september 15th, 2025
god, i love ophelia's. this venue apparently existed pre-me under a different name, but under its current ownership, it's only started hosting shows earlier this year. i'm a massive fan of the physical space of it. the front area is a bar with its own kitchen and very comfortable chairs. there's a distinct separation between the show space and the bar, but they're not just stuffing the venue into a back room. the dancefloor is huge, the sound coming from the stage is lovely, it's very easy to get to on the bus and is near a bunch of lovely other stops in the city.. just all around a good spot! i don't think there's been a single heavy show at ophelia's that i haven't attended. and there's no way in hell i was going to miss this one. it's like they made this show lineup for me!
from the second i entered the building to the second music began, i was moving from conversation to conversation. every time i turned, i saw another friend. i missed feeling so at home at a gig. as i caught up with friends, i picked up new shirt designs from nailed shut and noir. both of these prints are gorgeous and i'm immensely excited to wear them out and about! noir was n especially purchase-heavy table for me because not only did i grab their cd with my shirt, but a friend of mine who'd performed with noir a couple of months ago asked for me to pick up a bundle for him, And i had bought a shirt for a band not remotely on this show's lineup from noir's frontman that he hadn't been able to pass off to me until this night. this was the first time that i felt the need to drop my purchases off in my friend's car without purchasing any vinyl records - the sheer mountain of shirts in my arms after maybe ten minutes of being at the show was comical. my roommates offered to bring my thngs to the car themselves, since they also had things that could go in the car - which was a lifesaver for me, as i'd started waiting with baited breath for sound check to become the start of the show.
first band up was noir! i've grown immensely fond of these guys. about a year ago, my boyfriend and i saw pain of truth and final resting place at a bowling alley. this was fatal realm's first show, and my boyfriend took a nasty kick to the teeth during their set. while we were figuring out where to comfortably sit between sets so i could assess the damage, this total stranger walked up to us and asked my boyfriend, "hey, you're the guy who plays metal music on the radio in albany, right?" when he answered yes, this guy told us about how he listens to his show and loves it every week - my boyfriend had his first fan! this fan turned out to be the frontman of noir. when the band released their ep and started playing shows more frequently, my boyfriend became quick friends with the band; i had them in my proximity for a while due to this connection, but i can much more confidently call them my friends as well nowadays. i love their music as a whole, but seeing it in person, screaming the lyrics back at ben, bracing for impact during the side-to-sides, aaagh!! i love!!! they played two tracks that i didn't recognize as being on their ep - one of them was a cover, but one of them might be an unreleased original track. i meant to ask about it, but i got caught up with too many other people talking about too many other things to get my shot. released, cover, or unreleased, every track sounded lovely live. i wanted to step up and get more involved than i did, but every time i went to step in and join the fun, the dozens of bruises on my leg radiated with ache and made me go stiff. i can't regret my participation level too much, though, since i know i'll get another opportunity to see them again soon.
second up was invoke thy wrath. these guys were one of the first albany bands i saw live! they're capital-d Deathcore, which isn't my go-to genre of music, but they have a special place in my heart for playing my first real albany show. deathcore is usually a genre that doesn't get much physical movement out of me, but there's some sort of special sauce in invoke thy wrath's music that makes me want to dance. though i'd say noir had people out moving on the floor more consistently throughout their set, itw definitely had the heaviest hitters. i took quite a few hits to the head, but nothing i couldn't brace myself for. unfortunate timing for my lips to get uncomfortably puffy before nailed shut's set, but nothing split open and the inflamation was gone by the time i went to bed, so i really can't complain. there's a booth-style seat in the back right corner of the room, and i've seen people fall onto the padding before, but the pile of bodies i saw tonight was the biggest i've ever encountered in person. when the music ended, a loose piercing and small drops of blood were scattered around the floor in that corner.
the gap between invoke thy wrath and nailed shut was uncomfortably long. chatting with owen, apparently noir and invoke thy wrath were too on top of things and we were way ahead of schedule. i didn't mind too much, since it let me chat with all of the people i'd missed earlier, and it let my friends who came late not have missed too much of the show.
nailed shut. god, nailed shut.
something that's made me really happy with these past few times seeing the boys is how the bar for their performances has noticably gotten higher. way less technical difficulty, their unreleased tracks use entirely new facets of the members' abilities, everyone's visibly more confident with how they look and move on stage. i'm so proud of how they're evolving, and i admire them more and more with each set they play. tonight was mostly the same set as what they played at door daze, except they skipped out on teeth and instead played a cover of unanswered by suicide silence! and hooooly shit was it a good cover. considering how into it i get whenever they happen, i guess i'm a sucker for suicide silence covers (invoke thy wrath has played no pity for a coward the past couple of times that i've seen them including this show, and it utterly rules every time). so much for not being a deathcore guy, haha! i am a little bit sad that cerebellum has left the regular list of songs that they play live, since it's without question my favorite of theirs, but the unreleased tracks are so good i can't actually be mad about them taking up more of their set. i need to remember my old gymnastics skills for centipede; it's definitely my favorite of the new tracks, but besides its two-step section, there isn't a whole lot of typical mosh moves that make sense with the song! asher seems to agree, considering he introduced the track by declaring "let's get weird". i also kind of am biting my tongue about having gotten the microphone for the exact same line of the exact same song two shows in a row, but i'll have more opportunities once a proper copy of their new tracks finally comes out and i can study up. regardless of my neuroses, they put on an absolutely lovely set that leaves me all the more on the edge of my seat waiting for the next one.
after their set wrapped up, i got to talk with the guitarist who filled in for joel on this tour, ian! we had a nice back and forth about the interconnectedness of our home scenes and the hurdles of balancing music and studies. he absolutely killed it on stage, so now i have even more reason to listen to the one band of ian's that i haven't already checked out, moonflower. while we were chatting, asher came over to where we were standing and showed off the bloodstains on his microphone. after a few more chats with people i hadn't already caught up with, the last band of the night was getting on stage!
these final guys were two piece. they were the band i had the least strong feelings about walking into the show, having only heard one song of theirs in full. i was very pleasantly surprised with them in person! despite my preexisting injuries flaring up, they were too good to not get out and dance for! beating on the edge of the pit for a full loop around when your leg is already busted was probably not the best move on a monday night, but honestly, it was too fun to not indulge. they played a couple of unreleased tracks, if memory serves me correctly, and my favorite song of the eventing was the one that they announced would come out later this week. i'm excited to relive the performance in my mind when the single releases. i beat on one of my roommates a little extra since i knew he wouldn't take it to heart and he's a solid 10 inches taller than me, and i accidentally prompted him to spend the last 3 or so songs sitting outside to calm down. i wish the music that affirmed my masculinity wasn't so stupid... no i don't. i love these brainless riffs. two piece was lovely.
after two piece wrapped up their set, i picked up a shirt from them, and then i figured "what the hell, i've bought from 3 out of 4 tables and i don't own anything for invoke thy wrath yet", so i proceeded to buy one of their last size-large shirts left. this is the closest i'll probably ever get to those big shopping hauls people get hounded for overconsumption about on social media. i felt glorious. after one final round of goodbyes to the boys in nailed shut, letting them know about the stickers i handed to asher at the start of the show, i headed back home with my roommates. as we walked to the car, my friends stopped me dead in my tracks to note the blood that somehow got on the back of my shirt. i'm not sure whether it came from getting too close to the danger zone after invoke thy wrath's set, getting in asher's face while his nose was bleeding mid-set, or if i rendered someone bloody during my brief stint moshing for two piece. however it got there, whoever the blood belongs to, i apologize but also thank you for making my shirt ten times cooler. all in all, it was a wonderful night. a desperately needed breath of fresh air with my schedule lately.