By Andrew Bansal
January 31st 2015, The Airliner, Los Angeles CA: Cleveland, Ohio’s extreme metal/hardcore punk perpetrators Nekrofilth have steadily risen as a force to be reckoned with in the genre’s underground during the six years of their existence thus far, not only across America but all over the world. On the strength of their devastating 2013 full-length debut “Devil’s Breath” on Hells Headbangers, they’ve been an actively touring entity. Nekrofilth embarked on a three-week US West Coast tour in mid-January with Denver black thrashers Weaponizer whom they are sharing two members with. Towards the end of this mostly DIY run, the two bands arrived in Los Angeles for a gig at the Airliner, organized by the ever-industrious folks at Poor Kids Radio. Even with a major mainstream so-called extreme metal show occurring on the same night in a very different part of town, the LA metal and punk underground was expected to be in full attendance for this potentially epic rager.
Having just arrived back in town, by the time I reached the venue I had missed out on the first four bands on the bill, unfortunately. The turnout was good, considering the popularity of the competing event featuring Mayhem, Watain and Revenge at the Fonda in Hollywood, and was improving by the minute. With that show scheduled to end much earlier than the one here, Poor Kids were even offering $5 entry to anyone coming from there with a ticket stub.
On the main stage upstairs, California’s own Maggot Colony started their set at around 11 PM and enthused the LA faithful with an instantly enjoyable brand of deathgrind mixed in with breathless punk and contrasting slow doom passages, along with humorous banter between songs. They were the most ideal warmup act one could have imagined for this touring package and played their part in the success of the event.
Denver trio Weaponizer took the stage soon after with their Motorhead-inspired black thrash and not even a single moment of their set was dislikable for the crowd gathered here. They served as worthy representatives of the Denver metal community which boasts of several tremendously successful and respectable metal groups, and with performances such as this one, Weaponizer will certainly join the list as well.
Weaponizer links: facebook
And lastly, close to 1 AM, Nekrofilth began their mission of destruction and annihilated the place with a flurry of relentless intensity. Mosh pits were rolling at full tilt and attendees were seen having a total blast, as the energy levels only got higher with each of the nineteen short, to-the-point, high-impact songs Nekrofilth played in this set. The aforementioned full-length was represented in plenty, but so were nearly all of Nekrofilth’s past EP, split and demo releases. The set also included their cover of Razor’s ‘Cross Me Fool’ which appears on the split release with Weaponizer, and Nekrofilth’s perfect rendition of the song followed by their own ‘Volcanic Zit’ took the atmosphere to a crescendo. After this glorious one-two punch, the night seemingly came to an end and the house lights were turned on, but the demands for an encore were high and absolutely genuine, so Nekrofilth had no option but to oblige. The four-song encore treat included some of their most ferocious compositions such as ‘Sewer Rat’ and ‘Junkie Cunt’. “We are Nekrofilth. Fuck you!” yelled vocalist/guitarist Zack Rose before proceeding to play a song of the same title and bringing the band’s rampaging onslaught to a halt.
As Zack remarked during the set, the crusty, greasy crowd gathered here was most suitable for the typical Nekrofilth gig and contributed largely to the impact of the band’s set. It just goes to show what a difference a crowd can make, as I was witness to the same touring bands playing to a funereal set of attendees in Fresno earlier in the week. This crowd did the Los Angeles metal underground proud in front of these touring bands. But then again, there is no such thing as a weak crowd at a Poor Kids Radio show, and there’s an unexplainable quality to their events that makes any and every venue and atmosphere enjoyable to be in, even a place such as the Airliner where I’ve had more negative experiences than positive ones in the past.
At the end of the night, I had no doubt I chose to attend the right event, and this is said with no disrespect intended towards those who went to the other one. Some attendees that came from that show and arrived here at around 11:30 vindicated my decision further by giving their first-hand accounts of how underwhelming Mayhem and Watain were in their opinion in comparison to the efforts of Nekrofilth and Weaponizer. The real extreme metal show was at the Airliner, and those in attendance were indeed the fortunate ones.
Nekrofilth links: facebook
Set List:
01. Beware The Witch Of Death
02. Scum Freak
03. Jerusalem Decay
04. Street Bitch
05. Crave The Grave
06. Get Fucked
07. Wormskull
08. Take Them To The Grave
09. Street Creep
10. Devil’s Breath
11. I’m A Degenerate
12. Smear The Sleaze
13. Crocodile
14. Cross Me Fool (Razor cover)
15. Volcanic Zit
Encore:
16. Sewer Rat
17. Junkie Cunt
18. Shit Woman
19. Fuck You
Remaining Tour Dates:
2/2 – Tucson, AZ @ Space Smokeshop
2/3 – Santa Fe, NM @ The Underground