Review: Raging in the Underground Arts basement with Red Fang, Cancer Bats and Shrines

Metal and hardcore shows are a dime a dozen. Any given week you can find one in a large venue full of burley bouncers ready to go toe to toe with troublemakers, or the dark dank basements of post teen hopefuls that are on the verge of either making it big or continuing down the road to that graphic design degree. The biggest thing that separates hard rock shows from most other genres is that more often than not, quality of the albums does not predict the quality of the shows. I’ve seen great bands bomb and nobodies step up to the play and lay waste to the joint. The quadruple billing of Red Fang, Cancer Bats, Shrines and Indian Handcrafts landed somewhere on the higher end of the spectrum. Bringing rough guitars, guttural vocals, lots of hair, and a fair amount of spit to Underground Arts on Monday night, everybody brought their A game, and put on a hell of a show.