The Riot Room in Kansas City, MO, has a very special place in my heart. I’ve seen some of my favorite bands in the world there, like Cryptopsy, Vader, Gorguts, Visceral Disgorge, and Deicide. Today would be Dark Funeral and for the second time at the Riot Room, Septicflesh. The weather was about as good as you could ask for, being in the midwest during early March. It was another easy drive down from Omaha, a quick three hours of blasting brutal music to go see more heavy tunes. I was especially excited about this show as it happened to land on my birthday of all days. Two of my favorite bands playing in a city near me on that day, it was almost too good to be true.
I rolled up to the venue just in time to load up on merch before Thy Antichrist took the stage. With only three bands on the bill, there was plenty of time for everyone to play as long of sets as they cared to play. Thy Antichrist used their time well, not wasting much time between songs, cruising comfortably through their set. I thought their corpse paint and armor was well done as I haven’t seen many newer bands confidently pull that off lately, The energy was great from both the band and the already packed house. I geeked out during most of the set on their bassist, who was playing a six string multiscale bass. It reminded me of one of my old bands, where I played a six string bass in a black metal band, so it was a great feeling seeing someone else do something similar and do it well.
By the time Dark Funeral made their way to the stage, the place was completely packed. I’ve been to a lot of big shows at the Riot Room and this was easily one of the biggest crowds I’ve seen there. The band dove straight into some very deep cuts, going back over 20 years to tracks off of The Secrets of The Black Arts. It was maybe half a song in before the pit began to grow. Starting slowly, I figured some help would be needed, so I dove in head first to move things along. The rest of the set was a glorious mess of deep cuts, spilled beer, and sweaty collisions. I remember a few of my favorites popping up, like “Hail Murder” and “Atrum Regina,” as well as the obligatory “My Funeral” and “Nail Them to The Cross.” The mix was thunderous albeit a little drum and bass heavy for a black metal band. None the less, I thought Dark Funeral sounded fantastic and put on a killer show. They were able to play the proper headlining set that everyone was there to see.
What can I really say about Septicflesh that I haven’t already? They’re one of my favorite bands in the world and for good reason. Their set was spot on the entire way through. Seth did a great job keeping everyone as involved as he could all while still playing bass and doing vocals. They played every song I’d hoped to hear that night, so it is safe to say I was pretty stoked. Everything from “Anubis” and “Pyramid God” off of Communion to my personal favorite, “Prototype.” Since they had an hour and a half to play, Septicflesh was able to run through the list of greatest hits from Communion to Codex Omega. Their mix was better as the orchestral backing tracks were loud enough to be heard but not so loud they’d dominate the mix.
All in all, I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday. The bands all delivered stellar performances that really cemented their places in my list of favorites. I didn’t notice a single hiccup or incident all night, which was impressive given how densely packed everyone was. The Riot Room deserves a lot of credit for pulling off such consistently high quality shows. I’ve yet to leave there disappointed.
