Last night (March 10), I attended the Metal Blade Records 35th Anniversary Tour, feat. Whitechapel, Cattle Decapitation, Goatwhore, Allegaeon, and Necromancing The Stone at The Fillmore in San Francisco, CA, and it was an awesome show!
The supergroup Necromancing The Stone opened up the show with their traditional brand of metal. They were a great opening band, who are worth checking out if you haven’t heard of them. The band’s music is like that of NWOBHM acts with some thrash and death elements mixed in, making them appealing to all types of metal fans. A highlight from their set was their performance of “The Siren’s Call.”
Allegaeon took the stage next for an energetic display of technical melodic death metal. Greg Burgess and Michael Stancel’s guitar work was a sight to see. On top of this, vocalist Riley McShane, who is still relatively new to the group, was also cool to see live with his powerful growls/screams. Highlights from their set include “Of Mind and Matrix” and “1.618.”
After Allegaeon, blackened death metallers Goatwhore came out to, as they say, “fuck [the crowd] with Satan.” They were definetly a contender to be considered the strongest act of the night. Between Sammy Duet’s unbelievable guitar shredding and Ben Falgoust’s vocals/stage banter they really put on a great show. Their whole set was basically a party, which was fitting considering Falgoust was celebrating his birthday, which happens to be today (March 11). Highlights from their set include “FBS,” “Baring Teeth For Revolt,” and “Apocalyptic Havoc.”
Goatwhore wrapped up their set, and made way for deathgrind legends Cattle Decapitation to destroy the stage. They were probably the most brutal band of the night, with frontman Travis Ryan being the main attraction of the group. His insane demonic growls and screams are just something you have to witness live, whether your a fan or not. There was so much intensity in their set, that the energy actually transferred to the crowd for the biggest circle pit of the night. If you’re a fan of extreme metal, you should go watch them live if you ever have a chance. Highlights from their set include “We Are Horrible People,” “Pacific Grim,” and “Forced Gender Reassignment.”
Then it was time for the headliners, deathcore masters Whitechapel. The band used dark lighting to create the perfect atmosphere for their music. This combined with frontman Phil Bozeman’s badass growls, and the band’s heavy riffs/sick breakdowns, made for one hell of a show. The group were also really energetic as well, and were able to keep the audience engaged throughout the night. As far as setlists go, they pretty much performed tracks spanning their whole catalog, offering a perfect balance of old and new. Highlights included their opening track “The Saw Is the Law,” “Our Endless War,” “I, Dementia,” “Mark Of The Blade,” and their encore “This Is Exile.”
