Painmuseum CD Release Party News:

The setting on this dark and stormy night was the “Cup Complex” in Linden New Jersey where guitar shredder extraordinaire “Metal” Mike Chlasiak and his band “Painmuseum” held their CD Release party. The new CD entitled “Metal For Life” was the reason for us all gathering that night and at the organization of Rich and Toni of "Thatssometal.com" and Metal Mania, the evening was filled with fun conversation, cool giveaways, music and a helluva lot of beer drinking.

The Cup Complex seemed to be a cool place to hang out. There was a nice sized bar and friendly Staff where a live band was performing some good hard rock covers upstairs whle the roomy downstairs area would be the scene for the party. In this area, tables were set up and loaded with Mike's music and photos. The members of the band Bobby Jarzombek (drums) and Tim Clayborne (vocals) were mingling and seemed very appreciative of the people who had come to wish them well. I look forward to talking to these guys again and perhaps bringing some interview words to the site.

Among the highlights of the night was when the action shifted upstairs as the band took the stage to perform a few songs for everyone in the club. "Metal" Mike gave a small speech on the current state of the metal industry before they tore into some numbers from the CD. Mike LePond of Symphony X was on bass duties and did a terrific job. Songs the group played were as follows: The Divine Birth Of Tragedy (Intro), Speak The Name, Bloody Wings, Locked And Loaded. It was great to see these guys rock at such close quarters. Bobby Jarzombek is perhaps one of the best Metal drummers in the industry and the Singer Tim is like an unleashed tornado onstage. Mike’s guitar wizardry truly speaks for itself and he was definitely having a great time.

When they were done, Mike told everyone to go back down for more beer drinking and some CD signings. It was a lot of fun and a great way to spend the time. I wish these guys luck with this release as it certainly does deliver heavy metal the way it is meant to be. Check Mike’s weblink below on how you can hear samples of or order the CD.

Metal Mike’s Website: www.planetshred.com

--Ken Pierce

Downbleed Show Review 11-13-04 Venue:  Ireson’s Pub Website:  www.iresonspub.com Location:  Bristol, TN
Bands:  Downbleed & AseraphymN

Another night at of metal at Ireson’s Pub (Bristol, TN).  This is the second show review from Ireson’s and (as always) this venue delivered another awesome metal show with Tri-cities’ hardcore behemoths "Downbleed."

Hardcore, power trio.  Two phrases that one could use in summation of these three veteran musicians from the Johnson City, TN  but that is where generalizations end.  With a drummer covering lead vocals and a female bassist their sound, show and overall attitude transcend genre limitations.  They opened the show with a new song "Circle of Life" which showcases the Dimebag Darrell/Slash influences of guitarist Kris Williams while also interjecting his retro charged approach to the strings.  Kris’s leviathan low-end guitar tone is the mortar of this trio’s wall of sound.. Previous years spent as a bassist apparently honed his ability to capture the lower frequencies of tone missing from so many thin-sounding guitarist, resulting in a more polyphonic, bigger feel to the band overall.

Admittedly, the first thing I noticed is female Bassist, Leona Drake but before you start entertaining stereotypes of songbird vocals and hairspray rounding off the raw edges of another otherwise aggressive band..you might want to check out the live show.  If anything she ADDS to the overall aggression factor of the live performance and appears more than worth her salt as a bassist.  She thrashed through songs from their "Bleed for Me" CD with banshee precision, and a ‘bitch is back’ attitude that proves metal is no longer a man’s world!  Add the fact that she is an accomplished pianist and vocalist to the package and you’ve got one helluva solid bassist regardless of gender.
Front man Doug Fletcher covers both drum and lead vocals duties with apparent ease.. It goes without saying that a drummer who vocals at all is pretty rare but Doug’s vocal tone is heavy and diverse enough to make many hardcore bands want to pull him from behind his kit.   I think there must be a third arm involved there somewhere?  The few times I have witnessed drummers attempting to cover vocal duties too often both roles are sorely minimized or lose the performance flare due to the obvious struggle involved.  Not the case here. He is as strong a drummer as he is a vocalist and manages to work the crowd well while he is at it.

It was my first time seeing these guys and I was unsure what to expect given the diversity of the members. "Downbleed" pounded-out a set of solid, heavy-groove, metal-core ending (after two encores) with "Breakdown" from their "Bleed for Me" CD to a house that became increasingly packed.  This trio creates a dynamically heavy, wall of sound seemingly impossible for a 3- piece band and still manage to put on an energetic live show.   Anyone into hardcore would definitely not be disappointed.  --Scot
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