Riot Ghoul

Photo by Tim Callaway

Every now and then, I hear about a band that I “have to see.” Most of the time, it isn’t a metal band, although there are exceptions. Ghoul is just such an exception. One look at a band like this and one might expect something along the lines of Gwar. Regardless of if there’s much, if any, influence coming from Gwar as far as Ghoul is concerned might strictly be limited to their stage presence for the most part. Once you get past that, Ghoul’s more thrash driven brand of death metal stands apart, making them a punk metal band not to be trifled with.

Photo by Garyn Klasek

After missing the opening act, I had the opportunity to see a little of what the punk metal crowd has been up to lately in Mesa’s Saintbreaker. It took a moment to succumb to the fact that this is a talented and entertaining band. The thrashcore they play is a glorious mix of old school death metal brought at breakneck punk speeds. The melodic barrage that bassist Sebastian delivered was on point but almost vanquished their guitarist, Jacob. Drummer Paul was meticulous, dropping d-beats with excellent precision. Vocalist Nick even brought his A-game altering his vocal styles throughout. The times when you could hear Jacob’s riffs were shreddingly captivating. About the only area of the band that could use some work is his singing. It didn’t seem to work with the ferocious vocals that Nick was throwing down, which might’ve been better met with shrieking. Nonetheless, if this is the level of metal that local bands are bringing these days, and I’ve been listening to much of it on recording, it appears that I have some more metal shows to hit in the near future.

Photo by Tim Callaway

Few grindcore bands need an introduction and such is the case with Orange County’s Phobia. Amazingly, and I might be embarrassing myself here, this is a band that I’ve heard about for a long time and simply never got into, that is, until I saw them live, obliterating it at this show and blowing me away. While being known to have crust influence as well, one word comes to mind when I think back on their performance: brutal. I’m gonna start with drummer Bryan Fajardo who there are no words for but I’ll try. His intense, supersonic skills were mind-blowingly ruthless and chock full of blast beats. Keeping up with the pace was bassist Calum MacKenzie with his audacious euphony. Matching that was guitarist Cece Grind, raining down fury through her frenzied performance. Ringleading this marvelous onslaught was Shane MacLachlan, laying all to waste with his ghastly merciless vocals. After taking their set in, it’s gonna be hard to pass up any future shows of theirs.

Photo by Tim Callaway

Closing out an already incredible show was Ghoul, straight out of Oakland (or as they refer to it, Creepsylvania). Highly enthralling from the get go, this band doesn’t need the masks, costumes and stage props incorporated in order to rock the house but they do add to the fun significantly. They play what they call splatterthrash, which in my mind is an alluring blend of thrash and goregrind. Guitarist Dissector not only stood out to me by leaping atop a monitor near me while playing but also through his intricate execution. As well, Cremator had the crowd rippin’ it up by way of his resonance-heavy bass. Digestor brought the pain with his cutthroat vocals and his relentless attack on guitar. At one point, they all lined up to rampage the crowd, reminiscent of back when locals Rapid Fire would kill it. Drummer Fermentor left the place in ruins as we headbanged and tore it up in the pit, giving in to his assault. I left a tad early but much to my chagrin, as Ghoul was fucking unbelievable. Overall, this was a phantasmically wicked show that leaves me wanting more.

~ Garyn Klasek