We’re back, a little older, not necessarily wiser, and full of goo. Rock goo! Emergenza has made it another year and the season in now plowing through 2007. We had a couple shows this past weekend full of folks still nursing aching heads and even more hurting wallets, but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, that can’t stop the rock, so let’s get to it. Friday, January 5th Friday the 5th of January had a full line up of some pretty promising acts. Zionbridge was a decidedly heavy-rock band, fronted by a female vocalist. Heavy though they were, their tunes were interwoven with some more soulful breakdowns and windy, melodic interludes. Whoarfrost, being what happens when you leave your hooker in the freezer too long, thrashed about the stage playing the noisiest, most energetic rock I’ve heard yet. The only way you could even get a sense of the song structures was by listening to their unbelievably tight drummer, giving the most subtle cues to the rest of the band. Headtrain’s most distinguishable feature was their lead vocalist. The band was young , but the music was mature. Delays and “wall of sound” aesthetics formed a solid foundation for the extremely adept singer to belt out some ballad like songs over. UPBYSEVEN was a newer band that has some great ideas for tunes, fronted by a singer/songwriter type with a solid band of Berklee kids to back him up. Pax Romana was a pleasant surprise for me: though they were all still in high school, this all piano and keyboard band wrote some deliciously sugary ambience that mellowed out the room but still kept your toes tapping. Adam Sloane Trio was a fun, energetic group that was a different type of Piano Rock with a little harder edge and Piano-man style lyrics that told definitive stories about all types of stuff. Nation Dozie was a hard-rock-funk project that above all had the best breaks and drumming of the night. I was in constant fear of having to replace a drum head or two by the end of the set, as the drummer seemed to be playing with hammers. 3ve was a fantastic instrumental band that the crowd certainly dug, as the swung an incredible amount of votes their way by the end of the set. They had a funky-jazz sound and a keyboardist playing at once what 3 musicians would have trouble playing. They were pretty sick. Nutshell was an awesome example of the Hard-Rock scene in Massachusetts. They had driving riffs and breakdowns, with a more melodic yet guttural vocalist, and with the simplicity of a three piece. In the end we had a tie so 5 bands total moved on, and they were Nutshell, 3ve, Nation Dozie, Adam Sloane, and Pax Romana. Saturday, January 6th Saturday the 6th of January was no weaker for the music, but holy crap was the club packed. The line was out the door and stayed that way for a good chunk of the night. Monostereo was a high energey emo-alt-rock band that had great presence and one could help but have fun just watching them play. Cloud 9 was right up there energy wise, but had a very different style and leaned more towards the straightforward side of rock. When I closed my eyes while watching The Entry Point, I was inclined to think I was listening to a young Tool. Everything from the vocals to the melodies reeked of that influence, and they pulled it off very well. Mission transported me back to my younger Fat Wreck Chords days of Nofx and Lagwagon. Not only were they incredibly tight, but the songs were a brilliant new version of what made punk so good back then. Ultra Plush had a real skuzzy, Goth-classic rock feel, which to me was very unique. Though they closed out the night, they certainly woke some people up in the audience with their set. Monolith was an epic-stoner-rock act that brought the hurt onto the stage with blaring guitars and grungy nu-metal style vocals. I could n