Malignancy + Defeated Sanity + Mucopus + Sexcrement + Copremesis @ Club Midway 052108

A night of underground death metal, indeed! All the way from Germany, en route to the Maryland Deathfest, Defeated Sanity clearly (and understandably) had the biggest draw this evening. I noticed that one of the guitar players looked much older than the rest of the unit, and it turns out that he is the drummer's father! How cool is that?! Only in Europe, my friends. The last time my dad picked up a guitar, he chased me around the house with it. Well, safe to say the wait for these boys was well worth it...they wrecked shop. The only complaint I have (and I can't believe the sound guy didn't fix the problem) is that you could barely hear the vocals...I was standing right in front and could hear Jens screaming, just not through the speakers. I walked in as Copremesis was finishing up, and based on the two songs I heard, I was pissed that I hadn't arrived earlier to catch their full set of 'unoriginal death-grind poop'. Sexcrement really got things going with the vocalist coming out in the crowd and getting up in everyone's face overtop a thick slab of porn-grind. If technical death metal is your flavor, Mucopus will deliver the goods. The bass player is the feature here (incredible fretwork), but I should also mention that the vocalist was going nuts and really invaded your personal space (not in a bad way), which provided some great energy to the performance. By the time Malignancy hit the stage, I was pretty wiped out, but stuck around for a few songs. Danny (vocals) looked pretty bored for the fifteen minutes I was there, but watching Rob handle the guitar leaves no doubt as to why he just got sponsored. On a side note, the bass player looked like he just got back from a picnic in Martha's Vineyard...

Sexcrement

Mucopus

Defeated Sanity

Malignancy

Me + Jens from Defeated Sanity...love his shirt!

Misery Index + Estuary + Waking The Cadaver + Tentacles @ Club Midway 041308

I had to bail early on my sister's birthday dinner for this one.  Luckily, she knows I'm a total metal maniac and at this point I think I'm about 90% forgiven.  I didn't make it for Tentacles but did have a beer with one of the band members after the show; we were seemingly raised on the same diet of Earache/Roadracer and shared most of the same favorite albums from about a dozen different bands.  Ever since the youtube parody, I've always been a huge fan of Waking The Cadaver, although I did find the production on their debut, 'Perverse Recollections of a Necromangler', a little lacking in clarity and overall sound compared to their earlier recordings. Despite the fact that pretty much every metal reviewer on earth hates this band, these guys played a brutal set.  The bouncer looked on in bewildered amazement as we all soaked up the ultra-guttural sickness.  I talked to him after the set and he simply asked 'what the fuck was that?'.  They played 'Authority Through Indimidation', 'Pigtails are for Facefucking' and 'Bloodsplattered Satisfaction', but for some reason, 'Chased Through the Woods' was not part of the setlist!?!  C'mon boys, you gotta dance with the girl that brought you to the ball!  Apparently Estuary have been making their rounds in the underground, but I'd still never heard of them.  The female vocalist roared pretty damn well over some fairly simplistic death/thrash.  Bonus points for the Pestilence and Impetigo t-shirts.  I've always had a 'thing' for Misery Index and they did not disappoint this evening.  The drummer was on point and pretty much destroyed his kit.  I chatted with Jason after the show - very cool guy.  

Ohio's Estuary

Misery Index

Mark and Jason from Misery Index...

Misery Index, half of Estuary plus a couple dudes I don't know...