On August 23rd, it was a night of insane underground metal as Australia’s own Northlane and Alabama’s own Erra co-headlined with special guests Currents and Japan’s own Crystal Lake. If you want blood, sweat, and tears at a fantastic venue that sells beers from the world over, then this is the show for you.

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Tokyo, Japan’s own CRYSTAL LAKE took the stage and if they’re not headlining at the Amsterdam Bar & Music Hall in St. Paul, Minnesota before long, then there’s something wrong.  This band blew me the hell away with their all-too brief 20 minute set.  There was so much movement from the audience for an opening act as there was a consistent wave of crowdsurfing, moshing, and even stagediving, which the band certainly encouraged.  The energy was absolutely contagious as the band ripped into songs such as “Prometheus”, “Lost In Forever”, and “Apollo”.  When I’m moshing and photographing the set simultaneously, that’s when you know it was a freaking awesome set.

Crystal Lake brought the hardcore/metalcore vibes to St. Paul, Currents is adding some djent to the evening.  I admit I was wiped out after Crystal Lake’s set, mostly because I am fat and out of shape, but Currents held their own.  Currents knew that they had to step it up a couple of notches after Crystal Lake’s set and they certainly did that.  They only had about 25 minutes to work with, but they made the most of it.  It was enough to intrigue me, and looking forward to hearing more from Currents.

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Now, Erra came on to perform.  And what a blistering set it was.  I could not believe it.  I wasn’t sure what to expect from their performance but they added the atmospheric vibes to the night.  Their guitar work, especially with the harmonics that they utilized on their guitar arrangements, were ridiculous and absolutely on point.  The energy from their whole set gave me chills that I rarely feel these days in music.  Songs such as “Dreamcatcher”, “Eye of God”, and “Breach” absolutely blew me away.  It left me wanting to immediately get familiar with the band and I’ve been telling others about this band.  The world needs to know Erra.

Here is Erra’s setlist:

Irreversible

Dreamcatcher

Ghost of Nothing

Drift

Orchid

Luminesce

Eye of God

Breach

Monolith

Dementia

Hybrid Earth

Skyline

Erra will be performing one more date in the United States before embarking on a European run.  Check out the dates below:

Tue. 9/17- Jake’s Sports Cafe in Lubbock, Texas

Sun. 11/24- Flex Apartments in Vienna, Austria

Thu. 11/28- Leeds Beckett Students’ Union in Leeds, United Kingdom

Fri. 11/29- SWX in Bristol, United Kingdom

Sat. 11/30- Electric Ballroom in London, United Kingdom

Sat. 12/7- Melkweg in Amsterdam, Netherlands

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Australia’s Northlane ripped through the night in their co-headlining tour with Erra.  There was definitely an audience there to see Erra and an audience to see Northlane.  The lights and the sounds added to the mystique of this band.  Northlane brought some pent up anger and aggression that compounded this night of aggressive music in St. Paul.  Their stage presence is commanding and the crowd knew and went crazy over songs such as “Talking Heads”, “Intuition”, and “Vultures”.  We could have not asked for a more underground feel than Northlane, Erra, Currents, and Crystal Lake provided on this night.  Here is the setlist from Northlane:

Talking Heads

Intuition

Details Matter

Obelisk

Rot

Bloodline

4D

Freefall

Vultures

Eclipse

Citizen

Dispossession

Quantum Flux

Northlane will be performing in their native Australia and Europe coming up.  Check out the tour dates below:

Fri. 10/11- UNSW in Sydney, Australia

Sat. 10/12- The Triffid in Newstead, Australia

Sun. 10/13- The Triffid in Newstead, Australia

Thu. 10/17- 170 Russell in Melbourne, Australia

Fri. 10/18- 170 Russell in Melbourne, Australia

Sun. 10/20- Amplifier in Perth, Australia

Sat. 10/26- Galatos in Auckland, New Zealand

Fri. 11/22- Youth and Community Center in Karlsruhe, Germany

Sat. 11/23- Gibus Club in Paris, France

Sun. 11/24- Kavka Zappa in Antwerp, Belgium

Wed. 11/27- Manchester Academy in Manchester, United Kingdom

Thu. 11/28- Engine Rooms in Southampton, United Kingdom

Fri. 11/29- The Garage in Glasgow, United Kingdom

Sat. 11/30- O2 Academy in Birmingham, United Kingdom

Sun. 12/1- Electric Brixton in London, United Kingdom

Tue. 12/3- Patronaat in Haarlem, Netherlands

Wed. 12/4- Hotel Cecil in Copenhagen, Denmark

Thu. 12/5- Lokomotivet in Eskilstuna, Sweden

Sat. 12/7- On The Rocks in Helsinki, Finland

Mon. 12/9- Tradgardn in Gothenburg, Sweden

Wed. 12/11- SO36 in Berlin, Germany

Thu. 12/12- Proxima in Warsaw, Poland

Fri. 12/13- Conne Island Skatepark in Leipzig, Germany

Sat. 12/14- Palac Akropolis in Czechia

Sun. 12/15- Flex Apartments in Vienna, Austria

Tue. 12/17- Backstage Concerts in Munich, Germany

Wed. 12/18- KIFF in Aarau, Switzerland

Thu. 12/19- den Atelier in Luxembourg, Luxembourg

Fri. 12/20- Essigfabrik in Cologne, Germany

Sat. 12/21- Kulturezentrum in Wiesbaden, Germany

Go to www.northlaneband.com for tickets and further information

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