Generally when I watch The Veins I'm ringside by guitarist Jett's rig as it rumbles the stage's starboard bow. I dig his tone, and his playing is as spectacular to watch as it is to hear. Black clad while slinging his orange Les Paul, Jett kept his crown Saturday, December 22, as The Veins celebrated the release of "Blood and Gold." This album is a little darker for a band that was already fairly dark to begin with. It's more layered and complex too - both in its production and songwriting. It's really, really good.

But as I was saying, generally I'm on the Jett side, but this night I opted to hang down by the low end of the band. It's not that I ignored bassist Rob Kordish in the past, but his stoic nature had him literally and figuratively in the shadows. Earplugs will give the low end a little boost in your head by taking the high-end slaughter down a touch. Do this with The Veins and you'll hear how Kordish locks solidly into the kick drum as an anchor but still laces the downbeats together with flourishes, trills, and walking scales that stomp and kick. I love this band as a whole but this is what really stuck with me for this show. I'll gush and kiss the asses of the remaining members in the band the next time around.

Bars like Stooges in Irondequoit seem an odd setting for some of the big rock they have on stage, like Steel Kingdom this past Friday. This band, despite most of its members' casual attire, plays some really decent British metal. It was all kinds of thundering double-kick, guitars loud enough to crumble concrete, and multi-octave, post-operatic vocals bouncing off the walls of what was essentially a neighborhood bar. I liked it.

Syracuse goth rockers Zadoc and the Nightmare opened with a dose of dark pageantry, playing music that was mid-tempo and progressive. I dug the particularly dramatic vocals. And despite a somewhat gloomy front, the members band couldn't hide the thrill performers get on-stage, no matter how bleak their genre expects them to be.