Word Eater; Bolt Thrower, English class and surprisingly, the Cro-Mags.

Dude.

I first heard Bolt Thrower in 1990 on the US cassette release of the Earache Records Grindcrusher compilation. The licensing of Earache releases to Relativity/ Sony distribution opened up the world and ears of metal fans across the US; thrash metal was out, death metal and grindcore were in, and I was no exception to that change of mind. The loosely slayer-esque, down tuned, syrupy-yet-metallic riff that opened Bolt Thrower’s “World Eater” was as terrifying as it was refreshing. I was a fan from the first time I heard it and as an added bonus, I could play it on guitar.

In the spring of 1991, I was in English class with a young teacher named Ms. O’Leary. Her brother, apparently, worked for some division of Sony and sent her a box full of promotional cassettes. On occasion, these would get distributed to us in class. I was lucky enough to be rewarded with a promotional copy of Warmaster, Bolt Thrower’s first true masterpiece one day after answering a question about literature; the record wasn’t out in the States yet. I listened to that tape on the bus in my Walkman nearly every day.  “What Dwells Within” became my favorite song at the time, mostly because, again, I could play the main riff on my guitar without too much of a struggle, and man did that riff hit all the sweet spots in my teenage brain.

I ended up with a lot of these by 1992

That fall, which I believe was slated as a Halloween show, Bolt Thrower was supposed to play Buffalo, but it was cancelled shortly after flyers were distributed. Heartbroken by this, and not really digging their follow up IV Crusade in 1992, I pretty much only stuck to Realm, Warmaster and The Peel Sessions records and stopped paying attention to Bolt Thrower’s continued output.

In 2005, my little brother began talking about how great Bolt Thrower was and told me that not only was their new record, Those Once Loyal incredible, but that all of their albums were “pretty consistent.” He agreed that IV Crusade may not have been their best, but that I should re-examine their catalogue.  By the end of that month, Bolt Thrower was back in my life in a big, big way; but where were they? They seemed to stick with European touring. As the years plowed on and my listening to Bolt Thrower grew and grew, the opportunity to see them seemed to get less and less, but their popularity stateside seemed to be growing; and then it happened:  

"Due to the fact that we are not real festival lovers or great fans of flying, the chances of us ever coming to the States for a one-off show was always very small. But after years of relentless emails from Ryan we've finally given in. It's hard to believe that it's been 14 years since we last played in the US, so we are very happy to announce that we are finally coming back. Bolt Thrower will be playing Maryland Deathfest VII, on May 22-24, 2009, at Sonar, Baltimore, MD."

HOLY SHIT. My first marriage had just fallen apart and I found myself with a lot of free time on my hands and a new found voraciousness for music and shows. So, with my brother and our friend Bob, we went to Baltimore to witness the mighty ‘Thrower along with other greats Asphyx, Hail of Bullets and Napalm Death. We waited in line for like 3 hours to get t-shirts, and I bought the last 2XL sweatshirt that the merch guy told us he was holding for UFC fighter Josh Barnett, but as he hadn’t shown up yet and I had waited, it was mine. The setlist was everything I wanted it to be:  At First Light/ World Eater/ Cenotaph/ War/ Remembrance/ Mercenary/ Entrenched/ The Shreds of Sanity/ War Master/ The IVth Crusade/ No Guts, No Glory/ In Battle There Is No Law/ When Cannons Fade/ ...For Victory/ Killchain/ Powder Burns.

The author taking it all in at MDF 2009

We heard rumors that they may play an additional set the following day (they did, replacing Pestilence), but we had already left and I figured that I would never get to see them again, and even though they did announce shows in 2013, that was right around the time my daughter was born and I had no desire to be gone for an extended period of time away from my family. But then, a couple years later, my Bolt Thrower Luck changed.

My friend Ewan sent me a message on facebook to let me know he was booking the gig of all gigs in London, Ontario, just a few hours from Buffalo; Bolt Thrower and Razor, with the Cro- Mags as the after show. My jaw was already on the floor when he told me that he’d put me plus one on the guest list. Bolt Thrower. Cro-mags. FOR FREE. I rode up with the drummer of my band at the time and his friend Mark. We got to the show a little late and MY NAME WAS NOT ON THE LIST. I had an acquaintance from Buffalo give me his spare ticket at the door, thankfully, but my plus one was going to be shit out of luck, but after a couple of calls to Ewan, he apologized and got us all sorted for both shows. War / Remembrance/ Mercenary/ World Eater / Cenotaph/ Anti-Tank (Dead Armour)/ Warmaster/ Forever Fallen/ This Time It's War/ Rebirth of Humanity/ The IVth Crusade/ No Guts, No Glory/ ...For Victory/ The Killchain / Powder Burns/ At First Light/ When Cannons Fade. We didn’t know it at the time, but it would be Bolt Thrower’s second to last show ever.

Photo by the author

Photo by the author

In a smaller club called Rum Runners attached to the venue was the hardcore show/ after party. I spent most of that show talking to my friend Kyle, who is always a pleasure to “shoot the breeze” with and mostly missed the openers. Around 2 am the Cro-mags hit the stage- yes, TWO FUCKING AM, but they played “Crush the Demoniac” and I enjoyed the set, as I hadn’t seen them since March of 1998, but I don’t think I’m an after party kind of guy.

Cro-Mags photo by the author, the singer looks like plastic

A few months later, Kiddie Kearns, Bolt Thrower’s drummer passed. He was three years young than I:

 “With the heaviest of hearts, and still numb from shock, we have to share the very sad news that on Monday 14th September Bolt Thrower lost our powerhouse drummer, Martin ‘Kiddie’ Kearns.
After the first rehearsal for our upcoming tour of Australia, Kiddie suddenly felt unwell which continued throughout the night, and the next day he passed away peacefully in his sleep.

He was a fantastic Dad, husband, son, friend, but to us he was always ‘Kiddie’, the same 17 year old Coventry kid whose drumming style and personality blew us away when he first walked into our rehearsal room 20+ years ago.
Kiddie enriched our lives, and the Bolt Thrower sound. He leaves a massive hole in the lives of everyone who knew him and will be very sorely missed by many.
Karl, Jo, Baz, Gav & the loyal BT crew”

A year later, Bolt Thrower announced they were no more and the metal world was sad again for the loss of Kiddie Kearns. Still, I am glad I got to witness them slay the crowd twice, also how cool is Ms. O'leary for giving me that damn tape? They say teaching is a thankless profession, but I am very thankful for my 11th grade English teacher.

The first wealth is health?

Wife takes photo of the author during Gruesome while a sinus infection starts to do gruesome things to his insides

I didn’t bother mentioning in my post about the Asphyx show that I had just gotten over pneumonia, as I had already completed a run of antibiotics and felt pretty good. Around the time of my last post, that was starting to change, as I just started developing a sinus infection that went into my ears and wreaked all sorts of havoc. I went and saw Gruesome literally the day my right ear started feeling congested, but with ear plugs in hand, or rather, ear, I soldiered on through their incredible set. Three weeks after that show, a specialist and two rounds of antibiotics later, my ears are still fucked and full of fluid, but improving. The downside is that I missed a bunch of shows because of it; Ruiner, Testament, Pallbearer, Destruction, Candlemass, the list goes on and today I find myself reflecting on a show I went to even though I was sick as hell.

Gruesome, photo by the Author

Gruesome, photo by the Author

In May of 1993, my friend Glen Symanski (who was later in NoReason with me) and I decided to go see Shelter at the Lost Horizon in Syracuse, NY.  I had been diagnosed with Bronchitis that Friday, and was on an antibiotic, but really didn’t feel better the late morning of May the 23rd when Glenn picked me up. I had my Amoxicillin bottle with me and off we went; the thing is, I didn’t have my license yet and Glenn, aside from knowing it was “in Syracuse” had no idea where the Lost Horizon was.  After the two hour drive there, we got off at a Syracuse proper exit and began the search.

Glenn thought that if we found a phone booth (remember those?) we could look up the address and go from there, but after driving around and not having any real luck, I think we stopped pursuing that route. It was early on a brisk Sunday afternoon in a college town and not too many people were out and about; we drove around for like an hour and got nowhere. Now knowing that the show hard started and feeling the pressure (with me feeling like total shit) we spotted the man who would be our savior; a guy in a Sick Of It All longsleeve. Mr. Longsleeve had no idea that there was a show that day, but knew where the Lost Horizon “kind of was” and we got to the show right as Vision started playing.

Shelter/ 108 tour poster from the internet

Vision were ok, they played a lot of songs that I didn’t know at the time, but what I do remember was that Dave, their singer, had all of his hair stuffed up into a winter cap and at some point a stage diver made a point to take the hat down with him and out came Dave’s flowing 90’s metal locks. 108 took the stage shortly after and were absolutely devastating. I remember standing in the middle of the “pit” during their set in total amazement about how insane their energy was. I also was hacking my lungs out, so apologies to anyone who got sick after. Shelter headlined but weren’t half as good as they had been the two years prior. For me, nothing can top the show they played at Randall Studios in Buffalo in June of ’92, which to me was their pinnacle, although more success definitely came to them later on.

The drive home was uneventful and the cool thing about a lot of those Syracuse matinees (but not all, some were goddamn marathons) was that, even after the two hour drive home, it was light out and the evening was still ahead of you. Long after I had gotten over the Bronchitis, the same tour played Buffalo the following August with Against All Hope and Slugfest (their last show) opening. 108 was even better that night, confronting dance floor bullies during their set and practically exploding on stage. Following that, Shelter came across like behaved school children.

The differences between 19 year old me and 43 year old me are often time few and far between and yet at the very same time stark.  I think one of those stark differences is that sick 43 year old me would’ve missed 108 in their prime to gladly stay in bed.

My Friend Malachai

I used to go out in public wearing these as pants.

The summer before 9th grade (1988), a new kid named Derek moved into my neighborhood and changed my life forever. I was firmly rooted into metal: Metallica, Ozzy, Anthrax, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and also  Devo, Sex Pistols and the Ramones. I even had a Celtic Frost album I had swiped from my uncle. But I wasn't a cool looking metal head, I emulated Anthrax' corny style, which made my 14 year old pudgy male body look like a 30-something lesbian (no offense to 30-something 80's lesbians) and is why I generally do not post pictures of myself before 1991. But that didn't matter to Derek, he just wanted to listen to and talk about underground music.

The guitar player of this band was my neighborhood's paperboy- "87 demo"

Derek had a slightly older cousin that lived on the other side of town, and hung out with the guys in Malevolent Creation (hometown heroes before they relocated to FL). His cousin REALLY had his finger on the pulse of what was going on in the thrash/ death metal/ crossover scene. Through him, cool bands to check out trickled to Derek and then to me, where I got to choose what I did and didn't like. Derek introduced me to Slayer, Kreator, Destruction, Death, Dark and Death Angel, Possessed, Exodus, Pestilence, Sodom, DRI, COC, Excel... The list could go on. I'm not going to lie and say that I loved all of these bands right away, some I outright did not "get" and I called most death metal bands "super thrash" upon my first listen. I remember actually laughing the first time he played me Scum by Napalm Death, only to have them become one of my favorite bands within a year or so. The bands I liked right out of the gate though were Slayer, DRI and COC- then closely followed by Exodus and Kreator. By the middle of 9th grade (1989) I was a bonafide thrash metal maniac and went to see my beloved Metallica for the first time. Club shows followed and many times I went to shows, I went with Derek. By this time, due to his red-headed mullet and insane attitude, older dudes at school started calling him "basket weaver" presumably because people in insane asylums would weave baskets, he played into that a little bit, jocks didn't fuck with him the way they did with the rest of us and he was mostly popular, much to his chagrin. His popularity at school hit an all time high the end of that year when someone called him "Malachai" due to his resemblance to the kid in Children of the Corn. The new nickname stuck and he still answers to this, although his resemblance to the aforementioned antagonist (which was questionable in 1989) is mostly nonexistent.

Not our Malachai.

There is a list of hilarious Malachai stories. I could fill an entire book, but those are his stories to tell, not mine. Though, I should probably give some high lights. He was once headbanging to Kreator so hard that he got ran over by a car because he wasn't paying attention. Another time, he and another dude in our neighborhood named Evan (Who I was later in a band with) got into a fist fight in the middle of his street after school. A few minutes into it, Malachai's dad (Dennis), who looked EXACTLY like Mr. Brady from the Brady Bunch pulled up,as he was coming home from work, and broke it up. Evan took exception to this, calling Dennis something that alleged that he had a small dick. Imagine our surprise when Dennis, called Evan's bluff and started undoing his pants, "you wanna measure dicks, you little asshole? Whip it out!" everyone laughed and Evan and Malachai were friends from that day forward too.  But back to the original point of writing this, Malachai introduced me to A LOT of music.

Our Malachai in Seattle in 2009, photo by the author

The last band Malachai got me into was Asphyx, the classic Dutch death metal band. he introduced me to The Rack, their debut, shortly before they played Maryland Death Metal Fest in 2009. I was obviously familiar with Pestilence, the singer's former classic band, but not Asphyx; who I ended up liking right away. I was so fucking pissed when the sub-par Mayhem overstayed their welcome onstage at the fest resulting on a truncated Asphyx set, which was still great, but I, and the crowd, were pissed and wanted more.

so good.

Last December, when I got to see Metallica absolutely kill it in a club , the first person I thought about was Malachai and how he didn't get to see Metallica in 89 AND had to wait many, many years before he finally did. I feel badly that I haven't spoken to him since I've moved to California, nearly two years now. I should call him and see what's up, I know it will be exactly the same as if we talked last week, as if no time has passed; especially because a week ago, I went and saw Asphyx headline a show at the Oakland Metro and they were fucking awesome.

Skeletal Remains, a recent highlight

I got to the show late, missing what I assume were the first two openers, save for about 12 seconds of a last song. Skeletal Remains, from LA then blazed through an awesome set of classic styled death metal and really impressed me. Pumped on the Skeletal Remains set, I bought their debut and a shirt, then purchased their sophomore effort on iTunes over the weekend. I even convinced the guys working the door to let me run out to my car (no ins-and-outs) to throw it in my trunk, much like they had let me in October 2015 when I saw Infest and Excel there.

Asphyx, so cool.

Asphyx were on the last California date of their "Death Across The West" tour and there was a pretty good crowd of around 300 die-hards. They raged through 15 songs, but, although I have their most recent efforts, I am not as familiar with stuff that isn't on The Rack. I tend to post set lists, but I can tell you they played Wasteland of Terror really fucking fast and that was cool, but the rest was a blur. Some of vocalist Martin van Drunen's stage banter was a little more corny than I expected; relating their song about the WWII battleship Bismark to "motor-boating tits" and complaining that the ride to Portland for the next gig wouldn't even "give them enough time to get laid." But I guess metal is as metal does. Still, I was again grateful to see another incredible set (two in one night!) and picked up a shirt and their new record, that the opening track, "Candiru," regardless of how ridiculous, is awesome. Maybe I'll call Malachai, or rather, Derek, and thank him for introducing me to a world that has continued to pay dividends to my quality of life for nearly 30 years, I really should.

Danzig and I part 3, I stumble upon a career.

dress down day at the office- Danzig circa 2003

As I alluded to last time I touched on the subject, I saw a Danzig show in 2003 that literally helped change my life. Certainly, after reading this post, it may seem circumstantial to you, but I credit the Dazing show I saw in Poughkeepsie, NY in 2003 to have a direct and positive impact and put me on a career path that has been exciting, rewarding, and ever changing.

During the early afternoon of November 15th, 2003, I saw that Danzig was playing a show downstate at what I perceived as “near Albany.” Albany is roughly a four hour drive from Buffalo, where I grew up, and I have certainly made it fewer than four on some road trips.  So the decision was made to go, we could purchase tickets for will call online and we’d make it there by 7pm, so all would be well; knowing the ‘Zig shows I’d been to before, he’d hit the stage by 9:30 or 10 and the whole thing would wrap up no later than 11:30. I was confident in this time frame, as I started my new Job the next morning at 7 am.  I couldn’t have involved myself in a larger error of distance and time if I wanted to.

We arrived at the Chance in POUGHKEEPSIE NEW YORK at 9pm, because, well, the roads were bad, and because Poughkeepsie is an hour and a half past Albany. WHOOPS. Still, the openers were playing and I figured they’d be wrapping it up quickly and we’d get to have our summer in the winter time. But then there was another opener, and another and yet ANOTHER, all obviously pay to play bands that sold tickets to get on the gig.

11 pm came and went and I was starting to get nervous, but when Danzig hit the stage around 11:30, the world became Glenn and company. This was the best set I have ever seen by Danzig, I swear the stars must have been aligned properly because it was perfectly executed; with newer songs having a life they do not have in the studio or at any subsequent show I have witnessed since. Black Mass/ I Luciferi/ Twist of Cain/ Do You Wear the Mark/ Her Black Wings/ How the Gods Kill/ Kiss the Skull/ Unspeakable/ Lilin/ Snakes of Christ/ Angel Blake/ Until You Call on the Dark/ Bringer of Death/ Am I Demon/ Mother/ She Rides/ Dirty Black Summer/ Long Way Back From Hell. At some point, Glenn was right in front of me with his leg up on a monitor, and I made a terrible realization; I WAS LOOKING AT HIS BALL SACK. You see, Mr. Danzig was freeballing that night, going al fresca, total commando style, yet had a rip in the seam of his “stage jeans” causing one of his balls to be forced out under the pressure; much like the Alien Sigourney Weaver forced out into the vacuum of space. There was a little biker dude next to me, who witnessed the horror at the same time as I, looked at me and said “Ew man, you can see his nuts!” still, it was a great set and Glenn rewarded the crowd with his necklace as thanks for the reaction and support.

not the ballsack we saw

At 1:30 am, we started the trek back to Buffalo, where I had to start my new job at 7am. The weather was bad and I made it home with enough time to shower, throw on my uniform and make it in by the skin of my teeth. This was the first day of a new account and the former account holder literally left nothing to work with except a crinkled piece of paper with the security panel code on it. So there I was, in charge of a shipping a receiving intake office with no procedures, no direction and no sleep. I did have a coffee maker with supplies and a pad of paper, so I walked into the office next store and started asking them about procedures, what they would like to see and what they would expect from the receiving intake office. I then went to the plant manager and asked the same thing. 10 cups of coffee and 8 hours later, I had a 50 page document of procedures typed out.

The evening of the 18th and still riding the buzz of the great show from over the weekend, we decided to catch Danzig (and this time with Deicide!) at Club Laga in Pittsburgh, but sadly this show was the polar opposite of the show just a few days earlier. Plagued with equipment and prop issues (watching stage hands trying to duct tape pointed things that kept breaking was a highlight) the band just never got going and left their energy and enthusiasm at the door. It was a huge disappointment and getting home at 4 am, with work at 7 offered a repeat of the weekend, but without the payoff of a great show. Still, at work the next morning, I added another 30 pages to the document, which my operations manager looked over and praised. By November 27th, I found myself the director of security for a billion dollar a year corporation in no small part to my efforts in organizing procedures and because I had seen the greatest Danzig show ever… and Glenn’s nutsack. 

20 years later: A review of Entombed in Toronto 06/01/10

3 weeks ago, I, along with my brother and our friend Bob, ventured up to Canada to witness an honest to goodness death metal show. 20 years ago, I was very much into almost any and all bands that Earache records churned out. Although not one of my favorites at the time, Entombed was no exception. They really piqued my interest with 1993's "Wolverine Blues" but lost me some time after. Actually, I'll be honest; death metal, across the board, lost me until about 1998-99. Inflames "Colony" and At The Gates "Slaughter of the Soul" brought me back around, but that's another story.

The opening bands were two of the most insulting and amateurish "metal" bands I have witnessed in the past few years. It almost seemed like everything about them was an inside joke that I wasn't privy to. Either way, they were jokers and I don't even feel like mentioning their names because I WANT to pretend seeing them never even happened.

Entombed took the stage shortly after 9 pm and gave us a really great show. LG Petrov, the singer, was in great form; joking and grimacing in a King Diamond "Abigail" shirt while teetering around stage. Alex Hellid's guitar sounded massive and everything came together in fine form.



Being most familiar with Entombed's first three albums wasn't an issue with the show. They played a lot of material off of "Wolverine Blues" and nearly every great song off of their "return to form" albums that began with 2001's "Morning Star." The set list was as follows:
Chief Rebel Angel
Demon
Wolverine Blues
When In Sodom
Crawl
Serpent Saints
I for an Eye
Sinners Bleed
Supposed to Rot
Out of Hand
Stranger Aeons
Damn Deal Done
Night Of the Vampire
Left Hand Path


The great surprise of the night was their cover of Roky Erickson's "Night of the Vampire" and the only misplaced sounding song was "Damn Deal Done" off of 1997's "To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth." It didn't have the same feel as the other Entombed originals and felt a little flat. Still, it's not a bad song, it just didn't deliver like the others.


Obituary was the headliner and I know to a lot of fans of the genre, it's going to sound like blasphemy when I say I never really cared for them. I saw them in 1990 and I will say this: NOTHING HAS CHANGED about John Tardy, their singer. He looks, sounds and dresses exactly the same! Which, although admirable, doesn't do anything for me in the realm of liking his band any more than I already don't. Obituary isn't a bad band and honestly they sounded great, even with their weird power metal lead player. I'm just not into them. I did however manage to snap one pics with my phone.



So, twenty years after first hearing Entombed, I finally got to witness them live and they didn't disappoint in the least. Until I got the new Danzig and Integrity albums last week you would find my car filled with the sounds of their newest outting, "Serpent Saints." The murky and underrated "Inferno." and the incredibly powerful "Morning Star." It's good to know we can still count on some bands. Viva La Entombed!