WELCOME TO HELL! Volume 6 West Coast Assault:The Battle Of Seattle/PDX/And Environs

Here we are at the 6th article. Sorry for the delay, shit has been crazy in my bunker and I have not had the time, or the will, to do an article for a while. But enough of my lame excuses and whining right?!?!?! I have been paying less and less attention to the annoying “over-ground” mainstream music scene, so maybe my rants will grow less and less and I can focus on the great music that’s out there? Who knows. I doubt that I will stop being pissed off about certain music and scenes. And there will always be a steady stream of crap and diarrhea that disguises itself as music that I will call out. It hasn’t stopped people, or “friends” that normally wouldn’t give me the time of day, that now want my address to send me a CD or want me to add their band on myspace. Funny how things work ey? Whatever, I think it’s funny and try not to take this, or myself for that matter, too seriously. But you see, when you are a total music freak, and a METAL HEAD, you DO take music very seriously. And it is a sacred thing to us die hards. When we feel threatened or attacked, we will strike out, and strike back. “WITH GREAT VENGEANCE AND FURIOUS ANGER!” I recently had a discussion with some friends about metal and how it defines us. It makes us who we are. It has been there with us through the great times and the despair. Through life’s long and silent river, metal has stood by us. Been our best friend. In our time of need. And in our time of crazy partying. We blast it in parking lots BEFORE the big show in the heavy metal parking lot. And fuck yeah we blast it after that same concert. On the way home. HOPEFULLY with a sober driver, haha. We blast it when we are having bad times in our lives, to try and cope and get over it. We blast it at a “get together” or party to get everyone in a good mood. We blast it when we exercise. We blast it when we are driving. It runs through our blood. THAT’S  WHY, when someone like Ronnie James Dio dies, we cry. We get hit hard. With heavy hearts, we try and move on. The guy has not only been there with us through those times I spoke of earlier, but he was one of our top voices in metal. Yes, Ronnie could wail with the best of them. Some thought his tales of Dragons and Fantasy were cheesy. But the “voice” that I’m talking about is what made him special. He was small in stature. But a GIANT on stage. And a giant in our lives, and a legend in metal. His demeanor and the way he treated people, fellow band members, fellow metal heads, was amazing. He was down to earth. He was at times a “regular guy”. And he was OURS! Just as we were HIS! HAILS TO RONNIE! DIO WAS THE FUCKING MAN! AND WE WILL ALWAYS LISTEN TO AND LOVE HIS GREAT MUSIC! At this time, raise your horns for Ronnie!   \m/

I’m going to cover more ground here with this article. I’m going to cover bands that I like from the west coast region, which I feel is forgotten and underrated sometimes. These bands will be from the tip of Washington State, all the way down to the coasts of San Diego, California. There are a few regions that this covers. The Seattle, Portland, Bay Area, SoCal and San Diego metal scenes will be represented. And I will also try and hit Reno, Vegas and other places that are ignored here on our West Coast. I can’t fit every band in this article so don’t worry, I will do a few of these as I discover new bands. I’m going to stick with Washington and Oregon, who are even MORE forgotten than us fucks down here in SoCal. And also venture a bit out into the mountains and the deserts of Nevada for a another one.

Let’s get started with the Pacific Northwest and the the Seattle area. One of my favorite bands from this region is the mighty INQUISITION. Moving to Seattle from Columbia, they have become black metal legends and one of the best black metal bands in U.S. History. But, they are very well known and I want to try and focus on the more underground bands from this area. Another one of my favorite bands from here is SCORCHED EARTH. These guys are a black thrash death killing machine. Simplistic and Barbaric in their approach, they also have some catchy and memorable riffs that set them apart from all these retro bands around these days. Sometimes the band even plays the same riff over and over again a hundred times, yet it never gets boring or old. They have a way of writing a great riff and running with it, making some classic metal along the way. They have been around playing their great metal for quite a while now and have 4 albums out now. If you are a fan of the black/thrash hybrid, with tinges of death metal, Scorched Earth is for you. These guys are also monsters live and I have seen them 2 times now and they slaughtered with their assault on both occasions. They have put out killer albums like their latest “Mars” for years now. They are godfathers of the Washington underground these days and have been a favorite of mine for a while now! Get in contact with them about their merchandise and band info at: www.myspace.com/hailscorchedearth

ELKS BLOOD is a newer band from the Seattle area that rides the death metal and thrash metal waves equally with deadly precision. The thrashing is very much like the German greats of the 1980s and there is also a Morbid Angel influence. This is “DEATH/THRASH” just how I like it. It has many time changes and feels like a roller coaster of metal hell sometimes, which is a good thing! These guys take you on a journey of ripping riffs and the songs have quite a bit going on, but just as “GOOD” thrash, it doesn’t get boring or too progressive. The changes all fit and the songs have catchy moments all over them. You will remember these songs as well as appreciate the playing. And there are tons of killer riffs to boot. And in the end the music is aggressive and memorable at the same time. As of now, since they are newer, all they have is a demo. But go to their myspace and check out these killer songs and this new killer band! Ask them about the demo and other merchandise. Keep an eye out for these Elks Blood warriors of death/thrash! www.myspace.com/elksblood

Another Seattle band that has metal heads talking about in Seattle are SLUT VOMIT. Go back to the mid 80s to early 90s and remember Sarcofago, Abhorer, Necrovore, Vulcano, and the total impure, nun raping bestial black/death/thrash assaults of Kill from Sweden or even the early Nunslaughter demos, and you have this mighty band Slut Vomit. They are not the total death noise/bestial black metal of bands like Revenge and Blasphemy, who both rule obviously, but Slut Vomit, like the bands I mentioned above they remind me of, play a bit slower in parts and have that slower, evil, prodding style. They also have some very memorable parts that go along with the blasphemy. The music of this band is just impure and awesome! One of my favorites right now in the underground. The production is rough and dark, obviously very dirty. What did you expect with these ugly death hymns!? haha. But it fits the band perfect, so don’t be a fucking wimp, check out Slut Vomit and get their demo if you dare! www.myspace.com/northwestmetalofdeath

Going down the 5 fwy a bit we arrive in Portland, Orgeon ( aka PDX). We start with THE WARWOLVES. One of the darkest and ugly death metal clans around! They play a simple and barbaric form of ancient death metal that crushes your soul and pisses on your former corpse of a body. Very similar to Slut Vomit, yet with a more olden death metal edge. The music is dark as fuck, the sound of pure evil. And the vocals, sound like the devil himself. These fuckers are another one of my current favorites at the moment. The music that is on the player is low, so the true power does not come through as they do in their live shows. But I have also seen The Warwolves live and it is pure metal of death, ritualistic mayhem! Not sure if the demo is still available, but there is a split 7 Inch The Warwolves did with the mighty Dishammer that you can order here: www.parasiticrecords.blogspot.com (my friend Timmy runs this label and it is fucking killer! Support him! I will do a feature on Parasitic very soon!)  And in the near future, a split 7 Inch with The Warwolves and Gravehill will be coming out. Ask them about other merchandise they have out as well. Join The Warwolve Cult at : www.myspace.com/thewarwolves

Also from PDX comes CEMETERY LUST. Lock up your girlfriends, wives, daughters, shit, even Grandmas, cause Cemetery Lust came to fuck them all. Total ripping death/thrash with some influences from gutter punk like The Mentors and G.G. Allin. They have some lyrics about “Cumming On The Cross” and STDs but all jokes aside, these guys can thrash and rage with the best of them! The songs sound like they were recorded on an old ghetto blaster in their jam garage, but the riffs and attack are all there. I want to see these crazy fuckers live, I bet it goes the fuck off! There is a good mix of punk rock and also some straight ahead thrash thrown in to the mix at times, but it is well done and Cemetery Lust rip your face the fuck off most of the time with raging death/thrash. Don’t have a lot of info on them, but as their myspace says “Cemetery Lust are composed of 5 alcoholic perverts who are possessed by Lucifer to play filthy Deaththrash!” I agree 666% fuckers! Hit them up at: www.myspace.com/cemetarylust

From the Newburg, Oregon area comes the young band CERTAIN DEATH. These fuckers kill just as much as some of the older bands do. Very reminiscent of early Sadus. It’s obvious they love Sadus, but it is very well done. Some of the speeds these guys play at it fucking amazing. The music is relentless just like all the classic thrash back in the day. THIS is how I like my thrash! Totally ripping and aggressive. It knocks down the door, takes no prisoners and kicks the fuck out of everyone and everything in the room! The drums are at break neck speeds, like almost a fucking blast beat, but not quite. But the riffs are killer and the vocals are shredding and fit the music perfectly. Not sure about merch, but the band has released 2 demos so far. Also another one to keep an eye out for! www.myspace.com/certaindeath1369

Before I leave Oregon, there is a band by the name of RITUAL NECROMANCY that I have seen before and they are fucking killer! Almost a mix of Bolt Thrower and dark death/thrash. They also do a ripping cover of  “Troops Of Doom” by Sepultura. Not a myspace I guess? These guys must be VERY KVLT! hahahaha. So I will try and find out more info on them! They blew me away live and I want to get more info on them to spread out to you all! In the meantime, GET A MYSPACE GUYS! HAHAHA.

We go out to the city of Reno, Nevada for BLASPHEMOUS CREATION. These fuckers play some killer black/death/thrash. Very well done and heavy as fuck. Also catchy and the songs are very well done. Crazy because Reno is pretty much like the show “Reno 911″, and you would never figure that such a killer metal band would come from there! hahahaha. All kidding aside, these guys seem to be the kings of the Reno metal scene these days and it is well deserved. The music is mainly fast and attacking, very thrash metal influenced with touches of black metal of the more melodic type in quite a few of the parts, but still raging and ripping away. These guys can also play the fuck out of their instruments. The myspace is very pro run and it seems that these guys do it their selves which is killer. The production on the songs is much more professional and cleaner than most of the bands mentioned above but this does not make Blasphemous Creation any less deadly at all! The music is still killer and heavy duty! They did a few demos and now have a debut full length out called “Diabolical Kingdom” which you can buy from the band on their myspace. They also have shirts to buy there as well.  Another killer band to keep an eye out for!  www.myspace.com/blasphemouscreation

OK, well there are a few bands from the northern part of the region, next Assault, I will cover some bands from the Southern Region. I will try not to take too long this time. There seems to be more and more horrible articles about horrible music popping up on metalmaniacs.com And I just can’t let these fucks poison you with this crap any longer! To the die hards, I WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN! HAILS!

M.A.