### Dying Fetus, Arsis, Misery Index: 2010-05-07

#### 21/05/10 || InquisitorGeneralis

Who: Dying Fetus, Arsis, Misery Index, and a bunch of other bands I missed. Where: Sonar, Baltimore Maryland. When: 7th of May, 2010.

When I saw this tour announced, my cock and balls crawled inside of my body, up my spinal cord, and proceeded to fuck my brain. Three of my absolute favorite bands on one bill? Dying Fetus and Misery Index together? Arsis in between? Crystal Pepsi beat Coke in taste test? The first night of the tour is in Misery Fetus’ hometown? Eating pussy can help get you laid? Are you fucking serious man??? Christ, I need a cold shower just thinking about it. One thing is for sure: this concert would have more blasting, grinding, breakdowns, and high-speed guitar wankery than any human should possibly hear in a lifetime, let alone a few hours. This unholy line-up is going around as the “Facemelter Tour”. Not a bad name, but it should be called the “Living Manifestation of IG’s Metal Wet Dreams Tour”. As for the other groups on the bill? Fuck ‘em, I missed them and I am not sad about that one bit. From what I have heard, “Anus Insertions of an Autopsy” are standard deathcore crappola. Not thanks, my time was better spend drinking Miller High Life and getting high at Inquisition Headquarters (also known as my townhouse) and listening to Exhorder and Nile to get myself pumped up.

I must admit though, having seen each of these bands at least four times before my expectations were high. And for the most part, I was not let down. First, the newly built Club Stage at Sonar is fucking awesome. You would think that a former utility area-turned small venue would sound like shit but amazingly the sound is awesome. Plus, you are always fucking close to the stage and there is a big bar there so getting drinks ($3 16oz PBR cans swish) is a breeze. Overall it is a great setup and seems to be where they are booking the extreme metal bands these days.

We arrived just in time as Misery Index was tuning up. Being the cool-mo-dee that I am I had already heard that founding Indexer Sparky Voyles had recently left the band, so I was not surprised to see just three grinders up there. As expected, Misery Index delivered. The set was short but covered all the major bases. Since I have seen them a ton I would like to hear something else from “Retaliate” other than “The great depression” but the song still rocks live. Same goes for “Conquistadors”: the song is ace but something else from “Discordia” would be a welcome change. “Manufacturing greed” though fucking killed and has since motivated me to get the compilation record “Pulling Out the Nails” which is massively grindtastic.

The only original Indexer still left standing, Jason Netherton can still tear shit up and hate the system like no other!

The title track to the band’s ace new album “Heirs to Thievery” was well met by the crowd and hopefully some more new material will make its way into the rotation soon. My review of “Heirs to Thievery” may or may not be up by the time you are reading this piece of shit so let me just tell ya, “Heirs…” is the bomb and should make Misery Index the next Abba in terms of worldwide popularity. The band’s set was front and rear ended by “Traitors” material. I’m still waiting to hear “Occupation” live though. Adam Jarvis proved why he made our Top 10 Drummers list by laying down one precision beating after another. There were a few points were the lack of a second guitarist was noticeable but I have to give a shit-ton of credit to Mark Koeppel for playing all the guitar parts, singing, and rocking out feverishly. Misery Index will survive the departure of Sparky, the band and new record are just to damn good to fail now.

The newly minted three-piece Misery Index takes the fucken stage!

Misery Index Setlist We Never Come in Peace Theocracy The Great Depression Manufacturing Greed Heirs to Thievery Conquistadors Traitors

Melodic tech/thrash/black/death metal champions Arsis were up next and while James Malone’s vocals were pretty rough this time around the band spiced up their normal set a bit and were pretty fucken enjoyable. “Return” was a killer opener and I song I do not think I have heard them play live since they toured for “A Celebration of Guilt”. Being a big fan of the new release “Starve for the Devil” I was hoping we would get a few other new tracks besides or instead of “Forced to rock” and “March for the sick”. Still, the latter was pretty solid so no major harm done. I understand time is short. Having “Beyond forlorn” in the set would have been tits though.

I must admit though, I am getting sick of hearing the short version of “A diamond for disease: instead of anything from “United in Regret”: that song needs to be cut from the setlist pronto. One welcome surprise was two tracks from “We Are the Nightmare” and neither of them actually being “We are the nightmare”. “Shattering the spell” was killer and has since motivated me to get interested in that record all over again. The expected finishing combo of “Sadistic…” and “Face of my innocence” helped Arsis finish the set song. James’ voice was definitely struggling and the band seemed just a bit off but I still enjoyed them quite a bit. Arsis on an off night is still better than 90% of most other bands.

Locked in position and ready to unleash whammy-bar guitar beatdowns, bow before the might of Arsis!

Arsis Setlist Return Forced to Rock March for the Sick A Diamond for Disease (shortened version) Shattering the Spell Sightless Wisdom Sadistic Motives Behind Bereavement Letters Face of my Innocence

You just can’t keep Dying Fetus down. The band has been through several cataclysmic incidents but has managed to keep on truckin’. Obviously, this tour has some buzz surrounding it due to the fact that Misery Index was formed by 3/4 of Dying Fetus way back when. Who knows if there is still issues there, but I doubt it. No, Jason did not get up on stage and do “Killing on adrenaline” though. Misery Index has established itself and so has the reborn Dying Fetus. Fuck the past. Anywho, the current Fetus of founding member John Gallagher, bassist Sean Beasley, and Trey Williams is goddamn awesome and tore up a set heavy on the classics. While I love Teh Index and Arsis tonight Dying Fetus proved why they had the headlining spot. Honestly, I was surprised and how much ass they kicked.

Gallager lays down heavy riffs and guttural vocals while Trey W pounds away on the skins!

With an opener like “Praise the lord” I knew this set would be no fucken joke. Dying Fetus pulled out some major deep cuts like like “My blood is your wine”, “Eviscerated offspring”, “Epidemic of hate”, “Skullfucked” and the totally dominating “Grotesque impalement”. Even the chosen songs from “Descend into Depravity” were solid, especially “Ethos of coercion” which I did not expect to hear played live. While I am not a huge fan of “War of Attrition”, “Homicidal retribution” is a sick track and always is great live, especially the big-time ending. “One shot, one kill” was a crowd pleaser as were the two tracks from “Killing on adrenaline”. My one and only wished would have been subbing in “Justifiable homicide” and “Intentional manslaughter” somewhere. Other than this, I have zero complaints about the setlist. Coke (the sniffing kind) and caramel covered titties for sure. The much loved, and very grindy, tracks “Pissing the mainstream” and “Kill your mother, rape your dog” rounding things up. The Fetus played long and hard and I definitely needed a cigarette after this hymen-shredding performance: the band was tight and setlist solid. DF’s patenting blast/breakdown powered assault inspired some violent moshing. There was even a slamdancer in a chicken-suit, no joke.

Looking as normal and well-adjusted as usual, Dying Fetus destroyed the club stage at Sonar while remaining cool as cucumbers!

Dying Fetus Setlist (over an hour of tunes, that is a lot of Fetus!) Praise the Lord (Opium of the Masses) Your Treachery Will Die With You Eviscerated Offspring Absolute Defiance Epidemic of Hate Homicidal Retribution Conceived into Enslavement Your Blood is a My Wine Killing on Adrenaline One Shot, One Kill Ethos of Coercion Skull Fucked Grotesque Impalement Pissing in the Mainstream Kill Your Mother, Rape Your Dog

Well, when the dust settled at Sonar I left one happy boy. Three of my favorite bands in the universe delivered solid sets packed with some of my favorite tunes. The leaner, meaner Misery Index was excellent as usual, Arsis stood tall while being flanked by two of the most extreme bands out there, and Dying Fetus just plain dominated. The show gets a 10 out of whatever the fuck you want to make up fucko. All I know is that this tour is more dominating than watching a herd of bunny rabbits go psycho, fuck, and commit mass suicide so if you can grow some balls and check it the fuck out.

I am, and will remain forever, you humble metal servant. Until next time friends, remember that milk does your flabby, syphilis-ridden body good… Yeah cocksuckers, that really is my fridge and I really am that goofy looking.