Riffs & Roulette: World Of Stoner Rock Unites At Psycho Las Vegas

High On Fire had the unfortunate privilege of following that masterpiece and while Matt Pike always gives a solid shirtless performance with a side of plumber crack to boot, it was nothing new to see for me, so after a few songs I went to Vinyl for Lecherous Gaze and all its wonderful weirdness where the singer wraps his face in a white bandage and puts weird glasses on and sometimes adds a fake nose while singing the greatest creative psych, punk, stoner jams out there. It was a major highlight for sure, and then I went for my daily dose of pool madness and Bongrippper’s solid stoner jam session. All throughout the festival, Electric Wizard shirts could be seen and especially on this day as they were the headliners on this night and put on a really long and great set of quality stoner doom with a hint of old school black metal. This was preceded by Uncle Acid and Blue Oyster Cult who were actually hyped up so much that the reality didn’t even live up to it. Uncle Acid went on thirty or so minutes late and were the second band to warm up their egos before playing, which at a festival like this no one has time for or is impressed by. After that, of course, their set was fantastic as always and the mosh pit was full of large angry females who quickly learned how to simmer and appreciate. Then Blue Oyster Cult who is another flavor of rock entirely put on an interesting and fun show yet did seem a bit outdated while other older bands did not have that same vibe and seemed to modernize well. After barely surviving Electric Wizard due to sheer exhaustion, I opted out of metal for the rest of that evening so I could do it all again for the third and final day.

Death
Death

Sunday fun day in Las Vegas at The Hard Rock was as metal as metal can be except a funny note on the Hard Rock casino is they have gotten schizophrenic on their music as of late and will actually play modern pop and hip hop in between their old and newer rock and rarely do they play the heavier heavy metal, it seems. Even the staff doesn’t like it, not to mention it makes no sense. What is the world coming to? Anyway, day three, the stench of metalheads and hazy fog from the cigarettes engulfed the Hard Rock like a witch’s spell as I made my way to Vinyl stage for INVDRS who brought the doomy yet brutally fast goodness despite their allergy to vowels. Then I hit up Truth And Janey at The Joint for some dirty Jimi Hendrix-like classic rock n’ roll, and later escaped back to Vinyl for a great previously undiscovered band Tombstones whose dual vocal styles of scream from one member and clean from another made an interesting and fun enhancement to their brand of Norwegian doom. This trio is rumored to have made their first American west coast appearance and I hope it won’t be their last as they are definitely someone to check for in the future.

The Rare Breed
The Rare Breed

Because this final day contained massive acts such as Candlemass and Alice Cooper, some people arrived just for this day while others left the festival, so numbers were always fluctuating, but this day was most difficult for me to catch all I wanted because I couldn’t leave Candlemass to see Witch Mountain, as Candlemass was definitely the best act of the night and while I may have missed the Messiah era of vocals, I must say I was absolutely mesmerized by Mats Leven’s vocals and stage presence. They missed a fan favorite song or two but what they played was sheer brilliance and every true fan was in awe. Some other highlights of day three I saw were Fu Manchu, Fireball Ministry, Mars Red Sky, Lo Pan, and Danava who put on an extra special show due to the singer’s intoxication level where he spent much more of the set than usual on some angry whiskey rant and then said he didn’t like singing anyway so I’m pretty sure he made up a lyric or two, but hot damn he can still wail on a guitar to perfection, drunk or not. They are so pro in the intricate guitar jamming that really while they should have spent more time playing the show rather than talking up a storm it was still a worthy set, and I guess Vegas got the best of them for a minute but they managed to pull through.

Fireball Ministry
Fireball Ministry

Two really exceptional performances that came in second and third favorite of the day to Candlemass were Midnight and Mantar. Mantar takes third place as a German duo of black metal and doom and punk, which is just very unique and kept my interest throughout. For two sweaty short-haired German dudes who face each other, one on drums and the other on guitar and vocals, they really give a stellar show and should be given the credit they deserve. Appropriately on the pool stage was blackened thrash and punk band from Ohio, Midnight who took the stage around nine and absolutely stole the night with their brand of blackened everything. They covered their faces in black masks and hoods and at the end the singer lit his guitar on fire, jumped into the pit, and then headed to the pool where he dove in to put out the guitar as the crowd hovered, the metalheads in swimsuits came up to give him a hug, and it was the perfect end to their set. I will absolutely make my best effort to see them again in all future shows and I recommend you do the same as it was out-of-control greatness. The craziness at the pool did not end there but I was on other missions of catching Sleep as I’ve never seen this Matt Pike fronted rendition before live, and once again with his strange affliction to shirts on stage he put forth a solid and what I thought a slightly better performance with the Sleep line up. I enjoyed the more subdued stoner doom and the giant pot leaf images on the side screens, and just zoned out in preparation for Alice Cooper which as I’ve mentioned twice was a great spectacle and a great show and Nita Strauss on guitar is always a blast of talent and energy, and the tributes to the fallen greats such as Lemmy, and Bowie were noble yet not unexpected. I could have done without them honestly at this festival as they were almost out of place here and I really didn’t have the energy to keep up with them at this stage of the game, but for those who arrived for only that day I’m sure it was much more fulfilling.

Lecherous Gaze
Lecherous Gaze

Of course after that, no one cares to see the bands that played past two in the morning and while the Vinyl stage had been running behind by forty-five minutes all day, you could still hear the music outside the venue and Disenchanter was the last band I witnessed because I knew how good they were and will always make an effort to see them if possible. Picture a female vocalist and guitarist who can wail out guitar solos almost as good as Jimi Hendrix and you have the essence of Disenchanter. The good news is there were a decent amount of other die-hard fans in that room as well, so the festival ended on a good strong note as the remaining troopers headed to the circle bar to mingle and watch cheesy rock videos while soaking in the last comforts of an indoor metal festival in Las Vegas.

Although Psycho Fest is planning to return to California next year, I for one am enamored by the fact that I barely left the A/C or the Hard Rock for the whole festival and have never been in such luxurious circumstances in a festival setting, and would gladly take that any day over outdoor desert heat and dust. That said, I’m still already ready for next year’s line up of hopefully lesser bands, since I’ve basically slept for two days to recover from the madness that was Psycho Fest Las Vegas. The direction this festival has taken is what we should all be striving for as a heavy metal community, and the whole modern era stoner doom movement is by far a blessing to keeping rock n’ roll and metal alive, so keep on supporting it.

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