With a beautifully vicious, doom-lusting and spellbinding set, Car_Bomb defined how well-crafted and profoundly creative sci-fi metal and mathcore functions.
And they did just that in a commanding, irresistible way.
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Riffs like razor-sharp vectors, shooting from all directions, breaks with surgical master precision, exquisite elaboration in track structure and composition. Welcome to the world of Car_Bomb.
Guitarist Greg Kubacki has a trademark technique using deep pitch shifting dives with his pedal. It feels and sounds like mountains slowly tilting. The earth is virtually cracking open in slow motion. But the cracks are healed and we are pulled back on solid soil once the deep tones rise to their outset again. It’s an amazing ride.
The sky opens up, and we leave the deep canyons and float through the skies for a while
Drummer Elliot Hoffman plays with severe power, precision – and the virtuous ability to inject high-speed jazzy fills into his bars. Pure art.
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Singer Michael Dafferner can of course growl like a wild bear on attack mode – but he can also sing clean melodies – and when that happens the sky opens up, and we leave the deep canyons and float through the skies for a while. A vocal dichotomy that works perfectly in the case of Car_Bomb.
Among the track highlights for me was “Blindsides”, 1st single from the quartet’s brand new album – and “Scattered Sprites” from their 2019 album Mordial.
Car_Bomb has obviously never tried to please the industry or lure a broader audience. That’s good news
In tonight’s encore song the band played a short riff tribute to Black Sabbath – a logical and respectful gesture – seamlessly blending it with their own fast-paced riff clusters.
Good news: Car_Bomb is not music for the masses
Founded in Rockville Centre, New Your, back in 2000, the band chose their uncompromising niche – and they have stuck to it ever since. Five albums with Centralia (2007) being their first and Blindsides from July 2025 their 5th.
Car_Bomb is not music for the masses. The band has obviously never tried to please the industry or lure a broader audience with a commercial or more simple musical expression or strategy. That’s good news.
So: Not for the masses. But for those who listen to them, I’m sure that loyalty and love forms a clandestine, deeply rooted community. A musical and spiritual congregation. And that’s a warming fact in an all too often shallow world of mainstream music.
Monday night’s venue at Vega had Imperial Triumphant as its second headline.
