Review & photos by Andrew Bansal
[Videos by Arturo Gallegos]
September 28th 2014, The Avalon, Hollywood CA: Following their 2012 Metal Blade Records album release ‘Fire & Damnation’ which was their first in 25 years, German thrash metal band Exumer are now hard at work on their next batch of tunes but before going into full-on writing mode, they made a rare US appearance with a one-off headline gig in Los Angeles last night, only their third show in the United States overall. Taking place at the Avalon in Hollywood, the gig was put together by promoters False Cause and featured a support cast of Sadistic Intent, Merciless Death, Morbid Saint, Sakrifcer and Social Overload. Despite concerns about the ticket price in local circles in the weeks leading up to the event, LA’s entire thrash community appeared to have come out in large numbers to support all these bands as the venue was packed soon after the doors opened at 6 PM, and all was in readiness for an all-thrash affair.
I arrived late at this one, and by the time I got there Merciless Death, the fourth band of the lineup, were already into their set and I wasn’t able to catch enough of it to be able to justifiably review them (check out Arturo Gallegos’ YouTube channel for video footage of Social Overload, Sakrificer, Morbid Saint and Merciless Death). But to get an opportunity to see Sadistic Intent who despite being an LA band have hardly played here in the recent past, was just about as rare as seeing Exumer themselves, and I was extremely glad to be in attendance to watch their entire 45-minute set because they absolutely scorched this stage with a skull crushing exhibition of extreme music. Their brand of thrash which infuses elements of black, death and doom metal is certainly more interesting than straight-up fast thrash as the transitions between fast and slow segments makes the fast ones stand out that much more. Having been around since as long ago as 1987, Sadistic Intent are nothing short of legends in their own right, nowadays touring Europe, Central & South America and Australia with much greater frequency than playing in the States. Their performance here was as precise and deadly as any I’ve ever seen from an extreme metal band, and even though I didn’t attend this concert in its entirety I can safely say that Sadistic Intent, along with the headline act that followed, were the best band of the night.
HD video footage of the entire Sadistic Intent set:
At 11:10, after an elongated intro tape played out on the PA, Exumertook the stage to unleash an old-school thrashing onto a crowd that gleefully absorbed it as a giant circle pit broke out at full tilt and maintained its speed throughout the Exumer set which comprised of material from all three of their studio albums with an expectedly greater focus on the 1986 debut effort ‘Possessed By Fire’ with fan-favorites such as ‘Journey To Oblivion’, ‘Fallen Saint’ and as many as five other tracks off of the album, but they also laid great emphasis on the 2012 ‘Fire & Damnation’ record with tunes such as ‘Fallen Saint’ and ‘Vermin Of The Sky’ making as much of an impact on the fans.
Exumer’s uniqueness lies in their blend of the New York and Teutonic varieties of thrash metal, and they portrayed it to perfection through this set with a commanding vocal performance by frontman Mem V. Stein, a hugely authoritative figure on stage both with his voice and presence, and able support from his band mates, specially the guitars which sounded supremely crisp. Stein addressed the crowd several times in Spanish, much to their delight. With this Exumer set, the thrash faithful gathered here at the Avalon certainly got what they came for and gave the band a tremendous response with fast intense moshing and plenty of singing and crowd-surfing, except of course for that one dude in the front row with the hideously obnoxious phablet filming the whole show.
It was pleasantly shocking to have witnessed this event at a venue as upscale as the Avalon, located where it is in central Hollywood, and I never thought I’d see an underground thrash metal concert at this place but there’s no doubt that the selection of the Avalon with its top-notch sound and a pleasant ambiance made this event all the more enjoyable for everyone involved as opposed to it being held some place like the Vex where everybody would have sounded horrible instead. The thrasher crowd was generally respectful and behaved itself. Overall a greatly successful show that perhaps calls for more such events here in future.
Related: Interview: Exumer Vocalist Talks About Los Angeles Show & Next Album
Set List:
01. Winds of Death
02. Journey To Oblivion
03. The Weakest Limb
04. Fallen Saint
05. Vermin Of The Sky
06. A Mortal In Black
07. A New Morality
08. Sorrows Of The Judgement
09. I Dare You
10. Xiron Darkstar
11. Fire & Damnation
Encore:
12. Possessed by Fire
13. Destructive Solution
HD video footage of the first 15 minutes of Exumer’s set: