Metal Monday came early this week with Sunday evening’s show at Czar’s Imperial Palace featuring Torche, House of Lightning and Averkiou. Death Metal, one of Tampa’s more unqiue claims to fame, has influenced a plethora of subgenres including the hardcore scene I grew up in. It was awesome to see how many old school hardcore kids made it out on a Sunday night along with a whole new group of metal afficiandos.

Torche

Hailing from Miami, Torche has a rabid fan base hooked on their unique sound – part thrash with a twist of melodic hardcore, and dare I say a bit of twang, all against a solid metal foundation. Decibel Magazine called Torche’s music a “whole new beast built from the DNA up.” Ever since Torche’s Meanderthal (Hydrahead Records) took the No. 1 spot on Decibel’s 2008 Top 40 Extreme Albums list, the band’s fan base has rapidly expanded. Thankfully, their intensity remains intact. (MORE PICS AFTER THE JUMP)

Live, the band exceeds expectations, drawing in the audience until everyone is at least nodding along if not full-on head-banging. You can see that these musicians love what they do and are having a party on stage to which the whole crowd is invited. As a gift to fans from back in the Floor days, the crowd went nuts when “Scimitar” was played. When the audience demanded an encore, the band requested a bit of patience while Rick re-assembled drums that had come undone in the intensity of Torche’s climactic conclusion. The audience happily obliged, waiting late on a Sunday night for the band to squeeze in just a couple more songs.

Their energetic stage presence had me capturing Steve and Jonathan nonchalantly hanging out in mid-air repetitively:

To really experience the mid-air nonchalance, click on the photo to view them in a larger size.

Torche’s 2009 EP (with DVD) Healer / Across the Shields (Hydrahead Records) is out now for your home enjoyment.

Torche is Steve Brooks (Guitars/Vocals), Jonathan Nuñez (Bass), and Rick Smith (Drums)

House of Lightning

The elusive and mysterious House of Lightning (ex-Dove) made one of their too rare appearances opening up for Torche. The crowd reveled as the waves of thrash crashed down upon them.

As a music photographer, few things are as entertaining to capture as the myriad faces of metal framed by hair swirling around like awful red lighting. As you can see, during House of Lightning’s set, the opportunities for capturing metal mugging were endless.

Word on the street is that House of Lightning has been recording, so hopefully a record will be coming soon!

Averkiou

In spite of being the only non-metal band of the evening, Gainesville’s Averikou did a good job of holding the attention of the mostly metal mania audience. Averkiou is, on the one hand, a prototypical shoegaze band, and are frequently compared to Swervedriver, Guided By Voices and, of course, My Bloody Valentine. Averkiou produces a delicious sound that is nearly tactile while at the same time, straight up indie pop. Check out their new album, Throwing Sparks (Clairecords/Barracuda Sound), which has received universal praise with the most common complaint from reviewers being that it is too short!

Averikou is Matt Brink, David Quarles, Chad Darby, James Hernandez and Jason Shusterman