Posts Tagged ‘death metal’
Sepultura, Destruction, Arsis, Starkill & Headcrusher Concert Review, Austin, TX, June 10, 2015
Early shows on weeknights. I love ’em. Last night’s show was done by 10:30 and that was sweet.
To be honest, I was most excited about last night’s show to see Arsis again. They’re one of my favorites.
Prior to the show I got to meet Sepultura who were really cool. Got Paolo and Andreas in The Book. I’ve got no problem saying that if Beneath the Remains was the only album that they ever recorded, they could have been my favorite thrash band ever. But…
Headcrusher was the local support (originally from Bogota, Colombia) for the show and they played a tight energetic set on a hot stage going on right around 5:25. They crushed it to an unfortunately small crowd. Always a pleasure seeing them, even if I’m not the biggest death metal fan.
Chicago’s melodic death metal band, Starkill, was up next and to be honest, I couldn’t care. I had listened to a few tracks earlier in the day and they just didn’t catch my ear. They were pretty sloppy, too. Maybe the heat was too much. Don’t know. Can’t care.
Arsis came on next and did what they do best…SHRED. They played an intense 7 song set opening with Handbook for the Recently Deceased from their latest album, Unwelcome. Not only do I like their riffs, I really dig the lyrics. Malone writes some pretty cool stuff that goes outside of the “hey look, we love satan” type lyrics in a lot of death metal. Great show, but always too short for my tastes.
Destruction came on next and hit the growing crowd right in the face with Curse the Gods. They were tight but I could tell they were dying from the heat up there. I missed the middle part of their set as I went to the bar next door to sit down for a few minutes. My foot has been bothering me lately as well as my back (getting old!) and I needed a place to sit down for a little bit as Empire Garage doesn’t have seats anywhere. When I came back I caught The Butcher Strikes Back and Bestial Invasion. Shortly after their set, their tour manager invited me and 2 other guys onto their bus to hang out. Schmier and Mike were very welcoming guys. Schmier had made a comment from the stage about the Germany/USA soccer match from earlier in the day and I commiserated with him about it. We then got into a great discussion about Thin Lizzy. Mike is a huge fan. Good dudes. They also signed The Book! Seriously two of the nicest guys, along with their drummer, that I have ever met.
When I left the bus, Sepultura was already on stage. The crowd had filled in quite a bit. They sounded super tight, but I just couldn’t invest much time into them last night. They weren’t playing anything that I really cared to hear, so I went home.
Arsis! :)
-
- Sepultura and Monkey Boy
-
- Headcrusher
-
- Headcrusher
-
- Starkill
-
- Sepultura merch. Loved that USA tour shirt, didn’t have my size. :(
-
- James Malone of Arsis and some fanboy
-
- Arsis
-
- Arsis
-
- Arsis
-
- Arsis
-
- Destruction
-
- Mike from Destruction
-
- Schmier from Destruction
-
- Destruction and Monkey Boy
Arsis – Starve For The Devil (2010) – Pre-Release Review
As much as I hate to admit it, I illegally downloaded the new Arsis from a file sharing site today. I really don’t like 
doing that but this is one time that I couldn’t control myself. In my own defense (not that there is one), I pre-ordered both versions of the new one. OK, I’m a thief. Call Lars Ulrich!
Anyway…I am a fanboy of certain bands and Arsis is certainly one of them. Sucks that I haven’t seen them play since like 2005 or 2006. WTF? I don’t need to go back into my history with the band, it slathered through this site.
But you’re here to read my review. Let me start with welcoming back Mike Van Dyne on the drums. Nice work, man. We Are the Nightmare (WATN) was my #1 album of 2008 and this album is different, but not in a bad way. The production isn’t quite as thick as the last album meaning that the drum production isn’t over the top like on the last one. I didn’t mind it at all but I like how this sounds. And it has Van Dyne written all over it.
Overall the songs don’t seem as over the top as WATN but it’s kicking my ass. This is the album I expected. The solos and riffs are all there. I’m only through one and a half listens but this is great.
If you’ve liked any or all of the other Arsis albums, you will not be disappointed, I promise.
Voodoocult – Jesus Killing Machine (1994)
So here’s an odd one from my collection. To be honest I never liked this album that much. The only reason I bought it 
was because of who played on it…Dave Lombardo and Chuck Schuldiner (RIP). The music is pretty pedestrian thrash/death metal and even the drums are pretty boring. Some of Chuck’s solos are pretty good, but in general the album was boring.
That being said I kept this CD because I had both Dave and Chuck sign it on separate occasions. Both guys gave the exact same reaction…”This actually came out?” Chuck asked me to burn a copy for him and send it, which I of course did.
I was pretty sad when Chuck died. When we met him at Jaxx (Springfield, VA) on the Death/Hammerfall Tour, he came outside to meet everyone, soaking wet in a robe and flippy floppies and it was freezing outside. He was very cool. I met Dave at the same place when he was drumming for Testament on The Gathering Tour. Talk about a cool dude. I got to talk to him for a bit with his son. I handed him a stack of CD covers including the River’s Edge soundtrack. “We were on this?” I said, “Dude, it’s half the reason I wanted to see the movie in the first place!” Good times.
Tracks:
- Killer Patrol – 3:57
- Metallized Kids – 4:26
- Jesus Killing Machine – 4:32
- Born Bad and Sliced! – 3:58
- Albert is a Headbanger – 3:50
- Hellatio – 3:15
- Death Don’t Dance With Me – 4:08
- Art Groupie – 4:53
- Blood Surfer City – 5:03
- Voodoocult – 4:09
- Bitchery Bay – 5:32
Band:
- Phillip Boa – Vocals
- Chuck Schuldiner – Guitar
- Gabby Abularach – Guitar
- Waldemar Sorychta – Guitar
- Mille Petrozza – Guitar
- Dave Ball – Bass
- Dave Lombardo – Drums
Solstice – Solstice (1992)
This is one that I picked up around the time it debuted mainly because of the label it was on. Century Media Records 
was putting out some cool stuff like Iced Earth at the time so I thought I’d give this a shot. Glad I did. It’s a good cross between death and thrash metal without getting too over the top. I guess they featured members of Cannibal Corpse, Demolition Hammer, Disincarnate, Divine Empire, Hateplow, Hellwitch, Malevolent Creation, Resurrection; none of which I have ever cared about in the least.
I really liked the drummer on this release. Some really good footwork.
Overall this isn’t the greatest band to come from that Florida death/thrash scene but this album is certainly worth a listen. It’s been out of print for quite some time.
The Metal Files 
You must be logged in to post a comment.