Goat Torment – Sermons to Death (Amor Fati, 2015)

Like any good metalhead, I try to keep track of all the shows happening in my neck of the woods, even though I can only make it to a fraction of them.  This is how Belgium’s Goat Torment popped up on my metal radar.  Turns out the band will be tormenting Sacramento as part of a handful of West Coast dates in conjunction with their appearance at California Deathfest in Oakland (no, I will not be in attendance), which is right around the corner.

Nocturnal Blood @ Starlite Lounge, Sacramento, CA 08/08/2015

Sacramento gets a ton of great shows, but we’ve been more than a bit lacking in the black metal department of late.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed the shit out of seeing the likes of Melt Banana, Ufomammut and -(16)-, but I’ve also been absolutely dying for the visceral experience that only a straight-up black metal show can bring.  So, I was extremely grateful to Wretched Earth Productions for treating us to this killer lineup of Cali-bred BM at Starlite Lounge, which is quickly turning into my go-to spot for kick-ass metal shows.

Melt-Banana’s joyful noise.

It’s been a few weeks since I saw Melt-Banana at Harlow’s, and for some reason I just can’t get their set out of my mind.  Part of this is no doubt due to the fact that I actually got to see Melt-Banana; sure, they’ve toured the states many times, but keep in mind that I was living in the middle of Iowa up until a year ago, not exactly a hotbed for extreme and/or experimental music.  Since we’ve moved to Sacramento, I’ve already had the pleasure of seeing a handful of bands I never imagined I’d get the opportunity to see without traveling great distances (Sargeist and Ufomammut immediately spring to mind), and the Japanese duo are probably number one on the “holy shit, I can’t believe they’re actually playing where I live” list so far.

Church @ The Press Club, Sacramento, CA 06/04/2015

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.

-(16)- / Brainoil / Kowloon Walled City / Church @ Starlite Lounge, Sacramento, CA 04/25/16

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.

Incantation / Funerus / Mortuous / Plague Widow @ Starlite Lounge, Sacramento, CA, 01/12/2015

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.

Mrs. THKD’s Metal Show Bingo!

While Josh is away on a boring business trip, I have decided to hack into his account and give his readers something from his better half, me.

Samhain @ The Warfield, San Francisco, CA 09/20/14

 

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.

Dispirit and the art of total immersion.

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.

Dropdead / Full of Hell / Noisem / Plague Widow / RAD @ Midtown Barfly, Sacramento, CA 08/24/14

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.

My first show in Sacramento.

When my wife and I first started talking seriously about moving to Sacramento, one of the main draws for me was the opportunity to take in a lot of live music.  Sure, metal shows do happen back home in Des Moines, but they are few and far between, seemingly getting more and more scarce by the year, so in this respect moving to the West Coast was a total no-brainer.  I started looking for shows well in advance of coming out here, and the one that immediately caught my eye was the sole Northern California date on Finnish black metallers Sargeist’s current US tour, w/ support coming from Killgasm, Pandiscordian Necrogenesis and Valdur.

Broken Hope @ Vaudeville Mews, 04/03/2014

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.

Finally… Danzig.

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.

Katatonia @ Wooly’s, Des Moines, IA 05/15/13

Jonas Renkse is a difficult man to photograph. For the entirety of Katatonia’s set Wednesday night at Wooly’s, the singer kept his face deliberately obscured behind a mass of hair; as if not wanting to face the crowd. But his jovial between-song demeanor and powerful performance spoke otherwise; his exquisite vocals the undeniable focal point of the Swedish quartet’s excellent hour long set opening for prog metal grand poobahs Opeth. In some ways, Herr Renkse’s locks could be a metaphor for Katatonia’s music; their underlying metal-ness often obscured by heaps of beautifully dark, multi-textured melancholia.

Ghost @ Mill City Nights, Minneapolis, MN 5/4/13

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.

Mutilation Rites / Havok @Vaudeville Mews, Des Moines, IA 11/11/12

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.

Grave / Dark Funeral / Morbid Angel @ People’s Court, Des Moines IA, 10/07/12

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.

The Lurking Corpses @ Bombay Bicycle Club, 10/21/2011

I’ve often remarked that when the Halloween season rolls around, all I want to listen to is Misfits and Type O Negative.  It seems I’ve been a bit remiss with that statement, because there is another very special band that needs to be added to that list.  The band is Fort Wayne, Indiana’s The Lurking Corpses, who proved themselves worthy and then some of being mentioned in the same breath as those (un)hallowed bands with their all-too-brief but highly enjoyable set late Friday night (Saturday morning?) at the Bombay Bicycle Club in Clive, Iowa.

SLAYER/MEGADETH/TESTAMENT @ Roy Wilkins Auditorium 08/21/2010

My wife is a fucking trooper.  A day before we were set to leave for Minnesota to take in the American Carnage Tour, she threw her back out while doing housework.  I was ready to cancel our excursion altogether, but the lady of the house advised me that we were going “come hell or high water” (it should be noted that Megadeth is her favorite band), in spite of her extremely limited mobility.  A visit to the chiropractor (several inflamed discs is the diagnosis at this point) and some hefty painkiller and muscle relaxer prescriptions later, we were on the road headed north to the Twin Cities with Grandma’s spare wheelchair (graciously on loan) in the back of the car.

I got back to my seat from buying ridiculously overpriced but awesome Slayer and Megadeth tour shirts just as Testament were launching into “More Than Meets the Eye”.  I had been expecting the band to rely on older material given the nostalgic theme of the tour (Slayer playing Seasons in the Abyss in its entirety and Megadeth playing Rust in Peace), but they surprised me with a set that spanned from The New Order to The Formation of Damnation.  Although they were only alloted a meager eight songs, Testament sounded great and nicely summarized their career.  I was slightly bummed that they didn’t play “The Haunting”, but tracks like “DNR” and the crushing “The Formation of Damnation” were a great kickoff to the night.

Up next was Megadeth.  Although I’m not quite the Mustaine-obsessive that my wife is, I nonetheless count them among my favorite bands and was excited to be seeing them for the first time.  Megadeth did not screw around once they hit the stage, immediately launching into “Holy Wars… The Punishment Due” and preceding to rip through all forty-odd minutes of Rust in Peace with the precision of a well-oiled machine.  Personal highlights were “Hangar 18”, “Five Magics” and the mind-boggling “Lucretia” (possibly my favorite Megadeth song ever).  My only gripe was that there seemed to be problems with Mustaine’s vox during the set.  I’m not sure if it was the microphone/PA or an issue with his voice itself, but it didn’t deter from my enjoyment, since everyone knows Megadeth is all about the riffage.

There was a triumphant feeling in the air throughout Megadeth’s performance and Mustaine seemed to be truly enjoying himself.  It appears that he has finally put his many well-publicized demons to rest and can fully bask in the glow of his status as a goddamn heavy metal icon.  Few can argue with the status of Rust in Peace as a quintessential thrash album, and the celebratory vibe emanating from the band was utterly infectious.  After completing the Rust… portion of the set, the band aired some gems from their back catalogue such as “Trust”, “Symphony of Destruction” and “A Tout Le Monde” before closing with a devastating rendition of “Peace Sells” which climaxed with a reprise of “Holy Wars…”.  Indeed, with the newfound camaraderie amongst “The Big Four” these days, it feels like everything has come full circle for Mustaine, and Megadeth’s set reflected this in spades.

After an intro complete with multiple logos and pentagrams projected on a large curtain, the men of Slayer appeared.  The band bulldozed through “Hate Worldwide” and the title track from World Painted Blood before kicking things into high gear with “War Ensemble”, signaling the beginning of Seasons in the Abyss.  Seasons… was the first Slayer album I ever bought, so it was interesting to hear tracks like “Expendable Youth” and “Hallowed Point” in a live setting, especially since the last time I saw Slayer was around 2002 and the set back then focused heavily on God Hates Us All and more of a “greatest hits” type performance.  I wondered how long it had been since Slayer played some of those Seasons… tracks and how much time they spent re-learning and rehearsing them (I suppose the same could be said about Megadeth and Rust in Peace, at least from Dave Mustaine and Dave Ellefson’s perspectives).

We were on Kerry King’s side of the stage, which is rather ironic considering how much my wife hates Kerry King’s guitar solos.  I don’t think the guy is a virtuoso by any means, but I do think his solos reflect the intensity and frenzy of Slayer’s musical and lyrical approach, while not being conventionally “musical”.  They don’t necessarily compliment the song, they’re more like a sonic carpet-bombing in the middle of the song that adds another highly visceral texture or facet to Slayer’s attack.  Of course, the fact that he looks like a professional wrestler grappling with the instrument doesn’t hurt things either.  I enjoyed watching him do his thing.

The rest of the band was in fine form… is there a better thrash drummer than Dave Lombardo?!  Tom Araya sounded great with no evidence of the medical problems that seem to have plagued him over last few years (aside from a lack of headbanging) and Jeff Hanneman brought the riffs, albeit in a slightly more demure fashion than King.  Although the band members have visibly aged, Slayer’s sound is frozen in time, the cryogenically preserved lifeblood from which today’s thrash is forged.  I’d imagine you could compare Saturday’s performance to one from 1990 and find that they are nearly identical in intensity and sonics.

Metalheads are nothing if not nostalgic (sometimes to a fault), and this night was all about “back in the day”.  It showed that great metal albums can endure and stand the test of time, even in this age of music as a disposable commodity.  It was a celebration and a history lesson, an exemplification of some of the very best American metal has to offer.  Why bother with all the nu jack thrash out there when the guys that invented that shit are still out there killing it?

[note: Sorry for the crappy iPhone pics, but to be honest I wasn’t sure whether I was going to do a write-up on the show or not and therefore neglected to bring a “real” camera.  We were actually a lot closer than it looks.]