The 2014 Decibel Magazine Tour: Carcass/ The Black Dahlia Murder/ Gorguts/ Nausea and Noisem @ The Observatory, Santa Ana. 3/25/14.

This tour was destined to rule from the onset. Three of the four bands on the package (Carcass, Gorguts and Noisem) released albums that made my best of 2013 list last year, the other has been one of my favorite live bands for the past decade, and we Southern California blokes got local grind legends Nausea thrown onto the bill as a special regional opening act. This show felt like a late Christmas gift or something.

Noisem kicked things off with a thunderous wall of sound. These Baltimore lads may be young (comprised mostly of teenagers) but seriously, they fucking rip. After a pesky van accident on their very first national tour caused them to miss their last Southern California show, the Noisem boys came out swinging as the first act on this stellar bill. Their old school thrash/ proto-death metal sound coupled with their youthful energy onstage made me feel like I had stepped into a legit time warp. By the end of their set I'd say they gained more than a few new fans.


Los Angeles grindcore legends Nausea immediately followed and brought an air of precision that took me totally off guard. Not that I expected them to be sloppy, I just don't recall them being so locked when I caught them opening for Nasum a few years back. Like last time, the highlight of their set was the batch of Terrorizer songs they played off World Downfall (best grind album ever?).

Next was Gorguts, the band I was most excited to see. They've been gone for more than a decade and returned with Colored Sands, one of the best albums of 2013. I wasn't too familiar with the band before talking with Origin drummer John Longstreth a few years ago when he informed me he would be drumming on their come back album. Well, as fate would have it, Longstreth's commitments to Origin yanked him out of Gorguts before this tour rolled out but luckily, his replacement behind the kit was pretty phenomenal himself. I was curious how the surreal/eerie vibe from the album would transition into a live setting but Gorguts pulled it off masterfully.
The crowd went absolutely nuts for band, with mosh pits and crowd surfing galore. Unfortunately, the band suffered some technical problems toward the end of their set and had to pull the plug on their performance a bit early, which meant no old Obscura material for their die hard fans. Alas. Hopefully they come back before 2024.

Although a popular metal band in their own right, The Black Dahlia Murder were the odd ones out on tonight's bill in the eyes of many. They lack the "old school" and "underground" cred most the other bands on the lineup bathe in so some people scoffed at a hugely popular modern band like TBDM joining the package as main support to the headliners. It's funny however, because the lineage between Dahlia and Carcass is pretty obvious, they borrowed heavily from the melodic death metal framework Carcass laid down on albums like Necroticism and Heartwork. TBDM's vocalist Trevor even has the Tools of the Trade artwork tattooed on his arm for Christ's sake! Either way, I saw no problem with The Black Dahlia Murder's spot on this tour. In fact, judging by the crowd's response it seems like they basically stole the show. It was like a never ending flood of crowd surfing during their set. The security staff was beyond occupied which meant the photographers in the photo pit were getting smashed left and right by human projectiles coming over the barricade. Like last time, the band played mostly all new material from their last two albums which got older TBDM geeks like myself a little butt hurt. They still put on a killer show and seemed to have most everyone inside the venue in the palm's of their hands (the bitter metal elitists probably went for a smoke outside).

Finally, there was Carcass. Metal/grindcore pioneers and the dude's behind one of the great comebacks of recent memory. Their first album in 17 years turns out to be killer and their rejuvenated lineup is powerful enough to appease the jaded old-schoolers and young, extreme metal upstarts alike. I have to admit, I was never a huge Carcass fanatic before their reunion in late 2000's. I was familiar with their work and enjoyed that reunion gig even though half the band was comprised of Arch Enemy, but I gotta say last year's Surgical Steel album and this current lineup is better than anything I expected from the band. Funny story, Carcass' current drummer, the inhuman machine named Daniel Wilding auditioned for The Black Dahlia Murder like seven years ago but didn't get the gig. Now he's in Carcass and headlining above them. Crazy.

Quite the rare show, where I arrived on time, enjoyed every band, didn't get ridiculously sweaty or injured and even bought some merch. Thanks Decibel. You've just guaranteed another years subscription. 

The Top 10 Metal Albums of 2013

2013 marked another great year for metal and all its splintered genres. Although some promising acts disbanded, legends passed away, and some douche brought a lot of unwanted attention our way, 2013 was still a year full of celebration. There were great milestones and anniversaries, epic comebacks and most of all, slammin’ new albums for us depraved metal fans to enjoy. Trying to cram a year’s worth of stellar releases into a mere top 10 might seem like an act of lunacy…but that’s us alright, stupid like a fox. This is The Top 10 Metal Albums of 2013...

The Black Dahlia Murder & Skeletonwitch @ The Glass House, Pomona. 11-16-13.

A serious case of deja vu and nostalgia floods accompanied The Black Dahlia Murder when they stormed through The Glass House last week. Why you ask? Well you see...

Dahlia and Skeletonwitch both played The Glass House together in 2009 when they opened for Children of Bodom and nearly brought the walls down in the process. Also, I've been following TBDM since the beginning. I bought their debut album Unhallowed (RIP Tower Records) shortly after it's release, and caught them playing with Arch Enemy & Hate Eternal in fall 2003...so far back that only ONE dude from that original show is still with the band. A decade later and The Black Dahlia Murder were headlining their own sold out gig at The Glass House. I've watched the venues grow in size (the Troubadour, the Roxy, the Key Club, House of Blues, Ozzfest,) and the endless stream of drummers shuffle in (Cory, Zach, Pierre Shannon, now Alan), observing every incarnation of the band, save for their formative years in Michigan. This show in Pomona felt like a strange circle of life moment, but with blast beats and sweaty mosh pits.

Thrashing newcomers Noisem where supposed to open the show but alas, they were involved in some kind of van accident in Northern California and didn't make it. This meant our early arrival was all for naught. Bummer. Fallujah is a band I've seen in passing a few times before, always catching their last song and thinking, "they're ok." What a shame, I finally manage to catch a full set from the band and I'm bored to tears. Don't get me wrong, everyone in the band are excellent musicians and had great energy onstage...but the songs were just a little too generic and sterile for my tastes.

Thankfully, Skeletonwitch were up next to save the day. If there's one thing I've learned in life, it's that Skeletonwitch do not disappoint live. Their high octane blend of thrash and black metal is equal parts pummeling, and down right infectious. The crowd response was so enthusiastic it almost seemed like Skeletonwitch were the night's headliners. The new songs off their just released album, Serpents Unleashed, fit right alongside longtime staples like "Upon Wings of Black" and "Beyond the Permafrost." Much fun was had watching the Skeletonwitch crew and their mops of shaggy hair work their magic over The Glass House.

As soon and Skeletonwitch left the stage and the huge banner with TBDM's logo became visible, it became crystal clear who the headliners were. As impressive as Skeletonwitch were (they stole the show IMO), The Black Dahlia Murder are less a touring band at this point than a heavy metal juggernaut.

It's strange, despite their numerous lineup changes over the years, the key to Dahlia's success is: consistency. They've basically toured nonstop for the past decade (so much so that I've lost count of how many times I've seen them) and have released new albums every two years like clockwork. This has enabled the band to remain fresh in the often fickle metal world, incorporating new and younger fans with every album cycle. Their sound hasn't changed too drastically since 2003, but they've somehow morphed into a seminal group for many a young metal fan, figure heads, like Slayer and Cannibal Corpse before them.

I shit you not, as I surveyed the crowd during TBDM's set, the number of kids singing song lyrics was astronomically high. Of course I've kept up with the band's newer material, 2011's Ritual grew on me overtime....I'm still getting into their new record Everblack, but the "old stuff" (Unhallowed, Miasma and Nocturnal) is what gets my tail wagging. The kids in attendance however, they knew and loved it all. The crowd was almost more interesting to watch than the band. Like I said before, at this stage in the game TBDM is a well oiled machine onstage. You know exactly what you're going to get watching them steamroll through songs at a live show. It's the equivalent of a tank crushing a row of Volkswagens. Did I miss Shannon Lucas behind the drums? Yes. Yes I did, but the new guy Alan held everything down on the kit just fine. The band played a lot of songs from their last three albums (aka the Ryan Knight era), which left no room for classics like "A Vulgar Picture" "Nocturnal" "or "Miasma," hell I'd have been stoked for "Black Valor" but alas, oh wells. New jams like "Goat of Departure" and "Raped In Hatred by Vines of Thorn" brought the excitement levels inside The Glass House to 1000%, so it's all good.