By Jason Williams
May 9th 2014, Mirror Image Studios, Anaheim CA: For nearly 12 years, speed/thrash metal band Rattlehead have invaded the scene with their blend of fast paced Thrash. Not to mention naming their band from the best song of Megadeth’s catalogue and one of the best songs in general (simply my opinion, of course) can’t hurt either. After recently releasing their latest EP ‘The Blackout Brigade’ independently, Rattlehead was set to play the Mirror Images Studios in Anaheim, CA. The venue’s popularity has been slowly rising, as Kataklysm and Destruction have played there in the past month. Although it will be a while for the name to be up there with say The Observatory, House of Blues, etc, it’s surely on its way. Tonight’s show had five other bands accompanying Rattlehead. A local metal show on a Friday night minutes from my home? Please count me in.
The show was set to start at 8 PM but due to some technical difficulties with the first band Inhuman Atrocities, things didn’t get rolling until around 8:30 PM. Formely known as Apathy and based out of Whittier CA, they started their set and I was met with a death metal style with some core elements. I noticed there was no bass player, just a vocalist, two guitarists and the drummer. As usual, Mirror Image Studio’s sound was fairly impressive. Unfortunately the turnout so far was at about 15 or so. However, those in the crowd were giving their all to the band, who was more than joyful about it. Because of their core-style breakdowns at times, some of the crowd proceeded to “Karate” the pit up. Aggravating, to say the least. One interesting note, Inhuman Atrocities actually covered “Miasma” from The Black Dahlia Murder, which had the small crowd in attendance in a frenzy. They played the cover very well, even without the bass guitar, and besides the cover, their 25-minute set consisted of 4 original songs. There were many catchy guitar riffs along the way, and although I’m fairly picky on core in death metal, it was used sparingly and accented the music, not distracted it. Vocalist Justin Diaz was feeding off the crowd with his growls, some spoken passages and screams. Although I wasn’t particularly blown away by their set, their sound was heavy and didn’t feel tedious. The crowd enjoyed them as well, so you couldn’t ask for anything else.
Inhuman Atrocities links:
facebook.com/ApathyMetal
Set List:
01. Immolation
02. Doomocracy
03. Miasma (The Black Dahlia cover)
04. Anguish
05. Perpetual Hatred
30 minutes behind, Suicide Joy Ride took the main stage. By this time, there were more people in attendance. Lots of younger teens in the crowd. Based next door from Fullerton, they came out with the singer in a nice attire with “Dia De Los Muertos” paint on his face. The stage right guitarist also had a very interesting mask on as well. I wasn’t quite sure what their style was, but I’ve learned to never judge a band until I’ve heard their music. They played a more melodic death metal style with lots of guitar melodies in the mix. The singer had some particularly impressive screams and moved around constantly. Once more, there was no bass guitar present. I’m wondering if May 9th was No Bass Guitar Day, at this point. Some would joke that it doesn’t matter when you’re playing metal, but since there are a vast amount of talented bass players out there, the sound was somewhat impacted in general. Their set went by fairly quickly, as due to the late setup, Suicide Joy Ride only played for a little under 20 minutes. The crowd was digging them and some normal moshing commenced. They were a little more to my style than the previous band. I wouldn’t mind seeing a longer set from them in the near future.
Suicide Joy Ride links:
facebook.com/pages/Suicide-Joy-Ride/151470264894312
By 9:45 PM, Ninja Gandhi came onstage. A bass guitar was present finally. I was definitely puzzled by their name and was really curious as to how they would fit on this bill. Needless to say, I was absolutely impressed by their set. Some of the members were quite young on sight, being no older than 21. It was their musicianship, and the level of melody and theory in their music that I wasn’t expecting. The 2nd song “Choice of Life” especially, had a very nifty and unique lead guitar going on. Not only was the tone vibrant and powerful, but elegant and meaningful as well. There were some core moments within their music, and because the rest of what they play was on a much higher level, I really wish they would do away with it. The vocalist’s range went from screams, growls, clean singing and even some proper spoken narration through the music. Interesting tremelo riffs and distinctive melodic shredding divided by both guitarists were the highlight for me of their 25-minute set, while headbanging and lots of moshing highlighted the crowd’s energy. “Choice of Life” and their new song that ended the set, “Wax Empire”, were the best choice songs for Ninja Gandhi. Their blend of melodic technical death metal was so far my favorite of the night. I wasn’t expecting to be this impressed by them and although others who are into the more brutal setting may not have an appreciation for them, Ninja Gandhi should hopefully be making waves in the local scene.
Ninja Gandhi links:
facebook.com/NinjaGandhiOfficial
Set List:
01. Randall Flagg
02. Choice of Life
03. Undecided Prosperity
04. Isle of Tortuga
05. Dead Culture
06. Wax Empire
Los Angeles’s melodic death/power metal band Sirion took the stage close to 10:45 PM. Their set was unfortunately cut short to 4 songs due to some technical difficulties with the drum monitors. I had a chance to see them play with Arkona in Los Angeles last year and was very impressed with their set. Also the theme it seems, there was no bass guitar either. The guitar work was as stellar as it was the first time I saw them. But one of Sirion’s more impressive and unique feats is the use of keyboards. It fits the music and definitely adds story and character, too. The volume of the keyboard sound was not too loud or too meek either, as it can be for many who try. Their set consisted of their latest self-titled EP. “Interstellar” and “Beyond the Depths” caught the attention of the audience with some moshing and headbanging along the way. Although this particular crowd wasn’t exactly their core audience, Sirion made the very best of their cut set and promised to return again in the near future. With a keyboard sound reminiscent to that of bands like Nocturnus, we have Sirion to lead the way in a similar style of melodic death metal.
Sirion links:
facebook.com/Sirion
twitter.com/Sirion_USA
Set List:
01. Symmetrical
02. Earthmind
03. Interstellar
04. Beyond the Depths
Still about an hour behind the original scheduled time, Insecticide brought their 3-piece intense crossover thrash to the stage. Fun, raw and extremely heavy, I noticed immediately how powerful and crushing the drums sounded. It’s one thing to have a proficient player and another when they have a matching sound to supply the frenzy. Only a 3-piece (with a bass guitar too!), their raw, blistering speed was perfect for the many in attendance with Megadeth and Slayer shirts. Guitar solos were screaming throughout their set and the riffs would make Anthrax proud. The bassist/vocalist was joking around with the crowd between their extremely short set, as was stated by the sound engineer to concide with the late schedule. So unfortunately, Insecticide played a quick 15 minutes to the hungry thrash crowd. Their set was over almost as soon as it started. Another couple of songs, given the lengths were about 3 minutes or under, would have sufficed. Nevertheless, fans of Iron Reagan I feel would definitely have enjoyed Insecticide.
Insecticide links:
facebook.com/pages/Insecticide/198337963528733
By 12 AM, with the still remaining in attendance, Rattlehead took the stage with their 4-piece linup (And a bass guitar included. 3 bands with and 3 bands without a bass tonight, in case you were keeping count.) It was definitely noticeable in their set, as the picking of the bass strings was high in the mix, yet never drowned the guitars at any point. Founder/vocalist/guitarist Nick Baranov was all smiles, migrating to various parts of the stage to partake in the fun the rest of the band was having. He also called for the crowd to bring Vodka and to commence drinking together. Their riffs were more on the technical side compared to Insecticide, which I much prefered. I don’t mind old-school thrash but I do prefer the more techincal side of thrash, such as Megadeth and Kreator. They only played 1 song off ‘The Blackout Brigade’ EP, “Get In The Van”. Playing to a crowd and area you haven’t quite played recently, playing your latest material that you also have on sale would defintely get the crowd more into it. The rest of their set consisted mostly from their latest full-length album Tales from the Gutter, such as “Nightmares Never Sleep” and “Walk With the Dead”. In a very anticlamatic fashion, they announced after only 15 minutes that this was their last song. I know I wasn’t the only one in the audience puzzled by this. The schedule simply said they played until “Close”, which I thought would have been 45 minutes at the minimum. I thought at first it was because the show was an hour behind schedule. But then I grabbed their setlist, and sure enough, only 6 songs. Rattlehead only played for 20 minutes, just as they were really ready to get warmed up. They were the headliners and got the 2nd shortest set of the night, which made no sense to me. I would say the best part of their set though was adding their own cover of “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” from the 80s band Simple Minds. Rattlehead only performed a minute from it right after their last song, “Crack a Cold One”, ended. However, it had the audience in laughter and cheers.
Overall, the late scheduling didn’t completely dampen the bands that performed well tonight. Ninja Gandhi and Sirion impressed me the most on this Friday evening. And despite the anti-clamatic ending, Rattlehead performed a solid set of speed and thrash metal, and hoping I’ll be able to enjoy a much longer and deserving set from them in the near future.
Rattlehead links:
RattleheadMusic.com
facebook.com/RattleheadMusic
twitter.com/Rattlehead2010
instagram.com/Rattle666head
Set List:
01. Walk With the Dead
02. Nightmares Never Sleep
03. Get in the Van
04. Bullet (Misfits cover)
05. Devil’s Workshop
06. Crack a Cold One
Mirror Image Studios links:
MirrorImageStudios.net
facebook.com/MirrorImageStudios
twitter.com/MirrorImageOC