Picture this: you’re in a dark, dingy room and a balding, middle-aged dad in a Cannibal Corpse shirt is crowdsurfing, beer cans and bodies are being thrown around the room in a beautifully disorganized chaos, and one of the most important Swedish old school death metal bands is up on the stage, shredding through some of their most iconic tracks with huge grins on their faces. That little snapshot should give you an idea of just how much fun it was to watch Entombed A.D. But, it probably makes more sense for me to start at the beginning and work my way to the end.
When I got to Kungfu Necktie, it was pretty much as it always is when there’s a sold-out gig happening, i.e. a wall of bodies, leather, denim, studs, spikes, greasy hair, and everything else you’d imagine you might run into at a metal gig.
The first band on the bill was Pyrrhon, a tech death band from NYC. Admittedly, that’s not a style which I spend much time listening to, but I can say that Pyrrhon were certainly entertaining to watch. Their use of chaotic, almost abstract structures made their performance feel more like single piece than a collection of individual songs. At times, they seemed to get locked in hypnotic non-rhythms which would fall apart as they were formed; it was reminiscent of what I’d imagine a death metal band’s cover of a Nurse With Wound track would sound like.
Nurse With Wound is also a solid reference point for Full Of Hell’s set, albeit in a totally different way (I’ll get to that in a bit). I hadn’t seen them play in an unfortunately long time, and seeing them on a stage was so weird to me, but as always, they outdid themselves. As usual, the set opened with Dylan’s inhuman, malign, blood-curdling screams, followed quickly by a flurry of blast beats and killer riffs. The overwhelming intensity didn’t falter for a single second the entire time they were on stage; I would expect nothing less. One of my favorite aspects of their set – and of all of the sets I’ve seen them play over the past six years – is their brilliant use of soundscaping between songs through the use of power electronics, atonal guitar work, and other industrial methods used by classic artists such as SPK, Un-Kommuniti, Throbbing Gristle, The Grey Wolves, and yes, Nurse With Wound. It’s unsettling and rancorous, and shifts the source of intensity from hair-raising grinding terror to gut-wrenching ominous dread. Seeing the confused faces of most people watching, waiting for them to play another song, not realizing that this is the song, never ceases to be a high point of their performances. In addition to ripping through various parts of their current output, Full Of Hell also performed three new tracks which are set to be released on their forthcoming LP. I’d heard demo versions of a couple of them from Spencer, but seeing it all put together was – for lack of a better word – brutal.
Photo by Charles Nickles at St. Vitus Brooklyn
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Video by Max Volume Silence Live at St. Vitus Brooklyn
Speaking of brutal, I want to take a minute to address accountability and intoxication. During Full Of Hell’s set, my friend (who introduced me to Nihilist in the first place) was thrown out for standing up for his partner after she was assaulted by some drunken asshole. I’m not sure why so many people seemed to think my friend was in the wrong – wait, yes I do, because it’s commonly believed that intoxication removes accountability for one’s actions – but I’d like to make it a point to publicly say that his ejection from the venue was unfair. On the bright side, I heard from multiple people that he threw the most amazing face punch they’d ever seen. But, now that I’ve said my piece, on to Entombed A.D.
Photo by Charles Nickles at St. Vitus Brooklyn
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Video by Max Volume Silence Live at St. Vitus Brooklyn
When Entombed A.D. took the stage, they all had the most ridiculous smiles on their faces. As soon as they started playing, the place exploded. They ripped through their set, which covered a good deal of their recorded output. The setlist included tracks from Clandestine, Left Hand Path, and Wolverine Blues, as well as from some of their late 90s-early 00s material; hell, they even pulled out two Nihilist cuts – “Revel In Flesh” and “Supposed To Rot” – which are probably my favorites from those demos. For the entire duration of their performance, there was a seemingly infinite level of energy, and a plethora of outrageous crowd antics. Just to give you an idea, outside of the nonstop chaos of bodies being thrown around (which is really nothing out of the ordinary), there was one specific instance of someone getting on stage to drink while everyone cheered them on. I will say, I was impressed at how dead-on Entombed A.D.’s playing was, especially considering their level of intoxication; and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a band have as much fun performing as they did.
As I’m finishing this up, the tour is over, so I can’t tell you to make sure to catch it when it comes around your neck of the woods, but I can tell you that I had a blast, and I’m sure you’ll hear the same from others who managed to catch this ripper of a lineup. I’m not sure about Entombed A.D., but I know Full Of Hell will be touring almost nonstop throughout 2017 (and for the rest of eternity), so if you missed out this time, you’ll most likely get another shot to see them.
FULL OF HELL’S NEXT RUN!
“Finally back in print, the definitive EP from deathgrind mutants, FULL OF HELL.” Resurrected by Closed Casket Activities. Grab one now:
