Bands: Origin, Misery Index, Abysmal Dawn, and local support
Venue: Safari Sam’s, Hollywood, California
Date: August 1, 2008
After the awful Summer Slaughter tour from a few weeks back, technical death metal of the highest caliber is just what I needed. That arrived in Hollywood on a Friday night in the form of the Relapse Contamination Tour, featuring Origin, Misery Index, Abysmal Dawn, and three local support bands.
Safari Sam’s in dumpy, downtown Hollywood was packed for this show, one of the only truly all death metal shows of the summer. First up was Dominance, a local act lacking a bassist with whom I was not familiar. Surprisingly, Dominance were actually pretty good with solid, fast riffs and drumming. Find a bassist, crank out a proper demo, and we’ll see what happens. Next up were Obliterated, who turned out to be the weakest band of the evening (they did have a song entitled "Invisible Oranges", however). Still, a bunch of their friends were in attendance, and they managed to get a pit going. I spent their set propped up against the bar.
Reciprocal were next, a band that has formed from the ashes of Gatekeeper and a few other local acts. I see these guys in show audiences all of the time. Frankly, they were great with excellent technical death metal and their three song demo was selling like hotcakes after their set. They are preparing an album for early next year, so watch for it.
At this time, I made my way to the merchandise tables, where I promptly bought a t shirt from Origin bassist Mike Flores. I also asked him a question that’s been on my mind since the band’s self titled debut, and that is, “What does the Horsehead Nebula have to do with death metal?” “Absolutely nothing, it just looks fuckin’ cool”, he replied. Agreed.
At any rate, I also picked up an Abysmal Dawn t shirt from guitarist/ vocalist Charles Elliot.
Abysmal Dawn were next and played a huge set with equal emphasis placed upon both of their full-lengths. Opening with “Programmed To Consume”, Abysmal Dawn were firing on all cylinders as a huge pit opened up for the duration. Monstrous.
I crammed myself right to stage center for Misery Index, who absolutely fucking smoked with an unbelievable set. Adam Jarvis was simply inhuman behind the kit as Misery Index roared through their set, which included a few songs from the band’s upcoming full-length, “Traitors”. 2008 has been shaping up to be a banner year for death metal, and I eagerly await the release of “Traitors”.
Origin were next and just blew everyone away, even though they played as a quartet without Jeremy Turner. Adam Jarvis owned this night behind the kit, but John Longstreth was unreal, as well, as Origin played unbelievably fast and were tight as Hell.
Needless to say, this was a great show that came at just the right moment during a rather dismal, concert going summer. Here's the usual garbage...
Photos...
The t shirt haul
Dominance
Reciprocal
Abysmal Dawn
Misery Index
Misery Index
Origin
Origin
The video...
Reciprocal
Abysmal Dawn
Misery Index
Misery Index
Origin
Origin
Next up (note the incorrect band sequence)...
3 comments:
Damn, that Origin artwork looks sweet. Is that the shirt that says something silly on the back, though?
Silly?! Since when are metal t shirts "silly"?!
Yeah, its says, "Kill To Breed Peace".
Whatever the fuck that means.
Haha, no, I was referring to that specific shirt. I was originally eyeing that shirt on the Relapse site but couldn't bring myself to get it due to that text (I'm picky).
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