It's a funny name for a show, presumably playing on the testosterone orientation of the audience. Ironic, then, that the gender ratio of the audience was the closest to even of any metal show I've been to.  Perhaps that owed to the outdoor show, with most of the bands being local and having female members who brought friends. Or perhaps it's the rising popularity of post-metal like Mouth of the Architect.

Rise Thy Ruin opened, and they were possibly the best opening band I've seen. Their post-metal tends toward the zappa-prog end of things, with a solid groove. The singer appropriately shook what his momma gave him, in between spazzed out yells. Add in the light show, and it had me grinning ear to ear.

The best thing about Red 7 is that not only can you smoke on the patio, there's another entire show going on out there. I showed up to see 5 bands, and actually saw about 9. The first band, Unravel Mars, were a female-fronted hard rock band, who haven't quite gone completely goth yet, which meant I could still enjoy them for a smoke break.

Mouth of the Architect were probably the best attended act of the night. They stick the closest to the build-explode-repeat formula of post-metal, although they do it beautifully.  Behold... The Arctopus were kind of an odd fit. They're easily the wankiest prog-metal I've ever heard. It's great music, the kind I work well to, but live it's nothing short of hilarious.

IntrOnaut are definitely post-metal. All the elements are there: the spacey naval gazing, a la Cave In, the angular breakdowns, the muted vocals. But where MOTA and the rest play dark against light, IntrOnaut plays dark against darker. Their sound is almost impenetrable; monolithic and unyeilding, it just keeps going, building heavier and heavier all the way. They played almost exclusively from their forthcoming album, save for "Gleamer". By the end of their set, Brodeo seemed much more appropriate: the ratio had shifted towards heavily male, and there were no more polo shirts or sandals.