The Waiting Room Day 2: Last night’s all-punk power-trio line-up was in stark contrast to the more acoustic, less intense opening night bill and provided a nice test of the venue’s sound system on much, much heavier material. Big surprise: It passed with flying colors. Now Archimedes! and The Stay Awake never sounded better. NA!’s ’90s-influenced grind-house punk never fails to impress and bring back memories of days gone by, though their sound continues to grow beyond that narrow description. Thornton is a grinning monster on stage as he belts out the punk in furious, fuzzy chunks. The Stay Awake, on the other hand, is pure, bitterly sharp shards of punk guitar intricacy driven by Steve Micek’s mad ravings — one moment, a mumbled spoken word, the next, vein-popping screaming at some imaginary girlfriend. As tasty as Robert Little’s bass lines were (absolutely core to their sound), I could have used more of him out the mains. I can’t honestly say that this was the best Bombardment Society has ever sounded. I’ve heard them in wall-of-sound mode down at Sokol Underground, and those sets were unbeatable. Last night’s was impressive, but you may be starting to hear a possible limitation to The Waiting Room’s system. When it comes to Bombardment Society, louder is always better, and it could have been louder last night; it probably would have been louder at the Underground. It’s probably not a limitation of the sound system as much as the venue subconsciously trying to be considerate of the folks in the back of the room. Such considerations never enter anyone’s mind at Sokol Underground. I have a feeling the system’s ability to handle ear-bleeding loudness will be realized at tonight’s invitation-only show, which I’ll tell you about tomorrow morning if I get up early enough.

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