May 19th, 2004
@ The Key Club, Hollywood
These cancellations meant that two local bands were brought in as replacements. Sacrificial Slaughter got things started, or at least they tried to. They looked really young and their performance was filled with energy but they just weren't at the professional caliber as the rest of the bands playing. Next up was Watch Me Burn. They are a local grind band who I had heard about before but never got the chance to see. Many people were confusing them with the band that blew us off, Watch Them Die and there were people talking thrash about the band before they even took the stage. Of course when they actually came out and their female vocalist sliced through everyone's ear drums with her high pitched shrieks all heckles ceased. This band blew me away with how tight they sounded. They have some of the weirdest time changes and incorporate many other musical genres into their sound. Every member of the band showed their complete mastery of their instruments and overall put on one hell of a show.
Cattle Decapitation never really did anything for me unti I saw them destroy the Key Club on this night. Their music comes off much better in a live setting and the crowd went nuts for them. Cattle's frontman is a maniac plain and simple. Imagine the intensity of Randy from Lamb of God but coming from someone with even more energy and far more menacing stage persona. How can you not love songs like "Bukkake Tsunami" or the epic "Decapitation of Cattle" (which lasted no more than 3 seconds)? Despite being crushed by a string of stage divers during their set, I nor the rest of the crowd could get enough of Cattle Decapitation.
The mighty Vital Remains didn't take long setting up. With an upside down crucifix behind them, the band unleashed their satanic onslaught to the eagerly awaiting crowd. Glen Benton wore full "metal armor" complete with hockey mask and shoulder pads. Vital ripped through their set, consisting of all material off their latest release Dechristianize, with such precision and brutality it left me near speechless. Tim Yeung did an amazing job filling in Dave Suzuki's shoes on drums while Dave handled lead guitar. I had a bird's eye view of Tim and watched him blast all night while effortlessly inserting some "Tommy Lee drum stick twirls" into the mix. Tony Lazaro devasted the stage with his fierce headbanging but it was Dave Suzuki , with his awe inspiring solos and killer backing vocals who was the most fun to watch. Cattle Decapitation's frontman joined the band for their final song, a cover Deicide's "Lunatic of God's Creation."
Even though The Black Dahlia Murder canceled, this still ended up being one of the best shows in recent memory. Watch Me Burn gave me new local heroes to look out for in the future, Cattle Decapitation stepped up and won me over (enough to even pick up some merch), and Vital Remain's performance proved that brutal death metal can be pummeling and entertaining at the same time..and that Dave Suzuki is the most metal human on the planet.
Vital Remains setlist:
Dechristianize
Infidel
Devoured Elysium
Saviour to None...Failure for All
Unleashed Hell
Lunatic of God's Creation