[Concert review] ABSU, RITUAL NECROMANCY, L'ACEPHALE, PLEASURE CROSS @ Ash St Saloon, April 26th '13 (Portland, OR)

The day of the Absu show was seriously awesome. Three of my best friends were in town from Arizona for it, and the day of the show started off with breakfast beers and great food, followed by more beer and great food at a German pub (Prost on Mississippi by the food carts if you're in Portland), followed by one of the weirdest and most hilarious experiences with cops I have ever had* on the way to the show.

We got to the show halfway through Pleasure Cross' set. I'd seen them before, also halfway through their set, but it was cool seeing them and being able to pay attention. They play grindcore, straight up Terrorizer style, and do it well. I'm not that into that style, but they had some really good songwriting and catchy parts. The previous time I had seen them was with Vassafor and they were being booed (which some of them thought was hysterically funny), but they got way a way better reception this time around.

More beer. My friends were taking shots at the bar when L'Acephale hit the stage. I really don't like this "Cascadian black metal" thing they get lumped into but L'Acephale are rad. Their style is more like black metal with dark ambient sounds going on over it than the usual hippie shit that is brought to mind by the term Cascadian black metal. Captivating, long songs (that didn't feel long) that whipped the crowd into a trance instead of lulling them to sleep.

More beer. I had finally given up and taken a shot or two by the time Ritual Necromancy started playing. They killed it. If you haven't heard them, Ritual Necromancy are badass death metal for fans of (but doesn't necessarily sound like) Incantation, Grave Miasma, and murky evil death metal. If you like any of what I just mentioned and haven't heard them yet, you are really missing out.
Oath Of The Abyss is a killer album, which I was able to score a sweet cassette of at the merch booth after their set, and the songs translated perfectly live. I'm stoked to see them again in October at the Dark Descent showcase.

Finally, Absu. The set list was fantastic, mixing new and classic material, and like two hours long. I was standing by the side of the stage with my fiancee and one of my best friends headbanging with a clear view of Proscriptor McGovern. This dude is seriously one of the best drummers in extreme metal, and watching him trade off vocals with Ezesu and still manage to drive Absu's blackened thrash sound was impressive to say the least. Unfortunately, they didn't play "Pillars Of Mercy", and I went across the street to a food cart to get a veggie shwarama. My friend Chris came out of the venue complaining that Absu's merch guy played drums on one song so Proscriptor could get up and do vocals on one song, so apparently that happened. Overall, it was a rad show, made even better by the strong local supporting bands and a great venue.


*If you read this far and want to know about the thing with the cops, here goes: when my friends from Arizona were in town, we drank a fair amount, but I can honestly say none of us were drunk when this happened. Also, I want to say Portland cops, from my limited encounters with them, are way less shitty and abusive than cops anywhere else. We were at a German pub that only served German beer, sampling the selection they had since it was possible Ross, the half-German one, was going to move to Germany, lost track of time and decided to book it to the show. Portland is pretty easy to get around by foot so I figured we would just walk across a bridge and get downtown and be at the show in no time... unfortunately, the bridge we wound up trying to cross turned out to be the freeway. Thank god some concerned citizen called 9-11 and told the cops that four idiots were either trying to take the freeway on foot or kill themselves in some kind of suicide club style. Either way, we made it about halfway across the bridge before the Portland suicide squad rolled up and asked us why the fuck we were walking on a freeway bridge. When we admitted we were sort of lost and trying to get to the show, the cops drove us there. And the cop that drove me and Ross to the show was a metalhead, who talked to us about how awesome Eyehategod are all the way to the show before they dropped us off down the street.
True story.
- Tony Howard

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