Mouth of the Architect/Nightbeast/Wet Leather/The Sound For Language @ Pearl 6.5.08

...as the temperature rose to perilous levels in the Gem City, virtually the only reprieve that could be found was in the confines of the Pearl. Surely a heavy dose of rock n' roll served up Dayton-style would provide sweet relief. Opening the evening, The Sound for Language served up giant slabs of guttural rock. On the strength of the material from their recently-released second EP, The Sound for Language thrives on impeccable lines of harmony guitars and throbbing rhythms. With an impressive set, the band set up an evening that simply never disappointed...





...Next up were the recently-reunited Wet Leather. Moving between sludgy riffage and sleazy funk, we're excited to see this outfit in action again. On this particular evening the band were joined by local icon Jeremy Fredricks on vocals for an Agent Orange cover. While the band did not hold the audience at attention for much of their set, they continued to deliver a high-energy set that simply never let up...



...taking the evening to unexpected levels, Nightbeast, attired in a Batman outfit on this night, prowled the stage like a championship fighter poised to strike at any time. Strike he did, with an endless stream of deftly placed pop culture references that hit like well-timed jabs. As he incited the audience into a number of chants and skits, Nightbeast even regaled us with an acoustic number, lulling us into a false calm. By the end of his brief set Nightbeast echoed Muhammad Ali with his boasts and claims. On this night, these were well-founded...



...closing the evening, Mouth of the Architect's enormous sound simply could not be held in by the confines of the Pearl. On the cusp of the release of the new album, Quiet, MOTA is clearly a band at the top of their game. While the PA may not have been able to properly translate the dense melodic layers buried under waves of grind, it seemed to matter little to the audience who reveled in the sheer force of the band's sound...