Last week, the San Antonio Heavy Metal Examiner posted an article about the top ten bands you should see at the Goregrowler’s Ball 2011. After several days, part two has been posted and can be seen below.
6) Hellwitch
Florida tech-death/thrashers Hellwitch will be making a rare appearance at the Goregrowler’s Ball this year, and will apparently be playing their entire “Syzygial Miscreancy” (huh?) album in its entirety. The band comes recommended for those who enjoy the late 80’s/early 90’s technical thrash of Sadus, Coroner, and Forced Entry (among others), and the band’s music recalls an era when “technical metal” was a far different beast than it is today. Fans of newer tech-death acts like Brain Drill and Gigan will be scratching their heads, but for those who yearn for a time when “technical death metal” wasn’t so focused on endless guitar noodling and still contained copious amounts of riffing, Hellwitch will be a real treat to watch. Expect lots of intricate riffs from bass and guitar, as well as in-the-pocket drumming and wretching vocals. This could be your only time to catch the band in action, so make sure to put their set high on your priorities list!
7) Goatwhore
Black/death metal road warriors Goatwhore will be playing on Friday, and having witnessed the band several times in the past, this reporter can testify that Goatwhore always puts on a great show. The band tends to focus on its two most recent albums, “A Haunting Curse” and “Carving Out The Eyes of God”, so if you enjoyed those two albums, you’re in luck, although the band has been known to play earlier material as well. Goatwhore worship at the altar of the riff, and bring an old-school mentality to a newer sound to create a fresh mix of extreme metal styles that can loosely fall under “black/death metal” but still features doom, thrash, and classic metal influences. Ben Falgoust’s guttural growls and excellent showmanship are a perfect companion to Sammy Duet’s never-ending sea of guitar riffs, while the rhythm section of Zak Simmons and James Harvey are known for their talented approach to drumming and bass work. Goatwhore comes highly recommended to those interested in extreme metal, so watching them should be a given. See you in the pit!
8) Exhumed
Along with Impaled, Exhumed (unrelated to the equally killer Swedish Exhumed, who never got out of the demo stages) represent some of the best of Carcass-inspired death/grind, with their albums “Gore Metal” and “Anatomy is Destiny” standing high amongst a flock of gurgling goregrinders with minimal songwriting ability. The band was on hiatus for five years, but returned in 2010 to great fanfare amongst death metal enthusiasts. Vocalist/guitarist Matt Harvey (also of Gravehill and Dekapitator, among others) has been ever-reliable in the death metal underground, so stating that Exhumed will give a savage performance seems entirely too obvious. Ideally, we’ll get a mix of old and new Exhumed, with some material undoubtedly drawn from the band’s newest effort, “All Guts, No Glory” and presumably classics like “The Matter of the Splatter”, but with Exhumed’s level of consistency, it’s likely that their appearance will be superb no matter what material is played.
9) Nokturnel
The death/thrashers Nokturnel put on a superb performance at last year’s Ball, and it seems safe to say that this year’s outing will follow a similar pattern. Having recently recruited drummer Alex Marquez into their midst, the band is back with a vengeance and will be taking no prisoners at their recent appearance. This recent review suggests that the band will follow similar circumstances to their performance at the Day of Death festival in New York, and will be focusing on new material, which is excellent in its own right, especially with a killer drummer like Alex Marquez adding his signature touch to songs like "Ancestral Calling". Vocalist/guitarist Tom Stevens hasn’t lost a lick of ability with time, and his growls are just as visceral as they were on “Nothing But Hatred”. Bassist Bill Reuter, also of Death Sick, did an excellent job at last year’s Ball holding down the low-end, so it seems safe to say that the old-schoolers in attendance will be more than satisfied with a Nokturnel performance.
10) Suffocation
This band’s placement should be seen as an obvious one, but one that deserves to be mentioned nonetheless. New York death metal legends Suffocation will headline the last day of the Goregrowler’s Ball, and if you need me to introduce this band to you, you probably aren’t interested in death metal and probably wouldn’t be attending this fest anyway. To be honest, what else is there to say? It’s Suffocation, they’re playing, be there! One of the most consistent bands in all of death metal in terms of quality, and their early releases of the “Human Waste” EP and their debut “Effigy of the Forgotten” are revered as masterpieces of death metal, and it’s safe to say that just about every band playing the Ball would cite them as an influence to some degree (with the brutal death metal bands, this is absolutely a given). If you miss their performance, consider yourself a few, because it’s gonna be one hell of a way to cap off the whole festival!
For more info: Go to Goregrowler Entertainment for more information about the fest. Hope to see you all there!
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