California Deathfest VI – Day 2

January 29th, 2022

            With the successful first night of the 6th California Deathfest in the books, there would be two more outstanding lineups to be witnessed and attended.  Day 1’s lineup, felt more like a Death Metal/Grind festival. Also, only with 6 bands performing Day 1, 8 bands would be performing on each of the next two, allowing other styles and Metal genres to shine brightly. 

            And to start, probably the most different band performing the entire weekend, Melodic Doom Metal act, Stygian Crown.  One of the most unique aspects, the only clean vocals performed the entire weekend.  A definite change of pace, and even being labeled a “Death Fest”, I was still excited to see something outside what’s considered the norm at this festival.  Melissa Pinion’s vocal performance in the vein of Alto, gave the story-driven melody of the guitars this almost Power Metal-like imagination, especially with the energy she expressed while singing so vibrantly.  Heaviness was not subtracted from Stygian Crown’s sound, as 3 members of Gravehill founded, and performed for the band.  The dirty, gritty tone in Gravehill wasn’t found here, instead this gloomy sense of melody, at a much softer tempo.  The most “out of sync” band at this festival, yet Stygian Crown got a nice ovation, and would loved to had seen them on the Swallow the Sun tour in December, an especially comfortable fit they would have been on that bill.

1. Intro – War (Bolt Thrower cover)

2.  Devour the Dead

3.  Up from the Depths

4.  Flametongue

5.  Two Coins from the Ferryman

            From invoking melodies, back to nasty, buzzsaw riffage, Kommand did exactly that after their soundcheck, pummeling the audience with a modern approach to 90s Brutal Death Metal.  It reminded me of Effigy of the Forgotten, in which the slam breakdowns featured were groovy, immensely powerful, and the main scat beat complimenting the chunky down-picking.  Drummer Sam Bosson and vocalist Jesse Sanes, worked extremely well together in bringing out that aggressiveness within the fast-paced tremolo riffs, with the former’s booming double-bass assault keeping the carnage afloat.  Sanes’s animation on stage, superb growls, and ability to keep up with the music effortlessly, was a sight to watch.  Kommand’s performance was solid, and more than a worthy notion to Old School Brutal Death Metal.    

1.  Starvation

2.  Radiation

3.  Gulag Orphanage

4.  Siege

5.  Wasteland

            I’ll admit, some of the run time for the bands seemed off.  For example, Miasmatic Necrosis were listed to play for 35 minutes, but the band performed roughly 20 minutes.  Their no-nonsense of Goregrind had zero compromises, brutal and quick-paced.  The backdrop band logo’s colour, as well as the red lightshade on it, was gorgeous to look at.  It also set that hammer inflicting aggression in terms of mood.  Drummer Ian Jacyszyn’s technical work can be seen so clearly in that backdrop, as well as Paulo Henri Paguntalan’s blurringly quick guitar work creating the festive mood, for the moshing that Goregrind is simply necessary for.  Most of Miasmatic Necrosis’s songs are barely a minute long, if not barely passing that mark, and while the songs didn’t feel repetitive, the set finished so fast, I wish they band had at least 4-5 more to play.  Nevertheless, Miasmatic Necrosis’s Goregrind set was a festive whirlwind to watch.

            Major props to several band members, for playing in multiple bands the entire weekend of California Deathfest VI.  Seeing some familiar faces onstage from Day 1, Caustic Would take the Grindcore/Death Metal approach, compared to the Doom-based riffing that Mortiferum performs.  The Grindcore pace was heir apparent, as Clyle Lindstrom’s sewerage-sounding grunts and growls, had also rhythm for headbanging.  With the majority of the songs under 2 minutes, the bombastic, chunky riffs and distortion echoed loudly in the 1720 halls, Caustic Wound’s 10-song, barely 25-minute set still felt short.  I enjoyed the production of their set, with no mud in the air, allowing the Grindcore elements to be felt clearly, and still a raging score.  It’s rather rare on normal tours, but to see members play in multiple bands the same weekend of a festival, it showed me the various differences between the bands they perform in, and it enables a special perspective. 

1.  Death Posture

2.  Cemetery Planet

3.  Guillotine

4.  Ritual Trappings

5.  Autonomous Weapons System

6.  Blast Casualty

7.  Cabal

8.  Grinding Mechanism of Torment

9.  Blood Battery

10.  Ecocide

11.  Uranium Decay

12.  Visions of Torture

            One of the biggest surprises, P.L.F. (Pulverizing Lethal Force) Texas Grindcore, and tonight only a 2-piece performing.  Generally, 2-piece bands deliver, such as Retch (RIP Ryan Allen), Inquisition, Tzimani, etc.  Tonight, would continue that trend, as the crowd was wowed as I was, witnessing Dave Callier’s outstanding command of the stage.  From counterpoint riffs, intense fast-picking, quality catchy grooves, and tremendous harsh vocals, Callier’s effort could be felt at each point of their set.  The other obvious, and utterly fantastic part of P.L.F.’s performance, the remarkable drumming of Bryan Fajardo.  Formerly in Phobia, and played with Rotten Sound live previously, Fajardo’s unique blasting felt crisp, flowed throughout all the tempos listened.  Double snare hits in quick recession, wallowing, crystal fills, all while keeping the carnage within Callier’s voice and gnarly riffs.  The crowd didn’t know what hit them, and P.L.F.’s 25-minute performance, simply outstanding.  One of the better Grindcore bands live I’ve seen in quite some time.    

1.  Demoralized in the Wake of Atrocity

2.  Escalation of Urban Violence

3.  Final Act of Recalcitrance

4.  Tank Treads Hammering Inexorably on the Horizon

5.  Lucid Alienation

6.  Chosen Few

7.  Odious Demagoguery

8.  Trinitrotoluene Negation

9.  Gripping Torsion Implosion

10.  Drowned in the Harbor

11.  Anti-Humanistic Cull

12.  Grinder of Fools

13.  Simultaneous Assassination

14.  Strangled in Icy Dreams

15.  Siege of the Headbanger

16.  Wicked Strains of Primeval Virus

17.  Ultimate Whirlwind of Incineration

18.  Pulverizing Lethal Force

            One of the bands I was looking forward to seeing the most, Death Metal veterans Impaled.  With the Carcass inspired Medical Gore lyrics, Impaled have honed in their musical style with drops of Grindcore, modern Death Metal, and a band that doesn’t get enough credit, for having the band provide vocals from nearly everyone at various points of the songs.  Impaled played songs from every full-length record, including many to consider their magnum opus (myself included), the now 20-year-old Mondo Medicale.  This was my first-time seeing Leon del Muerte on lead vocals for the band, and the impact, absolute gravity defying gurgling and demented gutturals, were downright shocking.  It added a sprinkle of brutality I even haven’t heard from Impaled before.  The banter in-between songs from Impaled, were hilarious as usual.  Performing such grotesque lyrics for the casual fan, yet all in good stride and humour for the ones who know and fully appreciate the character.  Guitarist/vocalist Sean “Bloodbath” McGrath’s higher growling register, provided excellent teamwork between del Muerte, and the rest of the band, showing the rabid audience the unique characteristics between each vocalist.  Impaled’s roughly 35-minute set was met with a roar of ecstasy, and just a grand ‘ol time to see the band play again.  Hopefully these festival performances for all of the bands, won’t be limited to just that, and we can anticipate more tours coming up later this year.

1.  Gutless

2.  Dead Inside

3.  Trocar

4.  Spirits of the Dead

5.  Up the Dose

6.  The Worms Crawl In

7.  Night Soil

8.  Until Death…

            Separate the controversy with Pungent Stench if you can, as this performance would be the rendition of Schirenc Plays Pungent Stench.  Admittedly not 100% aware of the details involved in it, and it looked like by the audience that they weren’t aware, either.  The merch table had the famous Been Caught Buttering 1991 album cover T-shirt, and others, you wouldn’t have noticed if you weren’t a hardcore fan of them.  With Martin Schirenc on guitar and vocals, those famous haunting low shrieks were still in order, and the presence of him on-stage was amazing.  You don’t get to see bands this long in the game, still playing at a high level, who also don’t perform regularly either.  “Bonesawer” and “Suspended Animation” from Pungent Stench’s very first record, For God Your Soul…For Me Your Flesh, all the way back from 1990, continues to remind us how spoiled we are, in that the musicianship, commendable strengths and advances within Metal genres, were present 3 decades ago+; it’s a wonderful problem to have.  Schirenc Plays Pungent Stench’s 50-minute devouring lyrical content and relentless set was a captivating watch.   

1.  Fuck Bizarre

2.  Hypnosis

3.  Sick Bizarre Defaced Creation

4.  Deadly Medley

5.  Suspended Animation

6.  Dead Body Love

7.  Bonesawer

8.  Extreme Deformity

9.  Shrunken and Mummified Bitch

10.  Viva la Muerte

            The floor was completely sardine packed, more than any main event or other performance this entire weekend.  I wasn’t ready for this surprising (to me only, I messed up) set from Autopsy.  From screaming song titles, grueling mosh pits found all across the massive square floor, to the amount of raging joy and headbanging you can see from afar and personally close, the energy alone from the crowd was infectious and positively upbeat.

            Chris.  Reifert.  The most outstanding performance for the entire weekend.  For many of us, we know him as the drummer on Death’s debut, Scream Bloody Gore, you may or not have heard it.  But merely a song into their wicked, towering 80-minute set, Chris Reifert was the drummer, LEAD VOCALIST, and frontman of Autopsy.  Those words in Caps Lock, were said correctly the first time.  It’s difficult as it is to sing backup vocals while drumming, it’s another planet:  to control and command the audience in style and witty dry-humour in-between songs, playing swift fills, double-bass drums at a constant rate, I couldn’t believe the ease at which Reifert was performing.  Needed to be highlighted, Chris Reifert stole the show.

            With Chris Reifert handling the front man and drumming duties, Danny Coralles performing various tremolo dive bar solos.  The eerie effects of those solos were also tremendous transitions throughout the set, taking the intense moments in the faster paced riffs to these memorable counterpoints.  The old-school intro to “Gasping for Air” showed off the drum rhythms of Reifert, as well as the slow-riff anticipation right before the vocals kicked in.  Be it during slower tempos, scat drumming, frenetic vocal patterns, the moshpit never wavered or shrunk.  The movement was impressive at the least to watch, and showed how profound Autopsy’s history has impacted the Metal world.  Keeping the pace that Skinless performed the other night, Autopsy’s set mainly consisted of their first 2 records, Severed Survival and Mental Funeral.  Unbelievable performance from Autopsy, and immensely looking forward to the next tour and/or festival they’ll hopefully be in.

            Day 2’s variety of bands stood out a bit more for me than Day 1, and it queued for the last performance, Day 3 coming up tomorrow, with arguably the most diverse lineup of the weekend…

1.  In the Grip of Winter

2.  Embalmed

3.  Severed Survival

4.  Gasping for Air

5.  Voices

6.  Destined to Fester

7.  Disembowel

8.  Ridden with Disease

9.  Arch Cadaver

10.  Fleshcrawl

11.  Torn from the Womb

12.  Twisted Mass of Burnt Decay

13.  Service for a Vacant Coffin

14.  Dead

15.  Burial

16.  Charred Remains

17.  Critical Madness

18.  Fuck You (Dr. Mastermind cover)