The lights dimmed, the crowd roared with excitement and California-based band, Motograter stepped on stage at Penny Road Pub in South Barrington. For a brief moment before they began, there was silence in anticipation of the full force of this band's performance. Motograter delivered an audio visual overload, in true metal fashion. 

All six band members dressed in long black shorts and covered themselves with black and white tribal style body paint from head to toe. The lead vocalist, Angel, wore white body paint with black accents and the rest of the band covered themselves in black paint with white accents. 

Unlike other bands, this band plays with its famed "motograter," a homemade instrument that is designed with industrial cable and guitar pieces that create a very deep bass sound. From far away it looks like a keyboard, but up close it's nothing like one. The motograter is adorned with chains and a saw blade, making it totally intriguing. 

"Modesty" is definitely not Motograter's middle name. With lyrics like "I put the whole world in a noose" in "Wrong," their unabashed style lets their onlookers know that they just want to rock as hard as possible for their fans. The band is the quintessential spectacle. You can't help but to be amazed as their guitarists, bassist, motograter player and drummer head bang and move around stage to their heavy numbers. Whether the band is playing for 50 people or 50,000, they will put on the same great show.

As its set progressed, the band never showed signs of slowing down. The body paint may have been dripping off their bodies from sweat, but their energy remained amplified until the final song.

Opening for Motograter was Genus from the northwest suburbs.

To view the rest of the photos from Motograter's show, click here.

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