It has been a little while since I have posted. Things have been very busy at work and I have not gone to many concerts lately. I have a ton of new albums, but no strong desire to post anything about them. But on Wednesday I attended a concert at The Waiting Room in Omaha, this time alone as my wife decided to stay home. Obituary was headlining with support from Pallbearer, Skeletonwitch, and Dust Bolt.
Dust Bolt was the first band of the night. I was not familiar with the band other than initially hearing of them when I heard about this show. The German thrash metal band has been around for about a dozen years now and released three full-lengths so far. Not many people had arrived at the venue yet by the time they took the stage, which is a shame because they were the most welcome surprise of the night. Just some terrific old-school thrash metal which was surprisingly inspired more by the Bay Area scene than their countrymen Kreator, Sodom, and Destruction.
I was a little surprised that Skeletonwitch was the second band of the night. Honestly, they were the band that I was the most excited to see. I love all of the stuff they have put out to date and am looking forward to their first full-length since 2013's Serpents Unleashed. The band has since replaced their original vocalist and released a pretty damn good EP in 2016. Their new vocalist does a damn good job on the prior material. Skeletonwitch delivered a blistering set that was every bit as good as I had hoped when I saw they were playing nearby.
It seems kind of strange that Pallbearer was on the same bill as the other much more high-octane bands that played. Pallbearer's sound is a much slower, more melodic style of doom metal. Their music is somber with tortured vocals. The vocals were more tortured than usual as one of the singers was having some health issues that prevented him from reaching some of his normal range. Pallbearer sounded good, but it definitely felt like a massive shift going from Skeletonwitch to them and then to the headliners. I really enjoy Pallbearer's albums, but they seemed a little out of place.
Legendary death metallers Obituary were the last band to take the stage and they delivered exactly what one would expect: grooving death metal that sounds like it rose from the swamps. Every aspect of their sound was terrific, from the desiccated vocals to the bass-heavy grooves to the searing guitar solos. They did not do much speaking to the crowd, they just got up and played. The band finished things off with arguably their best songs "Chopped in Half" and "Slowly We Rot". It was a quick performance but definitely made an impact.
Skeletonwitch was definitely the highlight of the night for me. I enjoyed the other performances, but honestly I may not have attended had it not been for the presence of Skeletonwitch. I wish my wife would have come with me, but she may not have cared much for this concert.
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