Smart Metal

Oakland's Alaric brings brains to the brutality

Did you know there are more metal bands in the Bay Area than pretty much anywhere else on earth, not counting Scandinavia? Between Oakland, San Francisco, Berkeley, etc., there are literally countless acts that embody and improve upon myriad metal sub-genres to unleash their specific takes on the heaviest of musical styles, and by culling inspiration from decades of metal madness, they catapult the genre into some interesting places. Ghoul, for example, brings a tongue-in-cheek silliness to their thrashy punk sound, whereas Saviours is perhaps a bit more technical and serious (though they fucking shred nonetheless). Neither are screwing around, however, and there is pure musicianship of the highest order to be found almost anyplace one looks.

I could easily sit here rattling off Bay Area metal trivia, too, but I've actually come on a mission to educate Santa Feans about a particularly excellent band from Oakland called Alaric, who will be playing at Meow Wolf on Sunday, June 19. Alaric stands out from a pack of admittedly tremendous bands in a two-pronged fashion: Yes, they completely slay with blast beats, brutal vocals and down-tuned guitars and bass that practically rattle your bones, but it's in the more subtle throwback elements of Alaric's style that their main selling point lies.

"The Bay Area metal scene came out of the punk scene, like, the punk and crust and indie music scenes, and it turned into this weird, artistic kind of metal scene," Alaric frontman/lyricist Shane Baker tells SFR. "Growing up, you'd see bands like Neurosis and Green Day on the same show, and often, and the band definitely came up in that scene. Going to [punk venue] Gilman Street, we definitely came up in that scene together, and metal has, I think, become the most interesting scene in the Bay."

More to the point, Baker actually sings from time to time, and while no one is besmirching the heavy awesomeness of a screaming vocalist, it's paramount to one of Alaric's cooler aspects. By allowing inspiration from bands who might be more accurately described as goth or death rock, like Bauhaus or Sisters of Mercy, Alaric merges black metal evil with darkly poppy rock.

"I've got nothing against a good bludgeoning," Baker jokes, "but there's definitely a more contemplative aspect to our style, and sometimes that's just how it comes out, but even though I think some of the tones that we use maybe sound that way, music like that is really more of a jumping-off point, and we're not really as '80s or, I think, English as that maybe sounds."

Indeed. They've tapped into this more underground, perhaps more cerebral, style that may have had its heyday in the '80s but never actually left the goth nights and metal shows that exist outside the mainstream. They've just kept the evolution going and added their own signature to the mix. This means Alaric is eclectic, to say the least, and sometimes challenging. Think of them as a sort of mini-lesson on the gothy punk and post-punk offshoots that paved the way for many of today's most beloved and/or successful metal acts.

According to Baker, the metal scene, specifically the Bay Area's many bands, owes its very existence to these non-metal bands; Alaric is like the heavy, gloomy cousin of shoegaze, but they replace what can almost be too heartfelt with emotionally resonant introspection and self-examination. It just goes to show that even metal can be a dissection of one's own baggage, or a means of catharsis for its songwriters—yes, there will always be the ripping up of corpses, but that doesn't mean the genre can't get deep. The band even caught the eye (ear?) of Neurosis, who, by the way, is a metal band that everyone must know before they can truly call themselves a metalhead. OK, OK—so maybe that's a little intense as a statement, and you're surely allowed to like what you like (even if you're doing it wrong), but Alaric's most recent release, End of Mirrors, just dropped last month courtesy of Neurot Recordings, the brainchild of Neurosis and Tribes of Neurot members. That's a big deal without question, but also a testament to Neurot's focus on smart and stylish songwriting.

"It's a big honor," Baker says of his label. "And we're all super into it."

Should you want to be super into it, check out this show. Local thrash-punk quartet Econarchy (which features members of Logical Nonsense) opens, so it should probably be the best night of our lives.

Alaric with Econarchy:
8 pm Sunday, June 19. $15.
Meow Wolf,
1352 Rufina Circle
780-4458

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