From The Skies was laying it down with a fierce brutality as I made my way into the Montage Music Hall Saturday night. I'm not the biggest metal fan --- I do like it, though --- but the sound fit my mood perfectly: cold and pissed. The music blasted out and up thick and angry to about 50 hardcore fans gathered around the stage as if it were a baggage carousel at the airport.

Headliner Aggressive Betty writes great, straight-ahead metal tunes (the band has been doing so for a dozen or so years) and delivers them unrelentingly. But the mix on stage Saturday was a little thin. I think that happens when the guitars are so loud that the soundman can't feed them through the P.A. I think the trick is to turn it down so you can ultimately turn it up.

At least I got to see a woman in her 60s (I'm assuming) head-banging front and center. My mom never headbanged at any of my shows.