By Andrew Bansal
January 27 2014, The Constellation Room (inside The Observatory), Santa Ana CA: After the October 2013 release of their fifth studio album ‘Chemistry Of Consciousness’, Portland, Oregon’s crossover thrash stalwarts Toxic Holocaust embarked on a touring cycle that took them through the US East Coast, among other places. Now, they’re on a West Coast run with an utterly bone-crunching support cast featuring Exhumed, Mammoth Grinder and Ramming Speed. A few shows into the tour, they visited the Observatory in Santa Ana to play in the Constellation Room. Even on a Monday night, Orange County thrash heads had turned up in good numbers to support this show, and all was in readiness for what promised to be a great show.
Doors opened at 8 PM, and Boston MA-based Ramming Speed were the first to take the stage at 9. This extremely hard-working band last played in LA opening for Valient Thorr in September 2013, and these true road dogs are back at it again, slaying Toxic Holocaust’s audiences on this tour with their brand of crossover thrash infused with elements of NWOBHM, doom and a few other things thrown in the mix. They started out on all cylinders with the title track off of their stellar new album ‘Doomed To Destroy, Destined To Die’ and ripped through a relentlessly furious 25-minute set. They ended with ‘Grinding Dissent’, another crushing tune on their latest album, and departed the stage to a generous applause from this audience. The awesomeness of this band, specially in a live setting, can never be sufficiently described in words. If you’re going to any show on this tour, or on any tour they do in the future, do not miss Ramming Speed.
Visit Ramming Speed on the web at:
facebook.com/RammingSpeed
twitter.com/RammingSpeed666
instagram.com/RammingSpeed
Set List:
01. Doomed To Destroy, Destined To Die
02. Gorgon’s Eye
03. Anthems Of Despair
04. Last Drop
05. Man vs Machine
06. Worms
07. *New Song*
08. Extinction Event
09. Grinding Dissent
Shortly after, Mammoth Grinder, a three-piece metal/punk outfit based out of Austin, Texas, hit the stage and brought forth an interpretation of heavy music that was different from that of Ramming Speed, and in fact stood out on its own amongst the four bands on this lineup. They created a very freight train-like vibe through their style of dirty hardcore punk/thrash, along with a couple of doom-laden tunes to change up the tempo during the 30-minute set. Their performance at last year’s Power Of The Riff festival in Los Angeles was excellent, and last night was equally impressive. The circle pits were kicked into motion at full speed and the stage divers started popping up as well. Mammoth Grinder certainly warmed up the crowd for the bands to follow.
Visit Mammoth Grinder on the web:
MammothGrinder.com
facebook.com/MammothGrinder
twitter.com/MammothGrinder
Having played around these parts plenty of times in the recent past, the mighty Exhumed are back yet again on another tour, doing what they do best. Frontman Matt Harvey showed his appreciation for the great turnout here at the show and seemed almost apologetic for returning to play in Orange County so regularly. But this crowd definitely wasn’t complaining and had a blast for the entirety of the 45-minute set. People are so used to the songs off of the latest record ‘Necrocracy’ by now that those songs don’t even feel like ‘new material’ anymore and blend brilliantly with the rest of the set. Because they do tour so much, the band always brings changes into the set list every time, and on this tour they’re playing ‘Your Funeral, My Feast’ from the All Guts, No Glory album, which was very well received by the fans last night. With a typically solid dosage of the old and the new tunes with the usual element of on-stage theatrics, Exhumed pulled off a great performance here last night, and none of their fans would mind seeing them again on another tour sometime soon.
Visit Exhumed on the web:
facebook.com/ExhumedOfficial
twitter.com/ExhumedOfficial
Set List:
01. Necrocracy
02. Coins Upon The Eyes
03. Necromaniac
04. Forged In Fire
05. Your Funeral, My Feast
06. Limb From Limb
07. Dysmorphic
08. Guitar solo
09. Sickened
10. Gravewalker
11. The Matter Of Splatter
This show moved along very swiftly and before anyone realized it, it was time for Toxic Holocaust to destroy the stage. Quite aptly, they began with ‘Metal Attack’ and went on to present a great selection of tunes from their 14-year career including a good number of fan favorites like ‘Wild Dogs’, ‘War Is Hell’, ‘666’ and of course, ‘Nuke The Cross’ which instigated the largest mosh pit of the night. Toxic Holocaust’s music is clearly tailor-made for the headbangers and the mosh pit, so while the band welcomed that kind of a response from the crowd, it was the stage diving that really bothered them, frontman Joel Grind in particular.
Stage divers constantly kept bumping into the headstock of his guitar, rendering it out of tune, and kept running over his stage monitor placed in front of him because of which he couldn’t hear any of what he was playing. He requested several times for people to be careful of his gear while stage diving, and bassist Phil Zeller also politely suggested the same thing on Joel’s behalf, but this crowd was apparently in no mood to pay attention, and much to Joel’s annoyance, repeatedly kept doing the same thing even though the stage was big enough for them to dive without bumping into Joel or Phil. The band ended the set with the song ‘Bitch’. It turned out to be a 45-minute set but one gets the feeling that the band cut the set short because of these issues and would have played longer otherwise. Attendees might argue and criticize Joel Grind for his behavior, but looking at this instance objectively, one has to side with Joel because all he wanted to do was play his songs in tune and be able to hear himself on stage. Nonetheless, it was still great to see Toxic Holocaust play this show, and the next time they play in Los Angeles or Orange County, perhaps in front of a more cooperative crowd, it ought to be a better experience for the band and audience alike.
Visit Toxic Holocaust on the web at:
facebook.com/ToxicHolocaust
twitter.com/ToxicHolocaust
instagram.com/JoelGrind
Set List:
01. Metal Attack
02. Wild Dogs
03. War Is Hell
04. I Am Disease
05. Awaken The Serpent
06. MKUltra
07. Endless Armageddon
08. 666
09. Reaper’s Grave
10. Death Brings Death
11. Agony Of The Damned
12. In The Name Of Science
13. The Lord Of The Wasteland
14. Nuke The Cross
15. Bitch
Remaining Tour Dates:
1/28/2014 Club Red – Tempe, AZ
1/29/2014 Launchpad – Albuquerque, NM
1/30/2014 Tricky Falls – El Paso, TX
1/31/2014 Mohawk – Austin, TX
2/01/2014 The Limelight – San Antonio, TX
2/02/2014 Fitzgerald’s (downstairs) – Houston, TX
2/03/2014 Three Links – Dallas, TX
2/04/2014 Chameleon Room – OK City, OK
2/05/2014 Marquis – Denver, CO
2/06/2014 Ernie November – Cheyenne, WY
2/07/2014 Club Manhattan – Salt Lake City, UT
2/08/2014 The Alley – Sparks, NV
2/09/2014 Midtown Barfly – Sacramento, CA