Upcoming shows: an awesome low-dough local show and a great progressive band!

Do you want to get the most bang for your buck? Then come to a Low-Dough show at the Riot Room! This edition takes place on February 10th, and the lineup is Troglodyte/The Roman Holiday/Marasmus/Chaos Interval. All four are amazing death metal bands from the area and you should go support them! Entry is $2 so you can spend your cash on merch or at the bar, both help out the local scene!

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A few days before at the Riot Room, on February 7th, is instrumental progressive metal band Scale The Summit. I'm not entirely sure, but this might be their first KC-area show, and they are great! Check em out!

October preview: HAMMERWEEN 2!

The fest you all know and love is back for it's second year at the Beaumont Club on October 22nd.

Line-up:

HAMMERLORD
TROGLODYTE
At the Left Hand of God
the Roman Holiday
Marasmus
Malikai
Wrath and Ruin

After-party at the Riot Room (FREE with Hammerween ticket stub, $5 without)

The Cast Pattern
Ape Hanger
Koktopus

Hammerween is $10, or $6 with a costume. Alternatively, I will be handing out free tickets to this at most of the October shows I'm posting about. You just gotta find me. ;)

Exhumed -- Merriam, KS -- July 21st, 2011

Okay, so my only complaint about the night is that parking at the Aftershock completely sucks. Their lot isn't nearly big enough and we ended up parking 3 rows deep so the cars in the middle were SOL if they had to leave early. But aside from that, Aftershock's biggest show yet was absolutely awesome.

First band up was The Roman Holiday from Independence, and they were surprisingly good. I've seen them evolve and get better and better with each performance, and this was by far their best-sounding show. Too bad they weren't around 25 years ago, or they would be Cannibal Corpse. Can't wait to see them again at Hammerween II!

The only disappointing band of the night was Upon The Wake. It was their last ever show, but they were so disjointed and looked so nervous up on stage that it looked like it was their first show. Their vocalist ruled, though.

Troglodyte, fresh off their blistering (quite literally) set opening for Rob Zombie on Sunday, tore everyone in Aftershock a new face. They have a second guitarist now, and it only adds to their greatness. Caught (On Super 8) is still one of the best damn songs ever written. Long live Sasquatch Death Metal.

The band with the biggest crowd of the night, though, were hometown heroes Origin. It was the last date on their first US tour for "Entity" and they were welcomed home with insane style. The new vocalist, Jason (I got his automagraph!), was so awesome. He's every bit as good of a vocalist as James was, but his stage presence is so much better. He was physically pulling people out of the crowd to stagedive, and during The Aftermath, they had everyone on stage to headbang, and even some moshing and crowdsurfing! I haven't seen that since Suicidal Tendencies back in 2008. But I can't forget Paul, John and Mike. They all sounded fantastic and the sound itself was really clear for both the instruments and the vocals. It was really a legendary performance. It was all filmed and will be used for their music video for "Expulsion Of Fury!"

I'll admit, I wasn't entirely looking forward to Cephalic Carnage. Their last CD was really underwhelming to me, but they actually did a pretty good job. When they were straight-up grindcore, they were pretty fun. Whenever they tried to do anything else, it wasn't that great. There's some better bands that could've taken their place, but there's a LOT more worse bands that could've been there.

Exhumed was so good. Their brand of Carcass worship has more personality and original touches that probably makes them my favorite (at least live) death metal/grind/goregrind band. Matt sounded just like he does on record, and his solo's were spot-on, but Wes had some amazing solo's as well. The vocals were really clear, even for being right up next to the stage. "Casketkrusher" was so good it gave me chills, and ending the night on "The Matter Of Splatter" was just one of the highlights of my year. Hopefully they come back real, real soon!

Exhumed:

All Guts, No Glory
As Hammer To Anvil
Necrotize
Necromaniac
Casketkrusher
Through Cadaver Eyes
In The Name Of Gore
Slaughtercult
Torso
Limb From Limb
guitar solo
Forged In Fire, Formed In Flame
In My Human Slaughterhouse
Decrepit Crescendo
drum solo
Waxwork
-----------
The Matter Of Splatter

Cephalic Carnage:

Wraith
Warbot
Raped
?
Drums
Genital
Abraxas
Weed
Lucid

Origin included:

Expulsion of Fury
Wrath of Vishnu
Finite
Portal
Disease Called Man
The Aftermath
Purgatory
Swarm/Saligia

Possibly some more

Troglodyte:


Symphonies Of Sasquatch
Piece Of You
Mummified Yeti Hand
Fight For Your Life
Caught (on Super 8)
Bring Me The Head Of Bigfoot
Beaten And Eaten
Hit By The Hendersons
They Walk Among Us
The Only Good Hippie...Is A Dead Hippie


Exhumed: 9.5/10
Cephalic Carnage: 7/10
Origin: 9/10
Troglodyte: 8.5/10
Upon The Wake: 5/10
The Roman Holiday: 8/10

Unmerciful -- Lawrence, KS -- June 18th, 2010

Sometimes bands get the short end of the straw. They can be really, really talented and make some of the catchiest death metal you'll ever hear, but get terribly promoted and end up only playing in front of a handful of people. But on Friday night, those bands played like they were in front of hundreds.

The first band of the night was Chaos Interval from Kansas City. For a grind outfit with no bassist, their sound was surprisingly really heavy. I came in late for their set so I only caught the last two songs, but I'm really excited to check them out again. I really enjoyed what I heard. 7.5/10

Next up was Independance, MO's own The Roman Holiday. It was my third time seeing them and I have to say, they really have improved with each viewing. When I first saw them, I was ready to dismiss them as another deathcore/brutal death metal band, but they actually didn't fall into that trap and now are just straight up death metal. It's not pure brilliance, but there are parts that are fantastic: the song "Trainwreck" was really fantastic. It sounded at home on the last two Cannibal Corpse albums. They have a lot of room for improvement and I hope they keep on improving: they can't go wrong. 7.5/10

Now for the band of the night. Troglodyte is my favorite local KC-area band and they just reminded me why Friday night. Whereas most death metal bands go for straight up aggression, Trog keeps that intact but also makes metal fun again with catchy music while still keeping the brutality from brutal death metal and the speed and structure from grindcore. It's something special, really. As soon as Trog ripped into "Don't Go Into The Woods" and "They Walk Among Us", they were a breath of fresh air and really sent shivers up and down my spine while they played. If there's one band you should be really excited about from here, it's Troglodyte. 9.5/10

Last but not least is the very first death metal band I ever saw live, Unmerciful. This band has huge ties with the death metal scene, including members and ex-members of Origin and Cattle Decapitation (and the tour I saw them on was with Cannibal Corpse!) and it shows. They make straight-up, in your face brutal death metal, but with enough polish and professionalism that make them stand out. They played some old stuff, played some new stuff, and played a cover of one of my Hate Eternal songs, so all in all, they did great. 8/10

Unmerciful included:

Mass Execution
Seething Darkness
Nailed To Obscurity (Hate Eternal cover)
A few new songs

Troglodyte included:

Don't Go In The Woods
Skunk Ape Rape
We Eat Our Own
Don't Go In The Woods
They Walk Among Us
Die When You Die (GG Allin cover)

Last Minute Notice: Unmerciful + Troglodyte TOMORROW!

Hot damn. How did I miss this?

Unmerciful
Troglodyte
The Roman Holiday
Chaos Interval

Tomorrow (Friday, June 18th) at the Granada in Lawrence, KS. Come see two of the biggest and best bands from these here parts tear your face off with unrelenting death metal, and two other bands who ain't half bad either! It's only $5 too!

I'll be there. Are you man enough to show up too?

Cattle Decapitation -- Lawrence, KS -- May 22nd, 2010

The last time I saw Job For A Cowboy for their opening acts, it was one of the worst concert experiences I've ever had. Luckily, this time was much better all around.

The Bottleneck in Lawrence is one of the worst venues in the summer. It was like an oven in there, and the cooling air produced by the loud amps gave the most relief of the night. It helped at times.

The first band of the night was Independance, MO's own The Roman Holiday. If they were trying to be a carbon copy of Job For A Cowboy throughout the years, they certainly have done a good job. Honestly, their newer stuff sounded just like a more generic version of JFAC's newer stuff, and their "older stuff" sounded just like "Doom"-era JFAC, breakdowns and all. They never had any solo's, the vocalist could only scream in one way, and every song sounded the same. The drummer had some chops, though. I digress, I can think of a couple bands I'd rather see open up this concert, but I can think of a ton more I wouldn't want to see.

The kings of scene kid-destroying metal Revocation were next and they melted faces with every song. I saw them open for Quo Vadis in Baltimore last year and I'm disappointed it took me this long to see them again, but it made it that much better. It took about halfway through their set for the crowd to get really into it, but with enough insane solos and catchy rhythms, the crowd was really responsive the entire set. Complete with band crowd-surfing and dual solo's, Revocation will always put on one of the best and most energetic set's you'll ever see.

Cattle Decapitation should be a legendary metal band after last year. Releasing one of the freshest, most progressive death metal albums in recent years, their live show only improves upon itself with each viewing. The Harvest Floor tracks sound amazing live and with just one guitar there makes for some amazing moments that are almost like freeform jazz in some sense. They've started to include the genre of noise music into their shows now and, to me, that's a huge plus. Travis is still one of the best extreme metal vocalists around (even though before the show he looked like a chubby Michael Scott) and their new bass player is from Unmerciful from Wichita! YEAH! Still amazing, best set I've seen them put on.

I went back to the merch stands for Whitechapel and I'll keep it brief: they are the first band I've ever seen without any redeemable musical qualities live. The sound was really quiet too because I was in the back, but I like to think it was because Cattle Decapitation melted the soundboard. Three guitarists all playing breakdowns, breakdowns make up a majority of the song, boring, etc. Terrible. One of the worst bands of all time and the worst live performance I've ever been a part of.

David of Revocation talked with me for a while. I got a ReaniManiac shirt and for $5 more when you buy a shirt, I got a CD (Empire Of The Obscene) which he signed for me. Great guys.

Cattle Decapitation:

The Gardeners Of Eden
A Body Farm
To Serve Man
Tooth Enamel & Concrete
Karma.Bloody.Karma (?)
One Thousand Times Decapitation (?)
Testicular Manslaughter
Regret & The Grave
Into The Public Bath

Revocation:

Unattained
Pestilence Reigns
Dismantle The Dictator
Age Of Iniquity
ReaniManiac
Exhumed Identity

Whitechapel:

contained:

The Somatic Defilement
Prostatic Fluid Asphyxiation
The Darkest Day Of Man

Cattle Decapitation: 9/10
Revocation: 9/10
Whitechapel: 1/10
The Roman Holiday: 7/10

Marasmus -- Kansas City, MO -- March 25th, 2009

This review SHOULD say:

Vital Remains -- Kansas City, MO -- March 25th, 2009

But, as the vocalist for Marasmus stated, Vital Remains got their gear stolen.

But I got to check out some more local bands that I've been itching to hear.

The first band of the night was The Roman Holiday. At first, I thought they were heavy as hell, but it just degenerated into yet another by the numbers deathcore band. There were times when what they were doing could've been mistaken for a great death metal band, but they just filled every void they possibly could with breakdowns. 7/10

Second time seeing Decimation (the first being opening for Skeletonwitch) and they were much better this time around. Straight-up, old fashioned death metal, which was a bit like deatn n' roll at times. Amazing drummer, as always. One of the best Kansas has to offer. 9/10

Last up was Marasmus, and I'd heard good things about them. They play deathgrind, but there are some technical aspects to their music as well. The crowd wasn't into them too much, but they had a pretty good stage presence and they really deserve a bigger stage. 8.5/10

All in all, a good concert for six bucks, but I would have gladly paid triple that for Vital Remains. Here's to hoping they get their stuff back.