Napalm Death/Municipal Waste/The Dwarves: House Of Blues, Hollywood, California 11/14/12

I've been stoked about this tour since the first rumors started coming out. Napalm Death, unarguably the first Grindcore band, were going to do their first American tour in over 3 years. They were co-headlining with crossover thrash revivalist Municipal Waste (the band that opened my mind to metal) with Exhumed also on the bill. As this tour swept across the country they had other great bands playing with them on certain dates: prog/thrash Vektor, speed thrashers  Speedwolf, hardcore legends Dayglo Abortions, etc. The date that I attended happened to have '80s Crossover legends, Attitude Adjustment (whom I was super stoked for). Some dates had a special opener just for one night, Weekend Nachos, Impaled, Wehrmacht, and Repulsion, to name a few.

Well it was just my luck that The Dwarves, who are one of my favorite punk bands, (who just like Napalm, I've been wanting to see forever) were playing on the bill I had tickets for. And just when it looked like I would be forced to buy tickets, I won some. Sometimes I think I'm the luckiest mofo in the world.

Thanks to my friend's boss, LA traffic, the fat parking guy, and the dude who couldn't find my tickets at will call (I was on Municipal Waste's guest list) I missed the first 2 bands. I was hoping to at least catch some of AA who never freakin' come here, and I missed Exhumed too. UGH! I was pretty bummed. Though I missed em, I do recommend EVERYBODY that's into punk, thrash, hardcore,  metal, etc to check out Attitude Adjustment. They're old skool and its a fact that they highly influenced both Napalm and Waste. I heard that the crowd reaction to them was lame (Blasphemy!) and that even Napalm Death's front man did a song with them. I'm really bummed I missed 'em and hopefully they come back soon to do a headlining show that's All Ages/18+. 

I highly recommend "The Collection" compilation which has both their first albums and an EP. Its seriously some of the best Crossover you'll ever hear and you'll freakin' dig if you're into DRI, Suicidal,COC,etc.

Attitude Adjustment

 
As I mentioned, I missed Exhumed as well. Not so bummed I missed them since I saw 'em do a great headlining set in February, but I heard they did a Siege cover so for that I'm bummed. I probably would've caught them if that damn ticket guy would've just made phone calls right away. That mofo. Anyway, If you haven't seen 'em, go do it and listen to their latest album, "All Guts, No Glory" for your Death/Grind needs. Here's The set list that I missed:

1. All Guts, No Glory
2. Decrepit Crescendo
3. As Hammer to Anvil
4. Slaughtercult
5. Torso
6. Limb from Limb
7. Distorted and Twisted to Form
8. Necromaniac
9. The Matter of Splatter
10. Drop Dead (Siege cover)

Exhumed, shortly after earning their namesake.

As soon as I got inside I talked to Barney Greenway (Napalm's frontman ), took a pic with him, and hit the floor. Though I was bummed I missed the first two bands, I instantly got excited as I was about to see Chicago's scummy Hardcore Punk legends,The Dwarves.

I got as close to the front as I could and waited.The band came out to some silly music and they began playing and I started jumping around next to some metal heads. Front man Blag Dahlia was doing silly dances and singing his stuff. He would throw the microphone to the crowd for them to sing a long. I caught it twice (and only messed up one song!). He didn't do it to often cause as I expected, not many people there were familiar with their music.They did manage to play music from most of their catalog. To my surprise the thrashers who were there did get into 'em and Blag kept saying stuff like "The Dwarves are you're new favorite hardcore punk band, BITCH!" You know, typical Blag. And though they didn't play my four favorite songs, they did play one amazing lengthy set and I need to catch 'em headlining soon. My only real complaint was that their guitar player, "He Who Cannot Be Named" (The naked dude with the tiny thong and Lucha mask) was not playing with them. ARGHHH!  If you haven't listened to it before, get Blood, Guts, and Pussy now. (I also highly recommend Come Clean and The Dwarves Must Die). Here's some of the set as I remember it, and it's not in order.

The Dwarves are still, as they say, the best band ever.

Accelerator
Act Like You Know
I Will Deny
Runaway NO.2
Let's Fuck
FEFU
You Gotta Burn
We Only Came To get High
I Masterbate Me
Astro Boy
We Must Have Blood

The freakin' Dwarves!

And then the place got packed. I moved up as much as I could to the front to see grindcore pioneers,UK's Napalm Death. Me and the dudes around me were beyond stoked as balls. They came out and gave us the loudest, craziest grind to our faces. Front man Barney Greenway was a complete madman punching air, jumping around, and screaming those brutal vocals as if he was just whistling. Mitch Harris was giving that grinding guitar with those high pitched screams that I oh so love. Danny Herrera blast beated the living fuck out of those drums like there was no tomorrow, and of course Shane Embury, the closest dude to being an original member, played his bass heavy 'n fast.

They are on tour supporting their new album,Utilitarian, so most of the set consisted of that. I wasn't a big fan at first. But holy crap they sounded so fucking good live I'll give it another spin. Of course they played some of their other stuff ("Silence Is Deafening," "Fatalist") and even real old jams that we really wanted to hear ("Dead", "Practice What You Preach").

As a special treat exclusively for our show they did a Cryptic Slaughter song with CS' old drummer Scott Peterson. They played "Lowlife" and the place erupted while us dudes in the front sang our lungs off. Being front row up center never felt so good. After a few more songs Barney said they were gonna do songs off the first album, Scum (which none of the current members were in, and is one of the best Metal albums of all freakin' time). That's when I went ape-shit and sang a long to all of it. Including "You Suffer" (which is the shortest song ever recorded, check the record books). After ending with "Instinct Of Survival" they left, and we were way more than pleased. I walked off with bruises and a big smile. Napalm Death was the highlight of my night and one of the best bands I've ever seen live. If you have never listened, well shame on you. Go out and buy Scum, From Enslavement To Obliteration, Harmony Corruption, and/or the new album Utilitarian.

Grind or Die.

Set:

Circumspect
Errors in the Signals
Everyday Pox
Can't Play, Won't Pay
Protection Racket
Silence Is Deafening
The Wolf I Feed
Fatalist
Practice What You Preach
Quarantined
Dead
Deceiver
When All Is Said and Done
Unchallenged Hate
Nom de Guerre
Lowlife(Cryptic Slaughter cover with Scott Peterson)
Suffer the Children
Breed to Breathe
Nazi Punks Fuck Off (Dead Kennedys cover)
Scum
Human Garbage
You Suffer
Instinct of Survival

Napalm Death

Virginia thrashers Municipal Waste ended the night. I've seen 'em a a few times but their show in '09 is hands down one of the best shows I've ever been to in my life and opened the world of heavy metal to me. As with ND they are also promoting their new album, The Fatal Feast, which I wasn't to fond of, but who cares! Most of the set was old stuff and no matter what they play their shows are more fun than a Chuck E. Cheese party. They started off the 3 classics that everyone had fun to("Headbanger Face Rip," "Mind Eraser,"and "Terror Shark") which had everyone pushing about, moshing, and crowed surfing - an example of how all shows should be. Waste shows are seriously one big ass party where no matter what you're into, who you are, you WILL have fun. I was being pushed all over while singing their songs. After a bunch of failed crowd surfs I finally did it and almost got booted out by a fat bouncer. I went back to the madness of the crowd and continued having fun.

Front man, Tony Foresta still has his punky fast vocals with those sing a long lyrics. Bass player, Land Phil (also of Cannabis Corpse) did a sick-ass solo (and I find solos lame) and it freakin' ruled.

They said how they were unworthy of playing with all the legendary openers and mentioned since Napalm and Exhumed did covers they'd do one too. It broke out Stormtroopers Of Death's "United Forces." Soon after, they ended the set with their anthem "Born To Party" and when the first part of the chorus was sung by everyone ("Municipal Waste is Gonna Fuck You Up!") a bunch of confetti fell from the ceiling and it went crazier than ever and I somehow ended in the front row.

After that the crowd wanted more and they officially ended the night with "The Art Of Partying".

The Waste always throws the best live show and this was the best time Ive seen 'em since '09. It was so good I forgave 'em for headlining over Napalm and for making the new album. Anyway, if you haven't heard 'em listen to the first 3 albums (which are my three favorite thrash albums ever). My personal favorite is "Art Of Partying". Crossover revival at its best.

Set:

1. Headbanger Face Rip
2. Mind Eraser
3. Terror Shark
4. You're Cut Off
5. Chemically Altered
6. Beer Pressure
7. Idiot Check
8. Thrashing's My Business... And Business Is Good
9. Wolves of Chernobyl
10. Intro/Deathripper
11. The Fatal Feast
12. Black Ice / The Monster With 21 Faces / The Inebriator
13. Wrong Answer
14. Bass Solo
15. Sadistic Magician
16. United Forces (SOD cover)
17. Unleash the Bastards
18. Born to Party
Encore19. The Art of Partying

   

Municipal Waste

As I mentioned, I talked to Barney and took a pic with him (while some chick was hitting on him) and he told me for sure they'll back. So if you missed 'em no worries, they'll return. I got a shirt and left. This show is one for the books and seriously one of the best shows I've seen this year. I won't soon forget this one.

And this is a bad pic of me but oh well... Im not really that fat.

Barney Greenway with Turtle Boy