Who needs flowers and chocolate when Kelly is perfectly happy to go see bands called Mass Murder Messiah, Asphyxiator, Waking Chaos, and Sexual Atrocities?!
Take it away, Skull!
Miguel’s 29th B-Day Brutality Bash
Venue: Stage Bar on Cicero Avenue in Chicago
Bands: See above!
By: Skull
So, once again, I’ve found myself to be in somewhat of a
Metal drought lately. I’ll spare you my litany of pitiful excuses. We’ll just
chalk it up to old age (editor: and pizza) for now. However, after receiving a
late night text on Friday from Chicago Metal staple, Miguel “Goregrinder”
Medina, inviting Kelly and myself to be his guests the following evening at his
birthday bash, I simply couldn’t resist. After all, I’ve attended his birthday soirees for the last couple of years and have enjoyed them immensely.
Kelly and I arrived at Stage Bar, in far northern Chicago
right at 9:30pm when the four band BDM/ Gore Metal bill was set to kick off.
Naturally, we arrived only to find out that in typical Metal fashion, the
opening act would begin a tad later
to give some of the procrastinating punters a chance to trickle in. We took
advantage of the time to catch up with Paul “Death Metal Pauly” Garcia and our
gracious host, Miguel.
Approximately an hour later, Mass Murder Messiah broke our
cherries and fired up. Fresh off an extensive tour of Mexico (of all places), Mass
Murder Messiah were vocally pleased to be back in the States, and more
specifically, back in Chicago in time for Miguel’s bash. Hailing from the land
of cheese (editor: also known as “Wisconsin”), Mass Murder Messiah’s lineup had
changed a bit since the last time that I saw them, as they have a flesh and
blood drummer. Unfortunately, they had to play their set without their bassist
who had taken ill. Montezuma’s Revenge, perhaps?
Mass Murder Messiah got the crowd’s blood pumping with a
slew of blasts ranging from a few seconds to several minutes. The crowd, which
numbered about thirty by this point, quickly fell under their spell and reacted
favorably to the offerings. We were even the first lucky audience in the USA to
hear their newest ditty, “2,000 Pesos,” live. What I specifically noticed was
how Mass Murder Messiah have grown over the last year as they played with a
polish and a professionalism that was not as apparent in my last experience
with them. A well played set it was!
After a quick changeover, Miguel’s project Asphyxiator took
the stage, a stage that was almost obscured from the output of a fog machine that
smelled suspiciously of, ahem, dope smoke. A labor of love for Miguel, Asphyxiator have
also grown somewhat over the last year. Taking risks with more aggressive and
complex song structures, a strong effort was made to pummel the room. A three
piece ensemble this evening with a guitarist, Paul Garcia standing in at bass,
Miguel with his brutal vocals, and programmed drums, Asphyxiator cranked out
new material and even covered Mortician’s “Slaughtered” to the delight of the
crowd. By the end of the set, Miguel was dripping in his trademark fake blood
and the growing mob was churning in front of the stage.
In between sets, we had a chance to chew the fat and catch
up with Rick Hernandez of Reign Inferno. It’s always good to see him.
Next up were Waking Chaos, a homegrown product of Chicago.
Somewhat of a step back in brutality from the first two bands, Waking Chaos
launched into a set of tight, clean, and very competent Death and Thrash Metal
that impressed the Hell out of me. Another trio with the drummer taking most of
the vocal duties amidst some very flashy guitar work, Waking Chaos bounced back
and forth between heavy, chugging riffs and gallops with ease. These guys could
be Slayer and Bolt Thrower’s hate child. The fifty or so metalheads
that now filled the room roared their approval as this was, hands down, the best set of
the night!
The next break was more extended as Sexual Atrocities set up
to play. They kicked into gear and unleashed a full out onslaught upon the crowd.
Hailing from Packerland (editor: also known as “Wisconsin”), Sexual Atrocities
leaned heavily on their 2012 release Planet
Of The Rapes. My favorite piece of their set was definitely “Drug Crazed
Retard,” a minor classic.
Sexual Atrocities were fast, tight, brutal, and really freaking loud. As usual, they peppered the audience with lots of comedic banter in between numbers and, along with Mass Murder Messiah and Waking Chaos earlier, gave Miguel lots of good-natured ribbing for being the birthday boy. Sexual Atrocities even had Miguel doing beer bongs on stage with a receiving end that was shaped as a female mammary gland. At this point, the crowd went nuts with adoration as head banging and moshing abounded.
Sexual Atrocities were fast, tight, brutal, and really freaking loud. As usual, they peppered the audience with lots of comedic banter in between numbers and, along with Mass Murder Messiah and Waking Chaos earlier, gave Miguel lots of good-natured ribbing for being the birthday boy. Sexual Atrocities even had Miguel doing beer bongs on stage with a receiving end that was shaped as a female mammary gland. At this point, the crowd went nuts with adoration as head banging and moshing abounded.
Unfortunately, partway through their performance, I looked
out the window to see the city’s Skull-Symbol cast upon the clouds. Police Commissioner Dagon obviously had a job for me to do, so Kelly and I had to
split a bit early. Upon leaving, though, I couldn’t help but feel cheap, beaten, dirty
and disgustingly violated. Curiously enough, I haven’t blown an audible fart
since (editor: you have no idea how unusual this is).
Special thanks to Miguel for the invite and hookup. Happy
birthday, bro!
Mass Murder Messiah
2 comments:
Good review of the show!
Thanks, Frank!
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