Dark Castle/Bloody Panda

These blurry pictures serve to document my recent awesome metal head sighting at the Drunken Unicorn on August 1. All of the bands were pretty amazing, but I went to check out the heavy, stonerish duo pictured above. They are Dark Castle. There is Rob Shaffer behind a very large drum kit and Stevie Floyd behind a flying V and, boy, can she ever scream. I thought they were very groovy, and I like my metal groovy, but then the drummer recommended Bloody Panda, playing second to last. Shaffer promised Tibetan throat singing and I think I got the genuine article.

I very nearly crapped myself. First of all Bloody Panda features a bunch of dudes in hoods and a beautiful woman named Yoshiko Ohara in a goth hippie outfit. They're from New York, of course. Second, they dismember every mode of heavy music there is and then string it all together in a kind of grisly musical daisy chain. And then there is a male singer, Gerry Mak, who makes some very strange and startling sounds: like THIS but extra evil. And Ohara (who, I have learned, is also a respected painter) screams and screams. The first one she let out, I wanted to grab the girl next to me and cling for dear life. I didn't. This wasn't hardcore-style screaming; she was just scream screaming. It was beautiful once I accepted that no demons were about to appear and take my soul. In fact, after it was over, I felt kinda cleansed. I rushed to the merch nook buy the most recent album, Summon, from Ohara. Because, like, I like to be frightened.