By Lisa Burke
April 23rd 2016, Complex, Glendale CA: For my weekend metal adventures I was intrigued by the idea of a mini three-day festival consisting primarily of various forms of death metal at the intimate Complex in Glendale, put together by Daniel Dismal and Church Of The 8th Day, the men behind the original Los Angeles Murder Fest. Basically it was three nights for $30 and contained an average of seven bands a night. In theory this is a good deal and a really great time. They also had some vendors and food and merch in the back outdoor area where they provided long black cushioned benches for people to sit and chat between bands, or during anything that was brutal in a bad way. I was only able to attend the second night of this festival called Mini-Murder on Saturday April 23rd, 2016 with headliners Cattle Decapitation, despite my draw to the first night being Gravehill, and on the last night being Behold! The Monolith. After, the experience as a whole I can say I definitely would not have wanted to be there for all the days for all the bands because it would have been pretty exhausting, but rather for two or three bands each night, or better yet, one night with a unique array of popular bands could have also worked. The night I chose was primarily death metal bands and I was holding out for the brutally comforting sounds of Crematorium and Cattle Decapitation and found that it was a bit of a struggle in the beginning but got easier towards the end.
I arrived for the growls of blackened death metal band Deformity. They were running a bit behind schedule at this point, which is to be expected, but I definitely feel that the rush of getting the bands on stage to play twenty-minute sets one after another, gradually increasing times for later bands, caused the sound quality to suffer for the less experienced bands, unfortunately. These guys pulled off a decent set, however, and the vocals were as they should be for this genre, the drumming was on par, and the guitar was producing some solid grooves and grinds. Despite the time issues of the band scheduling they did seem to catch up by the end but the next band in the line up Saprophagous was by far the worst sound quality of the night and the dying fetus-esque vocal sounds were actually too shrill and scratch-based for me to even tolerate. The drumming was so typical and basic for this type of grindcore that it unfortunately quickly became a snooze fest. I expected more from them from the band name alone that they choose but I didn’t get it.
After I spent some quality time with the comfy benches and a cigarette outside the venue, I headed back in for more brutality that turned out to be the good kind once Hideous Rebirth took the stage. The sound for them as well was still a bit rough but they pulled off the growls and groans with ease, and although it did not possess too many original qualities in terms of death metal bands similar to Cannibal Corpse, it was still well executed. I did escape after their set with a feeling that it could only get better from here, and fortunately I was right.
Next on the agenda was death metal and hardcore punk rock band Early Graves who definitely put on a great show. These dudes are based in San Francisco and the thrashy punky elements thrown into the death mix makes for a solidified yet unique sound that I happen to really enjoy the combination of. They thrashed out and lashed out some good riffs and the left the mosh pit confused, which was a good thing in my mind. Clearly they hadn’t been served this combination too often and couldn’t figure out the appropriate mosh pit dance moves for this type of band. I definitely recommend seeing this one if you get the chance, as it will keep your interest for a long time coming. Apparently they just released a split album with Ringworm that you and I both need to check out. I’m definitely into the idea of collaborating the separate music of two bands together on an album to not only give variety to the listener but also to expose them possibly to something similar they would enjoy. It’s a win-win situation for everyone as I see it.
Now that I was finally on the right track of quality bands, Daniel Dismal’s own band Crematorium took the stage by force. Daniel has that spirit of Henry Rollins on stage as he offers advice and reassurance despite that life is pain to the audience in that old school hardcore punk way. The death screams are also top notch and he seems to have a very solid line up behind him all the way. It is again a great mix of death and hardcore old school style that is refreshing to hear, and Early Graves was a great choice to play just before them. The sound levels here were much more on key as they usually are at this venue and the crowd loved it and the pit was active throughout.
Finally it was time for Cattle Decapitation who gets better and better every time I see them and almost literally shook down the house. The ground vibrated from their sheer essence through the entire set, and nothing was wrong with that. These guys have always supported animal, human, and environmental rights and their music is a product of that with its death and grind mixed in a progressive way that could not be heavier or more brutal if it tried. Travis Ryan’s vocals were as spot on in beautiful scream as usual and the guitars were as angry as they needed to be while the bass and drums were pumping out the heartbeats of the band to feed it the life it needed. Travis was also wearing a King Parrot shirt which was great to see as they share similar philosophies in their music and beliefs.
All in all, I gave this night my best attempt and saw some really great bands but also discovered these kinds of mini-festivals are not totally my style, yet I commend the thought and effort put forth in this and overall despite what I thought was a slightly less than expected turn out, it was well received. I do hope to see more of these kinds of shows put on in a similar fashion, perhaps with a bit more play time for each band and a couple less bands, or a more spread out time setting could also work with that many bands. All I know is patience is a hard virtue to maintain sometimes but worth it in the long run.
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