the Warmachine blokes to come this way... D. Grimby ... Retrospect: A few days after the show, I learned that I missed out on seeing the two opening acts, Slaughter of Saints and Black Frost. While I didn't know of these two bands at the time, I have since seen SoS twice and BF once and they are both amazing! I totally regret not sticking around for their set. I did catch a portion of Black Frost's performance that night though and what I did hear, I liked - it's just that I was WORTHLESS AND WEAK and listened to my coworkers who wanted to hear the Metallica tribute. return to hangar