Morbid Angel is a band Death Metal owes its life (or Death!) to. Being one of the oldest death metal bands to be active today, they have influenced and paved the paths of bands not only across the realms of death metal, but also of them Thrash and Black. Releases such as but not limited to ‘Altars of madness’ and ‘Covenant’ are classics, which will remain unmatched until the end of time. Catching them on this ‘Kingdoms Disdained’ tour was sure a once in a lifetime thing for me and could no way be missed, especially when you have acts such as Origin and Misery Index as direct support. Other bands included on the bill were Dreaming Dead and Hate Storm Annihilation.
Dreaming Dead could not make it to the San Francisco leg of the tour, so we had local death metal sickos in Cartilage open the show for us. Looking like to be coming straight out of slaughterhouse, it took them not more than a few moments to be one of the most sinister sounding bands I have heard in a long time. Going full assault from the very first note, they exhibited a very unconventional yet exemplary display of musicianship. From death to grind and even thrash, the influences were all over the metal map, but yet so unique. Atop the awesomeness, were the demonic vocals, which gave the word diabolical a whole new meaning. I have been attending metal shows regularly for the last three years in the US, and no other band, which I had no knowledge of, had impressed me to this level. Shout out and kudos to them for a powerful set and setting the right tone to the evening.
Next up were Chicago based death metallers Hate Storm Annihilation. They played a more orthodox style of straight up death metal tending towards elements of technical and progressive once in a while. Apologies in advance to be sounding blunt, but to be honest, I did not find their set interesting. No way were they bad musicians or their set not tight. But I found them sound generic and lacking in creativity. There is nothing wrong with sticking to the roots. However, to leave a mark in the world of music, it becomes necessary at a point to have a signature sound which can speak by itself. To my opinion, that part was missing from their music.
It was now time for a band, which has been continuously redefining the meaning of extreme metal over the last decade. It was none other than technical death metal hordes Origin who took stage. They have been sharing the direct support rights with Misery Index who played a series of dates earlier during the ‘Kingdoms Disdained’ tour. Now, having seen Origin play numerous times in the last few years, I knew what to expect – Crazy mosh pits, circle pits, crowd surfers,wall of death and what not. Well, we got all of that along with a slab ofin-your-face earth shaking brutality. The set they played was so loud and heavy, it actually felt like one long earthquake as the ground beneath me rumbled because of the impact and pounding. They are one of those bands whose ferocity is one step higher than earlier each time. The level of perfection at which they execute such intricate music in a live setting is a virtue, which only a few possess.
Finally it was time for Morbid Angel to take stage and blow our minds. The legends played one of the most epic sounding sets of all time for me. They sounded huge and at the same time crisp and tight at an inhuman-like precision level. The mosh raged on as they belted out their new material and classics alike. The most amazing part of the set was the signature dark atmosphere prominent throughout it. The venue was packed to the brim even on a Monday evening to witness the Death metal gods lay waste to it. It was an epic feeling indeed seeing them play and will sure go down as one of most memorable ones of all times.
Morbid Angel on the ‘Kingdoms Disdained’ tour are here to lay waste to everything in their path. Catch them while you can, because not everyday you get to witness such debauchery. Be informed that Origin will show no mercy either.