The Athiarchists

Double kick bass drum, triple picked guitar, growling, screaming, non-intonated words you can understand played at a pace so fast that it barely registers as music. Every band sounds the same and the metal scene in Eugene was getting boring. I was tired of the same old crap, and starting to wonder if anything was going to change. Well, it has... the Athiarchists have arrived!

One night I happened to walk by the Samuari Duck, and went in expecting more of the same of what I described above. I was surprised to see Aaron Tunnell (band founder, lead singer, guitar), Dano (drums, formerly the lead singer, Mymidon, in the Chain Saw Sex Vikings), and Ryan (bass) rocking out and blowing people away. The sound was different, the music had a message, their stage presence was huge, and it ended up being the most fun I have had in the Eugene music scene for years.

Tunnell writes and performs all of their original music, and as you can gather from their name, a combination of Anarachist and Athiest, he is pissed off at the world and wants you to join him. In their namesake anthem, Athiarchist, going out to all you "Bush lovin', church hoppin' BITCHES", Tunnell starts off naively singing the children's song, "Jesus loves me this I know", ramping up to screams of "I'm a crazy Motherfucker, on a drunken friday night". Later in the song, he becomes God, then takes a turn as the President, all the while taking huge swipes at how screwed up society has become. This song is destined for greatness.

Tunnell's voice ranges from spoken words to straight singing to both high and low screams. The screaming effectively highlights the spoken words and straight up singing to really hammer home the point of Tunnell's substantial messages and visionary lyrics. Hearing the message and feeling the compassion is amplified by the searing stage presence of Tunnell and Dano as they work the crowd to a moshing frenzy.

After performing especially grueling songs such as Mr. Bopringles which leaves both Tunnell and Dano drained of energy, they have a great time working the crowd by participating in drinking an Irish Car Bomb or maybe even performing a tongue in cheek punk song such as Fuck the World (and Fuck You). Harkening back to bands such as the Ramones or the Clash, their punk songs bring a nice rhythm to the night.

Other anthems such as Vent bring a more serious tone to the set, lightly introduced as "things that piss us off", the song is much deeper than that. Exploring such troubling subjects as kids being sent to Iraq to fight our president's "war about oil" to why a 15 year old kid was shot in the jaw by a Sprinfield policeman. Vent pulls no punches exploring how fucked up things in the world are and slams you back in your seat as Tunnell screams out "It happens every day, so get the fuck over it."

While Tunnell is wailing up front, Dano is bringing life to the drum kit. Having recently switched from being a frontman to absolutely destrying the drums with his physicalness, Dano brings a presence to the drums that is rarely seen. At times during the set, when he is completely absorbed in pain trying to keep up a complicated beat, Dano's eyes roll back in his head giving away just how much effort is required to play this type of music. Although most Athiarchist's songs are original's, Dano sings a driving cover of AC/DC's TnT near the end of the set that will light your hair on fire. Godamn! Everybody put your fist in the air and scream "OYE". This shit is fun!

Billing themsleves as Epic Metal Punk, The Athiarchists are a breath of fresh air in a stagnant local music scene. They are what they are, and not what you want them to be... You owe it to yourself to go see them.

-Motoman - www.makeitbigingames.com