Periodically I catch an opening act live and they become a real favorite of mine. I drove down to Pittsburgh to catch an Enslaved/Alcest concert. My friends and I got there early and got Primanti Bros. sandwiches and got stoned in the car outside of the venue. The place was a converted church which was unassailably cool and had multi levels of bars and rooms. We wandered around waiting for the show to begin. Ghost was originally slotted to be the opening band but for some unknown reason they were replaced by #junius. We were Ghost fans so we're were bummed (we also had no idea how big that band would eventually become. I remember at the time I had their first album and was still unaware of the makeup/costume schtick) Junius took the stage and sounded heavy, melodic, atmospheric and kind of beautiful. They blew me away. Their music isn't metal but it's not far removed, it's a sort of shoegazey version of metal, not unlike post-"white pony" Deftones as a reference point. It's the vocalist that sells them though. A deep baritone crooner that sounds like he has been fronting a Depeche Mode cover band for years. Melodramatic music with snobby airs of artistic sophistication. Yeah, I liked it straight away. We talked about the band quite a bit on the three hour drive home. They made quite the impression and their discography sits on my "favorite band" shelf on my wall of music. It's a place of honor. My wife even likes the song: "Elisheva, I Love You".
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