Review: Aeris Debut
Reviewer: Lord Deus
The date was February 20th, a day I had been excited about for months. The day Aeris returned......
I arrived at around 9pm. Right before they were scheduled to begin. Soon after I learned that there was a small delay, which was good cause it gave me time to grab a bite to eat. When i returned, they had already started. I missed the opener, "Kurenai" by X-Japan, however I made it in time to hear a cover of "Cemetary gates" by Pantera. They did an amazing job! FuZaVuE, was great on vocals and interacted with te crowd alot inbetween songs... making requests to bang your head and sing along and such. When the solo for "Cemetary Gates" began, i was saddened because I realized how much music in Victoria was missing real guitar talent. Those dark days are over. When Issac was playing, my adrenaline rushed and a new hope was born. Hopefully Aeris will inspire more musicians to take their playing to the next level. After that song, FuZaVuE introduced the next one... this is the song I was hoping to hear tonight. Its not that often that you get to listen to a Dream Theater song being played by other people other than DT themselves. Its not just the extreme difficulty, but the vocals aren't your everyday fare. Esspecially for "Another Day" which was the title of the next song. James LaBrie, the vocalist for DT, is an amazing singer and it takes a great amount of balls(or lack there of.... J/K Issac! lol) to match his talent. This song also featured Ty Reagan on sax, which added the same aural feel that the original produces.
After that song, the band took a break. That was my cue for me to leave to pick up my girlfriend when she got out of work. About 20min later I returned with my girlfriend to Fanelli's. The band was already in the midst of playing a jam session of sorts. It was a very jazz oriented piece that featured great guitar and saxaphone playing. The definate highlight of this particular part of the show was the 3 man instrument duel between FuZaVue, Ty, and Issac. You gotta love musician duels...............
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*japanese drums heard in the distance... the thunder rolls as rain pours and breathlessly falls over the ocean of bamboo thickets....
Great battles have taken place in the past...*thunder crackles* the G3 Tour.... John Petrucci VS Jordan Rudess..... Micheal Romeo VS Michael Pinnella.... Yngwie Malmsteen VS every other guitar player in the world... yet I think Yngwie was the only one who was fighting. You know, shaking a stick at the air and stuff.... anyway on with the review....
*the battle drums fade
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Shortly after, I had to leave once again to drop my gf off at her house. When I returned, my ears were treated to an electric guitar renditon of the popular theme song from the Castlevania series. I really hope they do more videogame themes in the style of metal. The Zelda theme, all the Contra songs, some original Street Fighter II stage themes, and maybe some classic Mega Man songs would all be great picks! However, as much as I love to hear covers of my favorite songs, I would also like to hear some more originals as well. I have heard some original compositions from Aeris, and they don't disapoint. When they start making waves with their own original pieces-- thats when its time to start keeping an eye on these guys.
The night ended on a great note, "Cliffs of Dover" by Eric Johnson was performed solo by Issac. And I couldn't have played it better myself!!! --no really, I couldn't have played better, let alone played it period. Anyway, it was a great show, which I unfortunately didn't get to see completely. However, what I was able to see made me excited for what's to come. A band like Aeris has an uber amount of potential. If utilized correctly, they could definately become something bigger than just a local Victoria band.
