The rain is lashing down so hard this evening that floods are already heading quickly towards biblical proportions. The treacherous and occasionally completely submerged roads around the area certainly go some way to explaining the slightly lower-than-expected turnout at KKs Steel Mill tonight, which although still very respectable, is clearly not as busy as usual.
Choosing life over support acts, I arrive too late for opener Flesh Creep but after eavesdropping a few conversations here and there, it seems they went down pretty well. Lots of approving nods, and the nice little queue at their merch stand later verifies this.
With the weather left firmly outside, it’s time for Goatwhore to scare the locals with their New Orleans brand of black metal. Frontman Ben Falgoust cuts an imposing figure on stage, and with a large gap from those hugging the barrier to the assembled headbangers behind, it almost looks like most of the crowd are afraid of him. However, it only takes opener “The Bestowal of Abomination,” “Alchemy of the Black Sun Cult” and a mighty “Death From Above” for the previously trepidatious crowd to lose their shit, surging forward and opening up a pit into a circle of flying body parts. And actual bodies.
“Under the Flesh,” “Into the Soul” is followed by “Collapse in Eternal Worth” and the seismic blast of “Baring Teeth for Revolt,” guitarist Sammy Duet peeling off the riffs with consummate ease while peeling skin from faces just as easily. More snarling and gnashing of teeth follows as does the fervour in the pit, people literally being hurled around the room like rag dolls, all with big grins and most likely post-show limps. Finishing up with the double hitter of “And I Was Delivered From The Wound of Perdition” and tongue-in-cheek but insanely vicious closer “FBS” (you should know what that stands for by now), the pitters are well and truly on their knees and in need of a breather.
You have to ask yourself at what point does wandering on stage to tune up become a proper soundcheck and then, while no one is paying attention, the actual show? Eschewing all forms of rock star bullshit like intro tapes and grand entrances, Louisiana sludge lords Eyehategod wander out shortly after Goatwhore remove their equipment and shift everything to the front of the stage. Not even a drum riser is required. Just a band who are keen to set up and start playing like they are in the smallest, most cramped venue in the world. Something which KKs is certainly not.
Are Aaron Hill’s drums dampened and muffled? Yup. Does Jimmy Bower’s (Down) brutally distorted guitar sound like its ripping his amp apart while overpowering pretty much everything else, including Mike IX Williams vocals and Gary Mader’s bass? Yup. Does anybody even care? Nope. Well, Williams does but he’s clearly pissed as a fart and wobbling around all over the place so not even he gives that much of a shit after some initial complaining and finger-pointing.
You really have to admire Williams, in fact. For someone so completely out of it (apparently, he and Sammy Duet had “had one” the night before) he never misses a single cue. Not one. In fact, quite how the band can sound like a drunken, sloppy jam session at the exact same time as being tight as absolute fuck is an achievement all by itself. It really is seriously impressive. Blasting through the likes of opener “Lack of Almost Everything,” “Masters of Legalized Confusion” and a feedback fuelled “Medicine Noose,” Hill is the metronome the others follow, a massively underrated drummer who looks more like British comedian Tom Davis every year.
Closing out with “Everything, Every Day,” the band leave the stage to huge applause, a grey-bearded Bower shuffling off in his Adidas Crocs as Williams celebrates somehow remaining vertical for the entire show. Some punters who have never experienced Eyehategod before either look confused or impressed – some simultaneously – but those who knew what they were in for got exactly what they expected. And loved it.
Goatwhore Setlist (definite)
The Bestowal of Abomination
Alchemy of the Black Sun Cult
Death From Above
Under the Flesh, Into the Soul
Collapse in Eternal Worth
Baring Teeth For Revolt
Born of Satan’s Flesh
Angels Hung From the Arches of Heaven
Apocalyptic Havoc
And I Was Delivered From The Wound of Perdition
FBS
Eyehategod Setlist (possibly)
Lack of Almost Everything
Masters of Legalized Confusion
Jack Ass in the Will of God
Blank / Shoplift
Sisterfucker (Part I)
Medicine Noose
Take as Needed for Pain
Agitation! Propaganda!
Methamphetamine
Run It Into the Ground
Every Thing, Every Day
Buy EyeHateGod music and merch here:
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Buy Goatwhore music and merch here:
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GARY ALCOCK
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