While leaving the Nile show last January, I was handed a flyer for an upcoming event in February with a slew of Brutal Death Metal bands with none other than Putrid Pile headlining. I didn’t take notice of the other bands playing at the time, but seeing that The Shaun LaCanne Experience would be in town automatically etched an imprint on my mental calendar, which is a good thing because I lost the flyer. Typical Skull. Then, a member of a supporting band called Nekropsy read my write up of the Revocation show, placed a comment reminding me of the event, and invited me to attend. After that my fate was sealed.
I arrived at the Nite Cap Lounge on Irving Park Road in Chicago’s far north side about 30 minutes before show time. It’s a small club with a little bar area by the door adjacent to a larger room with another horseshoe shaped bar extending up to just a few feet from the stage. The space was dimly lit and what light did illuminate the venue was assisted by candlelight. I staked out a spot in the smaller bar area, ordered a beer, and watched the people trickle in.
At this point, I had forgotten that so many bands were playing, assumed that the show would be a quick four-setter, and I’d be off before 1:00am. While the doorman was taking money and stamping hands next to me he inquired of the patrons as to which band they were mainly coming to see because he was tallying up their responses. I realized I was hearing a Hell of a lot of band names that I had forgotten were playing, so I asked the gent just who all were performing. He ran down a list of 8 bands. Son of a bitch! This wasn’t a show. This was a Death Metal extravaganza!! I had a work commitment in the morning. It was almost 9:00pm and there were still 8 sets to watch? Shit!!!!! I then commenced a mental debate over whether or not I could actually stay for the whole show, but Putrid Pile was headlining. I couldn’t skip that! Done!
At 9:00pm sharp,
Asphyxiator started up their brief set so I moved on over to the show room. The whole night was set up as a birthday bash for Asphyxiator’s vocalist Miguel, so it was quite appropriate that he kick the night off. His band consisted of himself on vocals, a guitarist, and drum machine backing them up with mostly mid-paced beats with little variation. The guitar work was soft and somewhat sloppy, but Miguel fared well enough. The set came off as a showcase of his talented vocal work, and I was quite impressed. He reminded me a bit of Cianide’s Mike Perun. The thirty or so friends and fans in the joint gave him a great response. Happy birthday, Miguel!
During the teardown I crossed paths with Paul (of
Gorgasm fame) from Nekropsy. Nice guy. We chatted for a few minutes about his band and I thanked him for the reminder and invite to the show. Our conversation caused me to miss the first couple songs of Indiana’s
Moistened Disciples. What I did hear I liked. They were tight and fast with good tempo changes and some killer drumming and vocals. The crowd that had now grown to about 80 people or so responded favorably to the trio. This is a band to watch.
After another quick set up, a local Brutal Death Metal band called
Kataplexy kicked into gear. They plowed furiously through their short set with ferocity and skill. I could barely see the hands of the guitarist and bassist due to the fact that they were flying up and down their fret boards so quickly and the drumming glued everything together nicely. Jason Herrera’s vocals complimented their sound and the growing crowd treated them well. This is another band to keep an eye on.
Now up next was Milwaukee’s DM quintet
Burial Ritual. The crowd was obviously in high anticipation of this set and that didn’t escape my notice. I soon found out why. They fired up and proceeded to crush the crowd with heavy mosh-able grooves, mad vocals, and nothing less than expert drumming. At their slow points their riffs became even Sabbath-like. I found their style to be quite eclectic and I enjoyed their set immensely. A small pit struggled to erupt with the bar being quite a deterrent. Many were thrashing while Burial Ritual played with evident professionalism. Later in the evening I would track down one of their guitarists to acquire their full length debut “Tower of Silence”.
Soon Burial Ritual was tearing down as Chicago’s
Nekropsy began sound checking for their set. By now the crowd had grown substantially and everyone seemed to be closing in for a good spot. Nekropsy play to a drum machine backup and Paul tweaked up the contraption as they dug in. Nekropsy lunged into a badass set of blasts, tempo changes, and excellent guitar work, which at times even became quite flashy. Paul’s guttural howls and grunts were quite effective and he even shared the vocal chores with the guitarist Frank. Jeremy, on bass, even threw his two cents in on the third song with a cleaner style of shouted vocals that gave the number a hardcore feel. Nekropsy had, by far, the most unique sound of all the support bands of the night, and I never missed a drum kit because their programmed tracks were intricate and diverse. It was obvious by the response that they were crowd favorites. I tracked down a copy of their latest release called “Redemption Execution”.
Following Nekropsy after another set change were
Dyscracia. I somehow, quite uncharacteristically mind you, had the foresight to bring a pad and a pen to the show in case I needed to take notes. During each set I wrote down very brief impressions of the bands that I was watching, and used simple adjectives to describe them for the purpose of drawing from that while I write this review. Looking at my pad now I see only three items on the page dedicated to Dyscracia’s performance. The first is that they were a five piece and the second was that they are from Madison Wisconsin. The third one describes perfectly what I experienced from their set. It says “Fucking brutal!” They flattened the crowd.
The carnage continued with
Saprogenic. Hailing from Detroit, Saprogenic destroyed in an all too short set that had its plug pulled because of time constraints. Miguel joined them on stage to share vocals during one song. I was truly impressed with these guys and felt slighted when they had to break off early.
While Saprogenic was tearing their set down and Shaun LaCanne began setting his equipment up, the tension in the bar thickened as everyone began to brace themselves for Racine’s
Putrid Pile. The crowd was amped up from all the excellent supporting bands and now just wanted to be knocked on its collective ass. I am an admirer of Mr. LaCanne’s work, and had high expectations for this set. Let me tell you, he DID NOT disappoint. He completely obliterated the place in a quick, five-song set with a mix of old and new Putrid Pile tracks. He displayed his absolute wizardry over his guitar with the rolling, catchy, and excruciatingly heavy riffage that is unique to Putrid Pile, and earns him his place as a true original in metal. I was fucking floored and the crowd went absolutely apeshit! A pit had formed and people were thrashing heavily in front of the stage just drinking it all in and swooning from the fix. Time restrictions killed the buzz though, and Shaun reluctantly had to wrap it up. It was 2:30am and I was more than willing to stick around for a fuller set, but it just wouldn’t happen that way. I was grateful for my opportunity to catch Putrid Pile, but down over the fact that I couldn’t see more.
I decided to call it a night and walked through the smoldering ruins of the what was once Nite Cap Lounge, stepping over the corpses left strewn about as I headed out the door for my ride home, and a subsequently long work day. As lousy as my day turned out today, I have no regrets. Rarely have I seen shows with so many acts billed with absolutely no garbage to suffer through. It was a great night with some outstanding bands.
Special thanks go out to Paul from Nekropsy for the heads up and the invite...
By: Skull
Some pics...
Kataplexy
Saprogenic
Nekropsy
Burial Ritual
Dyscracia
Putrid Pile
Thanks, Skull!
Just announced...
