[Concert review] Dark Descent Showcase: HORRENDOUS, ANHEDONIST, RITUAL NECROMANCY, SEMPITERNAL DUSK @ Ash Street Saloon, Oct 4th '13 (Portland, OR)

This Dark Descent showcase was phenomenal. It's truly important to remember that this entire thing was a labor of love for everyone involved and that the end results reflected that in the best way possible. Matt and Tim (of Dark Descent and Parasitic Records, respectively) did a hell of a job putting this showcase together. For two days of death metal insanity, it's pretty important to have the right venue... Ash St Saloon was perfect for that. In the past year, I've seen more killer shows there than any other venue. The staff is awesome, the venue is intimate, but there's still plenty of room to go catch a breather if needed. Day one: Vassafor dropping off the showcase split the weekend up a bit more giving Friday night a filthy death metal theme.

The evening started with Sempiternal Dusk kicking things off right with an impressive set of their doomed out death metal. The band has members of Ritual Necromancy, Shroud Of The Heretic, The Warwolves and has Tim Call of Parasitic Records on drums. The result of four people who know exactly what makes great death metal playing great death metal is unsurprising, but it's awesome every time I hear it. Crushing riffs, cavernous vocals, with a carpet of constant double bass underneath everything. Totally hit the spot, totally started the weekend off on a perfect note (full video set here). If you haven't heard Ritual Necromancy yet, get with the program. I'll be that blunt. If you like evil murky as fuck death metal of the very best kind and don't own Oath Of The Abyss in one format or another yet, get on it because you are missing out. They destroyed live, playing material off Oath Of The Abyss and some killer new material. Admittedly, I'd had a few beers by this point in the day, but when I closed my eyes during their set, listening to their music made me think of being stuck in that movie The Descent. Pure dread. Like walking in on a zombie ritual while exploring a cave with your friends or something horrifying and alien.


At this point in the evening, everything was awesome. Good times with good friends and an awesome crowd overall. There was definitely a very mellow and friendly vibe going on for such an extreme music showcase. We had four friends in town from Seattle staying with us, which resulted in me being fed alcohol the entire weekend, which was AWESOME. So when Anhedonist came on stage, I was feelin' the vibes. Every time I see this band, they astonish me with how perfect they are. Death doom of the absolute highest quality, the doom parts creeping into funeral doom territory at times (think Asunder or Aldebaran) crashing into death metal inspired by old school greats like Incantation and Convulse, perfectly mixing the two genres without ever sounding like anyone like themselves. They played material off Netherwards, and a new song, which was awesome and makes me really stoked for their new material.


Then came Horrendous. This was the time in the night where my buzz had sort of plateaued and I was just tired, but I enjoyed their set. Admittedly, with two guitars, vocals and drums they sounded flatter and thinner than their recordings which have more of a thick sound due to the guitarists/vocalists Matt and Damian playing bass on it. Don't get me wrong, the songs translated well live, but after three bands that feature bass fairly prominently in their music, Horrendous didn't hold up as well as I would have liked them to. Still, their classic Florida riffs through HM2 pedal sound makes them another band who pay tribute to their influences without copying them, putting them far ahead of an army of Incantation and Entombed clones.
Definitely a nice end to the night. Afterwards, back at my place, the girls wisely went to bed and the dudes stayed up 'til 4 AM drinking and reviewing our hauls from the well-stocked distros and merch booths.

To be continued... part two coming soon.
- Tony Howard

B/w "Goat skull" by Teal Nydm-wadm Mcpherson (used with permission).
Videos by NorthernFury666 (youtube channel).
More Dark Descent showcase performances caught on vide here.

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