Gorguts with Sexcrement, Nemecide, Scalpel, Untombed, and Necronomichrist [Worcester Palladium, 9/8/2013]

Between Russia, moving to a new apartment, several ill-timed on-call shifts, and a bunch of other stuff, I had not gotten out to a show in a long while.  The fact that Gorguts is only just now back "together", combined with this, meant that I was going to have to get down, even though I needed to get on a plane to Canada the next morning.  So I figured out my new pike access, threw my jacket in the car, and headed out, ultimately getting in well ahead of doors and having to sit around in the car and chill/overheat for a couple minutes before going up to get my ticket.

At least at doors, this one was severely underattended, and the staff were a little lackadasical getting the full processing done.  However, with a minimum of going in circles, I got correctly processed and banded, and picked up a first beer, which was mostly gone before Necronomichrist started, more or less on time.

This is what the upstairs looks like now, at least a month and a half out of Rock and Shock.  The "freakshow" vibe is a noted contrast to the previous "dilapidated hole we don't care about" vibe.  And, oh yeah, I has a new phone since last time.  The photos still suck, but at least they're wider!

Necronomichrist [5/7]
It had been a while since I'd seen these guys, and in the interim they've gotten more consistent and more original, but this remains a band heavily inspired, for their best parts, by Hypocrisy's mid-'90s.  I really dig this style of death metal, so it's an open question as to whether I give them a break for their more pedestrian stuff for the occasional shadings of The Fourth Dimension breaking through, or whether I hold them to a higher standard because they've shown the ability to write that kind of music, but don't do it often.  Regardless, this was a solid opening set from a decent band who may be on the way to getting some more traction.  Their new record wasn't out, due to technical hangups somewhere in the pressing process, but I did pick up the promo for it, and am looking forward to being able to listen to it once I get back from this stupid work stand.

Necronomichrist get it going.

It was past seven, so I got my second beer as well as the Necronomichrist promo and a Sexcrement patch.  I have no idea where it's going, as the jacket is kind of crowded, but I should have the time this fall to get this stuff stitched up.

Untombed [5.5/7]
I got a little further forward for Untombed, and while they had a couple technical difficulties, both with the stage right guitar setup that seemed to afflict most of the opening bands and with all of the members being able to hear each other, the resulting hammer barrage was worth it.  They're putting the finishing touches on their new disc right now, but we got a good chunk of it in this set, and it's sounding goddamned killer, even accounting for the Palladium.  There's a little more tech and slam in the mix, really showing off what it's possible to do in this style with an expanded (six-man) lineup.  Good stuff -- any time these guys play "Bloodstained World" second, you know they're really high on the material, and that confidence was vindicated here.

Untombed attack full out.

Untombed, with Dave actually in the picture.

It had filled in a little more; while the venue didn't completely fill up at any point, it was getting towards 2/3 capacity here, and it'd stay that way into Gorguts.  They finished up at 11, though -- serious questions for anyone who left early and didn't have to be at work at like 7.  In this break, rather than beer 3 (timing reasons), I picked up a shirt and promo off Untombed.  Again, I can't listen to that CD for a week, but the shirt design is pretty damn cool, albeit with an overly-obscure backpiece.  The "XXDM" formulation is obvious, and the "B" at the bottom is probably for Boston, but I'm not sure what the top letter is.  The band's membership and main catchment area to date would suggest an "E" for East Boston Death Metal, but it doesn't really look like any "E" I'm familiar with, and I've read a lot of death metal logos in my day.

Seriously guys, what letter is this?

Scalpel [5/7]
If I recall correctly, Scalpel has significantly changed up the lineup since last time, and they're clearly trying to make some other changes as well, working some more technical parts and more ambitious arrangements into their previous combination of pure slam and pure energy.  The arrangements aren't quite there yet, and as a result the technical stuff occasionally loses its way, but there is enough slam, at high enough energy, from Scalpel to make this set a good experience.  This band is in the process of changing into something else, but even as they are, this was a pretty sweet 30 or so minutes.

Scalpel get ripping.

I picked up another beer here, and checked again to see if Gorguts had merch out.  I was able to get a shirt of Luc, but he was out of CDs at the moment, so I'd have to come back.  As luck would have it, going up to the merch deck meant that I got back to the floor in what would be about the perfect position to see Nemecide.

Nemecide [4.5/7]
I had seen this band before, and thus had some idea of where to stand to avoid the worst of it.  Their sound is polished, and certainly death metal, but them on a Gorguts bill really highlights how this genre has expanded in the last 25 years.  There are other Palladium shows they will do better on, and those shows will have fewer old dudes in armored jackets standing in the back trying to decide if the technical difficulties that struck in the middle of their set were bad, because the singer had to substitute his rotten stage banter for the music, or good because for the time being at least, the band wasn't playing.

Minimum safe engagement distance for Nemecide.

It wasn't quite 9 yet, but I picked up my last beer regardless, and went up; I had seen some of the tricks Sexcrement had up their sleeves in the preparation, and regardless, when this band plays, you go up.

Evan wins the "Forever Kvlter Than All" competition for the night.  Seriously, if you like this band enough to have their shirt, it's because you bought EVERY death metal album that came out in 1992.

Sexcrement [6/7]
The all-ages environment meant that Adam kept his dick in his pants, and the dancers had to keep their underwear on (and electrical-tape pasties on under their fishnets), but that aside, this was about as good a Sexcrement show as could be expected under the circumstances.  The band's absolutely devastating slams supercharged a pit that had been steadily getting more violent since Untombed, and the technical stuff underlying those breakdowns was absolutely on point.  This wasn't the best Sexcrement set I've ever seen, but it was pretty damn good -- and probably in the conversation for "best Sexcrement set limited to ciswomen dancers and partial nudity".

The stage setup meant that the dancers had to enter and exit through the crowd before and after, and for costume changes; the crowd was sufficiently pasted that a couple people got a little mouthy, but fortunately not grabby.  This remains a general hazard for women in their underwear at death metal shows, but not for women generally; it's progress, I guess.

Luc dodges fanboy questions about his custom.

Colin Marston is ok with his monitor levels.  This is why Gorguts is "back"; the band is now 50% composed of Dysrhythmia members, but for the sake of argument, this is "Gorguts" rather than "Luc Lemay and His All-Stars Play Gorguts".  Touring bands don't put records out, and this lineup did just release Colored Sands.

Gorguts [6.5/7]
I stuck up front for a couple songs, then moved back; this wasn't as incredible a return as, say, Carcass at Wacken, but it was pretty damn quality.  The new stuff is good, and the selections of old material that we got were pretty killer as well; the limitations of playing it live and not going out of time or out of tune probably restricted the amount of Obscura stuff to what we got, but this was always going to be the case.  The main run of the set crushed all for a good long chunk of time, and they inserted a minimum of egregious time-wasting before attacking into a three-song encore.  Then, despite it only being 11, they closed up; Sundays are what they are, after all.  Luc gave ceaseless appreesh to those who stuck to the end, but a large chunk of the crowd had unfortunately cleared out by that point.  I stuck, and ended up comped issue 2 of the Codex Obscurum by Josh Staples, along with a flyer for their (Abnormality; Sarcomancy is on hiatus, and Josh is amazingly not in any other alive bands at present) gig opening for Morbid Angel's Covenant live set, then went upstairs to grab the records Gorguts had on offer.

Gorguts, back for certain values of "back", and in full flow for all values of "in full flow".
The reader is referred to the previous remarks on issue 1, which I bought with my own hard-earned, for confirmation that any positive reactions to Codex Obscurum are not a result of getting it for free.  This is a cool zine and a quality product from quality folks, and worth supporting with your $2/$3/whatever when and wherever you find it.

The new route was good to me on the way back, and I got back home a little after midnight, then hit the hay and in the morning, bashed this out waiting for the plane to Canada.  No shows these five days -- the area of Toronto where gigs take place is too far, and all I have are goddamned khakis -- but next weekend, Alcest if I can get in the door, or Internal Bleeding if it isn't cancelled.

Summoning Hate with Untombed, Scalpel, Soul Remnants, and Forced Asphyxiation [O'Brien's, Allston, 5/18/2012]

Again I had the day off, and misread the start times on this Covan benefit, which led to me getting in about an hour ahead of the start, which I spent leaning against the outside wall, trying to shed heat.  It worked only intermediately well, and I was glad to be able to get in and at least get a beer waiting for the bands to start.  O'Brien's is seldom cool inside, but with most of the crowd not in yet, it wasn't in full sauna form.

Forced Asphyxiation [5.5/7]
For those keeping score, perhaps in anticipation of the CL final the next day, this one finished Weed 3:2 Other Stuff ("Weed" is still obviously the home team for this band, trolololol).  For those more interested in how the band was actually playing than on counting the prevalence of lyrical subjects, this was another strong, sharply-finished set in line with how they've been playing lately: strong, brutal, non-slamming death metal that on this exposure came off as highly reminiscent of 1992-vintage Hypocrisy.  This gig, both the bands that played and those that didn't (Parasitic were initially on, but had to cancel, and Malika despite organizing it didn't book her main band), shows that Forced aren't quite at the apex of NEDM yet, but the development and raw power manifested in this performance are carrying them in that direction.  Straight killer.

Forced inflicting some "Blunt Forced Trauma" on the audience.

Soul Remnants [5.5/7]
This set saw some progression from Soul Remnants as well, which was somewhat unexpected; their new stuff, from the record that they're currently working on, remains significantly inspired by At The Gates as per their older material, but weaves in a few new twists as well.  The band is still in the process of setting themselves apart both from their influences and from other bands drawing on those springs, but the separation is definitely coming, and that new record, when they finish it, is definitely going to be one to watch out for.  Here, they acquitted themselves well despite being both the most melodic of the five bands and the farthest, influence-composition-wise, from Decapitated on offer, getting the now-swollen crowd around and moving down front.

Mitch roaring away.

Scalplel [5/7]
This gig was intentionally booked to bring together as many strands of NEDM as possible, and if this is New England, there has to be a slam representative.  Scalpel filled the role admirably, and with a fair degree of originality, working slam content through more traditional death metal structures.  Their brand of slam isn't the most fully-developed yet, but this is a really young band, and if they can continue to develop this style further, they're going to be one to look out for.

Scalpel flat smashes it.

Untombed [6/7]
Two important lineup notes from this: first, Untombed has changed members again, and is now even closer to having all members having once played in Summoning Hate.  Second, it may look on first glance like they've gone away from that "goal" by changing vocalists, as Dave, in a job-related shock horror move, has cut off his famous dreads.  Take a moment of silence if you like, we're not going anywhere.

.....

The hair amputation fortunately didn't affect the music at all; Untombed have done better sets than this, but this one was cleanly balanced despite pulling in a variety of directions, slamming and grooving by turns, for a total effect probably as strong as I've seen from the band since they went to two full-time vocalists.  "Bloodstained World" was an especially violent standout here, but this whole set was damn impressive, even following on what had been a pretty damn impressive gig to this point.

The lighting is so bad that the only thing you can see in this alleged picture of Untombed is the reflection off Dave's cueball.

Summoning Hate [6/7]
Having traveled through most of the available styles of New England death metal, Summoning Hate brought things back around to where they started, closing out the night with a long, strong set of traditional brutality flavored with more and better-presented melodics than I can recall hearing from the band in a while.  As with Untombed, this wasn't quite an all-time high, but it was a killer set that put a fitting capstone on a killer gig, to what was still at that point a packed house.

Milo introduces "Infierno de Dante".

At the end, though, Summoning Hate finished up, and I picked up a shirt off Untombed -- if you see a design from this band that you like, get it bought, their production runs appear to be wicked small, and they will run out of your size -- as well as some stickers for export, and incidentally another copy of their demo, before heading back across the bridges.  As the night before, the extract from there was pretty simple, and despite the hole I'd ended up putting in my foot, I was in decent shape for the Morne show the next night.  Then the CL final went to extra time, and then to penalties, and I got back home too late and too blasted to drive in.  After that, work and family commitments delayed this writeup and caused me to miss Negura Bunget and then Sexcrement; there's some bookkeeping coming, and then hopefully I can get back out to some damned shows.

Nile with Immolation, Krisiun, Dreaming Dead, and Scalpel [Worcester Palladium, 1/16/2010]

Atrociously late but still here, this is from more than a week ago now, but it was still a good show and worth the trundling out to. I was coming from class, so this meant parking in Boston rather than doing the train, and paying too much for garaging and the Pike going out of the city, but it paid off in being able to get out on time and end up at the venue only shortly before doors.

After freezing for a bit, they opened up, and I got in and paid my $25 for what turned out to be, surprise surprise, another show moved upstairs at no discount. With this bill, it wasn't a problem, but as noted before, this is going to start bearing on people's decisions to come out before long. Upstairs is a good experience, but traditionally the cost of the ticket scales directly rather than inversely with the size of the hall.

Scalpel [4.5/7]
First time I'd seen these guys, and they put on a good if somewhat generic brutal/slam death performance. They had a lot of people in to see them who provided some good chaos on the floor while the crowd was still filling in, and decent enough material for a local band in the process of coming up. It'll be interesting to see how they develop, and how they go on to find their sound; eastern New England has a fairly large supply of bands in this general style, so if they want to stand out, they're going to need to step it up a notch.

I know that I've seen several of the members of this band in other area bands before, but their metal-archives entry isn't the most informative, and my memory isn't that eidetic. We'll see if I can work out who played with who in the past.

Dreaming Dead [5/7]
This band saw a lot of expectations reset; given the volume of evidence, it is surprising when a band with two female guitarists comes out and plays hard-hitting thrashing death metal rather than some other style. It's also good, which is why, I think, you saw a lot of interest in this combo from attendees. I was more surprised, though, in hearing that they were from L.A.; poorly informed me didn't realize they were touring and thought they were from New Bedford or something. They drilled out a good set limited to some degree by the sound, and definitely impressed; if Paganizer ever makes it over, this would be a good band to open for them.

This was apparently their first real tour, at least supporting a package nationally; while they seemed to be doing decent business when I went to pick up a CD, it might have been better if they'd turned one of the CDs over as well, to show the Ibex Moon logo on the back. John McEntee doesn't mess about when signing quality death metal, and most fans both know this and will be willing to give bands that are on Ibex Moon a fair shake for that alone.

Krisiun [6/7]
Despite the venue, this was about as far back as I've seen Krisiun from in the last four years. The overall effect may not have been as good as immediately previous times, being right on top of the band, but this was a class Krisiun set regardless, and someone else got to have that experience due to me getting stuck at the back. The room was well packed at this point, and arguing by volume that this maybe shouldn't've been moved upstairs.

Immolation [7/7]
On a night of very good performances from the touring heavyweights, Immolation's was at the top of the heap. There's not a lot you can write about this band: they play uniquely brutal yet epic death metal, and they bring it live with impressive ferocity. Their new record isn't out till March, but it's going to be another strong disc from the sounds of it here. Just simply great all around.

As per the last time I saw Immolation, up in New Hampshire two years gone, they didn't play "No Jesus No Beast", despite people yelling for it. It's a good song, but so is their new material; if they want to emphasize that they're an active band still making good new music, that's their choice, but it's always someone's first Immolation show. Crappy argument, I know; maybe the solution is to book Immolation on more festivals where they're pinched for time and playing to a large number of known new audience.

Nile [6.5/7]
If you were also standing around as the techs milled about and Karl tweaked away at his rig, you might have wondered if the score was ever going to get to this level. Nile started off late, delayed by technical problems with what looked like an effects unit; it's due to stuff like this that people come up gnashing their teeth about simplicity in metal, but as the rest of the set demonstrated, it's useful to also have bands that are willing to take the risk of stuff not working in order to bring their studio sound out onto the stage live. When everything finally started working, Nile hit into a class set heavily balanced towards new material that neatly palliated everyone who had been yelling at them to get on with it. Not perfect, but crushing all the same, and a strong conclusion to a killer show.

People had been filtering out all through Nile, probably as a consequence of the delay in starting up, but I stuck till the bitter end, not wanting to miss out on anything that might go forward before the lights went up. I got full value out of my $25, and suspect that most who were in from the start did as well; Abigail Williams dropping off and good performances from the good bands that remained will tend to do that.

Next show is coming up in the next couple days -- Palladium shenanigans decided against the Arch Enemy/Exodus tour, but if I don't see Cynic in Boston Tursday, then it'll be Suffocation, Shining, and going home before Devildriver Friday -- and if not then, definitely CNV in Haverhill. Good stuff coming.