Superchrist with Nightbitch, Panzerbastard, and Rampant Decay [Ralph's, Worcester, 4/24/2012]

For the second week in a row, Metal Thursday (expansion pack) come on a Tuesday to fit the schedule of a touring band, and I duly went out, getting in in one piece after successfully not hitting either the freshly shredded truck tires around the 146 interchange, or the guy who slipped off the lamppost and fell into the street by the Worcester PD headquarters.  This also turned out to be in enough time to browse through Superchrist's distro box, for good and ill; I had to break my long-standing rule on generally not buying anything (like 12" vinyl) that cannot be jammed into my coat until the end of the gig, but I had to do it in order to pick up the reissue of The Lord Weird Slough Feg's first album, which you really do not just walk away from and assume a copy will still be in the bin after four hours in the company of the kind of people who come out to a Superchrist gig.  I bit the bullet, nabbed it plus a Barbatos live disc and Headbanger on CD, then decided that as long as Rampant Decay hadn't started yet, I could just go bung the records in the trunk and not have to worry about carrying them around for the rest of the night.  It's a little false, for weird and unrealistic definitions of false, but it worked, and I got back in in time for RxDx to start.

Rampant Decay [5/7]
Despite the circumstances, Rampant Decay stepped up and smashed out a characteristically violent, explosive set of their patented dirtbag-oi/crust/powerviolence blend.  In comparison to past samples, this one was more punk-driven if a little reduced, and the set kind of wore down in places, but some of this is likely not having a live bassist (or second guitar) in the ranks for this one, putting more of the weight on Pat, some of it may be that the drummer sliced his hand up before the show (though I'm the wrong person to ask about drumming issues), but a lot of it is likely the height of the stage; typically, bands like this don't play a lot of gigs this high up and this far from the audience.  Rich was still stalking around like a madman, pushing his damnedest to get that energy out to the floor, but in some ways it doesn't feel quite like a Rampant Decay show if people aren't actually getting pushed over.

In the process of picking up some gear off the band later (no shirt, but last year's CD-EP, the new split with The Kruds, and a pile of stickers for distro), I realized that the info I'd been giving was out of date: it's a lot closer to three months than four that I shove off for the festivals for the last time.  That RFM is still out there, and is going to get more publicized.

Panzerbastard [6/7]
It was Superchrist on tour, but it was Panzerbastard who probably got the most action on the floor, grinding out a punishing set of their lows-heavy thrash'n'roll.  They changed up the lineup a little -- Bobby was out, allegedly on account of Fresh Kill practice -- but kept the violence rolling through both old stuff and new.  Keith didn't smash anything up this time (well, aside from me after I got up too fast and clocked him one on the chin with my shoulder armor, but that was before the show started), but the band laid glorious waste to the eardrums of all and sundry.

Andrew wins tonight's edition of None So Kvlt.  Seriously, Infernal Majesty?  I almost wish I'd had more free time in Canada (as opposed to sleeping and point-to-point drivetime) to confirm how few people even in Canada listen to Infernal Majesty.

Nightbitch [5.5/7]
I hadn't seen this band in ages, and in the intervening time they'd dropped Phil, whose characteristic vocals had been one of the major hooks for the band initially, so it was going to be interesting to see how they handled themselves as a three-piece.  The result was pretty cool, if a little constrained; Nightbitch continues to be not your average doom band, and more strongly connected to the roots of the style in occult '70s rock, but the feel on this set was of more that they could still do with these members.  This was a cool set even with the subdued feel; maybe just needs more runtime and more strippers, but cool music all the same.

Superchrist [6/7]
Over the course of this set, Superchrist kept up a super-high level of energy with absolute consistency.  The audience responded to their rocked-up Motorhead grooves in similar fashion, keeping things pumping and violent start to finish.  There were a lot of songs that kept in that internal consistency -- Superchrist songs tend to sound like other Superchrist songs with fairly small degrees of separation -- but the point of this set, and of bands like Superchrist, is a lot more to make party than to produce something for contemplation, and party is what they delivered, in spades.

Eventually, though, the party had to wind up, and after an audience-enforced encore, I picked up a shirt and Holy Shit from Superchrist and breakables off Rampant Decay, then hit the road.  I managed to get back right at 2, but as usual work prevented anything getting finalized on this front for too long.  Next was Inquisition, hopefully documented faster.

Composted with Dysentery, Rampant Decay, Maggot Brain, and Intheshit [O'Brien's, Allston, 7/30/2010]

This was the last chance that Boston would have to give me stuff to take over, so fortunately, I had time to get home, change out of my work pants, and equip the battleshorts I'd be going overseas in before I went in. Between these and my warm-weather vest, I had, narrowly, enough capacity to carry everything back home with. This is a good problem to have; pocket space stretched to the limits means that a lot of stuff is crossing the ocean.

I got down, even so, a little early, which was good; time to drink, hang about, talk for a bit with Scott from Deathamphetamine after picking up his 10 promos, drink more, and pick up 20 sleeve-packed copies of Black Thrash Ritual from Hräsvelg. As will be noted in the still-under-construction tour report, all of these eventually found their way into metalhead hands on the other side of the Atlantic.

Intheshit [5/7]
The only real complaint that anyone rational could have about this set was that it was too short. Short sets are a fact of life in the DIY world, especially on five-band shows in a city that has a (stupidly early) had curfew, but this was really on the bleeding edge even of that, probably because Alex (Nachzehrer, 26 Beers) had been pulled in on drums on really short notice and hadn't gotten time to learn any more than what was played. However, since Intheshit is a grind band, and a really pure one at that, we got a good number of songs (being, true to form, fast and short) and a decent amount of material all told. From that point of view, this was what a grind set should be: aggressive, direct, to the point, and never dragging. From another view, this was about 50-75% of what a grind set should be, since it seemed like they only played for about 10 minutes when 15 or 20 of this style would still have felt as fresh and as raw.

After the set, I went to see if I could pick something up from the band; I didn't end up with an Intheshit demo, but Dawn did give me a large envelope full of Dead Languages stuff to lug over, which initially was a problem; this early on, something like that is a little unwieldy to be holding onto. Fortunately, I was in my warm-weather vest, which has a back pouch for a trauma plate that I didn't sew shut while applying either backpatch that I've used on that rig. Envelope issue solved with room to spare. Around this time, I also got about 10 limited-edition PanzerBastard promos from Andrew, with instructions to distribute them only to the hardest and the truest, which I'm pretty sure I did. As with the CDs mentioned above, all of this stuff got distributed as well.

Maggot Brain [5.5/7]
Coming out of New York, I hadn't heard these guys before and didn't have much in the way of expectations; what we got was a good, solid set of doom/grind balanced more towards the doom side while remaining raw. The slower parts wore on a little; personally, I preferred the breaks where they cranked up the speed and blast intensity, but any way you slice it, the music on offer was still good stuff.

On one level, it's still kind of weird for a touring band to go on second. On the more comprehensive level, though, this is where they fit best into the bill soundwise, and basically everyone who came out to the show saw them, and they didn't have to worry about cleaning up the stage after Composted.

Rampant Decay [5.5/7]
In comparison to last year, or on CD, they sounded a little grindier and a little more black metal (welcome to Boston, where these concepts are on the same axis, rather than opposed) without a bassist, but kicked out a class set of pure Drunk Edge. Their material's the same material, "Cocaine Frenzy" still gets people flying around, and Rich remains one of the funniest motherfuckers in Boston.

Following their set, I picked up a shirt that would end up doing yeoman service over the first four days overseas, and also a bunch of stickers and buttons. The stickers all went, and because I was clever about how I did it, most of the buttons went out too.

Dysentery [6.5/7]
Wow. Just wow. This set did trail off a little at the end, but it finished nearly as well as it started -- how good would this have been overall if Will didn't have strep? Brushing illness to the side, Dysentery powered through an intense set of crushing death metal; the new -- as yet unrecorded/unreleased -- songs that they rolled out didn't have as many 'breakdowns' as the older material, but they definitely aren't short in either the slam or general brutality departments. The crowd was in pretty good form as well, though not as riotous as things would get for Composted; maybe holding their energy in reserve, maybe nervous about picking up a bronchial infection. Whatever the circumstances, this was a hell of a performance, and I'm eagerly anticipating the next time that Dysentery puts out something recorded.

Composted [6/7]
Composted's set was much like the last time (as might be expected when the band doesn't have a lot of brainstorming time to come up with new antics), but.....breadier. Several loaves' worth of Wonder Bread got aired out within the first song, and after the bread stopped being in pieces large enough to throw at people, or into the ceiling fan, it stuck around in the form of pieces small enough to get stuck in your boot treads, which is not what "waffle stomper" refers to, but with this band, you kind of had to figure that it would end up with that meaning eventually. While the air was being filled with carbohydrates and male blowup dolls, Composted continued right along smashing out the slams; the older stuff, still killer, and the new stuff measuring up equally well. The new one from these guys may not have been out yet -- and I may not have been able to find them cheap vuvuzelas in the Berlin discount store, which is also a shame -- but it's definitely something to look forward to.

Finally, though, things closed up, and the management threw people out due to the Boston curfew and because there was seriously mashed bread all over the fucking place. I hit the road posthaste; I had the better part of 50 CDs to move and pack, and a flight to catch the next day. This ofcourse is going to be detailed in the tour report -- which is actually upcoming, and some of it, at least, will be done by the end of the long weekend.

Composted with Rampant Decay, Embryonic Cryptopathia, and Macerated [O'Brien's, Allston, 7/10/2009]

Though the huge multinational trip is looming -- need to get some groundcloths in stat -- there are still local shows that need paying attention to, like this one, which was pretty much as awesome and as ridiculous as might have been expected going in.

I left right from work because I had some crap to take care of that ran late, but was pretty much on time until I got to the part where some idiot had thought it was smart to close 33-50% of Storrow Drive westbound for concert parking, instead of making people take the train and use their feet like they ought to. This wasted everybody's time and led me to hustle a bit after caching my vehicle, because I didn't want to miss Macerated. Fortunately, I got over with time to spare, and had the chance to drink a beer with a nice high water:chemicals ratio, apologize to Mark for not letting him know I was coming down in advance, and buy a CD off Rich before the bands started.

Macerated [5.5/7]
I have a history of prejudice against bands without bassists; such is well-documented here. Despite this drawback -- as mentioned in some other venues, Macerated's sound wasn't maybe as tight as might have been desired -- the actual music offered here was pretty damn cool. Their set was relatively short, but they kept up at a high level throughout, with a lot more of an old-school brutal sound than might have been expected on this bill, or with this kind of lineup. Part of this may have been the equipment; the guitarist had at least a seven-string, maybe an eight, and did a really good job of keeping a thick low-end going as well as slashing out the riffage.

As mentioned previously, this band had some good merch, but didn't charge much for it, and additionally spent a lot of time away from their merch table during set breaks. While this is understandable (nobody's going to begrudge band members the right to pack up, watch friends they see two or three times a year via tourdate trades, and get some food down), this may have led to decreased sales, which would be a shame: good bands from 500 miles away need and deserve a hand getting to their next gig.

Embryonic Cryptopathia [5/7]
There have been rumors that this is an active band about as long as I've been actually going to DIY shows in Boston. This, though, was the first time I'd actually seen them play, and the first or maybe second time I can recall seeing them on a bill. Though the set was far too short, EC executed masterfully, with short, sharp, heavily blackened bursts of death-grind pummeling the audience. You might not expect the black metal elements at a show like this, but that's before you notice the large numbers of Hirudinea and Witch Tomb members in this band; then, it becomes clear that this is the other side of that coin, the more grind-heavy side of that absolute blackened worldhate music. Hella good stuff; no idea when they're playing again, or if they'll have anything recorded by then, but a band to watch for in any case.

If there was anything odd about this set, it was that EC was debatably more costumed than Composted; while the "sports" theme the latter band had going on wasn't the most well-implemented themegag the band's ever done, this is still something.

Rampant Decay [5.5/7]
Mr. Rich Horror has put on, in concrete and scientific terms, a metric fuckton of shows, including this one, since I returned to the Northeast from overseas. I have been to many of these shows. He has also had an active band throughout, whether the name be It Will End In Pure Horror, Rich Horror and the Screaming Nervous Breakdowns, or at this point, Rampant Decay. Despite this guy running a large part, if not the lion's share, of heavy music in eastern Massachusetts, I had to date never seen his actual band, for three years either missing shows due to illness, schedule conflicts, or outside commitments, or going to shows and being bummed that his band had to cancel. It boggles the frickin mind.

So I eventually do actually see Rampant Decay, and what is the upshot? A hella good band that makes Rich's commitment to promotion entirely understandable, thickly slurrying the line between metal and punk to the point where other promoters might not book them on punk or hardcore shows as being too metal, or metal promoters give them a pass as too punk. This is, of course, dumb, given the quality of the music, which mixes the best elements of Carnivore and a moshpit fistfight to create high-class DIY music that doesn't care nearly so much about genre as it does about getting wasted and headbutting somebody in the jaw. Rampant Decay could also have gone on longer than they did, but it was a good set regardless, and hopefully this ridiculous streak is over and I won't have to wait another three goddamned years to see a very active band from my home area again.

Composted [6/7]
On this sad occasion, two members left the Composted family: Eliot "the BlackNess Monster" Bayless, who separated amicably from the band to pursue a career in actually getting paid to do music stuffs, which was taking off to the point that playing in an active death metal band was starting to interfere, and Leo the inflatable fish, who was beaten, stomped, and eventually hit by a car while trying to cross Harvard Ave. Yes, seriously. (Photo credits to Rev. Aaron, obviously.) That Leo survived to that point was something of a miracle, and may be a record for a Composted inflatable prop; practically everything else that gets thrown into the audience dies in a matter of a song or two, but Leo kept on trucking the whole set, flying through the air, getting punched and sat on, bouncing off everyone and everything, and helping Composted demonstrate that they are, yes, among the best slam-death bands out there, because while everybody may be able to lock in and drill siqq breakdownz khed, there's only an elect few that can do this while getting hit in the face with blowup fish and not miss a beat.

I'm pretty sure that this wasn't the best Composted set I've seen, but it was damned high quality, with solid slam-death making up for a slight decrease in gag volume. More so than for Rampant Decay, people got moving and violent -- towards each other as well as the inflatable fish -- but nobody got facewaffled and Eliot (on the floor because O'Brien's only has so much stage area) didn't even drop his guitar after he got run into, despite the strap separating from it. Good times, to be sure.

Eventually, the music stopped, and the band packed up, and people danced and made gang signs to the first Body Count disc, which was somehow on the club sound system, and then I hit the trail, saw Leo bounce off the windshield of some totally oblivious motorists, and hiked back to pick up my car again. Having gone right from work, there was no downtime, so I was feeling pretty beat, and as a result didn't pay attention on Route 1 and ended up detouring through Lynn and Swampscott for no discernable reason in the process of getting home. Three or four shows left, then it's off to Europe with whatever I end up hauling.