Becoming the Archetype/Echo's Answer at First Baptist Church in Minot, ND 07/29/13

I've seen all kinds of shows in all kinds of places. I've seen Brian Welch play in an arena, at least, the room where the liquor and concessions are usually kept when there's an arena show. I've seen Kiss play in front of tens of thousands of people with the kind of pyrotechnics that only the US and Kiss armies could pull off. It used to bother me to see bands I loved playing tiny rooms, but I've since come around to the quality not quantity idea. I would have loved to see Becoming the Archetype play to a packed house, but I'd say the kids we did pack into the First Baptist Church gymnasium more than adequately filled the space with their enthusiasm.

I'm more than willing to confess to a lack of enthusiasm in my local scene. I'll eagerly show up for my friends' bands, but it seems like the vast majority of the music played around Minot isn't exactly, well, my sort. Echoes Answer is one of the exceptions that I can only chalk my ignorance of up to laziness. Now that I've seen them, I am at an impasse however. The fact that they don't have a vocalist both endears them and puts them at a distance to be honest. All the instruments sounded amazing, and technically the songs were very, very impressive. But the lack of vocals made it very easy to drift away and lose the thread a bit. I'm definitely interested in pursuing them further and I'm all for encouraging the few local metal bands, but I can't pretend like this is a hundred percent up my alley either.

I fell in love with Becoming the Archetype because of the eccentricities in their music. They were my introduction to progressive metal, a genre that once bored me to tears outside of Tool but I've now come to consider a favorite. They're still the only band I can think of that has full out jazz breakdowns in their songs. If I'm being honest, I missed those little touches, but I can't ignore the fact that they more than made up for it with full out brutality. The vocalist, who I was mortified to only discover wasn't the band's regular vocalist after he asked the crowd if they were familiar with the group, a question I answered with a resounding yes, put his whole metallic heart into stalking around the band's corner and matching those of us upfront headbang for headbang. The guitarists' mics weren't working as well as they should've, but the guitars came through loud and clear and the solos were impeccable. I've never seen a drummer knock the microphone out of the kick drum, but by the third or fourth time last night it became pretty clear that I should keep that in mind as a criteria to grade future performances on. The crowd, as I mentioned above, threw themselves into the performance with a great amount of gusto. Last night was the first time I've ever seen a circle pit in a church, and the whole front row was a mess of hair whipping around. This whole show was part of a Kickstarter campaign that I contributed to, so I can't lie, I felt a bit of pride in addition to the usual enthusiasm.

I recognize that not everyone will share my enthusiasm, that there are cynics out there, but it's not about the location for me. It's about the music. Becoming the Archetype put on a great show, and it was a great experience. I wouldn't change a thing.