SOME KIND OF NIGHTMARE
DCxPC Live Vol. 9 Presents Some Kind Of Nightmare Live At Lou's
San Diego, United States
Some Kind of Nightmare’s visceral live performance is now available to experience from the discomfort of your own home. For those of us who are unable to make the shows, live too far away or simply didn’t get the memo, our time is now. DCxPC Live have done the world a favour and recorded, mastered and released Some Kind of Nightmare’s performance ‘Live at Lou’s’. It is an emboldening set of powerful songs that never sit still. They bounce off the walls, careen off the ceiling and smash, skidding, across the floor with mighty punk and heavy emo power. The scream comes out with a sharp bite, the bass doesn’t swamp out the sound, the guitars are bright and the drums are crisp. The recording, I’m sure, cannot capture the raw wonder that ruptures from Some Kind of Nightmare live, but it gets close.
The setlist is rapid, beginning with ‘We Take Form’ the band rips the sky open with hurtling drums, bass that doesn’t walk but sprints and guitars that chug, whine and climb power chords with effortless controlled erraticism. It's loud and proud and it's a fine attitude to open up with. You know from the first 2 seconds whom you’re dealing with, a tonal and hungry powerhouse that will rip the hair from your head with pure angst. It's amazingly vibrant, doesn’t get depressing, and keeps the pace up. An astounding form played with presence and captured live for the world to dribble over.
‘Everything’s Okay’ follows, its chorus is the hook, snatching up the stragglers that missed the constant mosh and forcing them to dance to its melody. The vocalists switch throughout the set, one higher and one lower, both gritty and powerful, bringing a blend of strengths to the sound of Some Kind of Nightmare. Here the lower vocal takes centre stage and pushes out blood-curdling lyrics a million a minute, its thrashing and rocking heaven, the attitude, the power. It's all here, it's all live and that makes it all the more inviting.
‘Crow DIGITAL’ lines up next, it's softer, delicate. Don’t get me wrong, it is still fast as all heck and heavy as a boulder on steroids, but there’s some accent to it, some tang. ‘Crow’ lets you breathe a little mid-set. Take your eye off the ball for a moment, get lost in the sound, not the speed. The drums pack a punch here, really hitting your chest, and the vocals soar high like the song's namesake and keep the pressure on even when the instrumental turns down to 10 from 11. Believe it or not, this feels like the band’s breather song, it's alien to think they can play a whole set this fast and this well, but it's all here as proof. Some Kind of Nightmare mean business and they’re masters of their music. They’ll play as hard and as long as they want.
‘Driven Red’ closes the set and everything peaks. The guitar playing is tight, warm and melodic, the bass is fast, crisp and defined. The drums layer cymbals and highs and tom rolls with buttery bliss. Jungle tones and rampaging smashing snares. The vocals duet, both vocals taking the limelight, passing the screaming baton back and forth. The chorus features this insane call-and-response that I can’t get enough of. The addicting melody makes this easily the best song on the album and in the set.
I thank DCxPC Live for contributing to music history. Without their work, many live performances and sounds would be lost to the moment, here we can relive them in all of their glory. Some Kind of Nightmare have proven here that they are as musically manic live as they are in the studio, if not more so.
PSST! There’s a secret bonus track on the live album and it's a belter. You didn’t hear it from me … shhh!