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.

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