Nuclear Assault, Crematorium, All That Remains, and Myiasis
February 4th, 2003 at Graceland, Seattle WA

Seattle’s own Myiasis took the stage promptly at 9 PM to tear the minimal audience a new one with their own flavor of brutal death metal. Most of the more brutal bands don’t do a lot for me, mostly due to being overly technical and having a tinny sound. Not Myiasis though! Even though they have only one guitarist they manage to carry the heaviness of their CD over to the live setting with a thick and deep sound. Their vocalist has a good stage presence and the band headbangs constantly, a nice change from most “brootal” death metal acts who stand like statues through their entire set. Since the place was fairly empty at the time they didn’t get much reaction but those who were present responded enthusiastically.

Myiasis set list:
Outro
Human
Hatred Inc.
Necroconcubine
As She Bled
Sloth
Teratogen
Mausoleum Earth
Enmity
Solace

Next up was Metal Blade/Prosthetic recording artists All That Remains. The Springfield Massachusetts based band seamlessly blends metalcore with the guitar virtuosity of bands like Iron Maiden to give them a truly unique sound. Ex-Shadows Fall frontman Philip Labonte is a serious bundle of energy onstage, running madly all over the place when not handling his vocal duties. All That Remains is a very solid and live act despite being a relatively new band. That’s not really surprising though as they have done a LOT of shows in the past year or so. The entire set was a mass of energy and rage from the band but the highlight for the audience was a slightly sped up cover of Metallica’s “Creeping Death”. Even though I thought they were great and enjoyed them immensely (as I did last year at the Mass Fest) I was surprised at what a great reaction the tough Seattle crowd gave them, going so far as to try to convince them to do an encore which is something that never happens with support acts in these parts. Hopefully they will return to the Northwest in the near future and be allowed to do more than the 30 minute opening set. Sorry, no set list from ATR as I’m not too familiar with their music and they didn’t use a list on stage.

Los Angeles’ Crematorium were the only thing left standing between the audience and the long awaited appearance of Nuclear Assault. A friend of mine told me that they were a good death metal band so I was really looking forward to seeing them. Unfortunately all I got out of their set was 30 minutes or so of very typical sounding deathcore/grind with the only redeeming quality being a surprise appearance of Dan from hyrax filling in on drums. Dan can seemingly play anything so Crematorium at least had that going in their favor. Various reviews praise the band for being innovative and technically brilliant so I was somewhat shocked by the blandness of their live show. Maybe I should pick up one of their albums and give them another chance…

Crematorium set list:
Murder Process
Seasons
Life Sick
Maim
Dying Place
Bright Lights
Carved from Receipt
Hidden
Unlearn

I wasn’t much of a Nuclear Assault fan back in the day but I’ll always get off my ass to see a thrash band, especially when the band is made up of a bunch of old farts like me! From the opening “assault” of “Rise from the Ashes” to the encore of “Trail of Tears”, Nuclear Assault delivered a highly energetic (not to mention beer filled) performance. They provided enough of their classic songs to make all the long-time fans happy and the fury of their performance made for a pretty brutal pit which shocked the hell out of me as their couldn’t have been more than a hundred people in attendance. This being the last show of the tour with All That Remains the band paid NA a visit mid-set and their guitarist stole John Connolly’s guitar for a bit of a blues based jam. Even though I’m not super familiar with their catalogue they seemed to play very well despite the fact that they had only recently reformed. What’s even more important is that all the members seemed to really be having a good time, something which isn’t always the case for reunion tours. Overall this was a damned good set, I will definitely be checking out Nuclear Assault again should I get the chance.

Nuclear Assault set list:
Rise from the Ashes
Brainwashed
F#
Wake Up
Freedom Dies
Game Over
Buttfuck
Justice
Sin Betrayal
Fight to be Free
New Song
Critical Mass
My America
Hang The Pope
Lesbians
Trail of Tears

Photos from this show can be found here

Nuclear Assault web site: http://www.nuclearassault.us/
Crematorium web site: http://www.crematoriummusic.com
All That Remains web site: http://www.allthatremains.cc
Myiasis web site: http://www.unholiness.com/

()

Rating: 8 /10