God mother | Cult Leader | Joy | Generation of Vipers

I’m putting these bands together because of similarity in sound and concert grouping, starting with Swedish hardcore/grindcore band, God Mother.

https://godmothersverige.bandcamp.com/music

Text from John before the show:

David and I saw Godmother and Cult Leader at Strangematter (Richmond, VA) with John and Aaron on December 10, 2018. Aaron met us there and we went out for food at some scary restaurant with no bathroom. They were one of the openers for Cult Leader. I hadn’t listened to them before, but after the concert, I was hooked. Their energy was simply unmatched and I can still feel it 8 years later. Pretty cool they came all the way from Sweden to a hole like Richmond. 

Us Walking Grace St at night 

Sebastian tight-rope- walked on the railing edging the entrance on the right (when you’re facing the stage area), jumping off. He walked up to me. I held eye contact and he put the mic in my face. I was pretty nervous but I did the growls (thanks to David and John teaching me how several nights a week- and much to the annoyance of Dr. Charles). John looked at me and I can still see him smiling, and then he smacked me on the back and said “that was hot.” The show was awesome. Here’s the setlist: 

When they finished their set, John made a mad, weave-snatching- dash for the merch table. And, speaking of weaves, one of the other opener dudes- who was like 7ft tall, 300lbs, and had 3 ft long dreads- stepped on me during the mosh. When I asked him to get off my foot, one of his dreads smacked me in the face and went in my mouth a little bit. But as usual, there was no soap, paper towels, or TP in the Strangematter women’s bathroom. It was a toss up if his dread or the bathroom sink was nastier. I was not about to stick my face near the hepatitis faucet. But In memory of Strangematter, I made our bathroom look like it, with some slight differences and painted the ceiling black… 

Back to John at the merch table mayhem.. He always bummed a sharpie off me, because I always carried a black and silver one for autographs or for medicinal reasons in college. While everyone else in microbiology was dropping like flies or barfing in the hall, I could sit there with my sharpie and finish the experiments unscathed. Idk, it worked. I digress… 

The day after the concert, John spun the record and we listened to it. We were super buzzed and lying there on his carpet of questionable integrity and he said,

“Yeah I know we just saw them but it’s oh so good” 

“It’s alright. It’s a character flaw of mine to keep things on repeat so you’re preaching to the choir” 

“AHA! It is never a character flaw if it’s good music.” 

We both cracked up and kept listening to it. I think we kinda lost track of which side / flipping order. 

After John’s death, their music gained a different meaning to me. as type of psychic connection to him. When I listen to them coming/ going to work, it’s like I’m back in that place and time. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then one song must be a thousand pictures. John’s there slapping me on the back and smiling. All the memories come back and even still, I can’t help crying when the album finishes with the cathartic release-  “Burdenless.”

You don’t typically think of grindcore of being an emotional ride other than anger or shock value, but that just simply isn’t the case. 

John’s autographed, clear copy of Vilseledd (2017) vinyl from the concert. It was one of the first vinyl albums he got autographed. It remains my favorite album by them (favorite tracks # 14,7, 13,12, 9 in that order). And to this day, I can  

 https://godmothersverige.bandcamp.com/album/vilseledd

Maktbehov (2015) vinyl pink/green swirl ltd 

Obeveklig EP (2022) 7” 

Mine/ David’s Godmother gray tshirts from 2018 tour

My Black tshirt tour version 

God mother shirts in the wild (it’s David’s favorite shirt I think): 

Cult Leader 

John introduced us to Cult Leader sometime in 2017/2018. I had seen their name because I liked Bossk, whose name was directly next to Cult Leaders on Deathwish’s website. I can see myself now in 20 years saying this to the future generations, “Yeah back in my day Deathwish only had signed 10 bands.” 

I am pretty sure he got this on one of his business trips and I remember hearing CL for the first time- we were listening to “A Lightless Walk.” John picked me up some stouts and we listened to it. My initial favorite track was was “A good life” and we couldn’t figure out the lyrics. John couldn’t read it well, so we pulled out the vinyl sleeve and he asked me to read off the lyrics. It’s still my favorite track on that album, as well as #3, 5, and 11. The whole album is a banger though. 

https://cultleadermusic.bandcamp.com/album/lightless-walk

Ticket stub for the show (gone are the days of being able to see a great show for 10$) 

Merch I bought before the show. The Med shirt was for David, the large was for John, and the small long sleeve was for myself. John was butthurt because he wanted a long sleeve but as metal merch protocol goes, what you want is only in s/xs or 3xl 😂.

My long sleeve patient man tshirt 

John’s tshirt 

John’s clear/ white splatter “A Patient Man” vinyl we got at the show. 

My vinyl I got autographed by the band and gave to Dad for Xmas 2018

John and I drooled over the preview of the tour copy in the weeks prior to the show. Europe had their own version. A bit shamefully I admit, as soon as the doors opened, I made a beeline for the table and bought it for Dad. John and I kinda were in the habit of buying stuff before the show started so we had to hold it through the show, but we’d trade off to mosh/ bathroom/ etc. I think it was the drummer we talked to after the show- he was going back to college for his biology degree so we talked about (I was a biology major also). 

John got his 7in blue vinyl copy of “Useless Animal” autographed by them at the show 

John’s other 7in “Nothing for us here” vinyl 

—-will try to find it tonight— 

“A patient man” is a very emotional ride now. David and I relistened to it last week and I just cried the whole time. It’s a very special album and portrays anger, frustration with silence, and cathartic release of pain.

I know most everyone says to Achleys is great- and I guess it is- it just wasn’t my absolute favorite on the album. 

Favorite tracks #3,5,9,10 the most (ones I put on repeat) but the whole album is great. 

https://cultleadermusic.bandcamp.com/album/a-patient-man

My CDs / poster 

I did have 2 cd copies of “A patient man” but I gave one to John and one to Donny. Never found John’s. He used to keep it in his Acura though. 

John’s long sleeve tee (it must’ve been recently because it’s an XL and he was always a m/lg. I’m thinking 2024/2025

Cult leader shirts in the wild

————-

JOY 

Joy is a straight-edge, blackened hardcore-grindcore band from NC. To me, they sound like if Godmother and Generation of Vipers had a love child. I believe they are now inactive (thanks Covid), but their two albums are bangers. 

Really wish I could’ve known about them when they had tshirts coming out 

No Light Below (2019) 

This album is my favorite of theirs. Bleak home and despised are my favorite tracks on it- they’re super catchy and sludgy. I find myself playing them on repeat. I love the dirty sound and I’m hoping David and I can play these songs in a concert one day. 

https://tolivealie.bandcamp.com/album/no-light-below 

__________

Generation of Vipers is a sludge/ postmetal/ post hardcore band from TN. Unfortunately, I’ve never seen them live. 

Vocals sound similar to Joy. I want to say I found them through Bossk sometime in 2017, either that or the other way around. 

The first album I heard from them was Coffin Wisdom. One of my favorite album covers. 

https://generationofviperstl.bandcamp.com/album/coffin-wisdom

Favorite tracks#2,4,5,7

Pretty much every road trip with dad, I put Howl and Filth on. Favorite tracks in this order #6 (BANGER!),1,2,3

https://generationofvipers.bandcamp.com/album/howl-and-filth

“Dead Circles” EP — a beacon in the fog is my favorite track of them all on here.

https://generationofvipers.bandcamp.com/album/dead-circle

My Coffin wisdom tshirt 2018?

My Vinyl 

Looks we got both shirts in one go here. David and I hiking up Blackrock Summit in Shenandoah (where we got married in 2022) 2024