By Andrew Bansal
Dec. 6th 2011, Ruby Room, San Diego CA: Currently on a North American tour with Chimaira, Unearth and Molotov Solution, Skeletonwitch added a headline show on one of their off days, and as a result rolled in to the Ruby Room in San Diego last night. This show also featured two great LA area bands Exmortus and Witchaven, along with local support from Downspell. Skeletonwitch’s shows are awesome enough to make me go anywhere my wallet would allow me to. The 5-dollar cover here last night, a distance of a mere 120 miles from my house to the venue, and the prospect of seeing them with two killer support bands made it even easier for me to do it this time.
We got there at 7.30, which was still 90 minutes before the start of the show. I was very surprised that the show started as late as that, on a weeknight. But anyway, it gave me a lot more time to look around the place than I expected. I was loving the vibe here this time much more than the only previous time I was here, for Watain and Goatwhore in November 2010. I’m pretty sure it was just Watain’s rotten meat which made the venue unpleasant that night, because it was great this time. They had a little art gallery of their own, pool tables, free arcade games, and free movies for anyone who’s bored with the live music. More on that later.
We got time to hang out with the guys from Skeletonwitch too. I was thoroughly impressed with Nate’s expertise on Hulk Hogan movies. I also discussed with Chance how the Ohio weather made Skeletonwitch an extreme metal band, while Scott and Evan were quizzing me on the shows I’ve seen recently. Couldn’t have asked for a better way to kill time.
According to the flyer, the show was supposed to start with Downspell’s set, but for some reason the slots were switched around, and Exmortus opened instead. Their music came across as such an eclectic blend of styles that it’s hard for me to even pinpoint or classify it, and it took me a song or two to come to terms with what they were doing. It was a mix of Yngwie Malmsteen-type neo-classical guitar work and thrash metal, with elements of New Wave Of British Heavy Metal thrown in. Their wizardry on guitar drew the crowd towards them instantly, and pretty much everyone was hugely impressed with what these guys were playing. They have a new guitarist now, who joined the band just two months ago, and that kid can definitely shred. It was an astonishingly good set by them, and it simply makes me hungry for more Exmortus in the near future.
Blackened thrashers Witchaven hit the stage next, and blew everyone away with their menacing performance. This band seems to get better and better every time I see them, and last night was certainly the best I’ve seen from them. Their music fit extremely well with the Skeletonwitch style, and it absolutely made perfect sense for them to be part of this show. They nailed it not only with their performance but also their tone and mix. It was sounding exactly as it was supposed to. Mosh pits started breaking out, heads started banging, and the crowd was generally enjoying what Witchaven were offering. They are a band that completely deserve to do a full tour with Skeletonwitch, and I hope it happens for them soon. A fantastic set indeed.
The next band Downspell was .. to put it mildly, not exactly special. I did not understand why they played after Exmortus and Witchaven, or why they were on this bill at all. They were nowhere near a good fit for the type of music this crowd was here to see. Their music was a mix of grindcore and death metal, but they just did it completely wrong. Their songs were too long for that style, and they had two vocalists doing pretty much the same thing. They justified their name to perfection, as they turned out to be the only downer in an otherwise glorious evening.
Whenever it’s apparent from the first 30 seconds of a band hitting the stage that they aren’t my thing, unfortunately I have to look for other things to do to kill time. So I went to the recreation area and decided to check out what was on the television. They were playing some extremely terrible Asian action flick. After a little inquiry, I found out that it was the movie “Riki-Oh: The Story Of Ricky”. The number of people watching the movie instead of the band kept increasing rapidly, and there was a sizable audience within a few minutes. This movie was an integral part of this show, as it gave us some hearty laughs and kept us in the right spirit for Skeletonwitch’s set.
I got a spot in the center of the front row, directly facing the drum kit, and the wait wasn’t long as Skeletonwitch hit the stage at around 11.30. They opened with two songs from their crushing new album “Forever Abomination”, and straightaway they were sounding sublime. They were able to play just one new song on their previous tour with Arch Enemy, so it was great to see as many as five of them in this set. These songs translated very well live, coming across with the same darkness and brutality that can be felt while listening to the record. In fact, I would say it was even better live. The best among the new ones was most definitely “This Horrifying Force”. It was simply epic. All members of the band head-banged to the tune even as they played it, and everyone in the crowd followed suit, making it a true metal moment to savor for a long time.
But of course, besides the new tunes, they also played older material, and as expected, that’s what really got the crowd going. Songs like “Beyond The Permafrost”, “Crushed Beyond Dust” and “Fire From The Sky” were filled to the brim with extreme metal awesomeness, and everyone was loving it. The circle pits were gaining in intensity with every passing song. The song I was most waiting to hear, “Repulsive Salvation”, turned out to be just as good as I had imagined it to be. The word “jizz” should be redefined in all dictionaries around the world and the new meaning should read, “A feeling one gets while listening to the Skeletonwitch song Repulsive Salvation.” That’s how good it was. In customary style, they closed out the set with “Within My Blood”, a perfect end to a memorable performance.
Needless to say, I would have loved to hear songs like “Upon Wings Of Black”, “Baptized In Flames” and “Soul Thrashing Black Sorcery”, but when I look at it from the band’s point of view, I can understand why they don’t play these songs that much anymore. They don’t get to headline often, and they have to play their most well-known songs in the usual 30-minute support sets. So they must have already played those songs hundreds of times. Plus, they were here to promote the latest album, and that’s what they did for a good portion of the set. So I personally have no complaints with this set list.
Frontman Chance Garnette did his job to perfection, not only with the vocals, but also with his stage presence and crowd interaction. Every time he did a chorus line from one of the older songs, he rushed to the edge of the stage to get in our faces, because he knew we’d sing along with him for those parts. That really got us folks in the front row excited and it ensured a high-energy back-and-forth thing between the band and the crowd. Guitarists Scott Hedrick and Nate Garnette complemented each other brilliantly, on the guitar and in terms of appearance. Bassist Evan Linger was as awesome as ever, and it was fun to watch him do the little bass solo in “Within My Blood”. Drummer Justin Boltjes has brought an added degree of relentless aggression to the band’s new album and live shows, and that was evident last night.
All in all, this show proved why Skeletonwitch will also be up there in my list of best live bands. They tore up the Ruby Room last night in every sense of the term. It was one of the best shows not only of the year 2011, but of all time, and it was completely worth our Greyhound bus trip from LA, and whenever Skeletonwitch plays a headline show, I’ll do this again in a heartbeat.
Rating: 10/10
Set list:
1. Reduced To The Failure Of Prayer
2. Erased And Forgotten
3. Beyond The Permafrost
4. This Horrifying Force (The Desire To Kill)
5. Sacrifice For The Slaughtergod
6. Repulsive Salvation
7. Crushed Beyond Dust
8. The Infernal Resurrection
9. Fire From The Sky
10.Vengeance Will Be Mine
11.Choke Upon Betrayal
12.Within My Blood
Downspell helped with the show then threw a fit about having to play first so Exmortus and Witchaven offered to play first and second because they were sharing all their equipment