Antemasque – 03 October 2014 (Melkweg – Amsterdam)

Photo made by Esther Vicente. All rights reserved

After the summer festival season, the new season of the rooms went back to Melkweg Oude Zaal to introduce Antemasque, the new awaited project of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala after successful and legendary At The Drive-In and The Mars Volta. In charge of opening the night were the Mexicans Le Butcherettes, which for about 40 minutes showed their blend of rock and punk with garage broad strokes, with special attention to the themes of their latest album Cry Is For The Flies, released on last May. The band, who Omar himself has collaborated with in producing and playing bass on numerous occasions, is based on the strength and presence of her leader Teri Gender Bender, a storm resulting from the union of Siouxsie Sioux, Karen O, Patty Smith or Janis Joplin. The Mexican, who has also worked with Rodriguez-Lopez in their parallel projects Bosnian Rainbows and Kimono Kult, stands as center of attention both for her spectacular vocal as its ongoing fuss with which staged their harsh lyrics, hanging on with an awesome energy a show full of force in which the most notable moments were those in which the drums of Lia Braswell got merged with the distortions from bass and guitar.

Photo made by Esther Vicente. All rights reserved

After only 10 minutes break, Antemasque jumped to stage to defend their debut album, although considering the long line that connects the two brains behind the project will be a euphemism that word.. The first words of Cedric: "Thanks, this is us , the next song is an album we've been working 12 years: Chinese Democracy", served to the public laugh at the time, and also to relax the environment, which made the crowd probably forgive the poor quality sound of the first two songs. However, everything changed suddenly with the first chords of "4 a.m.", probably the most perfect song of the album, starting about 20 memorable minutes in which highlighted the good state of Cedric's voice and, above all, a superb demonstration of David Elitch at the drums.

Photo made by Esther Vicente. All rights reserved

The second half of the concert set aside At The Drive-In style to approach more experimentation and psychedelia The Mars Volta, with Omar Rodríguez-López taking the absolute leadership thanks to his usual endless guitar solos. Although at times flew about the room a little shade of disconnection with the rest of the band, we must recognise that most of the chords that come out of his guitar served to magnify the sound even more as a group, due to, thanks again, the union nexus proposed by David Elitch on the drums and greater hardness bass lines of his brother Marfred Rodríguez-López, the band returned to show their great sound as band upon the individualities.

Photo made by Esther Vicente. All rights reserved

After about an hour in which they only performed their own songs (fact to ​​thanks against to the flood of covers played when the repertoire is short), the concert ended leaving the feeling of having been hit by a cyclone of rock in which the noise and distortions acted as catalysts, but in surprisingly given the popularity of those present, the lesson offered David Elitch at the drums gave him the role of major player and leader in the shade of a project that we hope will be longer than the recent ones by the duo Omar-Cedric.