Formed in Seattle by former members of technical hardcore powerhouse Botch and mathy indie-rock outfit Kill Sadie, These Arms Are Snakes defined an era and a movement of thinking person’s heavy music during their initial run from 2002 to 2009. Injecting the knotty complexity of their previous bands with a swing and throb befitting the most propulsive noise-rock acts of Touch and Go’s early-90s heyday, the music of These Arms Are Snakes became the platonic ideal of early-aughts posthardcore: tough yet fun, sassy and provocative, challenging but catchy. After delivering three albums of aggressive, genre-bending songs rife with fuzzed-out bass, alien synths, confrontational vocals, and lush walls of guitar, the band split and its members all went on to other projects; drummer Chris Common works as a record producer, and bassist Brian Cook has continued to build one of the most prolific resumés in heavy music, holding down the low end in Russian Circles and Sumac, contributing session work to Mammifer and Mouth of the Architect, and maintaining the solo project Torment & Glory. Last August, These Arms Are Snakes came together for a weekend of hometown reunion shows, and this April they released Duct Tape & Shivering Crows via Suicide Squeeze. A compilation of non-album tracks and early demo recordings, the record sheds light on their humble beginnings and proves they still had gas in the tank when they parted ways. When the full-blown These Arms Are Snakes reunion tour hits Lincoln Hall (with Louisville trio Young Widows opening), you can see how the years have treated their angular sounds—and the unhinged, self-destructive performances of vocalist Steve Snere.
These Arms are Snakes, Young Widows, Thu 6/16, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln, $25, 18+
