Show in Review: The Brutal Annihilation Tour
The Brutal Annihilation Tour came to Henderson, NV on August 17th to bring down the house at the diamond in the ruff all ages venue Eagles Aerie Hall. Whenever I attend a show here, there is a guaranteed to be cheap drinks, people watching and killer live music.
The colorful and randomly cut up outfits that show the teenage angst and process of finding one’s personal identity and style, while exploring what the metal scene has to offer is always an intriguing thing to observe as an adult. Reminiscing on that phase of my life that didn’t actually involve metal but rather more my emo punk, alternative rock, mainstream hip hop and EDM electronica phase where I wore Dickies and chucks with men’s sarcastic screen t’s while morbidly obese and flat chested
When you walk in you can find the 21 plus portion of the crowd swinging back $3 beers from the bar while teenagers gather in circles sitting Indian style on the floor. Load out and load in between bands are roughly 10 to 20 minutes, sound check depending on the band can be roughly as long. It is my opinion however, that some bands need to be more assertive with their soundchecks. If you don’t tell the sound guy something sounds off until it’s not off anymore then that is how your set will sound and that is on you.
Desolation opened for another show, sporting some heavy kick drum and time changes throughout their set. They featured songs from their 1st and 2nd albums. Their live sets are getting tighter and their stand-in bassist was head banging a bit more this time around and having less of a resting bitch face.
Dredge the Lake – Unfortunately I am going to be the bad guy here. I don’t know if it was the sound or the fact that they were filming a music video but I was not a fan. It was not clear what sound they were going for, but flailing pit go-ers didn’t seem to mind. Maybe it was an off set or maybe they are just really that bad. They need to pick a sound and stick to it for a song there is a right way to go about mixing sounds and genre crossovers and there is a wrong way to do it. There is some work to be done if they are going to continue down that path and make it sound good live. If it’s not fluid and sounds choppy you might as well go for a shitty wanna be ska punk band at this point and forget metal altogether.
Oscillation up next bringing their slam/ death-core sound never disappoint. Chasen always brings the grit with his vocals while Ben and Clayton strum their guitars violently in sync with Dekota’s heart hitting drums. They had a hard set for the night after getting some grim news of which is only theirs to share. You could tell throughout the night that something was off although you weren’t sure what. These guys are normally bright and cheery social butterflies at this venue from shows past. This day was a little different the primarily kept to the selves but mustered up the strength to get on stage and kill their set despite such a tragedy.
Parasitic Ejaculation, a death/slam metal band coming at you from Santa Cruz, CA with Amputated Vein Records killed it. I went outside for a bit to gather some air before their set and came back in around half way through. But what I heard was some good shit. Those slam beats hit you in the chest just right and the name of this band fits well with its level of brutality.
Aenimus the progressive extreme metal band from San Francisco was absolutely MIND BLOWINGLY AWESOMEEEEEEE. They were straight up the highlight of my night. I had never heard of them before, and before someone says “whatttt, but they are so well known”… bitch I don’t remember/ know every fucking band name out there so shut it.
The vocalist Alex green and the bassist Seth stone were seen making fun of some of the flail pit-goers before the show. They started off their set by saying that the pit belongs in the back and everyone standing in the back should move up front. They made sure their sound check was on point before getting down to business.
Cody’s drums… just wtf, yes, hit me with that kick pedal sound … Jordan’s melodic riffs … Seth’s bass solos … like I don’t think I’ve seen a metal band recently that had a fucking Bass Guitar solo until this show. The dude has some fucking talent. They all do …and Alex with his crazy Nordic looking fine ass…portraying a deluded crazy man throughout the set … It was amazing and scary and mind blowing. Their entire set just had me on my toes teetering over the edge of pure euphoria.
Alex would stare at the crowd like a mad man and tell them to put their hands up in the air. I was really close to the area he was perched on for half of his vocals when he wasn’t moving around. I felt a little bad in retrospect that I was so close. He was probably like who is this bitch in my space she needs to back the fuck up. But in that moment, I was so enamored and entranced by their sound I didn’t want to move and wanted to soak every second in through my eyes and ears.
Nuclear Blast Records was right to sign these guys. They obliterated my expectations for the night and then exceeded them tenfold. So much so, that immediately after their set I went to their merch booth and told Alex to take my money and give me an album ASAP. Which I listened to on the way home after Pathology closed out the night.
And last, but not least Pathology a band formed the year of my high school graduation (2006). They came, they saw, they brutally assaulted my ears in all of the bangtastic pleasurable ways that death metal does, and they conquered/ fed the darkness in the pit where my soul is supposed to be.
Obie Flett and Daniel Richardson tug on those heart strings. Two big burly ass fuckin dudes that look brutal as fuck killing vocals and guitar. I could not help but bring on the scream machine and head bang the fuck out of every song they brought to the table. Obie got in the “pit” or lack thereof and started pushing motherfuckers around like shit is supposed to be. It was a great close to the show and a bang-up job.
I went on my merry way home blasting Aenimus’ album in my truck before crashing finally crashing for the night.
