Live 4 Metal is proud to announce that we will be hosting a live stream of the Nightwish in-store performance at Vintage Vinyl Records in New Jersey on Friday, October 19th at 6PM, Eastern Daylight Time (11PM GMT)! I urge you all to tune in...
In other items, my next show will probably be Suffocation, Immolation, and Skinless at the HOB in West Hollywood on Monday, November 5th.
Next, here's a track from "Pilgrimage" by OM, newly released on Southern Lord. Formed from the ashes of Sleep along with High On Fire, OM's musical direction is a bit unusual and very differentiated from that of High On Fire. OM's approach is to take the Sabbath-inspired doom style and remove the guitars completely while using the same clean vocal style that was found on Sleep's releases. The result is an unusual mix of doom and Pink Floyd-inspired navel/ shoe contemplation that brings to mind "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun"...
Bands: Obituary, Alabama Thunderpussy, Full Blown Chaos, Hemlock, plus local bands.
Date: Sunday, September 30th, 2007
Venue: The Knitting Factory, Hollywood, California
Despite the fact that Obituary was not supported by a well known death metal act, I wasn’t about to pass this one up, even on a Sunday night, as Obituary’s latest album, “Xecutioner’s Return”, will no doubt factor into my year’s top ten list. So, I made my way out to the Knitting Factory in Hollywood knowing full well that this was going to go well past midnight and I had to get up for work the next morning at about 5 AM. Yikes!
Ultimately, eleven bands on two stages would be featured starting at about 6:45 PM or so. I arrived at about 7:30 PM and noted that the Knitting Factory was relatively deserted. About 50 people had shown up to catch the first few acts of the evening as I made my way to catch Cerberus, a local death metal act that, frankly, is nothing special. Although the quality of their musicianship was good, they’re not particularly interesting and I spent most of their set looking over the merchandise tables. I headed for the second stage afterwards to catch The Cauterized, another local death metal act with a definite old school vibe and crunch. Coming across with combination of modern blasts and, say, the snarl and attitude of Venom (not to mention the fact that the bassist/ vocalist is a ringer for Cronos, receding hairline and all), The Cauterized were well received by the crowd with an actively moving pit for most of their set.
Heading back to the main stage, I caught the latter portion of Hemlock, a death/ core band from Las Vegas with a charismatic front man who joked easily with the crowd. The few songs that I caught were pretty good, and I just might track down their latest full-length from the ubiquitous Candlelight Records.
Next up on the second stage were brutal death metal veterans Sepsism. I’ve only heard a bit from this band prior to their set, and they were fairly good with an enthusiastic stage presence and energy that was appreciated by the crowd. Their set was actually quite long as I only caught the latter portion of the set from Full Blown Chaos a little while later back on the main stage. Sounding similar to Hemlock, F.B.C is also fronted by a charismatic, overweight front man as their set was energetic, as well. Once again, I just might track down their latest full-length.
A this point, I alternated between Letum Ascensus, a Los Angeles DM band that I’ve seen about a billion times before, and Alabama Thunderpussy, a rather odd choice for this show. Letum Ascensus were fairly boring, as I’ve seen them do better. ATP was a priority for this evening due to the vocalist, Kyle Thomas, being a member of the classic Southern thrash band Exhorder. ATP thundered through a good set of their brand of Southern tinged hard rock that was well received by the crowd, although their inclusion on the bill did seem out of place. Thomas himself proved to be a good vocalist and admirably pulled off the band’s closer, a cover of Whitesnake’s “Still Of The Night”.
Although I was enjoying the show, I was there to see Obituary, plain and simple. So was the rest of the crowd which, unfortunately only grew to maybe 200 people or so by the time that Obituary took the stage at about 11:45 PM. The lack of a large crowd did not deter Obituary’s professionalism as they blew through a 75-plus minute set that concentrated on classics to open and end the show, as well as featuring a huge dose of “Xecutioner’s Return” in the middle portion of the set. Just prior to the encores, Donald Tardy and Ralph Santolla delivered short solos on their respective instruments, with John Tardy briefly aiding his brother’s cause. As a side note, Jack Owen made a brief appearance on stage to photograph the action. It will be interesting to see the future of Obituary and Deicide.
Overall, this was a good show to see and, undoubtedly, the sparse crowd was due to the support not being of a high profile nature and the show occurring on a Sunday. That’s too bad, because Obituary delivered the goods and they deserve to be supported by their considerable fan base. At any rate, I finally got home at about 2 AM in time to get less than 3 hours sleep. Special thanks to Dave Brenner. Here are the usual crap photos...
Alabama Thunderpussy
Full Blown Chaos
Hemlock
Sepsism
The Cauterized
Letum Ascensus
Obituary
Obituary
Obituary
Obituary
Alabama Thunderpussy
Full Blown Chaos
Hemlock
Obituary
Obituary
Obituary
A promo...
Lastly, here's a recent rip from all out death metal machine Deranged...
I was a staff writer at the British website Live 4 Metal for over 7 years. After a brief second run, editor Steve Green has now permanently closed down Live 4 Metal. I continue to write for About.com (editor: Chad Bowar). I am also now a contributing writer to the new 'zine Backlit (editors: Josh Haun and Brandon Duncan).
In addition to writing for About.com and Backlit, I am using this blog to write reviews for albums as they are given to me, as well as for show reviews and other odds and ends that strike my fancy. I will try to give each album careful consideration, as time permits.
This is a hobby and nothing more. Hence, my reviews are solely my opinion and are written from the standpoint of a long time fan (I have been listening to metal since about 1978 or so). I do not write reviews from the standpoint of a musician, nor from an ideological point of view.
I do not use this blog to promote, or discuss, ideology, although I am an atheist and I have a scientific background. I do not engage in arguments about the "purity" or ideological slant of artists, but I do draw the line with racism.
My opinions are impersonal and negative opinions of one's music are in no way meant as an insult to any person or band. If you take offense, please be aware that none was intended. My opinions are mine alone, and are merely based upon what I hear and whether I like what I hear. If you agree with me, fine. If you do not agree with me, that's fine, as well. Feel free to disagree and drop me a line if you wish to engage in a rational discussion. I do not engage in name calling, though, which is the last resort of those that lack the tools to engage in civil discourse...
