Dying Fetus live photo by Laina Dawes
By Rob Kachluba
Arriving late at the Mod Club, I found out that I had missed the first two bands and came in halfway through Misery Index‘s set. The first thing that struck me was how good and tight they sounded and as a three piece to boot, as I found out later on that night that Sparky had quit the band leaving them a trio.Their death/grind style with short bursts of energy was perfect for this setting. The crowd seem to enjoy them quite a bit.
Next up – and the band i most wanted to see the most – was Arsis. Now on record this is a band that can do no wrong but tonight they just left me cold with their high end technical melodic death metal. The fast parts just sounded muddled and their style just doesn’t bode well in a live setting. James Malone and the band can play like no one else, but on stage the songs just did not seem to cut it for me. The slower parts did start to sound better but I tell you, I know their CDs inside out and I even had to think twice on some of the songs to remember which ones they were playing.
After tonight’s show we now know why Dying Fetus deserve to be a bonafide headliner. Holy fuck! What a ferocious machine these guys are live. They have the songs and riffs and you cannot get any tighter than they are right now. The sound was perfect. All the instruments were loud and could be heard perfectly – total clarity. Their stop/start riffs were massive. No one can touch these guys in this genre right now and their current drummer will make you forget about Kevin Talley very quickly. The guy was tight and precise for the entire set. This was the best I have even seen the band.
Overall this was a great night of music for the 200 or so people that made it out. Definitely one to remember.
