Obituary in Omaha: May 16, 2018.

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.

Happy Halloween: Here's Some Lovecraftian Album Art

I love the works of H.P. Lovecraft.  I know that I am not alone among metalheads in that.  So here is some cover art clearly influenced by the works of H.P. Lovecraft.  Some of these are obviously Lovecraft's creatures, others just have the same feel.

My 100 Favorite Metal Bands Pt. 75: Obituary

One of the classic bands of the early death metal scene in Florida, Obituary took a massive influence from Celtic Frost and turned it into their own unique sound. Vocalist John Tardy consistently sounds like he drank a bottle of battery acid prior to entering the studio, owning one of the more unique vocal styles in early death metal. Not many have been able to duplicate his corroded vocals. Obituary's sludgy take on death metal is also extremely unique. Obituary reformed after several years' hiatus to release an album in 2005, they have been up to their old tricks since then.

FAVORITE ALBUM: CAUSE OF DEATH

Weekly Recap April 11-April 17

What a week it was. My fiancee and I went back to Lincoln on Monday for the Overkill concert. Peter Steele of Type O Negative died, which was incredibly sad. Other than that, it was mostly business as usual.

Arckanum: ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ
Armored Saint: La Raza
Armored Saint: Symbol of Salvation
Azaghal: Omega
Blood Ritual: Black Grimoire
Bolt Thrower: Those Once Loyal
Candlemass: Candlemass
Dark Tranquillity: We are the Void
Darkthrone: Circle the Wagons
Deceased...: The Blueprints for Madness
Deicide: Till Death Do Us Part
Demilich: Nespithe
Despair: Beyond All Reason
Despised Icon: Day of Mourning
Dokken: Tooth and Nail
Eluveitie: Everything Remains as it Never Was
Entombed: Serpent Saints-The Ten Amendments
Ex Deo: Romulus
Gama Bomb: Tales from the Grave in Space
Grand Magus: Iron Will
Hour of 13: Hour of 13
Immolation: Majesty and Decay
Impetigo: Horror of the Zombies
Landmine Marathon: Sovereign Descent
Manowar: Kings of Metal
Mayhem: Live in Leipzig
Morbid Angel: Altars of Madness
Morbid Angel: Blessed are the Sick
Morbid Angel: Covenant
Morgion: Cloaked by Ages, Crowned in Earth
Nebula: Apollo
Obituary: Darkest DayPanzerchrist: Battalion Beast
Quiet Riot: Winners Take All
Sigh: Scenes from Hell
Susperia: Cut from Stone
Swallow the Sun: Hope
Swallow the Sun: The Morning Never Came
The Gates of Slumber: Conqueror
The Gates of Slumber: Hymns of Blood and Thunder
The Sword: Gods of the Earth
Toxic Holocaust: Hell on Earth
Triptykon: Eparistera Daimones
Unleashed: As Yggdrasil Trembles
W.A.S.P.: The Last Command
W.A.S.P.: W.A.S.P.
Woe of Tyrants: Threnody
Wolf: Ravenous

Weekly Recap January 10-16

I retitled the weekly post on my life. Why? Because I felt like it, that's why.

There really wasn't a whole lot of new metal stories this week. Abigail Williams dropped off the Nile/Immolation/Krisiun/Dreaming Dead tour. But it still doesn't come terribly close to here so I won't be seeing it regardless. Stupid Nebraska. God Forbid announced a new guitarist, the same one that has been filling in on tour. Kamelot and Leaves' Eyes announced a fall tour, also not to come anywhere near Nebraska but maybe I will try to get to that one anyway. My fiancee seems to like Kamelot. Some columnist on MTV's website called out several musicians about steroid use. The article was supposed to be humorous, but it's generally not a good idea to lie about people in print, particularly where it comes to malicious lies. It's called libel. And it's actionable.

A question was posed on a metal blog I frequent asking what the point of listening to modern power metal was and stated that it's just pop music with everything turned up. (http://invisibleoranges.com/2010/01/defend-indefensible-modern-power-metal.html). My response: modern power metal is catchy and is oftentimes the closest thing to traditional heavy metal. There's some annoying stuff out there, sure, but that's true of every genre. There's also some great stuff. Pharaoh, Twisted Tower Dire, Hibria, and others are great bands. Dismissing a genre entirely is not a great idea.

In the last two weeks, I have gotten albums from Kawir, Manowar, Slauter Xstroyes, Watchtower, Devastation, Militia, Metal Church, and Razor. Initial Impressions posts to come.

As for me, this week was incredibly busy. I had a trial on Monday for a speeding ticket. I generally do not like taking these to trial as they are a waste of time. Just for further knowledge, some of those websites that discuss how to get rid of a ticket, do not work in the courts. Don't waste your money, just pay the fucking fine. I was not happy taking that trial because the argument was stupid and I was sure it would not work. It didn't. I also had hearings on Wednesday, Thursday, and a settlement conference on Friday. I won a hearing on a Motion to Continue on Wednesday. That was pretty much the highlight of my work week.

In my personal life, not much new to report. My fiancee went back to school this week. I don't get to see her nearly as often anymore. Very sad.

List of albums heard this week:
Amon Amarth: Fate of Norns
Benediction: Transcend the Rubicon
Bleeding Through: The Truth
Celtic Frost: To Mega Therion
Cronos: Hell to the Unknown
Dark Tranquillity: Fiction
Dawn of Azazel: The Law of the Strong
Deceased...: As the Weird Travel On
Destruction: Release From Agony
Dimmu Borgir: Death Cult Armageddon
Dimmu Borgir: In Sorte Diaboli
Down: NOLA
Exodus: Bonded by Blood
Eyehategod: Dopesick
Halford: Crucible
Immortal: Battles in the North
Impiety: Formidonis Nex Cultus
In Flames: Reroute to Remain
In Flames: Soundtrack to Your Escape
In Flames: Trigger
Mayhem: De Mysteriis Dom. Sathanas
Mayhem: Ordo Ad Chao
Metal Church: Metal Church
Moonspell: The Butterfly Effect
Morbid Angel: Covenant
Nightwish: Once
Nocturnal Breed: Fields of Rot
Obituary: Frozen in TimePhazm: Hate at First Seed
Possessed: Seven Churches
Razor: Violent Restitution
Sanctity: The Road to Bloodshed
Satyricon: Nemesis Divina
Shadows Fall: The War Within
Swallow the Sun: The Morning Never Came
Tummler: Queen to Bishop VI
Unorthodox: Balance of Power
Vader: Live in Japan
Vanderhoof: Vanderhoof
Venom: Black Metal
Venom: Cast in Stone
Venom: Welcome to Hell
Willard: Steel Mill

Strange Album Covers Pt. 4: Horror Continued

Here's a continuation to the post from yesterday. I will try not to do all of these one after the other, I'll try to get some other random posts in there as well. But here we go:

DANZIG III: HOW THE GODS KILL

I love H.R. Giger's artwork, particularly because he designed the Alien, my all time favorite movie monster. I can't even describe what we have here, all I know is that it is pretty freaky. Danzig is something of a gothic doom metal band with several other genres mixed in as well. Danzig started his career as the singer for The Misfits and was also with Samhain prior to starting his own band. This is my favorite album from the band as it is the most metal.

CANNIBAL CORPSE: EATEN BACK TO LIFE

This is the debut album from Cannibal Corpse and it almost made it into the gory album covers post. It's yet another zombie album cover. Cannibal Corpse is one of the more infamous death metal bands and many of their albums have been banned in other countries (Germany for one) based on their bloody album covers. This one was no exception.

DISSECTION: THE SOMBERLAIN

I don't know what it is that makes this so freaky. There's just something unsettling and disturbing about seeing this dark stagecoach with black horses and a maniacal driver pushing this through the cemetery. This is Dissection's first full length album and is more primal and raw than their masterpiece Storm of the Light's Bane. I love listening to the drumming on the album.

MERCYFUL FATE: DON'T BREAK THE OATH

The great Mercyful Fate made their career in crafting eerie music. This is the band's debut album and the cover is one of the more imposing album covers in metal history. An amazing piece of art. The music itself is the band's greatest effort. It's not a concept album like a lot of the Mercyful Fate/King Diamond but it is nevertheless an amazing piece of music.

OBITUARY: CAUSE OF DEATH

Obituary is another of the earlier death metal bands. They've always had a bit more groove and southern metal style to their brand of death and this is no exception. The Tardy brothers write some amazingly catchy songs and this album featured such great tracks as "Chopped in Half" and "Infected". The art is surreal. That's really the only way to put it. It is also the same art as is on the cover of one of my H.P. Lovecraft books.