On Friday, May 14, The Southgate House Revival hosted an evening of deafening death metal brutality as four bands pummeled the stage and attending ears. The night marked the beginning resurgence of live music and return of metal to the Northern Kentucky, Cincinnati area promoted by The Transplant Group. As the planet slowly seems to be crawling out of the pandemic, normalcy is starting to return with in person entertainment.
Four bands braved the barren concert-starved terrain of Southern Ohio/Northern Kentucky to make the former church walls shake and the stained glass saviors and saints shiver. It was a reminder of the healing power of loud, brash, violent music both for the ears, eyes and soul. Every vessel in attendance wanted or needed to be there as a reminder of what was once common place and taken for granted as 2019 ended, will never be again.
Guidelines were still in effect as the room was filled with tables and chairs where a clear area for crowds and moshing would normally be. Masks were worn, social distancing observed and everybody banged heads in seats, enjoying live bands.
As Narcotic Wasteland vocalist/guitarist and headliner Dallas Toler-Wade said with a grin, a LOT of schedules had changed since last year. He was happy to be there but added, it sucks you have to sit down but at least there’s a show to go to and a live audience to play for.
While national shows are still being planned this year and some pushed back till 2022, some major festivals are presumably happening as scheduled later this year. Though it was good to see any size show happen as scheduled no matter how grandiose or intimate.
Death Warmed Over began the beating growling through the house of holies, straight up at the “Blood Moon.” Many “Inaudible Scream(s)” escaped the stage that night but they did it first. “Release the Anger” was a future pandemic pit pounder for those that eventually choose to make up for lost time. “Planet Earth Population Zero” carried a worst case scenario vibe of what ‘could’ happen. They threw down with the monster stalking pace of “Tribulation,” treating all present to an uncertain and potentially all too real, “Aftermath.”
NecroSadist, a band that sounded as brutal and gruesome as their namesake and grindhouse inspired artwork started in horrific style with “Plague of Flies.” It was physically Newport but Amityville in spirit. Pigs were tortured as annihilation began with likely the loudest grindhouse slaughter of ‘anything’ with running legs on either side of the bridge as “Hogtied with Barbwire,” graphically explained. The slower (at times), methodical grind of “Abhorrence Lust” brought to light, things best left unspoken and locked behind stained barn doors.
After all the blood and gore is removed there’s no true crime left, leaving a cold case lie on “Nothing Left to Investigate.” The set was a customized collection for gore-fiends, death hounds and those that needed a good decibel thrashing.
Hate Icon are self-described as apocalyptic hate mongering slamming brutal death grind, a definition not up for debate. The evening celebrated the release of new record Submerged in Immoral Effluence with several new songs played, the unburied misanthropy surfaced, with vile stories to tell.
Conspiracy theories flew on “The Reptilian Agenda” while the appropriately titled “The Sound of Violence” twisted and gnarled notes into proposed circle pit surplus. “Cleansed Through Defilement” hit a slow/fast march of mosh pit-potential with tension given to backs and necks while “Guinea Pigs,” gave a jaded POV to vaccinations and other government experimentation.
Narcotic Wasteland, played with the ferocity of a two guitar assault playing most cuts from their self-titled debut and sophomore set Delirium Tremens with cover art displaying death metal’s version of Dr. Feelgood.
Veteran death metalist Toler-Wade has helped inspire some of the most vicious pits imaginable continues his new vision of speed and brutality into darker subject matter writing about the opioid enriched world of abuse and addiction. The gods of addiction are far more merciless than those of Egypt.
The crowd heard the majority of both records via the blasting fingers of bassist Chris “LutaChrist” Dupre playing the strings like he was being attacked, thrashing and wrestling for dominance with full blown facials adding to the experience, bringing out the strings full power and deep growls.
The blistering, multi-head of addiction hit loud and hard on “Faces of Meth”, with the darker side of addiction ripped open exposing raw soars and holes on “Anthem for the Mentally Scarred,” while “Husk” punched eardrums with blast beat fury.
“Return to the Underground” carried both lyrical meaning and the literal return of underground music to the stage. The rapid fire lullaby of “Introspective Nightmares” conjured up the greatest dream, deceiver. People aren’t responsible for what they dream but are in what they use to sleep. “Bleed & Swell’s” alarm-like opening notes slowed things down keeping serious tempo for a different, deeper ride.
“Keeping up with the Jones” proved there’s ironic humor in growling and some will literary watch anything. “Shackles of Sobriety” rushed forward like a crowd slamming against a front barricade. “Pharma Culture” exposed the deadly culture of self-medicating. while “Widespread Narcotic Wasteland” bled out the dirty, nasty blunt narrative of the devil’s playground, sacrificing all for the high. The night’s return to live, blitzkrieg speed ended with proof needed on “We Agnostics.”
The evening was a clear sign toward normalcy, granted, not the whole experience but definitely half-way and a signal that concerts in whatever form they take are coming back.
Images and words by Mike Ritchie
