Precious Metal: Easter @ Lit Lounge 031108

I was going thru a little Precious Metal withdrawal since the party was canceled last week and only wound up getting a small fix last night. Rising Up/Rising Down was a no-show (how rude) and there was only one other band, Easter, on the bill. During their very powerful 40 minute set I watched John, the drummer, break two sticks and drop about ten of them. And in case you were wondering...Easter rocks!

Easter
I took a couple of pics without the flash, here are the results...my friend said that it looks like they're playing under a ring of fire...

Jon looking for his sticks after the set...

Kingdom of Sorrow + Turmoil + Dead to Fall @ The Knitting Factory 030208

In the days leading up to this one, I had been listening to Kingdom of Sorrow pretty much non-stop on my iPod. They had great chemistry for only their fourth show...my only regret is that I didn't use flash for my pics! They even covered a couple Crowbar tracks, including 'All I Had, I Gave'. You can tell Jamey is a hardcore guy...he did the sign of the horns and wound up saying I love you. Keep the thumb down! Missed Thy Will Be Done, but luckily made it for most of the Dead To Fall set. These guys are definitely more metal than core in the metalcore equation. I've never watched a vocalist headbang and sing at the same time with such proficiency! I'd read that Turmoil was heavily influenced by Voivod, and being a huge fan of the legendary French Canadians, I was very curious to check these guys out. Well, they were good, and certainly not your regular hardcore band, but I completely missed the Voivod influence. The singer jumped into the pit (which was a big, empty space) to get things going a bit, which was cool. The crowd was about 50/50 metal and hardcore kids...I have to admit though, I really hate hardcore dancing...let's get a circle pit going you hardcore douchebags, this is a metal show! As you can see, I stuck around long enough to get Steve and Kirk's picks. What a great night.

The unmistakable Kirk Windstein...

Precious Metal: Agrath + Maledicere + Malkuth @ Lit Lounge 010708

A pretty solid night of local underground black metal this evening for the long-standing Precious Metal party. Agrath wrapped up their set with an awesome Beherit cover. Minnesota's Maledicere is exactly what evil should sound like. The singer looked like a total mamma's boy, but he could shriek from the pit of his soul. Malkuth came out tonite as a duo...the drummer was on point, hair flying everywhere as he destroyed the kit. They played a couple of covers, but I didn't recognize them. I didn't take too many shots here because the cavernous basement of Lit Lounge is pretty small and the flash can be distracting.

Brooklyn's Malkuth

Exodus + Goatwhore + Arsis + Warbringer @ BB King's 020408

I was totally psyched for this one...Goatwhore is worth the price alone, so having Exodus on the bill is like a triple bonus! Unfortunately the set times were pushed up a little bit, so we missed the first couple Goatwhore songs. They ripped it. I've been a fan of Exodus since 1989's Fabulous Disaster...luckily Gary Holt, original guitarist, decided to keep things going after all these years. Oh, and did I mention Tom Hunting is now back in the lineup?!? It took them awhile, but they finally got to a some old ones...I'm sure I've forgotten a couple, but I definitely remember hearing 'A Call to Arms', 'Riot Act', 'Shovel-Headed Kill Machine', 'Bedlam 123', 'Children of a Worthless God', 'Fabulous Disaster', 'A Lesson in Violence', 'Bonded by Blood', 'Blacklist', 'Funeral Hymn', 'Iconoclasm', 'War is my Shepard' and 'Toxic Waltz'. Surprisingly, they didn't play anything from Impact is Imminent...I was looking forward to a little 'Objection Overruled' action. I was not surprised, however, that they skipped over every track from Force of Habit, their weakest release. Arsis and Warbringer were also on the tour (and I missed them both).

Also, please note that I was not using flash at this show, so the pictures aren't that great.

Exodus
This is the new Exodus vocalist. He looks like he's in a motorcycle gang (check out that wicked scar).


Gary (Holt) and Rick's (Hunolt) riffing style pretty much defines Bay Area thrash for me. At the top of their game, nobody could touch these guys...only Slayer and Vio-lence came close...

Death by Decibels with Vader + Malevolent Creation + Cattle Decapitation @ Blender Theater 121807

This was just a great show and the final date of the tour...San Diego's Cattle Decapitation opened it up and were brutal as hell. What a bunch of angry vegetarians. The singer had a serious spitting problem, and at one point the drummer yelled at him after being hit by some stray phlegm. Gore Not Core! Malevolent Creation was supporting their latest release, Doomsday X, and boasted most of the original lineup. They crushed tonite. I definitely heard 'Malevolent Creation', 'The Will To Kill' and 'Deliver My Enemy'. Heavy set from a top Florida death metal act. Despite the revolving door of band members, Vader sounded tight, and I got pretty close to the stage for them. As one would expect, the place practically erupted into a flesh tornado when they covered 'Reign in Blood'. Other highlights included 'Sothis' and 'Helleluyah (God is Dead)'.

Polish death metal veterans, Vader