Watain & Goatwhore @ The Whisky, Hollywood. 11/19/10.

This show seemed cursed from the start. Behemoth's triumphant trek across North America with Watain, Withered and Black Anvil was canceled when Nergal announced he was battling Leukemia back in summer. Watain decide to carry on and headline their own tour with Goatwhore supporting instead of Withered. The venue changes from The House of Blues to the uber shitty Whisky Ago Go. Regardless, I was still excited to finally catch Watain live and am always down to see the mighty Goatwhore in action. Of course since the universe hates me, I was not only unable to get the day off from work, but got stuck working overtime on the day of the show. By the time I arrived at Whisky, Goatwhore had just started playing, meaning I missed all of Black Anvil's set (along with all the local bands...but that might have been a good thing) and the venue was pretty packed relegating me to the back. My lackluster vantage point coupled with my shitty (albeit expensive) new camera  resulted in some horribly blurry and utter worthless photos not worth posting. Plus the Whisky has some gestapo ass policy forbidding any form of video recording inside the venue which means this review will have no live pics or videos =/ LAME I know.

So anyways, Goatwhore comes out and lays waste to the place. This was probably my 600th time seeing Goatwhore live or something but I never get sick of these guys. Their brand of thrashy/crusty/black metal has never let me down. Even the last time I saw them play the Whisky as a trio they still kicked ass. Too bad not everyone in the crowd seemed to give a fuck. Some might have been black metal purists and hated on Goatwhore for numerous KVLT infractions they've somehow committed (music videos? Signed to Metal Blade?) but I imagine most were just smug/jaded LA assholes who are too cool to show appreciation for bands that aren't going to impress hipster broads and get them laid. By the end of their set they seemed to win over most the knuckleheads down on the floor as they finished up with "Apocalyptic Havoc." Heres their official low budget but still looks fancy music video for the song:



So Watain takes a while to set up. Set up isn't the right word, more like create the appropriate atmosphere. See, when you're international black metal rockers and real deal satanists like Watain, you can't set foot onstage until the dark lord himself would be satisfied with the presentation. The dozen or so burning candles, the giant flammable pitch forks, the excessive fog and most importantly, the smell. Yes, the fucking SMELL. The band likes to stash their tour clothes/costumes in dirt with dead animals to encapsulate the true aura of death. Watain also like to throw pig's blood and animal heads into the crowd but I guess the folks at the Whisky threatened them with the banhammer for such PETA friendly activity, so while the Hollywood audience was spared the blood and guts aspect of Watain's live shenanigans nobody stopped the band from shooting tons of rancid scented fog into the air to stink the joint up in anticipation of their performance. Imagine someone covering a slab of roadkill in feces then tossed the burning carcass into a skunk orgy. Thats how it smelled inside the Watain show.


(note: They didn't play this song =/ wish they did though)

Watain's live performance was impressive but was hardly the greatest black metal act I've ever seen (Mayhem was TITS last year). As insane as they appear on stage, their music isn't really all that extreme or abrasive. Infact I'd argue they're more of a Satanic punk rock/jam band (if that makes any sense) than black metal (aside from the corpse paint and shit). Either way, They put on a very powerful and at times hypnotic show. Maybe I was tired from working all day, or nauseous from the smell, but I really felt like I was in a trance during "Sworn to the Dark" and was ready to pass out and wake up quacking like a duck or something. I dug their performance, but was glad to walk back to my car in the rain than having to breathe putrid air inside the Whisky any longer.