By Andrew Bansal
September 13th 2015, Complex, Glendale CA: California/Florida old-school death metal band Grusesome, fronted by Matt Harvey of Exhumed, formed in 2014 and released their debut full-length album ‘Savage Land’ via Relapse Records in April 2015. The release immediately earned plaudits in the extreme metal community, and following the album’s initial success, Gruesome announced a short run of debut shows in North America for late August/early September, including appearances at the Obscene Extreme festival in Montreal, Full Terror Assault festival in Cave-In-Rock, Illinois, and headline gigs in Florida and California. To end this run, they arrived at Complex in Glendale last Sunday September 13 2015 for a Church Of The 8th Day presented event featuring local support from Skeletal Remains, Tormenter and Ruin, and turned up the heat in an already hot and absolutely packed house.
Doors opened at 8, and Complex got rapidly filled as a majority of attendees had purchased tickets in advance and the walk-in crowd quickly snagged the handful of remaining day-of-show tickets. Starting proceedings promptly at 9 PM were fledgling extreme metal group Ruin, fronted by Mike Abominator of Gravehill and presenting him in a much varied musical personality, sans the fun, frills and frolic of a typical Gravehill show and emanating a relatively grim vibe instead, with deep gutteral vocals the dominant sonic element. The Gruesome fan-base loved Ruin as they made a solid first impression, as was evident from the activity around their merch table. Ruin promise to be an extreme metal force to reckon with.
Next up, local thrash tyrants Tormenter took the stage and did what they do best, playing a 30-minute set of moshpit-inducing heavy music. Their Los Angeles area shows have been mostly limited to Hollywood/West Hollywood of late, so it was refreshing to see them break out of that bubble and take the plunge to play at Complex in front of a completely different demographic, for a change. This is what most ‘Hollywood scene’ bands don’t do and need to. Tormenter proved to be a more-than-decent selection for this lineup, and not only drew a considerable number of people by themselves but delivered a worhtwhile performance as well.
Whittier death metal quartet Skeletal Remains were the main support act for this show, and provided an ideal warm-up for the headline act to follow with some righteously brutal extreme music. The band formed in 2011 and already has two full-length releases under their belt, as most of their members have cut their teeth playing in other bands in the murkiest depths of the LA metal underground. Strangely enough, this was Metal Assault’s first ever sighting of this band on a stage, and one hopes for more regular appearances from them, as they showed that they belong at a show of this magnitude and can hang with the big guns.
So far, the show was running smoothly, although it feels rather unusual to be part of a completely crowded show at this venue, because even though most shows draw decent turnouts, very few are as packed as this. It must be pointed out that the air-conditioning was not efficient enough to handle the occupancy and the temperature inside were far higher than outside. Attendees were trickling in and out, not because the quality of live music was lacking, but mainly to get some air. But everyone braved the heat and in anticipation of the headline act regardless.
At 11:50, Gruesome took the stage for an hour’s worth of old-school death metal proudly paying tribute to the likes of Death, as they played a couple of covers to go with the original tunes from their debut album. Matt Harvey was in his element, bringing much of the same frontmanship with which he not only commands Exhumed but also justified his participation in the ‘Death To All’ shows that have taken place in recent years as a tribute to Chuck Schuldiner. Alongside him he brings three highly seasoned and experienced Florida-based musicians that together sonically embody the Gruesome name. The LA extreme metal faithful that had turned up in huge numbers to witness Gruesome’s live debut in this city were grateful to be in attendance and enjoyed every moment of the set. Because of Matt Harvey’s involvement in Exhumed which is a globally touring band, it is unlikely for Gruesome to be anywhere near as active, which is perhaps not a bad thing as every appearance will be an event very much looked forward to by fans of the genre. Gruesome ended this set in style with an eponymous song followed by a cover of Slayer’s ‘Black Magic’, and sweaty but satiated, the crowd left with smiles indicating that the show was well worth attending. Gruesome clearly does no wrong.
Set List:
01. Trapped In Hell
02. Closed Casket
03. Demonized
04. Gangrene
05. Born Dead (Death cover)
06. Hideous
07. Psychic Twin
08. Savage Land
09. Baptized In Blood (Death cover)
10. Gruesome
11. Black Magic (Slayer cover)
