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 Summer of Blasphemy Tour
Live Review
by Al Kikuras
Vehemence, Decapitated, Impaled, Incantation
(I missed Deadtofall. Sorry, driving to Woodbridge sucks camel cock)
July 29th, 2002 at Packees Pub in Woodbridge, NJ
My good friend Jason lent me his piss poor digital camera to use at this show. He warned me that it was piss poor, and he was right. Not only did the pics blow (as evidenced
by the shots below) but I had this fucking thing in my pocket and every time I touched something made out of metal I got a nasty fucking shock. I was chatting with
Incantation’s very personable bassist, Joe, and every time my arm strayed near the bar on the bar (thus the name) I got a jolt and spasmed. I never told him that I was getting
shocked, I figured I’d just let the guy think I was a freak.
Looks like the guy’s groin is an independent light source.
Openers Vehemence were extremely impressive, putting on a great show despite playing to an all-but dead and disappointingly small crowd (what is the deal with Jersey??
Doesn't anyone go to shows anymore??). The perfect blend of musical virtuosity and heaviness, Vehemence displayed aptitude beyond their young years, playing
technically adept and challenging music without sacrificing the brutality, never once straying into the all-out wankery that plagues many "technical" death metal bands. It is
obvious these boys spend a lot of time on songwriting and arrangement, the end result being quality, memorable material. A relaxed, sarcastic stage presence from vocalist Nathan Gearhart was a nice touch as well.
See the look of terror on his face? He just realized, “Fuck! We have to sleep in Jersey tonight!!”
Decapitated were next. There is no denying the technical abilities of these young poles. At one point I actually rushed over to the side of the stage to watch the drummer's
hands. FAST FAST FAST. Vocalist Sauron sounded a bit hoarse, and gets my pity because these kids are all of 17 or 18 years old from what I hear and the guy is already
losing his hair. I had two friends who started to lose it in high school. They are 27 or 28 now and bald as the day is long. Decapitated are about as fast and brutal as it comes
and many a jaw was dropped to the floor. It was not until they closed the set with Napalm Death's "Suffer the Children," when that slow, chugging last riff blared forth
from the speakers that you realized how little variety their was to their performance. There were pretty much two speeds: fast and faster. I actually turned to my friend who
was at the show with me just as the Napalm Death tune ended and said "They need to write more songs like that" and he told me it was a Napalm Death song (I am not a fan
of post-From Enslavement ND and didn't recognize the tune). There is no denying the power of Decapitated, nor the fact that they put on a good show.
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I have nothing witty to say about this picture. Sorry, I am too hungry to think right now.
Impaled took the stage next amid red emergency lights, half of an impaled corpse in an Impaled shirt, police tape across the front of the stage, decked out in bloody surgeon
gear and proceeded to lay waste to Packees for the next 45 minutes or so, smearing their brand of Carcass-soaked gore all over the ravenous crowd. Even though,
surprisingly, the crowd thinned out a bit after Decapitated's set, Impaled garnered the most enthusiastic response of the evening from the handful of metalheads that remained.
While Impaled never really did it for me on disc, I was enthralled with them in the live setting and have since gone back to their new album, Mondo Medicale, with a renewed
appreciation. Sean McGrath gets the award for best joke of the evening, asking the crowd "How many of you sissies have the new album?" and responding to the cheers with
"HA HA HA!! You guys just called yourself sissies!!" The highlight of their set was the delightful "The Worms Crawl In." Though there were some problems with the mix (the
deep-registered vocals were barely audible), Impaled put on a show worthy of death metal legends-to-be, exiting the stage with several birds-a-flipping.
 After 10 minutes and even further thinning of the crowd, Incantation's intro
seeped out from the PA and the band raised their horns and blasted forth a thunderous cacophony of blasphemous death metal as only Incantation does it. I have always been a fan of this band, and still
am. John McEntee writes some of the heaviest and most repugnant music imaginable, using distorted melody to sink into the subconscious, forging order out of seeming
chaos. I was excited to see new vocalist Vincent Crowley with the band, as I am a big fan of both Acheron and his stellar new project, Wolfen Society. I was curious as to
whether he would adapt to the traditional subsonic RRROOOOOAAAR that every Incantation vocalist through the history of the band has employed, or if he'd bring some
of his own distinct sound to the band. I asked the man, himself, before the set and he said he is singing deeper than in Acheron but is trying to incorporate his style as well. He
then told me that he blew his voice out two days before, but despite the vocal problems he still sounded impressive, and as indeed somewhere in between the two aforementioned styles. Incantation's set was too short,
they didn't play "Golgotha," and the crowd was pretty lame, but they were still monstrous. I have seen Incantation live more times than I can remember, never
with the same lineup twice, but their sound is always consistent and they always leave me smiling and satisfied!
Thanks to Curran from Earache Recrds for getting us on the guest list.
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