All Hell (Jacob Curwen)
It’s not often you get to see three amazing bands packed together in one of the smallest venues in North Carolina. The Odditorium even though small in size brings some of the biggest bands in metal to the region. It was a night I had highly been anticipating. First up on stage was the hometown band All Hell who are getting ready to release their amazing new album “The Red Sect” ( You can read that review here). The band is a perfect example of blackened thrash and will quickly become a favorite for any true metalhead. In our previous review of that album I pleaded to them to play my favorite track on the album “Graveyard Dust” and they were listening. That night at The Odditorium in Asheville they played the song on stage for the first time. That was a privilege in itself. They took stage and after a few songs singer Jacob Curwen screams in his demonic growl “We are all going to die”, and until the moment the show ended I thought he may be right. The tiny packed venue was raging with people moshing, jumping, singing and screaming. Just to further explain the violent nature of this show I was bleeding when I left. All Hell were amazing on stage and left victims to their sound all around. The stage was just the perfect size for the three piece band to dominate.
Lord Dying (L-R Nickolis Parks, Erik Olsen)
Next up to conquer the stage was Portland based band Lord Dying. The band being a quartet posed some problems for the small stage. Bass player Don Capuana actually performed in front of stage left. Since I was the closest person to him I felt it as my job to keep people from running into him or causing him bodily harm in their moshing craziness. I used my body as a blockade and it seemed to work. The voice of Lord Dying Eric Olsen has a voice that resonates with any metal fan. His vocals aren’t like any you’ve heard before and seeing him unleash them live just raises the bar even more. You can see the passion and hard work in his face with each soul crushing song. The band showcased songs from their two releases and no one wanted them to exit the stage. As they played their farewell song Don Capuana broke a string. He grabbed that son of a bitch moved it out of his way and just went about his business.
Toxic Holocaust (Joel Grind)
Next up was Toxic Holocaust featuring main man Joel Grind who has ties to both other bands on this bill. Joel actually helped produce the upcoming All Hell album we mentioned earlier and also Lord Dying‘s new album “Poisoned Altars”. This was the second time seeing Toxic Holocaust, the last time he was touring for the ” An Overdose of Death” album in 2008. I will tell you now that Toxic just get better with age. Once they took the stage the audience went mad. They were right up in Joel’s face singing along to songs like “Wild Dogs” and “Nuke The Cross”. Circle pits were happening and the violence unending and out of pure happiness. Speed, speed, speed is how the band plays. Thrash so fast it will steal your beer and smack you in the mouth before you realize what’s going on. They really captured everyone’s hearts when they played the all inspiring song ” 666″. If you can make it through a Toxic Holocaust show and not head bang you need your ass kicked repeatedly. So they had one final song to play and luckily it was “Bitch” and everyone was more than excited to hear it, but hated knowing it was the last song of the night.
Lord Dying and Toxic Holocaust are still on this tour and have 10 dates remaining through October 3rd. If you are within a reasonable distance from one of the remaining dates and don’t attend you are doing yourself a great injustice. Get your ass out there and experience live music, watching it on YouTube is not the same as being there in person.
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