Lineup: The Black Dahlia Murder/Dying Fetus/The Faceless/Oceano/Origin/Rings of Saturn/Betraying the Martyrs/Lorna Shore/AngelMaker (Note: Due to visa issues, Slaughter to Prevail did not appear)
Venue: The Palladium Downstairs, Worcester, MA
Date: July 29th, 2017
AngelMaker: Arrived late and missed their set.
Lorna Shore: Arrived late and missed their set.
Betraying the Martyrs: Arrived late and missed their set.
Rings of Saturn: Even though I purposely showed up late due to my lack of interest in the early bands on the lineup, I still ended up catching the final third of the set from the godfathers of aliencore. Much like the only other time I saw them, their live show ended up exceeding my very low expectations. The addition of orchestral elements and bursts of melody to their signature, highly technical style has helped Rings of Saturn evolve from their messy beginnings as an aimless guitar wank porn vanity project for founding member Lucas Mann. While their reliance on weak deathcore breakdowns and Ian Bearer's middling vocals prevent them from being anything truly noteworthy, Rings of Saturn definitely isn't the heaping shitpile they used to be.
Origin: The first time I saw Origin at Summer Slaughter 2014 was kind of a clusterfuck. Their horrific sound mix that can only be described as a wall of noise overshadowed their intense stage presence and made them the clear lowlight on a day that was otherwise full of top-notch performances. This time around was a pretty substantial improvement to say the least. While the sound still wasn't great, every instrument was at least audible and the energy level they bring to their set is absolutely insane for a band that's so unrelentingly technical. Origin will never be high up in my personal tech death hierarchy, but they're a very talented band that can really bring it live.
Oceano: This was the moment that I had been dreading the entire day. Oceano is a band that I've despised ever since they dropped their snooze-inducing debut Depths in 2009 and their live sets are especially painful thanks to their vocalist Adam Warren's non-stop calls for the audiences to beat the shit out of each other. To be fair, they weren't nearly as insufferable as usual. Warren has significantly toned down his faux tough guy schtick and unlike the previous three times I'd seen them, their sound mix was very clear. However, they're still the posterboys for boilerplate deathcore and even without all of the "knock out the motherfucker that's standing next to you" crap, Warren's stage presence still manages to be pretty obnoxious (his tangent about how the band underwent bent a rebirth a few years back because they started making music about aliens and alternative universes was cringeworthy as hell). If you're a fan of Oceano, their live show will more than likely will leave you very impressed. If you're not, you'll probably just shake your head and wish you had spent 30 minutes doing something more productive.
The Faceless: The beacon of dysfunction otherwise known as The Faceless was able to get their shit together for long enough to actually show up for a show! With their constant lineup changes, long-delayed albums and canceled tours, being a fan of this band can be incredibly frustrating. That being said, the tremendous level of talent they possess when they actually put out music and/or perform makes dealing with all these headaches worthwhile. Despite performing with a fill-in drummer that had learned their songs within the last week and facing some heckling from fans that were clearly fed up with group mastermind Michael Keene's antics, the band managed to be a commanding, efficient powerhouse for the 40 minutes they were on stage. The raw, black metal-tinged screams from vocalist Ken Soreceron (Abigail Williams) fit in far better with The Faceless' intergalactic prog/tech death sound than I expected them to and watching Keene rip through his dense, shifting solos never fails to be awe-inspiring for a guitar nerd like myself. The Faceless is a highly underrated live band and I'm really looking forward to hearing their new album when it finally surfaces sometime in the summer of 2020.
Dying Fetus: If you want to have your touring death metal festival be a success, you invite Dying Fetus to the party. These unholy bastards have been inciting mass headbanging and massive mosh pits for over 20 years and unlike a lot of their peers from the second wave of death metal, their devastation game is stronger than ever. Their riff-driven take on brutal death metal is tailor-made for a live setting and establishes a vicious yet still super fun atmosphere that simply can't be matched by anyone else on the scene right now. If for some strange reason you're a death metal fan that has never seen Dying Fetus live, you need to remedy that ASAP.
The Black Dahlia Murder: Since I launched this blog seven years ago, I've repeatedly cited that my first exposure to death metal came with The Black Dahlia Murder's 2005 album Miasma. While Miasma is an excellent record that played a crucial role in the development of my love for extreme music, their 2007 album Nocturnal was the album that solidified Black Dahlia's standing as one of my favorite bands. Last night, I got to see them play Nocturnal in its entirety to commemorate the 10th anniversary of its release and it ended up being just as special as I'd hoped it would be.
I've long contested that Nocturnal was to the 2000's what At the Gates' Slaughter of the Soul and In Flames' Whoracle were to the 90's and after seeing it played live, I've never felt stronger about this take. Seeing these songs played with the accompaniment of dim, dark lighting amplifies the eerie vibe of the record and allows the records distinct combination of pummeling traditional death metal and striking ominous melodies to really get under your skin. To me, this record sounds like being stuck in a haunted house for 37 minutes, so having that metaphor come to life before my very eyes made for a surreal and invigorating experience.
Having an ambiance that matches the record's sound is nice and all, but the band's sharpness is what hammered home the very high quality of this retrospective set. Brandon Ellis perfectly recreated the distinct haunting guitar tone then-guitarist John Kempainen crafted on the studio recordings while frontman Trevor Strnad still possesses some of the most powerful and wide-ranging screams in the history of the genre. There's always a fear that an artist is going to burst your nostalgia bubble by screwing up songs you've loved for a long time in a live setting, but Black Dahlia has the precision to make this group of tracks sound just as catchy, sinister and consistently memorable now as they did when I was blaring them in my room non-stop when I was 15.
In addition to playing Nocturnal in its entirety, they premiered the title track from their upcoming album Nightbringers-which is an absolute RIPPER of a track. If the rest of material on the album is as riff-centric, crushing and fun as "Nightbringers", Black Dahlia could have yet another classic on their hands. As I've watched a number of bands that I worshiped as a teenager suddenly deteriorate when I hit my 20's (Mastodon, ) it's great to see Black Dahlia Murder continuing to put on killer shows and releasing kick-ass music. Finding hardened veteran bands that can be depended on to deliver the goods 15+ years into their careers is pretty rare and for the sake of my fragile psyche, I really fucking hope that father time doesn't eat away at Black Dahlia's ability to put forth consistently strong output.
Scores:
Rings of Saturn 5.5/10
Origin 8/10
Oceano 3.5/10
The Faceless 9/10
Dying Fetus 9/10
The Black Dahlia Murder 10/10
Setlists:
Rings of Saturn included:
Seized and Devoured
Origin included:
Expulsion of Fury
The Aftermath
Truthslayer
Unattainable Zero
The Faceless:
Sons of Belial
The Spiraling Void
An Autopsy
Autotheist Movement I: Create
Autotheist Movement II: Emancipate
Autotheist Movement III: Deconsecrate
Dying Fetus:
Justifiable Homicide
Intentional Manslaughter
Subjected to a Beating
Fixation on Devastation
Invert the Idols
Your Treachery Will Die with You
Wrong One to Fuck With
Killing on Adrenaline
The Black Dahlia Murder:
Everything Went Black
What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse
Virally Yours
I Worship Only What You Bleed
Nocturnal
Deathmask Divine
Of Darkness Spawned
Climatic Degradation
To a Breathless Oblvion
Warborn
Nightbringers (new song)
I Will Return
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