By Andrew Bansal
July 19th 2014, House Of Blues Sunset Strip, West Hollywood CA: The 2014 edition of the annual Summer Slaughter Tour started off in San Francisco on July 17th, and following a visit to the Observatory in Orange County the night after, the caravan arrived in West Hollywood for a gig at the House Of Blues Sunset Strip which was sold out 24 hours in advance. Ironically for us LA folks, it was a cold, cloudy, gloomy and windy day, and was the exact opposite to what’s typically known to us as summer. But indoors, this 10-band package was ready to turn up the heat.
Doors opened at 2 PM, and by the time the show started at 3 PM, there was already a sizable gathering of attendees at the House Of Blues. Local opener Goliath began proceedings with a 20-minute set which I unfortunately ended up missing entirely. But the first item of the touring packge was Michigan-based progressive death metal quartet Boreworm, who took the stage at 3:35. These guys won the nationwide ‘Headbang For The Highway’ contest to get on this tour, and justified their inclusion with a solid performance laden with windmill-style tech death metal and punctuated by grooves, melodic interludes and breakdowns. Even at this early stage of the show, they succeeded in instigating mosh pits and warmed up the crowd well for the bands to follow.
Boreworm links: website | facebook | twitter
Hailing from the San Francisco Bay Area, Fallujah is an atmospheric death metal quintet that’s constantly on the road, having done North American tours supporting the likes of Broken Hope, The Black Dahlia Murder and Gorod in the past year. This set of theirs formed an impression greater than ever before as they lived up to their sub-genre tag by creating dark atmospheres with their music and presenting some great melodies through guitar riffs and single notes that were allowed to resonate till their last breath. They asked the crowd to raise their lighters for one of the songs, the only moment during the entire show with lighters out. Fallujah gave an excellent account of themselves with this set and besides their musicianship which won them new fans, they boasted of the best-looking t-shirts and artwork out of all ten bands on this tour.
Fallujah links: facebook | twitter
Westfield MA-based Within The Ruins were up next, and they brought forth a discernible metalcore/deathcore element in their sound which certainly has its own fan base, as was evident from the positive response the band got from a portion of this crowd. While their music and live presentation was energetic and wasn’t intolerable by any means, I was personally a bit put off by their excessive usage of samples and backing tracks, and they might be better served adding a second guitarist to play those parts live instead. Other than that, not a bad set.
Within The Ruins links: website | facebook | twitter
Of late, Northern California technical death metal outfit Decrepit Birth haven’t been as active as they used to be when it comes to releasing new music or touring, so for fans of the genre it’s great to see them back in action with this full-on North American touring run. Their set here reminded me of why I became a fan of theirs around the time they played the 2010 edition of this very festival. Their musicianship served as an apt representation of the tech death sound, led by Matt Sotelo on lead guitar channeling his Chuck Schuldiner influences to the fullest and putting on a killer display. On his side, Vocalist Bill Robinson took center stage and brought with him an eccentrically entertaining personality which the crowd found easily appreciable. Robinson lit up a joint and took a couple of giant puffs of cannabis even while he delivered his vocals, and except for the constant feedback noise which seemed to anger him greatly for a song or two, he exuded calm, casual and happy vibes as a balancing act to the band’s dark intricate music. They played three songs off of their mind-blowing 2010 album ‘Polarity’ and those were my favorite portions of this set. Killer set by Decrepit Birth, and here’s hoping for more from them in the near future.
Decrepit Birth links: facebook | twitter
Next up, Origin kept the tech death sound going, although their interpretation of it which was different from that of Decrepit Birth, much more heavily reliant on blast-beat drumming and fast shredding, both on guitar and bass. Vocalist Jason Keyser was also great in his role, and material from the band’s recently released sixth studio album ‘Omnipresent’ came across with high impact level in the live setting. While the mosh pits stayed constantly moving from the start of this show to its finish thanks to a very enthusiastic and largely young crowd, Origin was the first band to really kick the pit in motion and induce some brutal action in it, including a ‘silent’ wall of death which preceded one of their songs. Their set portrayed technical death metal at its extreme.
Related: Origin ‘Omnipresent’ album review
Origin links: facebook | twitter | instagram
At 6:40, the moment had finally arrived for Goatwhore and their fans, as they destroyed the stage with a quintessential display of their brand of old-school extreme music. The New Orleans quartet focussed largely on their eardrum-shattering latest effort ‘Constricting Rage Of The Merciless’ with a touch of the older material through selections like ‘The All Destroying’ and the neck-breaking ‘Apocalyptic Havoc’. Vocalist Ben Falgoust and his band mates were in their element and their set flowed with such smoothness and efficiency, it was over before anyone realized it. The classic rock ‘n roll and traditional metal elements in their music, specially in the new material, came as a refreshing break from the music played by all other bands on this lineup and for that reason, even in a 10-band package, Goatwhore easily stood out for a clearly distinguishable musical approach and a memorable performance. There were still four bands remaining, but I felt like I’d already seen the best band of the show. The all-conquering Goatwhore marches on.
Related: [Interview] In Conversation With Goatwhore Vocalist Ben Falgoust
Goatwhore links: website | facebook | twitter | instagram
Thy Art Is Murder had the unenviable task of following up to the epic Goatwhore set we all had just witnessed, and unfortunately they failed to make any impression. Their songs were overwhelmingly laden with breakdowns, defying the very concept and meaning of that term because the way they were using it, it wasn’t ‘breaking down’ any song but rather filled the entire song instead. Most people in attendance would have preferred seeing Goatwhore higher than Thy Art Is Murder on this bill, but the latter obviously sold more albums and as a result has a bigger fan base, so fair play to them. But their set did absolutely nothing for me and felt much longer than it actually was. Thy Art Is Boredom.
Next up was Los Angeles’ very own extreme metal outfit The Faceless. In all honesty, I had lost touch with this band, didn’t get to see them live for the past three years and quite frankly didn’t even listen to their 2012 album ‘Autotheism’. So I wasn’t sure what to expect here and what they would sound like, but was pleasantly surprised by the musical depth they displayed through this set, coming across as the most progressive band on this lineup and the only one with clean vocals, that department handled excellently by lead guitarist Michael Keene. Meanwhile, Geoffrey Ficco did a stellar job on the lead vocals, multi-talented bassist Evan Brewer did what he does best, and so did drummer extraordinaire Alex Rüdinger. With epic intro samples and a large number of tempo and pattern changes even in a 35-minute set, The Faceless are more progressive than ever before and are still a very competent live band.
The Faceless links: facebook | twitter
Set List:
01. An Autopsy
02. The Eidolon Reality
03. Coldly Calculated Design
04. Accelerated Evolution
05. The Ancient Covenant
06. Autotheist Movement II: Emancipate
07. Xenochrist
After six hours of extreme music it was down to the last two bands, and the mosh pit was certainly at its most violent and brutal during Dying Fetus‘ set. The Maryland-based trio of John Gallagher (guitar/vocals), Sean Beasley (bass/vocals) and Trey Williams (drums) put forth a greatly solid representation of the band’s 20-plus year career and justifying the title of their 2012 album, they certainly showed that they reign supreme in the death metal realm. To me their slowest musical segments were the most enjoyable, and Gallagher’s guitar-playing came across as nothing short of exemplary for this genre. With chants of ‘Fetus! Fetus!’ this crowd showed their gratitude towards the band for a performance that melted their faces and knocked them flat.
Dying Fetus links: facebook | twitter
And finally, at 10 minutes past 10 o’clock, the mighty Morbid Angel graced the stage for 70 minutes worth of vintage American death metal. Right from the set opener ‘Immortal Rites’ off of the iconic 1989 debut album ‘Altars Of Madness’, the band’s musicianship was at its best, the crowd participation was immense and fans were at frontman David Vincent’s command throughout the set. In addition to his monstrous vocal delivery and bass playing, Vincent’s sheer presence and powerful on-stage personality is second to none, and to younger bands, including all other nine bands on this tour, this quality of his serves as the shining example and the gold standard in terms of where an extreme metal frontman needs to be in this aspect of live performance.
My previous and only other time seeing Morbid Angel was at the Fonda last November wherein they played ‘Covenant’ in its entirety to celebrate its 20th anniversary, but this was a well-rounded set with songs from each of the band’s eight studio albums and a much better portrait of their career, with the classic albums ‘Altars Of Madness’, ‘Blessed Are The Sick’ and ‘Covenant’ well-represented by great tunes off of them, and the other albums, including even those from the band’s Steve Tucker era, also getting a song each.
A 70-minute set would normally be deemed short if it were a standard Morbid Angel headline show, but considering that the attendees had already stood through nine other extreme bands prior to Morbid Angel, the set was of appropriate duration and brought the show to a very fitting end. They once again proved that as an extreme metal fan you really can’t go wrong with a Morbid Angel live show.
Morbid Angel links: website | facebook | twitter
Set List:
01. Immortal Rites
02. Fall From Grace
03. Rapture
04. Maze Of Torment
05. Vengeance Is Mine
06. Ageless, Still I Am
07. Curse the Flesh
08. Existo Vulgoré
09. Where the Slime Live
10. Blood On My Hands
11. Bil Ur-Sag
12. World Of Shit (The Promised Land)
13. God of Emptiness
Overall, I can safely say that this was easily the best Summer Slaughter show I’ve ever seen, with Goatwhore and Morbid Angel standing out as the best bands of the lineup and most other bands also presenting something worthwhile. If you’re into extreme music, this is a show not to be missed.
Summer Slaughter links: website | facebook | twitter | instagram
Remaining tour dates:
7/20/2014 Nile Theater – Phoenix, AZ
7/21/2014 Tricky Falls – El Paso, TX
7/22/2014 Sunshine Theater – Albuquerque, NM
7/23/2014 Summit – Denver, CO
7/25/2014 House Of Blues – Houston, TX
7/26/2014 Scoot Inn – Austin, TX
7/27/2014 Gas Monkey – Dallas, TX
7/29/2014 State Theater St. – Petersburg, FL
7/30/2014 The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
7/31/2014 The International – Knoxville, TN
8/01/2014 Agora Theatre – Cleveland, OH
8/02/2014 Mojoes – Chicago, IL
8/03/2014 Skyway Theatre – Minneapolis, MN
8/05/2014 The Rave – Milwaukee, WI
8/06/2014 Crofoot Ballroom – Detroit, MI
8/07/2014 Rapids Theatre – Niagara Falls, NY
8/08/2014 Irving Plaza – New York, NY
8/09/2014 The Palladium – Worcester, MA
8/10/2014 The Trocadero – Philadelphia, PA
8/12/2014 Empire NOVA – Springfield, VA (no Morbid Angel)
House Of Blues Sunset Strip links: website | facebook | twitter | instagram