Nile at The Grove on 3/27

Since Nile did not have an LA date for their tour this year, I cruised on down to Orange County to see them play at The Grove last Thursday. I have to admit that I hate to travel behind the Orange Curtain but since the Metal Alliance Tour sold out before I had a chance to buy tickets, I chose to see Nile that night instead of staying home to sulk.

Does this look like a typical LA death metal venue??

I'm so glad I went out because these guys played a heart-shrivelingly brutal death metal show (Karl Sanders was smiling the whole time, if you can imagine that)! The turn-out was rather small but that was probably due to the simultaneous Metal Alliance concert taking place in Los Angeles. It was definitely a die hard death metal crowd.  Nile played two full sets of old and new material, and closed with Black Seeds of Vengeance. What a night!

Karl Sanders played some viciously weird and complicated solos on this custom double-neck guitar.

If you enjoy other technical death metal acts like Death or Dreaming Dead, you'll definitely enjoy Nile. Be sure to check them out on Facebook and catch their next show!

The next event on my concert calendar is Death To All at The House of Blues tonight, 4/13.

Ex Mortus, Winterthrall at The Airliner on 1/5

The Airliner is a such a cool venue! Ex Mortus, Winterthrall, Letum Ascensus and several other bands put on a killer show at this place last Saturday and there wasn't a single boring moment the whole night! The Airliner has a really cool set up inside with two separate stages upstairs and downstairs so that one band can play while the next band tears down or sets up. They also serve food and have a really spacious smoking patio outside where drinks are allowed. So far, it's also been a 100% douche bag free environment. Seriously, it's awesome!

The first band I saw was Ex Mortus, who blew away any expectations I had for the night and set the bar way too high for the bands playing after them. These dudes probably aren't major headliners yet because not enough people know about them but, damn, I would hate to follow these guys. It's like a neoclassical thrash metal explosion full of technical playing AND catchy riffs! Both guitar players have an extremely intimidating skill level but no one in the band is douchy or arrogant. (I'm sure I'd probably be a douche bag if I did anything half as well as these guys can play guitar.) Another note about this band: the sound was perfect at this show, and it was perfect the last time I saw them, too, which I think says a lot because some of my very favorite bands consistently have a really hard time getting their levels right. So major props to them for getting the sound perfect. I bought a T-shirt and a CD.

    Yet again, I forgot to bring my camera and had to rely on an iphone for photos.

I wandered around for a bit in between sets and came back upstairs to see Winterthrall put on a great performance. They're a blackened death metal band with a doom feel, except that their music isn't slow and boring like a lot of doom metal. It's the perfect music to listen to on a really rainy day when you suspect that the sun has finally been swallowed up by portentous black clouds and the sheer hopelessness of humanity is finally being washed out to sea. (I wish!)

And then Letum Ascensus finished off the night by playing some very loud and heavy death metal. It was fun!

Be sure to find Ex Mortus, Winterthrall, and Letum Ascensus on Facebook, Reverb Nation or whatever your favorite music site is.

The next event on my concert calendar is Lightning Swords of Death at Footsie's on Tuesday, January 22nd (or possibly Nekrogoblicon on Friday, January 18th, at The Whiskey).

Skeletonwitch and Havok at The Whiskey on 10/30

Much head banging was had last Tuesday at The Whiskey for the Skeletonwitch and Havok show! Since it was the night before Halloween there was a smattering of costumes and skull face-paint. Major props to the giant banana circling in the pit!

The first band I caught was a local band named Legal Tender. Seemed like kind of an odd name for a thrash metal band but maybe there's a story behind that. Anyway, they were pretty choice. The bassist and the guitar player shared an incredible dynamic and played really well off of each other. I'll definitely be catching another Legal Tender show!

The big surprise of the night for me was seeing Havok. I've heard a little bit of their music before and I seem to recall thinking it was pretty rad but not ever following up with a second listen. Needless to say, I was not prepared for the face crushing, adrenaline surging show that they brought to The Whiskey. As soon as these guys hit the stage, the crowd erupted into a voracious, frenzied circle pit! Both guitarists stormed up a whirlwind of rapid rhythms, furious melodies and immaculate solos, although it was the drummer who really drove the train with his pounding, relentless drum fills and double bass. This band was seriously tight. I will definitely be picking up a CD soon, and a "No Karate in the Pit" T-shirt.

Few bands could have followed a set like that without falling short but Skeletonwitch didn't miss a beat. They tore right into the audience with a song off of their newest album and kept hammering away with all of their old fan favorites like Beyond the Permafrost, Soul Thrashing Black Sorcery, Submit to the Suffering, and Upon Wings of Black. The nightmarish song lyrics combined with Chase Garnette's despair inducing scream really make Skeletonwitch seem like a band that teleported here straight from the bowels of hell. There's a visceral quality to their music. It has the heaviness and complexity of death metal with the speed and dexterity of thrash. 

My throat was mostly hoarse by the end of the night from screaming along to Skeletonwitch. It was the perfect end to a crazy run of six concerts in seven days. Check out Legal Tender, Havok and Skeletonwitch on facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/skeletonwitchmetal

https://www.facebook.com/HavokOfficial

https://www.facebook.com/legaltenderband

The next event on my concert calendar is (hopefully) Scattered Hamlet on Wednesday, November 7^th, at The Viper Room. I'll also be seeing Enslaved on Saturday, November 10^th at The Roxy.

Dreaming Dead, Isolation in Infamy at The Stardust Club

I was chased by zombies for about three miles last Saturday but it wasn't enough to stop me from going out to see a metal show later that night. It was a close call which show I went to, though. I had already committed to seeing Dreaming Dead play and then my buddies from Gypsyhawk surprised me with a last minute show in Pasadena that was taking place at the exact same time as the Dreaming Dead show. Damn. I ended up sticking to the Dreaming Dead show with promises that I would see the next two upcoming Gypsyhawk shows. I still felt a little cheated at the end of the weekend.
Regardless of that, the show at The Stardust Club was totally killer! A band I had never seen before, Isolation in Infamy, played right before Dreaming Dead, and they put on a great show. It was technical -extremely technical- death metal, and a bit progressive. Isn't most technical death metal also progressive death metal? Well maybe not, but I think that's the only kind of death metal I listen to and enjoy. This band showed a lot of scorn for the luke warm audience response, which I suppose was understandable. They really killed it on stage but most of the crowd was sitting down, half-asleep. I tried to make up for everyone else's lack of spirit by screaming and clapping loudly. I still got scorned. That's death metal for you. Of course, I bought a CD later and talked to the band in between sets and they were actually really nice guys!
Next up was Dreaming Dead. I'm a big fan of front woman Liz Schall's shredding and screaming skills and I think anyone who likes death metal even a little bit will LOVE Dreaming Dead. Everyone in this band has chops. Their music reminds me of some sort of primordial horror rising from the swamps to devour humanity in the middle of the night. Really, it's amazing! The sound was a little weak for the first part of the set but Liz turned up halfway through and all was well. I took off pretty soon after Dreaming Dead finished their set since I was utterly exhausted from the zombie race, but I did make a quick stop at El Taco next door for some amazing Mexican food. Apparently, it was the heavy metal taco shop that night.

The next events on my concert calendar are The Darkness tonight at Club Nokia, then Future Villains at The Viper Room on Friday, October 26th...but I also heard that Gypsyhawk might be playing that same night at an undisclosed location in Rosemead! Too much good shit goin' on!