Saturday, May 25, 2019

Perturbator, GOST, and Korin

Photos and recap by Anthony Jacobsen

Sadly, the Troc is closing, so they had to move the show last minute to the First Unitarian Church in Philly; I was pretty bummed. The Church was an amazing place to be a crazy kid in the hardcore/punk scene in the 90s and early 2000s, and I have nothing but good memories there. That being said, I have been spoiled with photo pits and good lighting, so fighting for a place in a packed basement was not something I was eager to dive back into. However, upon arrival I noticed the basement was closed and many people were milling around the front of the church. BOOMTIME! They had set up in the main part of the church on the altar! Oh my Gods, this was going to be a party!

It was slow to fill, but the numbers kept climbing. Cyber punks, with shaved heads and colorful mohawks, others in florescent skin tight 80s gear and lots of crazy makeup, as well as a strong showing of metalheads. A great showing of people to see different genres merging.

Up first was Korin, a local Philly chillwave group. Calm, yet exciting, and very reminiscent of a sound probably before their time. Very enjoyable with gentle pink light softly lighting the stage. I guess you could say like a chill...wave at sunset.

 GOST took the stage hard, with a pit circle inducing black metal screams. This high energy group came equipped with a keyboardist and bassist. Donning corpse paint and wearing all black, this darkwave duo took it up a notch with deep bass and screeching lyrics. They were the extreme opposite of the first group. The crowd loved it, and was thrown into a frenzy.

 The madness only intensified with a wall of light and sound ignited into a full force blast to the face when Pertubator walked on. The pit opened and we were all thrust into the stage.  As the set continued, the sci-fi lighting and the church ambiance made you feel like you were truly in a dystopian setting. My mind was able to escape into another place and time, and the energy kept rising like a storm surge. Bodies began to be lifted in the air only to come crashing down on stage. There were no barriers and only one vigilant security guard to defend against the onslaught of mayhem. Towards the end of the show, I actually had to climb out onstage and down the side to wriggle my way out of the chaos. Perturbator was absolutely crushing this show. They of course played an encore, and the crowd was ecstatic. So happy I was able to witness and capture this exceptional show.














Monday, May 20, 2019

Life of Agony, Despyre, and Half Ton of Humanity

Photos and recap by Anthony Jacobsen 

A friend of mine from Half Ton of Humanity told me about a new venue/brewery in PA and a show they were playing with Life of Agony.  I was so stoked to be able to make it! Broken Goblet Brewing, found not too far outside of Philly was set back in an industrial park in Bensalem. I walked inside through the back into a massive brewing operation,  the brewery was much larger than expected.  The other half of the building had quite a large stage set up front with lots of open room and even a balcony bar. The whole atmosphere and design had a heavy metal feel.  I cannot wait to see more from this place, and would be excited to have any excuse to go back.

 Half Ton Of Humanity sounds like an awesome hard rock band, but more on the thrashy side. They describe themselves as..."Equal parts old school thrash (when people had a sense of humor) and hard rock (melody and song structure)" Certainly a solid performance with deep and heavy shredding riffs, and great sound all around. I love this band and I would definitely recommend them to check out.







 Up next was Despyre from NY. They kicked it into high gear and  played some tasty metal chords, crushing their way through the set. Solid performance with a great following that came down from the upper reaches of NJ and into NY.


The Broken Goblet surged to life with a outpouring of love and respect from the crowd, in which Life of Agony graciously returned. Mina even brought a fan onstage during their performance.  They have been around along time and the devout following was out in force. The sound was strong and powerful as always, playing old and new songs that everyone sang along to the entire time.   It was awesome to see them live and great to feel all the positive vibes from this performance and venue.









Monday, May 6, 2019

OverKill, Death Angel, and Mothership



Photos and review by Anthony Jacobsen

For the first time ever, Death Angel and Overkill shared the stage in a colossal shred fest of madness.  To kick off the show, the heavy metal group Mothership from Texas fired off some tasty stoner rock riffs to ease the crowd into what was to come later in the show. The three piece band carried a familiar classic heavy sound perfectly through the venue. I would definitely recommend checking these guys out.




Death Angel was always a favorite of mine growing up listening to thrash. They are a perfect epitome of the embodiment of the early thrash sound from the Bay area.  With technical riffs, harmonizing guitars, screechy lyrics, and lots of long hair, they are still a powerhouse of thrash metal. We like most, can't wait to hear the new album.


Its the dawn of the 80s, thrash is emerging from the depths of metal and from it rose Overkill and Death Angel, among many others, I guess I should mention Metallica and Slayer too haha. However, Overkill pioneered the earliest thrashy shred of sound that infected all the others right out of good old  New Jersey. Right out of the gates, as Overkill took to the stage, mayhem ensued as bodies and legs where thrown to the roof and flew across the top of the crowd. Bodies crashing over top of the barricades as all of us in the pit taking photos scrambled to capture the insanity of the moment. Our time in the photo pit was cut short as chaos ensued and over took the area.  As titans of their craft and decades of shredding, they still can dominate the stage, overpower a crowd, and hold true to the test of time of metal itself.  Do not miss a chance to see them live, you will not regret it.