MUSIC: Heavy metal fans invade a Temple in BK

The Brooklyn Masonic Temple, in Ft. Greene, was built in 1909 and has hosted a number of fraternal organizations over the years, as well as various weddings, meetings and birthday parties.

But for (probably) the first time, the Temple hosted a full-on metal show last night, featuring scene vets Neurosis, Southern upstarts Mastodon and the relatively unknowns U.S. Christmas.

Is this the next great, off-beat venue in NYC, a la The United Palace and Warsaw? The Temple, which is fairly bare bones in its layout, has room for about 1000 people, with a large, unobstructed floor and a seated balcony. Beer ($5 for 16 oz. of Bud or Sierra Nevada) was handled by a ticket system, and lines were few...except for the men's room, which had up to 40 people in line at points (favorite moment: one of the few women at the show walking by the line, laughing and pointing, then sauntering into the gigantic—and empty—women's bathroom).

As for the sound...that's a work in progress. US Christmas, which featured a surprisingly large number of grey-haired pony-tailed types, actually hit the right balance between Sabbath-y metal thunder and atmospheric layering (thanks to a whole lotta theremin use). They also elicited the only real laugh of the night, albeit unintentionally.

Me to girlfriend: "Which one would you do, if you had to?"

Girl: (Pointing to antlers on the frontman's mic stand) "The singer, because he's obviously 'horny.' Thanks, I'll be here all week!"

Mastodon, the night's headliner in all but name, struggled a bit to work through the sludgy mix; it was sufficiently brutal, if a bit same-y after an hour (props to the security, however, for allowing a decent amount of moshing and not being, as one patron eloquently put it, "dicks"). Neurosis, always one of the more progressive bands in the scene, used their keyboards, a large video screen and bass line that could be charitably termed "oppressive" to create a true stoner vibe...as evidenced by the skunkweed smell that immediately wafted in during the band's first note.

Mastodon and Neurosis play the Brooklyn Mason Temple (photo gallery) [Metromix New York]