At this point it’s well documented that shows during the week are typically a no-go for me; I’m a corporate lackey that’s typically in bed by 9:00 pm. That said, there was no way in hell I was going to miss Church’s tape release / tour kickoff show with Lycus, Usnea and Ufomammut in spite of it taking place late on a Thursday night (shout out to my boss for letting me take off the Friday before a week-long business trip). The Sacramento doom quintet recently unleashed their absolutely stellar debut album Unanswered Hymns in digital form, but being a physical format guy, I was dying to pick up this three song behemoth in glorious analog and hold it my hands, not to mention the fact that Church are an excellent live unit and I’ll find just about any excuse I can to see them play.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Sacramento in the ten months I’ve lived here, it’s that this city loves its doom and sludge. I’m sure as hell not complaining, especially when we get shows of this caliber; long-running LA sludge godfathers -(16)- descending upon the Starlite Lounge along with Oakland sludge/punk legends Brainoil, SF noise rockers Kowloon Walled City and hometown doom-lords-in-the-making Church was indeed a dream show for fans of all things slow ‘n’ low.
There’s no shortage of great shows happening in Sacramento every month, but the dregs of being a responsible adult often keep me from going to them. When you’re a corporate lackey that gets up for work bright and early at 6:45 AM, going to a show on a weeknight that doesn’t even start until 8:00 PM isn’t really in the cards. But there was no way I was going miss out on Incantation; the death metal legends are celebrating their 25th anniversary with a string of West Coast dates, and with Funerus, Mortuous and Plague Widow in tow, this one was guaranteed to be a rager.
Longtime THKD readers will recall that late last year I finally got to see Danzig live after being a fan of the man and his music for twenty years. Considering the fact that the set included a slew of Danzig classics + a mini-set of Misfits songs featuring Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein on guitar, I was convinced that I could pretty much die happy.
As a heavy metal fan, I’ve seen dozens of amazing shows. But I can probably count on one hand the number of shows that fully immersed me, the ones that made real life and all the horrific mundanity that goes with it melt away completely, the ones that made me feel like I was alone in the universe with nothing but the band and the music. Dispirit’s headlining set at the Starlite Lounge last Sunday night was one of them.
My second show in Sacramento was in some ways a throwback to my younger years in Des Moines; I used to walk down to Hairy Mary’s by myself to see shows because my sorry ass didn’t have a car and to make matters worse I didn’t know anyone else who gave a shit about the underground. Not being much of a grindcore fan, my wife decided to sit out Sunday’s matinee at the Midtown Barfly, and as a result I found myself flying solo once again, which is always a delightfully awkward experience given that I’m not exactly the most outgoing person out there. Also, many of those shows I hoofed it to back in the day were heavy on grindcore bands such as Black Market Fetus, Strong Intention, Catheter, Entrails Massacre and Phobia, to name but a few, so I was excited to experience a show in a similar vein in my new city. A complete and utter lack of social skills doesn’t matter much when you’re being pummeled at a million miles an hour by some of the most vicious and unrelenting music out there.
When it comes to metal shows in Des Moines, it’s either feast or famine. The month of April is proving to be quite the feast, boasting tour stops from genre luminaries such as Broken Hope, The Lurking Corpses and Embryonic Devourment. But the show I’ve probably been looking forward to the most was a three-headed beast; a headlining set from legendary German thrashers Destruction, supported by Brazilian brutal death metal trio Krisiun and SoCal up-and-comers Exmortus.
Over the past few years, I’ve had the opportunity to finally check a few bands off my old school death metal bucket list. The likes of Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel and Grave (I sadly missed Deicide and Suffocation when they were here 😦 ) have violated the asshole of the Midwest with their unholy presence, and it’s always gratifying to finally experience these bands in the live setting after having coveted their studio albums for all this time. On a cold, rainy Thursday night in Des Moines, I was happy to add Chicago’s original overlords of brutal death metal Broken Hope to that list, and goddamn if they didn’t deliver the goods and then some.
At this point, my status as a Glenn Danzig maniac is far beyond well-documented. Between the Misfits, Samhain and Danzig, I’ve devoted more digital ink to the man’s music than to any other artist I’ve covered here at THKD. The last time I took stock of my music collection, the Evil Elvis dominated it with over twenty releases, not to mention all the t-shirts and other random paraphernalia I own. My one and only tattoo is based loosely on “Thirteen,” the song Danzig wrote for Johnny Cash (my favorite metal singer meets my favorite non metal singer). Cosmo Lee, the founder of Invisible Oranges, even based a post around my admission that I celebrate Danzig’s entire catalogue in my review of 2010’s excellent Deth Red Sabaoth. Continue reading “Finally… Danzig.”
To say that I was highly anticipating seeing Ghost in the flesh would probably be the understatement of the year. Their 2010 debut full length Opus Eponymous has been in near constant rotation since its release, and this year’s Infestissumam already has a place in my year-end top five all but locked up. There is something about their combination of Luciferian lyrics, infectious yet hard-rocking pop hooks and outlandish visuals that’s incredibly appealing to this old fan of KISS, Alice Cooper and King Diamond, artists with which Ghost clearly shares a lineage. Continue reading “Ghost @ Mill City Nights, Minneapolis, MN 5/4/13”
First thing’s first; yes, Skeletonwitch did headline this show. However, I opted not to cover them in this review for a variety of reasons. First and foremost because I’ve been following the band since 2007’s Beyond the Permafrost and wanted to enjoy them as a fan rather than a “journalist;” snapping photos, taking notes and trying to remember setlists often feels a lot like “work,” and no matter how enjoyable that work may be, it isn’t the same as just watching and enjoying a band for no other reason than pure entertainment. Secondly, does Skeletonwitch really need another live review, considering the heights they’ve achieved within the metal underground in terms of popularity (especially when their current tour is almost over with)? I’m thinking the answer is “no,” so I decided it might be more rewarding from the “journalist” perspective to focus on Mutilation Rites and Havok, the young and hungry opening bands who might have a bit more use for the exposure.
The last time I wrote about Early Graves, it was with a heavy heart. A planned review of their 2010 album Goner became a lamentation of vocalist Makh Daniels, whose life had been taken in a van accident while the band was out on tour. I assumed it was to be the first and last time I would write about the devastating young quintet who had shown so much promise. However, the remaining members of Early Graves regrouped, making the undoubtedly difficult decision to soldier on with new screamer John Strachan (also of The Funeral Pyre) at the helm, proving the old cliche that you just can’t keep a good band down. The result is Red Horse, a snorting, stomping, snarling beast of a recording that’s beyond a shadow of a doubt the San Franciscans’ most potent statement to date. The album isn’t out until October 30th, but Early Graves are already hitting the road hard, bringing their patented brand of pure Hell to the stage.
Morbid Angel, Dark Funeral, Grave; listening to metal in my early teens and twenties, I never imagined such an excellent lineup would roll through my hometown of Des Moines, IA. When this tour was announced, I found myself checking the dates on several websites just to make sure I wasn’t seeing things and that there really was a Des Moines stop scheduled. This would be my first time seeing all three bands, and being that all three bands are legendary (at least as far as my own personal metal pantheon is concerned), I was just as giddy at 33 as I would’ve been at 18 had this lineup desecrated Des Moines back then. Continue reading “Grave / Dark Funeral / Morbid Angel @ People’s Court, Des Moines IA, 10/07/12”
It was a not-so-dark-and-stormy night when the creepy Creepsylvanians known as Ghoul brought their patented brand of uh, ghoulish splatterthrash to Des Moines, IA, aka the asshole of the Midwest. I was excited to see them for the first time, and that excitement was only heightened by a lengthy wait outside the venue (at least I wasn’t standing next to the Juggalos), followed by what seemed like an eternity sitting through a rather abysmal opening band (the less said on that, the better). After a declaration by the Grand Basilisk stating that we were all in violation of Creepsylvanian law for harboring these four maniacal hooded fugitives, the band hit the stage, immediately launching into “Off With Their Heads” from their latest album, 2011’s Transmission Zero. From the very beginning it was clear that Ghoul had come to kill, and the musical evisceration didn’t let up for a moment over the course of their thirty-odd-minute set. Continue reading “Metallicus Ex Mortis: Ghoul @ People’s Court, Des Moines, IA 03/27/2012”
Eyehategod has long been one of my absolute favorite bands, yet thanks to living in the asshole of the Midwest for all of my natural life (six months in California doesn’t count), I’ve never had the chance to experience their down-tuned Sabbath-ian scuzz-sludge live. Luckily, the band released their first ever live DVD (simply titled Live) late last year, and I think I can safely say it’s the next best thing witnessing the crawling chaos that is Eyehategod in person. Continue reading “DVD Review: Eyehategod – Live (2011)”
Over the past twelve months, I’ve been thinking a lot about death, due to the untimely passing of several friends and loved ones. You’d think that the last thing I’d want to do is listen to death metal, let alone go to a death metal show. But you see, I never thought of death metal as music that makes light of, pokes fun at, or otherwise devalues death. On the contrary, death metal (at least the good stuff) is a celebration of life, a potent cultural reminder of our own mortality, that life is often too short and should therefore be lived to the fullest. I can’t think of many things in life more exhilarating than blastbeats, heavy riffs and careening guitar solos. So going to a death metal show is exactly what I did when the recently re-animated California gore lords known as Exhumed brought their patented brand of musical malpractice to my home town.
My wife and I arrived at the Vaudeville just as the first of the opening bands was finishing up their set (why do venues/bookers insist on cramming so many bands onto these bills?) and it was already sweltering, the pitiful excuse for an A/C unable to keep up with the heat-advisory level temperatures we’ve had here in the sweaty asshole of the Midwest of late. During what is apparently to be one of the final sets from local death/grind stalwarts Black Market Fetus, I had the pleasure of meeting Exhumed mastermind Matt Harvey, who is an old acquaintance of my wife’s. It’s always great when a musician you admire turns out to be a genuinely nice guy as well, and Harvey was one of the most friendly and down-to-earth I’ve encountered during my years doing this metal thing.
When Exhumed finally hit the stage however, Harvey was all business, leading the rejuvenated band in storming through a career-spanning set. Having long-since surpassed their origins as Carcass-worshippers, Exhumed are a death metal force to be reckoned with, as evidenced by the pure ferocity and precision with which they attacked their instruments, in spite of the oppressive heat that threatened to sap the show of its energy. The band showed no signs of faltering under the brutal conditions, and the crowd responded in kind, whipping up some serious (at least by Iowa standards) pit action for much of the set.
Of course, professionalism will only get you so far in death metal. If you really want to stand out from the pack and get the heads banging, fists pumping and beers pounding, you’ve got to have songs. Exhumed has always had them, and this night they deployed some of the gnarliest hooks in all of death metal. Tracks from the band’s back catalogue, such as “The Matter of Splatter” “Decrepit Crescendo” and “Necromaniac” are as catchy and fun as they are overwhelmingly brutal. Exhumed also unleashed a battery of songs from All Guts, No Glory (their first album in eight years, not counting covers collection Garbage Daze Re-Regurgitated), with “As Hammer to Anvil” and “Through Cadaver Eyes” demonstrating an even more refined songwriting approach. Call it murderous yet memorable, call it stadium rock for flesh eating zombies or just call it gore fucking metal, as was emblazoned on the backs of the band’s guitars.
Speaking of guitars, the six-string work of Harvey and Wes Caley (ex-Uphill Battle, Fatalist) was in stellar form throughout Exhumed’s set. Caley treated the crowd to an extended solo in between songs, proving that it’s possible to play your ass off without degenerating into the ludicrous tech-death wankery that plagues today’s DM scene. Caley and Harvey traded off on lead and rhythm while laying waste to the stage, slicing through the mix with a blitzkrieg of bent strings, punishing riffage and whammy bar abuse. The band as a whole was incredibly tight, but as a (painfully mediocre) guitarist myself, it was a pleasure watching these two demonstrate such a high level of axe-mastery.
As the band blasted through the remainder of their set with reckless abandon, the intensity never waned and I found myself totally lost in the sonic bloodbath, throwing up the horns and headbanging to the point of exhaustion. By the time Exhumed concluded the evening in a barrage of distorted cacophony, I was dog tired and sweating bullets (and that was just from being in balcony, I can’t imagine what it was like on the floor or on stage), but extremely satisfied. Some death metal was exactly what I needed to feel alive. Exhumed delivered and then some.
Exhumed 2011 North American Tour (remaining dates)
Jul. 25 – Milwaukee, WI – The Rave Bar
Jul. 26 – St Paul, MN – Station 4
Jul. 27 – Winnipeg, MB – The Royal Albert Arms
Jul. 28 – Regina, SK – The Exchange
Jul. 29 – Edmonton, AB – Pawn Shop
Jul. 30 – Calgary, AB – The Distillery
Jul. 31 – Kelowna, BC – Sapphire Nightclub
Aug. 01 – Vancouver, BC – Rickshaw Theater
Aug. 02 – Seattle, WA – Studio Seven
Aug. 03 – Portland, OR – Branx
Aug. 04 – San Francisco, CA – Slim’s
Aug. 05 – Sparks, NV – The Alley
Aug. 06 – Las Vegas, NV – The Cheyenne Saloon
Aug. 07 – Hollywood, CA – Key Club
At this point it’s well documented that shows during the week are typically a no-go for me; I’m a corporate lackey that’s typically in bed by 9:00 pm. That said, there was no way in hell I was going to miss Church’s tape release / tour kickoff show with Lycus, Usnea and Ufomammut in spite of it taking place late on a Thursday night (shout out to my boss for letting me take off the Friday before a week-long business trip). The Sacramento doom quintet recently unleashed their absolutely stellar debut album Unanswered Hymns in digital form, but being a physical format guy, I was dying to pick up this three song behemoth in glorious analog and hold it my hands, not to mention the fact that Church are an excellent live unit and I’ll find just about any excuse I can to see them play.
It was a not-so-dark-and-stormy night when the creepy Creepsylvanians known as Ghoul brought their patented brand of uh, ghoulish splatterthrash to Des Moines, IA, aka the asshole of the Midwest. I was excited to see them for the first time, and that excitement was only heightened by a lengthy wait outside the venue (at least I wasn’t standing next to the Juggalos), followed by what seemed like an eternity sitting through a rather abysmal opening band (the less said on that, the better). After a declaration by the Grand Basilisk stating that we were all in violation of Creepsylvanian law for harboring these four maniacal hooded fugitives, the band hit the stage, immediately launching into “Off With Their Heads” from their latest album, 2011’s Transmission Zero. From the very beginning it was clear that Ghoul had come to kill, and the musical evisceration didn’t let up for a moment over the course of their thirty-odd-minute set.
THKD 