123 Pleasant Street issues call to metalheads

123 Pleasant Street is primed to crank up the volume tonight when the historic venue provides a sample of Morgantown’s finest metal acts.

With a bill that features Cast Off All Ties, The Kafka Machine and Disillusion Effect, 123 Pleasant Street will give concertgoers plenty of reasons to bang their heads to the sounds of heavy guitars, brutal vocals and driving percussion.

Making the show even more special to metalheads, this event is the first installation of a series of metal concerts designed to showcase the heavier side of Morgantown’s music scene.

"This is the first of our monthly/bi-monthly metal shows, which I am setting up," said 123 employee Jason Pownell. "We really need the support so I can continue doing this each month."

A genre often overlooked among the current indie/alternative landscape of Morgantown’s music scene, metal rarely gets its chance to shine on the 123 Pleasant Street stage.

However, with Disillusion Effect headlining a strong lineup of Morgantown’s heaviest groups, tonight’s show promises to satisfy even the most intense cravings for metal and leave behind only ringing ears.

"For all the folks who are continually complaining that there aren’t any metal or hardcore shows at 123, this is their time to come and support local talent and make this a common thing," Pownell said.

Opening the night’s festivities will be Cast Off All Ties, a group certain to please fans of hardcore music.

"Cast Off All ties will be opening," Pownell said. "They have a new-school, ‘tough guy’ hardcore sound."

Following Cast Off All Ties is Morgantown-based heavy death metal band The Kafka Machine.

This group refuses to be bound by a single genre, and their sound evokes new-school deathcore while still maintaining the groove of old-school death metal and thrash. Simply put, The Kafka Machine is designed make heads bang.

Rounding out the evening is Disillusion Effect, a group formed from former members of popular metal outfit Diabolus.

"They (Disillusion Effect) are in the vein of Unearth, Lamb of God and DevilDriver," Pownell said.

To metalheads, such a comparison is a compliment of high order and the thought of a fusion of Lamb of God’s groove-metal mastery and DevilDriver’s relentless heavy metal assault is positively mouth-watering.

Doors will open at 9 p.m., and there will be a $5 cover charge to the show.