This was a bit of a pleasant aberration. A tour featuring foreign bands that came a long way to perform, on a tour that began AND ended in the western part of the United States. We westerners are normally used to great shows featuring bands like Enslaved that go east to west and peter out around Chicago.

So, good for us this time that The End Records put together this set featuring the first tour ever by Agalloch, who ironically had to travel the least distance of the three bands.

First up was Antimatter. The English band, consisting of an acoustic guitarist/ main vocalist, a bassist, and a female vocalist, started their sound check about 20 minutes before their scheduled set time. But since their sound check consisted of playing their set, and considering that the level of energy of their music is very low, it was impossible to tell when the show actually started, aside from hearing the same song twice - sounding the same both times.

The tour organizers said that Antimatter (below) refused to go on after any hard and heavy band. And with good reason. To those who enjoyed them, they were mellow. To far many others, they were as unobtrusive as a song playing on a radio in the background. The trio sat in chairs the whole way through, and the woman looked quite uncomfortable and sort of lost. It was a curious thing to have them on this bill. An adventurous decision, but one that ultimately interested very few this night.

Clearly, most people came to see Agalloch. Setting the stage with incense to set a well-chosen mood, the quartet from Oregon began with a booming drum solo by guitarist/ vocalist John Haughm that segued into their slowly developing, lengthy songs. People were thrilled the whole way through at the rare opportunity to be able to see this band, who, aside from an often clumsy performance by the obviously frustrated session drummer, were wonderful.

Virgin Black were the most together group of musicians on this night. The Australian group was smooth and polished, but their music was a little awkward at times. They had more than a couple entire songs that sounded like intros to other songs, but they weren’t. The uncertainty of when one song ended and another began, plus the issues of some of their material just being rather unappealing in a live setting detracted from the show. However, the musicianship was spot on, and the keyboard work and sound was much better than what you can expect from most metal bands. It was also cool to see a woman guitarist (below).

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