March 13, 2005
@ The Key Club, Hollywood
In a nice change of pace I headed for the left side of the stage and scored a perfect spot in the seating area, even though the couches were gone. While I was scurring for a spot, The Autumn Offering took the stage to a less than enthusiastic audience. These guys were young (they looked around my age) and played a flashy brand of metalcore. Why they were chosen to tour with Cryptopsy still boggles my mind. Needless to say, nobody really cared for The Autumn Offering but a few people did manage to clap politely when their set ended! Next up was Devilinside. Another group of young bucks who once again play metalcore. These guys were MUCH better than the first band and were really fucking heavy. Sill, why the hell are they touring with Cryptopsy!?!
Finally...Southern California's own, Cattle Decapitation took the stage. So I've already seen them a bunch of times over the past year, you know what? I wouldnt mind seeing them again! Cattle have an amazing live show thats just packed with energy. Even though they were the best of the opening acts, their performance was a little off on this night. Frontman Travis Ryan seemed a little tired and wasn't as insane as usual. That didnt stop the crowd from loving their set and requesting even more when the club tried cutting their set early.
Now we get to CRYPTOPSY! Holy shit they were awesome. When Cattle finished their set and Flo's gigantic drum kit was revealed I almost crapped my pants. I was pretty tired from work that day and was coming down with a cold but I didnt mind waiting as the band set up. When the lights off and their teaser intro played eveyone went nuts. The band took their positions on stage and then newly reunited vocalist, Lord Worm walked up and they went straight into "Crown of Horns." They played ALL of their final record with Lorm Worm/greatest record of their carears, None So Vile.
I was a little surprised by how old Worm seemed (he was even rocking a cain for the first song!) and worried his voice was going to sound like shit. It took him a while to get his growls up to par but he eventually did, and his high end shrieks sounded better than ever. That being said, the vocal department isn't what makes Cryptopsy so damn good, its their over the top musicianship. The solos were flying during "Slit Your Guts" and Flo didnt miss a beat the whole evening. They dedicated "Graves of the Fathers" to Dimebag Darrell and Lord Worm dared us to keep with the "Dead and Dripping."
Like I said before, they played ALL of None So Vile. This happens to be one of my favorite records ever. First I got to see Slayer playing Reign In Blood and now this.By the time they made it to "Phobophile" (my favorite song) I was at a loss. They piano playing faded into that haunting bass line and then the biggest pit of the night opened up. It may be one of their most "melodic" tunes but it got the most violent reaction! After they finished Vile's final track "Orgiastic Disembowelment," Lord Worm assured us the night wasnt over. They played the super oldschool "Open Face Surgery" before Flo unleashed the best drum solo I have or will probably ever see in my life. It was like 6 or 7 mins long and filled with blasts I thought were'nt humanly possible and weird ass rhythms that would make 3rd world tribesman scratch his head.
They played a few "non-Worm" era songs like "Cold Hate, Warm Blood" and "We Bleed" before finishing the night with the disturbing encore of "Back to the Worms." For their final song of the night, Lord Worm busted out his fabled goblet and feed live worms to the front row. Yeah, I was feeling sick before hand but even I had to say that shit was cool. This turned out to be an amazing night thanks to the legendary Cryptopsy. I only wish they would have picked better opening bands (like on the Suffocation or Cannibal Corpse tours). Great show, great band, great setlist (NONE SO VILE!).