February 2nd, 2005
@ The Key Club, Hollywood
They were a perfect lead into Cattle Decapitation. It should be well known for anyone who has been to this site that Cattle are one of my favorite bands to see live. Their records may be a little sketchy but they always deliever at a show. Travis was as sick as ever on vocals. Making sounds not humanly possible and facial expressions normally reserved for people undergoing shock therapy, he is the star of their show.They played old favorites like "Testicular Manslaughter" and tracks off their latest record Humanure, like "Polyps" and the mighty "Reduced to Paste."
As the members of Behemoth walked onstage and began setting up their gear people in the front got anxious. About 15 mins later when the band came came back in semi-corpse paint and gigantic boots with shingaurds and spikes, the place went crazy. I didnt get into Behemoth until I heard Zos Kia Cultus last year so I'm still unfamiliar with some of their earlier work. Old fans or new, it didnt matter, Behemoth is simply amazing live and devasted the Key Club. They opened with "Horns of Baphonet" and tore the place apart causing a warzone in the pit. Watching Inferno playing drums was quite an experience. While Chris Pennie from DEP and Martin from Kataklysm are more technical and really are the best I've ever seen...Inferno was fucking FAST. The dude didnt look real, thats all I have to say. Negral is an awesome frontman also. His voice was roaring and his lead solos were dead on. They played older songs like "Christians to the Lions" and "As Above so Beyond" along with new ones off Demigod like "Conquer All" and "Sculpting The Throne ov Seth."
After a surprisingly short wait, Suffocation took the stage. Their first headlining tour in I dont even know how long (lets just say forever), and they came out blazing. Heavy would be an understatement to describe their sound. I made my way down to the front just in time for "Effigy of the Forgotten." This was like their third song of the night and by now they were really on a roll. Frank Mullen may not look "metal" wearing an oakley shirt and missing his long hair, but the man's voice is the epitome of death vocals. Especially when he says "WELCOOOME to my CHUUUUUUUUUURCH!" my favorite line from "Pierced from Within." Terrance Hobbs was flawless on lead guitar, and Mike Smith blasted the night away behind his drum kit. Too bad I couldnt see him behind all the cymbals and his damn dreadlocks. They played a healthy dose of songs from their newest release, Souls To Deny such as: "Surgery of Impalement," "Deciet" and "Tomes of Acrimony". It was the oldschool songs that really got the best reactions of course. The highlight of the evening was the legendary "Infecting the Crypts." That was just awesome. They ended their set with "Breeding the Spawn," and left the stage amongst a hail of cheers and clapping.
So Cattle Decapitation was as entertaining as always and Behemoth impressed the crap out of me. Suffocation was more brutal that I had ever dreamed and their merch booth was like a Toys R Us for metalheads. I cant even complain about how packed/overcrowded the show was because seeing that many people putting their fists in the air when the house lights went out for Suffocation made it all worth while.