A Thursday night where the temps fall to arctic (by Southern standards) doesn’t normally bode well for a band. People don’t usually like to leave their houses when they could be toasty on their couches watching Netflix. No cold, however, could keep the people away from The Freetown Boom Boom Room in Lafayette, LA when the one and only Goatwhore were in the building. For over twenty years, Louis Benjamin Falgoust, Sammy Duet, Robert “Trans Am” Coleman, Zack Simmons have brought New Orleans extreme metal to the masses. Opening up on this night was Herakleion from New Orleans and Lafayette’s own Golgothan.
You never know what you’re going to get with young bands. Are we in for something that only appeals to the younglings in the crowd or are we going to witness the next big thing, the band that we will say we saw when they were just starting out. Mostly, you hope for something in the middle. Expectations were met and surpassed when Herakleion took the stage. The New Orleans trio managed what not many openers can: they packed the venue. The pit grew and swayed with each passing song.
I was told about Golgothan before they performed. I was told I was going to really like them. I’ve been told that before (many times) so I take it with a grain of salt. Guess what? I really liked them. Taking theatrical cues from metal acts like Gwar and Slipknot, they have that rawness that was reminiscent of the early years of the aforementioned bands. And much like Gwar and Slipknot, it’s not just theatrics and costumes; there are really good songs backing it up. Moving through the crowd while they performed was impossible (trust me, I tried).
Once Gogothan’s performance ended, people dashed for the door to quickly smoke those last cigarettes before rushing back in the claim their place for the next couple hours. Don’t like where you are? Too bad. The crowd was thick. Once Goatwhore took the stage, the right side of the room moved in unison as the pit grew. From the opening song to finish, the energy never waned. And freezing temperatures were nonexistent.
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